craft and cackle

Spring? Winter? & Saturday in town..

2012-01-26T15:12:00.000-08:00

Spring is coming! Is what I thought when I saw these buds on the Magnolia bush in our backyard.. Well, apparently I was wrong as can be, since less than a week later, this is what I see late one evening...

Our house with snow? M.u.s.t. capture on photo to show the kids...

It was an excellent opportunity for me to test out my camera's every function! :)

Figure this photo is cool:

I know the snow looks like rain but it was coming down fast enough where the shutter speed & the poor light didn't want to cooperate with each outher enough to actually capture flakes.

The snow didn't last long at all. By the next morning, it was all gone & rain had taken over, of course. Good thing I got pictures.

Last Saturday the kids were excellent & let us sleep in. Their habits have been late the last few weeks, so they were catching up on the Zs too, I guess. Anyway, when we finally got up I had to go to every room & open the blinds. (I HAVE to do this immediately first thing when I get up. I do not understand how people can live without daylight)

As I opened the blinds in the bonus room, I see huge black smoke - and actually flames - from as few blocks away!! YAAAYYY!! The school burning!! No, I'm not some radical secret pyromaniac. The old school down the street was burned down by the fire department, and I had read about this in the paper but of course forgot what day it was scheduled to happen.

We rushed to get everyone dressed, packed three youngest in the wonderful stroller, then walked down to see the school burn. The main building had already burnt down for the most part, but we still got some excitement.

We saw one building burn & fall apart. Thankfully, the smoke wasn't our direction, but we could feel the heat way back where we were standing.

The kids loved it. I had told them all about this when I read about it in the paper, so they knew it wasn't scary or dangerous.

Then the whole family walked down to Main street, and we had coffee & super good ham & cheese croissants at Battle Grounds - a coffee house:

(img source:http://hasson.com/communities/community/battleground)

When we left from there, it had started raining pretty bad. Thankfully, I had the huge rain cover in the stroller basket, so the kids stayed all dry the whole way home.
Then when we came home we deep cleaned the whole house.

And then our good friends invited us for supper & we stayed there all evening.

= perfect Saturday spent with the family I love the most!!

Top ten at Spoonflower!

2012-01-19T11:32:00.000-08:00

http://www.spoonflower.com/fabric/928483

I got in the top ten! Talking Spoonflower again.. The contest theme was "Cityscapes", and the entries were fantastic. This theme was of course right up my alley - featuring lots of houses! I love architecture (that's what i went to college for, for you who don't know me so well), and I love designs with houses.
I had the hardest time deciding what city to feature in my design, but knew I HAD to enter with something.. I debated Portland, Vancouver, Minneapolis and even any well-known big city. In the end, I decided I love Stockholm the best. Its "Old Town" would work for great designs, with awesome colors. The design started out as sketches..

The sketches were scanned, straightened a bit, imported to Inkscape & traced to become vector paths. In Inkscape, there is a "Trace bitmap" command that I use for almost every design. Unless I start designing in the program itself. When you trace a bitmap, you generate a vector path from your drawings. This makes the design endlessly easier to change - in size, color, detail etc. I love this in Inkscape.

After adding some color in Inkscape (used the "fill" command for this one. Wanted it simple), making a good repeat, and exporting it to a good file format, I uploaded it to Spoonflower. This is the end result of my design - how it shows in SF!

I am pumped so many of you voted for my design, delighted to get in the top ten, happy to see the colors printed awesome, and relieved all the work wasn't for nothing! (I started this design 3 hours before the deadline last Tuesday! Talk about stress work..)

The Old Town in Stockholm is seriously worth visiting - for all you deprived fellows who have yet to experience this cozy cobblestoned area of Sweden's capital. I lived close to Stockholm for a few years of my life, and my favorite thing would be to go there (by commuter train, of course. Never needed a license there!), visit a nice coffee place to get my latte & bagel, then head over to the book store to buy a few post cards & nice pens. Then I'd walk along the cobblestone streets to the waterfront, sit down & enjoy my lunch & write cards to friends. I LOVED this city. I walked so many miles around the town. If it wasn't just to shop or for personal enjoyment, it would be to guide American friends around town. They would always wonder how there could be 5 (or was it even 6?) H&Ms within a mile of each other. And they would wonder why people didn't ever say "sorry" or "excuse me". And why do Swedes do anything they can to avoid eye contact?
Haha... the memories..

This post went from Spoonflower to houses to design process to Swedish customs! I have the gift of gab...

Here is the awesome scene that inspired my design.
(Image from http://www.mota.ru/en/wallpapers/view/id/15589)

This week's contest (voting starting today) is themed "Outdated Technology". I have an entry with old payphones (http://www.spoonflower.com/designs/940774).

Click here to go to Spoonflower's contest page.

GOOD LUCK everyone who enters the awesome Spoonflower contests!!

Sewing room! Yay!!

2012-01-11T02:27:00.000-08:00

I finally got my sewing room set up!

I share my ~~wealth~~ space with my baby - her crib is in a corner but it didn't fit the picture..

All random furniture we had lying around...

I love this space! There you see my awesome new sewing machine & serger - all ready to go!

In the closet I put a huge tall metal wire shelf from Target to store books & fabric & what nots.. Packed in there with luggage etc too - so I kept the door shut for a nice picture.

CREATE!! SEW!! This room is calling to me but I haven't had much time in it yet. Soooooon...

Then another fun new thing.

I got another collection sampler from Spoonflower. Always love

getting their envelopes - filled with my designs PRINTED on actual fabric!!

I love how the colors are turning out great on all new designs now. I use Spoonflowers color chart a lot, but maybe I'm getting more used to what colors work in Inkscape. This sampler had some designs from the collection I posted about last, some random older contest entries, and some designs I wanted proofed so I could put them for sale.

Boy fabric with colors. Love how they turned out.

My kids said NOPE to all the girly ones, but this one above with the turquoise background & the kites was everyone's favorite.

Personally, I like this pile of swatches too. The colors are yummy and I must be drawn to simple florals lately. Check out more at http://www.spoonflower.com/profiles/mrshervi

Life is busy & fun almost always, isn't it?

Especially if you have intresting four-year olds....

Spoonflower contest

2012-01-05T11:51:00.000-08:00

Spoonflower's contest this week is "Coordinates" - and it's quite the contest! Not one but FOUR designs per every entry, and what entries! Check out the contest designs and vote here at Spoonflower's blog.

I worked and reworked my designs so many times but still feel like I wasn't sure at all with the end result. Here is my entry:

Romantic Coordinates by Mrs Hervi

(Click HERE to get to the actual design on my Spoonflower site)

Besides doing this design, I've been busy taking of house & kids. Weird how that goes - some days or weeks, I can get so many side projects done. Sewing, crafts with kids, ebaying, designing etc. Other days I scramble trying to stay on top of just laundry or keeping the kitchen floor walkable.

Today seems like a day where I have to work fast to even drink my coffee before it gets cold.

How's your day coming along??

Winner announced!

2012-01-02T13:59:00.000-08:00

The giveaway generated quite a few comments on here - how fun! I used a site called random.org to get a "random number generator" to pick a winner. Took me a while to decide how to do it - since Blogger said there was 50 comments, but it counted the deleted ones and that messed it up. In the end, I only counted the actual posts, omitting the last one since it was not from a US resident.. (sorry, Sofia!)

Here is the result:

#41 is Bloggy Mama from "Making over me" who said...

"Wow! As a sewing novice, any 'One Yard Wonder' project sounds like something I could attempt! I would LOVE to win this book!
hldressel (at) gmail (dot) com"

Congrats, Bloggy Mama! I will send you an email to get your address for Storey Publishing to send you this fun book!!

2012 is here!! HAPPY NEW YEAR to all dear Blog followers!!

Me & kids made some holiday crafts for the neighbors for New Year.

Supplies: Cardboard, tissue paper, tape, string, CANDY...

Make rolls out of cardboard (or use empty toilet paper rolls). Fill with candy. Layer 4 pieces of tissue paper. Fold long edges, cut into strips like photos show. Place roll on tissue & roll it up. Tie string on sides to finish.

The original ones like these would make a loud BANG when you pulled them apart. Ours weren't quite so sophisticated. Just loaded with candy - which really is just as exciting!

HAPPY NEW YEAR, neighbors!!

Super excited to give their "smallkarameller" (swedish has to do here since I don't know the English word for these) to the neighbors!

Then I finally finally set up my craft room!! (Pics to come)

I had a lovely evening using the sewing machine & serger, and I am already very impressed with them! Will have to do reviews on the machines soon.

My first project with new serger:

Raglan shirt for 4-yo. It's longer in the back. She usually wears tunics or dresses with her pants so this shirt might move along to etsy store. I love the fabrics though. Stretch knits = love.

And somebody loves to pose.

Have a grand day, and Congrats again to Bloggy Mama for winning the book!!

Yay for blogs and such.

Secret Santa Gift!!

2011-12-27T14:53:00.000-08:00

I wrote a few days ago about

this pretty gift in my Christmas display..

It was sent to me from my "Secret Santa" -

a lady named Francine who lives in California!

I don't know Francine, and she doesn't know me,

but we are both part of a flickr group that

wanted a surprise for Christmas.

We joined Boogspace, and got

randomly matched with each other.

One lucky lady got TWO secret santas!

Lucky me got one really good one.

A box wrapped in pretty fabric.

So exciting!

I opened to see an even prettier fabric!

And here are the contents!!

A really gorgeous tote bag - fully lined! I LOVE the fabric she chose!! And then for extra, she put in a car freshener - two yummy pina colada scented flip flops for "something local"/Californian! :)

Thanks Francine! This was awesome!! The bag is right up my alley.

Giveaway Update

2011-12-27T12:22:00.001-08:00

Just letting you know - I'm using a random number generator on Monday to announce the winner!!

So stay tuned for the excitement :)

Ending 2011 with a Giveaway!!!

2011-12-26T10:40:00.000-08:00

I got something published in a book!!!

Well, that's just fantastic. I am so thrilled, one of you dear blog followers will get one of these books for free - courtesy of Storey Publishing! The condition is, you have to be a US resident/have a US address... Sorry to disappoint, all international friends of mine!

All you have to do to enter this giveaway is to comment on this blog post. Don't forget to leave a way for me to get a hold of you. Email addresses can always be written in the name ( at ) email dot com format.

So this is the great book I am talking about:

Fabric-by-Fabric One-Yard Wonders

Fabric-by-Fabric One-Yard Wonders is a sequel to a very popular One-Yard Wonders published in 2009. I have to admit I had never heard of the first book before I was contacted by the authors, to have one of my projects included in the second book. I have since gathered that the first OYW book was a huge success, and this second version has been long-awaited by many!

When I recieved my book I was shocked at how fat it is! Not only does it have 101 quite amazing projects, it has an envelope with all the patterns in the front!

The projects are categorized by the type of fabric used, and it ranges from cotton to fleece to oilcloth/laminated fabrics to stretch knit. I love the variety this book has.

And, of course, this was very, very weird to see.... in the back of the book, along with all the other contributors, there I was!

The design I had included in this book is the wrapshirt I designed for a Spoonflower contest a couple years ago. It won the SF contest back then (see my blog post here), and I assume it was from the attention back then that the One-Yard Wonder people found it! Yay!

Here are some other projects I love from the book...

The ONE YARD POUF! How smart is this...? Can't wait to make this. And I see they used IKEA fabric - which is super smart, since they sell home decor weight fabric for under $10/yard. Can't get much cheaper than that.

Nice & clever bag...

And this bag is sewn with my favoritest fabric... Echino by Kokka.. So I had to include it.

It sure is great to see people love your design & I feel honored to have my wrapshirt actually get published! Thank You to Storey Publishing and Rebecca & Trish for all the work and correspondence throughout the making of this book!

Many other bloggers included in this book have been posting already - but there are still more to come, for more chances in the giveaways! Here is a list of more posts to come..

12/27/2011 One Inch World
12/28/2011 Sew Sew Etc.
12/29/2011 WhileTangerine Dreams
12/30/2011 StudioCherie
1/4/2012 Fiberosity
January ‘12 Lu Lu Carter
January ’12 Zuhause
January ’12 Obsessively Stiching
January ’12 No Bad Days
January ’12 AfricanKelli

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!!

Merry Christmas!!

2011-12-22T13:39:00.000-08:00

...but the prettiest sight to see
is the holly that will be
on your own front door!

This isn't really our front door, but just about! Thought I'd show some of how Christmas has come to our house. I replaced a welcome sign with the berry wreath, and the kids' stockings make for a warm inviting welcome.

So much is going on at this time of year, but most everything is enjoyable. I got the holiday shopping done a couple weeks ago, am really never doing much of decor, skipping most baking, ignoring the deep cleaning etc.

Despite my lassez-faire attitude about Christmas preps this year, we've got SOME things to get the atmosphere right...

The cabinet that I kept after our bazaar is now home for our Christmas display. The church in the middle can be wound up to play Silent Night. It is exactly like the one my parents' had. This exact one, we got from my husbands' great grandma when she passed away.

The lack of a huge gift pile is deceiving... We decided since we're having a family Christmas with the in-laws this weekend and the kids will get plenty of excitement then, we'd do the gift opening here at home different this year. Every evening after supper this week, they got to open one gift. Four nights, then family Christmas on Friday. Brilliant plan. For me. Kids get entertained by one new thing every evening & it usually lasts through the next day. Yay!!

All our Christmas cards are tacked on the wall above the mirror. A little too high but nice to have them beyond kids' reach.

I have to mention the little gorgeous present right in front... It's from the Secret Santa I joined - I am so excited! It's a matchbox (slide-out) type box that Secret Santa wrapped with fabric. Love it. And it sure looks great sitting there with the other two pretty wraps. (Target dollar section)

And we decorated the Gingerbread from a kit this year again. Perfect. Kids love it & I love it.

With online shopping, boxes have been arriving for a while now, and it's about the most exciting thing I know!! Didn't get pictures of it, but my husband bought me a sewing machine AND .... in this lovely box right here.... a serger!!! I AM THRILLED!!! And spoiled, I know.

Barely dare mention my next purchase now... I managed to score a gently used Canon Rebel Xsi on ebay - and it came right in time for awesome holiday snapshots! (and ebay sales!!)

I have been viewing tutorials on youtube & reading blogs to learn this DSLR camera in depth. Not happening overnight, but I feel like I'm slowly getting the hang of some settings..

I am already blessed with four wonderful objects suitable for photographs. Problem is they're not as eager as I am. That's what highchairs are for. Ta da! You're stuck, and I am testing every setting I can think of.... click click click click..

One year olds are officially the best thing on the planet. How squishable and loveable and utterly adorable!!! You can see we trimmed her five strands of bangs - haha... Love it.

That's all for now. Oh, I just realized I managed to forget pictures of the advent candelabras from Sweden that I love. Oh well. This is what one of ours looks like. Without the green stuff. That got wrecked by who knows what kid, years ago.

Christmas is coming...

2011-12-13T22:41:00.000-08:00

...the time is running fast!
And kids are whining every day for this and that!

Nerd rhyming, I know, I know... From now I'll leave the rhyming to Dr Seuss. he did a good job.

As usual, I've been slow at writing on my blog! It's definitely the busiest time of the year. Family, Christmases, friends, crafts etc. I am in a discussion board group on Flickr, and we decided to be each others' secret santas! Through a site called Boogspace, we all signed up & then were secretly assigned the person we had to make something for.
I would blog about what I made and where it was going etc - but it's all secret till the 25th so better not spoil anything!!

The other day the waiting was getting to my kids (and me). I try to make traditions that we do every year, like the candelabras in windows and other Christmas decor, like I mentioned before. Another big thing for my kids has been the chocolate advent calendars! (of course) Well this year I was out waaay late trying to get some, and struck out everywhere. A few days into December, when I had forgot all about the calendars, I ended up finding some at Target! To make life more interesting, I made a "treausre hunt" for the kids. It really was only small index cards with short clues that the oldest one would read to the others. the clues lead them to the next hint, adding a few interactive things like "pick up ten toys each then go to the mudroom"...

The kids were great - with a little help from their pappa..

Some clues took a while to figure out, like the balloon I drew (they had two!) and the one I recorded on a play cell phone, but the whole thing lasted maybe ten minutes, if even that.
They ended in the mudroom where a last sign told them
"GOOD JOB! Now find Mamma!"

That was the best part. They couldn't find me, haha!!
Finally they got some help (I whistled) and found me behing the curtains in the kitchen, with their prizes!
The calendars!!

Since we were a few days in to December already, they got to open all the doors to that day. Quite the day. My oldest lastes maybe half an hour, then came and asked if we could do another treasure hunt?? Like, NOW!!??

I don't know about all of you, but every year I attend at least three or four Christmases. It started this year with "The girls' Christmas", then we'll move on to "Swedish Christmas", "Family Christmas" and "In-laws Christmas". Then we should be done.

Anyway - the girls' Christmas here last night was awesome, of course. There was so much goodies we might have eaten half of it. I made the same recipe of buttermints (pictured above) that I found years back in a "Wonder Time" magazine. It's all powdered sugar, butter, salt and peppermint extract. Then add your coloring and voila! Gorgeous yumminess.

We all brought a gift, and played the "stealing" version of gift opening.

(for all who are lost - this means we all got a number, and #1 opens a gift from the pile first, then #2 can steal #1's gift or open another etc until the end, when #1 gets to steal or keep her gift. A gift can be stolen twice, or you can do a funny show to keep... This is great fun, since all gifts involved are super!)

I was number 1, and stole a friend's opened gift in the end... Hee hee.. I have been looking for so long for the perfect drinking glasses that are the perfect size AND CUTE. Well here we go! I got them! My only wish is that I could find more somewhere.

I have been really, really lazy getting any Spoonflower designs done, but finally cracked open the creative part of my brain again today. The weekly contest due today is "Bells (small print)". I had many many iedas, but was really hoping to try an idea I've had for a long time. I love stark designs that are derived from a photograph. I especially love silverware done in a "old copy machine" looking way. "Cartoonify" it's called in some graphic programs. Anyways - - the photo of the bells on the left ended up being my design on the right! Then I tweaked etc & entered a version in horizontal stripes to the contest. You can view it at http://www.spoonflower.com/designs/893695

A few weeks ago I finally got busy uploading pictures of many, many swatches I have proofed throughout the years! I got more traffic to my Spoonflower profile, and in the end, more sales! I get lazy about this - and today, our camera broke completely, so I only have my cheese phone pictures to upload in the future!

I'll leave you with a photoshow of the swatch collections.

Find them all in my Spoonflower shop!

http://www.spoonflower.com/profiles/mrshervi

Crocheting love!

2011-11-21T14:10:00.000-08:00

Oh-la-laa the skirt is done! Here is a nice pose struck by my little toddler boy... haha..

How fun with polka dots, huh?

My next project was really really quick. Gloves without fingers - for the Kindergartner. I have similar ones that he noticed & thought were "very cool". He wanted some, and at this point anything he chooses to wear for warmth, I will gladly provide. Why is it that all kids get to this stage when outerwear is un-cool? The neighbor kid that is around 10 never wears anything but t-shirt and shorts, sometimes paired with large rainboots. This boy must not have cold-sensors like I do, because it has been frigid here. When it's wet and windy and around 40 degrees - I bundle up in many layers. I realize 40 degrees is NOT super cold - but it really isn't t-shirt weather either.

Anyway.... this 5-year old of mine has decided to finally cave in and wear a coat on top of his t-shirt. Hats are still not quite cool enough. But these fingerless gloves are totally cool.

He picked the colors.

Then the package with yummy color goodness arrived! I didn't realize the yarn weights I had picked were so thin - but the softness and the brightness is awesome. What I got is Comfy Fingering Yarn and Shine Sport Yarn. Extremely soft, both of them.

Now winter has fully arrived. What we call winter in Washington, anyway. Thanksgiving coming right up, and then December with all its goodness. December is the only time of the year when I wish me and my family were in Sweden. Every year. Advent, with all that it brings in Sweden, is glorious over there. Advent candelabras in windows... everywhere! (And neighbors don't ask if you're jewish....)

Lucia - the whole hulabaloo with voting here and there and all over, then seeing Lucia in grocery stores, schools etc... beautiful! And all the Christmas goodies... not that we're in any way lacking goodies for Christmas here in the US - not at all. But certain things from my cihldhood will, of course, always be the best in my mind.

It is weird for me to think that whatever me & my husband do for our children will be their memories & traditions for Christmas. We do have the same white church that plays Silent Night when you wind it up, as we had at my parents' home in Sweden. But then we hang stockings here, which I like but never did growing up. I do buy the advent calendars with chocolate from World Market. They literally have the exact same picture as ours did. Awesome!

I love this time of year, and I love celebrating it with my own little family, creating traditions and memories. Now I need to go find the recipe for buttermints that always hits the spot during the holidays.....

Allright here I go again!!

2011-11-15T12:25:00.000-08:00

Haha me and my insecurities decided to set all pride aside and go ahead and keep blogging. Since I enjoy it.

Starting with MISSONI for Target... I never thought I'd care for this over-the-top craze brand, but I managed to find this one piece for baby on the clearance rack the other month. Size says 6-12 months, and she's not small for her 13months, so the size ran really big.

Anyway... I thought the outfit was cute when I bought it, but now that it's ON her, it's absolutely adorable!! Who can resist fat chub in stripes??? And the colors on those stripes are yummy altogether. LOVE!!

Second, I have to show you something great. It involves, of course, spray paint! I got this awesome barstool from a friend, and it had a cool retro print in brown, yellow and cream. While I did like the print, it really didn't go so much with my kitchen. I didn't think to take a "before" picture, but here is the end result! Spray paint + vinyl/plastic chair = yay!! I painted it the same color as my mirror in the living room. That peacock blue/teal is one of my absolute favorite colors.

And now.... tatatataaaa! Showing some of our bazaar... I know, it's in the past and all, but I thought it might still be fun for you all who missed out. Now you can see, to plan your trip next year. First weekend of November, gals!! This is the yumminess we had going this year:

Very colorful corner..

Talented knitter's corner...

My lastest hobby is crocheting. Found an awesome pattern-store on Etsy (Bonitapatterns), bought a pattern for legwarmers for kids (this one), then changed it around so it was more what I had in mind. These are skinny over-the-knee legwarmers that would be perfect to wear with a skirt & flats. For little girls. And the ruffle at the bottom is what makes them special, of course!

More of the goodness...

And that's all the eye candy you get from the bazaar. We had a great day, did good, and can not wait for next year.

..............................................................................................................................................

So yes... my latest hobby, like I mentioned above, is crocheting. I've known to probably all my life, but it's one of those things I come back to randomly and do it for a wihle till I move back to sewing. Right now, I still don't have a functioning serger, so sewing is not the funnest option. Ever since starting to sew more with stretch knits, and a serger, no other sewing compares.

I am the type that cannot follow recipes without tweaking, don't have the patience to follow sewing patterns, never wait for one coat to dry before I paint the next and so on. I figured out a way to crochet polka dots, and now crocheting is waaay funner! Who doesn't love polka dots??

Not sure why I'm posting a picture of a project that's not even done, but here it is anyway:

It's a skirt that fits my 2.5yo boy great - so it's obviously not meant for my own kids. Fun to make either way. Getting the elastic in at the top, then I'm done. Can always put on Etsy or give away.

And with this awesome bag from Target ($4 or so - many years ago), I can keep all yarn balls contained & my hobby isn't even a mess! Amazing. Pretty, easily contained, ready to pull out anywhere, great project while visiting etc. Heheee I sound like I'm recruiting people for a job. Either way - I ordered a pile of new yarns from Knitpick.com, and can't wait for them to arrive so I can keep being creative. I will post photos of the gorgeousness when it arrives.

So... I am back blogging and it feels good! After the bazaar there's always an empty feeling inside me. I need to find new things to feel creative again. I baked a lemon-scented pull-apart coffee cake last week, and if it was still here I could've told you all about it & posted pics, but I'll try to do that next time I make one. It's worth mentioning!!

Have a grand day. Now I'm off to deal with real life.

Blogland, blogland..

2011-11-10T14:22:00.000-08:00

...sooo... I am back. I haven't written on this blog for over a month - been busy with bazaar and such.
Now I'm stuck with a dilemma. Do I keep this blog going - or do I just let it die a wonderful silent blog death? I know, I know, there is the faithful clan of my sisters who want me to keep going. But really, I will tell you what I do with my life either way.

What I'm not loving is knowing there's all these lurkers - the ones racking up past 8000 views to this blog, but don't give feedback or comment. I am not saying everyone has to comment everytime they view a blog. Not at all. I rarely do. Unless I know the person writing it.
I always feel like a huge nerd, thinking about posting stuff on here that I make. (As if it's really show-worthy! :D) So then to think of all these people that I really know, or sorta know, or are somewhat aquainted to me, reading this, and I wonder what they think! Say something!
I picture people I know reading this (but never commenting), thinking "Oh here she goes again!", while rolling their eyes.

I mean, I COULD just ignore them and keep posting about nerd craft with my kids, Spoonflower designs & news etc, but at this point I feel .... embarrassed? Insignificant person trying to be interesting? Something like that. Then again, I started this blog to just have an outlet for creativity/thoughts/whatever that isn't your standard mom-chore. And only for fun, not to aquire a pile of followers. So I could keep going thinking only that.

I sound like a whiner I'm sure. I just feel stupid at this point to keep a blog going that way too many read & only comment on outside of blogworld.
Soo I leave you with this. The lady is awesome.
http://crappypictures.typepad.com/crappy-pictures/2011/11/guest-posting-today-on-the-feminist-breeder.html

Oh yeah - bazaar projects finally coming along...

2011-09-29T15:36:00.000-07:00

I can't say I have been doing MUCH for the bazaar, but the fact that I've finally started making SOME stuff is fantastic. I saw this wonderful idea a long time ago, and have had it in the back of my mind ever since. I knew that one day I would do something similar.

Early this summer I found this wooden bookshelf at a garage sale ($6).

Of course I forgot to take a "before" picture, but that's fine because this isn't the final result, so you don't get a great "after" picture either.

7 wonderful spray paints, and one can with leftover "oops"paint from Fred Meyer = most cheerful bookshelf ever. I am hoping to paint the gray a darker, more charcoal, gray before actually selling this in the bazaar.

(the colors remind me of Missoni for Target style. Man - I should sell this on ebay for $200...)

I am the type to have threehundred (at least) ideas for bazaars, then never doing any of them until we have a month left and I rush to get stuff done. The stuff that then gets done is usually way different than what I first have in mind - but who's gonna remember that in the bazaar frenzy? :)

Sugar scrubs is one thing I've had on my "want-to-do-someday" list for a while, and this time I actually got some done!

Sugar

Sea Salt
Lemon Zest
Lemon Juice
Essential Oils (lemon & peppermint)
Grapeseed Oil
Vitamin E oil

I mixed & stirred & smelled and ooh-ed and aaah-ed. Lemons are my latest obsession in life - can't get enough of them & especially the smell!! Peppermint has been one of my favorite things since I was waaay little, so the two mixed, with the gorgeous green color from the grapeseed oil, is a winning combination.

I'm making some cute labes & such - but couldn't print today (of course) since cartridges are empty.

I had to whip up another small batch for myself before I hit the hay last night - after using the scrub on my hands they are so soft & smell absolutely divine. Yummmm....

(stay posted for the day after the bazaar when I write how nobody bought my scrubs, and my husband turned allergic to lemons)

On a different, but very familiar, note - I made top ten in the Spoonflower contest this week!

For some reason this blog can't find the flickr photos to post - but the lovely Spoonflower people sewed up my pumpkin pillow & posted pictures on flickr!

See original design here

See flickr photo here

Now I'm off to crochet some (hopefully) for the bazaar. Hoping to make some cute baby stuff - but patience isn't a strong virtue of mine, and this project is more time consuming than I thought... stay posted!! :)

Stroller, Salad, Spoonflower!

2011-09-19T13:56:00.000-07:00

My dream stroller is here!!!
With four kids 5 & under, having the perfect stroller seemed like having a house that stayed clean forever. = impossible dream. Weeelll... I am the type to read reviews for months before I (maybe) buy the item I'm looking for. This time, I had been wishing I had a better stroller for walking the oldest to school. After reading & watching endless reviews, I decided the Bumbleride Indie Twin was my dream stroller, but it doesn't come at a dream price. Or even close to MY dream price.
Craigslist came to the resuce - once again!!
I spent more than I'd planned, but now I have two nice strollers to sell to make up for it!

Posting this as an ode to my best-stroller-ever. (cheeesy!)

The stroller is designed for siblings, not just twins. This makes for an extremely well-balanced stroller. If I lean the seats all the way back, I can actually put the youngest two in the back, the older two in the front, and it's still a breeze to push & steer!! (Not kidding. I had to one day when running late to school. And I managed to jog like this!)
So the seats sit ALL STRAIGHT when at the most forward position. A must for my kids, who haaate to lie back & relax. Most joggers have seats that are tilted back. In these strollers, my kids sit leaning forward trying to see the world.

And then the canopies! Look at them! They are huuuge, cover the kids almost all the way down to the bumber bars! They also unzip in the back so you can tilt them even further forward. Extremely smart.

Here are the middle two kids enjoying the stroller. The kids want to ride in it all day, every day. And for the first time in years, I actually WANT to take them out for walks/stroller rides! Yay for bumbleride!!

Sooo... Fall has arrived. It's really not the beautiful, colorful fall you'd expect at this time of the year, and this week is supposed to hit the 80s again (!), but it's crisper & nice outside & I am loving it.

This is not the season you'd pair with yummy fresh salads, but that's what I've been into lately.

I had a super good simple cucumber salad at my friends a while back, and since then I've been making myself salads for lunch every day.They all start out with cucumber & feta cheese, then the ingredients change from day to day depending on what's in my fridge.

Today's salad was such a hit I thought I'd share it with you.

(Any ingredient can of course be substituted or skipped altogether, but I loved this combo)

Romaine Lettuce

Cucumber

Feta Cheese (crumbled natural)

Apple

Roasted almonds

Fresh basil

Fresh squeezed Lime juice

Salt

Pepper

I really just mixed all the greens & feta, squeezed half a lime over it, added the roasted almonds, salt & pepper & tossed. Mmmmmm.... An apple chunk that's got lime juice all over it - unexpected & delicious!! The basil adds the best flavor, and with feta & lime juice this salads does not need any dressing at all. Juicy & flavorful!

On to my favorite hobby.... Spoonflower! The contest this week is Jack-O-Lantern Plushie. I can't imagine something less interesting to me than Halloween, so it's a huge surprise [for myself] that I even entered! I got an idea and went with it, and I'm liking the result so I entered it.

http://www.spoonflower.com/fabric/763713

The pillow pattern I designed is something I'd love to use myself - with different colors/patterns. Would be a neat decorative pillow. I'm picturing with a button in the middle, kind of like this. (Crazy - I did a search for round pillow button, and found this one. Looks like my idea isn't very original)

Besides designing & pushing stroller around, we've been travelling this weekend. We went to eastern Washington, and I am so in love with the nature there! Makes me feel like I'm in the midwest. LOVE it. Peaceful fields, rolling hills, and an enormous blue sky...

Leaving you with this:

Image from:

http://farol.smugmug.com/Landscapes/Eastern-Washington/5006668_GJk2xd/1/301178410_W4zzN#301178410_W4zzN

Finished Plushie & New Autumn Collection

2011-09-12T14:48:00.000-07:00

I ordered the Plushie for my boy, and I was so pleased it printed almost exactly like it looked on the screen. I keep using Spoonflower's own color chart when I pick the colors, but sometimes there's still a color change in the printing process.

Here's the printed (Fat Quarter; 21"x18") Camping Plushie, and the sewn & glued finished version.

My boy has played with this set e.v.e.r.y. s.i.n.g.l.e. d.a.y. since I sewed it for him. He will carry around the fire in one hand all pieces in the sleeping bag, with all other items, shoved in the sleeping bag, in the other.

Happy when any craft is a big success.

(you can see & order the Camping Plushie HERE)

Then our internet crashed for a few days, and instead of browsing blogs & wasting time drooling on Pinterest, I was actually creative. We had our hottest weekend of the entire year (right after school started - how weird is that?), but I was inside drawing away with my kids' new pipsqueak markers...

Result? A whole new collection for Spoonflower!

view the collection HERE

summers last days

2011-08-23T16:36:00.000-07:00

Summre is fleeting.. This week is actually really nice, even though we had the first rainfall in a long time. But trees are ugly shades of brown, leaves are falling, and the heat just isn't as biting anymore.
One kids will start kindergarten, another preschool... YAY! :)
Despite all complaining I did on what a horrible summer this was, I'm starting to look forward to fall, crisp air, boots, coats and crafting. Feeling more creative would be lovely, too!
I haven't been doing much besides take care of kids & house lately, so this blog is starting to feel pretty pointless.
I started this blog as a hobby, really, where I could also share of my projects, reflections of life and important happenings with friends and family. It's still fun to post stuff, but since the posts are farther and farther between, I'll probably not be putting much effort in keeping this blog going at all. For now, I'll keep it here, but letting y'all know the end is near...

On another note, I haven't been keeping up with designing for Spoonflower much this summer either. Today I managed to enter the "Plushie" contest - yaaay! It's not much of a cuddly plushie I designed, but it's more for my son who is dyyying to get a "camping guy".

Now he keeps asking every fifth minute how long it'll be till he can get the Camping guy. (IF I order it, it'll be a couple weeks at least...)

http://www.spoonflower.com/fabric/731147

Hello heat...oh goodbye heat!

2011-08-11T01:24:00.000-07:00

I didn't fall completely out of blogland - I've been reading the interesting blogs I follow, and made many posts for this blog of my own. In my mind. We got summer. For like a whole week and a half.
The pool got used, we got tan, and the we blinked and fall weather was upon us.

Superhero flying through our backyard...
I cut off sides, sleeves and front of an old t-shirt. Left the neck part (cut in the middle front) to tie it. Instant cape.

Our soon-to-be preschooler is very in to princesses.

I made a crown. She was Ariel.

Extremely fancy!

I took the canopy [that never stayed in the ceiling above my girl's bed] and hung it from a tree in the backyard. We put down a few blankets underneath, and the kids read books and played in a "Princess bed" for a few days.

Sometimes the Princess bed was the perfect place for an afternoon nap..

I found this cute face on the electrical box in front of our house. Hello, stoneface!

...that was all I have to say. Haven't been very creative lately - our baby learned how to crawl so there goes any calm that was left. I'm oddly enough looking forward to crafting and sewing in the fall. ...and fall is right around the corner. Gorgeous berries glowing in the backyard now...

I remember picking these at home in Sweden when I was little. Mom would make jelly from them. They say "home" to me.

A roof for the fort!

2011-07-18T22:46:00.000-07:00

These happy campers (?) have a large play structure in a corner of our backyard. All thanks to previous houseowners who left it.

Well we love it - and it's getting lots of use! Nothing is broken - there's two normal swings, a toddler swing and a tire swing under a fort. The fort part has the wooden bars for a roof - these forts usually have the canvas type roofs - but te actual canvas/roof was never there since we lived here.

I kept meaning to make one.

Well today a brilliant idea made the roof happen - in about 10 minutes, cost $5, and it's rainproof! :)

What you need:

#1 One shower curtain - bought long time ago for $5. It's the vinyl kind - and it came with large C-shaped hooks.
#2 One sewing machine.

Cut the shower curtain in half right down the center. Put parts right sides together, and sew the bottom together to make one loooong piece with the holes (for the hooks) on each end.

Snap to fort! (first I tried to tie it with string, but the vinyl tore. Then I tried the hooks - and it worked great!!

mishmash attire

2011-07-06T21:15:00.000-07:00

Slugs and snails and puppy dog tails

...that's what this little boy is made of :)

But his super cute outfit is made by "Aggie" over at mishmash!

Maybe you remember this coat she made & I snatched it up before it ended up on wrong hands at our bazaar?? Well she's still making wonderful things.

Upcycling, recycling, bicycling... whatever..

Her shop at Etsy is getting fuller - make sure you check it out!!

click on tempting picture below to get there.

Check this fun outfit out! I love the colors - my boy loves the cute bear (dog? cat?) on the front, and the comfiness.

Fantastic days - summer is here!!! (and swatches from Spoonflower!)

2011-07-06T20:53:00.000-07:00

I got a yard of stretch knit plus a swatch sampler from Spoonflower last week. It's been a long time since I got a real piece of fabric from there, and their quality plus my pattern skills have probably both improved :)

This helicopter fabric is part of the Baby Boy collection over at Spoonflower.
(The fabric ended up with this lady over here)

The swatches were proofs for two different collections. One featuring gumball machines and one with birds in bold colors.

And also swatches to proof random contest designs. Since I started using Spoonflower's own color sampler, most every color has turned out exactly how I want it. Yay!

What's more terrific than swatches from Spoonflower is the fact that SUMMER IS TOTALLY HERE!!

Sharing the feeling...

football with dad

My favorite... summer evenings... the light when the sun is below the houses around us, so we can't see it, but it gives everything a warm glow...

Sun is setting and kids are cuddling up in towels after splashing all day...

and this pool is where I wish I spent all day :)

Have actually used it a few times already = supersummerperfectness!!

and after the day is done and kids are in bed, this is my new favorite place to relax. (after all the picking up & dishes & bottles & pj's & prayers & sweeping etc. you know.)
My mother in law found the red chair (TULLSTA chair from IKEA) at the Goodwill outlet for $15! Score~! The other stuff I had/moved from other rooms, so I finally got the cozy seating area in the kitchen, like I wanted.

I am loving the season, even if it's so busy. Our 4th of July was the greatest ever. We took the kids to a huge park (Alderbrook Park, 10 from where we live) where they had train rides, pedal boats, horse rides, bounce castles, clown and magician, food to feed fish, pirate boat for climbing ETC in the most beautiful park with huge lawns, nice walkways, lush trees and a pretty lake.
Kids loved it, and we did too.
In the evening the girls stayed with grandma while we took the boys to Vancouver Fort to watch the annual firework show. The weather has been so great - just around 80 - since the beginning of July, so everything was ideal.

I'm really gonna enjoy this while it lasts - after this lousy spring following last year's fiasco!! SUN! YAY!!

Indians schmindians

2011-06-28T22:44:00.000-07:00

We had a couple warm days, but of course as I'm writing this the rain is back haunting us again.

Well, the kids managed to spend an amazing amount of hours outside, enough where they actually got bored & started fighting out there.

Normally, riding bikes is such eternal fun I don't have to entertain them with any outdoor games, but I guess I'll have to start.

My oldest son came in and said they were indians. And what names did indians have anyway?

He had lots of questions and wanted to know how to be a better indian.

Weeellll.... I was kinda busy so I had to think fast. And it worked.

A few snips with the scissors - perfect prop. Headband. Instant indians.

Here we have: Smiling Tiger

(trying to look tough for picture)

...and here: Smart Cheetah!

Laughing Bear was sleeping.

But we had one more willing to take on the role as an idian:

(not sure of name)

My dear husband of course wondered what cheetahs and tigers had to do with INDIANS (since we're not talking the Asian ones but native American ones...).

I guess they just rated highest on the coolest-animals list.

Not the longest post but this simple prop gave my kids extreme imagination & confidence in their indian personalities - for hours of fun - so I figured I should share.

Bewinged

2011-06-22T20:56:00.000-07:00

Monday was free shipping day over at Spoonflower. I had a bit of Spoondollars in my account over there, so I took advantage of the deal and ordered fabric.
I got a swatch collection of 15 new designs to proof the colors before I can put them up for sale. Some of them were just random contest entries, but what I am most excited about is a completely new collection I made. I call it "Bewinged", a pun on the popular "Bejeweled", since I used jewel tones for my colors.

Here's a collage of snapshots....
(I have since this collage was made edited some of the designs but you get the idea)

Click Here to view the entire collection.

Now I'm anxiously waiting for the swatches to arrive. I'll post photos of them when they do.
Now back to dealing with crabby kids.......

Summer days...

2011-06-21T23:50:00.000-07:00

It took forever, but now it looks like summer arrived - even in Washington!!!
Between weddings & company staying here & birthdays & being lazy, this blog has been left in the dust.
Well I really haven't been creating any fantastic things to show off (though I did make a new collection for Spoonflower - but will post that when I get the swatches in the mail), so I'll have to make up for lack of words with pictures....

I had my morning coffee outside ... the most glorious thing in the world. Perfect air.

Kids watching the garbage truck(s) coming through our cul-de-sac.
This is the highlight of Fridays - do not miss!

And here is the gorgeous flower basket my husband got me for my birthday.

...more flowers... this one growing in our garden. Thank you, old houseowners, for planting pretty flowers for me to enjoy!

Our kids live on their bikes. The other night my friend counted ten - yes, TEN - bikes/trikes in our front yard. Did I mention we have three kids old enough to ride them??

The gray cul-de-sac made for a cool backdrop getting pics of wild child on bike.

Waiting for summer.

2011-06-02T14:50:00.000-07:00

We're still waiting for summer to arrive in the pacific northwest. We actually have yet to see a nice spring - but at this point, we realize it's too late for that to happen. We're in JUNE!!

The garage sale was a success, and I'm loving the empty, clean garage! Time to go second hand shopping to fill it again! Just kidding. I don't have time for that. (but my MIL found me the perfect chair at as-is (Goodwill outlet, you buy from huge bins & pay by the pound. Check out aggie's mishmash blog for sweet finds)

This find was a whoopin' $15!!

They sell this TULLSTA chair at IKEA for around $100.

I'm delighted. It looks like new - with a little dust added, but a good cleaning will take care of that.

Our toddler boy finally moved into the big-boy bunk bed, so we got the mini crib in our bedroom. This is how baby's nook turned out - I'm loving the colors!

The orange in the blanket & sheet goes great with the rest of the room.

Well I'm trying to get a room ready for a girl coming to stay with us for the summer. And then I got some huge new ideas... More on that at a later time..