craftee mcgee

Dead Wake: a review

2015-04-01T01:14:00.000-05:00

Recently I received a free copy of Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania to read and review. I was thrilled to read another book by Erik Larson; ever since reading Devil in the White City, I have devoured everything he has written. Dead Wake, happily, did not disappoint! Larson clearly did painstaking research and it shows; from the contents of Lusitania passengers' luggage and their outfits to the thoughts of the submarine captain, the story comes alive in the details. We meet individual passengers, hear their backstory and then must wait to see who lives and who dies. As Larson takes you from the doomed ship to the hunting submarine, it is easy to get lost in the thriller and start to hope for a different outcome for the passengers of the Lusitania. In the end though, the story comes full circle as we read the aftermath of the sinking, on a personal and global scale.This book did what good historical narratives ought to do, it made me want to learn more about World War I and the events surrounding the sinking of the Lusitania. If you want to learn more about the sinking of the Lusitania than the few facts you learned long ago in History 101, pick up Dead Wake- you won't be able to put it down, even with the foregone conclusion ahead of you.

UPDATE: black gold: cold press iced coffee

2014-07-30T19:20:00.000-05:00

UPDATE SUMMER 2014: this recipe makes ready to drink iced coffee, NOT a concentrate. for a concentrate, simply follow the same procedure but use 1/3 cup coffee beans (whole) to 1 1/2 cups of water.

i'm putting my coffee snob hat back on today to teach you about a little secret: cold press iced coffee. iced coffee gets a bad name for itself, with its watered down wimpy taste, but not cold press. it's magical, smooth and delicious. black gold. cold press coffee is brewed cold for a long period of time so it's never hot and never needs ice. this is the way caribou makes their iced coffee and it's a trade secret i've never forgotten!

the cast of characters:

(will make one gallon)

6 oz coffee

1 gallon cold water

metal filter

giant spoon

plastic wrap

2 (1) gallon pitchers

the process:

first tip: make this at night. it's going to brew for 12 hours so if you start at night it will be ready in the morning (and NOT the middle of the night)

weigh out your coffee. i use my trusty postal scale. add a jar or bowl and then zero out the scale.

you'll need six ounces of coffee. aren't those beans just beautiful?

set your grinder to coarse and grind up your beans.

same grind you would use for french press. (french press...cold press...get it?)

you'll end up with big beautiful coarse pieces of coffee. dump the coffee into your one gallon pitcher.

add enough water to cover the grinds & stir the mixture. fill the pitcher with water. you want to make sure the water goes all the way to the one gallon line, so the coffee will come to the very top of the pitcher.

cover the mixture & set it out on your counter for 12-16 hours.

less than 12 hours and the coffee won't have its full flavor.

more than 16 and it will start to taste bitter.

this does not need to be refrigerated but shouldn't be left in the sun.

wait patiently for 12-16 hours.

if you're smarter than me you'll make this at night and spend most of that time happily asleep. i was not so smart, so i had to strain my coffee at 2:00am. i'm sorry for the terrible pictures!

after 12 hours, a lot of the coffee will have floated to the top. use a giant spoon and remove as much of it as you can. once you touch the mound of grinds with the spoon, they will start to settle back to the bottom, so you only have one shot to get as much as you can!

pour the rest of your sludgy mixture through a metal coffee filter into your second one gallon pitcher.

(a strainer lined with a paper filter will work but the end result won't be nearly as delicious. if your coffee maker didn't come with one of these guys in it, go out and spend the $3. you won't be sorry.)

this part is tricky to photograph and do all at the same time and since this was 2:00 am my usual photographer was fast asleep! i also didn't yet own two one gallon pitchers so there was a lot of container shuffling. basically a giant mess.

here it is in all its glory! cold press iced coffee. store it in an airtight container (caribou uses this one and we do too!) in your fridge & enjoy!

cold press iced coffee tastes best when enjoyed black. drunk from a mason jar. with a green straw.

also delicious: half & half and a little bit of white chocolate syrup.

linked up here & here!

Easter Printables

2013-03-27T22:35:00.000-05:00

it's spring break here in the woods, so things have been slow at church. on a particularly slow day earlier this week i decided to play around with some text for the cover of our Easter Sunday bulletin.

once i had something i loved i couldn't stop and created two versions and multiple colorways and now i've decided to share them with you!

the first is the lyrics to my favorite Easter hymn, Christ the Lord is Risen Today.

the second is the verse we had our Fun Club kids memorize last week, Matthew 28:6.

oh and a chalkboard version just for fun!

so here they are for you! click the links below for the pdfs in each colorway. you can also right click and save the picture files in this post, but there are more options with the pdfs.

they are all 8.5 x11 paper. the chalkboard will print out at a full 8x10 and the colorful text can be trimmed to either 8 x10 or 5 x7.

Christ the Lord is Risen Today

Blue/Green Orange/Grey/Blue Pastels Sunset Chalkboard

Matthew 28:6 PDFs available here:

Blue/Green Orange/Grey/Blue Pastels Sunset

i printed out a set of these for the office at church and set for home plus a few to give as quick Easter gifts with some delicious chocolate bunnies. (sidenote: have you seen those commercials about giving toys for Easter instead of chocolate? i find them odd. i will be eating chocolate bunnies on Sunday...)

so print them out, hang them in your home or your office and celebrate the resurrection of our Savior!

Happy Easter friends!

pardon our dust

2013-03-27T12:40:00.001-05:00

it's been too, too long since anything showed up over here on the blog. life has been crazy (working three jobs will do that) and the blog wasn't high on the priority list. but things have settled down a bit and i have some fun things in store for the shop(s) in the near future so i thought i'd come back to this little space. but since i'm here i'm planning on freshening things up a little bit. so i'll be back soon with something fun, hopefully an easter printable (or eight...) by the end of the day!

2012-08-15T00:05:00.002-05:00

i'll be back next week- just in time for my 28th birthday- for now i'm off to camp!

instaFriday!

2012-07-20T12:03:00.000-05:00

this week things have quieted down a little bit. i'm getting used to life all alone in the church office since our associate pastor moved last week. thankfully it shouldn't be for too long, since our senior pastoral candidate is visiting this week and he seems like a great fit for our church!

we attended a potluck meal with the pastor and his family which meant coming up with something pretty to feed everyone!

enter beautiful rainbow fruit salad. grapes, blueberries, honeydew, kiwi, banana, mandarin oranges, strawberries, raspberries and tiny marshmallows {which make any fruit salad better} it stayed beautiful for the first 5 minutes and then was a mixed up pile of deliciousness.

also on the menu this week were breakfast for dinner {dutch baby pancakes with peaches} and my go to work snack {oat squares & bittersweet chocolate chips}. yum!

after being m.i.a. for a while the deer have been visiting a lot this week.

sometimes the pup thinks maybe she wants to be friends with the little deer and the deer occassionally think this might be okay, right up until the moment where maddie decides she wants to play!

that lil lady in the bottom right decided to follow me to the mailbox and then block my route back to the house yesterday afternoon. i'm happy to see deer in the yard, but secretly i'm afraid one will try to box me so i'm much happier watching them from the deck than being in up close and personal!

more crocheting this week!

i'm continuing work on the giant blanket. when i started the project for our bedroom we only had a full size bed, since then we have upgraded to a king so the blanket got huge! it will probably take me years to complete, especially since i discovered i had a calculation wrong and have to do double the squares i had written down. oops...

another tiny baby gift in the works- flip flops!

seriously in love with this pattern from two girls patterns.

and finally a little something i'm cooking up for the shop for this fall! think cozy home accessories!

a little real life ridiculousness for you! my second job for the summer is at lick-a-dee splitz scooping ice cream & making various desserts and i absolutely love it! after sitting {mostly} by myself at church all day it's a welcome change to be around lots of happy people at the ice cream shop. this pic is me on my dinner break in the back room. such a happy place to work!

most of the time up here thrifting is a jackpot full of treasures but there's always the scary scary stuff that just begs to have it picture taken and then be left alone!

things i passed up this week include a bucket o dog sweaters, a giant neon snowmobile suit and scary wig lady over there. luckily there were some treasures to be found, but those will be in their own post soon!

have a wonderful weekend. any exciting plans? my good friend katie from food, wine and mod podge happens to be coming up to the woods this weekend so i'm going to spend saturday morning with her before heading in to lickadee for the evening!

linking up over here with jeannett again!

#iliveinthewoods

2012-07-18T17:33:00.001-05:00

i live in the woods.

for real. i live waaaaaay the heck up here. practically canada.

{not really. practically the upper peninsula of michigan. or practically lake superior.
i wish it was practically canada!}

we moved up here from the suburbs of chicago and to say life is different in the woods would be an understatement!
in so many ways life up here is a wonderful change of pace.
i get to live where people come on vacation!
we are surrounded on all sides by lakes.
we can leave our doors unlocked- people leave their cars running at the grocery store.
winters, while long, are full of outdoor activities.
vintage abounds up here! no seriously...everything is old & no one cares. jackpot!

clockwise from top left: i do love that hodag, sunset from a pontoon boat, our pup's first swim of the year, and the morning we woke up to 20 inches of snow!

other parts of living up here are...odd.

that giant monster i'm kissing up there? that's a hodag. he'll be getting his own post soon, but just as an intro- he went from being a mythical beast invented by a hunter to the high school mascot and unofficial mascot of the northwoods. our old hodag is even making its tv debut on an episode of scooby doo in august!

taxidermists outnumber coffee shops.

nothing is open past 5...except the bars.

kids ride to school on snowmobiles.

we have bonfires on frozen lakes.

my husband carries his chainsaw in the back of his jeep- and actually uses it.

walmart is 40 minutes away. target is an hour and 40 minutes.

so is a mall. unless you consider a bank, coffee shop & verizon store a mall {our town does}

clockwise from top left: all bundled up for the pond hockey tournament, a vintage find ($2!), hubby taking care of a random tree, and the newest taxidermist in town.

so, welcome to #iliveinthewoods!

a new series that will give a peek into my quirky wonderful life in the middle of nowhere!

instaFriday

2012-07-13T13:08:00.002-05:00

what a week it has been!

last weekend i went to my first northwoods ski show.
we dog sat for maddie's boyfriend bear.

we said goodbye to dear friends and prayed them off to utah on monday.

i made yet another maxi skirt. this one is stripey!
i ate a delicious and terrible for me dinner of bundles of joy on tuesday.

i have a secret project in the works. clues are below & all will be revealed tomorrow!

i scored some sweet vintage finds this week including a 60s sewing table & machine on wednesday.
i've been trying to soak up every minute of summer in between my two jobs.

i finished a set of custom order ADORABLE baby booties for one happy grandma on thursday.

{yes i definitely do custom orders- email me for info!}

brandon and i were blessed with a last minute sunset boat ride last night to round out date night!

i love where we live and i love where he works.

i'll be linking up over here with jeannett and her beautiful new baby boy!

hello oregon!

2012-04-27T03:01:00.001-05:00

this is the way to road trip! taking a 9 hour drive and breaking it up over two days is restful and fun! we left the bay area a little after noon yesterday and drove up to weed, ca. yep weed.

we stayed in this super exciting & classy comfort inn.

i dubbed this the blogging chair. it was the least sketchy chair in the room.

on the way up we stopped in dunsmuir and ate dinner at the dunsmuir brewery works. what a great find! good food and great beer (says hubby- my two sips were tasty!)

after dinner we the crazy little Curiosity Shop where i bought vintage jewelry and buttons. it was the strangest collection of stuff i've seen in one store in a long time and more than a little sketchy but i got lots of buttons & bead & vintage earrings for $6!

Dunsmuir Brewery Works. Beer for him, root beer for me!

we finished up the drive today with a quick four hours up to sisters. we got to catch up with old friends over great coffee and meet new friends over great beer (and fish & chips!)

Three Creeks Brewing, Sisters, OR

i am so excited to be here this weekend for robyn and tex's wedding. robyn is such a blessing in my life and has been since the moment we met. to see her with tex makes my heart smile; God has blessed her with a wonderful man and i am so honored to be a part of the ceremony that will join them as husband and wife! i'll be back after the weekend with pictures from alcatraz, more snap recap and fun stories of this beautiful wedding weekend & our last little getaway before the summer of chaos begins.

did i mention the hotel upgraded us to a jacuzzi/fireplace suite?! the perfect little surprise to end our time away just the two of us!

love these girls. LOVE!

just be you!

2012-04-26T03:20:00.000-05:00

SNAP! has come and gone.

i'm not quite back to real life since we've continued our trip out west.

we've had some time with b's family, i've gotten to squeeze our adorable nephew,

we visited alcatraz (picture heavy post coming soon)

and now we're headed north for a dear friend's wedding.

through all of this excitement i've been processing what i learned at SNAP.

i'll do a few detailed posts later this week or next week when i get home but

i just want to share a few of the things swirling in my head.

the theme of the conference was

Just Be You

necklace generously given to all the attendees by the wonderful amy cornwell

i have had to just stop there and think.

just be you is wonderful.

we are all unique.

gifted & talented in different ways.

no matter how many craft bloggers and shop owners are out there

we are each

different.

beautiful.

unique.

there is no need to compare ourselves to other, bigger shops or bloggers.

there's no need to try to be something we're not.

just be you.

here's the thing.

i've had a hard time lately figuring out how to be me.

there was a time,

before the depression

that i knew exactly who i was and it was easy.

easy to live as i was created to live.

i spent a time living in a thick darkness

where i hardly knew who i was or what i was doing.

the depression has lifted {most days} but a fog lingers.

a fog that keeps me from seeing exactly just who i am

and getting back to who i was.

so the thing swirling around in my head right now is

just be you!

but how?

wow, so that got heavier than expected.

let's end on a happy note!

SNAP! was a wonderful time,

a refreshing weekend away from a life that is draining,

full of people who understand me.

i ate delicious food.

i collected all the bacon from the people who didn't like it. more for me!

i was inspired to grow.

i stayed up late and laughed til i cried with these beautiful ladies.

how's that for a quick little post?

more later about all i learned and the beautiful ladies i spent time with!

also...i took about 4 pictures with my real camera so

if you were at SNAP! pleaaaase go upload your pictures

to the flickr group! sharing is caring!

and we're off!

2012-04-18T10:36:00.000-05:00

vacation! it couldn't have come at a better time. with hubby set to student teach in the fall {full time hours. zero dollars.} we are both planning on working a 2nd job this summer. the impending financial situation and long hours apart have us a little stressed out so we are so excited to get away. our trip actually starts with a few days apart. i'm on a plane right now headed for SNAP! Creativity At Your Fingertips, a handmade blogging & biz conference in salt lake city. {sitting next to the world's worst airplane sleeper. i've been knocked into 6+ times and he's floppin all over the place!} i'm so excited to hug these girls and meet new friends! i was going to link to my post about meeting wonderful people at creative estates last year but i was a super deadbeat and didn't write one. that will NOT happen this year.

while i head to utah, hubby is flying home to the bay area where i will join him on sunday. he'll be going to giants games, riding his bike all over the bay area and catching up with some friends. after the conference i fly to california and we spend a few days there in which i will be hanging out with this guy as much as possible.

dear ezekiel, please stop growing when aunt jacqui & uncle b aren't around to see it. thanks!

also eating a lot of frozen yogurt.

also we're going to alcatraz! hooray!! that's the one touristy thing i've always wanted to do when we visit b's family but it hasn't worked out until now. we're doing the night tour which is supposed to be extra fabulous and probably kinda scary. and awesome.

{source}

then b & i are driving up to sisters oregon for the wedding of this dear friend.

yeah we're weirdos. and that's why we love each other.

b & i are so excited to have some time by ourselves and to take a day or two to drive up to oregon. hooray random road trip adventures & hotels paid for by the inlaws. i'm also so grateful for the opportunity to be involved in this wedding, and cannot wait to stand up and read the Word of God at this blessed ceremony. plus the bachelorette party, pedicures, rehearsal dinner & getting to hug these two are all reasons to be very excited!

i'll be tweeting and facebooking up a storm while i'm gone. and probably filling your instagram feed with pictures of the fun. follow along here, here and here!

insta-friday: down & back again

2012-04-14T09:55:00.000-05:00

soo this is actually a little over a week. from the weekend of palm sunday until now. i've been down to chicagoland twice in the past week. two weeks ago i went down for a baby shower for one of my oldest friends.

friends since elementary school. congratulations crystal jean! we missed you heather!

whenever i'm home i make sure to eat all the food we don't have up here in the woods. lets be honest, that's anything besides mcdonalds or subway so my options are endless.

from the top: enchiladas, frozen yogurt, midnight run to spunky dunkers,
tj's amazing almonds, pad thai, and breakfast for dinner (that one was local)

in between trips to civilization i got a lot done in the studio this week- from organizing to new projects to some unrestricted creative fun (hooray!)

Someone recently passed along a big box of vintage costume jewelry and I've spent much of the week clipping and sorting and playing around giving all these pieces new life. i love that each piece is unique and one of a kind. yep...those mean the same thing.

Another one of these is in progress. I'll blog about it when it's all done!

New skirt & scarf! Second attempt at the maxi. Should have used this fabric the first time. Instead I was silly & used my nice stuff from my Mood Fabrics groupon...and it doesn't quite fit. Boo.

Changing up some of the hoops on the wall. The "create" and the stitched doodle are being carried over from the old grouping because I love them and they were a lot of work, but everything else is fresh & new!

Finally getting the pegboard up and functional. When we moved into this house we weren't sure how long we'd be here so I never really organized. After a year & a half I decided my sanity was worth it even if I have to pack things up in a month!

also in the last week- baseball returned! hooray! baseball is really my first love. long before i met my own baseball player i loved the game. i was ryne sandberg for halloween when i was 4. my dad taught me to keep score and took me to cubs games. they break my heart every year but i can't live without them. stupid cubs. also there are the magic pants. right hannah?

I don't need to be at the game to keep score! This was at my desk while listening to the radio!

We did get to go to a game while we were in Chicago. It's been a really long time since my whole family went to a game and it was wonderful. Sure they lost (the bullpen melted down, surprise, surprise) but a day at Wrigley with my love & my family really is perfect- especially when it's 60 & sunny! I've been to games at Wrigley in April in the snow. Or horrible freezing rain.

We love baseball!

we went to the easter service at willow. it feels huge to me now for the first time in a long time. since i grew up at this church as was in a small group with the same people for almost 10 years it never felt big. now that i've moved away and work at a church of 120 people and they've built a new auditorium, this just feels huge! it is always a blessing to be back though, the easter service was a beautiful mix of music, spoken word and artistic moments that conveyed the message of the Gospel so clearly!

Easter Sunday at my home church. Yep, it's big!

after church we had our usual april birthday celebration with my family. my nana's birthday is the 18th, my dad's is the 17th and papa's was the 6th so every year we do all the april birthdays plus easter as one big celebration!

Happy Birthday Dad Man! I found him that vintage Quaker Whiskey bottle to use when he teaches Quaker University at work (he's a chemical engineer for Quaker Oats!)

again i'll leave you with the weekly picture of the pup.

since we don't have kids she gets her picture taken a lot. a lot, a lot.

found a happy spot in the sun!

as usual, i'm linking up over here with jeannett!

insta-friday

2012-03-30T12:27:00.000-05:00

so here's what happened this week. warning- lots of food pictures ahead!

basil pesto and my new favorite pasta variety. gemelli. google tells me that it's two strands of pasta twisted together which explains why it's a little more substantial. and delicious. making the pesto made me long for summer when i could pick basil out on the porch instead of paying an arm and a leg for it at the store. come on summer!

friday night is crafty ladies night at my house.

i started having weekly get-togethers with women from the area this winter when it was dark and dreary and lonely up here in the woods. plus it was before Christmas and we all had gifts to finish up.

these nights are now the best part of my week. sometimes it's 9 or 10 of us and sometimes it's just me and my friend jen but every week it is an inspirational time of fun and fellowship.

and it wouldn't be a party without fruit dip! this fruit dip recipe is special, it's not your usual marshmallow fluff dip...oh no, it's special. recipe coming soon!

here we are in the middle of craft night last week.

painting, sewing, crocheting and bunny making. there's always wine, desserts and often 90s pop music. sweet hubby banishes himself to the basement with the pup and rides his bike on the rollers while watching the tour of somewhere european.

these friday nights are such a blessing to me!

lake michigan whitefish tacos! beer battered and served with cilantro, lime and pineapple. kind of amazing.

i bought this fabulous little green vintage watch a few years ago for $1 because it didn't work and i finally got around to replacing the battery. hooray for telling time!

our few weeks of summer are gone and we're back to our usual spring weather- cold and wet. perfect for tomato basil soup and grilled cheese. the soup recipe is a new one i found on pinterest. and it was delicious!

i've started pulling out all my vintage finds for cataloging and pricing in order to list them in the new little shop: northwoods vintage. these dishes are going to be hard to part with! i found the whole set and love them, but can i really justify having a set of autumn dishes? i think i can!

i'll leave you with this one. jedi pup is such a weirdo. but we sure do love her!

linking up over here with jeannett!

instaFriday: hello february!

2012-02-10T16:20:00.000-06:00

oh look, here i am, back on my blog. shocking i know. it's been a rough couple weeks around here and i've struggled to keep up with everything so if you're waiting on something from me, i'm sorry and i'm almost there!

my grandpa passed away last saturday. he lived a long, full life and died peacefully at home at the age of 88. when he was diagnosed with lung cancer this last year he decided not to undergo any treatment and faced the cancer head on. we don't often see my dad's side of the family so the funeral was a sweet chance to be with family. my dad shared memories of grandpa at the funeral and was able to life the spirits of everyone there. the day was long and hard, but everything went as well as it possibly could have.

the funeral was 4 1/2 hours away downstate so brandon and i left early, early wednesday morning to be there by 10:00 am. honestly, i slept for the first few hours while b drove, but i woke up to a beautiful sunny day.

wisconsin farmland

can i live on a farm? please?

since we were already down in civilization we made a few stops on the way back (hello target!) and did a little shopping. while we were at joann's i found some happy fleece remnants and decided to make a few new tug-of-war toys for the pup. i made a few when she was a puppy and they're just shredded balls of fleece now. she still tries to play fetch with them, but they're kinda gross. hello cute replacements!

"uhhh mom, you made me look over there, but there's nothing there"

sunset in the woods

i'm trying to be more intentional about telling brandon the things i appreciate about him. he does so much around the house and i don't always notice or acknowledge it. i am so thankful that he brings in wood for the furnace and makes the coffee every morning and does the dishes when i cook- all while working on his masters. so enter the tiny mailbox of loooove. i found this beauty in the $1 section at target and now it lives in our kitchen. if the flag is up that means there's a little token of love inside!

you've got mail!

i'm always on the hunt for vintage jewelry that can be turned into something else. turns lots of giant, hideous clip on earrings make beautiful cocktail rings.

my current favorite cocktail ring!

i'm in a valentines-y kind of mood lately so i've had my valentine's day mugs on rotation. this one is my very favorite. a little bit sassy, just like me!

today is also my wonderful father in law's birthday. not that you read this, but happy birthday bob! you are a blessing to me and so many others!

i'm linking up over here with jeannett!

thankful...and a sale (or 3)!!

2011-11-24T15:56:00.001-06:00

happy thanksgiving! i am spending today baking pies and stuffing myself with turkey surrounded by my family. i am so thankful for our ability to drive down and be with family. i'm thankful that my sweet nana is here for another year to share this day with us. i'm thankful for the relationship my husband and my dad have- they spent this morning out on a long bike ride together. i'm grateful that i can sit and write this in a warm house while we wait for more food than we need to be ready to eat. i'm thankful for a little sister who is going to brave toys r us with me tonight to look for a gift for my husband (yes...toys r us...for my 28 year old hubby!). i'm thankful for my parents who have hosted thanksgiving as long as i can remember. i'm so thankful for my sweet hubby who stopped to get me coffee after his ride today (none. in. the. house.) and thankful for the people at caribou who worked today so i could have that coffee. i've been there and working holidays was no fun (though tips were always better!).

i'm also so thankful for the opportunity to be craftee mcgee and to run my little shop. i'm thankful for each person who buys from me to allow me to keep doing what i do. and this weekend i'm hoping to make it a little easier to buy from the shop. sale time!

black friday
starting at midnight (pacific) tonight the black friday sale will go live. all day tomorrow you'll get 25% off your whole order with the code BLACKFRIDAY11. use it to buy that statement necklace you've been eyeing or one of my new cozy crochet products!

small business saturday
all day saturday (and probably sunday too!) receive a free pair of charm earrings with any purchase over $20. just put the charm that you'd like in the message to seller and i'll add the earrings to your order. any charm earring in the shop is eligible and i can make earrings from any of the reCharm options!

cyber monday
all day monday receive free {domestic} shipping on any order. just use the code CYBERMONDAY to receive the discount. original i know...
the free earrings offer is still available today! just enter your choice of charms in the message to seller!

MOVEMBER
this month brandon has been growing out his 'stache to help raise money and awareness for men's health issues. i tried to grow a mustache of my own and failed (thank goodness) so i'm offering these fabulous mustache charm earrings.

they're $8.50 shipped and 50% of the proceeds from these earrings will go directly to movember. i'm not putting them in the shop so that more of the money can go towards the cause so send me a quick note with your email address & i'll invoice you directly through paypal!

just to help you plan your shopping the turnaround time right now is 4-6 business days and our Christmas Order Deadline is Monday December 12th. thanks to all who help keep this little shop running. i really am so grateful for each order.

what i wore wednesday: halloween edition

2011-11-02T01:54:00.000-05:00

i'd know that silhouette anywhere!

Mary Poppins!

yes, it's true. i'm linking up for my very first what i wore wednesday over at lindsay's lovely blog. i keep meaning to link up but clearly i have a blogging problem (in that i don't blog) so here i am! when i saw a picture from this post floating around the internet somewhere (probably pinterest) i knew that this is who we needed to be for halloween! mary poppins is my favorite movie of all time. i have the whole thing memorized and could watch it over and over. my mom used to rent the movie AND a VCR so that i could watch it because i loved it so much. between mary poppins and the sound of music, julie andrews was my hero by the time i was 8! i can't believe i have never thought to dress as mary before!

Photo credit: Disney via imdb.com

when i first saw the inspiration photo i thought this would be an easy costume because so much of mary's outfit (and bert's) are staple wardrobe pieces. i had black tights & shoes, the white shirt and a black coat. i happened to have a vintage grey wool skirt that i had picked up at goodwill a while ago that fit the outfit perfectly! brandon already owned a black shirt & pants and a vest. easy.

the thing i had forgotten about were all of mary's many accessories. you can't be mary without a black hat or a carpet bag. and the parrot! i searched high & low for just the right black hat and couldn't find one! this hat was a big, wide hat that i cut down to be the perfect size. i glued on the ribbon and some berries (spray painted) and daisies from the dollar store.

my original plan for the gloves was to bleach the gloves i wore to prom, but they didn't bleach. so instead of wearing green gloves, i found these wool gloves at the last minute at goodwill.

"to carry carpets in?" "no, made of"

carpet bags are very hard to find! i ended up finding a bag just the right size and shape at...where else...goodwill! and the fabric was from an earlier thrifting trip. i killed me to cut the piece i got in half. the roman numerals on the selvedge tell me this gorgeous fabric is from 1965. i was able to cut it directly in half and attach it temporarily to the bag so i could use it again. not sure what it will be, pillows maybe?

the bow tie was a simple little red piece of ribbon. i glue a safety pin on when i glued the center strip. that helped me pin my ruffly shirt closed to look like it had a high collar.

and of course i couldn't stop there! i needed a scarf. a real, lacy, open mary poppins scarf so i ordered some perfectly shaded yarn & started to crochet. unfortunately i didn't start until a couple days before halloween and tiny hooks & lace weight yarn take forever. my scarf was much narrower & shorter than i would have liked but it definitely looked like mary's! i think i'll add to it since i still have two cones of yarn!

and last but not least the umbrella! i was kicking myself for not buying the umbrella when i went to the broadway show in chicago last year, but since i didn't i had to make my own! i found a plain black umbrella for $5 at walmart. (yes we really only have walmart and goodwill up here. also a kohl's, but it was out of the halloween budget!). i grabbed some felt from my stash and cut out this little parrot based on a sketch i found online of the original movie prop. i sewed it together and stuffed it with a handfull of fiberfill. he got stuck to the umbrella handle with electrical tape and then i added the beak, eyes and feathers with more felt. this guy might be my very favorite part of the whole costume!

here we are! my handsome chimney sweep and i! i think he should wear that hat all the time! we went to the lion's club party in town but arrived just too late for the adult costume contest. sad. the sweet old guys from the lions liked our costumes so much they gave us bags of candy! we enjoyed the rest of our night trick or treating with some friends & their kids and then finished the night at a party. halloween should not be on a monday!

practically perfect!

on ~~hubby~~ bert:
newsboy hat: goodwill, $1.99
black shirt: structure
grey vest: the suit he wore to prom
black pants: suit from his best friend's wedding
red scarf: simply vera (kohl's) by way of goodwill, $1.99
{i had to rip off a bunch of ruffles & roses)

chimney brush: ace hardware

on me mary:

black hat: goodwill, $0.98

white ruffly shirt: already owned

red bow tie: made by me

white gloves: goodwill, $1.99

scarf: made by me

carpet bag: bag +fabric all goodwill, total $4.99

umbrella: walmart, $5
parrot made by me
grey skirt: goodwill (long ago), $3.99
(dyed a darker shade)

black coat: kid size winter coat from walmart! $20

(yes, really, walmart! love this coat! not as heavy as my crazy wool peacoat but perfect for our cold cold autumn!)

i think julie would be proud! and i might have to start wearing this on a regular basis. or at least carrying the umbrella!

photo credit: Disney

linking up here!

{almost} wordless wednesday

2011-08-17T12:03:00.001-05:00

i give you: chipmunk bum in gutter.
he was hanging out in the gutter, eating some seeds or nuts or something when our ferocious pup ran up to sniff him.
he turned to run up the gutter & got stuck. like this.

linked up here!

InstaFriday: week 3

2011-08-12T14:20:00.000-05:00

agh! it's been over a month! no excuses...let's just jump right in to the pictures!

(these actually span more than a week)

i was doing laundry & the lid of the detergent jar slid off into my nose.
wasn't broken but it hurt like the dickens.
and i had this nice bruise!

just a little visitor in our backyard. usually they're in a group of four or more.

the tower of embroidery floss. we bought it just like this from a little old lady at a garage sale.
organized by DMC number!

last week a few unfortunate things happened
1. faerie fest was rained out by a giant storm that blew up right in the middle of the parade. there were screaming little girls in fairy costumes & much mayhem. highly unfortunate & probably turned a lot of little girls of to faeries...for life! (fairy? faerie? what's the difference?)
2. as i was packing all my soaking wet stuff up and standing in the rain, another vendor backed into my parked car. luckily she had insurance, because she managed to do $2800 in damage!
3. my phone decided to freak out & needed to be factory reset. mostly fine because it was backed up but i lost all the pictures i had taken since my last back up- the pictures of the faeries and of my smashed up car.
4. i had to drive said car, with it's mirror duct taped on (all classy like) down to illinois to help my grandma move out of her house. i love that house. i've always loved that house and i wanted it to be mine one day. but since papa died last year it's been too much for her. her new apartment in the spiffy little retirement complex will be great for her. (and i've decided i want to move into a place like that asap, but that's a post for another day). my trip home was wonderful, but very bittersweet.

209 beverly road.
i've spent every Christmas Eve of my life in this house.
many summer days.
countless sleepovers where it was too hot to sleep because my grandparents kept the house at 82 degrees.
it has a laundry shoot and an intercom system.
neil armstrong once sat on the couch discussing flight plans with papa.
(we now own that couch. kinda awesome)
there were hatboxes with fantastic old hats in the upstairs bedroom & toys that belonged to my mom in the basement.

it was so strange to see everything empty!
this is the "den" where we sat on the blue leather "davenport" and watched tv.
there were two tv's- a big one so nana could watch her old movies or painting shows (bob ross anyone?) and a little one for papa to have sports or news on all the time.
in that back corner was the stereo and all of papa's music collection. everything from 45's to CDs.

here's the living room.
the Christmas tree was always in the corner near that window. every year after Christmas Eve dinner we sat on the floor, cheeks red from the crazy high temperatures in the house, and opened gifts one by one. but only after all the dishes were done! papa made us wait until every dinner dish was finished before we could open even one gift! by the time i was a teenager we convinced him to start presents right after dinner if we all helped with the dishes.
nana took all her naps on that gold couch and after she woke up we played countless games of "tiles"
(rummikub to the rest of the world)

at nana's new apartment i found pictures on the fridge i had never seen before, including this one and a few too embarrassing to post in public! she must have unearthed a box of old photos while packing!

nana has this on her dresser in her new apartment. aren't they the cutest?
he was a pilot & she was a stewardess.

one of the beautiful lakes on my drive back up from illinois. i really do love where we live.
even if i miss target. a lot.

this past weekend some of my best friends came up for the weekend.
we started things out by going to the white stag for dinner.
they basically only serve steak & baked potatoes. it's amazing.
this baby here is described in the menu as one pound of pleasure.and it was.

we rented a boat from the resort brandon works at and spent all day saturday out on the water! the lakes are all connected, we live on the largest inland chain of lakes in the world (who knew?!) and we were blessed with a beautiful day to explore them!
we ate, we drank, we swam, we tanned (okay i burned a little).
all in all a wonderful day with wonderful friends!

just some of the vintage sheet goodness i found on my hunt the other day. one wonderful thing about the woods is that vintage is plentiful & nobody really cares that it's old!

speaking of vintage...our goodwill just bags up the jewelry & sells it for $3 a bag.
this was my most recent score. total $9!
there was some other stuff in the bag but it was too hideous to photograph & will likely go straight back to goodwill with my next donation!

some of the animal themed gift for our new niece or nephew. (and also a fuzzy dog elbow. or knee?) looks like that little one is making an early arrival so i'm crocheting like crazy!

linked:

treasury tuesday: #10

2011-07-05T13:22:00.001-05:00

treasury tuesday is back! i've been featured in some beautiful treasuries this week & wanted to take a moment to thank the people who put them together. thanks to the great craftcult widget you can mouse over the picture to see the item name & price and click the picture to go directly to the item's listing! {the widget still isn't compatible with google reader so click on through to see these beautiful collections!}{{craftcult is the same site that stores screenshots of front page treasuries in case you made it & missed it!}}

a greeny green mood
featuring the sweet pea begonia clip. thanks bettas!

from my faves.

thanks so much my dear leonora!

craving a dirty martini.

this one made the front page!! thank you NoMarkAtAll!!

scoop of vanilla.
featuring my vanilla dahlia earrings. thanks wendy!

have you been featured in a great treasury? have you made a beautiful collection recently? share in the comments, i'd love to see them!

happy 4th of july!

2011-07-04T19:20:00.000-05:00

{source: my3boybarians via pinterest}

happy independence day america!

instead of celebrating with a parade or fireworks we're stuck at home since brandon is sick with a killer version of whatever i had earlier this week. we did manage to fire up the grill for some celebratory hot dogs! i hope your holiday is healthier than ours!

my week {via instagram}

2011-06-03T14:44:00.001-05:00

yep i've been a bad, bad blogger again. anytime the current post is the same weekly feature as the last post...ugh! in my defense we had some crazy windstorms and lost power this week, which made it hard to blog! but here we are again at another InstaFriday!

we saw this mama bear and her cub coming home from a friend's house not long ago. here she's protecting her cub who has scurried off behind that tree. don't mess with a mama bear!

we enjoyed a lovely, lazy brunch on the porch on saturday. brandon worked in the morning, then came home and made brunch. love him!

on tuesday the power went out just as the sun was setting so i had plenty of time to set up this pretty candle tray. it gave us enough light to see but also gave us headaches...don't mix that many candle scents!

just organizing my spray paint collection!

a couple of new dessert stands for an upcoming craft show. love them in all white. hooray vintage glassware

the lovely view off of our back deck. it seems like just a couple days ago we were talking about how the trees were full of buds. now...leaves! unfortunately that process is the cause of the worst allergy season of my adult life. today i can breathe and see out of both of my eyes and i didn't have to overdose on antihistamines to do it {for the first time this week}. hurrah!

this was only a small portion of the vintage craft books on sale at a local thrift store. i didn't have enough cash for these but rest assured i'll be back!

i made these lovelies last night while watching craft in america from pbs {which you need to go watch! i've watched 3 episodes and have been so inspired by it!} i had plans to make 5 or 6 more of these flowers but had to stop because staring at the flame made me a little blind.

naptime on the couch. seriously...i love them!

linked:

we're off on a spur of the moment trip to door county to spend the weekend with my parents at their cabin. brandon & my dad are planning to golf & do some cycling and my mom and i are headed to the antique mall!! see you sunday night!

InstaFriday: summer WILL come!

2011-05-27T15:41:00.000-05:00

two posts in one day {crazytown}

i take so many pictures on my phone with the lovely instagram that when i saw instafriday at life rearranged i knew i needed to link up! enjoy my week in pictures!

last saturday night i sent out a tweet asking for help with a children's church craft. we were hoping to play outside but in case of rain i needed a craft for
3-5 year olds. my sweet friend nicole came to my rescue with this adorable rainbow. it didn't rain so almost all the kids went outside but one little lady & i stayed in to make rainbows & talk about God keeping His promises. thank you nicole :)

signs that summer might soon, possibly, maybe be coming to the woods!

{starting top left & moving clockwise}

1. pesto made with fresh basil from the pots on the deck! i am so, so happy to have fresh basil again. granted i've had to bring the pots inside three times this week, but we're headed in the right direction.

2. we grilled this week & had our first s'mores. aren't those marshmallows beautiful?

3. less beautiful, but much yummier is my first cherry pie of the season! i love pie & it is synonymous with summer to me. cherry pie is at the top of the pie ranking system. this one was made with cherries we picked and froze last summer!
4. also synonymous with summer in my mind: root beer floats! this one was made with ibc rootbeer & vanilla bean ice cream in a mason jar. perfection.

this week in the #setupshop chat we talked about packaging. this is what earrings look like when you order them from the shop! white box, green & white twine and inside the earrings are on a business card. love the simplicity! the reCharm necklace comes wrapped just like this too {shameless plug!}

i've been trying to keep track of all my summer plans and craft shows so i made these pretty green calendars one day and glued them right into my inspiration notebook. perfect size for the pages!

my name is jacqui and i'm addicted to spray paint. it's true. i can't help it. i'll spray paint anything that isn't nailed down {and it's starting to drive poor brandon crazy!} i like to paint things and i just can't stand brushstrokes so spray paint it is. currently i'm in love with rustoleum, but that's a post for another day!

brandon saved this desk from the burn pile at HoneyRock and it is exactly like the one we had in our first apartment the year we did the graduate program. i love it. but i will love it even more when it's grey!

here are some finished products! everything in this pile will be incorporated into my craft show booth for this summer. i am so excited about doing outdoor shows!

this little beauty is next up on my list. my first instinct is to paint it, then use a glaze to highlight those pretty carved areas, but the grain of the wood is so pretty i might just break down and strip it & restain it. thoughts?

i am loved. brandon brought me these last saturday when only a few had bloomed. they are opening slowly and lasting forever. aren't they beautiful? they put a serious smile on my face!

i love these two. they make my days happier. and yes she's giving him a high five! her reward was a carrot.

oh you wanted another picture of my super cute dog? no problem!

Great is Thy Faithfulness

2011-05-27T13:22:00.001-05:00

I shared this story over at thirty one: 10 on Tuesday but I wanted to make sure I shared it here too. It has been on my heart lately that I need to share this part of story more.

Also I know that this is a long, emotional pictureless post so later today I'm linking up to InstaFriday!

I have always said that I have a boring testimony. I used to wish that I had a more interesting story to share, but in reality my ‘boring’ testimony is a blessing and a tribute to God’s faithfulness. I was blessed to grow up in a Christian home, I went to a Christian school for 9 years and was active in my youth group throughout high school. I was a straight-A student who cared more about school than partying and didn’t really think I needed much help from anyone. God had gifted me with leadership abilities & a good brain and I was pretty certain I could handle everything on my plate all by myself

{I know…I was that girl. But I was fun too I promise}.

I got to college and continued to handle things all by myself. I went to a Christian college and was surrounded by other Christians for the first time in my life. For the first year of school, that was wonderful; I was spurred on in my faith and I grew in new and exciting ways. By sophomore year things took a different turn. I was surrounded by ministry opportunities, Christian peers, Christian professors; I was going to chapel, leading a small group and taking theology classes, but my heart started to harden. I was so focused on having it all together and doing the right things that I stopped focusing on what really mattered, my relationship with God. I had big plans for my future; I was planning to graduate early and go to grad school. By 23 I would have my masters in counseling and be set on my path to success.

But that’s not quite how it went.

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future.” Jeremiah 29:11

Junior year was difficult. For the first time in my life school got hard, and I didn’t really know what to do. Two friends from my high school youth group, strong Christians, passed away within one week of each other. One of them committed suicide. My best friend and I stopped speaking because I wanted to try dating and he didn’t. But I kept going. I kept being the girl who could handle everything on her plate and didn’t need help from anyone. I was wrong.

Senior year came and I decided not to graduate early. I was on track to be done with everything important first semester and was going to spend my last semester taking fun classes and hanging out with friends. I start the semester like I always did, organizing my color-coded class binders and writing all the important dates in my calendar, but something was off. I pressed on. A few weeks into my classes I started realizing that for the first time in my life I couldn’t do school. For no explicable reason I was unable to keep up; I couldn’t focus on my reading and I was having trouble getting up in the morning to go to class. {Side note: I was a psych major. I knew what was going on. In the back of my head a little voice said, Jacqui you’re depressed, but I ignored it thinking that surely I didn’t struggle like that.}

By the end of September I was falling behind faster than I could catch up and had been informed that I was failing multiple classes. The idea of failure completely overwhelmed me and drove me further into my pit. When I would wake up realizing I had missed my first class, I would be so upset with myself that I didn’t see a point in going to my next class. This led to sleeping in my dark basement bedroom until 3:00 or 4:00pm. I was a wreck. I had lost myself, my identity. My closest friends were all out of the country for the semester and my roommates couldn’t be bothered to help. I was completely alone and could not face the fact that I needed help.

Then God did something funny. He gave me Brandon. When we told our story a few weeks ago to the junior high ministry we stressed that God does not solve your problems by bring you a boyfriend/girlfriend. I will stress that again today :) Brandon and I met at a time when I was far from a fun and attractive possible mate, but he saw something in me that was worth fighting for. I asked him today why he stuck around and he said that I deserved someone to fight for me and to help me and he knew that I was better than the person I was in that moment. I’m so glad he did. Brandon gave me a reason to get help and to get better. I started going to counseling with a wonderful counselor, I spoke with our fantastic dean of women who helped arrange incompletes with my professors so that I would not fail every class, and I finally, finally admitted that I couldn’t do it on my own.

Through counseling, much prayer, the support of my family and the presence of Brandon, who showed up at my house and woke me up for class almost every day of second semester, I finished college on time. I did not graduate early. I did not get an easy last semester full of fun classes and time with friends. My grade point average, which I had prided myself on for so long, plummeted. I did not go straight to grad school. I am 26 and do not have my masters. None of this is the path I would have chosen. None of this is the plan I had for myself, but God had a better plan. In the midst of the darkness of depression it didn’t seem like that plan was full of hope or prosperity, but it was. God is faithful and He used that dark time to teach me that I couldn’t do it on my own, I needed a support system. We are designed to live in community. He also gave me my very best friend and sweet husband at what seems like the most illogical time. {I learned a little bit later that Brandon was also going through a huge struggle & loss of identity in those months. God gave us to each other. Two are better than one.} More importantly, my life is so much better when I draw close to my Savior. When I am reliant on Christ for my strength, I am able to do more than I could have ever done on my own. God is faithful and gives us exactly what we need, always.

Life is not perfect. I am not 100% past this. There are times when this struggle rears its ugly head; when the smallest of failures threatens to send me back to my pit. But I am now able to see it coming and defend against it. I turn to Christ, I turn to the Word, I turn to Brandon, I turn to trusted friends and yes I turn to chocolate! I no longer allow the depression to rule my life. God is faithful.

feel free to right click & download this in its full size!

Footnote: I spent a long time believing that because I was a Christian I shouldn’t have been struggling with depression and it took me a long time to get past the shame I felt. I thought that I should have been able to pray it away or with enough faith it would go away. There is no shame in being depressed. There is no shame in going to counseling. There is no shame in medication to help adjust the chemical imbalance in your brain. God has given us these means, along with prayer and His Word, to be healed. If you are facing this struggle, do not face it alone. Do not stay in your dark basement like I did! Seek help in your community, with those you trust. Or, please, email me: jacqui@crafteemcgee.com

linking up with...

treasury tuesday

2011-05-24T00:12:00.000-05:00

ohhh i've been a bad blogger. so sorry! spring has finally sprung around here and after i sit in my office all day, i just want to be outside. we've been walking outside, eating outside, reading outside and even boating on the chain of lakes! love spring in the northwoods!

first things first, i'm sharing my story over at ThirtyOne:10 today. this is a part of my story that i don't tell often but it has made me who i am in so many ways and is a true testimony to God's faithfulness. head on over and leave me a little love? this was not an easy story to write!

on a happier note, i haven't done a treasury tuesday in weeks. it seems the pictures still won't show up in google reader so click on over to see these three beautiful collections that i was lucky enough to be featured in!

featuring the punch buggy earrings. thanks for the feature looploft!

this gorgeous water for elephants treasury features the reCharm necklace. thank you so much ringlebee!

and featuring the birds nest earrings. perfect treasury for spring! thanks kokadoodle3!

have you been featured in a great treasury recently? created one? or have you seen a gorgeous collection on etsy? leave the link in the comments!

an optimistic recipe

2011-04-26T11:12:00.002-05:00

one of my very favorite warm weather drinks is the iced white mocha. i usually hate fancy coffee drinks AND white chocolate but this drink is an exception. i recently rediscovered our stove top espresso maker and in an effort to make spring arrive i've started making myself iced drinks. so without further ado here's how i make an iced white mocha {which coincidentally is very close to the caribou coffee recipe...but not close enough to get me in trouble for sharing my secret training!}

the cast of characters:

coffee. good coffee. finely ground.

{begin coffee rant} it doesn't need to be an espresso roast although it will taste more authentic if it is. espresso refers to two different things, one is a roast, one in a brewing method that involves high pressure and high temperatures. you can make espresso with any coffee. so long as it's good coffee. buy it whole bean and grind it at home. never, ever, ever no matter what anyone tells you, put your coffee in the freezer! so bad. little moisture droplets form and crystalize on the coffee then turn into moisture then back into ice. its bad news for the flavor and freshness. store your coffee in an opaque container away from the sun. {end of rant}
milk. it will taste better the fattier it is, but we use 1%. if i'm feeling totally crazy at a coffee shop i order a breve latte. that's a latte made with half and half. just so darn good.

white chocolate chips. mini chips would be best but you can use regular old white chocolate chips or shave bits off of a white chocolate bar. the goal is tiny, uniform pieces.

ice. the bigger the pieces the better. melts slower & keeps your delicious drink from getting watered down too quickly.

the process:

yuck! yes i cleaned the stove immediately after looking at this photo. i'm a messy cook.

1. prepare your espresso. have you ever used a stovetop espresso maker? they're a fairly inexpensive way to make some delicious espresso! i didn't failed to document this part of the process BUT the wonderful kim of yellow songbird has already posted all about making espresso. go over to her post & see step by step photos!

the quick how-to:

fill the bottom with water, to below the steam valve.

fill the filter with very finely ground coffee and tamp it {pack it in}. i've found filling it all the way to the top makes slightly bitter espresso, so i underfill just slightly.
screw the lid on as tightly as possible. you want to make a good seal so the steam is forced up through the coffee grounds.
put the espresso maker on your stove at medium high heat and wait.
once the water starts boiling the espresso will force its way into the top chamber. at that point remove the espresso maker from the heat and let all espresso bubble up to the top.

you will probably get 3 or 4 shots of espresso from your pot, but i only used this much. probably 2½ shots.

2. dump some chocolate chips into your cup. not too many or they won't melt and things get gross. if i were one to measure i would guess we're looking at about 2 tablespoons? maybe 3.

3. pour the espresso over the white chocolate chips and stir until melted. this will take a lot of stirring if you don't want sludge at the bottom of your cup!

4. fill the cup up the rest of the way with milk, add a few ice cubes to help it continue to cool, add a straw and you're done! if you're feeling adventurous, top this with some homemade vanilla flavored whipped cream. truly delicious. speaking of caribou coffee recipes... ;)

a quick note: you could easily change out the white chocolate chips for milk or dark chocolate chips & turn this into a regular mocha!

i'm linked up with what i whipped up wednesday at sugar & dots!