The Swanky Pad

The Girl's Bohemian Bedroom (or the It's-About-Damn-Time Bedroom Reveal)

2015-02-01T22:36:00.001-05:00

So it's been months since my last post...I miss you guys's faces. Anyway, we started this bedroom journey over a year ago, but given our budget was what I could afford, when I could afford it, and we weren't trying to buy too many new things, we made pretty good time, right? I knew you'd be on my side :D Now, I think this reveal will be done in two parts because of the amount of pictures and stuff to talk about. So in this one, we'll go over the "big picture" and in the next, the smaller details.

So without further ado....

From the doorway looking in

It's important to know what The Girl's room looked like before. These were taken when we first moved in. Note her unpacked box:

Awful, right? We replaced the blanket almost immediately, but it didn't quite fit the bed (despite the label on the bedding) and the colors faded after almost the first wash.

New, ill fitting bed set

We started by replacing her bedding again (ignore her terribly made bed), but worked with the furniture she already had. I made her curtain to her [lack of] specifications, the "chandelier" with tie-died paper butterflies, and the canopy. I collected scarfs and hankies and the like to throw over the surfaces early on in the process. And again, in case you forgot already...

Her TV nook (yes, that is the one and only truly outrageous Jem you spy there) and desk take up most of the wall across from the bed. I decided to frame her posters, but finding large enough frames that weren't stupid expensive was really hard, so we're actually publishing this with two posters unframed (it doesn't help that new ones keep appearing).

From the bed

Her Tree of Life wall hanging was a gift from my mother for Christmas (or her birthday??) and hides the door to the storage area above the garage. The cat statue (the one against the wall...not the fat cat...that's Cat) and a bunch of other stuff came from the same shop. It was a place in the mall that sold things from India. The Girl loved that store. It closed in March.

Towards the doorway

The door is her closet (and proof that her love of 1D hasn't disappeared entirely). The dresser was painted and covered with yet another scarf.

Opposite the window

I purchased some inexpensive rugs and tossed them around the room. I bought cheap baskets in fun colors (or spray painted boring ones) to corral her things. There's one her remotes and another for books, another for her body/hair stuffs and so on.

Enjoying her rugs...and Magic and Psych (we'd had enough of Jem)

Most of the decorative elements fell into one of two categories: DIY or thrifted. I did purchase a few things new, but we really aimed to achieve a reuse, repurpose, or upcycle kinda thing. I'll go into all of that more in Part 2.

How to Control All of the Things (or at Least Feel Like You Do)!

2014-05-19T19:04:00.000-04:00

So remember last week when I told you I wasn't doing anything and needed to get myself back into a routine? Well, today I'm gonna tell you a little bit about mine so you can come up with your own.

So I made a list of the usual chores everyone has to do in every household everywhere (clean the bathroom(s), laundry, dishes, etc) Then I broke that down into two lists: stuff that has to get done ~~every day~~ nearly every day (baby steps), and stuff that has to get done weekly (otherwise known as my "daily chore"). With the daily stuff, I created a morning and evening routine in EverNote so I can refer to it on my phone if I need a reminder as to what I'm supposed to be doing next.

And then I did the same with the weekly stuff, but a little more thought went into it. It all comes down to when it makes sense to do something. For example, tonight, Monday, is trash night in our neighborhood, so I decided that cleaning out the fridge should be done on Monday. Whenever I can, I multitask. Because I need time in the evenings to watch True Blood now that I finally talked My Fella into HBO. So on Mondays (and laundry nights [Tuesday and Thursday...because I know you were dying to know]), I do my daily chore during whatever down time I have while cooking dinner. I also clean up the mess as I go, to the extent that I can.

This is where you're really going to tweak a routine to fit your lifestyle. I have off every weekend, so I try to get my errands done on those Saturdays or Sundays. I also have off every other Friday. I try to use those days to do "extra" stuff (organize a closet, hang towel hooks, etc) because the two Fridays that I DO work leave me with no time whatsoever. I work, plus get The Girl from the train at nearly 7:00 p.m., almost an hour from home (but only 11 minutes from work) aaaaaaaand we've been getting into a habit of getting Chinese on the way home, so I leave at 8:30 a.m. and don't get in till nearly 9:00 p.m.

I've gotten some projects finished that I'd been meaning to get to for forever. They're not huge things, but I feel like if I can get through that list, I can work on my bigger/unimportant/just for fun projects with less guilt. Pluuuuuus, since they're mostly organizational stuff, it helps me get through my routine quicker (ya know, when I'm not going, "Where the F*CK did I leave my/the <insert the thing I need that didn't have a home because my closet/cabinet/etc was not organized in the way it should have been>?!" things move faster. Just sayin'). Plus they look prettier and that calms my nerves :) Anyway, I'll probably share my kitchen cabinet and laundry hall (because it isn't a room) and the improvements I've made on them next week!

I Owe You an Apology

2014-05-06T22:34:00.000-04:00

I have been gone forever, I know. I think about you all the time, though! And I DO have a good reason. On St. Patrick's Day, I started a job. It's almost an hour drive, so even though my hours are only 10-4, it's really like 9-5 (sometimes later)...and actually, as of this past Friday, 8:30-5. BUT (there are so many buts), firstly, I REALLY like this job, so you should forgive me for my absence because you are ever so happy for me :) Right? Before I get to the "secondly" part (which is good news for yous, btw), I should give yous some background about me. I am crazy. Absolutely neurotic. I've mentioned my need to face my cans, right? And that my kids are trained to give me even amounts of Reeses Pieces? And that I thrive on routines (oh, and lists. I do so love my lists)? Well, if I haven't, now you know. And when I don't have my lists and routines, my "routine" looks like this:

Neglect a bunch of things, stress over not being able to find the time to NOT neglect them, and then, one day, neglect other stuff to do ALL OF THINGS. At once. Repeat.

It's utter chaos. Which only serves to make me MORE anxious. In the past, to combat this insanity, I employed ~~more insanity~~ a structured routine. This is where it gets good for you. The last couple of months have been the aforementioned cycle of insanity. It's been incredibly difficult for me to re-acclimate to working again after not working for so long. I can't seem to restructure accordingly because there was no structure to begin with, ya dig? As such, I've come up with a daily routine (morning/evening) and a weekly routine. It's pretty basic right now as I test it out and make adjustments, but it will become rigidly structured over time because that's how I roll. I somehow have an easier time deviating from the routine the more structured it is. Does that even make sense? If I know exactly what every minute of every day looks like, I know exactly what can be rearranged when something unexpected comes up. Somebody out there "gets" me, I'm sure. Anyway, back to you. So I've determined to include 1. crafting time and 2. blogging time. I think to start, I'll keep it to blogging once a week. But crafting and blogging were my hobbies. And it's true what they say, everyone DOES need a hobby. And I need to get mine back. In the meantime, bear with me!

St. Patty's Subway Art

2014-03-08T12:58:00.000-05:00

A few days ago I showed you my St. Patty's mantle where my subway art hangs and promised to show you how I made it. Let's discuss this idea of "subway art", first, though. WHY is it called subway art? What does that even MEEEAAAN?! I've taken the subway. A LOT. No fewer than 10 times a week, and sometimes more. I've never seen art in the subway. I've seen maps. I've seen ads. I've seen "tags." I've even seen, well, nothing you wanna hear about. None of it could be considered art. Somebody help me out here. Where did the name come from????

Ok, now that I've gotten that off my chest, let's talk about my wall hanging. First off, there's no way I could have done this freehand. Buuuuuuut....I wanted to decide what it was going to say and how it would be placed, so using someone else's image wasn't gonna do, either. Lucky for me, LeAna from A Small Snippet posted this Easy DIY Handpainted Canvas tutorial. The trick is transferring pencil marks, which is something I wouldn't have even know existed if not for her post :) Knowing what steps I'd be taking, I downloaded some free fonts and got to work with an image editor.

Don't forget your fadas!

This is what I came up with. Not all of the fonts included characters with fadas, so I made a little reminder to myself to add the ones that weren't printed. It came out a bit smaller than my canvas (don't ask...). From there, I followed LeAna's instructions and got t' tracin'. One of the commenters on her post suggested placing your print on a glass table with a lamp underneath. Pure genius.

I did this over the course of two evenings. No lie, I write hard and my hand cramped up after awhile. I DID have a large-ish image with a lot of letters, though. The knots in "sláinte" (which gets a fada over the "a" and I DID forget it, despite my note to myself) didn't help, either.

It worked! Holy crap! I totally expected it not to. Not because I didn't trust LeAna, but because that would just be my luck (contrary to popular belief, the Irish are NOT a lucky bunch). In the original tutorial, she tells us to place the print, right side up, on the canvas and trace back over the letters. I'm not a great tracer to begin with, so when I went back over, sometimes I didn't trace over the PENCIL MARKS on the backside if they didn't line up with where I traced the front. Did that make sense? So I scribbled over the front. True story. And I didn't have a pencil sharpener, so I went through three pencils because mechanical pencils, which we have in abundance, do NOT work well. But. There's always a but, isn't there? Three of my fonts had knots in them. You can see in the "MAR" that's not a huge problem, but where I used a smaller size font, you just can't get the detail [presumably] because of the texture of the canvas. See?

I removed them from one of the phrases (well, blessing, really), but left them in "sláinte." I also needed to outline the knots in black so they looked like knots and not just swirls once they were painted.

With the letters/knots in "sláinte," I used the pencil marks I WAS able to make out, and just kinda made up the parts I couldn't. If you look closely, you can see some of them don't actually work out proper like, but whataryag'nnado, right? Then I hung it, still wet. I didn't trust Boots not to destroy it trying to sharpen his claws on it or trust any of the three of them not to walk or sleep on it while it dried. So yeah, it went right on the wall.

The Girl thinks we should leave it up year round. I'd consider it if it wasn't dated. Wish I'd thought of that...

TL;DR:

1. Full instructions are on A Small Snippet and the specific post is HERE.
2. If you're using an image with a lot of words or detail, expect to take a break or few because your hand will hurt.
3. If you can put a light under your image, do.
4. Try to avoid small, extremely detailed fonts (such as ones with Celtic knots). Get rid of them completely, or use a larger font size.

Me Father, He Was Orange and Me Mother, She Was Green

2014-03-04T13:30:00.001-05:00

Teaser. *cue stripper music*

Ok, that's not true. Me mother was Orange. My grandfather was Green, though, so there's that. Any ol' way, I posted this teaser on Facebook earlier yesterday and promised a post to go along with it. To hold me accountable if I didn't update. It's tomorrow. But this is progress, people! And I blame me mother for my tardiness. We went to Target. Shenanigans ensued. I fed my peeps McDonald's for dinner because I didn't make it home early enough to cook. True story. Now that that's out of the way, let's talk about St. Patrick's Day! Some more, I mean. Let's talk about it some more.

So, I'm Irish. Me ma (as she'll be known henceforth) almost named me O'tilly. They'd have called me Oat for short. I'm not even making that up. Literally, on her birthing bed, she changed her mind. Granted, we're protestant (except for my grandfather's side), but we're also American. So of COURSE I celebrate St. Patrick's Day. With gusto! And whiskey. And decorations...which is the reason you're here. The teaser above is part of my mantle which I've changed up as often as possible.

I mostly used things I already owned. The apothecary jar and candle holders are mantle staples. I change out what's in the jar and the ribbon around the candles as ~~I get bored~~ the occasion calls.

The books and beer glasses came from my already existing collection. The Irish books have the perfect style/color for the scheme already. I added a copy of Great Expectations because of the green cover. Considering adding a few more green books, but we'll see. The beer glasses were filled with water and green food coloring with some floating candles.

The wooden shamrock garland was an impulse buy in Ross a few years back. I've never really been able to do anything with it before this mantle. The length just wasn't quite right for anything in my old homes. Seeing it now, I think it needs more orange. A trip to Jo-Ann Fabrics for some ribbon might be in order.

Pictured: less coinage than you'd think 2 lbs would be :/

I wasn't sure what I was going to put in the jar...I had a few ideas and wasn't sure which was my fave or which was the most practical given the size of the thing (and by practical, I mean cheap). I ended up buying two pounds of these chocolate coins, not because they were my fave (I hadn't yet made that decision) or the most practical, but because they were convenient. Like, I was in the grocery store and they had them in the loose candy aisle, so I bought them because if I let myself think about it, I'd never decide and my mantle would never be finished. But really though, they ARE fun, are they not? SN: two pounds of coins was NOT enough to make it look full enough. I wadded up newspaper, covered it in masking tape, and put that at the bottom of the jar. I placed the coins systematically around the "ball" to add bulk. Now it appears half full rather than a quarter full. W00t!

Now this...THIS is my baby. I made it myself. I can't paint or draw or anything like that. This is the closest I've come to being an artist lol I'll post tomorrow about HOW I did it (spoiler: it was totes through the help of another blog. Tune in tomorrow to see whose!!!!). I won't post a tutorial, as the original does a fine job of explaining it (and I'll link you to it, never fear!), but I will share some tips and pictures from my own experience.

In the upcoming week(s), I plan to share some of my favorite ~~St. Patty's~~ Irish recipes. I make the same thing every year -- and no, it is NOT corned beef and cabbage because hello...corned beef?! Hold your breath...it's not Irish, although there is some debate as to whether what I DO make is Irish, but we'll cross that bridge later. How do YOU celebrate the holiday?

Homemade Chicken Stock (Broth?!)

2014-02-28T08:09:00.000-05:00

Is it stock or broth?! I may never figure out the difference. And apparently, there's a big ol' debate on the interwebs amongst the foodies. I just don't care that much. I DO wish, however, that I had one of those beautiful photos of my stock in mason jars. But how would you store that?! WHERE would you store it?! So, I don't have one of those pictures. My way is better anyway, dontcha think? It stores really conveniently, and is super easy to only thaw the amount I need*.

*About a cup. Each "patty" is approximately 1/3c.

I make mine with the leftovers from my roasted chicken. If you wanna make your own stock (broth?!) you should know two important things: it's insanely time consuming...about 5 hours + overnight (but REALLY easy, actually) and don't add salt! This may be the only time you ever here me tell you to hold the salt, BUT this advice came straight from my poppop (whose alfredo recipe, admittedly, will result in you having a heart attack, but he does know his stuff!). And he has good reason for this advice! This way, you can use it in any recipe without worrying about having too much salt in the end product. Ok, so let's get started!

Grab the biggest pot you have. I use my 11-qt Ikea 365+ Stock pot that I got FREE. I had to get there before noon and stand in the longest line EVER, but it was totally worth it. Stick your leftover chicken/chicken pieces in it and cover with an inch or so of water. Note: wings float ;) Bring this to a boil. Icky stuff will rise, skim this off. (Not pictured: icky stuff)

In the meantime, you're going to need to grab some veggies and herbs. Whatever you have on hand should probably do, unless all you have in the fridge is mustard. Mustard most likely won't cut it, but I've never tried it, so don't let me stop you! My standards are carrots, celery, onions, garlic, and bay leaves. On this day, I happened to have some rosemary and parsley, so I added those, as well. There's no hard and fast rule about how many or how much (or at least not one I care about! I'm just a rebel! Livin' on the edge!!!), but I wouldn't use fewer than two carrots/stalks of celery/, three if you have them. I used quite a few bay leaves because mine were tiny, but I'd use at least two of those and onions as well. I KNOW I didn't "measure" the rosemary and parsley.

Chop your veggies up fairly large. An inch/inchandahalf oughta do it. I toss everything in a bowl with the herbs and garlic (confession: I use the garlic in the jar that's already diced) as I go.

Pictured: prettier than icky stuff

Once your water has boiled (and you've removed the aforementioned icky stuff), toss your veggies in, reduce to a simmer, and walk away. Just walk away. Come back every so often to stir and make sure it hasn't heated to above a simmer, but you might as well throw in some laundry, watch some SVU, write a blog post. Whatev. Point is, it's gonna be there, on your stove, for about four hours.

After your entire afternoon has passed, strain the big stuff outta your stock. Kinda icky, but less icky than the floaters from earlier.

And then again through a mesh strainer for the smaller bits. And then refrigerate overnight. All the fat will rise and it'll be a lot easier to skim off. I suppose you don't HAVE to refrigerate it, but like I said, easier. And I'm anal about removing ALL of it (not because I care about fat, but because I'm just insane).

After the fat's been skimmed, one way or another, pull out your muffin tins. Fill each cup with your stock and pop in the freezer. I have a side-by-side, so I'm stuck using 6-cup tins. I flash freeze one tin at a time, then stack the next tin on top with a layer of waxed paper between.

Once they're frozen I pop them out and toss them into a gallon-size freezer bag. I also spray my tins with Pam. I'm fully convinced it takes less prying to get the "patties" out once they're frozen. Martha Stewart claims each one is approximately 1/3 cup. And she's Martha Stewart, so I believe her. This knowledge will come in hand later when you're using a recipe that calls for "1 cup of broth."

When you want to use it, just thaw as many "patties" as needed for your recipe. I've never had any issues with not knowing exactly how much each cup holds. You may need to add a bit more salt to your recipe if your recipe assumes you're starting with canned broth or bouillon cubes.

Ingredients:

Chicken carcass (including wings and whatever pieces you don't plan to use for another recipe)

3 Carrots, peeled and chopped in 1ish inch pieces

3 Stalks of celery, chopped in 1ish inch pieces

2 Onions, chopped in big ol' chunks

2-3 Large bay leaves

2 Tbsp chopped garlic

Fresh herbs on hand

Directions:

Cover leftover chicken/chicken pieces with 1-3 inches of water in large pot. Bring to a boil, skimming fat from surface. While waiting for the water to boil, prepare vegetables by cutting into 1-inch pieces. Reduce heat to low simmer and add vegetables and herbs. Allow to simmer four hours, stirring occasionally. Thoroughly strain solids from broth and throw away. Refrigerate 6-8 hours. Skim fat from top. Refrigerate or, for long-term storage, freeze or can. Makes about 4 quarts.

Freezing suggestion: Use muffin tins to measure out and freeze 1/3 cup portions. Freeze in the tins and move portions to a freezer storage bag.

Lennon's "Imagine" Art

2014-02-17T18:48:00.000-05:00

The Girl, if you haven't guessed by now, is a bleeding heart with a strong desire for peace and harmony for all. Naturally, she's a John Lennon fan and his "Imagine" is her anthem. She asked for something Lennon inspired for her room and I'd seen a lot of window frame art (is that a thing?) on Pintrest and took inspiration from that. It was a super simple project and could be adapted to any theme.

What you'll need:

A picture frame
Permanent markers
A traceable image of your choice
A printer (I guess this is optional...I'm working on the assumption that you're finding your traceable image online)
A sheet of tissue paper

I used a 10x13 frame I had on hand (bought at Walmart for $5). I had painted the frame white awhile back, so all it took to prep it was cleaning the glass. After that, I did a quick Google image search of the lyrics. Once I found an image we liked, I printed it out in black and white, messing around with the size a bit. It was a matter of trial and error, and I can't be more specific than that because the original image size will make a difference. I think I searched "imagine all the people" because "Imagine" alone got me a lot of pictures of John Lennon. But you could search, oh, I dunno...the words to Rings of Power or a few lines from your favorite video game or the lyrics to Aqua's "Barbie Girl". Whatever's fun for you.

After I had it sized to my liking, I taped it to the back of the glass like so:

Sorry about the flash. I turned it off for the other pictures...not sure what I was doing here!

Then came the fun part...COLORING! Because, be honest, it's still fun. So get out your permanent markers. I traced the outline of each word first and as I went, I replaced the printer paper with tissue paper. The marker is somewhat transparent and against the black ink of the printed image, was a little difficult to see. Same went for when there was nothing behind it. So tissue paper saved the day. Once I'd traced the outlines, I went back over and colored them in. Yay!

Tissue paper to make it easier to see my words

I don't know how permanent permanent marker really is in this use, so I won't be cleaning it with glass cleaner. Obviously, you'll want to hang it when you're finished :) The tissue paper won't be needed once it's up on the wall, so you can remove that! Oh, pro tip: I wouldn't recommend this method with a large image. You can see in the larger letters here the marker lines. While I think an elephant in a nursery would be adorable, I don't think a large area would color well. The ink sits on the glass and will smear away if you're not careful or leave those lines. So yeah, there's that. Smaller areas of color :)

Oh, and if you use this method for the lyrics to "Barbie Girl," PLEASE share it with me *wink*

Going Green

2014-01-06T13:16:00.000-05:00

So, when we moved, The Girl got a MUCH larger room and I no longer had a use for my (larger) bedroom furniture. As such, she got my stuff. But we had to make it "hers," so we decided to paint the dresser. Bright Green.

I knew I was going to want to distress it AND that I'd want some of the original black to show through the distressed areas, so I went with Glidden's paint and primer in one so I wouldn't have to sand the black away, but neither would it show through where it WASN'T distressed. It didn't negate the need to sand ENTIRELY since I needed to get rid of the finish, but there was a lot LESS sanding this way.

Emma chose New Grass Green as the color and we got it in an eggshell finish.

Here it is in place:

Hippie Swagaliciousness

2014-01-06T12:25:00.000-05:00

So I made this thing. Outta stuff. I can't even begin to know what to call it. The inspiration came from this, though:

It's a hippie thing. You wouldn't get it.

I went to Big Lots and picked up a few "curiosities" and added them to some costume jewelry and other randomness from around the craft room.


Beads and other hippie stuff

Somehow, the other photos of the randomness from around the house and me putting it together have been lost to some nameless abyss. Basically, the other stuff included: a stick stolen from The Boy, chain necklaces and earrings that we never wore anymore (or to begin with, you know how it goes!), and loose charms plus a bunch of pompoms made from a few of my brightest yarns added to the pile o' junk (I mean, really, it kinda was).

The construction was pretty uncomplicated, albeit tedious. I just removed the clasps and things from the chain jewelry so I was left with lots of different lengths of lots of different chains. I strung them with fishing line from the stick (alternately, you could use those tiny screw eyes...I wanted to, but The Boy's head was already close to exploding as it was, so I didn't want to damage the stick) in a mostly random manner and then began attaching the curiosities in the same mostly random manner. The beads and charms I just attached with jump rings and the pompoms I attached with safety pins that ACTED like jump rings, ya dig? So the final result was something like this:

Harry and Niall REALLY love pompoms

I say "something like" because the actual final result is with the longest chain shortened and a charm or pompom missing. Evidently, it was too much temptation for the cats. The novelty has since worn off, though, and I think it's finally finalized now ;)

Fireplace Redo

2013-08-22T10:39:00.000-04:00

Oh, the mid-90's. So much brass. WHY?! I didn't like it then, and I don't like it now. Unfortunately, our house was built in the mid-90's and is full of said brass. My Fella takes personal offense to two things in the house: the brass on the fireplace and one light fixture in particular in the basement. I can't say I disagree with him. He thought he was stuck with the fireplace, but he's got me...and I've got Pintrest! So I searched, I KNEW there had to be a fix, and I knew if anyone could tell me about it, it was my fellow Pintrested parties. As it turns out, Rust-Oleum makes a high heat paint (as does Krylon, if you have a preference). My store only had the Rust-Oleum brand, spray paint variety, but it IS sold in cans according to the website.

We debated back and forth a bit about how you're not supposed to spray paint inside and then decided we were way too cool to worry about that stuff...especially since we didn't seem to have an option if we wanted it done NOW (and we DID). We opted for the silver because I was afraid it'd look like we just had a big, black hole in the wall. My fella thought he might like the black better, but didn't care so long as it wasn't brass anymore!

When we got home, we opened all the doors and windows, stashed the cats in a bedroom, and got to work. The horizontal strips above and below the doors pop off on our fireplace, so I removed those and the door pulls and took 'em outside to be painted. I used a really, super duper fine grit sand paper and sanded all the pieces I would be painting. Then I papered every surface that was nearby. I even threw a cheap plastic table cloth over the couch and plastic bagged the coffee table.

I've started to spray here, but quickly realized I needed to protect more of the surrounding area.

The final result isn't EXACTLY what I wanted...maybe I should've gone with the black?? My Fella actually prefers the silver, though. Typical lol I'm definitely changing out the door handles, too. I just haven't found anything I like :( Aaaaaaaaand we're still trying to agree on what to do with the mantel...hand to God, we got this far with the new items, but can't agree on what to put IN the jar. And I think we need colored candles...the white blend right in. But, for now, here's the new fireplace!

Whatcha think? Should I have gone with the black? What would YOU put in the apothecary jar?

Mo-roccan the Red and Gold

2013-08-13T15:01:00.006-04:00

The Girl recently went to her high school orientation...a school whose colors are red and gold. For days, every Facebook status she posted read, "ROCK THE RED AND GOLD ROCK THE RED AND GOLD ROCK THE RED AND GOLD..." and so on. Every comment she posted on MY wall read the same. (I might've mentioned that she was accepted to a well known college preparatory high school ranked 6th in the state that may or may not have some very successful alumni at least one of whom whose name you'd all recognize. /bragging)

I promise my daughter is NOT Matthew Gray Gubler. That IS, however, her actual profile picture.

Meanwhile, back in The Sticks, I wanted to make a Moroccan pouf her room. Part of her room redo project is using as much of what I already have as possible. Kids' tastes change and I'm not big on the idea of spending a lot just to have them want to change it in a year. Plus, repurposing seems to keep with the hippie/boho concept. That said, when planning her pouf, I went digging through my fabric stash to see what I had. Coincidentally, I found this great gold fabric I'd bought ages ago (even more coincidentally for a DIFFERENT Moroccan-inspired project) and a shimmery red curtain I knew I was never gonna hang again, but was holding onto (I'm a mini hoarder! lol). I set them on a chair together and walked away for a few days. During those few days, all I'd read were those status updates and when I saw my fabric choices again, they seemed even more perfect.

I had scoured the internet for the perfect pattern. Which I didn't find. But I did learn what I wanted the thing to look like, and created my own. I wanted the top to be an eight-pointed star and the sides/bottom, to just be eight long panels. That's why I chose two fabrics for this...I wanted the star to stand out. So, I literally pieced together pieces of newspaper and folded and cut and recut again until I had what I wanted. The Girl was NOT here to help me with the math, so I was just winging it.

These are BY NO MEANS to scale!!

So those were the measurements I used. The side panels measure 28 inches along the fold, 6 inches along the short angle, 12 inches along the long angle, and 14 3/4 inches along the straight edge. The distance from the fold to the edge is 6 5/8 inches. The star pieces measure 15 inches along the fold, 6 inches along the short angle, and 11 5/8 inches along the long angle. The distance from the fold to the edge (where the two angles meet) is 4 1/2 inches. You'll need to cut eight of each from both your material AND lining.


Yep, I totally used a cheap blue curtain for my lining 'cause I'm a REBEL!

Starting with your star pieces (and star lining!), sew two together (right sides facing and all that), along one LONG edge. I forgot to take pictures for this step, sorry :( You'll have a sandwich of pieces though, where your lining is the bread, and your main fabric is the meat. Continue until you've joined all eight pieces together. It'll look like this when it's done:

Here's where I deviate from EVERY other tutorial out there. I practiced with my lining, and just could NOT manage the "other" way. Most (all?) of the other tutorials have you join the eight side panels in the same manner as the top pieces and then join the top and bottom "halves". If you can do this, go for it! I just could NOT get my pieces to line up correctly; it was a hot mess of funky corners. So I joined each side panel and lining pair individually to my finished star and THEN joined the side panels to each other.

I've started joining the panels as seen by the two panels in the bottom right corner of the picture.

I left two sides of the bottom points open for stuffing.

I took a tip from the Better Homes and Gardens tutorial and used old towels and stuff I had lying around the house to stuff the "core" of pouf, and fiberfill around the "outside."

Stuff I had lying around

Then used a hidden stitch to close it up. I DID remove the cat, first. I promise.

You can see my points didn't meet up perfectly. I didn't care since it was the bottom. I considered adding an octagon to the bottom to cover it, but then I was like, "eff it." I would love to make the mathematical adjustments to the pattern for you guys so you won't have this problem, but I have NO IDEA HOW. *shame*

I really loved the decorative stitch they used on the seams in the BHG tutorial, so I busted out the gold thread left over from my graduation favors and got to work. If you looked at the illustration in the link, it looks a little complicated, but it's actually pretty easy and a lot faster than I thought it would be. The steps in photo form:

I wasn't able to complete it in one evening, but I DID get pretty far and was able to finish it up the next day.

Proof that, despite my urges, I did NOT sew him inside the pouf

Finished stitches

The thing weighs a ton. And you can see it's not little...Cat is an average-sized house cat, 8-10 lbs. Despite my mathematical and joining issues, this was actually really easy to make. Not counting the time I spent practicing my methods, I probably had it completed in a few hours each day, over the course of three days...quicker than her curtains!!

Peaces of Love

2013-08-02T11:50:00.000-04:00

The other day I mentioned I would be working on getting The Girl's room decorated. It's all about peace, and love, and a bohemian lifestyle. And a while back, I'd seen this on Pintrest:

Source: http://lisaloria.blogspot.com/2011/05/peace-ful-project.html

and IMMEDIATELY thought of The Girl...and this was before the plans for her room. I traced it back to a great little blog, Lisa Loria :)

The problem was, The Girl didn't love it. Whaaaaaaat?? EVERY. SINGLE. THING. about this says The Girl. Peace sign. "Christmas" lights. Flowers. WHAT is not to like?! Hell, I kinda want it in MY room. She shrugged.

Fast forward to her telling me how she wanted her room decorated. I couldn't get this peace sign outta my mind. Remember when she and I went to the dollar store for the supplies for her mobile? Well, I seized the moment. I pressed the issue, even! (I REALLY wanted to put it in her room and live vicariously through her.) "What if we changed the flowers? Daisies? You love daisies...we can get extra and do both." AND IT WORKED! VICTORY!!! In the end, I came up with this version:

She loves it. Oh, the fickleness of children...

I didn't have the light fixture from Ikea, and while the Ikea was in walking distance when I lived in Philly, it is, sadly, two hours away now. Wait. Is there one in Baltimore?! Remind me to look into that. Moving on...So while I didn't have, and wasn't able to get, the light fixture, I DID have the wire wreath frame I'd be using for the mobile. Surely I could take the thing apart and get more rings, right?? I could, and I did. All in all, it's a pretty easy project, but here's how I made mine...

What you'll need:

Wire wreath frame
Short strand(s) of Christmas lights (I used 2 40-light strands)
Fake flowers
Floral wire (and cutters)
Glue gun
Needle-nose pliers

What to do:

First, if you're trying to use your wreath frame for more than one project, you'll need to take it apart. Do this by lifting the wire "brackets" from the outside ring, all the way around. I used the largest, outside ring for this. Of course, you can skip this step and use the frame as is.

Now you'll take your floral wire and wrap it into a peace sign shape.

The wire will slide around on the frame, so to make life easier, put a little dot of hot glue where the wire meets the frame. Just enough to hold it in place while you're arranging your lights and flowers.

Next, wrap your lights around the entire shape and secure with more floral wire. If you're like me, this could take days, months even. I can never get my lights to go the way I want the first time. Seriously. I actually rage quit. But when I came back with a fresh cup of coffee, I got it on the first try!

Now you're going to add your flowers. This part takes into account the type of flower(s) your working with first, and then your personal preference in regards to those flowers. I imagine there's no "wrong" way". I used these.

Remove them from the stems, but leave the back part (I dunno what it's called, but I bet it has a name) intact. I'll explain why later.

Ignore the whiteboard paint on my nail

I started with the blossoms. Using even more floral wire, I attached the blossoms to the middle of the design and plugged the lights in to make sure they weren't TOO covered.

The larger daisies and (I think?) sunflowers, I was able to just "snap" (they actually made that sound) between the lights and the frame or between the twists in the wire for the lights because I'd left that little thingie on there. There were a few I added some hot glue to, just for added security, but for the most part, they held tight. Alternately, you could trim the little thingie (not too short or your flower will fall apart!) and hot glue them in place. I opted not to so I could move them around while arranging them.

And that's it! All that's left to do is hang it on the wall and plug it in!

I going to be productive today...

2013-08-01T16:48:00.000-04:00

I really was. Last night, I painted my work-bench-turned-craft-table with whiteboard paint, but turns out, it has to cure for THREE days! Who's got that kind of time?! So I was just going to work elsewhere, but then I started watching videos of people saving animals from harm and the rest of the day looked like this:

Videos of people saving animals from harm --> animals saving people --> service member/pet reunions --> returning military personnel surprising family members.

Suffice it to say, I spent the better part of the afternoon in tears. Damn YouTube and their recommendations sidebar!! I have a date with my bestie, Agent W, on Tuesday, and The Girl will be home the following Sunday, so I have no business watching videos all day! I still have SOME time, so let me go see if I can't make it up to yous!

Soon-to-be-famous Cherry-Peach Crisp

2013-07-30T15:11:00.000-04:00

Because it's that good. And I don't even LIKE cherries OR peaches! I mean, I don't hate them, but I don't love them either. *shrug* BUT...

Ok, back story. 'Cause if I don't love these two fruits, WHY did I make this dessert?

So My Fella's mom came by the other day with a gift:

Lookit! Seriously, don't you love those colors?!

And that's not all! There was corn on the cob, and string beans (which were promptly served up in Agent-S-fried-green-bean fashion), and asparagus, and banana bread, and an apple pie! My Fella says she over does it. I say all I need is an excuse to bake, so hush!

Anyway, for some reason, despite my indifference to both cherries and peaches, the idea of them combined appealed to me. So I called up Agent W and after some deliberation (mostly about which was a crisp vs. a crumb vs. a cobbler vs....), it was decided that I should make a cherry-peach crisp...because who wants to fuss with preparing a crust for a summer dessert?! Not I! But I didn't have such a recipe on hand (fascinating considering the amount of cookbooks, especially those devoted to desserts, that I own!). So we discussed it some more and decided on the basic ingredients it must have: sugar (both brown and white) and cinnamon and "toss together in a bowl. Taste. If it tastes good, top it and pop it in the oven." That's how we roll. I prepared this while making dinner at the same time, so I don't have as many pictures as I'd like...but I DID have the foresight to write down my recipe for future use:


This is, sadly, NOT the only recipe I have with no name, and only half the indredients

In my defense, I didn't know how it would turn out, so, ya know. In the end, I realized flour was missing in the early stages of our recipe. The question mark was my first "check-in time" and I'd add more if needed.

Using farm-fresh fruits requires some pretty messy work for this. You'll need to peel your peaches and pit your cherries. The easiest way to peel peaches is to cut an X across the bottom of each peach, immerse them in simmering water for about 30 seconds to a minute (you'll know it's been long enough when the skin starts to peel away from where you cut the X). From there, drop them immediately into ice water for about a minute to cool. Once cool, use a paring knife to lift the edges at the X and peel the skin away.

Here's where it gets messy...pitting cherries. Everyone's favorite, right? Well, like I said, I don't love cherries, so I do NOT have a pitting tool. So I Googled. And I found this at theKitchn. They suggest using a pastry tip. Oh, and I've most certainly got pastry tips! AAAAAAND IT WORKS! See?


Insert joke about the blood of the cherries being on my hands.

After all that was done, I did, in fact, toss it together in a bowl, taste it, top it

This is where I realized I hadn't taken a single picture. And the topping was already half on. Sorry, guys!

and pop it in the oven

Out of the oven and NOT marked with a B

So you know you want the recipe ;) Well, here it is:

Ingredients:

Filling:

4 peaches, peeled and sliced
1 pint of cherries, pitted
1/3 c. brown sugar
1/3 c. white sugar
1/4 c. flour
1/4 tsp. cinnamon

Topping:

1 c. brown sugar
1 c. flour
1 c. oats
1/2-1/4 tsp. salt, optional (I use salted butter, so omitted the salt from my topping)
1 stick butter, melted

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. In a large bowl, combine the dry ingredients for your filling. Add your fruit and stir gently until coated. Turn into casserole dish (or your favorite cast iron skillet). Set aside. Topping: While your butter is melting, combine dry ingredients. Pour melted butter over and mix until combined. Pour (or shake, really) topping evenly over fruit. Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes or until topping is browned and fruit is soft. Serve warm with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream. Or, ya know, both.

Agent W mentioned a dislike for oatmeal. Sigh. But I imagine this could be made with a crumb topping and still be just as good!

After you make this (because you really, REALLY should make this), let me know how it turned out!

I-Don't-Care Curtains a.k.a. Patchwork Curtains

2013-07-28T21:13:00.000-04:00


You lookin' at somethin'?!

*Warning: You know how I said my cats are incorrigible? You're about to learn why in this post*

So I've been moving along with The Girl's bedroom. She wanted mismatched textiles and mismatched-but-sorta-coordinating-because-I'm-anal textiles is what she'll get! I wish I could tell you that this is a tutorial. But then I'd be a liar. And nobody likes liars. And I want you to like me, because I like you! But anyway, a tutorial it is not! And that's because 1. I suck at math; my skills are embarrassingly poor, 2. I didn't really know what I was doing, and 3. every time I asked her opinion on anything about the curtains, she answered, "I don't care." Well, sh*t. Neither do I then. So I figured I'd just wing it!

I gathered some material and scraps I already had (I'll admit, hippies are the LEAST expensive decorators and I can totes get on board with that!), cut out some big square and rectangle shapes, and assembled them thus:

Hey. Hey, guys? I'm going to need those...

Ok, so I did use SOME measurements. I knew I wanted (needed?) a shade rather than traditional curtains for two reasons. Her room is on the second floor and, despite the central air, is UN-frickin-bearable, so she's got a window unit, too. So I needed curtains that wouldn't block the ac. SHE needed (wanted?) the curtains to block the sun in the morning. If I'd made panels, she'd need to close them at night, blocking the ac unit OR leave them open and risk the sun shining in. And we couldn't have THAT *eye roll* So I decided to make a single, tie-up curtain. That meant the finished curtain would need to be the same size as the window (67x37") so my raw measurements needed to be *somewhere* around 75x41" plus seam allowance for EACH square. That's when I was like, "WHY DID I TELL HER I'D MAKE THEM?!" To avoid having to do more math, especially considering the blocks were different shapes and sizes, I just overlapped them as I put my little curtain puzzle together to account for allowance, and continuously measured the overall length and width. I was just wingin' it all the way! Eventually, I needed to move to the floor because the table wasn't big enough. And lemme tell you how fun THAT was:

Ok, so that is kinda cute, but also a huge pain!

You're probably wondering what's going on in the picture above. Or you're a quilter and you know exactly what that is. That is smaller, odd-sized blocks sewn together to create larger, less odd-shaped blocks. Eventually, those larger blocks get sewn together to make the completed projected. I imagine this is an actual technique. But I'm NOT a quilter, so I don't know what it's called or if it even exists. It's just the only way I COULD sew some of it together if that makes any sense. Anyway, it ends up looking like this in the end:

I decided it wasn't gypsy-like enough and it needed something else. I ended up taking one of the sheer panels she already had hanging and cut two more rectangles from it. I attached beaded trim to each, hemmed the edges using a BAZILLION pins, and attached them to the curtain by ONLY sewing along the top edge. Now they flutter.


Lookit how the trims don't match each other! I had a breakthrough, yous guys!

I did line the curtain with some off white fabric I already had from another (although unfinished) project. There's probably a proper technique for that I ignored, too. I just hemmed the bottom of the lining, then sewed up the sides of the two pieces (right sides facing).

While admiring my handiwork, I saw this:

There was NO way I was ripping the seams out of four squares to fix that. So I improvised. I cut a square out of the peace sign fabric:

Ironed on some fusible web:

Cut the peace sign out with my trusty Xacto knife (while MAYBE pretending to be a surgeon) and scissors:

And ironed that bad boy right on there:

Will it last forever? Probably not. Will it do for now, until she decides to redecorate? Probably.

For the ties, I dug out an old scarf of mine with silver thread through it and tassels...and cut it up. This part hurt a little bit, actually. But in reality, I almost NEVER wear that scarf.

So I took each strip, sewed it into tubes, and attached it to the top of the curtain at the same time I attached the rod pocket. I hung them just to be sure they fit, but not on the actual rod we'll use, or even inside the window as I intend for them to be mounted. But here's your peak at it before it's installed properly!


It MOVES!

So, they turned out fine, but I'll be honest, I'm not sure I'd attempt something like this again with the different sized blocks. Maybe there's an easier way (it probably involves math, though) that I'm unaware of. If there is, and you know it, PLEASE share it with me! I love the look, but won't do it again without instructions!

Pantry Perils

2013-07-27T11:01:00.000-04:00

The pantry. God, I'd love an honest-to-goodness pantry. Le sigh.

So you took the chicken out of the freezer to thaw, but that's as far as you got into planning dinner. And now it's five o'clock. Crap. Or maybe Benson and Stabler are at the door and you want to offer refreshments. What now? Well, if you have a well stocked pantry, you'll be all...

Pictured: swag

and less like...

Pictured: guilt

But what IS a well stocked pantry? Well, it's your kitchen staples...dry goods and the like. I made a list :) I love lists. So much. But anyway...

Absolute Must Haves:

These are items that are always, always, ALWAYS on hand at my house, regardless of time of year, how often I think I'll use it, etc., AND ALSO should be in everyone's pantries. In other words, STAPLES.

Dry Goods/Things that don't need refrigerating until AFTER they've been opened:

Baking powder
Baking soda (also awesome for cleaning!)
Barbeque sauce
Bread crumbs
Bouillon cubes (or canned broth, I suppose, but I prefer the cubes)
Canned vegetables
Coffee (fo' sho'!)
Cornstarch
Flour
Garlic, bulb
Hot pepper sauce
Jelly (seriously, I ONLY buy grape. Nothing else should EVER go on a PB&J sandwich. But I gueeeesss you can buy whatever you want.)
Ketchup
Mayonnaise
Mustard ("deli" otherwise known as brown or spicy, plus whatever others you might use)
Oil (vegetable AND olive)
Pancake syrup
Pasta (a variety shapes and sizes--I keep about four pounds of "thin spaghetti" on hand at all times because that's what we eat most, plus a box each of elbow, penne, ziti, and lasagna. If you have a wee one, add pastine to the list)
Peanut butter
Popcorn kernels (it REALLY doesn't take much more effort than the microwave stuff)
Potatoes
Quick sides (ya know, Betty Crocker and Lipton side dish type things. Especially au gratin potatoes)
Rice
Salad dressing(s)
Sugar (at LEAST granulated and brown, if not those and powdered/10x)
Tomatoes (crushed, paste, and sauce {NOT to be confused with spaghetti sauce})
Vinegar (balsamic and white -- buy the biggest bottle of white you can find and use it for cleaning and cooking!)

Spices (and herbs...but they all go in the SPICE rack. Jus' sayin'):

Basil
Bay leaves
Chili powder
Cinnamon
Cream of tartar
Cumin
Garlic powder (salt, too, if that's how you roll)
Marjoram, ground
Nutmeg, ground
Oregano
Paprika
Pepper (black, cayenne, crushed red flakes, white)
Poultry seasoning
Rosemary
Sage leaves
Salt (table and kosher)
Seasoned salt
Thyme
Vanilla extract

Fridge and Freezer:

Butter (buy extra, it can be frozen!)
Cheese (sandwich, Parmesan, cheddar)
Eggs
Lemon juice
Milk
Produce, fresh or frozen (I'd list stuff, but really, we all have our favorites, so stock accordingly)
Dinner meats (ground beef, poultry, pork stuffs, etc)

Optional Items:

Items on this list are just useful (some are super useful) things you might want to add to the pantry, but may not be considered "staples" (in my opinion). Some I would consider staples...either to MY kitchen (my grandfather will tell you that Old Bay is a staple. I, however, have NEVER used it), or I only keep stocked seasonally. Things marked with + I do consider staples for my own kitchen. Things marked with * I buy seasonally. Things not marked, I don't buy at all, but YOU might want stock.

Allspice
Beans (especially chili)*
Biscuit mix
Canned pumpkin*
Chocolate (chips in all types of flavors and sizes, baking squares, powder)+
Chocolate syrup
Cornmeal+
Craisins*
Crisco+
Evaporated milk*
Fruit, lunchbox packaging*
Gelatin+
Heavy cream*
Honey
Microwave popcorn
Molasses*
Nonstick cooking spray (I preseasoned my cast iron then used the hell out of it! No use for nonstick spray here :D)
Oats (quick-cooking and rolled)+
Roasted red peppers+
Salsa+
Spaghetti sauce
Sour mix (for the margaritas, ya know)+
Tortilla chips+
Tortilla shells+

Did I forget something? Comment and let me know!

To the Hippiemobile! Wait. What?

2013-07-26T01:28:00.000-04:00

Why can't we be friends?

Confession: The Girl is a long-haired, dirty hippie. True story. We're democrats in this family, but she's hardcore. She's got that idealism that hasn't been touched by ~~cynicism~~ ~~getting old~~ age, yet. Good for her! But evidently, I've got to decorate her room around her hippienessism. Greeeeaaat. She requested curtains that actually keep the sun out (because God forbid she rise before noon) and a chandelier. Heh? She meant mobile, but I got'er. That's easy, so we trotted off to the Dollar Tree to purchase some flowers (daisies, actually. A hippie's favorite flower and wouldn't ya know, HER favorite flower. Go figure.) and she mentioned a love of butterflies. Also, easy enough. I'll just make some out of scrapbook paper, right? Oh! But WHAT IF...I make it more complicated than it needs to be and I make TIE-DYED BUTTERFLIES??!!! Yes, of COURSE. And this is the final product.

Check out those badass butterflies. I think it could be fuller, but she likes it the way it is *shrug* Want some tie-dyed paper for your own tree hugger? It just so happens that I tried a million different methods so you don't have to AND wrote a tutorial JUST. FOR. YOU. And you don't even have to make butterflies! Aren't I great? :D

But a daisy, tie-dyed butterfly mobile alone does not a hippie room make. So I said to myself, "Self, what do hippies like?" Peace signs! Yes! What else? Beads! Anything else? Not war. I was kinda getting nowhere. I didn't want her room to just be a bunch of cheesy, store-bought stuff with peace signs printed on them because that's, well, cheesy. Plus the concept of a bunch of pre-fab stuff doesn't keep with my idea of hippies. But WHAT would a hippie room even look like?! So I turned to my most trusted resource -- Google images -- and prepared to assemble my inspiration. Turns out you have to be really specific when researching or you get a bunch of black light posters and more psychedelic results than what may be appropriate for your 14-year-old daughter. Once I got my search terms right (bohemian hippie rooms) I got this:

Ok! I can do this! There's very much a Moroccan feel to this. In fact, Moroccan lamps were in SO many of the pictures and it just so happens that I own a few. Score! I also learned that a big part of "the look" is about a lot of textiles that don't match. Well, ain't that lucky! She HATES stuff that matches! I've made a list of things that I'll be incorporating into this "design." As I check each one off, I'll share with yous! Fingers crossed I'll have it all finished by the time they come back from their dad's...

Next up: the ugliest curtains on the planet. She'll love them!

Tie-dyed Paper

2013-07-26T01:25:00.001-04:00

I followed all sorts of tutorials and tried all sorts of methods I found online to make tie-dyed paper. I suppose they "worked," but none of them produced results that actually looked like tie dye. The fact is, paper just DOESN'T crease the way you need it to for traditional tie dying patterns. After trying everything else, I decided I was going to have to try an idea I'd discarded earlier: tissue paper. I was afraid it would be too fragile for what I was going for. Turns out, it's REALLY forgiving. I didn't have a single piece tear on me. Well then.

If you wanna try it for yourself, you'll need:

Tissue paper (intact, cut to smaller pieces, torn into sort-of squares, whatev)
Permanent markers (you could use Sharpies, but mine were from the dollar store)
Rubbing alcohol
Pins/rubber bands
Something to protect your work surface
Spray bottle
Iron

Ok, so the basic method is REALLY simple -- "shape" your tissue paper, color, spray with alcohol, wait to dry, unravel, iron. But you're going for an authentic pattern, right? So here's the easiest/most recognizable one. This was really hard to photograph, so bear with me!

Step 1: Pinch your paper in the center

Step 2: While holding the center, spin the outside edges counterclockwise (or clockwise, counter is just easier if you're holding with your right!)


You'll do this with your paper still on the work surface. I only lifted mine for the photo!

Step 2b: Continue spinning, making sure to keep the paper flat -- don't let it work it's way into a cylinder -- until you're left with a wadded up, spiral of paper. I won't lie. This is WAY easier with a shirt than paper. It took lots of practice to get it right, so don't get discouraged! Just unravel and start over with the same piece or just go with it! I doubt hippies were perfectionists ;)

Wadded up, spiral of paper

Step 3: Pin or rubber band at this point to keep the shape. You can use rubber bands to mark off your colors, too, just like with a shirt. I didn't have any rubber bands, though, and mine came out just fine :)

Step 4: Color! Yay, fun! There are no rules for which colors you use. Just use at least two and color ALL sides of the spiral (you'll want your colors to match up on the front and back, though).

Step 5: Spray both sides with rubbing alcohol. It just so happens that my sprayer thingie for my spray bottle fit on my bottle of alcohol. And I'm lazy. If yours doesn't fit, you'll have to do it the non-cool way and fill up your spray bottle.

Step 6: Leave it the way it is, pinned or banded, to dry. This won't take long at all.

Step 7: Carefully unwrap (it may still be a wee bit damp in the folds). Admire your ingenuity ;) This one, made specifically for the tutorial, came out the best. Natch :/

Not ironed. Again, laziness.

You'll want to iron it at this point (or maybe you don't. Who am I to say what you want to do?!) But IF you do, it's safe to do with a "cool" iron (what does that even mean?!). I ironed mine on, I think, the second setting on the iron. If you want, you can then cut it into a butterfly shape for your tree-huggin' kid. Or whatever. There are a bunch of actual patterns for tie dying clothing. I tried a few using tissue paper for The Girl's mobile and most of them came out exactly how I'd intended. I even attempted (and succeeded!!) the double spiral. So, go on wit' yo' bad self! And make some of your own. If you do, share them with me. I'd love to see what you come up with!

Summertiiiiiiiime and the livin's easy

2013-07-22T14:50:00.000-04:00

I know. I KNOW! I've been quiet. In my defense, the summer visitation schedule is broken up into four three-week blocks. So I've had the kids. But still, "What have you been doing?!" you ask. "It's not as if your kids are small and need you to follow them around!" you say with a roll of your eyes. This is true. They're not toddlers.

So, first, we did this:

Then we did this:

Oh! We DID go on vacation where we did these things:

Over and over and over again. We ARE actually pictured here.

Sometimes it's best not to ask

Escorting me on a stroll through the gardens

Maze

Creepiest kids EVER

You have no idea the excitement pictured here.

I did this. I can't even...

Dead-on accuracy right here.

There was a cow. She ran. For a cow. I can't make this stuff up.

Pictured: Fail.

This is the second time he's fought the British.

Finding ghosts.

Then we came home and did this:

Then we stopped doing that -- VERY briefly -- to do this:

What? There was a bug on the ceiling. That's my bug-killin gear.

After careful review (gold, glittery powder?!), it might've been a fairy. Crap.

So yeah, that's about it. BUT. BUT! While they're at their dad's house for the next three weeks, I'm going to FINALLY work on The Girl's room. You might've noticed from the picture of us gaming that there's not much going on in her room. We did hang curtains, but they're only temp curtains. And she put up One Direction posters. That's all about to change. Well, not the posters. She'd kill me. But I've kinda slacked on her room since she's not here full-time. The other rooms took priority. But I'm totally gonna decorate (and unpack that damn box she's left sitting on the desk for two months!!!) now so she truly has a room here.This means diy projects and tutes. I'll blog all about our vaca, too!

Best. Moms. Ever. -- Part 2

2013-07-14T11:25:00.001-04:00

As you remember, we'd just dropped the girls off at their very first non-chaperoned One Direction concert. Meanwhile, back on the ranch, Agent S and I had spent some time in the car Yelping before we pulled off. After making our selection, and subsequently pulling away from our non-parking spot, we thought it was too long for the girls not to have called. So I dialed The Girl's bff, prepared to yell at her like she was my own for not calling when she was told to. When she answered, she explained we HADN'T dropped them off at the stadium, but at a parking lot on the other side of the park, from which, they had to walk a ways to a tram, which they were currently on, with all the other concert-goers. Oops. We'd just abandoned our girls! Oh well, they seemed fine :-) If they can take the subway to school this September, they can handle a tram with a throng of other adoring fans, right? She hung up, informing us they were just about to get off the tram to go wait "in a long line over there" with promises to call when they were on the inside. And they did. Almost immediately, actually. Turns out the line moved pretty quickly. Assured of our babies' safety, we could finally go eat.

When we reached our destination, there was a little shopping "village" next door. With. A. Scrapbook. Shop!!!!!!! Called Times To Remember.

Eating is overrated. We had to go in. They had such fun stuff...stuff they make there in the shop and SO much Hersey Park stuff I wish I'd known about when I was making a scrapbook as a gift for My Fella for our one year :( C'est la vie. We asked the nice sales girl what was going on in the back of the store. And do you know what she said?! She said they were having a YARD SALE!!!!!!!! A YARD SALE, peeps! Where people brought in their unused scrapbooking supplies and sold them super cheap. Oh. Em. Geeeeee.

Isn't it cute?!

So many ribbons!!!!!

I really couldn't justify buying a lot of what I wanted to, but we did make a few purchases. I snagged some stickers I'd been looking for and Agent S picked up a DIFFERENT family tree paper than the pattern she'd previously bought.

Pictured: Shattered dreams.

I wanted to take some more pictures for yous, but the store was closing and Agent S thought we should let the poor salesgirl go home for the night. I DID snag one more as we were leaving, though.

Agent S: "Challenge accepted"

The store is holding a challenge in which they're offering a new, two-page layout kit every week for eight weeks this summer. You can read more about it on this page of their site. If you live in the Hershey area, you can just stop in and pick up your kit. If not, well, the site DOES say they'll mail things, but that the online store is not currently open. You CAN still view the online catalog, though, but I'm not making any promises about how frequently it's updated. And the the salesgirl did tell me they'd happily take a phone call to see if they carry something specific. I'd wager you can call or email, give your card info over the phone, and they'd ship a purchase to you if you were interested.

Going Public

2013-07-13T21:48:00.001-04:00

I think I'm ready. It's time to go public with my blog. Until now, I didn't have the blog "searchable." But that's changed and I've set up feeds on FeedBurner and Bloglovin'. Or at least I think that's the proper terminology. So, yeah, FOLLOW ME :)

Best. Moms. EVER. -- Part 1

2013-07-13T21:38:00.002-04:00

Ignore the ticket price. We won't even discuss what was ACTUALLY paid on Stubhub.

The Girl and her bff had been begging for One Direction. They'd be 14 by the time the concert rolled around and, after much deliberation, Agent S and I decided they could be trusted to go alone (cutting the cost of tickets significantly W00t!) and the tickets could be their "big" Christmas gift, too. Good. We opted for the concert in Hershey because they were cheaper than Philly. Better. Then My Fella couldn't figure out what to get a 14-year-old girl for Christmas and asked if the ticket could be from him. He'd even buy her bff's if Agent S agreed to drive. Best. I bought two sequined Union Jack tanks (the concert wasn't until July) for the girls and Agent S and I plotted. Because we're rotten. So we each told our own kid that they were giving the other one of these tank tops, but that WE would wrap them because we'd wrap them nicer (wink, wink, nudge). In actuality, we planned to pin the tickets to the shirts, fold them in a way they'd HAVE to pull them out of the box and couldn't possibly miss the tickets. This allowed for them to think they hadn't gotten the one thing they wanted more than anything for Christmas. Muahahaha. It went mostly as planned. The Girl didn't see hers right away, meanwhile her BFF had already dissolved into tears, confusing The Girl so very much. When she saw her own, she wasn't sure/didn't want to get her hopes up that it was a ticket. Eventually she believed and also cried. It was awesome.

Fast forward to July. There were some issues with the shirts because not all of the members are British. One is Irish. *eyeroll* Well, they weren't NOT wearing these shirts if *I* had anything to say about it. And I did. Because I'm older than them. But because neither of us wanted to hear their mouths (and we surely would), I agreed to pull out my Irish stuffs (thankfully I'm a proud mick) and whip something up for them last minute in order to represent every member.

A quick trip to the dollar store later and we were in business. Agent S made a hair bow out of a shamrock ribbon and I made a headband out of green plaid.

I have NO idea what she's gluing.

HAIR BOW!!

Keeping the ribbon in place.

We even through in some shamrock confetti for good measure, applied to the face with nail glue. What? I don't wear false eyelashes. It was the best I could do at a moment's notice! Anyway, they were, indeed, placated.

I promise, there is a hair bow and shamrock confetti in this picture.

We left immediately after because seriously, that's how much notice they gave us about needing Irish stuff. I hate them. Not really. Maybe a little ;) Once we arrived, we dropped them off near the parking lot with everyone else, took a picture,

This is what abandonment looks like.

and instructed them to call us THE VERY SECOND they got passed the ticket checkers. How did our parents do this in a time before cell phones?! And Agent S and I headed off to dinner while we waited...

The rest of the story...

Bragging Rights

2013-07-13T13:45:00.001-04:00

See, in Philly, your kids go to one of three types of schools: public, charter, or Catholic. Public schools are broken down into "neighborhood schools" until high school, when they're broken down into "special-select," "citywide," and "neighborhood." Special-select schools are schools that are, in fact, public schools, but that hand pick their student body. Students must meet certain criteria regarding grades and behavior. Students come from all parts of the city, regardless of address. Like special-select schools, city-wide schools are public, take from all parts of the city, and have criteria that students must meet. City-wide school criteria is less rigid, their standards not quite as high as special-select schools and students who meet that criteria are selected on a lottery basis. If your kid isn't selected for one of these schools, they go to their neighborhood high school. Neighborhood schools are like most suburban school DISTRICTS. If your student lives within the district -- or, in the case of the city, the neighborhood -- your child may attend the school. Most of you wouldn't want your kid at one of these schools. Picture Dangerous Minds. With a larger police presence. Jus' sayin'.

During the 8th grade, kids go through high school selection. This is a nerve-wracking process for parents and students in which your baby applies to as many as five high schools in November. Some schools even hold interviews. For 13-year-old children. The Girl was required to interview at one of her picks. I was pretty sure one of us was going to be sick with nerves. We held out, though. And then they wait. And wait. For March to roll around to see if they've been selected to attend any of their five choices. If your kid was accepted to one of the better schools in the city (or state, 'cause, ya know, some of our kids WERE accepted to one of the top ten schools in the state *ahem*), celebration is in order. And bragging. Lots of bragging.

Factor in that, because of this system, our kids aren't just shuffling along to the same high school together, you might be able to understand why 8th grade graduation is such a HUGE deal. Some of these kids -- who've been together since Kindergarten, mind you -- will never see each other again. Some will keep in touch, but not by passing notes in the hallway.

Besties since first grade going to different schools in September.

Actually, thanks to social media, this generation will probably keep in touch far better than generations before. But we won't let that ruin our fun! Plus it's tradition. And did I mention bragging rights? You'll be asked a million times what high school your baby is going to. And answering can be as gratifying as if you'd been accepted to that school yourself. And so, windows are decorated, parties are thrown, bragging rights are extended, and tears are shed by students and parents alike.

I am straight SOBBING in this picture.

Have Glue Gun, Will Travel

2013-07-07T15:53:00.001-04:00

Favors: Check! Glue gun: Check! Hooker shoes: Check! What? Your weekend bag doesn't look like this?

If you're from the Philly area (or maybe another major city? Comment! I'm curious!!), you know what a big deal eighth grade graduation is. If you're not, you just won't get the hype (or at least that's the common consensus of those in The Sticks). Suffice to say, we treat this event a lot like a high school graduation. For the curious, let me 'splain...

So, late June in Philadelphia. The Girl and her friends are part of this year's crop of eighth graders *sniffle* She and her BFF are bound for one of the highest ranked high schools in the city (actually, in the state, but I don't wanna brag...too much). Note: my Philly-BFF, the aforementioned Agent S, is the mother of The Girl's BFF. She and I couldn't be prouder (no, really, I'm going to make entirely pompous t-shirts).

Pictured: Goody Two-shoes. "Most likely to dime out their own parents to the cops."

Right. So the windows had all been decorated, and a party was being thrown for The Girl's BFF. The Girl didn't want one, but she doesn't have a choice when they graduate Class 276. As Agent S said, "OMG! A double party!!" Right on. Anyway, I digress. There was a party in the planning and I agreed to make the favors. Partly because Agent S had enough on her plate with 300 meatballs (ha! See what I did there?) to be made as well as the other arrangements. I mean, there was a helium shortage and everything! Apparently, the medical field doesn't understand eighth grade graduation in Philly! So that's where friends come in. To make 200 favors for you when you're too busy to do it yourself. The other reason I offered was NOT because I'm a glutton for punishment, but because favors are so cute. I just love little things.

So I asked Agent S's opinion about what I was thinking of making and eventually made an executive decision to go ahead with those ideas (she had enough to do and trusts my judgement. That's just how we roll.) I decided on two favors, actually, 100 of each.

Wee lil' graduation caps and diplomas.

I had to travel back to Philly from The Sticks for this event. I finished the diplomas in their entirety ahead of time I was afraid the caps wouldn't survive the two-hour trip, though, so I crafted the "mortar" at home and planned to attach them to the Reese's cups when I got to Agent S's. The night before the party, I packed my bag full of shoes, favors, and my glue gun as well as extra glue sticks because I knew Agent S would only know where one of her two glue guns were. Far too early the next morning, I was on a train bound for Philly.

Both favors are pretty self-explanatory, so here's just a quick tutorial on both that includes some tips that helped me not throw anything through a window during their creation. I'll start with the easier of the two, but first a note on selecting colors. Obviously, you want to use the graduate's school colors. In this case, they were blue and yellow, so I selected yellow for the diplomas and blue for the caps with a gold tassel. In hindsight, I should've reversed the colors as it turns out her gown was yellow :/ So, ya know, just something to think about before you get excited and just start buyin' stuff ;)

Smarties Diplomas:

I didn't even take pictures during the process because it's really just that simple. Sorry to you voyeur types ;)

What you'll need:

Smarties (in the wrapper)
1/8" width satin-feel ribbon in school color(s) (I used Offray polyester ribbon)
Computer/printer/printer paper
Scissors

Step 1: I created a table in Word and sized, and printed, and resized, and printed again until I got the right dimensions. Boots helped. It is SO worth the time to watch this video.

Feel free to save yourself the trouble and use mine. Just don't forget to change the name/year! I left the some of borders showing for easier cutting. You can hide these in the settings of the document, but they really don't show once it's assembled. Once you've edited my super handy document, print! There are ten per page on mine, so, ya know, print as many as you need according to the maths.

Step 2: Cut along my possibly handier-than-the-document lines and wrap around the Smarties. I'm a stickler for detail, so I actually had My Fella glue the overlapped (long) ends to keep the paper in place. You CAN skip the glueing step, but I'm tellin' ya, this helped two-fold. Firstly, well, it held it in place. That was kinda obvious, huh? Seriously, though, it keeps it from getting wonky when you let go of the paper to tie the ribbon. Also, it let us set up a nice little assembly line. So grab a friend, or your fella, and give them something to do! Or do it yourself. Glue a bunch, throw 'em in a bowl to be tied later when you're not sick of looking of Smarties anymore. And that will happen. Just so ya know.

Step 3: Cut short lengths of ribbon (about an inch and a half). Or have your fella do it. Whatever works. Tie around the center of the "diploma". That's it!

Reese's Cup Minis Graduation Caps:

What you'll need:

Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Miniatures
12x12" Card stock in school color (each sheet makes 64 favors)
Puff paint to match card stock
Thread in alternate school color. If you can find something with a little more weight to it than, say, sewing thread or embroidery thread, get it! I started with a heavier thread, ran out, and had to purchase a lighter-weight thread. Guess which was easier to work with?
Plastic floss bobbin or piece of thin cardboard (like from a cereal box) approx. 1.5"x1"
Ruler and scissors or a paper trimmer
Glue gun

For the "mortar":

Step 1: Using your ruler and scissors or paper trimmer, cut 1.5 inch squares from your card stock.

For the tassels:

Because of the size of these, it REALLY helps to have a second set of hands for some of these steps. More so if you're stuck using a sewing/embroidery thread.

Step 1: Cut 4" lengths of thread (as many as tassels you'll be making). Cut the same amount of 3" lengths of thread. Set aside, but keep separate.

Step 2: Using thread still on the spool, wind thread around 1.5" end of bobbin five times (or more if you want. The more times, the thicker the final tassel). Cut end.

Step 3: Slide thread off bobbin, keeping loops intact!, and tie center with pre-cut 4" lengths of thread.

Step 4: Grab your fella, your bestie, your kid, whoever is nearby with thumbs. Fold the loops "down" and hold the 4" piece of thread "up" (or left and right, diagonally, whatevs). Steps 4 and 5 are difficult to see in the pictures just because the damn thing is so small, but just know I thought of yous and I tried. I really tried!

Step 5: Using a 3" length of thread, tie just under the center knot, forming the final tassel shape. Trim ends (loops) to the length that feels appropriate.

Assembly:

Step 1: If you haven't already, trim the long thread (4") so that the tassel hangs down from the center of your "mortar" as far as you'd like. I trimmed mine to about an inch. Yes, from 4". I wanted to start out with longer and, ya know, easier-to-work with lengths. See how I look out for you? Uh, except for the part where I don't actually have a picture of that, so, um, moving right along...

Step 2: Place the long ends of the tassel in the center of your square of card stock. Pin those little effers down with your nail, because they WILL separate and go all wonky on you and you do NOT want that. See how in the pic it looks like one piece of thread? It is NOT. WITCHCRAFT! No, not really. I was just careful. Do that.

Step 3: Once you have them in place, grab your puff paint and put a little dot on top to 1. glue the tassel on and 2. create the "pin" on top of a graduation cap.

Step 4: After the puff paint is dry, open your bag of Reese's mins and eat one. Have another one. It's ok, if you did the math right, you have, like, ten extra cups anyway, so it's totally cool to eat four.

Step 5: Place your "mortar", upside-down, on a flat, sturdy surface. Using your glue gun, put a small dot of glue in the center and place a Reese's cup, also upside-down, on top of the glue. Smoosh it down to hold, flip right-side up, and you're done! How cute are they?!