Apple House Revival

The Bubble (Binky) Give Up - 2.0

2014-02-25T00:06:00.000-08:00

When John Henry was a pre-schooler and the time came for him to give up his beloved Mimi, we made it as fun as we possibly could. It took us five days, and it's something that he still talks about to this day. (The photo book we made probably has helped increase his memory of it.)

You can read the five blog posts about the first Binky Give Up starting here.

So now that it was Leo's turn we wanted to do something similar for him to help him say goodbye to his "Bubble." We started out by looking over John Henry's book and by asking him if he was ready for about a month. Finally it was time.

Day One: Balloon to the Moon

The first binky had a ticket to ride on a bunch of mylar balloons.

First Leo drew a picture for the baby we were sending the binky too. Then I wrote a note for him.

Enjoying this particular Bubble one more time. . .

John Henry gave him some support as he prepared for the launch.

A little sad as he thought about letting go. . .

and then up, up, up and away! Leo told me that it was going to the moon to a baby who lived there. :)

Day Two: Baby Chance needs a Binky!

Another picture, another note. . . this one to his cute baby cousin who lives in Utah. He saw a picture of Chance on my computer and we noticed that he didn't have a binky. I asked if he could have one of Leo's, Leo thought that would be OK.

John Henry was really cute and supportive the entire time. He didn't want Leo to be too sad.

Into the box it goes. He was a little surprised when he reopened the door and found nothing there.

A few days later his aunt Erin sent a picture of Chance with the binky. Leo was mad and wanted it back. He got over it pretty quickly, though.

Day Three: The Binky Fairy

Probably the least painful day, because he didn't actually have to physically give it away, plus candy and new trucks always help.

The binky fairy came while he was at preschool, took a picture of what she was trading the binky for, with the binky, then left a note and some smarties in it's place.

Leo was getting more anxious each day - so this was a good break for him.

Day Four: Sail Away

Leo was most excited about this day- and getting to go to "the beach."

We went up to Henry Hagg Lake, about 10 miles from our house.

He wasn't even sad. He was very excited to launch his Bubble Boat.

There were mostly smiles through it all. He did suggest we go out in the water to get it, but when I told him no, he accepted it.

Day Five: Bubbles the Monkey

The last day- and the hardest.

He was able to go to sleep the night before without his Bubble, but didn't make it through the entire night. We could tell he was anxious, as we told him throughout the morning that today was the day he would put his last Bubble into an animal, like John Henry's Mimi Doggy.

He was very excited when we got there.

After much deliberation, he chose a monkey for his animal.

He filled him up with fluff.

And then in went the heart and the binky.

A good air bath,

and a birth certificate. . .

here is the binky free Leo for the first time with Bubbles the Monkey.

He held it together through most of the week, but finally couldn't hold it in any longer. He melted down as we left the mall- and promptly fell asleep in the car. He went to bed that night, and the two nights since without a problem and without asking for his Bubble.

You are so big, my sweet boy. I am so proud of you. This was so hard, but you were brave and you did it!

Rules for Being an Adult

2014-02-17T21:01:00.000-08:00

One of the goals I had for this year was to come up with a set of 'rules' for myself. Things that I want to focus on, that will make me a better person, that I should use to organize my life.

After several weeks of thought, consideration, and discussion with friends, here is what I came up with.

What are you're "Rules for Being an Adult?"

Chalk it up to . . .

2014-02-15T00:56:00.000-08:00

I've been painting a lot of chalk boards as of late, and having fun working on my chalkboard art.

I'm not a football fan, but I am a Seattalite at heart. Had to support my city!

Some of you may know that I am dyslexic and Phoebe is a dyslexic advocate - working to get the appropriate resources into schools for her son and all dyslexic kids. I cheer from 800 miles away and create zillions of PDFs for her.

My chalk art is improving - but I think I need to invest in a ruler. :)

Dicchotomy - Snow and Seeds

2014-02-10T13:37:00.003-08:00

It doesn't snow often in Western Oregon - and I like it that way. I grew up in Northern Utah and I've had my fill of cold and wet.

My boys on the other hand, think it's wonderful.

I did help build the fort though. If it's going to dump snow on us, and strand us (the town we live in doesn't own a snow plow - so the roads don't get cleared) then I have to do SOMETHING to combat cabin fever!

However, I can only handle so much of the cold.

So, a little summer time prep seemed in order. I got together with a couple of friends and we inventoried seeds -

Then places an order from my favorite seed site!

I've all ready picked up potting soil and just have to wait for the white stuff to clear so I can get our new (to us) green house up and functional. As soon as the new seeds arrive it will be time to plant seeds! I can't wait!

Stella - an "old soul" bench

2014-02-05T14:18:00.001-08:00

A friend had this bench in her barn. She thought I could find her true colors.

She started out as an olive green. You can still see it peeking out here and there.

I though a lovely lavender, some teal, a little blue and tan would help her look a little more inviting.

I love the way she turned out.

__________________
Stella is for sale. $70 - available in the greater Portland area.

Help for the Philippines

2013-11-08T17:24:00.000-08:00

You may or may not know that I lived in the Philippines in my early twenties. I speak Tagalog, and a part of my heart will always remain there.

Yesterday they were hit with one of the strongest Typhoons in recorded history, and only weeks after a major earthquake left devastation in parts of the country.

source: CNN

Please, take some time tonight to give thanks for your warm, safe, dry homes. Then, if you have the means, donate to one of the Humanitarian Aid organizations that will be helping the beautiful people of the Philippines recover from this massive storm.

I recommend the LDS Humanitarian Aid Fund.

"One hundred percent of every dollar donated is used to help those in need without regard to race, religion, or ethnic origin."

The LDS Church has missionaries already in country who will work to help any and all people effected by this storm. They are nearly always the first organization to respond in the wake of tragedy and natural disaster because of a strong network of leadership and volunteers. You can read more about the Humanitarian Aid Fund here.

Maraming Salamat
(many thanks)

Crickets. . . What's good for the garden isn't so good for the blog!

2013-10-04T01:55:00.002-07:00

Yeah, there's been a whole lot of NOTHING happening on this blog. That is because there has been a whole lot of everything else happening in real life, so I thought I'd show you all a little of what took up some pretty major chunks of my time over the summer.

This was our garden plot just after our final bit of planting. We garden at a community garden, which I LOVE.

A few weeks later. . .

More water, more sunshine. . .

And some of this in the mean time. . .

And this is what our garden looked like just prior to harvest.

For those of you who like to know what plants you're looking at. The pictures above are all taken from the top right corner of this chart.

We also grew onions in a raised bed on our parking strip, blueberries and herbs in our back yard, peas behind our shed, and lettuce in the flower beds at our house - because we're crazy like that.

All that time, effort, and water led to a lot of beautiful things like this. . .

and this. . .

and a lot of that lead to this. . .

which lead to a lot of this. . .

and some of this.

Other parts of it lead to time spent making this. . .

and huge messes in the kitchen. . .

Which eventually lead to beautiful things like this. . .

and one of my favorite photos of the entire year!

It is a TON of work to grow your own food and then process and preserve it, but I am always so happy I've done it when it's all over - and of course eating delicious fresh veggies all summer long is a pretty good perk too!

I'm still working on getting all our veggies properly stored for the winter, along with prepping winter beds and planting winter crops. Hopefully I'll be back soon with some of the furniture pieces I've finished recently, as well as other things that kept us busy over the summer.
________________

This year I stuck to the basics, as it turns out my family doesn't really love fancy chutneys and jams - maybe when the boys are older. Do you can? What's your favorite food to preserve?

Fairy Garden

2013-06-10T21:43:00.000-07:00

John Henry recently became enamored with fairies. I had seen some very cute fairy gardens and I asked him if he wanted to make one. He was all for it! We set out to do it without buying anything.

There was an old wooden planter in our yard that I had never planted anything in. Every year this flower (I don't know what it is, anyone want to help me out?) grows on the edge of it, and that's it. It was practically begging to be made into a fairy garden!

We also had a cedar bird house that had all ready lost its bird perch- it's as if the fairies were wandering around our yard leaving us hints!

We perched the house up high with a tiny terracotta planter, and then made a ladder from twigs and bailing wire from the garden up to the house. John Henry put some nice soft straw in the house for the fairies to make their beds with!

I had some scrap Sunbrella fabric that we made a bunting and a flag out of it. Sewing something that small is no easy task, it turned out a little rough, but then fairies like little things a little shabby chic, right?

John Henry painted all the rocks and and insisted that we make a sign to let them know that this was a place for them!

We used an old canning ring to make a sand box. We had some colored floral sand and John Henry chose to fill it with pink, red, and yellow sand.

We made them a pond out of the lid of a cocoa tin. It's John Henry's job to make sure it gets clean water every day. We made the beach with crushed oyster shell.

We dug some creeping thyme up from another part of our yard, added some chicks and hens (John Henry's favorite plants.) Some pine cones and a few other little decorations finished it out.

John Henry and I are both enchanted!

Have you created a fairy garden? Share the link in the comments!

_______________

Sharing this post at:
CSI Project's Kids' Summer Craft Week.
Not Just a House Wife

Ladybug Release

2013-05-21T12:22:00.002-07:00

OK, so between gardening, soccer, volunteering at my son's school and life, there hasn't been a lot of time for much furniture work. I NEED to get this dresser out of my living room, though, so it's gotta happen SOON!

In the mean time, we have a big aphid problem on our roses, so today at the nursery we picked up the solution!

Method to My Madness

2013-05-02T12:33:00.000-07:00

If anyone were to see my craft/sewing room, they would be in a state of shock at the mess. However, it's times like this, when I can 'throw together' a very special gift for a very special niece, that I'm grateful that I don't throw things away. Dodged you this time, craft store.

Boston Love

2013-04-20T16:01:00.002-07:00

In light of the rough week we've had in the US, a hard question. What do you normally do for someone going through extreme grief or pain? I always feel so helpless. If there's an address, I knit one of these hearts and mail them off. There are some Boston victims that will be getting one of these, from me, this week. </3

Give Away - My Memories and Free Printables!

2013-04-17T00:00:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago I was contacted by a company called My Memories. They offer a digital scrapbooking software and wanted to know if I was interested in hosting a give away for their product.

At first I though, "Um, we don't do digital scrapbooking here. Why would I want to host a give away for that?" and dismissed it. Then I thought about it a little more.

Printables are all the rage right now. They are all over Pinterest and Etsy. I've got three framed in my house right now. They are instant, personalized art, right? But not everyone has mad Photoshop skillz. (right, Phoebe? - that's right, I'm ratting you out.)

I wondered how well My Memories Suite would work for making printables, so I said (well typed,) "sure, I'll try it out."

YOU GUYS! It's awesome! It's super easy to use, it comes with a pretty good library of shapes, frames, images, and buttons. In addition to everything that comes with the software, there is a whole ton of images, kits, and crafts that you can purchase to use within the software. I felt like the prices were very reasonable, and there is a wide range of styles.

So, I made you all a couple of printable so you could see how great it is. Everything I used came free with the software.

Feel free to click, download, and print.

Cute, right? And those three took me about 15 minutes each to create.

In addition for those Silhouette users out there, you can save your files as SVGs so you can use them to cut vinyl too!

I also am loving some of their "craftables".

Like these cute cupcake wrappers and toppers. (Phoebe now has even more resources at her disposal to go over the top with her birthday parties!)

and one more thing I like about My Memories before we get to the give away. . .

You can send your printable (or photos or whatever) to them to be printed, either on photo paper, or as a wall cling, or on an iphone case or on a deck or cards or . . .

I totally need that right?

OK - so My Memories has offered a copy of their My Memories Suite Software to one of my readers. It works on both Macs and PCs (you know I'm a Mac girl, so I can vouch.) Here's how to enter:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

In addition to that, they have offered AHR readers a really great coupon.

Enter the code STMMMS28172 at checkout and receive $10 off the purchase price (regularly $39.97) and a $10 credit to the My Memories Store (that's where you can get extra shapes, backgrounds, etc.) Nice, right? (I'm totally going to use it myself!)

That's it! I'll announce the winner after the give away closes on the 25th at midnight.

_______________________________________
disclosure: I received a free copy of My Memories Suite to try and review. I also receive a commission on any copies of the software that are purchased using the above coupon code. My opinions are 100% mine. You know I'd never lead you all astray. That wouldn't be cool at all.

Egg Birthday

2013-04-11T14:25:00.000-07:00

My now 4 year old loves to hang out in the kitchen. Inevitably, if there are eggs in view, he will pick one up, stare at it and daydream of throwing it at something. He usually asks 'Mom, can I break this? Can I throw this at something?' I take a deep breath and gently take the egg out of his hands before he decides to answer his own question.

In response to his longing for egging someone/thing, we threw him an Egg Birthday Party. It involved breaking/smashing over 100 eggs. We had a firing squad line-up of a select few egg producers. An owl, a chick, a rooster (ok, this one just hatched from an egg), a penguin, and a hen. There was also an alligator, but apparently that one needed saving for his bedroom decor.

We also had cascarones (confetti eggs). The child guests were floored and delighted over the activities.

The buffet table included marshmallow eggs, chocolate eggs, deviled eggs, malted eggs and egg shaped sugar cookies. The cake donned a ninja, because that has everything to do with eggs, right?
We ended the party with a parrot pinata!

Happy Birthday to my E-walker!

The Play Kitchen

2013-04-02T15:31:00.000-07:00

I had no idea how much of my design and decorating style and motivation were tied to the actual house I lived in. Yes, naturally, things will change when you move from a modern town house to a log house, but what about when I moved into a non-discript, white walled, 1980's, suburban, tract house? Well, a total lack of inspiration from the actual house has really dampened my desire decorate it.

Also, I never really viewed this house as mine to decorate. We were only planning on living here for a year. Now it has been 18 months, we've decided that for now, we aren't going anywhere, and it could easily be another year or 18 months before we move. After Lincoln and I made the decision, I started to get a lot more serious about making this house our home.

I put a lot of effort into the Apple House, not only because it needed it, but because we thought we were going to be there for a long time. In reality, we've lived in this house 6 months longer than we lived there. So. . . it's time to start putting more effort into THIS house. You would think by now I would have learned that you never know how long you will be in one place. It could be 11 months, it could be 7 years, it could be for the rest of your life. . . at least for us, life is messy and complicated and so the only thing to do is make your home where you land, even if it's only for a short time.

With that, I'm going to start showing you my house as I get it decorated more to my liking.

I'll start with the boys' play kitchen, because it happens to be a corner that came together with items we all ready owned and I love the way it looks.

We don't have a dedicated play room in this house, and the boys' bedroom is tiny, so instead, there are "pockets" throughout the house where they play. Their play kitchen is actually in our real kitchen, next to the back door. The boys often play in it while I'm cooking.

The play kitchen is one of those old wood play kitchens that are in nearly every pre-school in America. I think they are made by Whitney Brothers. I got them off of craigslist from a nice lady who had once owned a preschool, had put these in storage when she closed it, and was finally selling them.

I painted them bright red and personalized them a bit! (and yes, there is a knob missing, it's inside the kitchen somewhere waiting for me to put it back on.)

The checkerboard I just did with painter's tape and the "Wright's Diner" I did before I had a Silhouette, so I did it the old school way of cutting it out of vinyl with an x-acto knife.

This vintage alphabet posters is one of my favorite garage sale finds ever! I paid $5, frame, glass, and all at a garage sale in Seattle when John Henry was still a baby.

It is hysterical and inappropriate in places. Let me share a few of my favorite squares.

Yes, that's right, some of the letters don't even have words that start with the letter. I guess it was printed before children's xylophones were widely available! :)

The boys' art gallery is also in this corner. It is simply a dowel (with feathers on the end) that I hung some yarn from and then we use clothes pins to attach the art work to the yarn. The boys love moving them around and choosing what goes where. A few times a year I clean it off, save my favorites in a file folder that I keep for each of them, and recycle the rest. It doesn't take long for them to fill it up again, and I love being able to look at their artwork without it filling up my fridge.

You can also see the chalk board globe I made for them. Well, I actually made it to sell, but they loved it so much that I let them keep it and made another one for the business.

And now, just to keep it real, let's have a look at what this corner usually looks like. I took this before I cleaned things up to take pictures.

Yep, that's more like it.

Now, let's have one more look at it the way it is in my dreams.

Cute!
______________________

I will be sharing at:
Domstically Speaking's Power of Paint Party

Harold and Maude - Shabby Chair Pair

2013-03-26T21:59:00.000-07:00

I asked for help naming this pair on our facebook page. If you haven't joined us there, you need to get on in! The conversation and the ideas that are shared are awesome! I will for sure be using some of the other names that were suggested, but you all voted and Shannon's suggestion won out!

I thought it was interesting that nearly all of the suggestions were a man and woman pair. I would not have thought of that. As you might have noticed that most of the pieces I name are women's names.

The original reason I asked for help in naming these chairs was because they made me so agitated that I had a hard time wanting to call them anything other than &*@&# and #*%&@!

I decided to try something I'd read about a few places, a petroleum jelly resist. The idea here is that you paint one (or two in my case) coats of paint on, apply some petroleum jelly (Vaseline) to the places that you want left alone, let that dry and then apply your next color. The petroleum jelly is supposed to protect the first coat of paint in the areas that it is applied, so that when you rub it away you are left with places that were untouched by the last coat of paint.

Well, I guess when you live in a place where the humidity is around 90% all winter long, petroleum jelly never does dry out. So after waiting over night for it to dry I decided to paint over it anyway (what else was I going to do?)

Then I waited for that coat of paint to dry and started rubbing off the jelly with a paper towel. WHAT. A. MESS! It smeared the last coat of paint (the black in case you're wondering) all over the place, sort of mixing with it and it was coming off where I didn't want it to come off and no matter how much I rubbed it with a a paper towel I couldn't seem to get all of the jelly off of the chairs!

After several rounds and far more paper towels than I'd like to admit, I finally got most of the jelly off, but ended up not waxing them because there is a still a very fine film over them that feels a lot like wax. I didn't want to push my luck with this cranky pair!

I am happy with how they eventually came out, even if it isn't at all what I had in mind! I did learn an important lesson though. Petroleum Jelly has officially been banned from my workshop!

Maude and Harold are certainly one of a kind. You won't be seeing a finish like this from me EVER again.

_____________________

Maude and Harold are for sale. See my Portfolio and Available page for details.

____________________

I will be sharing at:
Primp

Birthday Preparations

2013-03-21T15:22:00.002-07:00

My soon to be 4 year old has requested an 'Egg' theme for his birthday party, next month. The thought of smashing eggs has been on his 'to do' list for a couple of months now. Planning an 'Egg' party that does not look like an 'Easter' party is not an easy task. Today, preparations are taking the form of confetti eggs, or cascarones, as some might call them. Yes, I see that this is some very large confetti. It was an Amazon fail, but I'm making it work.

And Then There Were Two....

2013-03-19T16:30:00.000-07:00

I’m Phoebe, Megan’s little sister.

We’re just shy of 55 weeks apart. We’ve spent our lives on opposite ends of nearly every spectrum. In our youth, we fought, as all healthy siblings should and as adults, we bond, as all healthy siblings should. Our favorite pastimes are giving each others’ creative bubbles direction, sharing hopes and dreams of spiritual matters, and lending an ear for the drudgery that is life’s mundane. Our relationship is not one of walking on eggshells or treading lightly. We keep things real, tell it like it is, and there is no room for taking offense or flinging insults. We also find each other hilarious!

I have 3 children, ages 5, almost 4, and 18 months. I am shamelessly proud of each of them. I was giggling with joy, as I typed that. I was married young (20) to my high school sweetheart, but I made sure that I sowed my wild oats before having kids (not in the promiscuous sense). I have a bachelor’s degree in Business Admin. I worked as a Pharmacy Technician. I spent most of my career in pharmacy retail, but a small stint in corporate finance. I owned a retail floral/gift boutique for just under 2 years. I love to create. I love art. Most of my creativity is displayed in over-the-top birthday parties for my kids, gifted baby sweaters (no endorsements into this family, until you learn to knit), and my childrens’ wardrobes.

I consider myself your ‘run of the mill’, annoying little sister. Sometimes, siblings have been known to limit accepted phone calls per day.

I am the clothes horse of the two of us. Style, for me, comes in a shoebox. Megan and I share a passion for color and vintage items. What I see walking down the street, she sees painted on a thrifted dresser. I’ve always had what some might consider ‘expensive taste’ in textiles, clothing to ribbon. What most people don’t know is that the majority of my children’s clothes are straight out of the thrift store. I enjoy the hunt, almost as much as I enjoy pairing to create the perfect look.

Meg, asked me to share my creativity with Apple House Revival. I accepted; there you have it.
My posts will be sporadic and possibly nonsensical. Like I said, I have three small children, no explanation needed.

First up, Meg suggested a vintage apparel round-up. She actually said dresses, but doing ‘exactly’ what she suggested would break my ‘little sister code of conduct’. In my selections, I kept ‘every day wearable’ at the top of my priority list. Enjoy.

I had to include this one. I would absolutely wear this. But, the crowning touch is that it’s reserved for someone else. Story of my life.

I dream of fashion of this sort. However, the frugalista in me, would never allow it at that price.

Call me crazy. I want!

Dang! Not my size….

I’m a sucker for anything I owned, as a child. Baby girl needs some.

I LOVE patent leather. Shoes, belts. I wear patent, no matter the changing styles.

Best baby gift ever!

Must-have for my boys!

I HEART Swiss dot…who doesn’t?

Vintage, not just for women…great mens' gift.

Do you love vintage fashion too? Tell us what your favorite vintage find is!

G'morning Sunshine - A Nightstand and a Lamp

2013-03-06T14:04:00.003-08:00

I'm not sure this darling should be called a night stand. I think she is more of a morning stand! She MIGHT even make you happy to reach over and turn off your alarm clock in the morning.

Certainly you'll go to be smiling as you see her pretty yellow happiness last thing before you switch off your lamp at night.

She is a solid maple reproduction, but a very good one. She had lost most of her original finish and was happy to get a fun update to bring her back into service.

I rarely paint hardware, but I loved how these fit so nicely on the drawers with the backplate, they just needed to be a different color. Spray paint isn't an option where I live right now, so I decided to try it. I think it gives her a nice vintage country look.

I let her borrow my alarm clock (for Ikea if you can believe it!) and my lamp for her photo shoot. She looked so cute I almost took her back inside and kept her as my own, but my great grandmother's nightstand that matches my tall boy dresser won out. Sorry, Sunshine. I'm sure it won't be long before someone snaps you up for their own!

Speaking of my alarm clock and lamp, I haven't shown you my lamp. I love it. It's an upcycled old lamp that had some strange plant something in it. I took it apart, gave it a coat of green paint on the base and center pole, and then filled it about half way with vintage clothes pins. It makes me happy every night when I turn of the light.

__________________________________

I will be sharing at:
{Primp} Primp Your Stuff Wed
Elizabeth & Co.'s Be Inspired
_________________________________

Miss Sunshine is for sale. For pricing information see the Portfolio and Available page.

Welcome, Phoebe

2013-03-04T14:06:00.002-08:00

So, if you happened to read #18 and #19 of my 100 Things About Me post, you know that I think my sister is pretty awesome. Together we are a creative whirlwind. We often work together on projects, despite the fact that we live 800 some miles apart.

It took me years to drag her into the blogging world. Then we both had kids. And blogs are like pets. They get neglected when kids show up. . .

Now that our kids are getting a bit older, and we aren't so sleep deprived, we thought it was about time that the two of us combined our creative forces to make this blog super awesome!

I'm so excited to announce that Phoebe will be joining me on Apple House Revival as a regular blogger. You may remember that I showed you a little of here amazing house here.

There's a lot more where that came from.

This is her kitchen. Just a snap shot, totally un-staged. Don't you love that tile and the light fixture!

In addition to her beautiful house, she and her husband own a turn of the century home that they rent out as a vacation rental. So that's TWO beautiful houses full of Phoebe's clean, vintage style!

For those of you in Utah, she is the Queen of KSL classifieds (like craigslist.) I am always amazed and the treasures she finds (like a cast iron claw foot tub!)

I'm very excited to welcome her to Apple House Revival. I can't wait to join forces and knock your collective socks off!

Rubber Ducky Party - Leo turns Three

2013-03-01T15:03:00.000-08:00

My 'baby' turned three last weekend. He is OBSESSED with duckies. So much so that I last summer I drove 12 hours across two states to take him to the Duck Races in Idaho Falls. I knew he would love it.

So when it came to choosing a theme for his birthday party, the choice was obvious.

Sorry about the less than stellar pictures. It was a very late in the afternoon before everything came together.

A few weeks ago Leo had picked out that ceramic Ducky at Goodwill for his prize. He was so excited he insisted on carrying it out of the store. I was sure he was going to drop it and break it. He was very careful with his special big ducky, though. I put it up high in the kitchen and everyday he asked me to get it down so he could pat it and give it a kiss. What a sweet, silly, boy.

The smaller duckies are ball themed, which is another favorite of Leo's. He could not have happier. The duckies hanging from the light fixture are bubbles. They came from the dollar store and made great take home gifts for his cousins. (We just had famiy over.) The paper goods came from Target.

I love that three year old's are so easy to please. This is all I did for decorations. He loved that there were balloons hanging in the door.

The craziest thing I did was make a pinata for him. I wouldn't recommend it. It is well worth the $25 a store bought one costs, but the boys saw Curious George make a pinata and asked is we could make one. It did turn out cute. I'll share pictures of the process in a few days.

I was going to make a flat cake in the shape of a ducky, but a few days before his birthday I was in a nursery picking up some seeds and saw this darling ducky watering can. It was only $6. I knew Leo would love it and it would make the cake amazing without much work.

I made a chocolate cake and frosted it in swirls with peanut butter-cream frosting. I also tried out marshmallow fondant for the first time and used it to add "bubbles" to the water. I love how easy it was to make and to work with. It actually tastes good too. I used this recipe except I left out the corn syrup and added vegetable glycerine instead. From what I've heard that glycerine makes all the difference.

The kids always love cupcakes, so I also make a batch of vanilla cupcakes.

It was a simple and fun celebration. Leo was delighted. I can't believe it has been three years since we brought him home. He is such a sweet and crazy little boy.

100 Things About Me

2013-02-26T13:12:00.000-08:00

So, I started blogging on my other blog Yarnnation in 2005, a little over seven years ago. Crazy. It's become a part of who I am. I really enjoy sharing my creativity with others.

Before I had kids there was a trend to write 100 things about yourself to help readers get to know you better. If you've never tried it, you should. It took a lot longer than I thought it would.

Over the years I've updated that list a few times, but have never moved it over to this blog. I thought it was about time (I've been blogging at AHR for over two years!) So, let me "properly" introduce myself.

I'm Megan. These are 100 facts about me.

1. I've been married to Lincoln for nearly 12 years. We knew each other for eight years before that. We've known each other for 20 years. The crazy thing is that we are still learning new things about one another.

2. I am a tired and enchanted mother of two boys, John Henry (5 years) and Leo (3 years.) John Henry is my miracle by birth, Leo is my miracle by adoption. I adore them, I am entertained by them, and occasionally I want to send them to live at the zoo.

Being silly with my older son, John Henry.

3. I am a Latter-day Saint, and while I am far from perfect, I do my best to live my beliefs.
4. I have two dogs, Maggie, a Wire-haired fox terrier, and Logan, a Cairn terrier. We had our dogs long before we had our kids. They should really be re-named "Source of Guilt 1" and "Source of Guilt 2." They get FAR less attention than they did before we had kids. Poor pups. We still make sure that they have a safe and happy life, and John Henry is actually getting old enough that he can play with them, which makes all of us happy.

5. I have been a student most of my life. I am happy to no longer be a student. In 2009 I graduated with my MBA with an emphasis in entrepreneurship.

6. I have a BA in History- my major was Family History and Genealogy.

7. I lived for a while in the Philippines as a missionary for my church. I love the Filipino culture and I speak Tagalog.

8. I love to knit, but don't get near enough time to do it.

9. I also enjoy spinning.

10. I am inspired by color, especially bright colors.

11. My favorite color (although I love all colors) is deep red.

12. I also love to dye fiber. Dye days are a special treat for me. It is so exciting to me to pull the fiber from my dye pots and see what it has become. I haven't had a chance to dye anything for more than two years. One day. . .

13. My Grandmother taught me to knit when I was eight. I think it was the greatest gift anyone has ever given me.

14. All of the women in my family knit- both my Grandmothers, my Mom, my Sister, and my Sister-in-law.

15. I love to cook. I'm not a very good baker though, it's too precise for me to be really good at it.

16. I live far away from my family, who all live in Utah. I miss them, but I don't ever intend on living in Utah again.

17. I also live far away from all of my closest friends. I miss Seattle with all my heart. I have EVERY intention of living in Seattle again.

18. My little sister is Phoebe. She is one of the most creative people I know, I respect her very much.

19. She is also my best friend and it is hard to live so far away from her. I think she should move here.

Me and my sister, Phoebe.

20. My Mother is a very talented artist, her paintings are beautiful.

21. She always encouraged me to be creative and to express myself visually.

22. I used to paint and draw a lot (on paper.)

23. I don't currently have the quiet space in my life for those kind of artistic endeavors, so my house has become my new canvas. I ~~might be~~ am a little obsessed with painting "things."

24. I don’t have the time or energy to do all of the things that my creative spirit longs to do, but I have found a way to be creative with my children, and, for now, I am content with that.

25. I love photography, it appeals strongly to my love of history.

26. I don’t sleep well, it causes me a lot of problems.

27. I am good with computers.

28. I am a very emotional person, and my emotions are very close to the surface.

29. I don’t listen to music or watch movies very often because of how easily and powerfully they manipulate my emotions.

30. I am a bit of a control freak and I don’t like having my emotions manipulated.

31. I love to read.

32. I don’t have enough time to read as much as I would like.

33. I like books of facts on interesting topics, I like books on the history of things, I like biographies of historical characters. I don’t read fiction unless it is a classic, I don’t care for fiction in general.

34. I try very hard to be organized

35. I am not very organized.

36. I have a very keen sense of smell. I am obsessed with how my house smells.

37. I have a beautiful voice. (I know that sounds vain, but I really do- I didn’t do anything to get it, it was God given.)

38. I love to sing.

39. I am trying to learn Spanish. I've also studied Russian and ASL.

40. On day I want to live in a house with a lot of natural light. I've somehow managed to live in a lot of fairly dark houses.

41. “Feast” type holidays are kind of stressful for me because I can never eat any of the traditional foods.

42. I am allergic to dairy.

43. There are lots of other things I can’t eat as well- dark green veggies and crab are the ones that I run into most often.

44. I am blessed with some of the most interesting and loving people in the world as friends and I am so grateful for them.

45. I live in Forest Grove, Oregon. I like it, but it isn't home.

46. Some of my favorite foods are avocados, satsumas, clams, manila mangoes, and black berries.

47. I like luxury soaps a lot.

48. I love the smell of lavender.

49. I don’t like sweet smells, like vanilla.

50. I love herbal tea. I only drink herbal tea.

51. I don’t like chamomile.

52. I don’t like to wear jeans.

53. I do like to wear skirts.

54. I used to own a scooter that is actually more of a motorcycle (it's speedometer toped out at 100 mph and I often rode it on the freeway with no problem at all.) I miss riding it now that I have babies.

Me and my giant "baby," Leo.

55. I love the ocean, but I hate to get wet, so living in the PNW is perfect for me. The water is too cold to get in, but it’s still there to smell, listen too, and enjoy.

56. I love flowers, ranunculus are one of my favorites (but I have a lot of favorites.)

57. I have a very strong fascination with maps.

58. I used to have four piercings in one ear and three in the other. Now I have one in each ear and often don't wear earrings at all.

59. I love to be outdoors, but I do not like to camp.

60. I like to rollerblade.

61. My sons think it is hysterical to see their mom roller blade. It makes me laugh.

62. I have strong opinions regarding a few very large businesses. I go out of my way to avoid going to those large businesses.

63. I try to support local businesses when ever I can.

64. Community support and development are very important to me.

65. I want to own a few alpacas one day and raise them and my children together. I hope they will provide many opportunities to teach my children about responsibility and life (in addition to providing me with lovely fiber to spin, knit, and teach my children to spin and knit with.)

66. I have naturally curly hair. I like it that way.

I have curly hair and need a haircut!

67. I never-ever paint my fingernails.

68. I am a prolific journal writer. I keep several different journals for different reasons and I have kept a journal from the time I was a young teenager.

69. For all the writing, I still can’t spell well at all. Learning Tagalog made it worse, as there is no standardized spelling in the language, everything is phonetic. If it sounds right when it’s said out loud, it is spelled properly.

70. I have a pretty short attention span, and I am happiest when there is variety in my daily activities.

71. I love to travel. I wish I could travel more.

72. I love my first house, it made me very happy. The Duke and I had to completely remodel it, and we truly made it our home. I have lived in rentals for the past two years. I miss my house a great deal.

73. I am intrigued by how egocentric we are as humans. When I consider how insignificant we, as individuals, are in the grand scheme of things, I find our self importance very humorous.

74. When I consider how complex and delicate we are as humans, I am amazed.

75. My pregnancy with John Henry nearly killed me. I was warned that I should never become pregnant again. I didn't have to be told twice. The funny thing is that my pregnancy corrected or relieved a couple of other annoying health problems I had previous to that. Despite how horrible being pregnant was, I am grateful for that.

76. I have back slant hand writing and people always thing I am left handed, but I'm not.

77. I am always overextending myself, and I don’t know how to say “no” very well.

78. Impressionism is my favorite artistic period, my mother taught me to love Monet, Manet, Cassette, Degas, Van Gogh, and many others. I can spend hours looking at their paintings.

79. I consider myself very fortunate to have a husband who also loves art as well as the theatre.

80. I love the theatre. When I was younger I was in several productions. The theatre is the perfect escape for me. It is the only kind of fiction I truly enjoy.

81. I don’t know if I have a favorite play, but I love both Evita and 1776, go figure, historical.

82. I can use nearly any power tool. I learned to use them building sets.

83. I find philosophy intriguing. I am very much a philosophy novice, but I am especially interested in Rene Descartes and his Cartesian experiment, as well as Plato’s cave. I am currently interested in the philosophies of pre-mortal existance.

84. I find comfort and strength in the structure of logic. My minor was in logic.

85. Sometimes I wish people were logical, and sometimes I am glad they are not.

86. I have always felt older than I really am. I find it frustrating.

87. I think I am a very capable person, but not always reliable. I want to change that.

88. I am an ENFP type. If that doesn’t mean anything to you, look up Myers-Briggs.

89. I don’t like to drive.

90. I have always been a very social person, and I still am, but I find that as I get older, or perhaps as I take on more stress in my life, I need more time by myself.

91. I drink a lot of water. It is my favorite drink

92. I've worked as a pharmacy technician in four different pharmacies, a POS system manager in two places and a shipping and receiving manager in one.
93. I like to can and preserve food. I NEVER in a million years thought I would love doing it so much. I LOVE hearing the ping, ping, ping of the cans as they seal.
94. I love gardening. It is the best stress reliever. We have a large plot at our local community garden.
95. I detest folding laundry. I'd way rather clean a bathroom.
96. I used to play the piano. I haven't owned a piano for over a decade. It is not like riding a bike. You forget.
97. I love smoothies. I even drink them in the middle of winter. I always put spinach in them. We go through a ton of spinach here.

98. I only have white sheets for our bed. I used to have beautiful yellow sheets but they wore out (I still use the pillow cases) and I wanted super soft sheets, so I settled for white so I could buy ones with a high thread count. I'm considering dying them.

I love naps and pretty pillowcases.

99. I would like to learn to play the hammered dulcimer.

100. If I could have any super power it would be to never have to sleep. Do you think I would have enough time to do everything I want to do then?

Creating with the Stars

2013-02-23T12:53:00.001-08:00

Friends, I NEED YOUR HELP! Seriously, you know I will rock this! If you have ever been inspired by any of my projects PLEASE help me get into this contest! It will help my blog to grow so much more than I can do on my own. It will mean MORE projects, BETTER projects, BIGGER projects.

A lot of you know that I've had a hard time loving this house we are in now. It's a rental and I'm accustomed to owning a home where I can do what ever I want! I've felt like my creativity was being stifled here, but I've decided that instead I should look at it as a CHALLENGE to my creativity. I'm hoping that this contest will give me the creative jump start I need to make this house over into a home.

HELP ME OUT! The project with the most clicks will be the 12th contestant. While I LOVE Phoebe's dresser, there are some amazing entries. Let's not leave this to chance. . . LET'S GET OUT THE CLICK!

Steps to vote:
1. Click HERE (or on the graphic at the top)
2. Scroll down to the bottom of the post and click on my project #152
3. You'll end up back here, but on the post for Phoebe's Dresser.
4. Repeat often!

That's it. They are tracking how many clicks each project gets.

Leena - hand painted two tiered table

2013-02-20T07:30:00.000-08:00

This sweet table was an experiment for me, and ended up being both fun and lovely!

I painted the entire table a pale blue, then mixed a nice bright white with some Flood Floetrol and got out my artists' brushes.

I didn't trace anything out, I didn't have a plan or a picture I was looking at, I just started painting and had fun with it. It isn't symmetrical or perfect, it is free and fun and happy!

This is the top, and this photo shoot happened in about 30 seconds because I was dodging raindrops as you can see.

Here is a portion of the second tier.

Lastly, the pretty legs. After I was done I covered here in a dark wax and buffed her out for a nice patina and some age. She doesn't seem like a girl who would mind a bit of age to make things interesting!

_____________________

Don't forget about the $20 Etsy gift card drawing that will happen on my facebook page when we have 250 'likes' over there. If you haven't all ready liked the AHR page, be sure to head over there and join us and get entered into the drawing. If you have, be sure to share the page with your friends - I will hold the drawing just as soon as we hit 250. As I am writing this we are at 222! Only 28 more friends to find!

______________________

Leena is for sale. For more information see me Portfolio and Available Page

______________________

I will be sharing at:
Elizabeth and Co: Be Inspired
Miss Mustard Seed's: Furniture Feature Friday

Etsy GIft Card

2013-02-18T14:11:00.000-08:00

I love Etsy.
You love Etsy, too right?

What is your favorite Etsy shop?

Here are a few of mine. . .

NickNak's Vintage usually has a good selection of vintage pulls, vintage numbers big and small, and other cool smallish vintage items.
charmming is a place I always look for jewelry for my sister. I LOVE her stuff. It is antique/vintage inspired.
Oh, Albatross has a nicely curated shop and beautiful photography! She also makes these adorable and quirky little felt animals.

Of course, Etsy is more than just buying beautiful things, it serves as one of the most inspiring sources of inspiration too!

I've created a treasury of things I would love to see in my dream vintage farm house. Here's a screen shot of the treasury. Aren't there some beautiful things out there? Click on the image to see the entire treasury. (Then come back, I have a present for one of you!)

So, I love the conversations that my friends and readers have on facebook. I love the feedback I get and sharing the crazy things I see while I'm out searching for furniture and items for my shop. I'd love to see that community grow. So to help facilitate that growth (aka bribery to get you to share my page with your friends) I'm giving away a $20 gift card to Etsy to one of my friends on my facebook page WHEN I hit 250 'likes'. We are currently at 203, so only 47 to go!

Beau - Sweet on You Desk

2013-02-13T19:30:00.000-08:00

Happy Valentines Day!

It seems like a perfect day to introduce you to a particular dresser who is pretty sweet.

This is Beau.

Isn't he charming!

He has a handsome stained top.

Look at that amazing grain detail!

His white drawers remind me of a man in a white dress shirt, unbuttoned at the collar. The blue, a nicely tailored suit.

Maybe some bronze cuff links. . . I love it when men wear cuff links!

And just the right amount of distressing, kind of like a five o'clock shadow. Like the young man dropping by to say hello after work.

Tools of the trade, with a little fun thrown in. I'm sure he would have a mischievous smile.

________________________________

Beau is for sale. See pricing information on my Portfolio Page.

________________________________

I will be sharing at:
Domestically Speaking's Power of Paint
Miss Mustard Seed's Furniture Feature Friday