Rust & Sunshine

Insta-April

noreply@blogger.com (Michelle DuPuis) — Wed, 22 May 2013 13:00:00 +0000

April was a wee bit long this year. We got back from Arizona to find that the snow had all melted while we were away (Yay!), but then it snowed again...and it snowed A LOT! After about three more snowstorms, the snow finally melted the last week in April and it warmed up quick. So that's why there's an odd mix of summer and winter attire in these shots...

Now that spring has officially arrived we're spending a lot of time outside, so if you want to see pictures of all the pretty flowers in my garden, follow me on Instagram @michelledupuis, or check out my Instagram profile on the web at instagram.com/michelledupuis. You can also see all of my semi-monthly collages of favorites right here.

3 months!

noreply@blogger.com (Michelle DuPuis) — Tue, 21 May 2013 19:21:00 +0000

Last week our girl turned three months old and man, is she a happy baby. Just look at her! Tell me you don't want to squeeze her...

That's what I thought.

Edie is such a fun baby. Every morning she wakes up (a bit earlier than the rest of us), and after nursing for a bit, she's usually ready to play. I'll lay her on the floor in the "baby gym" and she happily kicks, grabs, and talks to the animals until she's ready for more milk and a nap!

When she's in the mood, she'll hold long conversations with us (or anyone who starts talking to her), and always has A LOT to say. No idea what she's saying but I sure wish I did! She also talks to her stuffed animals. Oh, and she's already acquired a lovey! It's an old monkey toy of Abe's that he never seemed interested in, but she loves snuggling with it.

She's finally started sleeping through the night which is awesome. Unlike her brother, she sticks to a very strict bedtime. If she's not in bed at 7:30 she gets very crabby and does her best to let us know she'd rather be sleeping.

She usually only takes short naps during the day, but she goes down for those pretty easy too. I like to tell Abe that I need his help getting baby sister to sleep, so he'll lay down with us after lunch for a little while at least. Some days he asks if he can get up and play quietly, but other days he'll hold her hand and drift off to sleep himself.

It's been so much fun watching them interact and play with each other. Abe loves his baby sister and often tells us "Baby sister is my best friend!" If she's not in her crib when he wakes up in the morning, he comes in our room, looks in the cradle (which is usually empty), and asks "Where's Edie?" She always has a huge smile for him when he climbs up to say hi.

So I'm posting this a week late, but I actually remembered to take pictures on the right date. Win one for Google calendar reminders! You can look back on all Edie's monthly photos right here.

Deck : Before

noreply@blogger.com (Michelle DuPuis) — Wed, 15 May 2013 22:03:00 +0000

So I haven't really started working on the deck, although I did buy some fabrics and accessories, and of course, painted the doormat.

I love our little deck. It really is tiny (just big enough for a table and a couple chairs), but there's a crab apple tree on one side and along the fence on the opposite side is a row of lilac bushes. It smells amazing out there when everything is in bloom!

The furniture on our deck, however, has been slowly collected over the years and that's what it looks like...but not in a good way. I'd like the deck to be a little more inviting...and attractive, so this is my plan for making the not-so-pretty pieces we already have work together to create a relaxing space that we can all enjoy.

I'll be using royal blue, aquas, chartreuse, white, and grey. The rug is just going to stay green or we'll flip it to the whiter side. I also plan to add a bit of pink if I can find some good flowers that will survive on our mostly shady deck. And here's what we have to work with:

This creaky, wooden rocking chair we picked up at Ikea a few years back, but I'm working on a new cushion.

This gorgeous little cedar table made by Noah and his mom. It needs a fresh coat of stain, and the legs need to be trimmed a bit. It feels really tall, although I think the real problem is the chairs. They're about 4 inches shorter than our dining room chairs. I suppose they're made for relaxing...

I'm not in love with the "look at me" blue of the chairs. We bought them on sale at Target last summer and I remember wishing at the time that they had some better colors available. They're still a huge improvement over the hand-me-down plastic chairs we used to have out there.

We've been eating out there a lot since the snow melted, but during the day the table is where my tomato plants live. I started them from seed and planted the first few in my herb garden the other day. The rest will go in my raised beds soon!

We bought this indoor/outdoor recycled plastic rug when Abe was a baby. It's not my favorite thing ever but it is easy to clean and provides a soft spot to play with a baby.

I love this old crab apple tree for the one week every two years when it's in bloom, and hate the rest of the summer when it's dropping tiny crab apples all over the deck. Well, I don't hate it. It does provide a nice amount of shade and a place to hang my cafe lights. Those however are going to be coming down. I'm not sure what it is with the squirrels in our yard, but they've had a problem with my lights ever since I put them up. They chewed through the cord once, so I fixed it and left them up. Then they chewed through it again, and again I fixed it. This spring, they chewed off the end of the cord (that plugs into the outlet) and later I found a single bulb, still in its socket, sitting by the base of one of the big ash trees in our backyard. I'm thinking maybe the squirrels like the lights so much they are trying to steal them, thinking "this light fixture will look great in my nest made of dead leaves and garbage." I suppose if I kept the lights plugged in this problem would have solved itself years ago...

So there you have it. An official "before" post of our little deck, which I'm hoping will look a bit more pulled together the next time I take pictures of it!

Mother's Day Gift Ideas

noreply@blogger.com (Michelle DuPuis) — Fri, 10 May 2013 17:56:00 +0000

I'm sort of a last-minute kind of girl. Birthdays tend to sneak up on me, as do holidays like Mother's Day. Blogging, however, requires things to be done ahead of time. That said, I have nothing ready for Mother's Day this year. Oh well, here's a few last minute gift ideas in case you're like me - still wondering what to do for your mom for Mother's Day.

Flowers are always a nice idea. You can make mom tissue paper flowers...

...or give her real ones. These are just small pots of gerber daisies that I picked up at the nursery and stuck in a wooden whiskey box. You can find small wooden crates at thrift stores, or pick up a new one at the liquor store. Use the box and save the bottle to give to your dad for Father's Day!

You can also buy flowers at the store (or pick some from your garden) and make your own bouquet for mom.

Umm...chocolate is always good. This chocolate cherry cake would be a nice addition to a Mother's Day brunch.

As would these super easy chocolate croissants. Yum!

You could offer to do the dishes for your mom on Mother's Day, or leave her with a few of these cute fruity dish towels...or both!

Jewelry makes a great gift and it doesn't have to be expensive! Last year Abe and I made bracelets, earrings, and pendent necklaces from recycled plastic containers for Mother's Day gifts.

Love Instagram? Make mom a canvas print of one of your favorite photos!

You could also make her small silhouettes of her grandchildren, or big ones if you have the time!

Not a gift giver? Most moms also like spending time with their children and grandchildren. Take her someplace special like your local arboretum!

You can find more of my Mother's Day projects here, or check out my Mother's Day board on Pinterest for even more great ideas!

Rug Redux

noreply@blogger.com (Michelle DuPuis) — Wed, 08 May 2013 18:15:00 +0000

Winter lasted waaaay too long in Minnesota this year. Once the snow melted though, and we cleaned up the deck a bit, I started thinking about what I could do to make our deck a little more inviting. I used to watch those shows on HGTV where they're always creating "outdoor rooms" and I always wondered which state you'd have to live in to have such a room - California? Florida? Hawaii? Lord knows Minnesota is not one of the places where an "outdoor room" would really work, but I suppose an outdoor space that can be used a few weeks out of the year is almost as good. Right?

I'll be posting more about our deck transformation over the next few weeks, but I decided to get my deck decorating started with a project for...

My inspiration pin came from The House that Lars Built. The fruit slice doormats are super cute, but I had an old rectangular doormat that I figured I'd just reuse instead of buying a new one.

This is what I started with. An old coir mat I bought last summer, or maybe the summer before, that was still in good shape although badly faded. I started by shaking it out and hosing it down, then I let it dry.

When I went to pick it up from where it was drying on the driveway, 6 ducks swooped down and almost flew into me! (I thought they were ravens at first. Been watching too much Game of Thrones.) They turned at the last second to avoid hitting me and four of the mallards landed in my backyard, while one of the males and the single female of the group landed on the roof of our garage. I have no idea what they were drawn to in our backyard, but I wouldn't mind if they stopped in for a visit every once in awhile. I love ducks.

Anyways, once the mat was dry I sprayed the entire thing with white paint. This is where things didn't go as expected. First of all, the mat DRANK the paint! I don't know how many coats I put on, but the best I could get was this grayish color. Also, I had to hold the spray can 2-3 inches from the surface instead of the recommended 10-16 inches. Once the paint was dry, I cut some strips of duct tape (painter's tape did not work) and stuck them on the mat.

To finish the rug, I sprayed the whole thing with RustOleum's Satin Lagoon. I did one thick coat to start, let it dry, and went back after about 10 minutes to touch up any spots where the gray still showed through. The dark paint covered much better that the lighter one. Once the paint was dry, I pulled off the tape and voila! It looks like a brand new rug!

I honestly don't think I'll be buying pre-designed doormats anymore when it's so easy to customize a plain mat with whatever color, design, or message you want! Oh, and it's cheaper too. I already had the doormat and white paint, so all I spent was $3.50 at Home Depot on the can of blue spray paint. A new rug would have cost me at least $15!

You can see my previous Pinterest Challenge projects right here, and don't forget to check out all the other entries at Young House Love, Bower Power, Sparkle Meets Pop, and Red Bird Blue!

Terrarium

noreply@blogger.com (Michelle DuPuis) — Wed, 01 May 2013 13:00:00 +0000

I like to imagine that I'm a pretty good gardener. I'm not, but it doesn't hurt to pretend. Well...it sort of hurts when all the plants I buy die off or refuse to come back the next spring. That's why, even though I started this terrarium last July, I didn't write a post about it until now. I was just waiting for all the plants to die. Since they've survived this long, I figured I must have done something right, so here's what I did...

I found this huge glass vessel at a garage sale last spring and picked it up for $6. The minute I saw it I knew it would be perfect for a terrarium, the only problem is, it's so big I still haven't quite figured out where to put it. For now it's taking up too much space on the table in our sunroom.

I picked out a few succulents from the huge selection at Tangletown Gardens, a bag of cactus soil, and a bucket full of rocks.

As always, Abe was excited to put on his "glubs" and help me. First, we put a thick layer of rocks on the bottom of the vessel and covered that with a few inches of fast-draining cactus soil.

Then we added the plants. I'm not sure what this one was called but it did die off shortly after we planted it. Oh well...I like the one I replaced it with better anyway.

I wish I had a picture from when we finished planting it (to see how much everything's grown if nothing else), but I forgot to take one. (Although I did take this picture a few months later.)

I keep it in a sunny window and give it about 3 cups of water once a month. I've been thinking about adding a layer of pebbles on top of the soil to prevent soil from splashing up on the glass when I water it, but so far I've just added a couple interesting rocks from my childhood rock collection...

...and a butterfly that Abe and I found in my garden last summer. It was dying when we found it, and when we went back to check on it a couple days later, it was still in the same spot but no longer moving. His wings are torn in a couple places but he still looks as vibrant and beautiful as a living Tiger Swallowtail. I just attached him to a short piece of floral wire that pretty much disappears against the greenery in the terrarium.

For the plants, I picked up this cute little guy to replace the groundcover plant that died. It's called a Crassula Mesembryanthemoides, and I found it with the cactuses and succulents in the gardening section at Home Depot.

This one is a Variegated Jade. Surprisingly, I've noticed new plants sprouting from a couple leaves I accidentally knocked off and just left laying on the soil. I love free plants!

And this beauty is a Manfreda X Bloodspot. It looks like a small agave with sharp spins on the tip of each leaf.

So far it's been really easy to maintain, and considering how easy it is to propagate succulents from fallen leaves, I may just a make a few more.

Anyone else have terrarium tips? A homemade terrarium you'd like to show off? (Leave a link in the comments!) Any other wannabe green thumbs out there? I'm not a black thumb, because I don't kill every plant I touch...just the ones I really love.

Insta-Arizona

noreply@blogger.com (Michelle DuPuis) — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 21:10:00 +0000

It's been about a month since my last Instagram update, so here's some of my favorites from March...

...and the first week of April. I'm doubling up this month because I took about a gazillion pictures while we were in Arizona. Made it hard to narrow it down to only sixteen favorites. Also, I didn't want to mix shots of warm and sunny Arizona with cold and snowy Minnesota. The contrast might just convince me to move there!

You can follow me on Instagram @michelledupuis, or check out my Instagram profile on the web at instagram.com/michelledupuis. You can also see all of my semi-monthly collages of favorites right here.

Phoenix Zoo

noreply@blogger.com (Michelle DuPuis) — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 13:00:00 +0000

Whenever I ask Abe what he'd like to see at the zoo, he immediately responds with "A elephant!" Unfortunately there are no elephants in Minnesota. The Minnesota Zoo and Como Zoo have a good variety of animals (and not the same ones at each zoo), but neither of them have an elephant (maybe it's too cold for elephants...and the winters last too darn long). Anyways, since the weather is more agreeable in Arizona, we made a special trip to the zoo just to see their elephant.

I doubt Abe remembers much about our last trip to the Phoenix Zoo since he was only 8 months old at the time..

Man, I miss those chubby legs! This time his cousins were in school, so we went to the zoo with Daddy, Grammy, and auntie Imelda (my twin sister) instead.

I've been to the zoo a few times, but this time we took a different path and saw some animals I've missed on previous trips, like the tiger! We actually saw a lot of animals out enjoying the sun. I feel like in Minnesota, unless you get there first thing in the morning, the animals are either sleeping or hiding in their dens.

Abe got to feed the giraffes, which he informed us were his favorite animal on the way to the zoo. They're my favorite too.

Oh, but I also love rhinos. Especially baby rhinos. I didn't even know they had a rhinoceros at this zoo, so I was really happy when we stumbled upon him. Not literally...it just looks that way. He was pretty far away. That's another place a 300mm zoom comes in handy. Hiking, stargazing, and keeping a safe distance from dangerous (although adorable) animals.

Does anyone else ever wish they could see a cheetah run at the zoo? This guy was just pacing his pen. I suppose a cheetah needs a lot more room to reach top speeds...and a reason to run...

Like this guy! Abe was pretty tired from the start (we headed out a little too close to naptime), but he totally perked up when we spotted this splash pad. He followed the little river in circles, through a cave, and back out for a good half hour, just running and splashing and having so much fun. I guess it's a good thing we found this on the way out of the zoo, otherwise we would have missed all the animals!

On the way out, we also stopped to check out the komodo dragon. Abe had no interest in the real komodo dragon, but happily studied and climbed on its bronze likeness. We've found that the fake animals are often more fun than the real ones...and less likely to eat you!

The Phoenix Zoo offers the following attractions and amenities (click on the links for more information):

For more information about the animals and exhibits at the Phoenix Zoo, go to www.phoenixzoo.org.

Two Months!

noreply@blogger.com (Michelle DuPuis) — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 21:13:00 +0000

I have a couple more Arizona posts to share, but let's take a quick break from that and talk about the fact that my girl is already two months old! Where did the last 9 weeks go?! I've decided to try to take monthly photos of Edie. Hopefully I'll remember to do it each month. Here are the first two:

Edie is definitely our sweetie. She's such a happy baby and LOVES her big brother! He can't walk by without Edie turning her head to see what he's up to.

This is probably my favorite picture of them together. I was just trying to get a picture of the two of them wearing their dog jammies when she looked up at Abe and started smiling. He's always telling me "Baby sister is smiling at me!" so I'm glad to have a picture to prove it!

Edie's far more social than I remember Abe being at this age. She started smiling in response to people talking to or smiling at her when she was only a couple weeks old, and now she's started "talking" to us, her stuffed animals, or whoever is around to listen. She often wakes us up early in the morning with her sweet little baby chatter, and although I'd love to get more sleep, it's really hard to put her back to bed when she's being so darn cute!

I'm still waiting for her to start sleeping through the night though. She seems to sleep better (and we do too) since we moved her out of our room and into the crib in Abe's room, but by this age Abe was sleeping 9-10 hours at a stretch! She slept for 7½ hours a couple nights ago, but that doesn't seem to be a trend she's interested in following. At least she's a good napper...

I didn't officially start this until she was already a month old, but here's a similar set up I shot with my phone when she was only one week old. What a big difference a couple months make! For the rest of the year, I'll only be posting the most recent photo, but you can look back on all her monthly photos right here.

The White Tanks

noreply@blogger.com (Michelle DuPuis) — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 13:00:00 +0000

I'm just going to ignore the fact that there is still snow on the ground here in Minnesota and spend some time writing about our recent trip to warm and sunny Arizona. The temps were in the upper 70s to mid-80s everyday! It was wonderful. We wore shorts. We went swimming. Edie napped in the shade.

We went to Phoenix to visit my family the week after Easter. On our last day in town, my parents left for Japan (to visit my little sister, Alicia - lucky ducks), so we went for a hike in the White Tank Mountains with my sister, Anastasia. The wind picked up just before we left the house and it started getting dusty pretty quick. I shot this picture on the drive out there...

...which my husband later told me reminded him of Andreas Gursky’s Rhine II (aka The Most Expensive Photograph Ever Sold). Too bad my horizon isn't level...and it was shot through the window of a moving car...with my phone. I wonder if an Instagram photo could ever be worth millions...

Anyways, where was I? Dusty. Right. So it started getting windy when we left and by the time we got to the mountains we could barely see them! That's all sand and dust.

It wasn't so bad in the mountains though. We were sheltered from the worst of it, and only a few gusts of wind blew through while we were out hiking.

Here's Noah in his "Indiana Jones" hat borrowed from my dad. He picked our trail for the day (Noah not Indiana Jones): the Waterfall Trail, which I was happy to find was nice and easy. (I'm used to hiking the mountains around my parents' house. They're not terribly difficult trails but I imagine they'd be sort of dangerous to try with a toddler and infant in tow!)

This trail was flat and paved (we could have brought the stroller!), there was a restroom and drinking fountains at the start, and plenty of benches to sit on and things to see along the way. There were even picnic tables and a playground near the parking lot, which Abe took advantage of before we left.

I love going to Arizona in the spring. The desert comes alive and you find gorgeous flowers and colors in the most unexpected places. On our last trip to Arizona, we visited the Desert Botanical Garden, but it was nice to find cactuses blooming in the wild as well.

Our walk along the trail brought us past Petroglyph Plaza, where you can see a number of ancient rock drawings. I was glad we brought our new zoom lens. A good zoom is handy when you don't have a telescope...or binoculars. I suppose most people don't take their telescopes hiking.

We only hiked a little ways beyond the point where the paved trail ended, along what appeared to be a dried up riverbed.

We never did see the "waterfall" or any water for that matter, but I suppose it only appears when they've had a lot of rain.

It is a stunning view though, even when it's hot and dry.

We saw these yellow flowers blooming EVERYWHERE!

It's amazing how just a few little bits of green and yellow make the desert landscape look so lovely in the spring.

While we were down there my mom mentioned that the Saguaro Cactus only grows in the Sonoran Desert. It never occurred to me that unless you visit Mexico, southwest Arizona, or a small part of California you might never see these things in person. They're pretty impressive.

If a cactus falls in the desert... For real though, what sound does it make? A hollow thud? A splat? Does anyone know?

So that was our trip to the White Tanks. If you live around or ever visit the Phoenix area, I'd suggest making the trip out there. I'm hoping to go back the next time we're in town!

The White Tank Mountains Regional Park offers the following attractions and amenities (click on the links for more information):

For more information about trails and activities at the White Tank Mountains Regional Park, go to www.maricopa.gov/parks/white_tank.

Introducing...

noreply@blogger.com (Michelle DuPuis) — Tue, 02 Apr 2013 19:03:00 +0000

Easter Eggs and a Basket

noreply@blogger.com (Michelle DuPuis) — Fri, 29 Mar 2013 19:27:00 +0000

Abe loves watching our home videos and one of his favorites (and mine) is the one I filmed of him dyeing Easter eggs last year. The other day he said, "I really have an idea!" and then told me "We can make eggs!" "I have an idea!" is usually followed by something along the lines of "we can watch a movie," so I was more than happy to indulge this egg-making idea.

Last year I mixed up dyes using food coloring. This time we went with the same method but made different colors.

Half of the eggs were cracked by the time we were finished, so I ended up making deviled eggs for dinner.

The only other Easter prep I've done is throw together an Easter "basket" for Edie. Eventually I'll get her an actual basket, but for now I just grabbed a wooden bowl that was big enough to fit a few board books and other small items...

...filled it with shredded tissue paper and added an Eastery ribbon that I picked up on clearance at Michael's last year.

Sweet enough for baby's first Easter basket, right? We're still waiting for the snow to melt here in Minnesota, but I hope you all have a warm and wonderful Easter!

Looking for more Easter ideas? You can find all of our projects from last year in the holiday index.

Insta-Love

noreply@blogger.com (Michelle DuPuis) — Tue, 26 Mar 2013 18:32:00 +0000

It's been awhile since I posted my last Instagram update (or any updates for that matter), and although I still haven't officially "introduced" our baby girl (I'll post the announcement after I get it mailed out to family and friends), I figured I'd share a few photos from the last couple months...

You can follow me on Instagram @michelledupuis, or check out my Instagram profile on the web at instagram.com/michelledupuis. You can also see all of my semi-monthly collages of favorites right here.

Anthro Inspired Plates

noreply@blogger.com (Michelle DuPuis) — Tue, 05 Mar 2013 01:43:00 +0000

So we've been a little busy around here with our newest little addition...

...but more on that sweet pea later. Like a couple weeks later. I'm still catching up on sleep...and snuggles, but I thought I'd drop in to post my project for...

I wasn't really planning to do anything for the Pinterest Challenge this time around, but after scrolling through some of my recent pins, I came across these plates from Anthropologie. I loved the slightly imperfect shape of the plates and the playfulness added by a simple red line around the rim, but since I don't have $12-18 to spend (per plate) on what are basically white plates, I figured I'd just make my own.

I already had a set of plain white plates and bowls from Ikea, and some porcelain pens that I bought for a previous project, so I didn't even need to pick up supplies. I ran the edge of the red pen around the rim of the plates a couple times, and then just followed the directions that came with the pens: allow to dry for 24 hours, then bake at 300⁰ F for 35 minutes. (I have no intention of ever washing these dishes by hand, so I followed the directions for making them dishwasher safe.)

Since I originally bought the white plates to go with the floral plates I bought from Anthropoligie a few years back, I wanted to make sure they still played well together. I thought about using yellow or purple, but after testing out a few colors, I decided that I liked red best. Don't they look nice together?

Red rimmed Ikea dinner & side plate

Red rimmed Ikea dinner plate & floral Anthropologie side plate

Floral Anthropologie dinner plate & red rimmed Ikea side plate

So a set of six of the "pinspiration" Vermelho dinner plates, side plates, and bowls from Anthropologie costs $252.00. A set of six Färgrik dinner plates, side plates, and bowls from Ikea costs $19.99, plus the cost of a porcelain pen at around $10... I don't even have to do the math to know that I won't cry if one of these gets broken!

You can see my previous Pinterest Challenge projects right here, and don't forget to check out all the other entries at Young House Love, Bower Power, The Remodeled Life, and Decor and the Dog.

Baby Name Options #18 - Love Names

noreply@blogger.com (Michelle DuPuis) — Fri, 08 Feb 2013 23:00:00 +0000

This baby is due on Valentine's Day, so naturally it makes sense to consider a few names that mean (or are in some way tied to) love, right?

Aimee French "beloved" Auntie Aimee would be so proud...

Amado Spanish "loved" This one is actually considered a boy's name, but it snuck in here because I love the song Amado Mio by Pink Martini.

Amanda Latin "much-loved" No wonder it was so popular for such a long time.

Davina Hebrew "beloved", Scottish "little deer"

Juliet Latin "youthful" ...a rose by any other name would still smell as sweet.

Mahalia Hebrew "tender affection"

Nayeli Zepotec "I love you" Sounds like an exotic version of Natalie, with a much less holiday specific meaning. Are all Natalies born on Christmas?

Paris French place name If you're going to name your child after a place, why not make it the city of love?

Tristan Celtic "riot, tumult" Traditionally a boy's name, Tristan was one of the knights of the round table and the male figure in the tragic love story Tristan and Isolde.

Valentina Latin "healthy, strong" ...and of course, it's derived from the name of the saint Valentine's Day was named for.

So that's my last installment of "Baby Name Options"...for now at least. You can check out all of my previous lists right here, and stay tuned for our final pick! I heard O Valencia! in the car yesterday so that's what's currently stuck in my head...

Dyed Onesies

noreply@blogger.com (Michelle DuPuis) — Wed, 06 Feb 2013 14:00:00 +0000

So I dyed some of Abe's old, stained onesies to reuse for baby sister.

The dye disguised the stains pretty well, although most of the onesies turned out a bit splotchy (see photo below). Sort of a tie-dyed look. Not terrible.

I followed this tutorial on MADE, although I missed the part where she said she soaked some of them for 5 hours. No wonder my colors turned out less vibrant than they looked on the boxes...

I used Rit powdered dyes in Fushia, Golden Yellow, and Sunshine Orange. If I do it again, maybe I'll try the liquid dyes instead. Anyone else reuse big brother's clothes for a baby girl, or vice versa?

Lacing Heart Valentines

noreply@blogger.com (Michelle DuPuis) — Mon, 04 Feb 2013 14:00:00 +0000

Abe's been watching me sew a lot lately, and naturally he wants to try sewing too. When I was a kid, my grandma always had sewing cards for us to play with, so I decided to try making some simple ones for my little guy.

I simply cut out a heart shape from regular paper and traced it on chipboard, cut out the hearts, and punched holes around the edges.

Then I gave Abe a blunt yarn needle tied to a length of yarn and let him sew to his heart's content. He loved it! The green one above was the first one he finished. Now I know how to entertain him while I'm hand-stitching felt fruit...

I figured we could also send these out as Valentine cards. I wrote "Happy Valentine's Day" on this one before he started sewing...or poking the needle into the couch.

It's so much fun to watch him sew! And yes, this is what I get when I ask him to hold up his finished project so I can take a picture. Boys! :-)

So toddlers love lacing cards, but I'm sure older kids (and adults) would enjoy making these too. There's all kinds of stitches to try out!

Anyone else remember doing sewing cards as a kid? Have a child that loves to sew? I'm pretty sure Abe would fire up my sewing machine if I'd let him! Luckily he seems satisfied with lacing beads and sewing cards for now.

Obviously we haven't been doing much for Valentine's Day around here this year (just waiting for baby sister to arrive), but you can check out our past Valentine's Day projects right here. And since it's happening at the same time and I'll probably miss it, check out our past posts from Mardi Gras here.

Toy Elephant

noreply@blogger.com (Michelle DuPuis) — Fri, 01 Feb 2013 21:10:00 +0000

No baby yet, so I'm still busy sewing and cleaning. I had no intention of making this toy elephant, but I was working at my sewing machine one day and noticed this pattern I had purchased from Heather Bailey (back when I was expecting Abe) still sitting there unopened. I figured it would be a quick project, so I found some fabric and got to work.

Since this pattern is sold as a pincushion it's pretty small. I have a hard time working on tiny projects like this, and although it ended up being a fine size for little hands, if I had thought about it, I think I would have enlarged the pattern a bit before starting out or hand-stitched everything instead of trying to do it on the machine. It turned out pretty cute, but I completely messed up on his nose. Abe loves it though. Maybe I'll try making a larger one for him...

Fitted Sheets

noreply@blogger.com (Michelle DuPuis) — Tue, 29 Jan 2013 14:00:00 +0000

So yesterday I showed you the sweet little cradle that we're borrowing from Noah's sister for the baby to sleep in. Once she starts sleeping through the night, or outgrows the cradle (let's hope she starts sleeping through the night first!), we'll move her to the crib in Abe's room.

Since we didn't use a cradle or bassinet for Abe, we needed some sheets for this one. Being too lazy (or forgetful) to walk all the way back to the baby section at Target to buy sheets, I just decided to make some instead. Weird how laziness sometimes leads to actually doing something creative...

I bought this flannel toile a few years back for a project that I never even started! It's cute and sweet, and I figured the flannel will make the cradle warm and cozy for these last few weeks of winter.

I picked up this polka dot cotton on my last trip to the fabric store. I figured the colors sort of coordinated with the knitted blanket I made for her awhile back.

Abe really wanted to get in on the action...

...so I let him test out the cradle with a "baby sister" stand-in.

To make your own sheets, you'll need:

3/4 yard of 44" wide fabric (prewashed to prevent shrinking!)

1 yard of 1/4" elastic

thread

safety pin

1. Lay your cradle mattress on top of your fabric. You'll want at least 6 inches of fabric to work with on each side.

2. If your mattress is rectangular, cut a square from each corner that ends about 1/4 inch from the corner of the mattress. If your mattress is oval, trim the corners so you're left with an oval piece of fabric that is at least 6 inches larger than your mattress all the way around. (Then if you're making an oval sheet, skip to step 5.)

3. At each corner, bring the cut edges together and pin. Sew a straight line, starting at the top where the fabric will be folded, down to the unfinished edge. Repeat on the other three corners.

4. Trim and press those seams open (if desired).

5. Fold 1/2 inch of the unfinished edge of the sheet to the back and press. Fold over again, press, and pin.

6. Stitch along this fold all the way around the sheet, leaving a 1-2 inch gap (between where you start and stop stitching) to insert the elastic. Make sure to stitch far enough from the edge for the 1/4" elastic to fit through!

7. Attach the end of your elastic to a safety pin and feed it through the pocket created by the fold, stretching the fabric as you go. (Hang onto the other end so it doesn't get pulled in!)

8. Sew the ends of the elastic together.

9. Pull the elastic into the fold and sew up the gap in the seam.

10. Stretch the fabric to even out the elastic and try it on your mattress. Your sheet should fit snugly with the mattress lying flat.

This fabric was left over from the picnic blankets my sister and I made for my wedding five years ago! I'm working on a plan for some of the other special fabrics I have lying around. Stay tuned for updates on that project...

Oh, and if anyone follows this tutorial and it seems like I left something out, please let me know. I'm not sure my pregnant brain is making any sense these days!

Hand-painted Cradle

noreply@blogger.com (Michelle DuPuis) — Mon, 28 Jan 2013 20:47:00 +0000

I was going to post a tutorial today but it's not finished (or even really started), and since I took like a million photos, I decided to break it up into two posts instead.

I made some sheets for this cradle we're borrowing from Noah's sister, but since the cradle is so sweet, I took a bunch of photos that show off the cradle more than the sheets!

When she was expecting one of her younger girls, Noah's sister found the cradle at a garage sale. She brought it home, fixed it up, and gave it a fresh coat of paint...

...then she turned it over to her grandma, who added all the hand-painted little details. (Gigi is a wonderful artist...and she makes the best quilts and Christmas stockings!)

The hearts and flowers are pretty, but of course the sheep are my favorite part!

We didn't use the cradle for Abe because there wasn't room in our bedroom at the time, but we only have two bedrooms, so the new baby will have to share with someone! Since we don't want her waking Abe up every few hours, we rearranged our room to make room for the cradle, and she'll sleep in there until she outgrows it or starts sleeping through the night. It's so sweet, I'm glad we finally get to use it!

Check back tomorrow for a tutorial on how to make fitted sheets for cradles and bassinets. It's easier than you'd think!

Baby Name Options #17 - Popular Names (for Girls)

noreply@blogger.com (Michelle DuPuis) — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 14:00:00 +0000

As a child I was really shy...and I mean REALLY shy. Sometimes I think that if I didn't have a twin sister, I probably wouldn't have had any friends growing up. At any rate, I was lucky to have a twin sister (who wasn't quite as shy as I was), and I was lucky to go to a small school where it was relatively easy to get to know the 20 or so kids that were in my class from Kindergarten thru 6th grade.

Fortunately, being in a group that small, I was the only Michelle in my class all those years - even though the year I was born, Michelle was the 9th most popular baby name for girls in the US! There were other kids in our class that shared the same name, and to prevent confusion our teachers just assigned them a nickname to go by (Jenny, Jen, Jennifer...), whether or not that was what they had been called all their lives. Being the shy child that I was, if there had been another Michelle in my class, I know I would have ended up as the designated "Shelly." I would never have spoken up to say "I don't want to be called Shelly" (heck, I didn't even correct people when they called me Jackie!), and thus I would have gone through much of my life as a Shelly, even though I am not a Shelly* in the least. (*I have nothing against the name/nickname Shelly, and I've actually never met a Shelly I didn't like. It just doesn't suit me.)

Anyways, to prevent my possibly shy (or extremely outgoing) children from having to go by a name they don't like just because there's more than one kid in their class with the same name, I've tried to pick names that aren't very common. That means doing research on my favorites to rule out any that may be too popular. (Abraham hasn't broken the top 100 in the last 125 years, so I think we're pretty safe with that one.) The Social Security Administration's list for 2012 isn't out yet, so here are the most popular baby names for girls born in the United States in 2011, in order of popularity from 1-10...

Sophia Greek "wisdom" In addition to Sophia (with a ph) being #1, Sofia is #19 and Sophie is #51 on the list. That's a lot of Sophias/Sophies/Sofias!

Isabella Spanish and Italian variation of Elizabeth "pledged to God" Back when I was a preschool teacher (12 years ago) there were three Isabellas in my toddler class of less than 20 kids...and that's when Isabella was only #28 on the list!

Emma German "healer of the universe" My great-grandmother's name was Emma. If it wasn't mega-popular I'd probably consider using it.

Olivia Latin "olive tree" I love the name Olive! Not sure why Olivia doesn't have the same appeal for me.

Ava Latin "like a bird"

Emily Latin "industrious" Emily has been in the top 40 since I was a kid!

Abigail Hebrew "my father is joyful"

Madison English "son of the mighty warrior" It always feels like some of the more popular names are really new, but if you do some research you'll find out that they've been around forever. Madison is one of those names. At the turn of the century, it often appeared in the top 500 names for boys before fading into obscurity in the 1950s. Then in 1984, it was used as the name of the mermaid in the movie Splash, and broke into the top 10 for girls only 12 years later!

Mia Italian "mine" I've always thought Mia would make a sweet middle name.

Chloe Greek "young green shoot" We already have a niece named Chloe, and since we ditched favorites like Ellie and Elle because they were too close to Ella (another niece), we won't be stealing this one either. Sorry Chloe!

To see where your name, or one of your favorites, falls on the list of the most popular baby names, go to http://www.socialsecurity.gov/OACT/babynames/.

Felt Fruits & Vegetables

noreply@blogger.com (Michelle DuPuis) — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 14:00:00 +0000

I've been doing a lot of sewing lately. It all started with the shopping cart/cash register combo Abe got from his grandparents for Christmas...

He really enjoyed filling up his cart with various small items he found around the house and ringing them up at the cash register. The only problem was, we didn't have any play food!

Well, we had a few wooden eggs, a corn shaped teether, and an apple rattle and pumpkin I made from felt...but that was it. When he pulled a flashlight out of his cart one day and told me to eat it, I figured it was time to stock his play store with some food. I had a lot of time to kill just sitting around after Christmas and ended up on a felt food making kick. Once you start it's hard to stop!

There are so many different foods you can make out of felt, but I decided to start with some of Abe's favorite fruits and vegetables. And don't worry, I traced all my pieces as I cut them out so I'll be able to make patterns later on, but with a baby due in the next few weeks, I figured I'd just post pictures of what I've made so far and share links to the patterns I used that weren't created by me.

I started with blueberries since my boy loves blueberries! They're kind of big (see the one in the shopping cart photo above), but I didn't want to make them too small. Six of them basically fill up a pint sized blueberry container.

Obviously, I wanted a way to keep the small things (like berries and peas) together, so I also made some produce bags inspired by these ones I use in real life. I had a tall wine bottle gift bag (made from some kind of mesh fabric) that I just chopped in half. Then I tore out a few stitches to add the little ribbon tags, and folded over the tops to sew a channel to run the string through. I think they're super cute, but Abe prefers dumping out whatever is in them to actually filling them with fruits and veggies!

I followed this pattern/tutorial for the strawberries, although I left off the stem on top and used brown thread for the seeds instead of yellow. The strawberries turned out smaller than I expected, so if you want larger fruits, that don't fit so well in little mouths, I'd start with a 4 or 5 inch circle instead of the 3 inch one in the pattern.

Abe really liked the peas for some reason. Maybe it's just because he's been eating a lot of pea pods lately.

The grapes were really fun, and surprisingly easy, to make. I think they're my favorite of the bunch!

We love corn on the cob, so of course I had to make some. It's less detailed than some of the felt corn I've seen (my kernels are just lines of stitching), but I made a removable husk! The pumpkin in the background is Abe's jack-o-lantern from few years back. You can find the pattern for that here.

We love watermelon at our house. Abe asks for it every time we read one of his Curious George books where they have watermelon at a picnic.

The carrot was really easy! It would be fun to make a bunch of carrots, beets, and radishes, and a little garden to plant them in. Maybe I'll get around to that this spring...

Almost every night at bedtime Abe asks me to sing Winnie the Pooh and Curious George. The Curious George song is a song that I vaguely remember from childhood, so most of the lyrics we sing are just ones I've made up. The song basically changes every night, but Abe never lets me leave out the line "he likes to eat bananas." My little monkey likes to eat bananas too!

I made the apple when Abe was a baby. It has a rattle in it like the Fisher Price Happy Apple from my childhood, but I decided against adding a face. Probably a good thing because now it fits in perfectly with the rest of the produce in his store!

I've been eating a lot of grapefruit lately, and even though Abe rarely eats it, I figured it would be a nice addition to his collection. I was working on it at Noah's parents' house and one of Abe's cousins asked me what I was making. Abe saw her checking it out and told her, "It's for my grocery store!"

So that's our collection of felt food so far. I'll probably make more when I find some spare time. It really is fun to watch Abe play with his little grocery store. I gave him a few kraft paper gift bags I had lying around and he fills up his cart, then rings up each piece of food at his cash register, and packs them in a grocery bag. Then he brings his bag over to me saying, "Mama, look what I got for you!" and unpacks each item for me to eat. Mmm...delicious.

Little Geranium Dress

noreply@blogger.com (Michelle DuPuis) — Mon, 21 Jan 2013 14:00:00 +0000

Sometimes I regret that I ever learned to sew. Like when I start sewing something and never ever finish. (That's happened more times than I'd like to admit.) Or when I come home from the fabric store with a huge stack of fabrics but essentially no plan on what to do with them. Yeah, that's happened a few times too...and again...this weekend.

I'm just going to say that Rae made me do it. You see, last week she posted her Little Geranium Dress Pattern as a free download for size 0-3 months! I immediately downloaded the pattern (then pinned it so other people could do the same), and went off to dig through my collection of fabric scraps to try it out.

I chose this black and white floral print, that I originally purchased for my handmade Christmas stocking (which still isn't finished 5 years later), and luckily had just enough left over to make the dress.

The only thing I had to go out and buy was buttons (which is why I went to the fabric store in the first place), and even those weren't entirely necessary because I used snaps since I hate making buttonholes...

...but the snaps I used were really plain and boring so I added the buttons just for fun. If you plan to cheat like I did, just make sure you put the side of the snap with the hole on top so you can sew through the hole to attach the button!

So yeah, I guess in the end I'm really happy that I did learn to sew when I was a kid. This dress got me excited to make more, and after buying that stack of fabrics, I searched online for more patterns to try. This one was really easy, but it's so tiny, I'll have to order the full pattern from Made by Rae soon!

And if anyone's wondering, don't worry, the Riley Blake fabric in the background will not end up as an unfinished project. In fact I'm almost done with that one!

Insta-Winter

noreply@blogger.com (Michelle DuPuis) — Tue, 15 Jan 2013 14:00:00 +0000

Because that's how we roll in Minnesota. Instantly. If the seasons are gonna change, it often happens overnight! My last Instagram collage ended with Thanksgiving. We were up north enjoying the last warm days of fall. Check out the third photo in the third row of that collage, taken November 22, 2012. Then take a peek at the third photo in the third row of this collage, taken November 23, 2012! Seriously, overnight. I'm not complaining though. I'd much rather have a white winter than a brown one.

I hope you're staying warm and cozy this winter! Or enjoying the warmth and sunshine if you don't live someplace cold...in which case ~~I hate you~~ you should consider yourself very lucky. ;-)

You can follow me on Instagram @michelledupuis, or check out my Instagram profile on the web at instagram.com/michelledupuis. You can also see all of my semi-monthly collages of favorites right here.

Penny Collection

noreply@blogger.com (Michelle DuPuis) — Mon, 14 Jan 2013 14:00:00 +0000

Abe received a small collection of pennies for Christmas this year. I wanted to do something special with them, so I put together a quick shadowbox to hold the collection.

In 2009, the US Mint issued four new pennies in honor of Abraham Lincoln's 200th birthday. Abe's collection had all four pennies, plus the newest design that features a shield on the back (instead of the image of the Lincoln Memorial that most of us grew up with). I didn't like how most of the collection consisted of shiny, new pennies, so I threw in a slightly tarnished shield penny to mix things up a bit.

I started by printing a US topographical map on my printer. I removed the insert from my Ikea shadowbox frame to determine what part of the map I wanted to use, then traced around the insert and cut along the lines to make the background.

I could have made a perfect grid but decided to just wing it. I measured my background to determine the center and placed the first penny, then I just eyeballed it when placing the rest.

Glue dots seemed to work well for holding the pennies in place (probably not archival but I doubt any of these pennies are worth much).

I wanted at least one penny to show Lincoln's head, and since the silver colored steel penny from 1943 was a "wheat penny" I showed the front of that one and the back (wheat side) of a copper penny from the 1950s.

Four of the pennies are from 2009 and commemorate Lincoln's life.

The oldest penny in our collection isn't even a Lincoln penny, but it's from 1903. I'd love to see a complete collection with the coins that were issued before the Indian Head penny!

I collected all of the 50 State Quarters but haven't done anything with them yet. Maybe this year I'll get around to framing them. Anyone else enjoy collecting coins? How do you display them? Ever find one that was actually worth something?!