Creative Director

{at Matt's parents Christmas 2011}

I think that title is who I am, not necessary in a business sense but what I do on a daily basis as a mom.to.three.kids.
I'm sometimes or always amazed at the end of the day that we actually  get some laundry done,  have food on the table & a somewhat clean house. Being able to juggle all the-going-ons requires lots of creativity.

Christmas was a tad crazy, oh, it was going pretty well the few weeks leading up to it.
Cards printed November 18th. check.
Homemade cinn-y buns done & delivered Dec 15th check.
Christmas shopping done Dec. 21st. check.
Stockings stuffed. check.
Craft project ready for Luke's class. check.
then it all
went DOWNHILL........weeeee!

December 21st Luke was coughing a lot so we kept him home from school. Proceeded to take him to walk-in hours & diagnosis was Pneumonia, so thankful I had  "a feeling" that it was more than a cold/cough. We allowed him to open a Christmas present early as he was pretty upset about not being able to attend his school Christmas party. We felt bad for him and no fun to be sick right before Christmas.


I headed into school to do craft project, lets say I was a sweaty mess after that. I was exhausted-- :) Matt had taken Vivian & Zach to the doctor while I was doing craft project with Luke's class, but without Luke :( Vivian diagnosed with an ear infecton, Zach ok {at that point}. The following week Zach diagnosed with Pneumonia.

Vivian was very fevereish and was up with her for 2 nights. {Are we the only parents that do not own a forehead thermometer?} Note to self : please get thee a forehead thermometer.

Meanwhile----before the sick-ys came on my computer DIED. I haul it down to the Mac Depot & to boot I had an unopended backup drive to be installed that we had bought last July..........................ummm, all was lost they can't recover any data. Uuugh, all our pics since 2008 gone just like that poof. Mad at myself  as I knew very well these things happen. I'm thankful some of the pics are on my husbands computer, the blog & some on Picassa. When I go pick the computer with her new hard-drive, $$$$$, you bet I will install that drive pronto. That is a sore subject, I will stop.right.now.

There were some sweet moments in December:
Time spent with family, a blessing to have my husband home for two weeks.

I picked up a paint brush & did some painting.

Matt worked on our hearth, vintage ceiling tin molding installed!

While kids were napping December 23rd, I put my creative director act into high gear. When they woke up I had candles lit, a nature inspired tablescape & Christmas music playing!

I WON Annie Sloan's chalk paint! What a extra fun Christmas surprise. I have a project in mind for it. More on winning this chalk paint later. Once I get my computer back I can blog easier. I'm using an IPad right now & I'm still getting used to it:)

May your NEW YEAR be Glorious!

Slowly but Surely.......

 ........getting craft-y!  {you can click to enlarge any of the pictures}

H* O *M* E* M* A* D *E 

CHRISTMAS ORNAMENT

ASSEMBLAGE ART

{made with things-on-hand by McMaster & Storm}

I'm in charge of the kindergarten class craft for the Christmas party and worked on idea number one. I suppose this is quite intricate, but it suits me and now I want to make 15 or so of them. Using  a medley of vintage animal graphics of course. It was crafted entirely of things I had on hand.  If I use this idea for Luke's class will keep it more simple, with 28 kids can't get to detailed :)

 

*quick overview not necessary in order just to give you an idea{s}*

{can be adjusted to whatever you have on hand}

1. Ruffled, natural coffee filters, cut into points with pinking scissors. I folded the coffee filter in half first, then cut the points. Another filter was cut into a smaller circle & layered behind music paper circle.
2. Velvet ribbon cut into a banner and glued at bottom of music paper.
3. Deer picture copied onto cardstock then cut into a circle
4. Brass bell sew onto the velvet ribbon.
5. Gold dresden "V" for Vivian. Now on a mission to find a lion for Luke & a zebra for Zach!
6. Silver glass glitter
7. Torn & crumpled Bible verse. {I tore it on a aluminum foil box's cutter to give a vintage look}
8. Deep pink ribbon and thin gold mettalic ribbon on the hook
9. Brown covered florist wire {love this, comes in green too} for the hook or loop. I shaped the wire hook to look pretty as you can see it. I found this at Joannes a while back {floral section} and glad I had it on hand. The texture is more fun than just a plain wire.
10. Vintage music paper
{On the back I just layered a circle of card stock {ends of wire hook staple to the front of back circle card stock} for more stability and finished it with a circle of music paper.
11. Japanese making tape in gold/white stripes, I couldn't resist adhering a piece to the deer picture.
12. Of course I used this must have tool to attach the wire loop.

Now, I do think I found the perfect tree.....if it's still there!!

 

 

While at my favorite digging place I found a song book and on the cover was this......swoon. I made copies and now need to get it on Etsy.

xo

Coming Home Collection....

by Jeanne Oliver Designs take a peek.........blog + look book.  Pretty things! She is also having a very
generous giveaway of $500 to use in her shop.

I posted pics on our blog of "home-y" things. Makes me smile.

 

{6!}

Happy Birthday Luke.......

xo

Warmth + Love {& attics}

Out of this world Apricot Rosemary Jam with Double Cream Brie.

{Compliments to my mother for the 5 lbs I gained this past week}

I can't believe we don't have a Trader Joe's or a Target in Englewood. We instead have a Murray's Cheese , in the middle of the Deli Department in Kroger. Seriously, cannot believe this famous NYC place decided to permanently camp out in the Kroger I shop at. I shall never complain that we don't have a TJ's closer. Amen. 

I dislike coming up with blog post titles, anyone else? I always think that will be so easy, and well it's not. 

We had two Thanksgiving's in one week. Last Sunday, my brother's girlfriend came out {or is it "up"?} from Virginia and my mom had a scrumptious spread. I was more than excited that we had peanut butter pie instead of pumpkin. Pumpkin pie does not have me jumping up & down. I'm a cobbler & icing- on- the- cake kind of gal. The only 2 pies on this earth that I get excited about are peanut butter pie & black raspberry cream pie and well, my mother's white Christmas pie. So, that makes 3, hmmm, there are others that are surfacing right at the moment---maybe I like cream-y pies?!

The second Thanksgiving involved ham and a creative spin on the Thanksgiving meal. {Just thought you wanted to know that.} We had a pumpkin/praline cheesecake and that my dear friends is a very good spin on the typical-I-don't-care-for pumpkin pie.

 My 2 turkeys figured out they could fit in the play oven. Luke kept tumbling out and exclaiming, "the turkey isn't done yet"! I love watching children playing using their imaginations. {it's also free entertainment}

 "Look, the turkey has ginger hair!"

 PROJECT! {cackle, cackle laughter} Attic room it is time to tackle you. You have great potential nice big room, 2 windows and a place to build built ins for tubs, out-of-season clothing & games. Nice big area to spread out legos, train tracks and a place for the kids to play while it's a blowing snow outside.

I only gave one view the area where it's cleaned out! You really didn't think I would show

you plastic tubs stacked up?? :)

Pros: 

We can close the door on the mess while it's getting worked on. 

It has the original wood floor, minus some missing pieces when the previous owners installed can lights in the kitchen. 

Main pipe already installed for a bathroom. We did that when we put water lines in the new laundry room, so it made sense to run one up to the attic. 

Electric was installed by the previous owners.

Pinterest! Love that I have been able to "pin" ideas for the attic! 

Cons: 

What were we thinking--why did we not at least refinish the floors and put spray foam insulation when we moved in 7 years ago? We had no kids and the attic was pretty empty. 

The biggest annoyance is finding a place for all our stuff we have stored up there. My husband started working on that and it's moving slow. Don't want to make the rest of our upstairs a huge mess with tubs, etc. It will be easier having everything moved out so we are not moving things to & fro in that room while construction dust is flying.

Have a lovely weekend.........

xo

New Things......

Italian glasses  SOLD OUT for milk or beverage of choice. {written in 6 languages around the glass} I decided something pink-ish red would look fun in the glass. Festive, festive. I'm loving the simple greenish-blue tinged glass and anything Italian right now. Timeless.

 For homemade vanilla & vinegars......Italian hermetic flasks.......

 Petite Italian serving pitcher....... love the 0,5 l written on the top front.

 

Italian measure pitcher......for dry & wet ingredients.......{perfect for fresh cut flowers, no?}

 Our wrapping project for Heather Bullard's Winter Souvenir........

Tiny Boxwood starts wrapped in burlap.........
We planted boxwood's {again} ;) This time we purchased starts and so easy to plant, especially when you plant lots.  Yes, I have a weakness for these!  I saved some that were left to wrap up and tie metallic gold string around. Christmas decorating is right around the bend for me.

My husband is off this week and I'm trying to get things uploaded. I worked on it today and it always takes longer than I think it will. I really miss having a store to merchandise. Uploading things online is a boring task {yawn}. I love taking the pics & styling, although I'm an amateur at it. 

I'm loving homemade croutons--simply the best & easy. {so yummy in soups} I just made some using focaccia bread and delish they were.
It's cloudy & rainy here and I love it. I really think I could live in the Northwest.

Have a wonderful day!
xo

Miles I've Covered.......

 I helped behind the scenes for a shower-- a teensy peek: wooden forks & kraft trays for the apple cake with rum sauce.  Bamboo picks for the cheese & dried fruit.

 DIY garland and maps "stating" where the bride & groom are from.

 My grandmother, Irene passed away last week {91 years}. We drove 16 hours to a teensy town in Kansas. Kansas will never be the same again without her.  I will miss her cheery, always wanting to sit-a-spell & chat- with- me grandma. I loved her letters she wrote me, when she ran out of space she would just write all around the card then finish on the very back! :) I'm thankful I saved a very important letter from her when I moved from Ohio to California in 1994. Happy to tell you she knew Jesus Christ as her Savior.

 I spotted this old service station in one of those wee towns and wanted to packed it up and bring it back with me. I think it would be cute for a store in my yard. It even had built in cupboards. I wonder if I should've just taken those doors home?

 Metallic golds & silvers are beckoning me these days........

1. I found the very cool vintage coin purse at Sylvia's for a mere 50 cents. It's in great condition and I love the zipper opening on the bottom, an all-in-one coin purse! 2. Letterpress card in golds & blacks. 3. A delicious caramel with sea salt, a brand new company debuting soon! The proprietress is one of my customers and has very good taste. Literally.
3. Vintage pharmacy measure jars, because vintage glass is always "in"! Found at one of my favorite places to dig. 4. Paper tape from Martha Stewart.

 1. Gold $1 coin  2. My favorite pencils, Verithin in metallic gold.

 What to get the guys this year? I found these via Garret Wade and they were a steal on sale at $14.95, regular $29.95. Perfect to tuck in with this at RH. These screwdrivers are the berries. Read some fun reviews by Garret Wade customers......{Oh, I think they are pretty too!}

Real Tools for Real People
Reviewed By:	David A. (San Francisco , Ca.)
Shaped like a zeppelin , tough as a tank and worthy of building or maintaining both . One solid piece of cold hard steel runs form the tip, all the way up the shaft where it slips into your palm as though it's hardwood handle were created for your firm grip . Old school and mean looking . So tough the first time I went to use it the screw got scared and twisted itself in . Set of four , one each of six , eight , ten , and twelve inches ... depending on preference or who's measuring . History Reviewed By:  Jeff F (Clarksville, OH)  I believe these were originally made by the Irwin Tool Co., in Wilmington, OH. (Home of the infamous Irwin Auger Bit.) Subsequently sold to American Tool, then to Rubbermaid. No longer located in Wilmington, OH (near Martinsville where it all began.) These screwdrivers are real brutes. The kind of tool you want in your truck toolbox if you're stranded somewhere.

See those tiny vintage hardware parts? I'm thinking of selling them. Well, about selling things I need to take photos today as once again I'm behind even more so.

{when I get all caught up ;) this looks like an interesting book about Catherine the Great.}
xo