Cart before the Horse

We had a bit of a blogspot melt down last friday, and I lost my original post from Mama's Day. Uber- frustrated, I reposted a more Cliff's Notes style version of the original. However, if you had been able to catch the first post, you may remember me mentioning some of my fabulous Mama's Day gifts, including one that could only be featured in it's own post. Here it is!

This is Cielo Bird. A curious little sculpture constructed and hand painted by the folks who together make up the Cart before the Horse. This 2 person compay of artisits is based in Portland, OR. A self declared "mom + pop business", Dylan + Jo are parents as well as extraordinary artists and I just love thier style...as well as the name of their business: Cart before the Horse. Ah, yes, I can relate to what it is like to feel like your always getting ahead of yourself! I came accross their art work on Etsy a while back and I purchased a couple of their smaller {less expensive} printed items. When Mama's Day came along, well, it seemed the perfect occassion to mention how much I coveted these bigger sculptures... I am SO pleased to have an original piece of artwork in my home + I just can't wait to place another order! The biggest dilemma will be deciding which sculpture I'll purchase next...I love them all! You can also find out more about Cart before the Horse here at Jo's blog. Happy Tuesday everyone!
xo.

A chair fit for THE Queen

I absolutely adore tax season! As a family of five with a mortgage...well, by having the most taken out of my Mister's checks, each February we get a very nice return. I like to think of it as a sort of "forced savings". It has almost become a traditon that over the last few years a large portion of our return/"savings" has gone into some big house project that needed doing. I swear, something would literally stop working or break the minute we had filed our information! Ah, but not so much this year!
Don't get me wrong though, as most homeowners will tell you, there is always something around your home that can be done. While my Mister + I had agreed to save as much of our return as we could, I guess part of me just couldn't resist buying something that would be an improvement to our home. Hey, some traditions die hard! I had been wanting a chair for this very spot in our family room for some time, but hadn't found the exact right one...until I saw this! I fell head over heels in love!

My chair {tee-hee} is so very unique + the shape is incredible; the back is so high you either do feel like a Queen...or like your sitting on a prop for an Alice in Wonderland film. Many a mama might be thinking, "a chair like that would never survive in my house with the littles!" For us, we try to be really good about having our little peeps understand that furniture {both fabulous + not so fabulous} is not a jungle gym. That someone spent their hard earned money to make the purchase and so the furniture needs to be treated with some respect. That being said, at present no one under 25 years of age is allowed to sit in said chair until it is scotchguarded! So far so good. And what of the money bit? Well, most of the rest of our return will remain in savings to offset regular expenses.
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More often than not, as a mamas we go without certain luxuries {happily so!} in order to do more for our littles...but I have to admit that it felt amazing to buy a big ticket something like this that I wanted so very much. I like to think of it as reward of sorts for being so well behaved {when it comes to spending anyway} during the other times of the year. I'm just plain giddy...and you know what they say, "When mama's happy..."
xo.

Buttons, Buttons Everywhere...

It's been a long time since I've rocked {ie, wore} a bunch of different little buttons...you know, cool little thing-a-ma-jigs that sport artwork and slogans from bands or shops. I remember wearing a cluster of them on a jacket...and later having a whole bunch on a bag. However, these days, with 3 kiddos {sometimes 4} in tow...all that "flair" seemed more like a pin prick waiting to happen than it did a fashion statement!

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But what to do with all that tiny goodness? Tired of having these buttons in a little baggie in a dresser drawer, I decided there must be a better use for them. {Ofcourse, if these are collectors item tyoe buttons, you might not want to do this.} However, I had no qualms about repurposing the buttons I had + so I just popped the pin part off the back of the button, {leaving the flat shiny backing} and then hot glued a magnet onto the back. Sure, since it is metal, technically you could just let the magnetism do all the work, but the bit of hot glue makes them far more durable. Because really, who couldn't use an extra magnet?!

xo.

Boho Baby Bump's Ornament Tutorial...not Sometimes Sweet...Always SWEET!

Let me begin by saing that if I could ask Santa for anything in the world...it would be THIS piano! I absolutely covet. I do not play, but I have hopes that one day my children will...

However, that is not the point of this here post on this brisk NJ morning. Today, I am linking to Sometimes Sweet; a blog by a girl who, well, reminds me a bit of me! She had asked her friend + author of Boho Baby Bump blog to share a tutorial...and here it is!

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And while I'm on the topic of fabulous ornaments...here is another handmade bit of lovely by a friend which has completely inspired me to get stitching!

Wishing everyone a wonderful weekend!

xo.

A Country Living Tree

My Grandmother- in- law {yeah, I know}, got me a subsription to Country Living Magazine a year or so ago...and I LOVE IT! The magazine has such fun little thing-a-ma-jigs {with shopping guide}, ideas for decorating + recipes {that I am more than happy to convert into vegan if possible}. In this last issue, I saw this great photo of a winter "tree" made from branches. I'm all about the branch trees + thought I would try to make one of my own. It would be Christmasy ...but also something that I could leave up through the winter. I found this great vase at Marshall's/ Home Goods over the weekend when I braved the Black Friday crowds with the Fif. I know, it is awesome... I'm really lucky like that. I'll never be able to figure out why people say "Oh, I can't shop at Marshall's"...or worse, "I don't shop sales". REALLY?!?! You like paying more money for things? Or you prefer to shop and buy clothing that you will see on aleast 5 other people that season? Nope, not me. I live for the sale...and the Marshalls, where I can usually find something like this vase that I know no one else will have! But getting back to my tree...the photo showed little walnuts spray painted silver, hung from the branches...so I did just that. I used sage green velvet ribbon and hot glue to make the loops for hanging said silvery walnuts.The photo also called for some crystal chandelier droppings. Well, I didn;t happen to have any of those just kicking around...but again, lucky me, I found some plastic ones on Target for just $1 each! Woo Hoo!So how do you think my tree stands up to the original? I'm thinkin' it is pretty darn great, don't you agree?
xo.

A Thanksgiving Table

I would be lying if I said that Thanksgiving hadn't snuck up on me rather quickly this year! It is probably in part because we had some early holiday parties to attend, the Monks' NYC birthday trip...all happening right in step with our regular school/work/life activites that go on in November. And before I knew it, I was putting away the Halloween tree and taking out my Thanksgiving goodies. However, I thought that I remembered having more decorative this's + that's to put about? I have no idea what I thought I had, or where these items may have escaped to? I could only find my 2 pilgrims and the Thanksgving Platter that the Monks' made last year...

But here is the thing: as much as I enjoy, Thanksgiving, I adore Christmas and sometimes feel that the season can just go by too fast. So for the last few years, we decorate one of our Christmas trees {my gold tree} on Thanksgiving Day while we are preparing our feast. Our second tree, we usually buy on Black Friday Night and decorate so that our home is festive + ready for the Monks' Family Birthday Party that we host here each year, the Sunday after Thanksgiving. It seems like alot, but it really isn't...it is a tradition of ours and it makes me feel like we really get the most time out of our magical, twinkling Christmas trees + sparkling Ornaments.

But I still needed something for on the table for Thanksgiving...and with only a week to enjoy my display, I wasn't looking to have to make a trip to the store or spend lots of money. Luckily for me I had a few grapevine wreaths kicking about so I spray painted one gold {you know I'm a big fan of gold spray paint!} + wrapped in natural raffia. These color combinations always remind me of harvest time. I hung it on a wreath stand; and for the big day, I will have a gold tablecloth and finish off the table with some off white candles. There is nothing better than comming around a beautiful holiday table with those you love.

xo.

Baby Growin' Blues...and Room Decor

It seems like it was just yesterday the my smallest little man was born. How is it then, that he has grown + changed so darn much? He will be one year old mid January, however, it feels like he has made the biggest changes in the last couple of months. Sure, sitting up alone, eating "solid" foods, army crawling were all big leaps, however it was our changing sleeping arrangements that sent pangs to my belly. We were big fans of the snuggle nest, then the littles moved into the co sleeper, still right next to our bed. Actually, they didn't really even make a snuggle nest or co sleeper when the Monks {my biggest little man} was born...and while {of my 3 kiddos} he is the one to always go to bed well, he is also the only one who would have been content to sleep in our bed with us forever! The Fif, on the other hand, couldn't wait to have her own space. At one point, we thought she was going to be our last baby + all weepy, I tried to bring her into our bed from the crib. Yeah, big mistake. She was not happy about it!

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I was ready for my smallest guy to leave the snuggle nest and hit the co sleeper + in hindsight, I am suprised that he stayed in that little co -sleeper- criblet as long as he did. I guess I was not as ready for him to move into his big boy crib in the boys room...it was a necessary change that took place the very day I came in and found him pulled up in the criblet! What's worse is that while he has only been sleeping in the big boy baby cage a couple of weeks, he is begining to pull up in there too, which means that I have to nix the bumper, lower the crib...AND hem the crib dust ruffle I had made.

And so this brings me to the other point of this post...the boys room decor. I wanted matchy match bedding for my boys, however what I liked was also pricey priced. PB also did not carry a navy gingham bed skirt and there was no way I was going to spend all that money for a bed skirt that was not exactly what I wanted. So I made a bed skirt for the Monks' bed + a crib skirt for my little man's crib, all from a top sheet! The Bedskirt I made by cutting off a measured amount of the hemmed edges of the sheet {Full size}, and then used a staple gun to attatch the segments to the inside of the wooden bed frame, so that the finished edge was at the floor. For the Cribskirt, I did have to do so hemming, but our then puppy had chewed through the cord to my sewing machine! I used "stitch witchery", or iron adhesive strips to hem all of the eges of the measured segments I would be using; top, bottom and sides. Then I used a hot glue gun to adhere the fabric to the outside of the metal part of the crib {where the mattress goes}. I pleated my fabric as I wanted to give it that real tailored, boy look.

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So this weekend, I will be taking apart my handiwork on my littlest man's cribskirt to hem it yet again to allow for lowering the crib. Luckily for me though, the universe has a method for making sure that us mamas are not blubbering, crying messes during these changes in our kiddos lives. You see, my baby growin' blues has been slightly buffered of late by teething. The refusal to nap + 10 month old mad -as- heck crying reminds me that while some baby changes are sad, others, like the eventual light at the end of the teething tunnel are ever so welcome!

xo.

Last Minute Skeleton Craft

Oh, been killer busy with alkl kinds of Halloween-y type activities these last days. But I came accross this cut little thing-a-ma-jig + thought I would share with anyone looking to make a last minute Halloweeny something!

FoR InStruCTioNs...

Pumpkin Carving

Just a bit of old fashioned Halloween fun! Carving Jack 'O Lanterns the week before Halloween has become a tradition that I really look foward to.

We saw a couple of great tips on a Martha Stewart show that we tried out this year, including how to Light Thy Jack 'O Lantern ...and cutting out the bottom of the pumpkin rather than the top.

The littles had fun getting into the mix...although they don't really love getting all of the seeds out of the pumpkin. And yes, we used power tools this year... whatever it takes friends!

Ofcourse, we lost the help of the little people after pumpkin #1 was carved...incidentally, right at the same time that the cookies we made had finished baking. You can't carve pumpkins on an empty tummy.

All of our hard work paid off. Although these are the simpliest Jack 'O Lanterns we have carved, I also think that they came out the best!

Happy Carving everyone!

xo.

Light Thy Jack 'O Latern

Last week, we were flipping on the television, and came across Johnny Knoxville doing a segment on the Marth Stewart Show. I know, random, right? This was the segment where I learned that one can cut the botton out of their pumpkin to clean it out, instead of the top. Depending on the size of your pumpking, once all of the cleaning + carving was done, you could pop your pumpkin shell right over a glass container which would safely hold the candle that would light up your Jack 'O Lantern.

But what about the Jack 'O Lanterns you might want to have outside your home? Or what if the whole idea of fire in a pumpkin just really freaks you out? Well, Martha had a soulution! By wrapping a strand of white Christmas lights around a glass mason jar, you can create a beautiful + safe glow!

Ok, so while this might not be "green", it is most definately a safer alternative to attempting to balance a votive candle inside the lumpy bumpy bottom of your carved pumpkin! And I think it looks just beautiful!

Pumpkins + Spray Paint

After more than 7 years of marriage, my Mister no longer cringes when he sees me bopping up from the basement with a random can of spraypaint in my hand. He doesn't even ask what it is for anymore; instead he just offers to lend a hand. Perhaps he has realized that whatever I have planned might as well be a surprise since there is no negotiating with me once I have my mind set on a "project".

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And that is kind of how things went when I decided to get a little nutty with some pumpkins + some gold spraypaint...

So much fun, don't you agree? Nothing like a little gold to make everything look festive!

xo.

Halloween Tree

Ok, here is a little more holiday decorating for you all! I do so enjoy the holidays, even moreso since I became a mama. So when a holiday arrives, we really try to have fun with watching seasonal movies, enjoying fun foods and making decorations. And really people, nothing says holiday like a tree, am I right?

The Halloween tree is a project that I first saw years ago in a Martha Stewart catalogue. All that you need for this is a tree branch that might have fallen in your own back yard + ahem, some spraypaint. When we first started having a Halloween tree, years ago, our tree branches were on the smaller side since we did not have many decorations. However, as the years went on and I found decorations in a variety of random places, our branches needed to be bigger. Finding our "tree" actually became a tradition in itself and each year the Monks will remind me of the year I randomly pulled over to the side of the road as I drove home from soccer practice to pick up a tree brach that had fallen. The kids were hysterical as I crammed this giant branch into the trunk of my mama suv while the traffic passed on by. This is our third year using this branch, as it really was a great size and shape.

{Monk + Fif, circa 2009}

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To make one of these yourself, you will need some black spray paint for your tree branch, {I used the remaining black paint for the terracotta pot that the branch would be placed in}. To hold the branch secure inside the pot, we used some of the green foam block that is typically used in floral arrangements...and a couple of bricks, depending on how large your tree is! Then we covered the base of our tree in spooky looking green spanish moss. And there you have it, a ghostly Halloween tree.
xo.

Paint it Black

The Halloween season is officially upon us! Well, if I had my way, the Halloween season really would have started on October 1st. We've done bits of Halloween-y things: like grabbing a pumpkin here + there, but it seems like the festivities really pick up around now. Suddenly there are all kinds of fun Halloween movies on tv and everyone is decorating + scurrying about to finish up their Halloween costume preparations. And so this weekend, I too scurried about to decorate and buy some autumn plants. Keeping an eye out for all things "dark and creepy", I was ever so pleased with that I brought home...

This year, I didn't really want to sepnd alot of $ on decorations, so I did my best to make sure that what I did pick was really cool. I also am not a big fan of overtly corny decorations, so I usually keep an eye out for things that look the part without necessarily being only a Halloween decoration...How creepy is this bust as a centerpiece? Definitely fits the bill for unique, don't you agree?

I also tried my hand at revamping {no punn intended} + dressing up other things laying around the house. Ok, I got a little carried away with the spray pain this season... but really, how amazing does this little pumpkin look in high gloss black?

And here is my attempt to upcycle an old faux ivy wreath that I had in the basement. I can't get over how great it looks painted black with a few creepy cob webs cast about!

Have you been working on any fun Halloween like decorations?

antiqued glass lanterns

I did not have a post planned for today + being that I had a class to teach this afternoon, I thought I might just take the day off. That was, until I came accross this fun tutorial on how to make "antique glass lanterns" on a blog I just came accross recently. As if I had not already thought that Chelsea was a pretty cool chick, what with that awesome tattoo + her logo {which I covet}, this project really is the icing on the cake!

*** {Photo by Seablanket} ***

These little glass lanterns remind me of something I would have found on an old ship! I can only imagine how great they would look alone, or in groups on a table, or even rigged with wire + hung outide for enjoying these beautiful autumn evenings that are a commin' our way!?! And the best part is that they are ever so simple to make!

So pop on over to Seablanket to check out this tutorial, which apparently is a bit of a "tuesday tutorial tradition". And have a very happy wednesday!

xo.

t- shirt printing

The first half of this weekend was more beautiful that I could have hoped for and I tried my best to plan accordingly; spending as much time out of doors as possible. However, when it rained like mad yesterday, I sat face to face with the piles of laundry + cleaning that I had neglected to do. As I worked, I thought of this project that I would rather have been doing instead...

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I had made these t-shirts last summer. Although I had a bunch of ideas for designs, I tried to narrow it down to just a few, to make things more simple. Once we had drawn and traced our design onto freezer paper, we {grown up folk} use an exacto knife and a wooden cutting board {to protect the table} to cut out the image. Prior to ironing the freezer paper onto the shirt, I placed cardboard underneath the prevent paint seepage, but then found that using freezer paper underneath {shiny side up} also worked very well. {When ironing, the paper on the inside adheres to the shirt, making the transfer to a drying spot easier than cardboard, which can slide and shift.} Some say it is best to leave the freezer paper on the shirt until after the paint has dried, however, we chose to peel it off while the paint was wet, then set the t-shirt aside to dry. By doing this, I was able to reuse the same piece of freezer paper a few times without having to cut out an new image! I remembered his made me very happy, since cutting with the exacto is kind of a pain in the a**. After that, we just followed the directions on the paint we purchased. We waited a day, then ironed, then waited 3 days, then washed, then ironed again...To me, this was both annoying and exciting {I'm not patient}, but well worth it, as all of my images stayed on perfectly! I had made these to sell at the craft show I did last summer + on my Etsy shop, but ended up using all of the left over T's for baby Liam. He wore them ALL summer + the images stayed perfectly! I wouldn't say that this is a kid project, although I'm sure the Monks would be capable of painting a bit, with some help. I remember that I was really happy to have John home when I was printing these to give me a hand with the peeling of the freezer paper after the paint had been applied. {i.e.: If you have a house full of kiddos like me, you might want to try this project when you have an extra set of adult hands around!}

This is such a great rainy day project...to dress up tshirts, or anything else you might have kicking around the house! So even though I didn't get to play in the paint on this rainy weekend day, atleast I had plenty of time to daydream about the different designs I'd like to try out...and I have a clean house.

Happy Monday!

xo.