tie me down

well remember those dyed wooden beads? i've turned them into four lovely ribbon necklaces. extremely simple and quick, these are a rewarding little project if you're patient enough to wait for the beads to dry.

just feed the ribbon through the beads in the order you want {use a toothpick if you're struggling with the ribbon, and just shove it through}. tie a knot between each bead then tie in a bow around your neck and you're done. voila!

i'll be giving one of these away to a new loving home, so comment here for a chance to win! i'll announce a winner on monday morning so good luck!

black-eyed sue

so here it is, the cute little quaint cape we're going to buy. the inspection went better than expected {serously, no major issues on a foreclosed empty HUD home?} and we're hoping for a quick closing date, maybe in a few weeks. then i'll be rolling up my sleeves and getting dirty with some demo work. we have lots of plans for this house {the inside needs some serious lovin'} and i just happen to have the time to work on it.

God has blessed us in so many ways over the years {9 yr anniversary last week, what what?!} and it's amazing to watch how He consistently works things out in our lives, even if we don't expect it. I've always wanted to own a cape cod, especially one i could put my mark on, and this project-house is perfect...

martha made me do it

is anyone as addicted to martha stewart's magazines as me? i have a love hate relationship with her, really, but i love to try a lot of her ideas and when i got the august issue of 'living' i couldn't wait to dip dye anything i could find. so with a couple of packets of fabric dye and a dollar plastic bucket from target i went to work.

i bought a couple of white sweaters from the goodwill, so i wouldn't ruin anything of my own. i also ended up dyeing a flour sack towel from dollar tree {for a future pillow cover} and some wooden beads {future necklace}. the lighter blue is turquoise and the darker is royal blue. i didn't let the fabric sit in the dye because i wanted a softer summery look. i'm really happy with the results but next time i'll remember to wear gloves. i have one blue hand now and i'm not sure when that will wear off....

room for living

so it's been a busy week over at the tinker household. i had three little destructive angels at my house for the past 8 days, so there was no time for, well, anything. i promise this week we'll be back to our regularly scheduled awsomeness filled with ideas, crafts and info.

for now, here's a sneak peak of the new house. today is the inspection so things are moving along fairly well. this is the living room and the one room in the house that needs the least amount of work. {i'll show you all the kitchen soon...} this room needs refinished hardwoods, white trim and a new wall color along with painting the fireplace white. we might also build in some media units below the windows on either side of the fireplace and hang a plasma up there. all in due time. first we need to close and get those keys!

brooklyn revisited

here are some pictures from the day {friday}. so exhausting getting up at 4am just to miss rush hour traffic, but completely worth it. i had a great time seeing old friends and visiting the old 'hood, and thanks to some downtime carrie and i were able to practice our new learnin' on a wee little model and two reluctant adults...

oh brooklyn, i miss you.

reusing a reusable bag

i bought these reusable bags from *eek* forever 21*eek* and since i didn't want to advertise that fact, i decided to disguise them pretty.

this is a bit of a tutorial but since not all reusable bag pouches are made the same, you can just improvise for your own version. this one needed a couple of pieces of fabric, about 4" wide by 5" tall.

on this first one i mistakenly stitched one front side to a back instead of front to front, but i liked the effect, so i left it. i have a bad habit of not paying attention and just trying to whiz through a project.

sew three edges and leave the top open, this is what you'll stitch to the top of the bag. fold over the top edges and iron so they're nice and clean when you sew them.

i stuck the sewn square inside the pouch and sewed along the top, just under the drawstring. then i stitched the corners at the bottom to make sure the pouch fabric stayed in place when turning inside and out.

i made a second version with some liberty of london fabric. cute and handy, next to the keys for when i'm popping out to pick something up from the store. and they only took about 5 minutes a piece...

pay attention

this past saturday carrie and i spent our day inside a classroom learning more about our cameras. i need to work on my technical knowledge of photography, and carrie wants to learn basic photography and the camera's abilities, so we both took the class.

i have to say, i learned a lot and it was nice to reiterate what i already knew. we both plan to take our cameras with us to nyc this friday.

oh wait, did i mention it'll be my first trip back since the move. i'm really looking forward to it. carrie's beautiful little girl is modeling for another photoshoot so i'm going to be the navigator for the day. funny thing is i've already been at the studio so i have a good idea of where we're going. plus, i'm taking a short trip back to the old neighborhood. more about that after i'm there.

and in more good news

we won a bid on a house!

we started this process of house-hunting as soon as we moved here but didn't think it would all happen so soon. well we found a great house for a great price with a lot of potential, and the best part is {or worst depending on your idea of redoing an entire house} is that all the design and remodeling will be to our tastes and specs! we're very excited to start this process and thanks to all of you who prayed for us. there was a lot of interest in this particular property but the Lord decided it was the right house for us and we couldn't be happier.

now hopefully all of you prayer warriors are demolition warriors as well! best. monday. ever.

if you could package cute

Now come on, how adorable are these two? Twins with completely different personalities. They're so fun to be around, but i can't imagine how much work is is! Sarah is my hero.

for hire

i'm just going to put this out there in case anyone's interested {and i've finally got the time!}...

i'm officially for hire! you can hire me to photograph your kids, your family, your house, whatever!

1hr sessions will be $150.00, and will include:

1hr photo session - your choice of location within 25 miles of the 06010 zip code. {additional fees for traveling outside the 25 mile radius}
review sheet of photos from the session pdf'd to you within 1 week of session
disc with 10 photo files on it, decided by you from the review sheet
photoshopped/retouched images - 5 out of the 10 files
photographers release form

there. now if anyone IS interested, i have a pretty open availability so call or email me to book something: 315.822.2144 / cherilehnow@yahoo.com

i've overheated

and i wish i was doing this instead:

faux to the hawk

hope you all took advantage of the long weekend and had a great fourth of july. we sure did, living it up suburbia-style with cookouts and fireworks and lot of little kids running around us.

and if you just sat around all day and watched tv alone, i'll have to send this guy after you...

feeling nostalgic

so I thought I would post an old pic from our moving-out adventures in Brooklyn. Here we are posing tired-style in front of our willow street apartment after we had finished loading up all the cars...

tinkerwiththis party

so here it is, photos from the party. it's funny though, i practically forgot to take any, so some of these are from after the shuffle and should explain why things are a bit disheveled.

i had party favors, a raffle, coordinating cup holders and dessert labels along with a pink striped tablecloth for the product displays. that thing was a perfect target clearance find...

oh and there's marybeth seriously contemplating how delicious those s'mores on a stick are. because they are. delicious.

the zippered catch-all

as I like to call it, because it usually ends up keeping all those little extras in my purse corralled and safe. Like the misc tubes of lip gloss, the half-used hand sanitizer and the cuticle cream which I always forget to use anyway.

These are what I have left from the party even though they were a pretty good seller. Dimensions are approximately 7" at the opening and 5.5" tall. They also have a flat bottom for easy standing and they all have the 'tinkerwiththis' tag sewn on the front with a coordinating ribbon on the side {in case you wanted to add a ring and throw some keys on there}. They're $12 a piece and $2 for shipping. If you pick more than one there will be no additional shipping fee.

So if you would like your own {they also make great travel makeup pouches} please email me {tinkerellenATyahoo.com} with your numbered choice, your mailing address and if you'd like a paypal invoice or to send a check. If you pay with check I will have to wait until it arrives to ship out your order.

thanks everyone! here's to another glorious weather weekend!