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Violaceous

• July 26, 2011
• 10:58

  Movin'

   » ‎ Violaceous

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  Just wanted to let you all know that I'm moving my blog to  [amandacowell.blogspot.com]

  I've changed a lot over the last couple years and just feel like I need a fresh start! Hope you'll join me over there. :)

• March 04, 2011
• 12:50

  Color Cravings

   » ‎ Violaceous

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  Needing a little extra color in my life right now! It has been so gray and dull here lately and I can't wait for spring flowers to start blooming and for the sun to come out!

  Luckily I've been able to surround myself with color lately...

  
  
  Embellishments spilled onto my craft table...

  
  
  Painting wooden figures for our Etsy shop, Armadillo Dreams...

  
  
  And from today, selecting fabric scraps for a scrappy quilt I'm making Lucy for her birthday. Love all these colors.

  Any signs of spring where you are yet?

• February 05, 2011
• 14:32

  Sunlight Patches

   » ‎ Violaceous

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  Don't you just love the patches of sunlight that come into the house on an otherwise dreary winter day?

  

  Lucy always takes advantage of them...

  

  What better way to spend a dreary morning than making a color gradient out of blocks in a big patch of sunlight while wearing a princess outfit? I'll have to try that sometime...

  

  How are your winter days going? I can't wait until spring, but little things like this are what keep me going. That and the pussy willows on the tree outside!

• January 07, 2011
• 10:42

  Washing Dishes

   » ‎ Violaceous

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  Lucy and I were having one of those days last week where she was bored and had no attention span for her usual favorite activities. I was washing some things found at an estate sale and she wanted to help, so I filled the sink with soapy water and gave her a dishcloth.

  

  I couldn't believe how busy this kept her. She was washing, rinsing and drying things for about an hour!

  

  I think it's funny how kids enjoy the simplest of activities. Things that adults think of as a chore.

  

  Just another reminder that kids don't need a lot to make them happy!

  

  I want to try and remember to enjoy simple "chores" more, to find  peace in the repetetiveness. Kids are inspiring in their enthusiasm for little things like this.

• January 04, 2011
• 23:08

  Fresh and Clean

   » ‎ Violaceous

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  I like being able to get a fresh start in January. 2010 had some definite bright spots - I mean, we welcomed my son into the world, it doesn't get much brighter than that! I have to say I'm kind of glad to see 2010 go. Hoping for a better, not as chaotic, more peaceful year with better rhythm to the days as a stay at home/work at home mom. Adding a new family member was amazing, beautiful and definitely a much wanted experience, but everything around here went a little haywire. I feel like I have my bearings now and enough energy to try and balance all the different aspects of my life.

  Lucy and I enjoyed putting Christmas decorations away last week, cleaning the house and setting up her winter nature table. The house feels calmer now and less cluttered.

  

  It was really nice to put away the holiday things and to just focus on the season and what's going on outside.

  

  I like the slowness of January. It can be a little dreary, but after the rush of Christmas it's a nice break. I have always had the tendency to lean towards depression this time of year, but celebrating the chill and stillness of winter with Lucy (and eventually Lincoln) instead of dreading it has made a huge impact on my outlook.

• December 31, 2010
• 18:13

  Happy New Year!

   » ‎ Violaceous

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  Wishing you and your loved ones the happiest of new years, filled with everything happy and good!

   

• December 27, 2010
• 14:54

  Post-Holiday Quiet

   » ‎ Violaceous

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  Quiet, peaceful afternoon...

  

  

  

  

  

  

  The first picture says it all, he is normally one busy little guy. Sending you wishes for some post-holiday quiet in your life too!

• December 24, 2010
• 23:16

  Merry Christmas!

   » ‎ Violaceous

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  We wish you and your family a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

  
  
  
  
  

• December 13, 2010
• 18:52

  Oh, life.

   » ‎ Violaceous

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  Jeez Louise. Life has been getting away from me! Poor neglected blog, I want to write lots of blog posts, really I do.

  Turns out being a stay at home mommy to 2 kids under 4 and trying to run busy etsy shops doesn't give me as much extra time as I thought it would!

  I don't really know how to sum up the last 3 months, so how about a few random photos:

  

  

  

  Yes, this biiig baby is Lincoln! Silly guy, he's not even 4 months yet and he's in size 12 months clothes! He is just the sweetest, funniest, kinda feisty little guy. We love him to pieces.

  

  This photo cracks me up because it totally sums my life as a stay at home mom of these two. This is my every day. Usually with me trying to sew at the dining room table and get orders out in between kid craziness/making dinner/etc. Trying to keep Lucy from dancing on top of Lincoln. I can't believe how much harder it is to get things done adding just one kiddo! Hats off to mommies of 3 or more!

  Also over the last month or so my husband and I have sort of fallen into the world of woodworking! We're running a new etsy shop together, Armadillo Dreams, for handmade wooden toys. We are having so much fun doing that as a team.

  

  

  
  
  
  
  

  If you start hearing talk around here about power tools instead of fabric and yarn, that's why. ;)

  Hopefully we'll talk sooner rather than later.
  
  
  
  

• September 21, 2010
• 18:16

  An Introduction

   » ‎ Violaceous

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  Well then. When I say I'm taking a break I really mean it! A whole summer's worth of a break. I've missed blogging and chatting with other blog writers. We'll see how I do with posting this time...life is pretty hectic. I'm getting into the swing of mothering 2 so hopefully I can keep up. :)

  We have a new family member since I last posted! My sweet little man was born on August 20, at 3:21am. Yup, he's already a month old. It has gone so fast and so slowly at the same time. Sleep deprivation, you know. But it's worth it!

  

  This is Lincoln Edward Cowell. I am in love with the little guy. As is my husband. Lucy's pretty sure she is too...

  

  As long as he's not "fussin".

  

  Or being a typical little brother.

  

  We're happy being a family of 4. It just feels right! I'm so excited to watch these two grow up together.

• May 29, 2010
• 10:32

  Just a Little Break

   » ‎ Violaceous

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  Hi! Sorry I haven't posted in a while. You know how everything just starts happening at once? Right now my Etsy shop is super busy, we're in the process of moving my mom out of our house (she's been living with us for 6 months), I'm always - constantly - being a mommy to Lucy, and I'm in my third trimester so I'm tired all the time these days. Plus we'r trying to get ready for the new little guy.

  I'm definitely not superwoman, so I'm taking a little break from blogging. Right now it's just one more thing. 

  Hope you all are doing wonderfully well, and hopefully you're getting a little summer weather where you are! 

• May 10, 2010
• 9:33

  Counting My Blessings, Square 3 - Cooking for my Family

   » ‎ Violaceous

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   Cooking for my family.
  
  

  Cooking is something sort of new to me. I spent years telling people that I was a horrible cook. Over the past couple of years I've realized that I'm really not! I just didn't know how to do a lot of basic things. I didn't give myself enough credit. Once I started learning I was unstoppable! People really seemed to enjoy what I made. And I really enjoyed the process.

  So I suppose my blessing is the ability to cook for my family.

  I love shopping for ingredients, planning dinners, the creativity that goes along with substituting ingredients and tweaking recipes. I love the actual process. Chopping vegetables and measuring. I'm never quite in the moment like I am when I'm cooking. I love that I'm providing comfort and a feeling of "home" to my family. I love when my husband has seconds and when Lucy actually finishes all of her dinner. 

  I'm a good cook, darn it. I never thought making dinner would be something I look forward to. 

• April 29, 2010
• 12:48

  How they grow!

   » ‎ Violaceous

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  Chicks grow fast!! 

  From this (taken on April 4th):

   
  
  

   

  To this (taken today):

  
  
  

  She looks like...dare I say - a chicken!!

  In just 25 days! I've loved watching them grow.

• 12:23

  Counting My Blessings, Square 2 - Dirt

   » ‎ Violaceous

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  Dirt.

  I have to admit, I spend a lot of time getting it out of my house, washing it off my daughter, etc.
  
  

  But in the spring? As far as possibilities go? It's definitely a blessing. Just think of all the things you could grow this season! 

  I've already planted a pansy planter with Lucy, and red lettuces in pots. We have a pretty short growing season and there are still risks of freezing so I have to be careful. Most of the planting to come will be done in May. We're planning on making some raised beds and planting lots of veggies in them.

  What are you planning on growing in the dirt this season?

• April 24, 2010
• 19:03

  Counting My Blessings, Square 1 - Growth

   » ‎ Violaceous

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   Growth.
  
  

  • Being able to watch my daughter grow (and get bigger and BIGGER, as she says)
  • Watching my tummy grow with the little guy I'm carrying
  • Realizing that even the hardest times help you to grow as a person
  • Watching plants grow and change with the seasons (Yay spring!)

• April 23, 2010
• 22:19

  Counting Blessings

   » ‎ Violaceous

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   I've been trying hard to count my blessings lately. I've been going through a period where I feel disconnected, stressed out and generally negative. You know when you just have those down times that last a while? We've had a lot of changes in our lives lately and I need to get to a place where I feel calm and centered. 
  
  

  Things that have been helping me to remember what's important:

  • Feeling my sweet little baby move and kick - there's nothing like it.
  • Lucy. Oh heavens yes, Lucy. She's my light.
  • Being outside in the fresh air and sunshine
  • Baking and cooking, feeding my family good food
  • Working with my hands
  • Being with my dear husband, just the two of us.

  What helps you to remember what's important? What helps you to get to a place of feeling calm and being okay with what life throws at you?

  This project that I just joined, Counting my Blessings, came along at just the right time for me. The idea is to stitch small squares (about 1 by 1 inch) and stitch one of the blessings in your life into each square. I love stitching (one stitch at a time, just like life) and the idea of putting my blessings into needlework sounds very soothing. I think for the next few weeks I'm going to work on my "counting my blessings" sampler and post photos of my squares/what inspired them. Can't wait to share my blessings with you and maybe learn a few things along the way!

• April 14, 2010
• 16:23

  We're having...

   » ‎ Violaceous

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  And we cannot wait to meet our new little guy! I'm due August. 26th.
  
  

  
  
   

• April 09, 2010
• 11:00

  Chickies

   » ‎ Violaceous

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  Last week we decided to get some chicks to eventually join our other chickens. They are just so cute and are growing at an astonishing rate! Right now they are living in my craft room and I hear a constant "peeppeeppeep" when I'm working on projects. 

   
  
  

   I don't really condone buying children chicks for Easter (unless you were intending to get some anyway) but I had fun on Easter day doing "chick photoshoots" with Lucy. This little yellow guy (who, by the way, I just found running around on the floor of my craft room instead of in his box) is a Delaware. We have one more of these, also 2 Silver Laced Wyandottes and 2 Light Brown Leghorns.
  
  

  
  
  

  Lucy loves them and is having fun watching them grow. She's a little afraid of our big chickens sometimes and I think this is a good way for her to be more involved. 

   

  They can't join our big chickens for about 6 months because they will be picked on, so they are going to get their own special small coop (actually chicken tractor) made just for them.

  
  
  

  I can't wait for them to be in the backyard with us this summer!

  
  
  

• April 01, 2010
• 11:43

  It's April!

   » ‎ Violaceous

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  Happy 1st of April!

  I, for one, am happy that spring and summer are starting to creep up. Although you wouldn't know it by the weather here lately.

  
  
  

  Are you a good April fool-er? I'm so not. Everything shows on my face. I don't think I've ever once gotten away with really tricking someone. I'm very (ridiculously) honest and always give people my opinion. I think that and the inability to lie/be tricky go hand in hand. Not that it's necessarily a bad thing. But, it doesn't make April Fool's Day much fun for me! I'm always the target.
  
  

  If you are a good April fool-er, what's the best trick you've played on someone?

  I think this lady's April Fool's joke on her kids is so cute. I would love to see their faces when they bite into that cupcake!

• March 25, 2010
• 17:21

  So Sweet!

   » ‎ Violaceous

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  I just finished a big update in my vintage shop - I think these new items are among my favorites of all time!

   

  Sweet ice cream inspired inspiration kit with lots of seam binding ribbons

   

  Vintage crafting collection in pure, elegant white

  
  
  
  
  Tin of antique glass marbles

   

  A handmade packet of sweet pink satin bows

   

  A set of vintage pink plastic number cake decorations in original box

   

  A vintage box of cupcake papers - Love those graphics!

  And this is my favorite:

  
  
  
  
  A vintage wooden cake decoration set for a baby or toddler girl! How cute is that?! Lucy turned 3 just before I found this, otherwise I would have kept it!

   

  Here's what it looks like set up, with a spot for a birthday candle.

  I added a few other things too, so make sure to take a look!

• March 18, 2010
• 10:35

  Couple More

   » ‎ Violaceous

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  Here are a few more digital scrapbook pages I've been working on...

   

   

  

  I think the last one is my favorite so far.

  My plan (and trust me, I have many of those) is to make a bound book full of these for each year. 

  Off to work on Lucy's birthday quilt! It's cut out, but did I mention that her birthday is on Saturday? I am a woman of high ambition and little time. ;)
  
  

• March 12, 2010
• 10:47

  Digital Scrapbooking Love

   » ‎ Violaceous

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  I've just discovered digital scrapbooking and I love it! Photoshop has always intimidated me like nobody's business but I'm starting to overcome my fear. I have learned a lot in the last couple weeks! It always feels so good to learn something new. I've been playing with textures and overlays, frames, sizing, correcting - all kinds of things!

  This is my first digital page ever:

   

  I put a vintage style texture on each of these photos - I love how they look so golden and warm.

  These are my favorite resources so far:

  Two Peas in a Bucket

  Oscraps

  And I'm dying to purchase these actions and texture:

  Flora Bella

  Have you ever tried digital scrapbooking? Any other good resources I should know about?

• March 08, 2010
• 14:21

  Monday Things

   » ‎ Violaceous

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  Just a few random things from today...

  

  Making: A little package I put together for a swap partner - vintage buttons on a handmade card. Pretty cute, I humbly say. 

  

  All wrapped up and ready to go.

  

  Dreaming: An idea from my favorite magazine; how to make an outdoor bath that you can heat up with a propane stove. I really don't think I can talk my husband into this without him thinking I'm a little weird, or that I could actually take a bath outside with someone (Lucy) pulling the curtains open and running off with something. But the idea sounds wonderful. Someday...

  

  Feeling: My itchy growing tummy. Itch, itch, itch. I'm a little scared because this photo is from today, at 15 1/2 weeks. How big am I going to be towards the end!?

  Tired. Lucy has a terrible cold and is teething her bottom molars, which means she's up every 3-4 hours all night long and is sensitive and fussy during the day. Poor sweetie.

  What do you have going on today?

• March 04, 2010
• 16:30

  New Vintage Inspiration Kits!

   » ‎ Violaceous

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  Just wanted to let you know that I added a few new vintage inspiration kits to my Etsy vintage shop today - pretty eye candy to add to your favorite projects! 

  Little tiny manila envelopes wrapped with pink twine...

  

  Velvet and silk crafting collections in two different colors, raspberry pink and apple green...

   

  Mini vintage inspiration kit: April Showers Bring May Flowers...

   

  Vintage trim crafting collection in baby blues and cream...

   

  Mini vintage ocean inspiration kit...

  

  And 2 other vintage crafting collections: pretty in pink and lovely in lavender, respectively...

   

  

  So take a look! I love going through my vintage supplies and putting these together.

• March 03, 2010
• 22:25

  Little Things

   » ‎ Violaceous

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  You know how there are those little things that instantly cheer you up when you see them? One of the small joys in my life lately has been waking up every morning to my potted primrose that I bought on a whim, perched cheerfully on my nightstand.
  
  

  
  
  

  You can keep a primrose indoors for about 2 weeks and then transplant it outside when it has finished blooming. And oooh, the colors they come in! Like a direct shot of spring when it seems like you're still in the middle of winter. Mine has a sweet, light scent to it. The best thing of all about a cheery little potted primrose? You can usually get one for around $2 at a garden center this time of year. Best $2 I've spent in quite awhile!
  
  

• February 28, 2010
• 13:09

  Velvet Strawberry Tutorial!

   » ‎ Violaceous

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  I can't stop making these cute little velvet strawberries and thought I'd offer a tutorial in case someone else out there wants to try making some too.

  

  You will need:

  • scraps of velvet
  • thread
  • needle
  • sewing machine
  • green wool felt
  • pearl beads
  • fiberfill stuffing

  Step One: Iron your velvet on low, on the back side if it's wrinkly (mine was stuffed in a bag)

  

  Step Two: Use a CD/DVD or something around the same size to trace around on the back side of the velvet. This will be your pattern.

   

  Step Three: Cut out your circle and then cut it in half.

  

  Step Four: Fold your half circle in half with right sides together.

   

  Step Five: Machine sew along the straight edge of your folded half circle. This will be the main part of the strawberry that you will stuff. Mine in the photo is a little off, try and have yours be a little more even. :)

   

  Step Six: Turn the little cone you just made right side out and hand sew a running stitch all around the top.

   

  Step Seven: With your needle/thread still attached, stuff your strawberry with fiberfill stuffing.

   

  Step Eight: Pull your thread tight so top of strawberry closes up, and knot it.

  

  Step Nine: Cut out your leaves from wool felt. I don't have a size or pattern for this, you just have to eyeball it. My leaves sort of end up looking like a star.

  

  Step Ten: Sew the leaves to the top of your strawberry, making sure to cover up all your mechanics/gathering on top.

  

  Step Eleven: Get out your little beads and make sure you have a small needle that will fit all the way through the holes.

  

  Step Twelve: Sew your beads onto your finished strawberry.

  

  And you're done! I hope this was all clear enough - let me know in the comments if you have any questions or need any help. :)

  

  There are tons of ways you could customize and decorate these. Maybe use a different fabric for the strawberry, use different beads or french knots, or add pretty embellishments on the top!
  
  

  Have Fun!!
  
  

• February 27, 2010
• 15:04

  Toofies

   » ‎ Violaceous

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  Somewhere along the line of raising Lucy, Dustin and I started calling her teeth toofy woofurs. I don't remember why. Look at those teeth. Aren't they cute?

  

  Know what? Every one of those little chompers has been the bane of my existence (FYI, because I didn't know). Teething is so, so incredibly hard on both parents and child. The grand finale? 2 year molars, 2 acquired during the past week! Whoa those teeth sucked. Toddler teething is different than baby teething, I learned. Constant screaming and screeching - little girls are hard on the ears sometimes. Running up and down the hall yelling. Hitting Dustin because she was in pain. Waking up screaming 4-5 times a night. She wasn't just crying with pain, she was furious! She wanted mommy, mommy, mommy all day and all night.

  Well, the top ones are in. Word's still out on the bottom ones. Today was the first day in about 5 days that I didn't have to overlap tylenol doses all day and night. I was amazed last night because I got to sleep for 9 hours in a row!! Blissful. Definitely was not taken for granted.

  There's also the "omg my child is in pain" thing, too. I get so upset when she's upset. I think it's biological/hormonal. I think mommies get hugely emotional when their little ones are hurting, a level of emotion that dads don't quite reach. All is not right with the world until little one feels better.

  Poor baby, she couldn't even drink out of her sippy cup. :( Poor sad little sweetie.

  So today, we're feeling better around here. Lucy's sleeping soundly, she's been 100% happier, and for now - her toofy woofurs are okay.

  
  
  

  And just imagine, for every baby you have, a whole new mouth of toofies to be teethed!

  Lucy and I both need a teething merit badge from this week, I think.

• February 19, 2010
• 15:53

  A little news

   » ‎ Violaceous

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  I know I've been sort of absent lately...

  Well, I'm officially in my 2nd trimester of pregnancy today and am expecting in late August!! Hoping and praying over here for a healthy little one!

  I've been pretty nervous the last couple of months.

  But so far, so good!

  :)

• February 08, 2010
• 15:44

  Oh Yum

   » ‎ Violaceous

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  I've been enthralled with these little heart shaped treats since I saw them on the Farm Chicks blog a couple days ago. I decided to make a batch for Dustin yesterday and I wasn't disappointed!

   

  They were really easy and turned out wonderfully! And cute to boot, which is always important. Mine had yummy marionberry jam in the middle.

  
  
  Just showing them off...

• February 04, 2010
• 14:26

  Bits of Cheer

   » ‎ Violaceous

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  Bits of colorful vintage fabric and vintage trims are adding cheer and inspiration to my February. Off topic - isn't it weird that February is spelled the way it is? I always try to spell it "Febuary". I certainly don't pronounce it the way it's supposed to be spelled, do you?

  Anyways.

  I added some pretty fabric pennant banners to my Etsy shop today. The fabric combinations make me happy. 

   

   

   

  I think the rainbow gingham one would be super cute in a little girl's room.

  Other things that are making me happy today:

  • Lucy wanting to cuddle with me after nursery school today, before her nap. She is not normally a cuddler.
  • Sleeping in
  • Listening to Sia, she's one of my favorites.
  • New books - I got this one yesterday evening and have already read half of it!

  What's making you happy today?
  
  
• January 27, 2010
• 12:28

  Coloring

   » ‎ Violaceous

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  This morning while I drank some coffee, I watched Lucy color for about half an hour. I'm not sure if I'd ever really just sat down and watched her for that long before. It was pretty inspiring! Small children don't self critique or feel self conscious, they just color. If something she was trying to draw with her crayons wasn't working out for her, she just changed it into something else as she went along. She drew mommy, daddy, babies, Grandma, houses, fish, and my favorite - yucky spiders.

  

  I am in love with Lucy's yucky spiders. She's been drawing them for a couple of weeks now, although it sort of makes me worry if she had a traumatic spider experience that I don't know about.

   

  She is absolutely proud as can be when she finishes a picture and shows it to everyone.

  I think everyone could take lessons from a 2 year old sometimes. Imagine what we would be capable of if we had never gained that inside critic that tells us what we make is no good.

• January 25, 2010
• 20:35

  Checking In

   » ‎ Violaceous

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  I have been a bad, bad blogger lately! I apologize for my lack of posting this month and just wanted to let you know I'll be back soon. This month has thrown me off a little - my Mom moved in with us at the beginning of the month, I've got the January blahs, haven't had a lot of energy, etc. Just been needing a little break. :)

• January 07, 2010
• 17:32

  Someday

   » ‎ Violaceous

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  Someday when I'm a princess, I'm going to wear cozy footie pajamas - all day long.

  I'm going to wear at least 3 skirts, the bunchier the better.

  And of course a tutu.

  I'm going to watch Ni Hao, Kai-Lan all day long.

  And eat chocolate teddy grahams for breakfast.

   

  And I'm going to wear my tiara backwards because it's just so darn much more comfortable that way.

   

  Love, Lucy.

• January 04, 2010
• 15:27

  Color Shots

   » ‎ Violaceous

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  Oh January. Gray. Watered down sunlight, cold, blah. Not to say that January doesn't have it's own beauty - it definitely does. But, I'm not in a January mood today!

  I just wanted to share a couple things that cheered me up this afternoon.

   

  Getting some pretty, cheery wool felt in the mail today. I can't wait to start making some flowers out of these fun colors!
  
  

   

  Finding this old book at the local antique mall today - although it's a little odd how my felt matches the colors in the illustrations. I adore the colors in books for children from the fifties and sixties. This is one of my favorites, color-wise.

  A couple pages from the song book...

   

  

  And Agnes's cheery blog always makes me happy.

  What's cheering you up today? Is January weather cold and blah where you live?

• December 31, 2009
• 15:48

  Happy New Year!

   » ‎ Violaceous

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  Goodbye 2009, and welcome 2010! I'm excited to start a clean, fresh year. 2009 was a rough year for us, both financially and emotionally. I've learned a lot over the last year, I supposed that's the good side to bad times. But, here's to better things ahead!

• December 30, 2009
• 16:03

  No Man's Land

   » ‎ Violaceous

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  I hope you had a merry, merry Christmas!! 

  Do you ever feel that the days between Christmas and New Year's Day are no man's land? I never quite know what to do with myself. After the craziness of getting ready for Christmas and the holiday rush in my etsy shops, everything just suddenly comes to a dead halt! People seem like they're in a sort of fog right now. Nothing is expected of anyone right now. Can't really get ready for any holiday, it's a little early for "spring cleaning", most Christmas decorations are still up, etc. I guess we're supposed to be standing in line with returns. 

  The last few days, I've been:

  • Spending a lot of time on our new Christmas couch. It's so comfy and pretty.
  • Watching favorite movies like Little Women and Gone With the Wind
  • Satisfying cravings for yummy, chewy artisan bread with olive oil or goat cheese, avocados and diet coke. *shrug*
  • Fighting lots of snow and ice around here - driving is scary!
  • Knitting up a storm
  • Lazing around the house with Dustin and Lucy.

  I've made quite a bit of headway on this new knitted blanket pattern!

   

  I love it because you add squares by picking up stitches from the previous square - no sewing squares together! It's supposed to help use up your stash and be fun and colorful so I've been enjoying choosing colors as I go. 

   

  The pattern is from Living Crafts, a wonderful magazine if you have kids and/or like using natural materials to craft with. They have some great ideas and patterns!

  So that's what I've been doing, how have you been spending the days after Christmas?

• December 20, 2009
• 15:32

  Pretty Messes

   » ‎ Violaceous

  Tags:    [edit]

  Do you ever come across a little mess or pile, on your craft table or in your kitchen or something, and feel inspired by the way it fell?

   

  And then you do something like this?

   

  Or is that just me.
  
  

• December 19, 2009
• 11:19

  Oh Deer

   » ‎ Violaceous

  Tags:    [edit]

  How time has been flying this month. Do you feel the same way? I can't believe that Christmas is 6 days away! And that we're almost in 2010!

  I just wanted to show you my little vintage deer collection...if you can call 3 a collection. These little guys are getting harder and harder to find! I've been trying to buy a new one every year for the last couple of years. Well, without shopping online. Sometimes collecting things online is a little too easy, I like the thrill of the hunt. ;)

   

  This guy is my favorite. He's so prance-y. I love his jaunty bell, gold antlers and pink ears. 

  

  I like this one because he's little and fancy. He has a shiny gold bow tie and is very cute! I got the white Christmas cottage and silver bottle brush tree at Target, they have lots of fun sparkly pastel Christmas cottages in their Christmas section this year. I love them!

   

  And this one is, well, a little pathetic. This is my new deer for this year, I rescued him from one of the local thrift stores. His flocking is almost totally off of his head and he looks more alien than deer. Poor little guy. Look at those antlers though!! At least he has something to be proud of.

  Hope you have a great weekend!

• December 13, 2009
• 20:50

  Lucy Things

   » ‎ Violaceous

  Tags:    [edit]

  Just a couple Lucy pictures from today - everyday things that I love.

  

  1. Her crazy hair when she wakes up - it looks sort of halo-esque because it's so fine.

   

  2. A party/picnic for dolls and bears hosted in my craft room. See that silver container with dominoes sticking out of it on the left towards the top? That is "chocolate nilk" and you're supposed to drink it out of the domino that's sticking up, sort of like a sippy cup. Heaven forbid you don't.

  Silly girl.

• December 12, 2009
• 15:43

  Christmas Cheer

   » ‎ Violaceous

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  The house looks so much cheerier with most of our Christmas decorations up!

   

  I so love that vintage cone shaped Santa. :)

  What's your favorite decoration in your home?

• December 08, 2009
• 21:23

  Seriously?

   » ‎ Violaceous

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  Tonight they are predicting a low here of -16 degrees F. Negative. Six.teen.

   

  Yeah. This was taken inside my house.
  
  

  I'm cold.

• December 06, 2009
• 11:10

  I'm in love

   » ‎ Violaceous

  Tags:    [edit]

  with my new Noel banner in pink. She made it especially for me and I love how it turned out!! I don't normally buy many Christmas decorations but I love the stylish simplicity of this.

   

  My picture absolutely does not do it justice, by the way (bad angle). Why oh why are good pictures of the inside of my home so hard to take. Am I the only one with this problem?
  
  

• December 04, 2009
• 15:05

  Batch O' Babies

   » ‎ Violaceous

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  In progress: A batch of soft cozy babies. I think they look so cute all sleeping in a pile. They make me smile every time I walk by.

• December 02, 2009
• 12:36

  Sewing, sewing

   » ‎ Violaceous

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  Machine sewing...hand sewing...It seems like that's all I do at this time of year!!

  

  It's sort of funny, I really never saw myself sewing for a living. It's a different direction for me, but I kinda like it!

• November 30, 2009
• 20:19

  A Treat

   » ‎ Violaceous

  Tags:    [edit]

  Mmmmm

   

  This chocolate chip cheesecake pie is to die for! It will be the hit of any potluck and is super rich and yummy. I promise. I made 2 last night...one for work and one for us.

  Chocolate Chip Cheesecake Pie

  Ingredients:

  • 1 ready made chocolate pie crust (I usually use Oreo ones)
  • 8 oz. cream cheese, softened
  • 1/3 cup sugar
  • 1 cup sour cream
  • 2 tsp. vanilla
  • 1 8 oz. container of whipped topping (Cool Whip or similar), thawed
  • 1 cup (6 oz.) of mini chocolate chips

  Directions:

  1. Beat cream cheese until smooth
  2. Gradually beat in sugar
  3. Blend in sour cream and vanilla
  4. Fold in whipped topping, don't stir - blend well
  5. Stir in chocolate chips
  6. Spoon into crust
  7. Garnish (I used extra chocolate chips, and these little striped chocolate garnishes that I bought at World Market
  8. Chill until set (about 4 hours)

  Easy! Actually it's sort of hard having to wait for it to chill so you can eat it...
• November 29, 2009
• 11:04

  Changes are in the air...

   » ‎ Violaceous

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  When your eye starts twitching because of stress, it's generally not a very good thing. I've been realizing a few things about my life lately and one is that I am entirely. too. busy. for my own good. I stretch myself too thin and it's starting to affect people around me, not to mention never having time for myself.

  I put my 2 weeks notice in at work on Friday. I'm going to work on my Etsy shops full time and I'm both really excited and a little scared. This is something that I've always wanted to be able to do. Wish me luck, please! I think it will be a change for the better but changes in general make me very nervous. 

  Oh, and this picture has nothing to do with anything, except that my little pink tree cheers me up when I look at it. :)

• November 25, 2009
• 15:33

  Tiny Obsession

   » ‎ Violaceous

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  A very, very small obsession:

   

  DMC Color Variations Embroidery Floss is so fun to work with. I love the subtle color change. So pretty! I've never been quite this crazy over a thread before.
  
  

• November 24, 2009
• 18:36

  Glamorous

   » ‎ Violaceous

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  Last night, Lucy and I just had one of those nights (Dustin was at work). Let's just say it was a McDonald's dinner and happy meal night.

   

  Lucy indulged in chicken nuggets with honey, which she proceeded to use as a medium to stick napkins to the table.

   

  Meanwhile, I looked at photos of beautifully decorated houses in Romantic Homes magazine. It felt slightly ironic. Ever have evenings like that?

• November 22, 2009
• 14:52

  In November

   » ‎ Violaceous

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  "In November, the earth is growing quiet. It is making its bed, a winter bed for flowers and small creatures. The bed is white and silent, and much life can hide beneath its blankets."

  From one of my new favorite books to read to Lucy, In November.

   

  Farewell to Fall, Welcome to Winter. Around here, anyway. Do you still have autumn weather where you live?
  
  

• November 21, 2009
• 20:34

  Little Photo Shoots...

   » ‎ Violaceous

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  Oh, little princess in patchwork and stripes - how I love you. You make life 1,000 times worth living, and living well. Love your 2 front teeth, too.

• November 20, 2009
• 15:55

  Little Things

   » ‎ Violaceous

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  Thank you, I truly treasure every comment left here, but when it's about something so personal to me I treasure them all the more. You guys are the best.

  -----

   

  Today, when I came home from work, there were 4 packages stuffed between the door and the screen door. A very nice end to an otherwise cruddy week. Opening packages received in the mail is one of my very favorite things to do.

• November 19, 2009
• 10:34

  Chirp, chirp, chirp.

   » ‎ Violaceous

  Tags:    [edit]

  I feel like I should have some sort of grand ending to my 30 Days of Happiness posts. In which I say how much they changed my life, that sort of thing. They did help me quite a bit, I was having to look at all the things that were making me happy from day to day and focusing on the positive is always a good thing! But truth be told, I struggled a little too. I have so much in my life to be thankful for, but there are just those days where I just wanted to curl up and pout.

  This process has definitely been good for me, but I still miss my little baby. I worry that Lucy may end up being an only child, and I always wanted a big family. I want to have another baby, but am terrified of losing another one. Sometimes it's hard trying to find happiness when these things are constantly going through my head. I am so thankful for Lucy. So thankful. But, I have a tiny baby shaped hole in my heart. I am a strong person, and I will always get back up, but I'm limping. I didn't know losing an 8 week baby could take someone down so hard, and I will never take pregnancy or children for granted again.

  Sometimes when I go a while in between posts it's because I feel like my chirp is broken. I feel like there's a lot of pressure in the blogging community to be chirpy, sparkly, inspiring and happy. I can't be that way unless I really feel like it! I want to do another "30 Days of Happiness" later. After the holidays, when things are more settled.

  For now, I'm going to do something different. Starting tomorrow I'm going to post a photo a day - whatever I feel like posting that day. Happy, sad, pretty, ugly, messy, whatever. I might say something and I might not. I don't want to feel the pressure right now of trying to chirp, chirp, chirp through the holiday season but I want to keep blogging. I think that will be the best thing for me, and hopefully will be interesting for you as well. So here's to... Um. 51 Days of Honesty, or something like that.

• November 13, 2009
• 14:45

  Coincidence?

   » ‎ Violaceous

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  My new (thrifted) vintage necklace I bought today perfectly matches the yarn I'm using for the mittens I'm making!

  
  
  

  It's sort of an odd color, too. So pretty though!

• November 05, 2009
• 14:44

  30 Days of Happiness, Day 30: My Ring

   » ‎ Violaceous

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  My wedding ring makes me happy when I look down at it. Not just because I love it, but because of all that it represents!

   

  The engagement ring is antique platinum with a dark sapphire and teeny diamonds. The wedding band was new and is platinum too. I love them both.

  Here's our silly engagement story:

  We had lived together for a few years before we decided to get engaged. We decided together that we wanted to be married, and that we would pick out the engagement ring together - we're a modern couple. We took a day trip to Portland to pick out the ring. I'm not really sure why we had to go all the way to Portland, but it was fun! I ended up finding the perfect ring (I really wanted an antique sapphire ring) at Gilt and it fit perfectly! I wouldn't even need it resized.

  After we bought it, Dustin put it in his pocket and wouldn't let me have it. We went and got pizza for lunch - still wouldn't let me have it. I knew it was in his pocket, and wanted to wear it! I was expecting to pick it out, put it on and we would be engaged. That would be that, I thought. Well, he wanted to officially propose. After lunch he drove up to the Pittock Mansion. We have fond memories of the Pittock Mansion. Long story, but it involved a really, really crappy car overheating and us being stuck there (after it closed) for 4 hours. The view from there is amazing, we couldn't have asked for a better place to be stuck.

  Anyways, he didn't realize that it would be so busy there that day! There were people everywhere. What I did NOT want was someone listening to Dustin proposing and heaven forbid, clapping!!! My worst nightmare. We kept wandering around trying to find a good spot and he was having to get his speech out in bits because someone would walk by and I'd make him stop! Seriously, every time we thought we were alone and he opened his mouth someone would walk by and smile at us. So embarassing. It went on like that for a while (it's kind of a blur) and somehow I ended up taking the ring from him and jamming it on my own finger because I was so flustered. I remember mumbling a lot and sort of crashing my face into his shoulder to hide a couple times. Ugh. We smiled all the way back to the car and then safe in the car I started crying. It had to be the most awkward proposal ever. Dustin was so sweet and I was about ready to die from embarrassment! Looking back on it, it makes me laugh. It did not go the way he had planned at all! And if there's anything Dustin wants, it's for something to go the way he had pictured it in his mind. Poor guy. He still makes fun of me for jamming my own engagement ring on. I am mortified about that.

  The important thing is that it's on and we're married. It was our fifth anniversary in September. My ring makes me happy, our marriage makes me happy, our life together makes me happy.

   

  And even though it took a terribly awkward proposal to get to this point, I wouldn't change a thing about it.
  
  

• October 31, 2009
• 22:35

  30 Days of Happiness, Day 29: Just Two Words

   » ‎ Violaceous

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  SUPER LUCY!!!

   

  
  
  

• October 30, 2009
• 13:40

  30 Days of Happiness, Day 28: Lucy's Nature Table

   » ‎ Violaceous

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  I just love putting Lucy's seasonal nature tables together for her, and love looking at them during each season. Even during my less favorite seasons, they help me to appreciate the beauty. They're almost a little shrine of sorts to what's going on outside. She's plays with everything on it, too! She understands the concept now and will bring in things from outside to place on it.

   

  This is her autumn nature table that we have up right now. There are a few things that stay on the table all year, but we switch most of it out at the beginning of every season. I love that she enjoys playing with these things so much. Yesterday she was "playing" her gourds like a musical instrument. Why not?!

   

  This is a close-up of some of the things in her little felted bowl. 

  If you have a small child or toddler, this is so fun to do for them! Here's her winter nature table from last year, and here's a website with some more info about what a nature table is.

• October 29, 2009
• 23:57

  30 Days of Happiness, Day 27: Picking Perfect Pumpkins

   » ‎ Violaceous

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  What's October without a trip to the local pumpkin patch? Yesterday Dustin, Lucy and I went here to pick our perfect pumpkins.

  It's hard when there are so many to choose from!

   

  This field had such a pretty view of Smith Rock. The photo doesn't do it justice.

  
  
  

  Lucy loved all the freedom to explore around the property. A very small girl in a big, big world.

   

  After lots of exploring, and lots of time spent turning pumpkins over and carrying various ones around - success! We each found our pumpkin. Somehow 5 tiny ones jumped into the wagon too, don't know how that happened. 

   

  And one of those fun green/blue ones came home with us too! Along with 3 tiny white ones. Let's see...that's a total of 12 pumpkins!! It's hard to resist when you have all these to choose from.

   

  My big pumpkin with my little pumpkin - love these 2 so much!

   

  Now we have a house full of them!

• October 28, 2009
• 16:05

  30 Days of Happiness, Day 26: The Chicken Coop

   » ‎ Violaceous

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  I love taking a peek into the chicken coop to see what our ladies are up to. I don't know what it is about the chicken coop, but I think I could just stay in there all day! It seems so homey and comfortable. Worrying hens clucking in their nest boxes, the smell of wood chips, warmth from the light - I don't know! It seems like troubles go away when you're in there.

   

  This is either Coco, Scarlett or Marie (they all look the same unless they're standing up), laying an egg. I just want to scoop them up and hug them when they are in the nest boxes, they look so sweet and mother-y.

   

  The eggs are like little secrets, snuggled into the hay.

   

  Dustin put rope lights up around the rafters, they look so pretty. They are actually practical, if chickens don't get so much light every day, they won't lay. The rope lights are on a timer and are safe to keep outdoors. I love the glow they make, especially on a gloomy day (we've had a lot of those lately).

  I love our chicken home.

• October 26, 2009
• 13:59

  30 Days of Happiness, Day 25: Coffee and Milk

   » ‎ Violaceous

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  My morning staple. I love the way milk looks when you pour it into hot coffee, all swirly and cloudy.

   

  Hot coffee with milk or cream is comfort, pure and simple. Especially on a rainy day.

• October 24, 2009
• 21:27

  30 Days of Happiness, Day 24: Making Dinner, When I Actually Wanted To

   » ‎ Violaceous

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  There's definitely a difference between wanting to make dinner and enjoying it, versus needing to make it because you feel guilty about eating out again. Tonight was happily the former. Lucy and I had a nice, relaxing day. She hasn't been feeling too great lately so I wanted to let her rest today. After her nap, we took a 45 minute walk (Lucy in the stroller) in the sunshine and came home and made dinner.

  I made split pea soup from scratch, which was surprisingly easy! For some reason dried peas and beans intimidate me. It was delicious! I also fried bacon for the first time in a skillet, instead of the microwave. I know, I know. I was a strict vegetarian for 8 years so I'm a little behind on meat cooking skills. I was very proud of myself. It went in the soup, too. 

   

  Yum!

  To go with it, I made Nun's Puffs. I've made these once before but forgot how good they are!! They were like heaven in my mouth! And apparently I used the French choux paste method. Who knew!? Just a tip on these if you decide to make these - where it says to cook and stir until mixture forms a ball that doesn't separate, that takes a loooong time. There's a reason the cookbook said they have a 25 min. prep time. Mine puffed delightfully though, and turned out great.

   

  I'm not always this snobby about my cooking, but I kicked butt in the kitchen tonight! And I enjoyed every minute. :)

  Oh yeah, and kids like that Nun's Puffs are partly hollow in the middle.

   

  Peek!

• October 22, 2009
• 17:22

  30 Days of Happiness, Day 23: Autumn Walks

   » ‎ Violaceous

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  This is my favorite time of year to take walks, the colors are so beautiful and there's pretty scenery everywhere!

   

  It's even more fun to bring Roxie! She's a good dog, part corgi and part heeler. She's our buddy.

   

  It's such a shame that the trees can't stay like this all year, isn't it.

   

  But it's only for a short time, so we had better get out and enjoy them!

   

  I love the berries and seed pods, too.

   

  Crabapples are one of my favorite trees, they're gorgeous in the spring with all their pink blossoms and in the fall with their orange-y leaves and red berries.

  I love taking autumn walks, what's your favorite part about fall?

• October 19, 2009
• 16:20

  30 Days of Happiness, Day 22: Sparkly, Shiny Things

   » ‎ Violaceous

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  I'm sort of like a magpie, if I see anything that is sparkly, shiny or glittery I'll be drawn to it!

   

  Vintage costume jewelry is a huge favorite of mine, especially rhinestones.

   

  I love when the metal is tarnished, too.

   

  I've been lucky enough to be able to use these vintage French metal sequins in some of my sewing projects lately! They add just the right amount of sparkle.

  
  
  

  
  
  

  I love how they look with just a little french knot holding them on.

   

  I love all my vintage sequins. Looking at them is almost enough, but using them is so fun!

  
  
  

  Some sparkly things just have to go on my inspiration board.

  Sparkles and glitter always make me happy! How about you?

• October 17, 2009
• 13:38

  30 Days of Happiness, Day 21: The View from my Bedroom

   » ‎ Violaceous

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  This morning when I woke up, it seemed like all was right with the world.

   

  How could it not be, with a tree in those colors greeting me in the morning? Every morning for the last week or so, that gorgeous tree has greeted me when I've opened the curtains. And the sky behind it? Perfect! A beautiful bright blue autumn sky.

  
  
  

  It's 73 right now, and I have all of the windows in the house wide open. Fresh air, sunshine, autumn colors = happy.

• October 15, 2009
• 22:57

  Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day

   » ‎ Violaceous

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  I just wanted to take some time to recognize Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day, which is today (October 15th).

   

  It's been about 1 1/2 months since I had my miscarriage. It is easier to bear after I've had some time to heal emotionally, but the pain still hasn't gone away, and I don't think it will. I wish I could give a huge hug to anyone who's had to go through this, and to let them know they're not alone. I think one of the reasons it's hard is because I was the only one who truly knew my baby. You feel your body change, know you're pregnant and connect with the baby right away, but it's harder for other people to feel the loss as deeply when your shape has hardly changed yet. Others have definitely been supportive and wonderful, but there is a huge sense of being alone in feeling exactly the way that you do. I'm not mourning a person, exactly, but a future. All the "firsts" and wondering who that little one would have become.

  I want everyone to just take a moment today and think of the babies who have passed, and the moms who already loved them.

• 22:39

  30 Days of Happiness, Day 20: Sleepy Toddlers

   » ‎ Violaceous

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  There is nothing like cuddling a fresh-from-the-bath toddler in clean pajamas. The wet hair, reading stories, snuggles - love it. 

   

  Yes, she does still uses pacifiers. Two! She sticks one mouth part through the other one's handle and sucks on it, with the second paci mouth part sticking up in front of her nose. She likes to play with the sticking up one when she's going to sleep. It looks like she has a big paci nose! It's the funniest thing. She's been doing that for almost a year now, I think. I forget how weird it is until someone is staying overnight and sees her with both pacis.

  I love how she looks instantly drowsy when she puts a paci in her mouth. It's just one comfort that I'm not willing to make her give up yet. 

  I do love a sleepy toddler. Of course, when I've had a challenging day with her, it's wonderful knowing I'll shortly have a little time to myself, too!

• October 14, 2009
• 23:50

  30 Days of Happiness, Day 19: Spending Time with my Sister

   » ‎ Violaceous

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  Spending time with my sister, Monica, always makes me happy! She's almost 12 years younger than I am, and is still in high school. Growing up it seemed like we had more of a mother/daughter relationship because I always helped take care of her. Now that she's older, we're definitely more sisters/friends. She's very sassy, smart, funny, determined, caring, feisty and sweet! She can be a little high maintenance but we love her for it.

  Over the weekend we had a little photo shoot for her senior pictures. We had fun and I love how they turned out!

  Here are some of my favorites:

  
  
  

  Isn't she gorgeous!?

  

  I think this(above) is the one she's putting in the yearbook.

   

  

  
  
  

  I love these but it really didn't hurt that I had such a beautiful model.

  Sorry to embarrass you to death, Monnie, but I love you - you're the best sister ever!

• October 13, 2009
• 17:36

  30 Days of Happiness, Day 18: Weird Old Things

   » ‎ Violaceous

  Tags:    [edit]

  I just wanted to say sorry for my absence the last few days! We've all been sick around here. If you haven't noticed, I'm going to do the 30 days of happiness more like 30 posts of happiness. :) I didn't realize how busy I am! It's hard for me to blog every single day.

  Anyway, weird old things make me happy! The more tattered, torn, the more they show signs of use - the better. I don't like those antique stores where everything is in mint condition and they have tons of crystal and everything's super expensive. I love the unusual, out of the way antique/junk shops that have things that you've never seen before. Beat up, old things that someone would probably have thrown away are my favorites.

   

  These things are my most favorite weird old things I've found - ever. If I had to only look at one thing for the rest of my life, these would be it. And I think I'd be perfectly happy! From what I can tell, they're vintage Christmas tree ornaments still on their packaging. They all have little strings that you can tie around something. The colors, the velvet, the tarnished tinsel, even the cards - love them so much! I love those scalloped edges and the pink blush on the cards.

   

  I want to hang these around my neck like a necklace, or eat them, or something! They look like yummy, sparkly candy things.

   

  But they're just going to have to sit on my shelf in my craft room in all their glory. I love them too much to even use them on something. Those little tarnished elephants with their fuchsia backing just kill me. For now they're all just sitting there on their cards.

  What's your most favorite weird old thing? And none of you had better say your husbands (Betty). ;)

• October 08, 2009
• 18:17

  30 Days of Happiness, Day 16: Feeling Accomplished

   » ‎ Violaceous

  Tags:    [edit]

  I've gotten quite a bit of sewing done this week! To me, sewing is one of those things that always needs doing. My shop always needs filling and I'm always coming up with new ideas. It makes me happy when I feel like I've really gotten a lot done in a week, and don't end up feeling burnt out as a result. My shop is already getting busy for the holidays and I'm already getting custom requests. Lately it's seemed like I've been selling as much as I put in there! It's definitely a good thing, but can be difficult to keep up with as the holidays get closer.

   

  These are some of the things I've been working on recently. Little matryoshka dolls and some Christmas stockings. Lots and lots of hand sewing on these! I love hand sewing, but lately it's seemed that I'm hand sewing with every free second I have! 

   

  I'm happy with these girls! And glad that I've had the motivation lately to get a lot done.

• October 07, 2009
• 9:53

  30 Days of Happiness, Day 16: Good Finds!

   » ‎ Violaceous

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  I just love when I find something amazing when out thrifting. Somehow the feeling you get from it goes on and on. Not quite like if you were to buy something new. The feeling of being in the right place at the right time and being lucky is a good one! And then, of course, you have bragging rights.

  Like this: I found this midcentury dresser yesterday for $47!!

   

  I love it so much. I know if I were in a bigger city this probably wouldn't have even made it out on the thrift store floor! 

   

  Those drawer pulls and the little feet just kill me. 

   

  It still has the original drawer paper in it. I think I'm going to keep it in there! It's just too perfect.

  
  
  
  
  Best of all, it's extra storage! Our kitchen cupboards are overflowing. I love when you find something that both looks good and is practical. I love my new dresser!

  What's the best thing you've ever found when out thrifting?

• October 05, 2009
• 12:59

  30 Days of Happiness, Day 15: Comfort Food on a Cold Day

   » ‎ Violaceous

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  It has already snowed here. Snowed! It's October for heavens sake. That's Central Oregon for you, but I'm still somehow not used to it. Yesterday was so cold and rainy/slushy/snowy outside that I was craving comfort food all day. I've really been trying hard to make things from scratch lately. It's cheaper and so much better, but it's time consuming and I'm a busy girl! I decided to make my old standby, macaroni and cheese with tomatoes. This is by far Dustin's favorite dinner, and it is so. good. It's pretty quick to make, too.

  

  By the way Liesl, I use your potholders almost every day! I adore them. :)

  Here's the recipe:

  Macaroni and Cheese with Tomatoes, serves 4

  Ingredients:

  • 8 oz., or 2 1/2 cups, of pasta. I like the short fat ones. Macaroni, rotini, etc.
  • 4 tsp. cornstarch
  • 2 cups milk
  • 1/2 tsp. Dijon mustard (I've also used regular, they're both good)
  • Salt and Pepper
  • 4 oz. Velveeta, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
  • 2 oz. shredded cheddar cheese
  • 1/3 cup of romano or parmesan cheese
  • 2 Tbsp. Plain dried bread crumbs
  • 1 medium tomato, thinly sliced

  Directions:

  1. Preheat broiler. With nonstick cooking spray, grease shallow 1 1/2 quart broiler-safe baking dish.
  2. Heat large saucepot of salted water to boiling over high heat. Add pasta and cook as label directs.
  3. Meanwhile, in saucepan, whisk cornstarch into milk; heat to boiling over medium heat, whisking occasionally. Boil 1 minute. Remove saucepan from heat; whisk in mustard, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and 1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper. Stir in Velveeta, cheddar, and 1/4 cup romano. Cheese does not need to melt completely. In small bowl, combine bread crumbs with remaining romano.
  4. Drain pasta; return to saucepot. Stir cheese sauce into pasta; spoon into prepared baking dish. Arrange tomato slices on top; sprinkle with crumb mixture.
  5. Place baking dish in broiler, about 6 inches from source of heat (or farther if you are one of those people who burns things, like me). Broil macaroni mixture 2 to 3 minutes or until top is lightly browned. Let macaroni and cheese stand 5 minutes to set slightly for easier serving.

  This is seriously the best dinner ever! Probably not very good for you, but that's the point of comfort food. Try it, you won't be sorry. :) It's a favorite around here.

• October 04, 2009
• 21:00

  30 Days of Happiness, Day 14: Reading in Bed

   » ‎ Violaceous

  Tags:    [edit]

  There is nothing like reading in bed after a long day. Nothing else to do but just read. And sleep. I love drifting off to sleep after a good book.

  

  Snuggling into just washed, sweet-smelling sheets is heaven.

   

  This is what's on my nightstand right now. What's on yours?

• October 02, 2009
• 23:15

  30 Days of Happiness, Day 13: Changing Seasons

   » ‎ Violaceous

  Tags:    [edit]

  This is how the sky looked when I woke up this morning.

   

   

  I love cozy days like this. These days call for mugs of tea, hot chocolate or coffee. Big ones. They call for blankets, slippers, good books, and bowls of soup. There has been a definite chill in the air this week, you can tell fall is finally rolling in. Can't wait for Halloween, a certain 2 year old in her footie pajamas every night and the first snowfall. Can't wait to visit the local pumpkin patch.

   

  See our leaves? They're a-falling! I love when the seasons start to change, and there's just something special about autumn.

• September 30, 2009
• 21:35

  30 Days of Happiness, Day 12: Hand Sewing

   » ‎ Violaceous

  Tags:    [edit]

  
  
  I do love to sew by hand. Sewing by machine is okay. It's necessary, and I'm good at it. But I really enjoy hand sewing. I like the meditative quality of it and the tiny details, and there's something about making perfect little stitches that's really satisfying and enjoyable.

  

  
  
  There's even something relaxing about the little diagrams. Matter of fact, straight forward, simple. Why can't all things have steps in sets of 3?

  

  I gave little soon-to-be matryoshka dolls little red hearts throughout the evening. A worthwhile project, I think!

  

  
  
  Blanket stitch, satin stitch and french knots have to be my favorites to sew. Although little whip stitches are pretty satisfying too. Luckily there's lots of sewing in my future! Christmas is coming...I need to get my shop ready!

• September 28, 2009
• 21:12

  30 Days of Happiness, Day 11: Egg Collecting with Lucy

   » ‎ Violaceous

  Tags:    [edit]

  
  
  A ritual that Lucy and I have almost every night is collecting the eggs from the chickens, usually somewhere around dinner time. She has a special striped metal bucket that she keeps somewhere important. Whenever I say "Go get your egg bucket" she always comes back with it very quickly! She knows right where it is. She's in charge of putting it away, too.

  

  She is so excited to find the eggs and is very gentle and careful with them! She's only broken one, and that was right at first.

  

  She carries her bucket into the house very proudly and puts the eggs in the egg carton in the fridge. She always has to be the one to close the fridge door, and she'll keep slowly closing it/peeking in to see when the light turns off.

  

  
  
  Yes, I think egg collecting is the highlight of her evening.

  Shhhhh...Don't tell anyone, but it's the highlight of mine too.

• September 27, 2009
• 21:05

  30 Days of Happiness, Day 10: Letting Go

   » ‎ Violaceous

  Tags:    [edit]

  This Evening
  
  An evening when:

  I'm tired.
  
  Dustin's at work.
  
  Lucy hasn't had a nap all day and is acting up.
  
  I don't feel good.
  
  I get McDonald's for Lucy and I for dinner which makes me feel guilty.

  So I:

  Put Lucy to bed.
  
  Take a bubble bath with a good magazine.

  And I:

  Realize that I'm forcing my arms to stay at the bottom of the tub.
  
  Let my arms float to the surface of the water.

  And wonder:

  Why I was forcing my arms to stay at the bottom when they wanted to float.
  
  Why I don't let go more often.
  
  If trying to be in control all of the time is really the best thing.
  
  How my life would be if I let things go the way they wanted to go.

  

  Funny how I got all of that out of a bubble bath.
  
  Maybe I just need to start going with the flow.

  Of the bathwater?

  Or maybe in life.

• September 25, 2009
• 10:18

  30 Days of Happiness, Day 9: Embracing Curves

   » ‎ Violaceous

  Tags:    [edit]

  
  
  This news article made me happy this week. I'm not going to go off about how the fashion industry shouldn't use skinny models, I'm tired of hearing about that. I just think it's really refreshing to see a model on the runway who's body looks more like mine, curvy. Bravo to Mark Fast for taking a risk.

  

  This came at just the right time for me. I've been struggling with my body image lately. I'm a size 12, and I'm normally fine with that, but I'm carrying some extra weight in spots from my pregnancy. It would be okay if I had a baby to show for it, but right now it's just frustrating. I love every extra curve Lucy gave me when I was pregnant with her, but these curves are harder to love. Working on that.

  Love this image too, it's in my Flickr favorites.

  Curvy women are beautiful, but it takes guts to say that in a world where skinny is respected and fat is not. I appreciate everyone who's ever stood up and said that in the face of controversy. It helps.

• September 22, 2009
• 10:15

  30 Days of Happiness, Day 8: Home Sweet Home

   » ‎ Violaceous

  Tags:    [edit]

  
  
  Being at home makes me happy!

  

  It's kind of quirky, but it's us. It's important to me that Dustin's happy here too, so it's a blend of both of our styles. I don't know if it really works, but I like it! 

  

  This is my new table that I told you about! I've always wanted a formica table. We've had one for a while, but it was really rickety and some of the edging was coming off and would snag my shirt when I ate. No good. Last week the thrift gods were smiling on me and we found a formica table in wonderful condition with 6 chairs and 2 leaves! For $49.99! I was so happy! I just love it.

  
  
  

  See how cute?!
  
  

  I love being at home. I love that it's mine, my own little corner of the world.

• September 19, 2009
• 10:53

  30 Days of Happiness, Day 7: Saturday Mornings

   » ‎ Violaceous

  Tags:    [edit]

  
  
  On Saturdays, it's just Lucy and I. Dustin works all day on Saturday and Sunday. We miss him, but it's nice to spend time together - just the 2 of us. We don't have anywhere we have to be, or anything we really have to do. We keep our pajamas and slippers on all morning and relax. No job for me to go to, no school for Lucy and the post office is closed on Sunday (things always revolve around the post office when you have an online business). It's nice to slow down and do whatever we want. Usually coffee (for me anyway) and Saturday morning cartoons are involved.

  

  I love drinking coffee and visiting blogs on the laptop while Lucy plays. This is my favorite coffee mug. I would be devastated if anything happened to this mug.

  

  I think it's because when I'm holding the handle, my thumb rests right in that chip. It's comforting somehow.

  Today is cloudy and a little bit chilly. It's good coffee weather, and feels fall-ish.

  

  Lucy and I are still just being cozy in our slippers! Lucy's are fancy, with hearts.

  

  If your toddler needs slippers, I highly recommend this Etsy seller. We just got Lucy's in the mail last week and she loves them! Custom made out of fleece for only $12!

  What do you do on Saturday mornings?

• September 17, 2009
• 21:24

  30 Days of Happiness, Day 6: Dates with my Husband

   » ‎ Violaceous

  Tags:    [edit]

  
  
  This post is going to weird Dustin out. But I tend to do that to him a lot, so he's used to it. Sorry honey!

  
  
  I love this man, so much.

  We don't get to spend a lot of time together, just the two of us, anymore. When we do get to go out, it's just like it used to be. Not a whole lot has changed, really. We have more responsibilities, more life stresses, less income. When it's just the two of us it's easy to forget about those things. We started dating when we were 15 (That sounds so ridiculously young), moved out of the house when we were 18, and got married when we were 22. We're 27 now. We're both just 2 weeks apart in age, hence the "we're 27". We've always had fun. We still have fun. I think that's important.

  
  
  Last night we were able to get away to Bend Brewing for dinner and beers. Dustin and I are both complete beer snobs. I got it from my dad! And maybe it's a northwest thing? I've only ever had a beer like Coors or Bud once or twice in my life! They've all been microbrews. He had a buffalo burger and I had a steelhead sandwich with pear chutney, and a black IPA to drink! Yum!

  We had such a fun, goofy evening. Before dinner, we went to Goodwill and found the best table/chairs set ever (pictures later). After dinner, we went shopping at Target for an hour and bought a shower curtain, pumpkin spice hershey kisses for me (which taste just like Starbucks pumpkin spice lattes without the coffee) and jujubes for him. It's hard picking out a shower curtain when you're a little, um, beerish. Dustin had to shush me a couple times. This is what I picked out, by the way.

  
  
  Anyways, dates with my husband make me happy! I love spending time with him. Here's to many, many, many more. And here's to acting like teenagers. No matter what's going on in our lives.
  
  
  
  

• September 16, 2009
• 17:17

  30 Days of Happiness, Day 5: Lucy Photoshoots

   » ‎ Violaceous

  Tags:    [edit]

  
  
  I love taking photos of Lucy! She is such a good model. She cooperates, most of the time, and today she was perfect! By the way, Lucy will probably come up a few more times before the end of the 30 days. She makes me just that happy.

  Today she was nice enough to model one of my toddler/preschooler neckwarmers, new in my Etsy shop. I love making these, I'm planning to put other colors in my shop soon.

  

  

  

  

  
  
  Airplane!

  I know I'm her mom, so I'm biased, but she is so stinkin' cute and her hair is so pretty in the sun. And those two front teeth, they kill me! We had lots of fun outside today with the camera! She was very proud of her pictures when she saw them.

• September 15, 2009
• 22:30

  30 Days of Happiness, Day 4: Chickens

   » ‎ Violaceous

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  We have been having so much fun with our new chickens, I just love them! There's something so cozy and comforting and, well, clucky about them. They're like little old ladies. Sharp eyed, sassy, plump, gossipy old ladies. We got 3 new ones today to add to the group! Now we have 6.

  

  From the left: Frass, Scarlett and Marie. Frass is a Gold Star. Scarlett and Marie are Barred Plymouth Rocks. Our six chickens are Sass, Frass, Bridget, Marie, Scarlett and Coco. One gold star, 3 barred plymouth rocks and 2 rhode island reds.

  

  They just started laying about a week ago! We're up to over a dozen eggs now. I love the color and size variation we've gotten. They're fun to find in the nest boxes, too.

  

  I cracked my first egg from our chickens for brownies this evening! It was a big egg, and had a double yolk inside! I think it's a lucky omen, somehow. That or our chickens are laying freakish eggs! I'd rather believe it's lucky. Best brownies ever, by the way.

• September 14, 2009
• 14:36

  30 Days of Happiness, Day 3: A Day Off

   » ‎ Violaceous

  Tags:    [edit]

  
  
  Today I got a rare day off by myself! Lucy's at nursery school all day until 5, Dustin's at work and I didn't have to go in to work today! I have so completely enjoyed myself so far. I went into Bend to go to Target, and I was there for almost 2 hours! Shopping without kids or a husband present, especially when you don't need anything, is bliss. Not that I don't enjoy spending time with them, but shopping by myself is so much fun. I don't do it nearly enough. I looked at all the fall clothes, tried things on, tried shoes on, looked at makeup, looked at purses, and took my sweet time about it. There's just something about being on your own schedule and your own time that's very therapeutic. I can't even remember the last time I did something like that without having someone with me.

  

  New lipstick! Therapeutic as well, I think.

  After I got back into town I went to Starbucks and their pumpkin spice lattes are back! I splurged on one and a scone.

  

  Seriously, best day ever.

  This whole post probably sounds totally silly, but I am just giddy happy about my day off. I needed one.

• September 13, 2009
• 22:26

  30 Days of Happiness, Day 2: Color

   » ‎ Violaceous

  Tags:    [edit]

  
  
  Color! That might sound like a weird 30 days of happiness thing, but I thrive off of it. If there's one thing I always notice, it's the color of something.

  

  Color in an unexpected place makes me happy. Bright colors, elegantly muted colors, I love them all. In different ways, of course. I never could decide on one color scheme for my house, there truly is no color that I dislike. I settled on a base of neutrals with pops of color all over. In our living room we have pops of red, orange, pink, teal, green and gold among the neutrals. I love it!

  

  Color gets kind of hard to come by in central Oregon, in the winter. I think that's part of my obsession, having lived here for so long. Everything turns gray/brown/white and can get very dreary.

  I recently found the most wonderful inspiration source for interesting color combinations; The Inspired Bride. I've been printing out my favorites and putting them on my inspiration board in my craft room for future ideas.

  

  

  

  I've been loving these! When I've felt stuck with a lack of ideas, it's been so nice to have these little palettes close by for inspiration.

  Does color affect you like it does me?

• September 12, 2009
• 20:47

  30 Days of Happiness, Day 1: 2 Year Olds

   » ‎ Violaceous

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  I so love my 2 year old. Terrible once in a while, but mostly terrific. I'm finding 2 to be my favorite age yet. We've been having lots of fun with Lucy lately. It's easier (most of the time) to talk her into things, she understands more, she gets so excited about little things and has lots of enthusiasm! It's really fun to take her somewhere special, like out to dinner or to the park. I love her imagination. She's always singing, dancing, pretending and making things up. She has empathy for others, both people and animals (and toys and dolls). She's spirited and feisty. I wouldn't have her any other way! I love the way she talks, too. She sounds like a little adult sometimes, but other times she is just unintentionally hilarious in the way that her mind works. I love that girl.

  

  

  

  Pictures from this morning. It was around 95 degrees today! She insisted on wearing that hat all morning.

• September 11, 2009
• 15:39

  Thank you

   » ‎ Violaceous

  Tags:    [edit]

  
  
  I just wanted to say thanks for your caring comments regarding my miscarriage. We are doing much better and are healing. Things seem to get better every day. I couldn't have gotten through it without so much loving support from all our family and friends, especially my mom.

  

  This little girl is just the best medicine ever. I am so thankful to have Lucy.

  I am excited to start blogging again, but don't feel like I can just jump into "Oh, look what I made" after how introspective I've been lately. Inspired by Bluebirdbaby, I'm going to start a "30 days of happiness" blog project, only documenting things that make me happy for the next 30 days in a row. I need to focus on the positive right now. Granola Girl and Liesl Made have been involved in this project too over the last few days and I have really been enjoying their inspiring posts.

  Anyways, thanks for being there! Thanks for reading and for caring about what happens in my little life. :)

• September 01, 2009
• 21:11

  Breaking

   » ‎ Violaceous

  Tags:    [edit]

  
  
  I found out I was pregnant about a month ago. The last week has brought something that I never thought would happen to me, I miscarried. The baby was 6 weeks, 5 days when he/she passed and I would have been 8 weeks today. I think it's important to put things like this out in the open and for women to share their experiences. We're getting through it, but I wanted to explain why I haven't posted in a while. I'll be taking a little break, just to process things. I'll be back, but it really hurts right now.This baby was so wanted and was already loved.

• August 19, 2009
• 17:22

  Activities from yesterday evening

   » ‎ Violaceous

  Tags:    [edit]

  We were all hanging out in the backyard last night.

  

  Lucy collected and cleaned rocks from around the yard.

  

  Our new chickens had dust baths under the bushes and relaxed. This is Coco.

  

  We have 3 hens! Coco, Bridget and one who is yet to be named. Any name ideas?

  

  Dustin has been hard at work finishing the chicken coop. He finished the door yesterday and made some screened vents.

  

  

  And I worked on an earflap hat for Lucy for this winter. Almost done!

• August 17, 2009
• 9:07

  Lucy at my Grandpa's Farm

   » ‎ Violaceous

  Tags:    [edit]

  We went to Salem over the weekend for the annual family reunion. Lucy had so much fun running around at my Grandpa's farm and meeting lots of new people! I love the farm so much, it's one of my favorite places. It's in the country with lots of acreage and he lives in a 100+ year old farmhouse. He has a big flock of chickens that Lucy loved to look at! We brought 3 hens home to live with us, but more on the ladies later.

  

  Lucy and her dad having a serious conversation in front of the chicken run

  

  The wildflowers were gorgeous! I pay for Queen Anne's Lace on the floral truck at work, I couldn't believe how many of them were growing all over the place! My grandpa says they're weeds. Aren't they pretty though?

  

  

  Luce had fun smelling them. I love how her hair is the exact same color as the grass.

  

  

  I wish I could explain how it feels for me to be there. It's a place where the sunlight and the smells of dust and plants instantly take me back to childhood. I'm happy to be able to share that with my daughter.

• August 07, 2009
• 15:52

  Fairy Pompom Tutorial!

   » ‎ Violaceous

  Tags:    [edit]

  
  
  Finally got to it!
  
  I posted a picture of Lucy's room on here a while ago, and got some interest in how I made the tulle "fairy pompoms" that are hanging in it. A month or two later, and I've finally got a tutorial together! These are totally fun, easy, and inexpensive to make! They look dreamy in a little girl's room or nursery, or decorating a party or wedding as well! They look especially good in groups and are so ethereal, delicate and pretty.

  

  This is Lucy's room, these are hanging in the corner over her dress up area!

  Okay, bear with me. Hopefully these instructions make sense, ask any questions in the comments and I'll do my best to help. :)

  
  
  You will need: wire that you can bend easily, wire cutters, scissors, a spool of 6 inch tulle ribbon (check the wedding section at your local craft store, or go here), string to hang it with and some sparkly beads (optional).

  
  
  Cut your wire: For this size of pompom, my wire was probably about 20 inches long.

  
  
  Cross the 2 ends so there's a loop in the middle.

  
  
  Twist so it stays.

  
  
  Bring the other 2 ends around so you have sort of a hollow globe shape.

  
  
  Twist around your original circle, then twist together so everything stays put. Leave two little wire ends.

  
  
  Twist your wire ends together to make a loop for hanging.
  
  Now you basically have a wire globe with a loop on top.

  
  
  Next, cut lots of tulle strips! Mine are about a foot long.

  
  
  I usually use about 1/2 to 3/4 of a 75 foot roll for one pompom.

  
  
  Now you're going to start tying the tulle strings onto your globe. Fold a piece of tulle in half and poke it under one of the wires. Take both of your loose tulle ends and slip them through the tulle loop on the other side of the wire (where my finger is).

  
  
  Pull tight. Apparently this is called a girth hitch - who knew? You can also tie the tulle strips on the wires with just a regular knot or a double knot as well.

  
  
  Here's what your wire globe + tulle piece should look like.

  
  
  Keep doing this, one wire section at a time.

  
  
  So on,

  
  
  And so on.

  
  
  Pretty soon they'll all be covered and you're almost done! Notice the hollow spot in the middle, I like to stuff a couple more pieces of tulle inside the globe so it looks fuller.

  
  
  Like this.

  
  
  Cut a piece of string to hang it with - however long you like. I like to string some sparkly beads on the hanging string for a little more detail. There's lots you could do with this.

  
  
  Find your loop inside the pompom and tie one end of the string to it.
  
  And you're done! You'll probably want to fluff your pompom a bit before hanging, they get a little lopsided when you're making them.

  
  
  Tada! There's so many things you could do with these. Make a garland of them, use fishing line instead of string, decorate the top with a couple flowers, attach streamers to the bottom, etc! Have fun!

• August 01, 2009
• 14:59

  Yay for mail!

   » ‎ Violaceous

  Tags:    [edit]

  
  
  

  I just wanted to show off a super fun swap I got in the mail yesterday! It's from my vintage birthday party swap on Swap-bot in my swap group, Cotton Candy and Glitter. Oh, what? You didn't know I started a group on Swap-bot (blush)? Funny, because I completely forget to mention it. I would love for you to join us! We have lots of fun swaps. I'm planning to start a couple more this weekend.

  

  Look at all the fun goodies she sent me!

  

  I can't get enough of these vintage candle holder cake decorations. Don't they look like candy?

  

  Thanks, Syndee!

• July 30, 2009
• 9:39

  Little things that made me laugh last night

   » ‎ Violaceous

  Tags:    [edit]

  
  
  I really think it's just me though.

  

  My husband's chicken coop planning: a still life.

  

  This part in particular just cracks me up! I don't know why.

  

  And a very small standoff occurred. Thankfully peace reigned supreme and all was well.

• July 27, 2009
• 21:36

  Playing

   » ‎ Violaceous

  Tags:    [edit]

  With my camera. From my backyard this evening:

  

  

  

  

  

  
  
  

  Love this girl.

• July 26, 2009
• 18:23

  Vintage shop update!

   » ‎ Violaceous

  Tags:    [edit]

  
  
  I did an update today in my Etsy vintage shop, it was long overdue! I've been hoarding some of my finds lately since it's been so slow on Etsy this summer. Here are some of my new finds and kits, available in my shop:

  

  

  

  

  

  

  More to come!

• July 24, 2009
• 22:26

  Color Week Links!

   » ‎ Violaceous

  Tags:    [edit]

  A very big thank you is in order to Elizabeth at My Crafty Mess for hosting color week! I've had so much fun taking pictures and it was such a nice challenge!

  

  Here are some of my favorites:

  Red jam at My Crafty Mess
  
  Orange dress at Liesl Made
  
  Yellow umbrellas at Photographee by Mindee
  
  Green wool necklace at Vintage Fern
  
  Blue ruffles at Photographee by Mindee
  
  Purple spools at Liesl Made

  Hope you enjoyed seeing my color photos from the past week as much as I enjoyed taking them!

• July 23, 2009
• 20:36

  Rainbow!

   » ‎ Violaceous

  Tags:    [edit]

  
  
  One favorite from each day, plus some new ones with all the colors!

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  Candy!

  

  Sequins

  

  Watercolors

  

  Embroidery thread

• July 22, 2009
• 19:48

  Purple

   » ‎ Violaceous

  Tags:    [edit]

  
  
  

  Vintage pillowcase piece that came in the mail today

  

  Glitter!

  

  Flower in the backyard. I like their curly little stamen things. Oddly, I think Elizabeth has these too!

  

  There's some purple in my sugar skull necklace

  

  Vintage button

  

  Bitsy velvet millinery flowers

  

  Purple rhinestone in my broken costume jewelry collection

• July 21, 2009
• 23:23

  Blue

   » ‎ Violaceous

  Tags:    [edit]

  
  
  

  Glass canning jar on my dresser

  

  My eyes. Blue runs in the family. Both my mom and my dad, my 2 brothers, my sister, me and Lucy all have blue eyes.

  

  Lucy's seashell bowl on her summer nature table

  

  Cross stitch whale in a sampler that I'm working on

  

  Vintage plastic necklaces

  

  The sky today! Had to include a blue summer sky photo.

  

  Yuki

  

  Balloon in a tree at my little sister's birthday party

• July 20, 2009
• 21:32

  Green

   » ‎ Violaceous

  Tags:    [edit]

  
  
  

  Wild feverfew leaves and pretty silk/alpaca yarns

  

  Pod

  

  Toddler feets

  

  Wild grass at our campsite a couple weeks ago (don't Lucy and Roxie look tiny?!)

  

  A celery tower - part of Lucy's dinner that should be in her tummy but it's not.

  

  Smoke stack in big play boat (Harmon park in Bend)

  

  And, the color I wear a lot of the time. Dustin took this picture of me drinking beer at Terrebonne Depot, my favorite restaurant. :)

  Yes, I'm sort of cheating. These are older pictures. I had a crazy, busy day today! I promise tomorrow I'll take all new blue pictures.

• July 17, 2009
• 15:59

  Yellow

   » ‎ Violaceous

  Tags:    [edit]

  
  
  

  Pollen

  

  A flower on some vintage wallpaper

  

  Tired sunflower

  

  My most used pincushion

  

  A secret tomato flower, deep in the middle of the plant

  

  My vintage teacup, on the shelf in my craft room

  

  Little squash, in the raised garden beds at work

  

  Cute Happy Birthday picks, in my craft room

  

  Petal tips

  

  And a package of vintage colored pencils I found at Goodwill yesterday. I bought it for the packaging!

• July 16, 2009
• 20:07

  Orange

   » ‎ Violaceous

  Tags:    [edit]

  
  
  

  A squash blossom in raised garden boxes at my work

  

  Vintage fabric that I got in the mail on Monday

  

  A rose in an arrangement I made at work today - love these roses!

  

  Vintage rick rack packages in my craft room

  

  Old books in my craft room - I use these ones to cut up for collages!

  

  A day lily in the backyard

  

  My shirt on the clothesline. We just started drying our clothes this way to be more earth conscious and save money on our electric bill. See my little gnome watching them in the background?

  Side note about that gnome - my dad gave him to me for Christmas one year. On Christmas morning someone knocked, I opened the door and there was the gnome on the doorstep with no one else around! My dad is the best. I think everyone needs to get a sneaky gnome Christmas present at some point in their lives.

• July 15, 2009
• 15:29

  Red

   » ‎ Violaceous

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  The balloon Lucy was playing with last night was sticking to her back and she didn't know it! It followed her around for quite some time before she saw it. So cute.

  

  Earrings on my dresser

  

  Fabric all ironed and ready to be cut into strips for quilt squares

  

  Yarn pompoms

  

  My favorite shoes

  

  Strawberries!

• July 14, 2009
• 14:09

  Color Week!

   » ‎ Violaceous

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  I'm going to be participating in Elizabeth's color week blog photo project starting tomorrow, I'm excited! Tomorrow is red, Thursday is orange, etc. Check back to see what I come up with!

• July 13, 2009
• 21:19

  Fun mail day!

   » ‎ Violaceous

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  I got the best things in the mail today! I love getting packages in the mail, especially when they're nicely wrapped! These are some goodies I ordered from Etsy last week.

  

  

  The 1934 Good Housekeeping is great, I love it! Isn't that picture on the front gorgeous?! I've never owned an old magazine like this and it is really fun to look through. There are some wonderful collage images but I don't think I have the heart to cut it up! Thank goodness for scanners. I got the magazine, the pink elephant charms and all the pretty vintage sequin packets from Wonder Trading on Etsy. She is such a nice seller and has a fun shop! Everything came beautifully wrapped which makes it that much better. The vintage fabric bundle came from One Ripe Peach, also on Etsy. It was wrapped in a vintage sewing pattern - very cute! I can't wait to get my hands on the fabric and sequins and do some crafting!

  
  
  
  
  
• July 11, 2009
• 10:26

  Fresh from the Flower Truck

   » ‎ Violaceous

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  These are some pictures I took the other day at work (I'm a florist). The flower trucks come about 3 times a week and it's fun to see all the seasonal flowers every week! This week on the truck they had dahlias, mini cosmos and lots of wildflowers and seed pods, among the typical carnations and roses and things.

  

  

  

  

  

  I think it's funny that since I've been doing this so long, flowers are just a part of work to be dealt with. It takes a special flower to snap me out of my work flow and really appreciate what I'm doing! I posted these because that's what those pink dahlias did for me. You wouldn't think you could get used to flowers and sort of ignore them, but you do! Even now when I pick flowers from the yard, my first thoughts are how to improve them. Remove these leaves, that petal, etc. I need to step back more often and just admire flowers as they are.

• July 09, 2009
• 13:48

  The cutest paper toys

   » ‎ Violaceous

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  Ever!!! I just discovered an Etsy shop, Fantastic Toys, that sells the most adorable kawaii inspired paper toys you can print! I printed and assembled the happy home boxes to put in Lucy's room on Wednesday. I love them! They were so easy and fun. And they look super cute on Lucy's dresser with her vintage toys!

  

• July 07, 2009
• 15:30

  Treats

   » ‎ Violaceous

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  Have you ever been to an old fashioned soda fountain? I've grown up with a wonderful place nearby, Goody's, which I've always taken for granted! It's been around since before I was a little kid, I remember riding my bike there and getting a vanilla coke with cream for 50 cents and getting 50 cents worth of gummy bears or something as well. Little pleasures on a tiny budget!
  
  
  
  Dustin, Lucy and I still go there to get vanilla cokes with cream and candy from the jar. Their ice cream is to die for, too. Their Oreo cookie ice cream is filled with the biggest Oreo cookie chunks ever!
  
  
  
  They have ice cream sodas, handmade chocolates, egg creams and all kinds of yummy drinks too.
  
  
  
  And lots of old fashioned candies! We went there yesterday evening to get a couple quarts of ice cream for the fridge as a treat. A few candies jumped in our basket too. And homemade caramel corn for Dustin.
  
  
  
  Darn wrappers! They just hinder the whole candy to mouth process.

  If you're ever in Central Oregon, definitely put Goody's on your list of places to stop by. Are there any good soda fountains where you live that I should put on my list?

• July 05, 2009
• 15:32

  In which I pretend to post about the 4th of July but am really posting about my new camera.

   » ‎ Violaceous

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  Did you have a nice Independence Day? I hope so! Lucy's finally at that age where she's starting to get excited about holidays, which is really fun! I got a new camera over the weekend and have been trying to get the hang of it. It's a Canon Powershot SD1100 IS. I'm completely amazed at the difference. I knew my old camera was bad, but I don't think I knew quite how out of date it was.

  Look how nicely this seed pod came out in macro! I'm impressed.
  
   
  
  And these:
  
  
  
  I'm still trying to figure out a few things, and I need to figure out how to resize pictures because they're coming out huge.

  Lucy's Independence Day outfit:
  
  
  
  I made her 3 of those little pillowcase dresses last weekend and I just love how they came out!
  
  
  
  My two sweeties, at the parade yesterday.

  I am so happy with how quickly my new camera can get photos of Lucy when she's in motion! We were having a little photo shoot of her in her dress and I accidentally got a shot of her in mid fall, when her stool tipped over! It wasn't blurry at all. Hopefully I'll be able to post better pictures now.
  
  
  
  Unrelated - I have to show off Lucy's vintage stool, it's so cute!

  
  
  
• July 02, 2009
• 9:09

  Peaceful

   » ‎ Violaceous

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  Being peaceful...I'm working on it. I just love the color of those eggs, don't you? We have a local lady that delivers fresh eggs from her chickens every other week.

• June 29, 2009
• 15:19

  Home Sweet Home

   » ‎ Violaceous

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  I spent almost all day painting yesterday and love how it's brightened up our home! On the weekends when I'm at home with Lucy, I love watching decorating shows. I got all inspired yesterday after watching one and decided to paint one of our big walls on a whim! It had never been painted and was a harsh white with lots of nail holes and dirt - blech. That wall has been bugging me for a while now.
  
  Tada!
  
  
  
  It's a really nice sand color ( It's Valspar "spun sugar" from the Martha Stewart line). I love how it brightens everything up but is still a neutral and goes with everything. The color variation at the bottom isn't the paint, I'm better than that! :) Our house has weird lighting.
  
  
  
  This is a better example of the color, I think. It took 2 coats.
  
  This is the other side of the room:
  
  
  
  I'm so happy with the way the house is turning out! We painted these walls a couple of months ago.
  
  
  
  The green is Valspar by Martha Stewart, "tapenade" and the dark brown is "horseshoe".
  
  I also wanted to show off my new cutie pie wreath!
  
  
  
  It's a little gnome in his s'mores garden! How creative is that!? I got it from KnockKnocking on Etsy, of which I am a huge fan. I want all of her wreaths!

  
  
  
  
  
• June 27, 2009
• 15:18

  Summer Goodness

   » ‎ Violaceous

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  Just a couple of things from today.
  
  
  
  I was able to pull my short hair into a ponytail for the first time in 2 years!! Yay! You will, however, notice all the bobby pins and hairs that have escaped. Still! I'm happy.

  Also, I made this yummy ice cream pie!
  
  
  
  It's called a Lemonade Stand Pie, yum! It took all of about 10 minutes, which is my kind of pie. Here's the recipe. I'm still waiting for it to freeze but the filling I sampled was delicious! Sweet and just a little tangy.

• June 24, 2009
• 18:31

  Candy Colors and Glitter

   » ‎ Violaceous

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  I've been down in the dumps lately - I don't think it's any one thing, just a bunch of things all stuck together. I've had a hard time pulling myself out of it. Today I was able to spend a good 4-5 hours in my craft room just messing around (thanks to my wonderful husband who kept Lucy occupied because he knew I needed time to myself) and it was so therapeutic! I didn't make any masterpieces, I just surrounded myself with candy colors and glitter and had fun.

  Lucy has been so into dressing up lately that I thought it would be fun to make her a dress up corner. Yesterday we hung some hooks and a floor length mirror after I rearranged her room, and today I painted a "Lucy's Boutique" sign! I love how it turned out, and Lucy has been playing in there a lot.
  
  
  
  Lucy's dress up corner
  
  Sorry for the blurriness, I really need a new camera! It's just one of those things that has to wait for the time being.
  
  
  
  Here's a close up of the sign:
  
  
  
  It has a cute vintage paper doll dress!
  
  I made her this one too:
  
  
  
  
  
  If I keep on going this way, she's going to own every type of store there is!
  
  
  
  I just discovered Diamond Dust! I'm probably one of the last people to find out about it, but I love it! It's crushed glass glitter that looks just like sugar. I've been using it on everything lately, and it's pretty inexpensive! I think I found an excuse to use it on everything I made today. I've also been playing with Paper Clay a lot too, I'm just getting the hang of it!

  I feel a little better after my time in my craft room and Lucy's room looks cuter too.

  
  
  
  
  
• 12:33

  Oh dang.

   » ‎ Violaceous

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  Someone got into the markers today at nursery school!
  
  
  
  And it's not washing off.
  
  
  
  Yes, it's even under her shirt, and on her eyelids. And toenails.
  
  
  
  I think she had help.

• June 21, 2009
• 18:20

  Costumes

   » ‎ Violaceous

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  Lucy is at that age where she just loves to dress up. She'll be in her room quietly for a while and come out in the craziest outfits! I so love this phase.
  
  
  
  From this morning - She calls those wings her "bees" and when she's wearing them she goes around saying "bzzz, bzzz".
  
  
  
  From about an hour ago. Her shoes are on the wrong feet and she's wearing about 3 skirts! Also, her beret is on backwards.
  
  
  
  Little beauty
  
  
  
  Note chocolate covered face from eating fresh chocolate chip cookies after her nap!

  I found one of the best things ever at the thrift store today!! Other shoppers were actually laughing at me for buying it. I don't blame them, but I bought it anyways! It seriously filled up my entire cart with ruffled fabric.
  
  
  
  It's a vintage bright red square dancing petticoat! I can't even tell you how yards of fabric are in this thing. It is so full of ruffles!
  
  
  
  I think it's gorgeous! I don't know what I'm going to do with it yet. Hang it up? Cut it up? I don't know! I am not going to wear it.
  
  
  
  Lucy will though!

• June 20, 2009
• 10:22

  And yet another one.

   » ‎ Violaceous

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  I absolutely love working on both of my Etsy shops, but decided I needed another, smaller one! I've been making things over and over so much that I haven't had a lot of time to make one of a kind pieces. I really wanted a little corner of my own that I could put my weird little altered art pieces in. They are, admittedly, weird and kitschy, but I love making them so much!
  
  My new Etsy shop is Violet Plays, just for whatever comes out of my imagination but doesn't exactly fit in with a children's shop or a vintage shop. That's exactly what I'm doing - playing! I really needed to get back to being creative and I hope this gives me more of an excuse to do so. I hope you like my new creations, but if you don't that's okay too! I wanted this shop to be more of a place to put my little art pieces in. I hate calling myself an artist - blech. It sounds so pretentious. Especially when I'm using glitter and vintage dolls and things. It seems like the word "artist" should be reserved for painters that actually sell what they paint in gallerys, you know?

  Let me know what you think!

  
  
  
  
  

• June 17, 2009
• 7:34

  Skipping Rocks

   » ‎ Violaceous

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  Yesterday Dustin and I had the day off together, so we pulled Lucy out of her nursery school for the day and went up to the lake! I can't even tell you how rare it is that all 3 of us are free on the same day. That sounds funny, Lucy being 2, but she goes to nursery school in the mornings Monday through Friday. And Dustin and I are just so dang busy all of the time! We had so much fun! My only goal for the day was to bring Lucy home dirty, tired, and sticky from ice cream (we went to Dairy Queen afterwards). Just the way it should be for kids once in a while in the summer. Accomplished!
  
  
  
  Quite the popular activity of the day was throwing rocks into the lake! Luce has quite the throwing arm, as you can see!
  
  
  
  Lucy's Daddy tried to teach her how to skip rocks. He's pretty good!
  
  
  
  Good skipping rocks.
  
  
  
  Lucy needed one!
  
  
  
  Rock skipping ripples
  
  
  
  And I just have to show off this picture that Dustin took! I so love that girl.
  
  Sometimes you just have to take the day off and skip rocks, y'know? I see lots more rock skipping in our future.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• June 14, 2009
• 14:36

  From the other night

   » ‎ Violaceous

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  Lucy was having me draw for her on the etch a sketch and I guess she liked this one too much to erase! I found it like this a couple days later.

  Don't the 3 of us look cute?

• 14:12

  Yay!

   » ‎ Violaceous

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  Thanks so much to Sarah at My So Called Junky Life for giving me the lovely blog award! Things like that make me so happy. :)
  
  

  I'd like to pass it on to 10 blogs that I've newly discovered and love!

  Shabby Vintage Mom

  Our Little Love Nest

  Sugared Songbird

  Bling on My Sewing Machine

  Artsy-Crafty Babe

  Such Pretty Things

  Shell in Snohomish

  JillzWhimzy

  Whimsical World of Fairies

  Artistic Creations by Natasha Burns

  One Lovely Blog Award Rules of Blog Award Acceptance:

  1. Accept the award, post it on your blog together with the name of the person who has granted the award, and his or her blog link.

  2. Pass the award to 10 other blogs that you've newly discovered. Remember to contact the bloggers to let them know they have been chosen for this award.

• June 11, 2009
• 21:10

  Little Lady

   » ‎ Violaceous

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  My "baby" is turning into such a big girl! Look at her, playing dress up today. She picked this outfit out of her dress up box all by herself! My little brother brought this dress home for Lucy when he visited Vietnam last year.
  
  
  
  
  
  Eeee! You should see her walk in these. She has it down pretty darn well, she hardly ever trips. And look how big they are! She walks in heels better than I do! She is just such a lady.

  
  
  
  
  
• June 09, 2009
• 17:19

  Newness!

   » ‎ Violaceous

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  I just came out with a new design for my Etsy shop.
  
  Introducing...BabyCakes!
  
  
  
  They are super soft, plush handmade cake toys just for babies! They're made from lusciously soft minkee chenille, cotton, hand sewn organic cotton "whipped cream" and eco friendly bamboo fiber stuffing. There's also a jingle bell inside for a gentle rattle. I'm so happy - they turned out just how I wanted, and I used my own hand drafted pattern for them! You should see the weird paper 3D models I taped together before I made these, trying to get the pattern right. :)
  
  
  
  

• June 08, 2009
• 12:42

  Scratchy

   » ‎ Violaceous

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  My voice has been nearly gone for the last couple of days - I forget how bad it is when I'm at home since it's just the 3 of us! This morning I tried to go to work and could barely even talk to customers so I left and did some thrifting. Bad, bad, bad. I even ran into one of my co-workers, shopping on her day off! I feel guilty even writing this. But, Lucy was at nursery school for 3 hours and I hate to waste child-free shopping time (pre-paid, I might add), and I didn't really have to talk at the thrift store. (Insert guilty grin here. Dustin knows about this type of grin from me, especially regarding weird old things. Oh, and the time I accidentally dropped a piece of chalk down the garbage disposal, and not wanting to reach down there to get it, turned the garbage disposal on. Well, the garbage disposal broke the next day and he had to install a new one. Coincidence?)

  It was so worth it! The guilty shopping, not the garbage disposal. In case you were wondering if dropping chalk down the garbage disposal and being too prissy to retrieve it is worth it? It so isn't.
  
  Anyway, it was so worth it!
  
  
  
  
  
  Cuteness overload! All from one stop!

  Coming soon to my vintage shop. ;)

  And something, something, top! hop! mop!

• 12:18

  Oh, hello!

   » ‎ Violaceous

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  Pretty bubblegum pink peony, in our backyard!

• June 06, 2009
• 14:01

  I was bored

   » ‎ Violaceous

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  So I played around some with Polyvore - that site is addictive!

  
  
  
  
  
• June 05, 2009
• 13:28

  Pretty Typical.

   » ‎ Violaceous

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  My siblings and I. I'm the 2nd from the left. How I love you three. :)

• June 04, 2009
• 17:54

  Sneaky

   » ‎ Violaceous

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  I snuck up on Lucy just now with the camera while she was quietly playing in her room - she was being so cute!
  
  
  
  She was sitting Mommy, Daddy and the little girl at the table for dinner. "It's dinner time now", she said.
  
  
  
  I absolutely love how, as she's getting older, her play is becoming more imaginative.
  
  
  
  Cute!
  
  
  
  Even cuter!

  Sorry about the blurry pics, it's hard to be good at getting sneaky ones with a crummy camera. ;)

  By the way, I'll be getting a new camera soon - any recommendations? Do you have a camera model that you love?

• May 30, 2009
• 15:59

  Bright and Summery

   » ‎ Violaceous

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  I added some nice, bright new things to both my Etsy shops over the last couple of days! They help cheer me up.

  Little Vintage Violet:
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

  Violet:
  
  
  
  
  
  These are big pompoms that I made with tulle and wire. They have sort of a dreamy, hanging lantern, fairy-ish effect when hung. I'm really happy with how they turned out! They were pretty difficult to get pictures of though. I think they'd be gorgeous in a nursery, or at a wedding.

  
  
  
  
  
• May 28, 2009
• 19:15

  My new aqua cupboard

   » ‎ Violaceous

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  I found this aqua colored old pantry cupboard at one of the local antique malls for $25 and couldn't pass it up!
  
  
  
  
  
  The top is disgusting. This is after I scrubbed and scrubbed the dang thing. And let's just say I know it was stored in a barn at some point.
  
  
  
  The inside has potential though, see?
  
  
  
  Should I ever need to know about different herbs, spices and seasonings I totally have it covered. After having scrubbed and scrubbed and scrubbed, gotten cleaning solution all over the floor, and getting little sticky bits everywhere (and on my shoes) it looks much better!
  
  
  
  Tada! Now it houses some of Lucy's many, many books. They were starting to stack up in a ridiculously large pile in the living room. To make the top look nicer I covered it with Amy Butler and some faux bois scrapbook paper and covered those with contact paper in case a certain someone thinks it's a good idea to put a sippy cup on top.
  
  
  
  
  
  Cheapest makeover ever! I love my new cupboard.

• May 25, 2009
• 17:29

  Vintage Shop Update! Again!

   » ‎ Violaceous

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  I don't know what else to title these posts. I already have 1 or 2 posts called this!

  I added all these pretty things to my vintage shop today...
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Lots of vintage ceramic baby booties! The last one is my favorite, I love those roses and that bow.
  
  
  
  
  
  Vintage salt and pepper shakers
  
  
  
  Vintage flour sifter and kitchen towel from the thirties
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  And lots of vintage trim crafting collections! I love putting these together, they're so fun.

• May 24, 2009
• 14:35

  Want.

   » ‎ Violaceous

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  *drool* Gorgeous glasses, from Sundance. I can't in good conscience pay $68 for 6 glasses but they're so. pretty.
  
  
  
  Beautiful necklace from alusciousthing on Etsy
  
  
  
  Kitty! I love her face and the colors of the embroidery! From StitchyWooWoo on Etsy

  On a side note: I found these labels the other day that you can download for free at Mer Mag. I thought someone else might love them like I do. I've been using them to label all kinds of things lately! Check out her blog while you're there - it's gorgeous.
  
  
  
  Photo from http://mermag.blogspot.com

  
  
  
• May 23, 2009
• 20:16

  Better.

   » ‎ Violaceous

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  We're doing better around here. The weekend helps. Sleeping in and being outside and lots of good thrift store shopping helps too. Sometimes it feels like everything that I try to balance ends up in a heap all at once, and I have to sort it out by myself. I panic, and then I work through it - usually freaking out a bit in the process. I can't even tell you how much just having some leisure time helps! I tend to forget about that. Oh yeah, that relaxation thing - huh. Guess what! There's a reason people do that.

  I did lots of thrift store shopping today, see? Lucy was actually very well behaved while shopping with me.
  
   
  
  I found some fun things! I don't know if you can really see that tree in the middle but it's vintage, is made of wire, and has lots of little metal leaves hanging off of it. I love it!

  I had time to make dinner for once, too.
  
  
  
  It's a quiche with ham and cheese. I got my main recipe here and tweaked a couple things. I love that recipe because it's just a basic quiche recipe that you can add whatever you want to. In this one I threw in some cheese (Parmesan, Romano and mozzarella I think, whatever was in the fridge), and some chopped cooked ham. I alter the recipe after having experimenting with it a few times by pre-baking the (frozen) pie crust for 9 minutes to reduce sogginess, cutting the half and half from 2 cups to 1 1/4 cups and adding an extra 5-10 minutes to the cooking time at the end. It is way easy and really good!

  
  
  
  
  
• May 20, 2009
• 22:46

  Living Life Beautifully

   » ‎ Violaceous

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  So many craft/home/lifestyle blog authors seem to have such perfect lives! I know there's probably a lot they leave out, but it does seem that way. In my mind they wake up in a pink vintage nightgown, make the perfect latte that they sip daintily on their porch swing while eating a made-from-scratch strawberry crepe while managing their business and taking perfect, gallery quality photos of it all! And their kids are quietly playing with wooden toys, making art instead of watching TV and generally being cute (while wearing hand knit clothing). The dog is cute, the cat is cute, the flowers are blooming, every corner of their home is lovingly, artfully decorated and there are fresh flowers on the table. Which has a vintage tablecloth and is set with beautifully mismatched china, just so.

  And then there's me. I do try! I try to write about positive, uplifting things about my life on my blog because I feel like nobody really likes to read about the crappy things. But I'm wondering if that's why I don't blog as often as I'd like to - sometimes I just can't get to that place of "birds are chirping, flowers are blooming, it's a beautiful day". Like today - I'm tired. Just plain tired. I have a stack of custom orders that I need to fill, boxes to ship, I didn't get to the laundry, I didn't make dinner (didn't even eat dinner!), I have people to email that I didn't get to, items to put on Etsy (sitting right by me on the desk, actually), didn't have neosporin for Lucy's poor foot (she scraped it pretty bad). Then there are the tantrums and bad mother/daughter days, all the many worries and fears and stresses that go along with being human, the insecurities, etc. So there are bits and pieces of life that I can take a pretty picture of and feel good about but there's also the blah everyday things and the awful things. How do you feel about it? How do you choose what to blog about and what to leave out? Do you think most bloggers are honest about their lives?

• May 17, 2009
• 9:46

  It's everything I dreamed it would be.

   » ‎ Violaceous

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  Having an outdoor table - ahhhh! How, in the 9 years Dustin and I have lived on our own, have we never had an outdoor table that we can sit at?! Are we the last people on earth to have an outdoor table? Probably. The wonders - I can eat! Drink coffee on the patio! Use the laptop! Hand embroider! All of which I've done already this morning, and it's only 9:45! While watching Lucy play, I might add. I know this probably sounds ridiculous, but I am so stoked about my new table, and it was only $34.99! Although, looking at the old photo, I don't think I'm quite dressed appropriately! Nor do I have a fancy hat!

• May 16, 2009
• 10:15

  Etsy Shop Update!

   » ‎ Violaceous

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  I just added these fresh new things to my Etsy shop! I've had so much fun being creative lately and just wanted to share some pictures of my latest creations:
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  I think you can tell what my favorite colors are! They seem to keep popping up. :)

• May 12, 2009
• 21:07

  Strawberries and whipped cream...

   » ‎ Violaceous

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  ...make any day better! Just ask Lucy.
  
  
  
  
  
  Seriously though, look at this! Mmmm...
  
  It is so easy to make from scratch, fast, and sooo good! I think this is going to be a dessert staple in our house. ;)

  
  
  
• 8:53

  New Goodies...

   » ‎ Violaceous

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  Soon to come to my Etsy vintage shop!
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Yummy new vintage crafting collections!
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  And lots of fun this and that to add to your latest art/craft project!

• May 06, 2009
• 6:30

  This Morning

   » ‎ Violaceous

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  Lucy woke up at 5:30 so I got up with her and couldn't go back to sleep. Here's my morning thus far:
  
  
  
  
  
  Beautiful, stormy skies! Raining...
  
  
  
  My new baby Yuki is awake - he's going to get his wings clipped today. That makes me kind of sad but then I can let him out of his cage to play. It's kind of a catch 22.
  
  
  
  I found cheese on one of the windowsills when I was opening the curtains! Yet another one to add to the "parent of a toddler" files. I guess she was done...

• April 19, 2009
• 14:17

  Right Now

   » ‎ Violaceous

  Tags:    [edit]

  (Randomly)

  Adding to my Etsy shop:
  
  

  Loving:
  
  That today is almost 90 degrees!

  Hating:
  
  Trying to balance my job, my online shops, having time to myself and being a good wife and mother

  On my nightstand:
  
  
  
  Fridas!

  Feeling:
  
  Creative, and a bit smothered by Lucy today

  Wishing:
  
  For a whole day to do nothing but play around in my craft room
  
  

  Proud of:
  
  That when Lucy wants something now, most of the time she says "Can I have _ please?" instead of whining. This is after lots and lots of working with her.

  Listening to:
  
  Pandora Radio - Portishead

  Working on:
  
  Trying to find balance, and feeling like it's okay to just relax sometimes.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• April 13, 2009
• 18:28

  I Love Pink Birds, Apparently!

   » ‎ Violaceous

  Tags:    [edit]

  I was just putting things in my Etsy shop and my Etsy vintage shop and noticed a pattern! I didn't even mean to put these all on at the same time.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  I made this tulle wreath last week - I love how it turned out. Like a big pink tutu. Gotta love that pink bird too! :) Especially all glittered up.

• 9:29

  Lucy's Easter

   » ‎ Violaceous

  Tags:    [edit]

  Lucy had so much fun on Easter! This was the first year she's actually gotten it, which was really fun for Dustin and I as parents. I can't wait until next year.
  
  
  
  See her pretty new dress? No, her fleece jacket doesn't match, but that's typical central Oregon in the spring. Did you know it has snowed here on the Fourth of July?! Gah!
  
  
  
  Notice the hershey kiss clutched tightly in her little hand. She kept wanting to open her eggs and eat all the hershey kisses right there instead of find more eggs. I can't blame her!
  
  
  
  She loved that giant Easter bunny! She gave him one of her eggs, and gave him a big hug! I wouldn't have been caught dead around that bunny when I was her age. I was so proud of her for being so brave. That bunny was huge! Even this morning she was still talking about it - "I hug da bunny". I have a feeling we're going to be hearing about it for a while, I think it made her day.
  
  
  
  A balloon animal lady at the Easter egg hunt made her a pink cat! She was very excited.
  
  
  
  That's her egg finding face. Her mouth is a little "O". This picture is actually from her second Easter egg hunt of the day.

  She was so busy and had such a fun day!

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• April 02, 2009
• 20:02

  Lucy's Rice Box

   » ‎ Violaceous

  Tags:    [edit]

  Instead of a sand box, for indoors! I got the idea here (she has a ton of other wonderful ideas for toddlers too). Oh my goodness did Lucy have fun! It held her attention for almost two hours, I've never seen anything hold her attention that long!
  
  
  
  There was rice all over the kitchen floor when she was done. Some was suitable for putting back in the box, some had to be thrown away. There's still a ton left though!
  
  
  
  I basically just poured a bunch of white rice into a big tupperware with a lid, put scoops and spoons in it and let her go to town! When she was done I just put the scoops in and put the lid back on and put it away for next time. I read that you can try this with beans or birdseed as well. The rice was really nice and easy to clean up. Doesn't stick to anything and fell right off Lucy. This was a great activity for a day with weird weather like today.
  
  
  
  She was very happy about her rice box!

• March 29, 2009
• 17:25

  Vintage shop update!

   » ‎ Violaceous

  Tags:    [edit]

  I did a fun vintage shop update today - it's taken me all afternoon! Luckily Luce took a long nap today and then Dustin was kind enough when he got home to take her for a while (she's been wanting me to entertain her all the time lately). I've been coming across a lot of good finds lately! I have a big, big stack of orders that will be shipped out tomorrow. Seriously, it's going to take me 2-3 hours to package and address everything tonight. I can't believe how many orders my vintage shop gets! I'm so pleased.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Fun vintage jewelry!
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Yummy vintage baby clothes!

  I'm also going to start offering vintage crafting collections, which I'm very excited about! They combine my love of little vintage craft supplies and assemblage!
  
  
  
  
  
  So check out my shop if you have time, it's nice and full, stocked with new goodies!

  
  
  
• March 26, 2009
• 18:38

  Lucy's First Haircut!

   » ‎ Violaceous

  Tags:    [edit]

  First haircut not done by me, that is. All I've ever attempted on her are trims. We went to Sprouts kid's hair salon in Bend yesterday. She was so, so brave and such a good girl! She sat in the salon chair that looks like a car, it even had a steering wheel!
  
  Ta da!
  
  
  
  This is a certificate she got. Isn't that picture funny? She wouldn't smile. They even put glitter spray in her hair and a little clip (click, per Lucy).

  These are from today:
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Doesn't she look cute and grown up? I can't believe how much older she looks. It makes me a little sad but I'm so proud of her! She's such a little beauty! I know I'm her mom so I'm probably biased but I just think she's gorgeous.

  And while I'm on a role (roll?), here's some pictures from her 2nd birthday like I promised:
  
  
  
  Okay, so now my daughter and I both have the same haircut. I just like bobs! Can't help it.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Lucy loves her Grandpa Glenn! She had so much fun at her party but oh. my. goodness. was she crabby the next morning!

• March 23, 2009
• 18:15

  Wee Marie

   » ‎ Violaceous

  Tags:    [edit]

  This is a new outfit to fit a toddler girl that I just finished and put in my Etsy shop:
  
  
  
  I just wanted to show off a couple of pictures of Lucy modeling it!
  
  
  
  
  
  Let them eat cupcakes!
  
  
  
  A little princess if I ever saw one!

  She had her 2 year old shots today so wish her well! My poor little miss isn't feeling too well right now. She did have a nice birthday party though! I'll post a few pictures pretty soon. :)

• March 20, 2009
• 11:49

  It's Lucy's Birthday!

   » ‎ Violaceous

  Tags:    [edit]

  Two years ago today at 10:44am, my baby girl was born. I fell in love instantly.
  
  
  
  She has absolutely changed my life for the better and I am still in love.
  
  She is growing up so fast!
  
  
  
  
  
  I feel so lucky to be the mommy to such a silly, sassy, sweet little girl. Here are a few of my favorite things that she does/says right now:
  
  -When she wants more of something she says "I's Mooo-ooore."
  
  -When she's done with her food she says "Nun nun nun!"
  
  -They way she says "Luz ya" for I love you
  
  -When she says Daddy she always has to add a "my" to the front. I'm just mommy.
  
  -She has to yell "YeeHaw!" every time she sees someone with a cowboy hat. In a cowboy town like Redmond this can get embarrassing.
  
  -The way she reads  her books to herself when she doesn't think we're listening. "That's cat MEOW. Dog. AH AH! The babies they sleeeep. THE END!"
  
  -Her funny little run, I've never seen feet move so fast.
  
  -How she calls our fish "fif" and insists that they have a baba (bottle) in their tank.
  
  -She buckles herself into her doll stroller but can't unbuckle it so she'll wheel herself (still buckled in) to where we are and whine. This cracks me up every time because she barely even fits in it in the first place.
  
  -Her funny little sentences. The other day I asked her if she wanted Dora cookies and she said "No. No I don't want no Dora cookies." I think that's an incredibly long sentence for a not-yet-2 year old, no matter how grammatically incorrect.
  
  -Her politeness! She almost always says "thank you", "please", "bless you", etc. at the appropriate times. It has caught a lot of strangers off guard, this tiny girl saying thank you and bless you. I'm particularly proud of this one. ;)
  
  -The way every time we drive by an empty field she yells "Where cows go?" Again, I think this is a Redmond thing.

  I love this little girl so much! I am so proud of her and am so happy to be her mommy.
  
  Happy 2nd Birthday Lucy!!!

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

• February 27, 2009
• 12:00

  Product photos with a toddler present...

   » ‎ Violaceous

  Tags:    [edit]

  ...is a long, long process. I've been making some more baby and toddler clothing for my shop and aaack! The sticky orange juice hands! The grabbing of clothes! The need to be in front of the camera! (She also just grabbed the mouse and just erased my post thus far, luckily Typepad recovered it). Sometimes I take a step back and wonder how chasing a busy, crazy toddler became so routine to me. I crash into a deep, sound sleep every night and sleep like a log (is it log or rock? I can never remember) all night long. And I only have one little girl!
  
  Example:
  
  
  
  Grabbing little dress that I was trying to photograph.

  The cuteness that I can't resist taking a photo of:
  
  
  
  Dragon hat on backwards, book and all!

  So aggravating. So worth it.

• February 20, 2009
• 10:46

  Mysterious

   » ‎ Violaceous

  Tags:    [edit]

  Living Room...
  
  

  Hallway...
  
  

  Lucy's Bedroom...
  
  

  Could someone have gotten into my new fabric?
  
  

  Ah Ha!
  
  

  
  
  
  
  
• February 16, 2009
• 18:00

  Trying Something New

   » ‎ Violaceous

  Tags:    [edit]

  I want to keep expanding my Etsy shop and decided to try something new - making kid's clothes! I've had a lot of fun testing out some ideas and starting adding a couple things to my shop today. I want to stick to toddler clothes for now since I already have someone to try them and test them out on:
  
  
  
  She absolutely will not model them, however. It's hard enough to get a non-blurry picture like this of her, let alone trying to show off clothes! This is about the best I've ever done, and she was more cooperative back then. I came up with an idea to make a portable backdrop to hang them on so I can put them in the best light for taking photos:
  
  
  
  I bought these boards and painted them a nice, light blue. To me light blue seems like a neutral color. I can't really think of a color that doesn't look good with it. I hammered nails in them for hanging things on. Today I had test shoots with some clothes and I really like how they turned out! I think to make it a little more fun I'm going to paint bright polka dots on one of the boards so I can use either one. Here's a shot with my new background:
  
  
  
  I really like it! I've always hated taking product photos hanging on the wall because most walls are so textured. I like a nice, flat background for photos.
  
  
  
  I've been having fun appliqueing T shirts! I made Lucy one and these two are in my shop. We'll see how they do - at least I've enjoyed making them!

• February 13, 2009
• 7:45

  It's Friday the 13th

   » ‎ Violaceous

  Tags:    [edit]

  
  
  Be careful out there, everyone! It's also the day before Valentine's Day and things get very crazy for me at work (florist) right now. Bad combination? Wish me luck! :)

• January 28, 2009
• 15:53

  An Evening Well Spent

   » ‎ Violaceous

  Tags:    [edit]

  Dustin has been working some overtime at night a couple days a week so it was nice to have him home last night! I made hot chocolate for us:
  
  
  
  We watched one of our favorite shows, Fringe, and the science channel (I complained but he won) while I got a chance to work on some hand sewing. I love to sew things by hand. It isn't practical a lot of the time but I find it so relaxing and therapeutic. It's a toss up as to whether I'd rather be hand sewing or knitting. I probably do both equally as often.
  
  I made these brooches for my Etsy shop:
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  I was so happy with the way these pictures came out! I'm finally getting product photos down a little more. They're sitting on the back of an old wooden soda crate, which I really like the texture of. I always either use that or a piece of white posterboard. I have 2 good photo taking spots in the house: on Lucy's dresser and on my craft room table. It has to be sunny though, and the curtains have to be open wide. I finally (finally!) figured out that you can use the macro setting on little things like these pins and the pictures come out showing all the detail. I am a slow learner but I'm getting it!

• January 26, 2009
• 10:32

  Little Things

   » ‎ Violaceous

  Tags:    [edit]

  Little things that have been making me happy:
  
  
  
  
  
  The sun catcher art by Lucy that is taped to the window.
  
  To make these, I just cut out some contact paper and gave Lucy a bowl of collage supplies and torn tissue paper. She went to town sticking things to the contact paper then I just put another piece over the top, sticky sides together, and trimmed the edges. Lucy liked making them and they were very easy! They're really pretty when the sun is coming through the window. She's very proud that they're on display.
  
  
  
  Dolls are always showing up in the funniest places!
  
  In Lucy's high chair, sitting on her little potty, under blankets, in the laundry basket, etc.
  
  I don't even notice Lucy doing this so it's funny when I find one and wasn't expecting it. She's a busy one, that daughter of mine.
  
  
  
  A basket of knitting, just waiting to be picked up and worked on!
  
  
  
  My first little sproutlet! I've never used fresh thyme in anything. Any recipe ideas for later? What does thyme taste best on? I'm trying to do more cooking with fresh ingredients and these herbs will be fun to use.
  
  
  
  See how cute? I can't wait until they all start growing and I can take their little greenhouse domes off. I'm going to have parsley, 2 kinds of basil, chives, thyme, dill and mint. After this crop I'm growing to grow salad greens.

  What little things are making you happy lately?

• January 24, 2009
• 21:33

  I'm still here...

   » ‎ Violaceous

  Tags:    [edit]

  really, I am. I just haven't found much to write about lately. January always does this to me. It's such a cold, boring, blah month of the year to me. It's been a hard month this year especially. I know it's my dad's least favorite month as well so maybe it runs in the family.
  
  I finally caved and bought one of these from my work so I'd have something green and growing to look at all day. I have to say, just the light coming from it is very cheery! I just set it up yesterday and I can't wait until my herbs start growing. I'll write more soon, I just need to snap out of being mopey and cheer up!
  
  Here's Lucy with yogurt on her nose. That helps a little.
  
  

• January 11, 2009
• 11:37

  Making your own laundry soap, or, housewife-ing it up 1800s style!

   » ‎ Violaceous

  Tags:    [edit]

  I've been more and more interested lately in making my own cleaning products. It's way cheaper and better for you. I started with laundry soap and have been using it now for about 2 weeks. I'm really happy with how it's working! It took a little getting used to but I can't believe how easy it is to make, and how inexpensive. I've been using white vinegar as fabric softener too, it works great!
  
  Here's how I do it:

  1) Start with these 3 ingredients: 20 mule team borax, arm and hammer washing soda (not baking soda, they're 2 different things) and a bar of fels naptha soap. I found all these things at the local Fred Meyer in the laundry detergent section.
  
  

  2) Here's the hard goods you'll need, plus a pair of rubber gloves. I use my own designated bowl, grater, measuring cup, etc. for this because I don't want the chance of contaminating food. The white thing is a plastic container for keeping the laundry soap in when it's done.
  
  

  3) Grate the whole bar of Fels Naptha soap with the small grating side of your grater into a bowl, using rubber gloves. This gets a little strong smelling so I like to have a window open near me. One bar will make 2 cups of gratings, which is what you want.
  
  

  4) Add the Fels Naptha gratings to your airtight container (tupperware, jar, etc.), then measure in 1 cup of borax and 1 cup of washing soda. Shake well so ingredients are mixed.
  
  
  
  That's it! Laundry soap! You only need 2 tablespoons for a medium sized load, more or less depending on size of load. I just put this in when the water is running, before I add the clothes and make sure it's dissolved before I put the clothes in. For fabric softener, I use one of those Downy balls and put in a 1/4 cup of white vinegar. Make sure it's white though, you don't want to color your clothes! :) This stuff seems to last forever and is so worth it!

  Recipe simplified:
  
  2 cups finely grated Fels Naptha laundry bar soap
  
  1 cup Arm and Hammer washing soda
  
  1 cup 20 Mule Team Borax.

  If you try this, let me know what you think! :)

• January 04, 2009
• 18:20

  My New Etsy Shop!

   » ‎ Violaceous

  Tags:    [edit]

  I've been in the process of starting a second Etsy shop, which I named Little Vintage Violet, and today I finally was able to put some things in it! This one is for things that aren't handmade, mostly vintage things and a few craft supplies. I'll have fun picking out new things to add! I've already had a couple of sales, which I'm very happy about. :) I love shopping for vintage things at thrift stores but am a little over capacity right now so I'm parting with some of them. This way I have an excuse to keep picking fun things up that I find. Hear that, Dustin? A gooood excuse. ;) Poor guy is so patient with all the weird things I bring home.
  
  Here's some things from my update today:
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  
• January 03, 2009
• 13:26

  Ni-night

   » ‎ Violaceous

  Tags:    [edit]

  
  
  This picture makes me giggle and I just thought I'd share. :) Lucy's always putting dollies all over the house in various states of "ni-night" and this one was so nicely covered up in all my dish towels! Lucy must think it's pretty cold right now. Another cute thing - she was watching TV ("wiwi") this morning, Sesame Street was on and they were dancing. She came running up and said "Mama, wiwi dancing!!" very excitedly. I love that girl.

• December 27, 2008
• 15:35

  Lucy's Winter Nature Table

   » ‎ Violaceous

  Tags:    [edit]

  Today I spent a lot of time organizing and cleaning, putting some Christmas things away and airing the house out - it was about 50 degrees outside which in my opinion these days is very warm! It always feels so good to just putter around the house. I have to be in the right mood but when I am there's nothing else I'd rather be doing. I had a chance to put Lucy's winter nature table together today too! It's been slowly coming along but I've been waiting until after Christmas to get more things out.
  
  
  
  On it are laminated winter scenes (she still wreaks havoc on paper), laminated snowflakes that I cut out, playsilks, a wooden tree, a green wool gnome, mushrooms, a mouse and some pinecones and a stick. She loves carrying the pictures around the house and I think they help her relate to what's going on when she looks out the window. I've been having so much fun assembling her nature tables, I think all 3 of us love them! Her autumn one is here. I wish there were more things from outside I could put on it, but a lot of things she'll either throw (rocks), poke people with (sticks) or put in her mouth. As she gets older it will be easier. :)
  
  
  
  Here's a close up of her tree and gnome. I get most of her wooden nature table ornaments here because I like that they're handmade and that she uses non-toxic dyes and beeswax wood polish. This is a fun shop for wooden ornaments and toys too! I want this frog life cycle set for spring/summer, it looks so cool.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• December 25, 2008
• 13:22

  Merry Christmas!

   » ‎ Violaceous

  Tags:    [edit]

  I hope everyone out there is having a wonderful, peaceful Christmas! I love how the holidays get more fun as Lucy gets older, I can't wait until next year when she understands the concept a little more. When she saw the presents she was saying "Happy" as in Happy Birthday, so she's starting to get it a little more. We opened all of our presents last night, same as my family used to do when I was a kid. I always liked opening presents on Christmas Eve because I didn't have to wait until the next day! As a parent I can see it being easier too, kids sleep better and don't get up at the crack of dawn. :) I don't really want to make Luce think that Santa is real either, so that works out. If she wants to believe that I'm all for it, I just want to try to be as honest with her as possible. Last night was so nice and quiet with just the 3 of us, it was really fun! Luce had fun playing with her gifts.
  
  
  
  
  
  She got a tutu (notice me saying Ooooooooh to her)...
  
  
  
  Tie dyed socks - Wow!! I've never seen a kid so excited about getting socks...
  
  
  
  A felt crown and a box of beeswax crayons...
  
  
  
  And a new Waldorf dolly! She loves that doll so much, and so do I. When she was unwrapping it she saw its' feet sticking out and said "Oh a baby!".
  
  
  
  She's been having lots of fun with her new toys!
  
  
  
  We wish you a merry Christmas! :D

• December 13, 2008
• 10:28

  Handmade Playsets

   » ‎ Violaceous

  Tags:    [edit]

  The other week I bought a laminator, both for my crafts and because I've always wanted one, and I've been having so much fun making things for Lucy with it! I love how it makes paper sturdy enough to withstand toddler play. I found free playsets to print for toddlers here, printed them, cut them out and laminated them. Then I made little pouches to keep them in out of paper, put a picture on them of what they were and covered them in packing tape so they would hold up. Lucy loves them!
  
  
  
  Car "driving" set
  
  
  
  Sandwich making set
  
  
  
  Farm set
  
  
  
  
  
  I've really been trying to be more concious of the money I spend and trying to be less of a consumer, and I love that she likes the practically free toys just as much as her other toys!

• December 09, 2008
• 14:49

  It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

   » ‎ Violaceous

  Tags:    [edit]

  Oh my goodness, I have been so busy lately! Poor blog, I've been neglecting you. It's for good reasons though, my Etsy shop has been doing wonderfully well! I've been selling lots and lots of children and baby toys for Christmas. I'm so excited! This is the first year I've really had a lot of Holiday sales. It's a lot of work though! Especially trying to balance my family, my job, my Etsy shop and some other things I have going on the side. I did get a chance to decorate little corners of the house for Christmas on Sunday, which I was happy about. :)
  
  
  
  This is Lucy's advent calender that I made about a week ago, it's made of recycled felted sweater scraps and wool felt. I hand embroidered all those numbers! That was before my Etsy shop started going crazy. The brown and red things sticking out of 14 and 15 are mushrooms for her nature table. And 13 is the behind of a handmade mouse. She also has some needle felted acorns and personalized Lucy bracelets in there. And bracelets for her baby dolls too. She doesn't quite understand the concept, but it's fun all the same.
  
  
  
  My vintage sock monkeys and a sleigh. That sleigh is the first Christmas decoration Dustin and I bought together after we moved out, so I'll never get rid of it.
  
  
  
  Ack - blurry! Sorry. :) Vintage ornaments up on a shelf
  
  
  
  My wooden Noah's ark set and some fresh holly in a mason jar - I love setting up my Noah's ark every year! I consider it a Christmas decoration even though it's really not, I guess the trees look Christmassy?
  
  
  
  
  
  My dear little deer collection. These are up on a shelf with Christmas lights under tulle for snow. I love those glittery cotton snowballs. The white velvety deer with the bell is my favorite, I love taking him out every year. The little brown velvety one with the blue eyes is a Goodwill find from last week. I can't pass them up!
  
  How is your holiday decorating going? We still need to get a tree but I'm excited to have most of my things out. It feels cozy, especially since it's been so cold lately!

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• November 30, 2008
• 10:33

  Lucy's Christmas Cards

   » ‎ Violaceous

  Tags:    [edit]

  I really want to have a handmade Christmas this year: presents, cards, decorations, even wrapping paper! I thought it would be fun to involve Lucy as much as possible. I found some foam Christmas stickers and some foam tree shapes at the store yesterday and thought Lucy would have fun helping make our Christmas cards to send out.
  
  
  
  
  
  I peeled the backs off the stickers for her and she stuck them on where she wanted.
  
  
  
  Then I punched a hole in the top, made a little tag to go with it for the "card" part, tied a string on the top for hanging and made labels for the back that say "Decorated by Lucy".
  
  Front:
  
  
  
  Back:
  
  
  
  I think these turned out so cute! I got envelopes for them and I'm sure people will love receiving them in the mail.
  
  
  
  Good job decorating, Lucy!!

• November 29, 2008
• 14:05

  My Day So Far...

   » ‎ Violaceous

  Tags:    [edit]

  Lucy woke up early this morning and gave me some time to get things done, which was super nice. She has been in a much better mood lately so life at home has been a little happier.
  
  See?
  
  
  
  Have you ever seen someone that excited about cheerios for breakfast? Woohoo!!
  
  I also just have to share this beautiful Christmas cactus bloom that greeted me as I poured my coffee.
  
  
  
  Isn't that shade of pink gorgeous? Oh, and guess what. It is 70 degrees right now! And it's almost the end of November! I have windows open, fresh air circulating - perfect day.

  I finished an apron this morning for a "Sweets for the Sweet" apron swap that I'm hosting. I must have aprons down pretty well because it only took me an hour, ironing and everything. They used to take me half a day!
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  I embroidered the little pocket on linen, which is one of my favorite things to do other than knit these days.
  
  I also sold an I Spy bag from my Etsy shop this morning! Do you ever have one of those days when all seems right with the world? That's how I feel right now. I hope I'm not jinxing myself. *knocks on wood* I hope you're having a good day too, doing whatever it is that you're doing.

• November 27, 2008
• 12:17

  Lucy's Thanksgiving Morning

   » ‎ Violaceous

  Tags:    [edit]

  I hope everyone has had, or is having a nice Thanksgiving morning! I love it because it's one of the few times the 3 of us get to hang out in our pajamas with nowhere to go, and nothing to do except sit around and watch the Thanksgiving parade. We made a nice big pot of coffee and got some Holiday flavored coffee creamer (White Chocolate Raspberry and Mint Chocolate, mmmm). It might not sound like a big deal but it was a nice treat. We decided that buying flavored coffee creamer is a little luxury and we usually put milk in our coffee instead. I knitted most of the morning while Dustin talked on the phone with his family and Lucy came up with her own things to amuse herself:
  
  
  
  Had a fake food fest in the living room. Seriously, there is fake food scattered all over the whole house. She also thought it would be fun to put a bunch in a box and dump the box on the kitchen floor over and over.
  
  
  
  I think she thought the dogs needed a Thanksgiving dinner too. See the turkey?
  
  
  
  Very interested in the Radio City Rockettes when they came on the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade on TV. She was studying their every move and was even lifting her little legs up when they were doing the cancan.
  
  
  
  Very neatly lined up her dollhouse furniture on one of my kitchen towels (see the toilet?) and then stuffed them all down her barn silo.
  
  I love toddlers and their goofy antics, and I love Thanksgiving too! Hope everyone has a great day!

  
  
  
• November 23, 2008
• 14:40

  I Love Portland

   » ‎ Violaceous

  Tags:    [edit]

  The three of us took a little 2 night trip to Portland last week and boy did we need to get out of town! There's nothing like leaving town for a little while to gain some perspective. We had fun just hanging out as a family, taking walks, spending time with my sister in law Holly and her husband Casey and shopping, of course. Lucy got a little sick during our trip, so she was fussy the last day or so and is still sick, poor baby. She's getting better though. I think it was an onslaught of teething, an ear infection, being tired from the trip and a cold all at once. I feel so sorry for her but she's on antibiotics, her 2 little teeth just broke through and she seems more perky today. She seems more like her old self now. We stayed in the Belmont/Hawthorne area which we love, my husband has a couple pictures on his Flickr. I had so much fun going to Uwajimaya and Kinokuyina, a Japanese grocery store and bookstore, respectively, in Beaverton. Dustin always loads up on snacks and I on Japanese craft books when we're there!
  
   
  
  I haven't read them yet, I'm saving them to read as a treat for myself. Is that weird? I tend to do that with books and magazines that I know I'm going to love. Then when I finally read them - Ahhhhh. :)  Bliss.
  
  I walked to Saint Cupcake which was near our rental house, their cupcakes are dang good! I saved the box because it was so cute. Again - weird? Their website is awfully cute too!
  
  
  
  There is a shop called Noun which is located in the same building as Saint Cupcake. I spent a really long time in there and probably could have stayed longer! I loved everything they have. Here's what I picked out:
  
  
  
  The sheep print is by Elizabeth Soule, a Portland local artist. I love it! I saw the article about her in the November Sunset and fell in love with her animal prints. I was so excited to see them in person! It's mounted on a box frame so it can either stand alone or be hung. I have a goal to collect all of these photo boxes. *cough*christmasorbirthdaypresentidea*cough*. 

  I also had a nice time browsing in The Button Emporium and Josephine's Dry Goods. I can't believe I'd never been to either before.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  I love everything. It's like candy to me and I tend to get a little carried away. These things were all my last big splurges for a while, we're on a tight budget for a while.

  I hope all of you had a great week too!!! And have a wonderful Thanksgiving.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• November 16, 2008
• 18:30

  Aprons!

   » ‎ Violaceous

  Tags:    [edit]

  I've been having lots of fun making and receiving aprons lately! I've been hosting an apron swap over at Swap-bot called "Sweets for the Sweet Aprons", it's been fun! I started a Flickr group where people can share pictures, I've loved seeing what everyone is coming up with. I'm planning more apron swaps in the future and I'll be sure to mention them here.
  
  Here's my apron from my super nice partner, Mary!
  
  
  
  I just love it. Love the Japanese fabric at the bottom, it is actually in my Etsy favorites and she sent a little extra for me to play with too! That card has a little vintage pin attached to it.
  
  
  
  Isn't the cupcake so cute? I don't even think I can wear this apron, I'm probably going to have to hang it up in my kitchen so I don't stain it. :)
  
  I finished a custom apron today for a 4 year old girl, I really like how it came out.
  
  
  
  
  
  Her Mom is an Etsy seller too, I'm trading this apron to her for a custom tutu for Lucy for Christmas! I can't wait to see it and I'm sure Lucy is going to love it.
  
  Tomorrow we're off to Portland! I can't wait, we haven't been there for such a long time. I decided today that I just needed to get out of town and luckily everything is working out! I'm sure I'll have lots to post about when we get back. :) Hope everyone has a great week!

• November 11, 2008
• 14:19

  My New Baby

   » ‎ Violaceous

  Tags:    [edit]

  Oh sweet Bernina Activa 210, how I love you.
  
  
  
  I know this is the Bernina entry model, but it still cost quite a bit! I used a whole paycheck (from all the funeral flowers I've been doing at work), part of the money from the sale of our old car, and it's my birthday present too! For heavens sake. I love it so much though, it sews beautifully and is actually pretty easy to use. I've been sewing a lot lately. I did a big Etsy update in my shop today, I'm starting to go in a different direction and focus more on doing baby and children's items since that's what I seem to enjoy the most and sell the most of. I think it helps to have a niche.
  
   I'm making plans to open up my own website for baby/children's items in the next year or so, it's just sort of a balancing act that I need to figure out. I love Etsy but would like to have my own site as well.
  
  Here's some of the things I put in my Etsy shop today, made with my new sewing machine! I can't believe how much faster I can make things, it's so streamlined.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

• 9:58

  Twitterpated

   » ‎ Violaceous

  Tags:    [edit]

  Okay, I'm hooked. A little late but still hooked. Have you tried Twitter yet? It's lots of fun. I got Dustin hooked on it too. Follow me!

  Real post to come later today, I promise. ;)

• November 06, 2008
• 14:33

  Think about buying handmade this Christmas.

   » ‎ Violaceous

  Tags:    [edit]

  
  
  

  

  I took the handmade pledge this year, and would love to encourage others to do the same! You're doing a great thing by supporting artists and crafters:
  
  1. Supporting an individual rather than a large company
  
  2. Giving/getting a quality product with attention made to details
  
  3. Giving/getting a one of a kind piece
  
  4. Helping the environment by not buying something made in a factory
  
  5. Buying directly from the hands that made it and keeping the middleman out of it
  
  6. If you buy something made with recycled items it's double the good feeling!
  
  7. Making sure the arts stay alive in your community
  
  8. Keeping the spirit of Christmas alive!
  
  9. Taking some of the consumerism out of Christmas
  
  10. Keeping things out of landfills since people are less likely to throw a handmade item away (I can't, no matter how weird it is).

  This says it more eloquently than I can, but it's something I'm really passionate about. By the way, those ornaments were just put in my Etsy shop. Shameless plug, I know.

  I've been making Christmas gifts this year, and doing trades with other crafters on Etsy. I've gotten so many neat things already! I can't post many, or I'll ruin surprises, but I did want to mention Butterfly Moon, one of the many cool vendors I've traded with. Her blog, Hemp Butterfly, is here. She makes incredible things out of hemp! A lot of the things she makes are things I've never seen anywhere else and you can tell she loves making them and puts a lot of detail into her work.

  
  
  

  
  
  This is totally off topic, but here's a couple pictures of Lucy in her Halloween costume. She was a butterfly and was pretty darn cute:
  
  
  
  Eating candy
  
  
  
  Playing peek a boo

  I can't believe it's November 6th and I'm just now putting Halloween pictures up. That's the way my life has been lately!
  
  Also off topic, regarding the election, I don't like discussing controversial things on here, but I am soooooo happy! I started getting teary eyed watching his speech, and it takes a lot to get me to do that.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• October 31, 2008
• 11:15

  Lucy's Day at the Pumpkin Patch

   » ‎ Violaceous

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  On Wednesday Dustin, Lucy and I went to the DD ranch in Terrebonne to pick out a pumpkin! We were excited to take her since it's the first year she can really participate, last year she was just a baby. Here's a couple Halloween pictures from last year, she was a ballerina:
  
  
  
  
  
  Isn't she cute? I can't believe that was a whole year ago. She looks so...little!! And full of cheeks. I still have the tiara, which is something I'll never give away.
  
  Here she is a couple days ago, at the pumpkin patch:
  
  
  
  Out in the field, navigating over the little rocks and holes. Those things are big when you're so small and have little feet!
  
  
  
  Checking out the little chickens
  
  
  
  Little artist, drawing in the dirt with a corn thing. I don't know what to call it - flower? stalk? Anyone know what it's called?
  
  
  
  
  
  My 2 pumpkins with their pumpkins!
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  And no trip to a pumpkin patch would be complete without the animals! The 3 of us had so much fun, we definitely want to do this every year.

  
  
  
  
  
• October 27, 2008
• 16:30

  Busy, busy, busy.

   » ‎ Violaceous

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  I just realized it's been a long time since I've posted anything! I've been super busy at work, with Lucy, and making custom orders for Christmas gift trades on Etsy. On Friday at work I made this for a funeral:
  
  
  
  Very challenging, but I like challenges. Those are all real flowers, the black ones are carnations that I sprayed with black floral paint. Needless to say, this took a lot of my time last week but I'm really happy with how it turned out, and the family loved it. :)

  I also did an update to my Etsy shop, here are some of my favorites:
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  I'll post more later this week when things slow down! :)

• October 19, 2008
• 16:54

  Why I Love Toddlers:

   » ‎ Violaceous

  Tags:    [edit]

  This pretty much sums it up.
  
  
  
  Those are Mr. Potato Head glasses, and she wears them on her cheeks all the time.
  
  Lucy makes a great model! I made some toddler aprons for my Etsy shop and Lucy and I did a photo shoot in the backyard today.
  
  
  
  
  
   
  
  
  
  
  
  Until this happened:
  
  
  
  Time to stop. :)

• October 16, 2008
• 20:02

  Snippets:

   » ‎ Violaceous

  Tags:    [edit]

  In Progress:
  
  
  
  A pair of knitted mittens for my swap partner - one is almost done!

  Finished:
  
  
  
  Some felted mushrooms for another swap partner - I knitted the tops then felted them, and needle felted the stems. I got the patterns here, they were so much fun to make! They were a pretty fast project too. I love the way the red one turned out, it almost looks real!
  
  

  Thrifted:
  
  
  
  This vintage jewelry box - $3.99! That shade of pink is so pretty. I was excited when I found it. :)
  
  
  
  And this vintage rhinestone jewelry set, which will probably be cut apart and repurposed although I somehow feel guilty doing it.

• October 14, 2008
• 14:12

  Goodbye cookies

   » ‎ Violaceous

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  I just read about this yesterday here - Mother's Cookies shut down. How sad is that?! These animal cookies are childhood memories in a bag, for a lot of people!

• October 13, 2008
• 16:30

  Fall planting

   » ‎ Violaceous

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  The temperature here has been dipping pretty low at night, and has already frozen my poor basil plants and my tomatoes. I know those are temperature sensitive, but I was sad to see them go! Still hanging on are my thyme and rosemary plants. I planted lots of herbs, veggies and flowers in containers this year, they cheer me up to come home to since they're right by the front door. But they're dwindling! So Lucy and I made a trip to pick up a new fall planter and some ornamental cabbages to brighten our doorstep.
  
  
  
  
  
  I love the colors of the ornamental cabbages, they're so vibrant! About the only things you can have outside here this time of year are cabbages and kale, pansies and mums. Plus the plants/flowers that hang on in whatever micro climate you live in. I miss the Portland area for that reason (among others), everything turns brown here in the winter!
  
  
  
  
  
  I love pansies. You see them a lot but I can't resist their little faces! I'll take whatever flowers I can get to grow when it's freezing here, anyway. Wish my new little guys gentle nights so they can hang on as long as possible! :)

• October 12, 2008
• 7:57

  On our way to winter

   » ‎ Violaceous

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  The other morning Dustin woke up (he wakes up early) to everything covered in snow! There wasn't very much, it was almost melted by the time I woke up, but still! I know it shouldn't surprise me since I live in a place like this but it does, every time. I can remember as a kid playing outside on the 4th of July and watching snowflakes come down. We bundled up for firework watching that night! I don't feel like I'm ready for the chill of winter yet, I'm still hanging on to summer a little bit!
  
  
  
  Lucy is ready for the chill of winter (please excuse my messy house).
  
  
  
  Also, please excuse the blurriness. She doesn't sit still long enough to get a good picture anymore! This is how I had to dress poor Lucy just to take a walk in our neighborhood. She's trying to get her hat(s) and mittens off but with no luck. At least her little hands were warm when we got back!

  How do you like my new blog look? I love my new banner so much. Heather at Bluhm Studios did an amazing job. I just felt like I needed something that was a little more me. She did designs for my web page too. Right now I just have links on there but since the address is on my business cards I wanted something that fit with my aesthetic (you should have seen what was on there before - ugh). I'm going to add more info to that page too, I'm just still thinking about what I want to say. I have a hard time doing "about me" blurbs, it's hard to sum up my life and what I'm about in a paragraph. It's just as hard making it sound equally good and non-pompous!

• October 08, 2008
• 13:40

  It's the little things

   » ‎ Violaceous

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  It's the little things that I love when choosing supplies to craft with. Lots and lots of little, tiny things. They're everywhere. And I have a ton of them. This was never more evident than a couple of days ago when my stepmom, Betty, came over for some help with her Halloween costume. We went sorting through my craft supplies for ideas and I have to say, it was a little embarrassing! You know when you're around something long enough you think it's normal?
  
  This times 10?
  
  
  
  Apparently not so normal. Do you need a plastic cowboy boot? A broken doll leg? Old circus tickets? A plastic baby? Something else? I probably have it. Ugh. Please tell me I'm not the only one that collects these tiny things.
  
  On another note...
  
  I'm making a run into Bend today to update my booth at Blue Moon Marketplace and here's a few pictures of things I made recently for my booth!
  
   

  
  
  
  
  I made use of some of my collection of tiny things to make these charm bracelets! I love that pink rhinestone circle, I've been waiting for just the right thing to use it on.
  
  
  
  Halloween star ornaments with german glass glitter. This is my first time using this glitter, and I love the texture it gives to things!
  
  
  
  And some more cards. I've been doing pretty well with my cards there lately.
  
  Other projects I've been working on I can't really show, because they're birthday and Christmas gifts for people that might come across them here!

  
  
  
  
  
• October 04, 2008
• 13:21

  More Mischief

   » ‎ Violaceous

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  Guess what this little girl did this morning. I didn't know whether to laugh or cry! When I went in her room to get her up she was completely naked. She took both her pajamas and her diaper off, threw her (poopy) diaper, and then...pooped again. All while I was sleeping peacefully.  I held her out at arm's length and put her straight into the tub, while half asleep. Toddlers. The havoc that they wreak is well balanced by cuteness. I swear it's a survival tactic. That's how my morning started today. How about you?  :)

• September 29, 2008
• 18:02

  I love knitting...

   » ‎ Violaceous

  Tags:    [edit]

  Especially in the fall! My latest project is a big striped stuffed snake for Lucy, I just finished it today! It's a little ugly but enabled me to use up all my tiny balls of yarn that I don't know what else to do with. I figured she wouldn't care too much. It ended up longer than she is and I honestly can't tell what she thinks of it. She's a little disgruntled today and is mad at pretty much everything right now. :) Maybe tomorrow she'll like it, we'll see. At least Dustin likes it. It's from this book, which also has a lot of other very cute patterns.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  I will spare you the many pictures I have of Lucy looking angry from today.
  
  
  
  These are my new beautiful handspun yarns that I got here, in Sisters. They do a wonderful job on their handspun yarn and seem more inexpensive than online shops. Plus I love looking at all the different colors and feeling the textures, something I can't do online. I can't wait to knit with them! They have spinning classes too, I think I will try to take one this winter. It's something I've always wanted to learn how to do.
  
  Other knitted projects in the works are a knitted pumpkin for Lucy's nature table and a little wool vest for Lucy to wear this winter.
  
  I'm trying to ignore all the crazy and scary things in the news from today, for the time being I think I'll just keep knitting. ;) It's a good way to work things out in my mind.

• September 22, 2008
• 12:17

  It's the first day of fall!

   » ‎ Violaceous

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  Happy first day of fall! I absolutely love this time of year. The colors, the smells, the air, mmmm. I feel cozy just thinking about it!

  

  This is Lucy's autumn nature table that I put together for her. A nature table is based on Waldorf teachings, the idea is to give small children the concept of changing seasons and to bring nature indoors. I think it's going to be a fun tradition and I'm looking forward to changing it according to the season! It's something all 3 of us can enjoy in our house. It's right at her level and she likes looking at everything and carrying things around.
  
  I'm learning more about the Waldorf method of teaching and love the focus on nature and the idea of children having more natural and simpler toys. The little wooden squirrel is from Mamaroots on Etsy. Lucy loves carrying it around in the little bag it came with. She even had to bring it with her when Dustin took her outside the other day and wouldn't put it down! I think that natural textures (wool, bark, dirt, feathers, leaves, etc.) are important to children relating to nature and I'm trying to reduce some of Lucy's plastic toys and incorporate more things made of natural materials. I'm not an all or nothing type of person, but I do think integrating some of these concepts into how I parent will make a positive difference. If you think about it, how many times during the day do you touch something that isn't manmade or processed? I was thinking about that the other day, and it's crazy how many things in our home aren't natural! It kind of grossed me out, actually. Even a lot of fabric has polyester blended into it. I'm just starting to realize these things and explore them a little more. I think it's hard trying to learn about a lifestyle that I'm not used to, and I'm excited to change things a little at a time in our house.

• September 19, 2008
• 11:48

  We Love the High Desert Museum

   » ‎ Violaceous

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  On Wednesday we went to the High Desert Museum, we have a membership and it's one of our favorite places to go! This time was especially fun because Lucy is finally old enough to get excited over the animals. If you're in central Oregon I would definitely suggest going, they've done a great job depicting our area and I think it's a very relaxing place to visit. The fall is my favorite time of the year to go, the trees are beautiful!
  
  
  
  Lucy looking at her "wah-er"
  
  
  
  Me and my Little Miss - Lucy insisted on wearing her backpack. It's actually a little harness for when you're in a really crowded area but she loves wearing it. :)
  
  
  
  Luce is abiding by the rules.
  
  
  
  Mmmmm, little tiny pinecone things! We had to keep prying these things out of her mouth. :(
  
  
  
  Luce and her Dada
  
  
  
  Lucy and I looking at chickens - they were so cute! This area of the museum is a replica of a homestead so they have farm animals you can see, and a pioneer garden with real veggies and things. This is my favorite part, I think I would have been happy living somewhere like this. According to Lucy, chickens say cuhcuhcuhcuhcuh. If you listen to them, they do sound like this! I love it when she imitates the actual animal noise, not the "book version" (cluck).
  
  
  
  
  
  Eeeee! They're so disapproving and cute! We want to get some chickens in the spring, very badly. We'll see though...we've been planning this for a couple years now and it hasn't happened yet.
  
  
  
  The inside of the homestead. Isn't it cute and cozy?
  
  
  
  Chipmunk!

  I love, love, love the feeling in the air when fall is here or almost here. I can't get enough of being outside. I have a yummy fall dinner planned for tonight - homemade chicken noodle soup and homemade bread! Mmmmm.

• September 14, 2008
• 12:38

  Tag and a little bit of this and that

   » ‎ Violaceous

  Tags:    [edit]

  I'm it! Emily from Sugar and Meringue (I love her blog, by the way) tagged me to tell you about some quirky things about myself. Here are the rules:

  1) Link to the person who tagged you
  
  2) Mention the rules
  
  3) Tell six quirky yet boring, unspectacular details about yourself
  
  4) Tag six other bloggers by linking to them
  
  5) Go to each person’s blog and leave a comment that lets them know they’ve been tagged

  So here are some of my quirks:

  1) I cannot stand to have nail polish on my fingernails and they have to be really short. I think it's because I do so much with my hands. I made the mistake of getting my nails done with french acrylics once (they did look pretty though) and I kept cutting them shorter and shorter before finally prying them off myself a week and a half later. Could not stand the way they felt.  The last time I had nail polish on my fingernails was for my wedding and I actually ended up borrowing a bottle of nail polish remover from the owner of the bed and breakfast we stayed at the first 2 nights of our honeymoon. I was that desperate to get it off. I will probably never paint my nails again. I do always have my toenails painted, but that's different.

  2) I hate canned peas with a passion but continue to buy them to make for dinner. Why? I don't know.

  3) I rarely finish a beverage at home. Doesn't matter what it is - coffee, soda, water, beer, whatever. I always leave the same amount in the bottom, about 2 inches. Dustin is always making fun of my "drink ends". I chalk that up to my always "flittering about" the house and having to constantly do something. I just don't think I can sit there long enough to finish a drink.

  4) I am crazy about needing fresh air, all the time. I can't be in air conditioning for more than about 45 minutes whether in the car or in the house - I have to turn it off and open the window for a while. In the winter when it's below freezing I'll close rooms off and open the windows to air them out one at a time so I don't freeze everybody. Or open them before we leave the house. My plants hate this quirk of mine in the winter.

  5) I have a really hard time eating meat when it's on the bone. I was a strict vegetarian for 8 years and I just can't get past the fact that there's a bone in the meat. I never cook anything with a bone in it, which is too bad for me because it's a lot more expensive to get the other cuts. My family had us over for ribs last year and everyone actually stopped eating to watch me try to eat my first rib (ever) which was apparently a huge source of amusement. I guess I eat them daintily and not the right way?!

  6) I can't ever have someone's feet touching my feet. Especially bare feet. It makes me want to shudder just thinking about it.

  I'm going to pass this to...

  Juniper Berry
  
  Librarian Lee
  
  Granola Girl
  
  Merry Moon
  
  Jenni B Originals
  
  My Crafty Mess

  I also wanted to share some pictures of Lucy playing with her new play silks! I got her 2 of them, a blue one and a rainbow one. I'm already amazed at all the different ways she's found to play with them. I wish I would have gotten her some a long time ago! I think her favorite is to put one over her head (they're see through) and charge towards Dustin or I while laughing, so cute. :) She's also used them as scarves, dolly blankets, a bed, wraps for various objects, a skirt, whipping around and for hiding.
  
  

  

  

  

  

  I would definitely recommend these if you have small children! :)
  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

• September 11, 2008
• 8:35

  Colorful Wedding

   » ‎ Violaceous

  Tags:    [edit]

  I had a big wedding to do flowers for over the weekend (I'm a florist, for those of you that don't know) and I thought I'd share some pictures of them. The bride and groom were so much fun to work with and their wedding colors and flowers turned out to be just as fun!
  
  
  
  
  
  Check out that blue, blue sky. It was such a pretty day!
  
  
  
  
  
  No photos of the bouquets, unfortunately - they picked those up ahead of time. I absolutely love the wedding location, it's a local ranch and they have a pumpkin patch in the fall that Dustin and I like to go to. We haven't taken Lucy yet, that'll be so fun this fall! If you're in central Oregon or are planning to visit, it's worth the drive over there to see the ranch. They have beautiful grounds and it's fun to pick your pumpkin out of the fields. :)

• September 07, 2008
• 22:04

  Polyvore = fun

   » ‎ Violaceous

  Tags:    [edit]

  I just found a new (to me) site called Polyvore where you can make different photo sets and collages from any photo on the web, it is so addictive! I found this via a link from a blog I love called Happy Loves Rosie (another site you should check out).  I've spent the last hour making different sets and I got my little sister hooked on it too. I love making collages in real life and it's so much fun to do something like this digitally! I am computer illiterate when it comes to Photoshop and designing things on the computer, so I love how user-friendly this is and it's a fun, fast way to be creative!  Here are a couple I just made:
  
  

• September 03, 2008
• 13:25

  Needle Felting Fun

   » ‎ Violaceous

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  Needle Felting - It's fun, it's easy! So, so much easier than I thought. Basically you take a piece of wool roving, stick it with a special needle a whole bunch and mold it into the shape you want while you're sticking it with the needle. The wool felts and you end up with a little sculpture. I like how sturdy these little things end up, they'd make great toys for kids. I love all the different colors that you can get the wool roving in and I even dyed some myself with kool-aid! No pictures yet of the dying process, soon though! Needle felting is one of my new little addictions. One of many craft related addictions.
  
  
  
  This little gnome is in my Etsy shop
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Cupcakes! I had 5 in my Etsy shop but sold them along with an order from the same person for 5 more. I have some more coming to my shop soon in case you want some too (wink wink). The strawberry is the first thing I felted. I think everyone who has wanted to try this should, I put it off for a while thinking it would be a lot harder. Watch the needle though, that thing is dang sharp!! Ask me how I know that. ;)

• August 29, 2008
• 16:50

  The winner is...

   » ‎ Violaceous

  Tags:    [edit]

  comment #7! Yay Rochelle at Granola Girl! Sorry - I meant to do this yesterday but typepad has been having issues. Number drawing courtesy of random.org. Thank you everyone else for your sweet comments! By the way, take a peek at Rochelle's blog, her son is so cute!

• August 25, 2008
• 12:37

  Etsy Update and a Contest!

   » ‎ Violaceous

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  I just got done updating my Etsy shop with new goodies, all made freshly in the last week or so! In honor of me ending a lazy streak, I'm going to give away an item of someone's choosing from my shop! Just leave a comment and I'll pick a random number in the next couple of days. Anyone can win this time, just make sure there's some way to contact you or check back to see if you've won. Thanks! :)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

• August 22, 2008
• 11:58

  Nesting

   » ‎ Violaceous

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  I'm not sure why I've been so focused on my home lately, I think it's the changing temperatures and feeling fall in the air. Every fall I seem to want to redecorate, bake a lot and knit. Maybe it's just my way of getting ready for winter. Winters here are so cold, I end up staying indoors a lot.
  
  
  
  I'm trying to change my kitchen from a chili pepper theme (chosen when I first moved out, 8 years ago) to a bright 50s/60s theme, which is totally more my style. I have 2 apple teapots because when Dustin was cooking a while ago, he dropped something on my new (well, new to me, it was a thrift store find) apple teapot and chipped a spot of enamel off. No big deal, but he felt really bad. I guess since then he had been looking on Ebay for a new one. He finally found one and won it. I couldn't throw the other one away, so now I have 2! They are a little different, I just think it looks so funny having these 2 unusual teapots on my stove that are almost exactly the same. I just can't give one up! I love them both.
  
  
  
  I love these wire baskets to store my food in. Originally my bread and fruit were just piled on the counter and looked messy. See my new "gumball machine" jar behind them? I know, it's all covered up. I love it, I just got it yesterday. It's kind of like a cookie jar with a lid.
  
  
  
  A drawer full of new pretty kitchen towels!
  
  
  
  I got this pillow yesterday at the Farmer's Co-op antique store here in Redmond. It might not be for everyone, but I absolutely love it. It's hand embroidered and dyed, I have no idea when it was made though. Maybe the 50s? I think it's funny that someone embroidered her nonchalantly smoking, where would you find a pillow like that these days? The dog has red eyes, which is a little weird, but those 2 things made me love it all the more. ;)

• August 19, 2008
• 12:56

  The crazy weather

   » ‎ Violaceous

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  This is a sunset picture taken on a walk last week when it was stormy. We've been having the weirdest weather! For 3 days it was over 100 degrees then for the last 2 days it's been staying around 70 degrees and we've seen everything from thunderstorms to rain to hail to sunshine! That's how it gets around here. Dustin's been at work for the last 4 days so Lucy and I have been trying to stay indoors to avoid the craziness outside. We've been holed up a little, either with the air conditioning or with all the windows wide open listening to and smelling the rain.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  I finally finished my first quilt! It was a pretty ambitious project for a first quilt, it totally covers the top of a queen sized bed! I probably should have started with a wall quilt. It's a little wonky, but not too bad. :) I tied it instead of quilting it, and used a vintage sheet for the backing. It was a birthday present for my mom. My next quilt is going to be a wall quilt, I bought the pattern and am going to use bright candy colored fabrics from my stash. I'm excited to start it, just need to finish a couple other things first.
  
  
  
  Lucy and I made this cute cake (well really I did, while she played on the kitchen floor). A very nice swap partner sent me a "cupcake kit" in a swap along with a little cupcake doll. It had cake mix, frosting, sprinkles and cupcake papers! I used the cake mix, the frosting and some of the sprinkles for the cake (I already had the flowers) and I still have enough stuff left over to make a couple batches of cupcakes. I got the cute sugar flowers here, in Tigard. They have everything for baking, it is a very fun store to visit!
  
  Lucy had a small piece of cake, here she is being enthusiastic about it and silly:
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  I like how she has frosting and sprinkles hanging off her chin. :)

• August 11, 2008
• 20:24

  Mischief

   » ‎ Violaceous

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  Boy is Lucy at that age. These are pictures of things she's come up with in the last 2 days:

  
  
  
  
  Wearing an oven mitt and shoving the remote down between the couch cushions (on purpose). Right before this she had one red oven mitt on each arm and looked like a lobster! It was so funny - I couldn't grab the camera fast enough though.
  
  
  
  Um, yes. Those are tampons. In a barn silo. She was in the bathroom while I was taking a shower and somehow did this in the meantime. She kept throwing things in the shower too. When do you know you're the mom of a toddler? When you can't take a shower alone, when your personal items end up in a silo and when you're having to step over soggy rabbit shaped graham crackers while you're showering. On the shower floor. And it's just all part of a normal day in your life!
  
  
  
  Here she is wearing my bra as a necklace. Enough said.
  
  
  
  How can I not just love her to pieces though?! I love how creative she is, like - "I know, I'll do this! It'll be fun!" I love seeing what she comes up with. She cracks me up. And sorry, I know you probably didn't want to see both tampons and a hot pink bra in the same post but come on - it's funny! :) After you're a mother all decency completely flies out the window. Oh, and by the way, I finally got her hair into a ponytail! This is a personal accomplishment of mine, you don't have to be too excited. But maybe just a little bit?
  
  
  
  
  
  She looks so pretty!

• August 08, 2008
• 13:24

  Stupid internet things that I think are funny

   » ‎ Violaceous

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  Enough said. Bored? I am.
  
  My list:
  
  The Ralph Wiggum File

  Rather Good

  Overheard in New York

  LOL cat Bible translation project

  Best of Craigslist

  Worlds best graffiti

  Cat Prin

  Kitty Cat

  Laughing baby
  
  

  Charlie bit me

• August 04, 2008
• 20:29

  Lucy's magnets

   » ‎ Violaceous

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  Today I made Luce some play magnets with pictures of people in our family. I printed the pictures out (being a little picky in what I chose, they had to be easy to cut out), cut them out carefully with an exacto knife, taped them all over with packing tape to a piece of cardstock for a laminated look - I did this on the backs too, cut out around the pictures, and stuck some of those adhesive magnets on the back. The total price for these was $2.50, for the magnets. I already had the other supplies on hand. I'm really happy with them and Luce loves them!
  
  Sorry the pictures are so blurry - I took them fast, I had to keep an eye on dinner. And Lucy.
  
  
  
  Here's Lucy playing with a picture of "Dada". It was so cute - she seemed so surprised to see him on the fridge! She kept saying "Dada, dada". She also loves the Auntie Monica ones and the ones with our dogs and cat. I hadn't thought about this, but I think it's good for her to have pictures of Dustin around to look at while he's at work. I'm going to try to come up with other ideas for inexpensive, simple, non-electronic toys to make for her. I want to try making some play dough, sewing her some felt food for her shopping cart and dying some play silks. Any other ideas that worked well for your kids or that you've seen?

• July 31, 2008
• 13:26

  Lucy's First Fair

   » ‎ Violaceous

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  Yesterday we went to the Deschutes County Fair. Fairs are always so much fun! I like the open class entries (handmade things, jams, photography, baked goods, etc.) and the animals the best. I've never been much of a person for the rides and games but I do think it will be fun for Lucy when she gets a little older. Sadly Dustin didn't win any ribbons for his beer. They were really, really good beers though. There's always next year!
  
  Blurry but check out that goat! How funny. I didn't notice him when I was taking this.
  
  Cute and sweet baby goats
  
  Sleepy sheep
  
  Daaaad I don't want my picture taken in front of the cow butts!
  
  Keeping an eye on the huge horses
  
  I think the horses freaked her out a little
  
  Petting zoo
  
  
  2 good things - hugs from my little girl and a bubble gum shaved ice (my favorite kind)
  
  
  She likes it as much as I do!
  
  A little grumpy towards the end but she sure slept well that night! I can't wait to take her when she's a little bigger and can go on some of the rides.

• July 30, 2008
• 14:01

  Beer Brewing 101

   » ‎ Violaceous

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  Hello! This is Dustin (Amanda's husband). Amanda has asked me to do a post on her blog about beer brewing. I have been brewing beer for about 3 or 4 years now and I consider myself to be intermediate in experience level.

  I just entered two beers in the Deschutes County Fair this week, in a beer contest. One is a chocolate stout and the other is a bavarian style hefeweizen. For each entry there are two bottles, one for judging and one for display. I designed labels on the computer and everything. The judging is not done by just anybody either. The judges are certified by the Brewers Association of America, so there are very specific qualities they look for. They use scorecards and do a write up with feedback on each beer they judge. It's really awesome to get feedback on my beer from a prefessional! Two years ago I got a blue ribbon (1st place) with a porter that I entered in the fair. This year I am hoping to win best of show (better than 1st place) or another blue ribbon with at least one of my beers. Amanda, Lucy, and I are going to the fair later today so we will find out then! I'm sure Amanda will share about our adventures at the fair in a later post.

  Anyway, back to my brewing "how to". The type of beer brewing I do is called "extract brewing" which is more advanced than brewing from a kit, but not as advanced as "all grain brewing". Extract brewing requires 5 or 6 ingredients... grain, malt extract, hops, flavoring if desired (fruit, chocolate, etc.), water, and yeast.

  I brew in a 6 gallon stainless steel stock pot on top of a 60,000 BTU turkey fryer propane burner. Turkey fryers provide the amount of heat needed to bring a couple gallons of water to a boil very rapidly and can be purchased for about $75. Most of my other equipment came in a kit from our local home brew supply shop for about $100. The cost of ingredients for each batch of beer runs about $30 and makes enough beer for about 50 twelve ounce bottles (8 six packs). I recently started using 22 ounce bottles though to save on bottling time. I can fill about 26 of them per batch.

  I have my brew time down to about 4 hours including prep time, brewing, and clean up. Here's how it's done with pictures from start to finish (from when I brewed my chocolate stout)...
  
   
  From left to right: Sanitizing equipment, grains, steeping the grains
  
   
  From left to right: Strained the grains, added malt extract, added the "flavoring" hops

  
  From left to right: Added "bakers" chocolate, added the "aroma" hops, added Irish moss

   
  From left to right: Stained the hops, chilled the beer/added yeast, first stage fermenting (1 week)

  
  From left to right: Transfer to secondary stage fermenter (1 week), bottled (1-2 weeks), "Neurotic 8" bavarian style hefeweizen (left) and "Where is my heater?" chocolate stout (right).

  That's it! Total time from brewing to ready to drink is about 3-4 weeks. Wish me luck in the fair!

  - Dustin

  
   
• July 29, 2008
• 20:23

  New goodies

   » ‎ Violaceous

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  I've been on a serious "use what I already have for crafting" kick for a long time now but I finally gave myself permission to splurge on a few new things. I'm excited, but I'm a kind of a dork like that.
  
  New book with stitch patterns like the one I did the red square in - the book I learned how to do that from went back to the library. I didn't want to see it go! Now I have my own. I got it here, in Bend. I hadn't been to that bookstore yet and it's really nice! (Thanks Dusty)
  
  2 very inspiring magazines - I love all of Somerset's publications.
  
  
  Cute new scrapbooking papers to make cards and tags with. I love those cute little ice cream and strawberry embellishments, they were made by a local girl. Her Etsy shop is here in case you need some too.

• July 27, 2008
• 11:55

  Toddlers are hard to entertain.

   » ‎ Violaceous

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  I've been having to get creative. Here's Lucy yesterday playing with different cups, bowls, spoons and containers filled with water. This kept her pretty busy. She played with these for about half an hour - in toddler time that's pretty good.
  It's been getting harder and harder to take her out of the house. Anywhere we go where she has to be in a grocery cart she gets pretty mad because she wants to be down and walking. That gets kind of frustrating because I feel like we stay home a lot. Luckily she still likes being in her stroller so we've been taking tons of walks. I've made it a goal to take a 1/2 hour walk every night and so far I've been doing that for a few weeks straight! I'm pretty proud of myself. I'm starting to lose a little weight too - yay! I feel like I'm more in shape now, like I can walk farther and farther. Lucy and I walk right by a field of cows every night and last night a cow that was standing right by the fence opened his mouth and MOOOOOOed practically right in our faces. It was so loud! Lucy mooed right back at it.
  There's a new place here in Redmond that just opened up and has been a lifesaver some days! It's called Outside-In Playcafe and is an awesome place to take little kids to play and get some of their energy out while parents relax. She likes it there a lot. I'm looking forward to taking her there a lot this winter when the weather's too bad to do anything outside.
  On another note, I found these online yesterday - Mama merit badges. I think the descriptions are so funny. I want some!

  
  
• July 20, 2008
• 13:19

  WIP

   » ‎ Violaceous

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  WIP = Work in Progress. In other words, my life. And yours as well, I'm sure.
  
  Afghan squares for a "friendship afghan" swap - I have to have 6 done by the end of the month (!)
  
  
  
  Book pages in progress for an artist "Birds of a Feather" book collaberative. The bird heads crack me up - they're so sweet and...decapitated. But cute! I got them here, I absolutely love her photostream.

  Sorry I haven't been posting a lot lately, I've just been living life. You know, regular old life that doesn't necessarily generate a creative blog post. The things that aren't inspiring. Trying to sell a car, picking up prescriptions, going to the library, the daily chasing of Miss Luce, things like that.
  I have, however, been spending a lot of time outside. It has been so beautiful. Sunny and around 85 degrees for probably 2 or 3 weeks now! There has been lots of time spent taking walks, going to the park, walking around downtown in Bend, drinking iced coffees, wearing flip flops - good old summer stuff.
  Dustin and I have been talking about wanting to have another baby, which is exciting. I feel recovered from my first pregnancy and back to my old self, I didn't about 6 months ago. I think it really does take 9 months to shake off pregnancy. It does a lot to your body! I still have weird little quirky things about my body that I didn't before I got pregnant with Luce. We're at a good spot as a family right now where we feel centered and connected. I'm kind of nervous about having 2 but I'm sure that's normal. Does anyone out there have any experience with having 2 little ones pretty close together in age? Thoughts?

• July 12, 2008
• 9:51

  I made a shirt!

   » ‎ Violaceous

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  And it fits! And it's pretty cute! I don't normally make myself clothes, it intimidates me. I sew a lot but don't really have a lot of patience to follow patterns. It has to be pretty easy, and able to be finished in one day. If I can't finish a pattern in one day I usually won't finish it at all. After reading a very inspiring post at Berlin's Whimsy, I used the same pattern she did and am very happy with the results. Her version with the little embroidered mushroom is absolutely beautiful. I love how Simplicity 4589 can be modified so much, looks cute and doesn't require a ton of fabric. I think I'll be more likely to make myself things since I like how this turned out. I've worn this once and am really happy with the fit. It's nice and light for summer.

• July 11, 2008
• 9:04

  My little explorer

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  We've had so much fun taking Lucy outside lately. She loves it and it's fun to see nature through her eyes. She rustles leaves on the tree, bends down to look very closely at the grass, carries around rocks and exclaims over birds in the trees. Things I take for granted.
  
  My pixie
  
  With a sash of silver beads she steps valiantly forward. I love this - her necklaces always fall off one shoulder.
  
  
  
  "Uh-oh" face with her mouth in a tiny O and a couple of crazy dogs
  
  
  
  Being a scientist with water
  
  
  She still needs to check back in with her mama every once in a while. Weird face, I know. She's talking about the camera. :)

• July 07, 2008
• 21:09

  The 4th

   » ‎ Violaceous

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  What a fun, exhausting day! For all 4 of us (Dustin, myself, Lucy and doggie Oliver)! In the morning we walked in the pet parade in Bend - so much fun! When I was little I walked a goat in it. Yes, a goat. I haven't been in it since! Now that I have my own little family I have an excuse to do dorky/fun things like that again. All 4 (yes, even the dog) of us wore red, white and blue. I talked my younger brother Micah into going with us too but he wore a "Somebody in Iraq Loves Me" shirt with a picture of the Iraq flag, but that's another story. :)  Anyways, if you got there a little early they had all the supplies to decorate your dog/stroller/wagon/etc. We decked out Lucy's stroller - the designer in me wanted to cringe at the end result but at least it was festive! There were so many people there! Both in the parade and watching. There were so many different kinds of animals too! I think the cutest were ducks in a cage being pulled on a wagon. There was a frog in a wagon, chickens, horses, tons of dogs and probably many more that I didn't see. Here's a few pictures:
  
  
  
  
  
  The funny thing was, Lucy got really mad in her stroller right before the parade was to start. I ended up carrying Lucy the whole way with her little head resting on my shoulder, Dustin walked Oliver and poor Micah had to push the empty stroller. We had fun though! Lucy was waving to the crowd off and on the whole time which was really cute. My Mom came down from Salem for the weekend in time to watch the parade. She yelled at us as we were going by but we didn't hear her so she just joined us walking in the parade! It was so nice to have her over. I'm a little sad that she's back in Salem now - Love you Mom!
  
  We all look a little weird in this picture but I think it's cute. This is after the parade. From left: Lucy, me, my Mom, Micah
  That evening we went to a Fourth of July barbeque at my Dad's house (shishkabobs, mmmm) and did some fireworks and sparklers. What did you end up doing on the 4th?

• July 02, 2008
• 19:06

  Everything is coming up roses

   » ‎ Violaceous

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  Literally! I've enjoyed watching the roses bloom in my yard and thought you might like to see them too! Sadly I can't take any credit for them, they were all planted when we moved in. I don't even really prune the poor things. They're growing kind of wild and bushy right now but I still think they're beautiful. I actually like the wild untamed garden look better, luckily. I don't have the time to garden right now! My potted plants are doing good, minus the earwigs in my lettuces. My strawberries, herbs and tomatoes are doing great!
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  I'm so happy that these keep coming up nicely year after year because this is a pretty harsh climate for the poor little guys! I'm excited for the Fourth of July and this weekend. Friday we're going to walk in the pet parade, which Bend has downtown every year, and then we're going to a yummy barbecue at my Dad's house, and my mom will be spending the weekend here. I'm making my poor family walk in the pet parade. I bought Dustin a patriotic shirt, Lucy has a little red, white and blue outfit and I even got red, white and blue leis for the dogs! They're all going to be so embarrassed - hahaha. And then of course I'll post pictures here. ;)  What are your plans for the weekend?

• June 26, 2008
• 21:08

  Busy toddler!

   » ‎ Violaceous

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  Dustin has had the last 3 days off from work and it has been beautiful outside! We've had a nice week just being a family and Lucy has been super busy. Here are some of the things she did this week:
  Got into star stickers
  Stuck them on herself
  Walked up...
  and down the hall. A lot.
  Looked oddly grown up in one of our pictures. (!)
  Played in her new pool!
  Didn't like it at first...
  But soon got used to it.
  Played with Joe
  Had fun in the sun!
  We've had so much fun this summer taking her outside and showing her what summer is all about! Last year she was really too little and I know the next couple years will be great as well - so much to discover and learn!

  
  
• June 24, 2008
• 12:49

  What I love right now

   » ‎ Violaceous

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  The Double Bind - I just finished this - I couldn't put it down!
  
  Mary Jane's Farm - I just discovered this magazine and love everything about it!
  
  The Cutest Stickers - Just plain...cute! And inexpensive.
  
  Simple Baked Salmon - I've been making this a lot lately. So, so incredibly easy and really good.
  
  Packaging Girlhood - A really interesting blog about how marketing affects girls - some of it makes me sick, really but it's things I need to be aware as a mother of a little girl.
  
  Tie One On - The coolest handmade apron collaborative
  
  Homestead Heirlooms - Handmade leather handles for bags or baskets - The ones that I ordered just came and they are really nice! I got these, the sew-on ones.
  
  The Learning Tower - I think we're going to get one of these for Luce soon.

  
  
  
  
  
• June 20, 2008
• 13:30

  I love summer

   » ‎ Violaceous

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  Wispy one year old hair shining in the sun

  
  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  What's she thinking about?

  
  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  Exploring on the grass

  
  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  Lucy's Daddy relaxing outside, brewing beer

  
  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  The best homemade strawberry shortcake in the world with a glass of iced matcha green tea!