Bazaar preview

Last year was my first experience selling at holiday bazaars. I did two, and loved them so much! I think because it's like playing store. Half the fun is setting up my table display, making it all pretty and organized. I was hooked. So I've officially signed up for one this year, and tomorrow I'm mailing my registration for another. 

The first one of the year is this coming weekend! And it's two days long! I love that idea. Same amount of work setting up, but two days worth of sales! Here are the details:

St. Paul of Damascus Lutheran Church

24510 SE Hwy. 212

Boring, OR 97089

Friday Nov. 4th 1pm-8pm

Saturday Nov. 5th 9am-4pm

Here's a link to the flier with more information.

So, naturally, I've been getting very crafty. I'll be bringing lots of new things to see how they sell! My absolute favorite things to make so far are wreaths!

I've always loved wreaths for all seasons. Especially unique ones. I have a fall one hanging on my door, a feather one in my living room, and usually we have several displayed around Christmas time- my favorite is a lavender beaded one. I know it doesn't sound Christmas-y, but it works with our decor! 

These twig wreaths are embellished with a variety of leaves, glittered pinecones, satin flowers, feathers, beads, buttons and tulle. 

These were such a refreshing creative outlet for me! Something different than my usual sewing. I've been having a blast with my glue gun.

This is a shabby chic fabric scrap wreath! Embellished with a bow and flower. 

I've seen tulle wreaths on pinterest lately and fallen in love with them. I just so happened to have a fair amount of peacock colored tulle lying around... thanks to my halloween bunco costume...

And you all know I love repurposing! So here is my first peacock tulle wreath. 

I just love it. I think a peacock Christmas would be fabulous.

While I was having fun making satin flowers I decided to make some hair clips. Here they are, clipped to my fall garland. So fun and glam!

Of course I'll also have my usual items: reusable snack bags, stuffed owls, tons of coffee cozies... and most likely ducks and beavers embellished onesies, super cute ironing board covers, embellished wipes cases, pretty sleep masks, maybe even a diaper cake or two! I just love making them. 

A great friend will be joining me and bringing her gorgeous knitted hats, baby headbands, and possibly little girls peasant blouses! 

Should be lots of fun. Come stop by if you're local! I'd love visitors! 

Destination deck

 Our house backs up to a big greenspace, and our yard slopes steeply down towards it. It tends to be wet and marshy down there, due to a small creek. Soon after we bought the house, we brought in several dump trucks full of dirt to fill in the yard and make it a bit more usable. But it's still pretty small. It'll work for five years or so, but we are always looking for ways to get more use out of the space we have, because we love spending time outside.

Hubby came up with the idea for a tiny, second deck near our new sign. It hangs over the steep edge of our yard and makes the useless space functional. The adirondack chairs we got on clearance at Joann fabric store for $27 each! And they even came whitewashed already. 

We decided to paint the deck one of the colors in our sign to unify the look a little. The color we chose is called 'head to the beach'. Love it. 

We are hoping to build a short railing of some sort across the back since the drop-off is pretty steep- but we aren't sure yet what would look good on this funny little deck. Hubby also plans to add some stairs to the left side to make it seem bigger. 

There is a small, ornamental tree to the left of the deck that provides a bit of welcome shade during the hot afternoons- the only shade we have out back. 

This spot provides a 180 degree view of the entire yard, so it's much easier to see the kids while they play than on our upper deck. 

On a side note, here's our pretty new banana tree from my parents! It's a hardy banana, so it grows here in the NW but doesn't produce fruit. Just gives a great tropical look. They get super tall, too- and if you plant them in the ground they multiply like crazy. Even in the pot ours already has three baby shoots starting. 

Our travel sign

Finally I get to share our sign with you! We seriously started this project over a year ago! It is a labor of love for sure. Buy wood... cut wood... paint boards... google mileage from Sandy... paint letters, making sure the arrow points the right direction... then figure how on earth to put the thing together. Not to mention making it stand up straight and stay put. Phew. 

But then we stood back and surveyed all our hard work and it was so worth it!

These are some of our favorite places. We obviously couldn't list every city we've visited together, so we picked the most memorable. We stuck our new masterpiece on the edge of our yard and I snapped some photos. 

My parents gave us this idea. They made one a few years ago and we loved it so much. Had to make our own. Ours is more neutral colored than theirs, which blends better in our smallish yard. 

Traveling has taken a backseat to raising children; one of the sacrifices made so I can stay home and raise them myself. Worth it. But I love sitting on our deck and looking at all these great memories. Some made with the kids, many before we had them. We look forward to adding to our sign, as life permits... not a lot of space for more boards, however. Guess a longer 4x4 post would have been wise. ;)

Barbie cake

First, let me apologize for the horrid quality of these photos. I snapped them quickly with my phone and meant to take more with the good camera... but never did. So this is what you get. 

Last weekend we celebrated my husband's and my sister-in-law's birthday. Their birthdays are actually three days apart, so we just did big fun weekend sleepover at my parents. Beautiful weather (finally!!), great food, lots of playing and relaxing. I love spending time there. It's almost like going on vacation. 

So, this SIL of mine (my brother's wife) loves barbie. Can I just say how stinkin' lucky I got with my two SILs?! Growing up I only had a brother (whom I absolutely adore- but I always wanted a sister too!). So when I married Mike I inherited his brother and his brother's wife- Ruby's mom. LOVE her. I was so excited to finally have a sister. Then my brother married his love, and I got another sister! Two fab ladies that I can't imagine not having in my life. 

So. My brother suggested the idea of making a barbie cake for birthday girl last week, and I was instantly thrilled by the idea. It's like designing a dress and decorating a cake all at once! Luckily Ty's awesome teacher happened to have a barbie skirt pan, so I borrowed it and got to baking.

I wanted to use a real barbie instead of those barbie torso-on-a-stick things you can buy in the cake aisle. But sadly she was too tall. So an amputation was necessary. 

I made a bunch of roses with royal icing to sort of match the painted-on bodice barbie is wearing. Then did her skirt in fondant layers. I added some white "beads" around her (tiny. kinda hate her.) waist, then had some fun piping a "pearl" ring and bracelet on her. Of course she needed an icing flower in her hair. 

Oh, my this was fun.

I don't see a lot of barbie cakes in my future, so thank you sister, for your endearing barbie obsession that allowed me to have some girly fun with edible gorgeousness. 

Speaking of girly fun, I am in the midst of planning, with my barbie-loving SIL, a baby shower for a friend who is having a GIRL! I am ridiculously excited. We are full of ideas and can't wait to put them all together. I've been working on a super simple, but so pretty craft that I will share soon!

Keepin' it real

This is a post I've wanted to do for a long time. I think as women, and moms in particular, we tend to compare ourselves to others. I do this all the time, and it's never good for the self esteem. There is always going to be someone that does something better than I do. This was especially the case as I adjusted from working part time and having one child to staying home full time with two. Life gets crazy. Days fly by in a blur of laundry and baby care and feeding little mouths over and over. 

I feel much more comfortable now with this job life I've chosen. I've (mostly) accepted that all things cannot be as they were pre-kids. There are messes every time I turn around. I drive myself crazy picking them up. But that's just how I am. I know I function much better in neat, organized spaces. Clutter stresses me out. I'm a better mom if my house stays relatively clean. I know we all aren't wired that way, and it may appear that I have it all figured out. But let me tell ya, I never post pics on my blog of the constant messes that pop up (and sometimes stay) in my home. So that's what I'm gonna do today. I'm gonna keep it real. Because as fellow moms we should encourage, not compare. And we should be able to laugh at ourselves and embrace our quirks. Here are mine. 

This is an example of how I'm wired. I physically cannot have magnets or artwork on the fridge. It just doesn't work for me. I know to some of you that seems selfish, but it's just how I am. We painted a magnetic wall in the playroom where the boys can hang their art, so my kitchen stays clutter free. And I promise, my boys are still happy and functioning. :)

Also, my bed must be made every morning. With many pretty pillows. It just makes me happy so I do it.

And when my bed is neat, it makes the whole upstairs seem cleaner. 

 

However, I do not make Ty's bed for him. This drives me absolutely bonkers, but I just don't go in his room very often. He is technically supposed to make it, but it doesn't happen. So there ya go; a messy, not pretty, real photo.

My bathroom cannot have stuff on the counters. That's what drawers and cupboards are for. Plus, I need a peaceful escape from...

Yup. Here it is. The worst of my "real" photos. Our playroom on a very bad day. Hubby and I were just discussing this morning how awful it is right now. It stays pretty neat for a while, then somehow everything just explodes in there. So I close the door. This room is tucked in the farthest upstairs corner of our house, so it's easy to forget about the mess. Until I walk by to do laundry. Which is why I close the door. This works for maybe a week, then I can't sleep and I have to spend a morning in there putting everything back. And the cycle begins again. 

This is our 'bottom of the stairs basket'. Back before we had kids it was filled with pretty silk hydrangea and served no function. Now I can't live without it. All day long I'm picking up things that don't belong downstairs, so they go in the basket. Then it gets embarrassingly full like this, I walk past and pretend not to see it for a while, and finally cart the thing upstairs and find all kinds of stuff we were missing. 

But as long as my kitchen table is clear I can live with the stair basket. It's all about balance. ;) Or, well, keeping one's OCD habits to just a few areas. By the way, no children are allowed to sit on the red chairs. That's why we have the bench. I'm not a fan of the "ugly furniture until the kids move out" policy. Just another quirk. 

But then look at this. Hubby bought me this desk so I could close it up and make it look pretty when not in use. But even when I'm not sewing much it seems to always be in use. Do you like the linty bits all over the top? And the fabric scraps? And the unsewn coffee cozies? This is why I need a craft room. Then this mess can hide from the rest of the house. Creativity needs a little freedom... my type A, OCD-ness doesn't always carry over into my craftiness. Sometimes. But not always. 

Yikes. I still can't believe I'm posting this pic. I very well may chicken out and delete it before I publish this post. Our pen/junk drawer is usually messy. But at least my counters are not cluttered. That's the problem, I think.... all the stuff that gets left on the counter I stick in this drawer. Nail files, lipgloss, headphones, checkbook, hairbands, lotion, sunglasses....  I don't want to look at it so into the drawer it goes. I'll clean it out next week. Or the next. Weird how we have our hot spots like this. Please tell me you have them too. 

I vacuum my hardwoods four to five times a week. Mop them at least twice. Two to three loads of laundry every day, and each load is almost always folded and put away immediately. All shirts are hung up by category. Everything else gets put neatly into drawers. Myself, because if I let my five year old put it away, the drawers would be messy. Heck, if I let my husband put it away the drawers would be messy. And clothing drawers have to be neat. But this drawer. This drawer can be messy. Why is that? And my car. My car is always messy. Is it because I don't love my car? I don't love my toilets and they are always clean. 

Tell me about your OCD habits. And tell me what's messy in your house. Please.

And I hope you enjoyed seeing my messes. :)

menu planning

In an attempt to stick to our grocery budget and reduce food waste, I decided I needed to get back in the habit of menu planning. I go through phases of being good about this and not so much... But I find when I don't plan, too much food gets tossed.

I also am starting to coupon again... it's been a while! I got so overwhelmed with keeping up on the cutting and filing. It's really time consuming, and if I get even one week behind it's a nightmare to try and catch up. So I read about a different filing method recently, probably on Frugal Living, that requires no cutting! I just stick each week's inserts into a page protector or pocket divider inside my coupon binder and label them with the date. The beauty of frugal living's website is they post all deals and matchups for you, including where to find each coupon. So this way I'm only cutting the coupons I need for each particular deal. Saves me so much time! Most deals they post are local, meaning Portland metro area. But I imagine there are similar websites for different parts of the country.

Here's what I got for free this week: fabric softener crystals, spices, nail clippers, tweezers, nail files, crackers, Frank's red hot sauce and yakisoba noodles. Plus I got 22 cent deodorant, 79 cent dishwasher detergent, 50 cent frozen dinner rolls, 19 cent gum and 50 cent flushable wipes. Woohoo!

So back to the menu. I thought I'd post my meals for this week, along with recipes for some as I get to them. Sometimes I get in a cooking slump and need some inspiration, and I love hearing what others are making for dinner!

I usually go through my recipe binder and pick out 5 or 6 things I'd like to make ( I figure we may eat out once, or have dinner at my parents'...). I try to pick a couple things that use the same ingredients to reduce waste. And I always have to pick a meat dish and a vegetarian dish, hopefully that sort of compliment each other- that way my dinner can be Mike's side dish. Or I'll just pick a great veggie meal, then bake some chicken to go with it. My poor hubby. I am hopeless with the chicken. I was 13 or 14 when I stopped eating meat altogether, and haven't touched it since... sooo I never really learned to cook it. Luckily he isn't a meat and potatoes kind of guy. He likes chicken. That's about it. So that makes my life easier. And he's ok with a vegetarian meal now and then. Love him.
So here's what I chose for this week:

1. Thai chicken bites; Asian spinach salad with baked tofu
2. Pizza puffs (don't laugh, they're yummy); baked potato soup; quinoa salad with parsley and lemon
3. Chicken and potato curry with rice (crockpot, woohoo!); quinoa red pepper salad with tofu
4. Sausage and fennel pasta; carrot apple salad (a new fav, can't wait to post it!), cauli with cilantro lime cream
5. Farfalle with tomato goat cheese sauce; baked chicken of some sort; homemade steak fries
6. Barley and edamame salad; summer squash and corn chowder; mustard parmesan crusted chicken
7. Weekend lunch- black bean tostadas with spicy corn relish

I don't really choose which days to have which meals- I like a little flexibility. Sometimes I'm just not in the mood for something. But this makes it super easy to just choose a meal in the morning, and do as much of the prep as I can ahead of time. Makes that cranky-hungry-kids-tired-mama-4:00 time much more bearable.

Hopefully this helps if you need some meal ideas for your menu planning! I'll be posting most of these recipes in the next week or so, as I make them so I can show you pics!
What are you cooking this week?

Inspiration

It's been raining here for 30 days. Really. Not a complaint, just a statement. Thought it might be interesting to those of you who don't live in the Land Of Endless Wet.
Here's what I've been doing:
Hibernating
Making far too much 5 minute bread (jeans are rather snug...the downside of bread being too easy)
Not crafting
Cooking! Oh, yes. A few new recipes to post soon.

Back to the crafting. I must be in a rut. Haven't been sewing either. Good thing I had a nice supply of coffee cozies already. I decided to look to Etsy for inspiration, which always gives me good crafty vibes. But I got distracted by some amazing, gorgeous craft rooms. Then I started daydreaming.... do the kids really need a playroom? Does hubby really need an office? I spend more time in here than he does. Wouldn't I feel inspired all the time if I had one of these amazing rooms?

I decided I needed to save my favorite rooms. Make a sort of inspiration board. Cause someday I will have one of these rooms. Even if I have to make the kids share a room. Perfect chance to finally play with Pinterest! It is a super cool website that lets you "pin" things that you come across, and categorize them into  "pinboards", which you can share with friends. Or just save for future inspiration. I heard about pinterest on the make happy facebook page but didn't check it out right away. So glad I finally did! It's just full of gorgeousness! You can view boards that other members have created... sort of reminds me of the "treasuries" on etsy.

Anyway, here are my pins! I can't figure out how to actually post them here, so click the link to view, and here are a few of my favorites...

Wow, right? I think if I actually ever do have a room of my own and the funds needed to create a space like these, I don't know how I would choose a look! I love each of these for different reasons. But, oh, what a problem to have. :)

thredUP and a few updates

I recently learned of an online kid's clothing swap called thredUP and had to check it out right away. This is where the shopaholic in me sometimes escapes. I try to keep her locked up, and I'm convinced this is why God gave me boys. He knows I am weak to retail pleasures. Girl stuff is just too fun to shop for. Anyway. Resale and consignment are my friends. So, naturally I was intrigued by this site.
Basically, you sign up (for free), then view all the super fun boxes listed by other moms. These 'boxes' are medium flat rate priority mail boxes from USPS, that other users stuff full of clothes! You can search by size and gender, among other things. Each box has anywhere from 10-15 items in it, and you can view a list and descriptions of what's inside. ThredUP also has a rating system to ensure people are sending out quality clothes! No photos, to keep things simple and quick for listing... and also because the element of surprise is super fun.
So you pick your box, pay $5 plus shipping ($10.95 flat rate), and get a ton of new stuff in the mail! Then, when you get around to it, you list your own box of stuff your kids have outgrown! And when someone chooses it, you ship it for free! So we can pass cute clothes to someone who can use them, and get some new stuff for super cheap. Love this idea.
For years I've done the big semi-annual consignment sales when they come to town... which I love and will continue to do. But it's a lot of work! Sorting, typing info, printing and cutting tags, tagging items, putting them on hangers, driving them to and from the sale. ThredUP is so much easier and I can use it anytime I want!
I ordered my first box yesterday. 12 items. For around $16. $1.33 per item. I'll let you know when it comes and show you what's inside! I'm way excited. Getting stuff in the mail is just plain fun.
So check it out. Click one of the links above, or this one. If you sign up using my link, you get $5 credit! So your first box is only $10.95! You should know I also get $5 for each person I refer who buys a box. So it's a win-win. :)

On a side note, here are a couple updates:
Our new kitties were supposed to be spayed and brought home last week... but at the last minute there was a viral outbreak at the shelter where their surgeries were to take place. So the shelter closed down temporarily to protect the other cats, and the surgeries were postponed until March 30th. We are so glad our kitties were still safely in their foster home when the virus was discovered, but sad to have to wait a few more weeks!

And I finally got around to listing a few new coffee cozies in my etsy shop! Check 'em out if you get a chance. I've been keeping busy with lots of little side projects (and, I'll admit it, more sewing for the kittens), but I have a few fun things in the works to hopefully add to my shop soon!

A little button makeover

Sadly, this was my button collection:

I had some to begin with, but when I started selling coffee cozies and using a button to fasten each one, my grandma gave me all her buttons. Many were super old and way cool! Then my other grandma gave me hers! Also some vintage ones. So I had tons of buttons and no way to organize them. It was so hard to pick through all these containers and baggies to find the perfect button.

So the fam and I went on a search for some kind of organizer. Hubby found this:

Actually it was just the plain wood... I masked the glass top and spray painted it this teal color. 

It has two layers of trays, and the top ones pull out. Exactly what I needed! And much sturdier and prettier than those plastic organizers, which I would have resorted to. 

My sweet Ty offered to help sort. It was actually pretty fun. Got to see tons of buttons I didn't know I had. Took a couple hours though. 

But look! 

So neat, so pretty. So easy to find what I need. And I still have tons of room. I filled the bottom layer but barely any of the top.

Fits perfectly in my new desk. Hooray for organization. :)

Sewing desk

I cautiously dream of the day Beckham is old enough to sleep in a big boy bed. I'm hesitant because I remember this transition with Ty; it was frustrating at times. Also because he is my baby. And once he's a "big boy", I'm not sure that I'll be having more babies. So I cling to this time a little bit. 

But here is my plan:

When he can sleep well in a big boy bed, we will move him into Ty's room and they can share the bunk bed. Which I think they will love. At least for a while.  Then, I get to turn his room into my craft room!! I'll pull my big, antique scrapbooking/craft desk out of it's squishy corner of the playroom and move it in there. I need some big bookshelves, with bins and baskets and organized, gorgeous things. Maybe a big table for cutting fabric or gift wrapping. Then I can add my new sewing desk! 

Hubby bought it for me last weekend after my beloved kitty died. Got her as a kitten when I was 18. She lived to be 13 years old. I know. Not gonna dwell on it. It's already been a rough week. But it took me a while to feel like blogging again. And poor hubby felt my sadness and I know he wanted to take it away... so he did what he knew would cheer me up. He bought something for me. Something that had to do with sewing. And organization. Two of my favorite things. He really is a genius. 

Pretty! 

Excuse the annoying flash circle. Of course I waited until dark to photograph it. 

So it has this pull down front that becomes the desk, but folds up so I can hide my sewing machine and accoutrements when not it use. Looks so much cleaner than having my machine sitting out on our computer desk all the time. Still not completely ideal in the office, but it's very functional for the next year or two until I can create my own space.

Isn't it great?! It's designed to be a computer desk, but works well for my purposes. I've been working on organizing all my supplies as well... luckily our office has a walk-in closet so I have shelves and baskets in there for all my fabric. But my big problem has been my button collection. It's grown immensely thanks to my wonderful grandmas who each gave me their collections! And since I've been making so many coffee cozies with a button on each, I've been needing a good system for sorting them. 

So check back soon to see my potential solution. I'm pretty-ing it up as we speak. :)

Cleaning schedule

Oooh. I knew that title would suck you right in. I realize I may be the only person in the entire world who is excited about this... but on the off chance I'm not, I had to share.
Earlier this month I posted about needing to better balance my time. To prioritize a bit better... I felt like having a clean house was taking precedence to playing and spending quality time with my kids. And after all, I am a stay-at-home-mom, not a stay-at-home-maid. But... I still like my house clean. And so does hubby. And if I didn't finish the things that need doing all week, I know he would end up doing them on the weekends. And that needs to be our family time. He needs to spend quality time with the boys, and enjoy his days off.
So I struggled with this. I posted about it... which often helps me at least organize my thoughts. But I got a bonus this time! A wonderful friend commented on my post telling me about her house cleaning schedule. She even listed it for me! I promptly copied it, word for word, on my little dry erase board inside my pantry. I followed it exactly for one week, the tweaked it a bit to suit my house.
It's been a full four weeks since I started this, and I can't even tell you the weight it has lifted!! I just had to tell everyone about it because it has solved so many things I struggled with, and helped me in ways I never expected.
Now each day, I know the exact things I need to do. Once those things are done, plus a few daily tasks, I am free to do anything!! Play with the kids! Do a craft or sewing project! Cook an elaborate dinner! Blog! Play with friends! Go to the park! Even just relax a bit, something I never did during the day before.
I used to feel the weight of the entire week's chores resting on me, each day. Even though the boys and I did fun stuff often, I always felt guilt that I should be home working on that huuuge list. Now having it all divided up, with just a couple things each day, I have no guilt. I know if I just do those few things, there is plenty of time in the week to get the rest of the stuff done. I don't feel the need to get ahead by doing tomorrow's chores. Getting the chores finished has never been my problem... the stuff always got done. It was just at the expense of other, more important things. But now, having a plan, I actually feel like I spend less time cleaning! And I really don't know why I didn't do this sooner. I love plans.
So thank you to my friend Teresa. You just may have saved my sanity.

Here is my schedule:
M: Vacuum downstairs, mop, dust
T: Tubs/showers, toilets, towels, garbages
W: Bathrooms, vacuum upstairs
Th: Kitchen appliances and counters, bedrooms
F: Vacuum, mop, dust, clean out car, sheets

Daily: pick up toys and clutter, dishes, spot clean (counters, table, floor under highchair), laundry- 2 or 3 loads a day (pretty much a week-long battle for me)

Then each week I pick a special project to tackle- windows, mouldings, garage, playroom, purging outgrown clothes, other "hotspots"... something I can just plug away at as the week goes by.

If this is something you struggle with too, give it a shot! And let me know how it goes! I find it so freeing. And I think it could work for anyone! Even those who work outside the home. A couple chores each evening and you could have the whole weekend free!

Ty's extreme room makeover

Really? I only have one before pic of Ty's room?

Must be because it was so boring and void of personality.

Poor Ty. 

His favorite color used to be orange... for years. We kept waiting for him to outgrow it and pick a new favorite color. He wanted all his walls painted orange. I'm not a huge fan, myself. We had kinda settled on one orange accent wall, but then... lo and behold... he decided orange was not his favorite color any more. He still really likes it... but it's not the fav. Phew. 

He desperately wanted a bunk bed for a looong time... so this Christmas he got one. Joint effort... Nana and Papa, Great Grandma and Great Grandpa...

He was beyond excited.

So to complete his "new" room, Mike and I decided to finally paint and decorate a bit for his birthday. 

We sent Ty to Nana and Papa's for a sleepover, put Beckham to bed, and started painting at 8:00pm. It was crazy and fun, and turned out so cute.

We ordered this bedding ahead of time (thanks to my grandparents for buying the bottom set!), and I love it! It has a little orange in it, but also the gray we planned to incorporate into his room. And it looks like big boy bedding, so Ty hopefully won't outgrow it too soon. The best part- they are just simple comforters. Not duvets like I've tried before for him... impossible with a wild little sleeper. His comforter always ended up wadded up at the bottom of the duvet. These are so much easier for making the beds.

So we left two walls the existing color (Sherwin Williams 'whole wheat'), and painted two walls 'mink' (a warm gray... it photographed a bit weird...), also SW. We did opposing color stripes on each wall as well to make it more fun.

Mike got a couple clip on lamps so Ty can easily read in bed at night, but used an orange light bulb for the top one and a blacklight for the bottom. Not terribly practical for reading, but Ty loves them!

We also added stick on, glow-in-the-dark stars on the ceiling above the top bunk. So fun!

This is the same dresser he's had, but you can see the wall stripes well in this photo. 

A little bit of cool trivia: the giraffe bank in the photo above is from Goodnight Room, a store here in Portland. They outfitted the nursery in the movie 'Management' with Jennifer Aniston... and they used this very giraffe bank! I always meant to watch the movie to see if Ty's bank is shown, but never have. Anyway.

Same orange chair... But aren't the wall stripes cute?! New lamp, which he loves. It thrills him to have so many cozy reading areas. Mike installed a dimmer switch for Ty's ceiling light. We've slowly been putting every light in the house on dimmers. I love the flexibility. It was one of my favorite things about Beckham's nursery... dim light for bedtime stories and middle of the night diaper changes. It's nice to have in Ty's room now, too. 

I love this little wall decal. Dream Big. So true. 

On a side note, I wanted to share a witty, entertaining new blog written by a great friend. 

It's called Mother of the Year... in a sarcastic, self-deprecating kind of way. And can't we all relate to those moments in motherhood? I think you'll enjoy it. :)

Amy Butler Cosmo bag

This book was one of my favorite Christmas gifts this year:

Amy Butler's Style Stitches- an entire book of bags, totes, purses, clutches... with patterns and easy instructions for each one! I so want to make them all. I love making bags.

Here is my first project from the book:

The Cosmo bag!

Isn't it gorgeous??!

I used all Amy Butler fabrics because it just seemed appropriate. Also I love them. 

This bag used a fair amount of home deco weight fabrics plus tons of interfacing (6 1/4 yds!) so it wasn't terribly cheap to make. But I love it. And it was so.much.fun!

It has pretty little pleats on the front and back, and a button closure.

Outer side pockets...

lined in the cute accent fabric. 

And the huge inside, complete with four enormous pockets!

Here is the back, pleated to match the front. 

I made this bag hoping to use it as a large purse/diaper bag but didn't realize just how big it would be!

 Here it is next to my existing Oioi diaper bag, which is a pretty big bag already. It's really more of an overnight bag or big shopping bag. But I am using it anyway because I love it! 

And of course, I had to make a matching gathered clutch with the leftover fabric. These are so fun to make. 

It makes the perfect little wallet for my cards and (rare) cash, plus room for a lipgloss!

I think I'll try these next. A whole set of little zippered bags- 6 different sizes! I could find so many uses for them... :)