Season's Greetings

Just like Kindergarten, arts and crafts have been aflutter around here lately . I decided Valentine's Day was a perfect excuse to create some kitschy homemade cards.

It seemed appropriate to borrow some of Nick's punny lines for my greetings.

And speaking of cards, if you've taken your holiday collection down recently, here's a great idea for them The Kind Life (this also happens to be one of my new favorite websites). Or you can do something similar yourself: Cut the back off, recycle, and mount the front to a new card for next year. My family also reuses the front decorated part for a gift tag.

As for the photo cards many families are now sending out, I'm thinking of cropping the message off and using the picture for an album of all our family and friends.

Weekend Projects Return

There's nothing like a three day weekend to help me kick off some weekend projects. There's a handful I've been meaning to get to.

Of course it started with some cleaning and rearranging. Since the Christmas decor went up simultaneously with our initial unpacking, this has really been my first chance to figure out how best to put each room together.

I've been on a the "no face" detox for the past two weeks. Upon its culmination I was craving some homemade sweets. Bring on the cinnamon rolls and cookies :)

Also a great chance to use up some leftover baking ingredients from holiday recipes.

What's a post on weekend projects without some sewing thrown in? I finally got around to making one of Gatsby's beds (there are two I'm working on). The poor puppy was deprived of his own sleeping quarters for seven months.

Now he's got a spot all his own.

I got the inspiration from this project from January's Martha Stewart LIVING. I took a large bath towel, some polyfill pillow stuffing and a bag full of Nick's old smelly socks.

Using the socks not only recycles materials which would otherwise have been thrown away, it puts our smell into the bed so Gatsby is more interested in using it.

He also has a thing for digging around in an effort to get his cushion just right. The loose socks inside the bed allow him to form it to his liking.

Instant hit!

Another ongoing goal of mine is to make our place looking like it matches a little more. Less "his and hers," more "ours." Making new covers for pillows is my low cost solution for changing some of the decor and color schemes in the apartment.

I re-covered this bolster which originally had a small floral print, with this brown silk I happen to find while organizing my fabric (another weekend project). Ultimately, I plan on using some thick silk ribbon to tie off the ends, but otherwise, this matching project cost me practically nothing.

It almost looks like a real grown-up bed.

The upstairs media room is home to Nick's couch and any leftover throw pillows and blankets I'm not too fond of anymore. A pair of pillows had silk covers, one of which had a rust spot from sitting on my antique trunk (which isn't the first thing that comes to mind as the source of the stain). The material wasn't too comfortable and in a room made for movie watching and snuggling, they just had to go.


The new covers are not only prettier but much softer to lean on.


I've got more improvements up my sleeve and nothing but time to accomplish them. Can't wait to post the next round!

Holiday Projects

So much fabric, so little time!

Cotton Holiday prints for an apron and matching dish towels and napkins.

Uber soft fleece for Gatsby's bed


I went a little Pucci crazy at Mood last month. I was just so elated that these prints could be purchased! The far left is a silk fabric. I'm planning on making it into a scarf, however, I have never hand-rolled edges... this will be a challenge. The middle print is a water resistant nylon. I'm envisioning a rain parka of some sort. Finally, the print on the right is cotton. I might save it for the lining of a purse or a top for summer.

My biggest challenge is no longer finding time for all my project dreams, but scheduling them during Gatsby's naps. Free flowing fabric can be such a temptation!

Weekend Project: Reversible Dress

I finally finished this tunic project.

It's not that it was too difficult, just took my sweet time moving through the stages and figuring out how to adjust the pattern and make the tunic into a dress and reversible. Now that shows are done for the season (which is a good thing, I need to watch less TV anyway), I can move through my projects a little faster. Next up, the laptop cover.

My only big adjustment was to add the yellow ruffle at the bottom. Since my two fabrics were the same length, I didn't want either one showing through (the original version would have had a shorter lining)

It has its share of mistakes... still learning and all. But I think this will be a perfect weekend summer dress.

Mini Weekend Project: Green Clean Up

We go through TONS of paper towels here. For a household of two, we have almost used up a Costco package of them in a matter of months. I grew up on cloth napkins and decided it was time to implement this reusable solution as an adult.

I decided to make some from all the scrap fabric I have. The project was super easy. I based the size off of an old scarf, ironed the fold lines to avoid pinning, and simply sewed straight lines.

In two hours I made 12 napkins (and successfully caught up on the season finale of Greys Anatomy, holy crap what an ending!)

Weekend Project: Windows

My parents came to visit this past weekend. It was our "delayed" Christmas, since I was working so much throughout the holidays. Nick and I took them around town, to a movie at our favorite theatre, the Alamo, but spent most of the time vegging out at home.

One thing on my mom's priority list was to address our lack of window treatments in the main room. In my defense, I would like to state that plantation blinds were specifically added to the lease agreement, but somehow we ended up with thin plastic roller shades instead. We always leave these closed for privacy, but that also means a lot of the room's natural light is left out.

Since I am still working on my sewing skills, cafe curtains seemed to be a good solution. They provide the necessary privacy, but at least now, we can see the trees and sun. We chose a basil green silk fabric (so pretty!) and got to work.

Pressing the fabric

Sewing time

Measuring the seams




The finished product (with the hideous blinds still up... for now...)

Thanks for the idea mom! I have one panel left to go :)

Weekend Project: Holiday Wreath

I found this at Target last week (much cuter in person). At $30 it seemed a bit superfluous, since bills should be paid and much more important decorative elements are needed throughout the house.
I was fabric shopping at the Hob Lob, when I found elements to make the wreath (and for less than $10!)

I used a styro-foam core, used my glue gun to wrap it with scrap fabric, and then bound a feather boa to the ring with simple sewing string. The project took less than an hour.

I think I like it better than the Target original. I may also double this as a centerpiece for holiday parties.

Sew Talented

After years of failed lessons, last week I managed to complete my first successful sewing project. Sewing itself has not actually been the challenge, I rather enjoy it and seem to have a grasp on the skills needed. It's the patterns I have issues with. Perhaps it's following instruction, creating my own design, or marching to the beat of my own drum... whatever the cause, patterns and I have had problems since childhood.

Finally I accepted that my sewing projects would never produce up to my expectations without a little patience, A PATTERN, and help from a pro: my mom.



At least I was still able to incorporate some unconventional practices into the project. The material used is home decor taffeta (much to my mother's dismay). My inspiration here were the Von Trapp children and their curtain attire.

Something You Never Forget

Everyone knows that saying, "It's like riding a bike, once you know how to do it, you'll never forget."

Well... I beg to differ.

I've had a bike in my garage since I moved to New Mexico. It had flat tires and took me four months to get around to fixing them. Since I had a rare weekend at home, I decided there was no time like the present to get back out there.

It's been at least twelve years since I've ridden a bike, with the exception of perhaps a bike ride in Europe with the fam and once in Boise on a calm quiet bike path (neither of which occurred yesterday). I reminded myself this was something I was supposed to just naturally remember how to do.

There's nothing worse than an unbalanced adult on a bike. Being a sunny Saturday, all my new neighbors, who I have yet to meet because I'm always gone, were out in full force. Some, it appeared were even teaching their children to ride a bike with training wheels (I should have enlisted their help). Little did the neighbors know the treat they were in to see, a 20 something woman wobbling by, not waving or looking up to acknowledge them for fear she would tip over or run into one of the many construction dumpsters (there are quite a few).

I ultimately felt like I got the hang of it enough to venture outside the neighborhood. I made the big mistake of leaving without a watch or water bottle.

Although I consider myself someone who is in relatively good shape (I run about 3x a week, logging in an average of 4-5 miles each time, do yoga, dance, and weight train), apparently biking is a whole new league for me. I was out of breath the entire flat non-hilly ride.

I also must have been gone much longer than I originally thought. An hour after returning home from this new experience my arms decided to turn chile pepper red (yep... that's a NM reference). Granted, I haven't been out in the sun at all yet this year, and my natural shade is translucent albino, I didn't think I'd be out long enough to be concerned. Luckily, my face was spared from turning crimson or collecting more premature wrinkles. I'm convinced it was my new bangs that saved the day there. They appear to not only be trendy but functional!

I'm looking forward to wearing long sleeves for the next week in 85 degree weather :S

Weekend Project

Instead of sewing reusable grocery bags out of t shirts... (wow that sounds even more hippie than I anticipated), this past weekend I took on a slightly larger project. Nick has already begun to make fun of my new weekend craft tradition. Hey - I have to pass the time somehow~

I could blab on and on about the project, but I'm pretty certain the pics will explain. They are after all worth 1000 words (maybe only 50 are needed in this instance)

Before

During the process

All sanded down

First coat of paint

All finished and ready for office storage!

This was my great grandmother's dresser, which I've been told is over 65 years old, yikes! And of course, we all know how I love to recycle furniture. It's ready for a new life