I have been sewing and playing with my Blythe this weekend. So much fun! Also, I wanted to give a big thank you and shout out to Little Monarch Creations. She makes the most adorable accessories and I was able to be her craft partner for the Skunkboycreations craft swap. She made me the most adorable pink dinosaur necklace on a beautiful silver chain and a cute bow brooch! Her packaging was absolutely cute!
We are going to have a snowy weekend this weekend. Last night after having some delicious homemade pizza ( our friends made) we came home and I decided I was going to check out what was on demand. I have been wanting to see the movie "Whip It" with Ellen Page, Drew Barrymore, Kristen Wigg, among other famous cast members. I was definitly entertained and I think the overall movie had a fun upbeat mood. I don't think it was the blockbuster of the year, but I would say I was entertained, and I just enjoyed the overall message of the film. As a mom I think we tend to fall into the trap of what we see our kids doing and they see something completely different. I just want to make sure that my kids do something that they thoroughly enjoy and I don't want to be the bummer mom who dashes their dreams. In the end it turned out great! Now I want to see live roller derby. We do have a league here in town. So I have been wanting to get some bright colored tights. Now I am usually a jean wearing person, but as of lately I have been seeing all these bright colored tights, and they just make me want to wear bright colored tights. I was looking around this morning when I came across a killer deal. I went to Gap and found blue tights and yellow tights for just $3.99. I was thrilled so I bought both. I can't wait to get them. Now I just need to find some cool skirts or dresses to wear them with. I am anxiously awaiting the new "Built By Wendy" the sew U guide to making the girls best frock. I want to make some cute dresses or skirts for spring. If you are not familiar with Wendy Mullin, you must check her out over at her shop to check out her collection! I have several of her patterns. They are modern, easy to follow directions, and they always turn out super cute! Have a great Saturday!
Since the days of "grunge" and " Kurt Cobain", I have been into plaid. Ever since eighth grade, I have adorned myself with a button up plaid shirt in my wardrobe. I always search the thriftstores for the perfect vintage plaid shirt. They are harder to find these days because we had a break style wise from the plaid, but now its coming back. Not so much for me cause plaid was always right there in my closet. Plaid button ups always look good with jeans, and I am a jeans type of girl. I remember the days of going through my dad's closet and borrowing his plaid flannels. They were quite oversized, but they were so cool and the awesomest colors. I remember having the high top black boots, the flannels, the jeans. What is so awesome is that style is so back, and I'm loving it. Oh and yes, I jumped for joy because I figured out my artistic glitch. So excited. I need to do some painting this weekend for my frames. I love to frame my embroidery in embroidery hoops, but I get so bored with the wood, so I have been painting them. We were using spray paint, but the fumes in the winter time got to be a bit much. So I think I might go to just good old paint. I went to the fabric store last night with all the intentions to get paint, but got sidetracked by the pattern books for spring, and all the fabrics on sale. You know I'm real good about writing a list out, and then never taking it out of my pocket to check what is on the list. My coat pocket is filled with so many lists that when I go to get my list out , which is rare, all these other lists fall out, and then I can't figure out what I needed on my list. I am not very organized as far as list making goes. I think that my mental list is good enough, but there are several occasions where the toilet paper would have been something good to remember. Have a great Friday!!
Do you ever get an idea in your head, and no matter how you try it just doesn't work out. I have an art piece I'm working on, and I have made so many test runs, and it is just not turning out the way I want. Ugh! As goes life. I am going to attempt it again today, and if I get this the way I want, I will jump for joy. I have added a balloon piece to my shop yesterday. I have several more to add, but I need to do some finishing touches. This week I have all these pent up ideas to work on, but I have just felt in a rutt health wise. We all have runny noses around here. Usually I never get a full fledged cold, but just feel run down for several days. When I get an idea in head I get so overwhelmed by needing to make it in that instant that my stress levels go through the of. Does anyone else feel this way? I usually am running 2 miles a day, but the past few weeks I have fallen off the wagon, and I'm sure this has contributed to it. Wow! I sound so positive dont' I? I really shouldn't complain, I have it good! I mean I get to stay home everyday, have nice cup of coffee, raisin bread (I'm on a kick) in the morning, and spend time with my kids al day. How can I complain. I can't wait till the spring. The spring means "spring cleaning" which means thriftstore palooza of items, and yard sales. I love treasure hunting. Oh yes, I don't know if anyone is watching this, but I am a bit obsessed with "American Pickers." This show is just making me so happy. It is two guys who travel the midwest finding people with just barn fulls of treasures. I have learned some tips on how to find people who have the vintage goodies. These guys are not afraid to ask anyone what they may have and if they are willing to sell it. Oh this show gets me all excited! This would be my dream job! Their goal is to find the diamond in the rough! This is so my husband and me. We see the end result. My husband restored a 1978 Puch Magnum Moped that had rust, tons of dirt, and all kinds of hidden treasures (spiders), to just amazing condition. It is amazing now. Watch this show if you are a picker like myself.
I love to go thriftstore shopping. I go almost every weekend, and to one main store everytime, Unique Thriftstore. I find so many treasures there, but the best things I find are craft things. I found a spool holder to hold all my thread for 2.95, almost three yards of fabric for 1.95, and several embroidery hoops all about a dollar a piece. I love that place. I have found most of my vintage phones and typewriters there as well. I have been working on my McCalls 5929. I am having so much fun with this pattern. I have an obsession with ruffles. I just love ruffles. I also love love plaid. Most of the shirts I make are plaid. This material is a light cotton flannel. I love flannels and this one is not too bulky to work with. I want to get this done before valentines day. I just have put the collar, sleeves and back on and I'm done. I got most of the hard parts done. I have to say two of my favorite hobbies to do is sewing my own clothes and embroidery. I could do this all day long. Last summer I made a shirt just by looking at one online, and I was so impressed with myself. I didn't take a pic, but I want to do this more often, for all those shirts that are out of my price range and I can make for a decent price. For people who don't sew they sometimes wonder why I wouldn't go buy a shirt if the materials cost me the same amount. Well the answer I give is that I love to make my own clothes. I can tailor them to my size, exact material, colors, the enjoyment of knowing I made it , and I enjoyed every bit of making it. I love to sew!
I have been talking about getting a tattoo for many years. With having three beautiful children I have put this on the back burner for several reasons, one obviously being pregnant and money, the kids needs are alot more important. Well I think the time has finally come. This year I want to be the year of the 1st one. I love the one pictured above I found online. I really would like this one on my wrist. But I have a more indepth one planned. I love cross stitch. Well I found a vintage cross stitch pattern that has two birds cross stitched. I want two blue birds cross stitch with cross stitched hearts. I'm not sure about the details, but I want to plan it out further to see how this would look visually. I want some outline in it so I will have to plan further obviously. I want it to be exactly what I want. This has been a long time coming!
If you have never seen the movie "Stranger Than Fiction" with Will Ferrell and Maggie Gillenhall, please run out to your nearest redbox, video store, or download it on your T.V. this weekend. I have to say I have always been a fan of Will Ferrell from SNL, not too into some of his silly films. In "Stranger Than Fiction" he takes on a serious role as a tax collector falling in love with a beautiful baker, when he life starts to play out like a book. It gets nuts. I love the song by Wreckless Eric, called " The Whole Wide World", and in the movie Will Ferrell sings this to Maggie, I absolutely love him singing this. I so wish he would play serious roles. Just like Jim Carrey in "Eternal Sunshine," I absolutely love him playing a serious role as well. You know what I really want for the spring, old school nikes. As I love eighties movies, I love all the old school nikes I see. They look so comfortable and fashionable. I like these alot too, they are a new take on the old school nike running shoe. Happy Sunday!
I always listen to Pandora when I work in the evening and I happened upon this song by Azure Ray called "November." Such an beautiful song. It was one of those that is so mellow and reflective. Not to mention she has a beautiful voice. Well T.G.I.F. everyone. I always laugh when I hear people say that, I'm not sure why. Maybe an elementary school teacher said it funny one time. So I have been doing alot of sketching lately. Sketching used to be my passion in highschool but as life got busy I put it on the back burner. My husband gives me such great ideas and I just run with them. I plan on using some of my sketches in my embroidery projects. Now if their just a few more hours in the day. I am getting so excited about the Schmancy Winter Olympics. What is this you may ask. Kristen who is behind "Schmancy Toys" and "Plush you" is hosting the 2010 Plushie Winter Olympics. Plushies are anything soft and cuddley. The idea is to make and plushie that is doing a winter olympic, figure skating, etc.. I got the "Made-up Sport" which I was actually really excited about so I can get really creative with this. I have my wheels turning and I am getting excited about the materials I might use. I like to sew with fleece on these types of things. Fleece is soft and cuddley and sews really well. I have to get my ideas on paper. I have until mid Feburary to finish. I will post my progress. You know I have written this post for the third time due to something screwing up with blogger, and the funny part is , is that I was writing how great this morning was going. Isn't that how it goes. But it is still a good morning. I hope you have a wonderful day!
My husband I really like music documentaries and one's that really inspire. Danielson Famile is one of those movies. The lead singer and head of the band Daniel Smith doesn't really care what anyone thinks and is going to play music when and wherever he can as an independent artist. He gets his family involved as well performing with all of their musical talents. Such an interesting documentary musically and visually.
It was a chilly day and my boyfriend Jeremy told me to dress nice we were going to get away for the day. I wasn't quite sure what was in store but he was always full of exciting surprises. We got in the car and drove the hour from Springfield, Missouri to St. Louis. He asked me if I wanted to go up to the top of the St.Louis arch. Of course , I was so excited. We made our way inside and waited in line for our turn to go to the top. We arrived at the top and Jeremy got out his binoculars for me to look at the city below. When I looked out there was a huge banner that said," Marry Me Jenny." He was down on one knee. Oh so magical, I said yes. Little did I know that he had been planning this for weeks. He got guys in his dorm to paint the big banner. Also, his buddies had been following us the whole way to St. Louis with the banner and were furiously finding cones to hold it down in time for the big question. We were married June 6,2001. With my husband there is never a dull moment. He is musical (guitar, mandolin, keyboard, drums, glockenspeel, learning to play the saw), artistic, mechanical (rebuilds moped engines), funnest dad ever, and sweetest husband ever. It's funny how pictures bring back a flood of memories and the same feelings I had nine years ago are just as fresh today.
I am not hugely into Valentines Day, only for the candy (runts mini hearts no-longer :( I do love to collect anything old that tells a story. One of those that I have in the past collected is vintage valentines. I keep these two on my fridge year round because they are so cute. I love children's valentines. I think one of the things that I like the most is hearts. For some reason or other I just love hearts. I like to draw hearts, wear hearts, and cross-stitch hearts. I like to make my valentine card every year too. Last year I made my husband a valentine that was completely 80's stars througout the card. It featured Bill Cosby, Mr. Belvedere, Punky Brewster, He-man, Webster.... It was fun to make. I didn't watch alot of the sitcoms as a child as much as my husband did. He can quote lines from almost any eighties sitcom, remembers their names, plots, it's quite crazy. I hope to create one that can top last years.
I so want a camper this summer. I happened to watch a random special on t.v. about tear drop trailers and customized r.v.s and now I can't get them out of my mind. The top of my list would have to be a silver bullet streamline. I happened upon one on craigslist that was only $4,000. I wished I had something to sell to buy this. They usually go for almost $12,000. I love the canned ham style trailer that I have a picture of. The paint is exactly how I would decorate. We like to go camping but putting up a tent with kids sounds very daunting. But, if we had something that was ready to go, I think we might be more excited. Oh the things I get in my head. We had an eighties flashback night this weekend and we watched "Say Anything" with John Cusack. I remember watching bits of this on t.v. before, but never the whole thing. I absolutely loved it. It was a cute romantic movie that brought back all the feelings you have when your falling in love. Super cute and so eighties. John Cusack screams eighties to me. A must see flick. My husband and I collect alot of the eighties movies. I think our top fave has to be "The Goonies." I want to watch "Sixteen Candles," with Molly Ringwald again, it has been awhile. Oh the eighties!
Dear Mr. Wonka, Hearts, candies, cards, and sweet nothings are given and uttered on this day; Valentines Day. Each year I go to the Valentine aisle of the drugstore, not to buy chocolates, stuffed animals , or balloons but to buy “Runts Mini Hearts.” Much to my dismay I can not find my beloved Valentine candy I buy every year. After research and field study I have found that these candies have been rumored to be discontinued. Oh, please Mr. Wonka this cannot be true... Sincerely, Your candy customer
I am on sunflower seed kick. For lunch I had a salad, (recipe as follows): romaine lettuce cut red grapes, sunflower seeds chicken breast (leftover from dinner) light rasberry vinagrette Alternate items I have done: celery, carrots, deli chicken
I am also on a pepper and brown rice kick. I don't know what stores everyone has but I shop at Kroger. I recently discovered that I can buy a bag of peppers (red, green, yellow) and onions for one dollar. To buy one red pepper it can sometimes be a dollar or more. So is my dinner recipe: Keilbasa smoked sausage brown rice 1 can of chicken broth (boil your rice in the broth) frozen peppers (cook with 1/2 teaspoon of garlic powder, 1/2 teaspoon of thyme, and a dash of cayenne pepper, more if you like it spicey.) When you have cooked your peppers sufficiently drain some of the water that has come from the frozen peppers then add the smoked sausage and cook together for a few minute incorporate the sausage taste. When that has cooked for about ten or so minutes and your rice is all cooked add the rice to the sausage and pepper mix and let the simmer for just a couple of minutes. Enjoy! I also wanted to share a beautiful singer songwriter. Joanna Newsome plays a beautiful harp! You may not be sure about her voice at first but she definitly grows on you and you realize that uniqueness of her voice and the talent she truly has. I love her music. Her song "Peach, Plum, Pear" is another song I love. Take a listen.
Fun is what makes you happy. I have always loved Pez. Not so much for the candy (the lemon always reminded me of Lysol) but for the fun characters and colors they came in. I have took it upon myself to collect them for my kids. I also love Re-ment. If you don't already know what Re-ment is, they are 1/6 scale foods, house accessories ,and items that look very real to life only tiny. I absolutely got hooked on these last year. I have a kitchen, frigde, and a table and chairs that I have so much fun setting them up on. Re-ment came out with miniature Pez this past year and I couldn't resist. So I took a pic of the lamb and chicken Pez, big and small shot. My Re-ment are a bit disorganized at the moment. I have so many others I am wanting! Oh and yes, my husband surprised me with seafoam peddles and grips for my 1980 Maxi Moped. I am still on the lookout for a basket. I want to pimp my bike to best reflect me. I wish there was someway to involve embroidery. I need to get the wheels turning.
I'm just having one of those days where I feel like a big scrambled egg. One of those days where you stub your toe, run into a door, or burn your finger, just annoying. I sometimes feel like I am a WWF referee with having three kids and homeschooling. We are having much chaos with math at the moment. I have to say , I always hated math, was never good at it, so I can't blame him, but I know that he is so smart, he just doesn't like to do it. So insues much frustration. But I know we must work through it, with much patience, please Lord give me an extra heaping helping this week. Even through all the frustration in life or even in my immediete frustration I must look at the big picture. I have been very much encouraged this past year by read "Nie Nie Dialogues". She is a young women that was in a plane crash and was burned. She has dealt with so much pain and emotion and having four children. As I read her blog I am filled with much awe and wonder at her continued growth. She is a beautiful example of courage and strength amidst all odds. I am just thankful I have three healthy children, a wonderful husband , and a roof over my head. I often when ever complaining think to myself that I am very thankful that God in his plan did not choose to place me in third world country with disease. I am so ungrateful at times. I do have something to celebrate today as well. My youngest turned 2 today! It seems like she has always been a part of the family. She is my dare devil, little mommy, miss independent, sweet, extremely silly little blessings. Happy Birthday My Sweet Esme.
I recently watched the documentary " Man On A Wire" starring Phillipe Petit the man on a wire. Phillipe documented the entire process of his dream of one day walking between the "Two Towers" or "The World Trade Centers." The in depth plan that he and several other men had to sceme is unbelievable. I have to say one of the most intriguing , inspiring, and scary documentaries I have seen. I have watched several of the recent blockbuster movies, and they were not too exciting to make note of. I recently watched "500 days of summer." It was a cute romantic comedy. What movies do you have to recommend? I really want to get making clothes again for myself. I have been very busy with my Etsy shop "Cowboybunny" and have not found time for fun sewing. I have been working more three dimensional embroidery that I am really excited to display in my shop. I saw some of the recent Simplicity patterns for the spring. I have fallen in love with Simplicity pattern 2447 . The versatility is very exciting. They consider it an "Easy to Sew." I can't wait to get my hands on that one. I do have plans to start cutting out my ruffledy McCalls 5929 this weekend. Have a great weekend.
One of my top fave songs as of recent us "Parentheses" by The Blow. If you sometimes cry in the deli aisle, this is the song for you. As I type we have a winter wonderland developing outside. I will be bundling up children to make a snow man. They are very adamant that he have a real carrot nose. If you have never heard the song "You don't know me." by Ben Folds and Regina Spektor this is a must listen as well on this snowy day(well for me).
As a new year starts I start to think about what goals I may have for the year,and what I didn't accomplish last year. December always throws me for a loop as far as falling behind on exercise, eating, and sleep. January always becomes my month to get back to where I need to be. My husband I want to get our health on the up and up so we are trying to eat more wheat, vegetables, and less soda and sugary foods. Our weakness is Hostess cakes and soda. We realized that we may have went overboard. I thing a key thing that helps with a healthy diet is not eating out. We don't typically eat out alot . Our typical eating out is a pork taco at our fave mexican joint. I really don't like not knowing how something was prepared because it typically has a extragavant amount of sodium, high fructose corn syrup, or other unimaginable ingrediants that I shouldn't put in my body. I can monitor all my ingrediants and usually I like my food better. With three children I try to not go over board on groceries but find things that are healthy and meet our budget. I like peppers. I like the whole rainbow of them. I usually buy them fresh but they are too darn expensive. For just 1 dollar you can get a whole mixture of red, yellow, green, and onions in the frozen section. Brown rice is also not very expensive and goes a long way and you get your grains. Now wheat tortillas are very healthy but typically my family hates them and they are expensive so I do opt for the white. Okay "Sun Luck" plum sauce. Yummy, yummy. I added some of this to my asian style taco and it was a delicious dinner. The great part about this sauce, while it does have sugar, it doesn't have high fructose corn syrup and a little goes a long way. The kids loved this minus the peppers. Chicken breast is a great meat as well that I added to my taco with a few dashes of light soy sauce and powdered ginger. Okay now that I told you my whole dinner menu , try it out , and tell me what you think. Now if I could just get those Hostess cakes out of my head.
I have a real knack to start a book and never finish it. I need to finish "Emma" by Jane Austen. I did finish "Blood Red Snow White" by Marcus Sedgwick. It was a little juvenille in the writing, more for a teen, but the spy aspect and the history that is involved is very intriguing. It is a spy book. Another book I have finished is "White Noise" by Don Delillo. This is an amazing piece of fiction that really brings up questions as to how you would be prepared for major disaster, very chilling. I have read through the Bible in the past. It really makes things seem very uniform as you watch the life of Christ and before Christ come together. I really do want to do this again to strengthen my faith and make it come alive. A truly amazing women in history was Elizabeth Prentiss. She lived in the 1800's and her life is kept alive by letters that she regularyly wrote and her diary entries. She lived through alot of dark times in her life, loosing children and sickness were chief amongst her challenges. "More Love To Thee" is a hefty 529 pages but amazing none the less. I am still quite shocked I read through it. It really challenges us to keep strong even when hard times arise. She encouraged me in that she wasn't always peppy during the hard times, she was brutally honest, yet kept her faith. This is an amazing piece of biographical history. I do love the writings of Wendell Berry, a native of Kentucky. He challenges the corporate world how they have stolen small towns. Our family and friends are so spread out, and we have no sense of community. George Orwell's "Animal Farm" I need to finish. I have wanting to read the original "Alice in Wonderland & Through The Looking Glass," by Lewis Carroll. I have heard the the actual book is crazy creepy and more intense then say the cartoon (lol). Oh yes and I will end with, a must read for this year is "The Road" by Cormac McCarthy. My husband read this last year I believe. He said he wanted to cry through most of it, but a great book. I didn't know that the movie was coming out until recently, but now I want to read it even more. I do like fiction alot, but in the past I have always enjoyed biographies. What books do you have on your list this year, and what recommendations do you have for me to read?
My husband is a part of a vast group of Mopeders called the "Moped Army", or his local branch called the "Bourban Bandits." They cruise the streets of Louisville on their vintage mopeds. I have longed to ride next to him and finally my dreams have come true. I have been imagining any accessories I would like to add to my bike to give it some flair. My moped is a Puch Maxi, in a champagne color. I love green so I hope to find some mild greens to accent the color. The amount of gas they save is crazy. I just need to get a side car to fit all the kids. I can't wait to cruise to the local grocery and fill my basket with groceries. My husband and I will be celebrating our ten year wedding anniversary in about a year and a half, and we hope to take a trip to San Fran to ride with the moped group their for their rally. To cruise the Golden Gate bridge or ride through the Sequoias. I'm getting so excited!
Today was a cold day. The type of day that chills you to the bone. I couldn't think of a better day to make bean soup and corn bread. Bean soup is not one of my husbands fave meals to eat, so I told him he could not have any of mama's cornbread. I like the type of cornbread that is sweet. It is a vegan recipe to modifty for allergies, we all love it here. It was such a warming meal. I might just have to end the day with a hot chocolate. I have had a bit of an obsession this winter with mocha's. I have tried them at as many places as possible to see which is best. Mcdonald's is actually not that bad, Panera is delicious, Starbucks is good, Local joint ugh okay, but I have to say the mocha I had at Borders is the best. I don't usually get into coffee drinks but I believe my husband has won me over, and I need a pick me up everyday. I have been steadily working on my embroidery project for the Lexington Arts Center. I have to add flowers to the tree and a few more accents and I believe I will be done. It has been fun working on it in the evening. I have finally figured out a french knot, with a few slip ups here and there. Also today I worked on making a eye mosaic of my family, even the dog. I'm not sure how it got started , but I kind of went with it. The kids have the most beautiful eyes, but my husband has the most incredible green eyes. I have so many project swimming around in my head after I complete my embroidery project. I want to dive deeper into my artistic side this year. One project at a time. I have must complete my crafty resolutions for the year. I try to learn at least one new craft each year. In years past I learned how to sew, sew my own clothing, embroider, and cross stitch. I desperatly want to finally learn to either crochet or knit. I have been wanting to learn but everytime I try to start I get overwhelmed. Which is usually not like me, I am usually up to the challenge, but for some reason or other, my patience dwindles. This year I must make time to learn.
