saturday projects

I don't know what it is exactly, but I've been going to town the last couple of weeks in making our apartment more like home*. I've been hanging pictures, moving furniture, and arranging trinkets to give our place a more polished look and make it ours. I guess it's high time, considering we've been here for over 5 months now. :) Additionally, I also had time the last couple of Saturdays to work on some projects, which was fantastic!

First up is this Petal Pillow. It really was quite easy, although I made a few alterations from the tutorial posted for it on V and Co. First, instead of using felt I used some white fabric sturdified and made fray-proof (hopefully) with fusible interfacing. Second, I added a button to the front. And finally, I added a pretty yellow jewel button to the back to secure it. I really like how it turned out, much better than the old one I made about 6 years ago that no longer matches our decor. Although I will say Jeff was disappointed when I told him he couldn't actually lay on this pillow - for decoration only!



Next is this sweet little Valentine garland. It took me longer than I expected, but it turned out very cute. I'm not sure the pictures quite do it justice.

Finally, this is something from our time back in Boise that I never posted about (haha - not the first time I haven't posted a project). This bookcase, given to us by some friends, started out as one of those cheap $20 Walmart speicals. While I love Walmart and cheap furniture has its virtues (believe you me we have plenty of these items scattered around the house) I wanted to give it something to make it extra special. A small can of paint and some Snow & Graham wrapping paper, adhered with Mod Podge, did just the trick. Who needs fancy pre-assembled furniture when you can whip up something like this? Then again, pre-assembled furniture does sound pretty amazing. Someday... :)

*While we're on the topic of home, our LDS Family Services caseworker came to our place last week to update our home study. For those who don't speak adoptionese, that means we are VERY close to having all our paperwork done to get approved to adopt in the state of Maryland. That doesn't mean we have a baby all lined up to adopt, but at that point our online profile will be reactivated and we'll ready when a birthmom chooses us, whenever that is. Fingers crossed we're approved soon!

dresses!

Ah, I do love dresses! Every year at this time I start dreaming of spring and what beautiful skirts and dresses I would like to wear in the warmer, sunnier days ahead. Here are some lovely ones I've spied over at Shabby Apple.

Let's start with an everyday dress. Enter L'Artiste dress. This is one I can see myself wearing all the time, whether to the grocery store, an outdoor party, or on a Sunday afternoon. I think that's part of the reason I love it so much - casual and wearable for everyday, but just enough femininity to make it something special.

As for the next step up in formality I like the Sierra Nevada dress. Not sure how the flowers on top would actually look on me, but I just love the cut and the belt.

Now this is a dress I've had my eye on forever, the Antiquated dress. I would love to have this as my "little black dress" that could be dressed up for fancier events like weddings and parties, but not so formal I couldn't wear it to church on Sunday.

What is your favorite Shabby Apple dress? Post about it on your blog and get a free pair of earrings. Details here.

i heart idaho

What a wonderful Christmas break it was! Jeff and I were lucky enough to spend lots of time in Idaho with family, friends, and loved ones. It was so nice to be home. :) While we were there Jeff gave me this lovely necklace. He got it from Etsy seller Truche, who makes all sorts of amazingness with metal. It is truly exquisite! It makes me so happy to carry such a beautiful little reminder of home around my neck.

As for some of my other favorite things from the trip, please see below.

Reed's Dairy Ice Cream! Not sure I will ever be able to restrain myself from the double scoop waffle cone. Mmm...mmm...mmm!


I made all sorts of fun snowflakes for my Mom. Here is the octopus one I came up with.


Pomegranate lemonade from Applebee's. Oh yes, it is tasty. Especially when you get free refills.


Snowshoeing - blessed, blessed snowshoeing. Here I managed to do a little quasi-sledding on the snowshoes. Don't tell the rental joint.

I took too many pictures to post them all on my blog, but you can see pictures of our snowshoeing adventure here and just general pics here.

Is it bad that I'm already excited to go back?

i - k - k - kea*

Ooh - I'm loving me some Ikea fabric right now. I particularly enjoy the following two fabric lines, Kajsastina and Annamoa. Nevermind the fact that I already have more fabric than I know what to do with. A girl can always use more fabric, right? Especially when it's as hip and cute as this:


I'd love to use this gray and yellow color scheme to make curtains and pillows to decorate a room.


And I think these little motifs are quite charming. I think they have potential for a child's room, though I wouldn't use all of them together.
While we're on the topic of Ikea, these are the curtains I bought a few months ago. I love the pop of color they add to my front room. And being 1/8th Swedish makes me a feel a bit like I'm bringing a reminder of Sweden into my home with the blue and white. :)

* When I talk about Ikea Jeff often says, "k-k-k-kea," to the tune of the Chia Pet jingle. Love that boy.

putting a spring in my step

So I finally joined the 21st century a few months ago and got an iPod, which is quite a pretty one if I do say so myself (thank you iSkin).Thanks to my trusty iPod I have had an extra spring in my step on my evening commute, and I mean that quite literally. Isn't it amazing how music can just transport you to another world, cheer you up and make you happy? I've wondered more than once what my fellow commuters make of the smile on my face when I'm all earphoned out.

Make fun of me if you will, but here are a few Christmas tunes that I've enjoyed lately:

*NSYNC - wow! This takes me back to sophomore year of high school. I remember listening to this on the bus during basketball season, and it is possible I had this album on cassette tape (haha - I was even behind the times then!).








David Archuleta (aka Archdawg around our house)- we are thouroughly enjoying his Christmas album:







What are some of your favorite Christmas songs?

betchya didn't know

Did you know that November is National Adoption Month? Well now you do! Adoption has been on my brain a lot lately, so I guess it's appropriate that this month is an extra special time to be thinking of it.

To give you an update on us, Jeff and I are currently in the process of getting approved for adoption in the state of Maryland (different states, different standards), which hopefully will be squared away soon. We have had a number of birthmothers express interest in us over the last few months, but nothing has come to fruition for us (yet). We so much appreciate the kind thoughts, words, e-mails, and prayers you continue to offer on our behalf. It's wonderful to know that so many people are thinking of us and pulling for us!

I mentioned this a few months ago, but we would love for you to keep us in mind if you hear of any situations where a birthmother is considering placing her baby for adoption. We still have our LDS Family Services profile posted here, and this blog and our family blog are other places you can direct them to. I am hoping to get some pass along cards as well (I'm entering this contest to win some free ones - wish me luck!), so please let me know if you are interested in receiving some of those once we have some.

Adoption is so beautiful. I love the way is can influence really countless lives for the better - the adopted child, adoptive parents, and birthparents, not to mention extended families and friends of each of those parties. What a gift it can be! Jeff's wonderful older sister Becky was adopted, so we have witnessed some of those blessings firsthand.

How had adoption touched your life or the life of someone you know?

remember that one time...

that I went to Hawaii, said I would post about it, then never did? Yeah, that was a year ago.

Shameful.

I've been thinking about doing it for a while, but it just seems so daunting. But I have this Thursday off. Maybe, just maybe I'll get the motivation to do it. We'll see. In case I don't, here's a little sneak peak.

How's that for committment? :)

longwood gardens

Last weekend Jeff and I went to Delaware and Pennsylvania to see his brother Rob and his wife Jolene. It was wonderful to see family out here and spend some time with them. One of the things we did was go to Longwood Gardens. It was so amazing! I kept finding myself telling Jeff, "I want one of these someday!" Just exquisite. Our time was quite limited, but I did manage to snap some pictures of what was growing there.

Oh, these beautiful mums! I think I could take pictures of the purple ones forever.

A Bird of Paradise, Jeff's favorite flower.

I loved the water lily gardens. I kept telling Jeff that I just wanted to float away on one of those big lily pads - they were huge!

Flowers weren't the only thing they had at Longwood. This wall was incredible! So green, and the fresh vegetation smell was lovely. It was one of the things I told Jeff I want in our house someday. :)

paperie goodness

Ah - I love paper! I've told you about my love of paper things before, but now I'm going to do some more showing of why I love it.

First are envelopes I am making from some vintage magazines I got from my dad. I think there is something special about snail mail, especially when it comes in a beautiful envelope. I'll need to make some labels to write the addresses on to ensure they make it to the inteded recipient.

Staying on the handwritten correspondence theme, here are some fun little flower notecards. When I got them for Christmas last year they were just plain, solid colors, so I dressed them up with my Paper Source Cottage Bloom stamp to make them extra special.

Who knew a plain old Staples clipboard could look so good? All you need for this project is some pretty paper and Mod Podge to stick it on with. Isn't the little bird paper fun? It's Snow and Graham wrapping paper.

I don't know about you, but I continually find myself drawn to animals and critters - birds, butterflies, squirrels, etc. I made this little guy and don't really have anything in mind for him, but I still think he's cute.

Finally, another little critter. I wish I could take credit for designing "Skip," but all I can claim is the purchasing, downloading, printing, cutting, and pasting. Mibo has some clever, clever paper animals. I got a bunch of the PDFs on a special deal a few months back and absolutely adore them! They're fun to give as gifts, and also fun to keep. :)

Isn't it amazing how much you can do with paper? What are some of your favorite paper projects?

last minute crafts

Soo...I figure it's time to post some crafty craftiness from me. :) Those who know me well know I am a procrastinator. Therefore, it should come as no surprise that I had put off a couple of projects prior to our move out to Maryland, so I was rushing to get them done at the last minute before we moved back east.

Exhibit A: a lovely apron for one of my girls camp young women who graduated in (ahem) May. In my defense, I had gone shopping earlier for fabric for this apron, but I didn't find something that just fit. Something that is very important to me when working on a special project is that I find fabric that "fits" the person I'm making it for. Lucky for me, just before we moved I found the perfect fabrics for Kayla's apron in her favorite colors - purple and green. I had to go to two separate stores to get them, but the extra effort was so worth it - she loved it!

I also made her a little wallet with the extra fabric. I still think these wallets are fantastic! I use mine all the time.

While I was writing about finding fabric that "fits," I remembered the bag I made for the beatuiful and talented Beth back in, um, March or April, for her birthday. Again, that was another project where I did a little shopping around to find the right fabric, in addition to some procratination on my end. But, again, the recipeint was thrilled with the final product. She wanted a bag to carry her kids' library books in and I think this fit the ticket!

And don't forget the horribly-photographed-but-cute-in-person interior pocket.

Finally, this is something I made for a girl in my ward who won a handmade bag from me at our Relief Society service auction in...um...yeah I don't even remember what month it was in. :P But the important thing is that I finished it before I left! She requested a beach bag and this is what I came up with.

Okay, this is fun! Let's see if I can get myself to post some more of my projects from the past few months. :)

"i got a whole lot of happy" (birthday)*

Happy, happy birthday to Jeffrey! Today is his 28th birthday. This is a particularly happy one for Jeff in light of the San Francisco Giants winning the NLCS just minutes before midnight last night to make it to the World Series! Jeff loves baseball and has fond memories of watching the World Series on his birthday, so what a gift it is this year that he gets to watch his favorite team fight for the title! As a present, he got to go to Game 1 of the NLCS between the Phillies and Giants last Saturday, but I'll post more on that later.

Lots of candles - while shopping for them I realized we had reached a milestone because one package of candles will no longer cut it. 2 packages it is!

It may look like it, but no, the cake itself was not actually on fire. :)

We also realized that the 28th candle is the straw that broke the camel's back, as it took Jeff 2 tries to get all the candles. He had a good laugh about it. :) These pictures aren't completely in focus, but I love them anyway.

Happy birthday, Jeff! I am so glad you were born!

*NOTE: To explain the title of this post, go here to read about the quote from Juan Uribe, one of the Giants players. Love it! :)