Thursday, February 25, 2010

"this is how you make a rainbow".

i was emptying out katie's backpack last night when i found this

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now, keep in mind that i am not a terribly sentimental person....and most papers that come home from school i look at and then they go straight into the recycle bin. seriously, if i saved all her stuff (from school and that she does at home) i would need an extra bedroom to start stacking all the piles of paper. really. i'm sure she kills a small forest single-handedly monthly. i only save my *very-most-favorite-things*. this is one of them.

the evolution of the "hollie" bag.

my friend hollie is having her fifth baby (yes, her fifth) very soon....as i was fishing around for gift ideas for her one dropped into my lap. she mentioned she liked the purse that i made and was thinking out loud "if that was a little bigger and with pockets....it'd be a cute diaper bag!" and so began my journey with this bag.

it has been a journey filled with blood, sweat, and tears. i could not find a bag that i liked everything about....either it was too big or too small, didn't have pockets in the right places, didn't have the kind of strap i wanted....so i played dr. frankenstein and took bits and pieces from bags i liked and decided to wrap them all up into one bag that i hope hollie likes. my first attempt was a miserable failure....i started too late at night, i was overtired, and after a couple hours of measuring, cutting and sewing, i discovered that the dimensions i had come up with were totally wonky and produced something that looked like this:
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determined to make my design work with the fabric i had left, i set out fresh the next morning. i took things i liked from this bag (namely, the dimensions, which i tweaked just a little, and the big slip pocket on the front, though mine is a lil' different) and from this one (the elasticized pockets) and then added a slip pocket of my own to the inside as well. it isn't quite as heavy as i would've liked...i really wanted it to be able to stand by itself. it turned out okay, but not *quite* what i wanted. i listed this one in my etsy shop.

inside:
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the outside fabric is "mocca" by alexander henry. inside is just some random print made for joann's that i thought looked perfect with it.
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bathroom mirror action shot
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so, after finishing THAT bag i decided i *really* wanted it to have more structure to it, to be able to stand up by itself. though i like how it turned out, it was too floppy for my liking. so back to joann's i traipsed, got some more "mocca" fabric, and searched in vain for the other print i used for the lining. it was nowhere to be found. and i could not find ONE other print that i liked with it. either the shade was off, or if the shade was right the print just didn't go. so i went to pacific fabrics, where some wonderful lady walked through the store searching with me for *just* the right fabric to go with it. we settled on this aqua and brown pindot by michael miller. i love how it goes with the mocca. this last time, i used some fusible fleece on the outside fabric and it came out nice and sturdy, with that "able-to-stand-by-itself" quality i wanted. also, this time around, i used bias tape for the top of both inside pockets so it was uniform all the way around, and i used some heavy interfacing on the slip pocket so it didn't flop around. i really LOVE how this last one turned out and may need to make one for myself :)

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thanks for looking!

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

"top-o-the-mornin'" wreath.

i came across the idea for this wreath here and thought it was too cute to pass up. a couple variations on mine: i didn't have maribou and the thought of yet another trip out with a toddler in tow was as appealing as getting teeth pulled, so i used some tulle i had, cut strips and ruffled them on the sewing machine. i also added a shamrock ornament i liked from joann's....though in retrospect i'm not sure if i like it or not. i was thinking of making a sign that said "blessings" and distressing it and then attaching that....any thoughts?

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i love how the variations of green look all together. (and that smudge of purple on the top of the white felt is some disappearing fabric marker that hasn't quite disappeared yet....)
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on the front door....
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what my baby was doing while i was crafting....
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thanks for looking!

Friday, February 19, 2010

baby doll mei tai.

katie has a birthday party to go to next weekend. when i asked the mom of the b-day girl what she wanted, and she replied "a mei-tai for her baby dolls", my heart leapt in my throat. okay, maybe i wasn't quite THAT excited, but i was pretty darn happy for an excuse to use some of this delicious fabric i've been looking for an excuse to use in something.

"Frolic" by Wendy Slotboom for In the Beginning fabric
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the finished product. i was so excited...i considered waking up my daughter at 12:30 at night to model the finished product LOL....then thought better of it. i used the tutorial over at Owlet to make it.
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ETA action shots!
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thanks for looking!

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

dolly dipe.

just a lil' something i've been wanting to do for awhile. this one's for katie's doll...but she has a birthday party to go to in a couple weeks and i think in addition to the other gift i'm making her friend, i'll throw in a couple of these babies. i used this tutorial from the Cottage Home. i used scraps i had on hand: a cute cupcake print by Robert Kaufman and pink fleece for the inside.

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(sorry for the sub-par lighting on that one)

thanks for looking!

Monday, February 15, 2010

adventures in portland.

so as some of you know, nathan and i snuck off for the weekend to portland to celebrate our anniversary. we suckered....er, convinced my mom to come down for the weekend to our house to watch the kiddos. we drove down there friday and arrived before we were able to check into our hotel, so we went to see "Wolfman". it was my suggestion, because i saw a preview and i *heart* both anthony hopkins and benecio del toro. nathan liked it too, and afterwards told me he thought that i made a mistake and meant to see a different movie because it is not my usual genre. then we walked around pioneer place, which is portland's hoity-toity downtown mall. it covers four city blocks and is connected by tunnels underground or bridges above, and has stores like Coach and Juicy Couture and Tiffany's, all of which i cannot afford to shop in....but wait! what is this?! a Sanrio store? a hello kitty lover's dream-come-true? a shrine to all things pink and cute and hello kitty-adorned? ahhh! i was lucky i didn't have katie with me. i spent about 20 minutes in there oooh-ing and aahh-ing though, before selecting an adorable pair of hello kitty earrings suitable for a souvenir for said daughter. we walked around some more and i sighted a freakishly tall man with a basketball shirt of some sort on. i convinced myself he must be a trailblazer and vowed to research later which one he was. by this time it was after 4 and we could check into our hotel, so we headed back there. along the way, we encountered many different street performers. portland must love their street performers, for as many of them as we saw. first, there was "bucket-drummer-man", who had a collection of different sized buckets and was drumming on them. then there was "silver-man", who was entirely spray-painted silver and acting as a mime:
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but my favorite was this folksy/blues-y quartet:
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i especially liked the sign they had in their money bag: "ugly, broke, and stupid". LOL

my poor husband is so obliging. he hates taking pictures almost as much as he hates being in pictures. and here is me, on the walk back to the hotel: "ooh! ooh! look at the sea lion! i NEED a pic with the sea lion. and look! a beaver! go sit next to the beaver, nathan." LOL
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so we go to our hotel and check in. nathan took care of the hotel arrangements and we are staying in an embassy suites. that's what the government puts him up in whenever he goes somewhere for training, and they have managed to seduce him with their "manager's reception". that is where, from 5:30 to 7:30 every night, they have free all-you-can-drink beer and wine and appetizers. he thinks that this is the greatest idea EVER. so we take our stuff to the room, and then on the way down to the beer free-for-all i stop to check my e-mail at the internet kiosk in the lobby. google portland trailblazer roster to try to identify freakishly tall basketball dude, to no avail. go to check my facebook....and what-the-H-E-double-hockey-sticks is this?! "the site you are attempting to view has been blocked by the management." grrrr. bastards. oh well, on to the free wine. wheeee!
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our suite:
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about a six-pack later, i finally convinced nathan we should go eat dinner, much to his dismay since free-beer-hour wasn't over. we asked the doorman where to go for italian food and he recommended Mamma Mia's Trattoria. it was DELISH. we walked back to the hotel after dinner...nathan wanted to go do some more exploring around town but i was BEAT. that was a definite role-reversal....me, showered and ready to crawl into bed at 9 pm and him bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, wanting to go out still. i won :) i attempted to check my facebook again in the room on the laptop but they wanted $10 a day for internet access....throw me a bone here, people! really. for the small fortune we are paying for our room you can't throw in some free wi-fi?! oh well. off to bed.

the next morning we head on over to Mt. Hood Meadows for some ski action. it was raining almost the entire way up....not a good sign. just before we hit the parking lot it actually turned to snow. whew. it really was an AWESOME day....the weather was not great, but it wasn't horrible, either....and i skied probably the best i ever have.

we didn't get back to the hotel til after 6 on saturday, and by that time i was starving because we hadn't stopped for lunch while we were skiing. we hurried and showered and headed out the door for some grub. on our way to dinner we saw a line of people wrapped around the side of a building with a blinking sign at the front. curiosity forced us to investigate. we nonchalantly meandered up towards the front of the line, where nathan poked around a bit, looked at the door and in the window, came back to me and announced "it's a donut shop." srsly?! no way. convinced that all these people cannot be standing in line waiting for a DONUT at 7 o'clock on a saturday night, i go up to investigate myself. sure enough, it DOES look to be a donut shop. taking charge of the situation, i say to a girl at the front of the line,"excuse me, but we are from out-of-town and saw the line and just wondered....are you all really in line for donuts?!" she laughed and said yes, that she was from out-of-town too, but she was here with her friend who lived here, and that VooDoo Donuts had the BEST donuts around, and you could get pretty much whatever you wanted on your donut. something about the way she said whatever you wanted made me envision donuts with marijuana sprinkled on top. the best part of voodoo donuts has to be their motto though:
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after that we went to dinner at the Thirsty Lion Pub. self-portrait from dinner:
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after dinner we went and just walked around the city and enjoyed the sights.
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when we got back to our hotel they had someone playing the piano in the lobby. i found that exciting; nathan found it about as interesting as watching paint dry. he sat with me for about a half-hour on the couch listening though before i took pity on him and we went back to the room to get ready for bed.

sunday. valentine's day. we got up and ready and packed up our stuff. we checked out of our hotel and had some time to kill before we had to board for our cruise, so we just drove around the downtown area and looked at some stuff we hadn't seen walking around. then we parked and boarded for our brunch cruise aboard the Portland Spirit. a cruise + a fancy brunch + champagne + yet another piano player = tres romantique. it was a good time, and we saw some beautiful scenery and homes on the ride, but my fave part had to be when we spotted two sea lions, not too far from the ship. i was not fast enough whipping out my camera though, by the time i got it out they were gone.

aboard the Portland Spirit
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Portland skyline
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after the cruise we headed back home. we made it about half-way home before the rain started pounding us, as if to say "welcome home to washington!" as the sun tried to poke through the clouds it produced this, the perfect end to our vacay:
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Tuesday, February 9, 2010

skirt for me.

i'm so excited! i made my first article of clothing for MYSELF....a skirt. with a ZIPPER! so proud and excited that i conquered that hurdle; i've never done a zipper before. i used this skirt tutorial from the wonderful and talented Vanessa over at V&Co., though i didn't use a tablecloth....i found an awesome curtain that i fell in love with at Goodwill last weekend that i bought with the intention of making katie something. and then i ran across V's tutorial again and decided to make myself something instead :)

from CURTAIN:
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to SKIRTIN'!
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ETA: okay, i sewed the front panel so that the little bird i like so much would be facing the right way....then, after the fact, i realized that the butterfly on the front is upside down. sooo, i don't know what kind of flowers or bird it's supposed to be, but then i thought,"i wonder if the bird was supposed to be hanging upside down?" no clue. then i thought that i would probably be the only one to notice it anyway, so just oblige me and tell me you never would have noticed if i didn't say anything LOL
thanks for looking!

Monday, February 8, 2010

red and aqua twirly skirt.

i needed to make a skirt to go with this shirt....since i am in *love* with this color combo lately. i used the same tutorial that i did for this skirt.

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it definitely has twirl-a-bility :)
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thanks for looking!

Sunday, February 7, 2010

happy anniversary hun.

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11 years ago.

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today. (okay, a couple months ago.)

i love you!

i'm a blubbery, snotty, red-eyed mess.

this is quite possibly one of the most bittersweet, heart-wrenching birth stories i've ever read. keep the kleenex handy. you WILL need them.

Friday, February 5, 2010

completely random post.

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this month was "reading olympics" at katies school. the kids had to read a total of 480 minutes over the course of the month to get a bronze medal....katie ended up with 512 minutes! thanks, in large part, to daddy.....who sat with her *almost* every night and read with her. sorry for the horrible grainy picture. i am too lazy to break out my camera's manual and figure out which settings to use under indoor flourescent lighting.

on another note, can i just say i didn't realize how wimpy i really am? i did a fitness assessment earlier this week at the Y, and they made me do all sorts of things i don't normally do. things like PUSH-UPS. and BENCH PRESSES (in which i just lifted the bar, mind you, and the teensiest pair of weights you've ever seen. i think it was 35 lbs. total maybe?) i thought my arms were going to FALL OFF the next day, people. i knew that upper body strength wasn't my forte.....but man, i guess i really need to work on that some more.

WARNING! GRAPHIC POOP PICTURE!
so if you are at all queasy or easily grossed out, just hold it right there, pardner.












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last night samuel *once again* pooped in the tub. but he threw a new twist on it this time! just defecating in the bathtub wasn't enough anymore! last night, he decided, he would make a work of art with his poop and fingerpaint with it on the backsplash! his pièce de résistance, if you will. *blech*. needless to say, the bathtub is now probably the cleanest it's ever been, as i scrubbed it and sprayed the heck out of it with bleach afterwards.....

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Birthday fun with Katie.

See Katie! See Katie turn 6!
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Here is Katie eating breakfast.
Breakfast is a very important meal, especially when it is powdered donettes.
See Katie eat her yummy, nutritious breakfast.



Look! Watch us have fun at Chuck E. Cheese! Look at Katie and Daddy playing air hockey. They are having so much fun! Go, Katie, go!
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Katie, Sam and Austin are up in the play structure. Look at them have fun up there! They look like silly monkeys in a cage. Look! Look at the silly monkeys!
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"This is so much fun!" said Austin. "Samuel, would you like to ride the roller coaster with me? Let us go for a roller coaster ride!"



Look at the cheesy photos. Look, look, look. One, two, three silly pictures!
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Watch Katie blow out her candle. What did Katie wish for? "I wish I could be 6 forever!" says Katie. (and she said that fo rils. it's not part of the silly dick and jane rhetoric :)
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Do you see Katie's presents? How many presents she has! One, two, three, four! Look at Katie's four presents!
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Look at Katie's pony! Katie loves her pony. Katie can wear her pony in her very own mama-made pouch sling now! Thanks, Mommy!



Look! Look at Samuel. See Samuel babywear. Samuel will make an excellent Daddy someday! Watch Samuel eat birthday cake. Open wide, Sam!
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Look! Look at the projects that kept Mommy up til 1 am last night! Mommy tends to procrastinate. Maybe next time Mommy will start sooner.
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but not likely.