Conversation In My Home...

Bitty: (While playing Lego Star Wars on the Wii) Hey! You took my guy!

T Bub: I didn't mean to, I was trying to be R2 D2. I don't know how to switch my guy back.

Bitty: You need to change it back! Please! You know I only like to be Number 1 Kenobi...

If you know Star Wars, you know that's funny.

Decorating Ideas...for Spring

Spring is not my favorite season in Minnesota. It always feels like spring is just sorta limping in after winter, slowly shaking off the cold and snow and trying it's best to green the place up again.

Right now it is still muddy and brown outside. Sunny, but with a biting wind sweeping through the unleaved trees.

No, I don't think unleaved is a word either. Bare trees? Whatever, you know what I mean. Trees with no leaves. Unleaved .

In an effort to bring a little color inside the house at least, I have put out what few spring decorations I have. I would like to have a little bit more to put out, but my garage and basement are overtaken by all the boxes of Christmas decorations... basically, I have no place else to store more decorations of any sort, so I'm not allowed to buy/make any more.

Cause there's no space!

So here's what I have:

A little trio of bunnies picked up from JoAnn's using a 40% off coupon. They were two bucks:

This cute little carrot pitcher from my wonder-in-law* and another little bunny. I picked up the flowers with glittery eggs at the Dollar Store. I got the bunny from JoAnn's last year after Easter for fifty cents. I let Bitty play with him and now his ears won't stand up any more. Gotta fix that... maybe some crazy glue.

*My mother-in-law, S. Cause she's just awesome.

This little white container used to hold all my kitchen utensils. Now it holds flowers. Not just any flowers.. these are memorial flowers. My neighbor bought them to put at his mothers grave and found out that the cemetery no longer allows silk or plastic flowers. So he brought them over and asked if I'd like them. I felt so bad that I told him of course I'd take them... It kinda seemed wrong to throw away flowers that someone bought for their mothers grave. So even though I didn't have any use for them at the time, I took them downstairs and they sat on my craft table for a year. Now they grace my table along with my little bunny bowl.

Finally! Something without bunnies! My sister-in-law K gave this to us one year for Christmas. Normally the little glass holders have tea lights in them. Last year I discovered how cute it looks with eggs in the holders. Awww... cute.

Do you have any spring in your house yet?

A Lamp of A Different Color...

I'm in the process of a small overhaul in Bitty's room. When we moved into our house, she was in the full throes of Princess mania. At the time, I had given each kid permission to choose the color for their room.

T Bub choose a sky blue to go with all his airplane stuff.

The Lovely L picked a light teal. And Bitty... well, she choose royal purple. And yellow. And she wanted me to paint a Minnesota Vikings helmet in the middle of her room. Although it would have made the Master Chef quite proud, I quickly stepped in and reminded her that all her bedding was pink and yellow with princesses on it. I was soon rolling princess pink on her walls and stenciling white scallops on at the top.

Now, almost three years later, Bitty has outgrown her toddler bed and princess bedding, and she has the Lovely L's old quilt comforter with it's pale pinks, greens and purples. The bright yellow accessories no longer matched her room and had to go.

I began searching (where else) the Internet for ideas of what I'd like to see in there and came upon these beauties:

Ahhhh... Pottery Barn Kids. Is there nothing that you make that I won't fall immediately in love with? I loved that rose covered lampshade. The price I did not. At ninety nine bucks, it was a little out of my price range. Ninety nine! And that was just the price for the lampshade, the lamp itself was another forty five... Yikes! So my brain and I did a little thinking and POOF! It came to me. I knew just what to do. Here is Bitty's old yellow lampshade: And here's what I did to it: TA DA! Ohhh, purdy. I can say purdy. Cause I grew up in Indiana, that's why. Want to know how I did it... That's coming soon in another post. Look for it!

Go

Here to see how I did it!

I'm linking up with Savvy Southern Style and Beneath My Heart:

Spring...

The Vernal Equinox, which marks the first day of spring, was March 20th this year. What exactly is a vernal equinox, you ask? Well, I had to look it up cause I just gotta know stuff like that. Vernal comes from the Latin vernalis, the root being ver which just means spring. Equinox is a nifty word that literally means 'equal night'; on these two days (there is one in fall, too, called the autumnal equinox) the length of the day and night is about the same: 12 hours. There, now you know something you didn't know two minutes ago. Unless you already knew, then I apologize for boring you. No matter what it's called, what it means is winter is over and the days are getting longer (more daylight, yea!).

I don't mind the snow all that much (no, really! I don't!) but I have to say that I'm REALLY looking forward to seeing my flowers bloom and the grass turn green. Of course, this being the Frozen North, I only recently had the privilege of viewing my lawn, then having it be completely recovered in snow and now... I can see it again! Woo Hoo!

I know it's not green, but I'll take it. After all, directly across the street from me, my neighbors still can't see their lawn (a bonus for me, my house faces south).

Best of all was walking around the side of my house and being surprised by the green shoots of my daffodils bursting out of the ground. Snow or no snow, spring is here!

60 And Falling Fast...

This winter we have had a pretty big problem. That problem is called Inconsistent Furnace Heat Output, otherwise known as a 'furnace that refuses to keep heating the house'. Inconsistent Furnace Heat Output, or IFHO, can be quite the problem for a homeowner, especially when living in the Frozen North, where the weather brought 3" of snow and temperatures hovering around 25 degrees today.

Have you been a victim of IFHO? If so, there are a few steps you can take:

1. Dress in thermal underwear, covered by warm sweats. Place several blankets over your shoulders. Using a chip clip will keep the blankets in place, and you can also pretend to be a superhero at the same time.

2. Move around. Physical activity will keep your heart rate up and you may break a sweat. At that point the cool air in your home will feel good again.

3. Call a friend. Preferably a friend with some heating or cooling experience, or lacking that, someone who once knew a guy with some heating experience, to look at your furnace unit. After messing with the wires for a bit and determining that, yep, it's broken, the two of you could sit and commiserate for awhile on General Household Mishaps - 'hey! remember that time I had an ice dam on my roof and the baby's room flooded! I had to replace the whole upstairs flooring!'


Tonight, however, as I bundle up myself and the kids, I will choose to be thankful. And as I say my prayers tonight, I will thank God for our house with its broken furnace because I have a home. As I dress Bitty in an extra layer of jammies, I will be grateful we have all the clothes we need to stay warm. And as I climb into bed, I will say a prayer for those in Japan and other places around the world that are lacking even those basic needs. And for myself, I will say a prayer of thankfulness.

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which is beyond all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

Philippians 4: 7-8

Flower Clippy Hair Bow…

 

A humongous shout out to my sister in law S in Colorado for teaching me how to make these!

To start, you need to choose your fabric. For this flower I used three different coordinating fabrics, but I’ve made these with only one fabric or pattern and they’re still cute. You will need to cut out six circles from your fabric.

 

 

I used a small plastic Ikea bowl as my circle template and my circles were about 3 ½ inches in circumference. The bigger the bowl, the bigger your flower will turn out.

 

 Take one of your circles, fold it in half and iron it flat.

 Holy schnikes, my ironing board looks dirty.

Okay, well… ignore that. Fold it in half again and iron it so it looks like a little pizza slice; these will be the petals of the flower.

 

Do that to all six of your circles.

Note to self: quit drinking (and spilling) coffee on ironing board.

 

Next, cut about 8 inches of thread and pull a knot in one end. Starting at the bottom (the area of fabric that you cut), weave a stitch along the edge.

Grab the next petal and repeat with the same piece of thread until all the petals are connected. Gently pull the thread, bunching up the bottom of the petals.

 

 

CAUTION: Pulling too hard may break your thread… uh… yeah.

But that’s never happened to me… I wouldn’t try using the same thread and breaking it over and over, because I learn from my mistakes the first time. Or the seventh.

Whatever. I now use a polyester cotton blend thread when making my bows because it’s much sturdier and I’m less likely to get frustrated and throw the thread across the room.

Okay, I’ve never really thrown the thread. Talked threateningly and asked questions of it… ‘What is your problem, thread?!?’ ‘ARGH!!! Why won’t you just do what I want?’ Yes. That I have done. Moving on…

Once all the petals are scrunched on the thread, you need to bring the two end petals together and sew them. This will create a rounded flower shape with a little hole in the center. I fill this hole with scraps of fabric or felt; that will help the flower keep its shape.

 

Now you get to choose something to cover the center of the flower. I chose a button, but you could use a yo yo or anything sized right. Get creative!

 

Woo Hoo!

My flower is finished. I used this one to embellish an apron I made for Lovely L’s 11^th birthday.

Hmmm… I need to think about cleaning up before taking these pictures. Or at least shoving things out of the way.  Unless you’re really interested in what kind of vacuum I use.  I bought it ‘cause it’s purple.  I can’t make this stuff up, people… 

 

Flower Clippy Hair Bow...

I love these flowers as a bow for the girls’ hair or as a clip on one of my jackets. I would give a shout out to my sister in law in Colorado for showing me how to make these. But I can't. Cause this blog is a secret, so she doesn't know anything about it. Just the same, thanks to S for giving me the DL on these cute clippies.

To start, you need to choose your fabric. For this flower I used three different coordinating fabrics, but I’ve made these with only one fabric or pattern and they’re still cute. You will need to cut out six circles from your fabric.

I used a small plastic Ikea bowl as my circle template and my circles were about 3 ½ inches in circumference. The bigger the bowl, the bigger your flower will turn out.

Take one of your circles, fold it in half and iron it.

Holy schnikes, my ironing board looks dirty. Okay, well… ignore that. Fold it in half again and iron it so it looks like a little pizza slice; these will be the petals of the flower.

Do that to all six of your circles. Note to self: quit drinking (and spilling) coffee on ironing board.

Cut about 8 inches of thread and pull a knot in one end. Starting at the bottom (the area of fabric that you cut), weave a stitch along the edge.

Grab the next petal and repeat with the same piece of thread until all the petals are connected. Gently pull the thread, bunching up the bottom of the petals.

CAUTION: Pulling too hard may break your thread… uh… yeah. But that’s never happened to me… I wouldn’t try using the same thread and breaking it over and over, because I learn from my mistakes the first time. Or the seventh. Whatever. I now use a polyester cotton blend thread when making my bows because it’s much sturdier and I’m less likely to get frustrated and throw the thread across the room. Okay, I’ve never really thrown the thread. Talked threateningly and asked questions of it… ‘What is your problem, thread?!?’ ‘ARGH!!! Why won’t you just do what I want?’ Yes. That I have done. Moving on…

Once all the petals are scrunched on the thread, you need to bring the two end petals together and sew them. This will create a rounded flower shape with a little hole in the center. I fill this hole with scraps of fabric or felt; that will help the flower keep its shape.

Now you get to choose something to cover the center of the flower. I chose a button, but you could use a yo yo or anything sized right. Get creative! Woo Hoo! My flower is finished. I used this one to embellish an apron I made for the Lovely L’s 11^th birthday. Hmmm… I need to think about cleaning up before taking these pictures. Or at least shoving things out of the way. Unless you’re really interested in what kind of vacuum I use. I bought it ‘cause it’s purple. You think I’m lying…

Bows And Bowmaking...

Every once in awhile, I find an outfit that is just so cute that I need to accessorize it. I end up saying to myself, ‘self, what would make this outfit the cutest thing ever is a matching bow.’

That is inevitably followed by me dragging the outfit from store to store to find the perfect coordinating ribbons to turn into a bow.

Sometimes, I luck out and find just the ribbon I need in the dollar clearance bin at one of my favorite craft stores or I might already have the color I need sitting in my craft area. I use the term ‘craft area’ loosely; it’s really just a table filled with all my crafty junk stuck in a small section of my (unfinished) basement. Moving on…

The first couple of bows I made… well, they were horrible. However, encouraged that I made something all by myself, I proudly stuck those crazy things in the girls’ hair.

I’m sure people were wondering what was up with that mess of ribbon sitting on top of the Lovely L’s head, but they were kind enough to keep their comments to themselves.

Now, after much practice, I can throw together a bow in less than ten minutes.

The only thing left is finding a place to keep all these bows. 

They used to be stuck in a drawer in the bathroom, but that left many of them scrunched and wrinkled. I did not burn myself repeatedly with a glue gun to have squashed bows.
And then, one happy day, I found a ‘B’ at Target that was exactly what I was looking for. Using that and ribbon I already had, I painted and glue gunned a cute little bow holder. All together now... Awwwww!

I'm linking up to Grosgrain if you'd like to see more awesome bows! http://grosgrainfabulous.blogspot.com/2011/03/birdsong-tutorialpattern-giveaway.html