No extra parts

Remember a long time ago when I mentioned Andrew wanted a bike? I told him no way jose at first because we were in school and it would take up too much time, but now that its summer I caved. I am usually the creative one with 3 projects going on at once so its kind of neat to see him having fun with his own project. 

 He already switched out some of the metal stuff (you know, the parts) and he just finished repainting. He did all of that and didn't have any extra parts, thats always a good thing. 

Sans blue flames. 

I think he's super cute and I love that I got a sparkly helmet and new sander out of this.

Polaroids

Today I decided to work on a photo project. I have 9 great frames that I am constantly rotating photos with or moving to different walls. Its the same conclusion every time I change things, I just don't have enough frames for all my photos. I also do not have unlimited funds to buy all the frames I fancy. There were several photo wall ideas on Pinterest to choose from so I took a little from a few. The polaroid frame was created with photoshop (thank goodness for youtube tutorials) and printed them through Sam's. 26 photos for nearly $3. I am already excited to add photos from next weeks family vacation. 

Mary Poppins

Now that I am on summer vacation I have all the time in the world to be creative. Exciting. Pinterest has been my little inspiration creator. I have been making meals from Pinterest, crafts from Pinterest, now I just need to be pinned -oh wait that already happened ;) 

Today I saw this and decided it needed to be in my laundry closet. 

I love her.

(& my collection of white sheets)

Pool day in February

On the weekends we try and spice up our lives a bit because it's nice to take a break from the routines. The weather was so unbelievably perfect this past weekend that we decided to spend the afternoons sunning. Obvi I had to wear my diva floppy hat, which only helped me feel more like I was in a tropical paradise.

Can I just say I am so thankful for our home. I love every foot in our 989 sq. ft. and the fact that our neighbors work full time so we get the pool and gym all to ourselves :)

I'm embarrassed to say, but our door has been bare for the past month, so a while ago I made this fancy little thang. Not fancy at all really. I recycled some leftover linen fabric to make the rosettes and a wood cutout F. The F has already fallen off but since I have so much fabric still leftover I think I am just going to cover half the wreath with a garden of linen rosettes. I wanted to post this photo because linen rosettes are my new favorite. You can put them on a pillow, a frame, a wreath, whatevs! They are a no brainer to make, too.

Linen Placemats

There was quite a lot of linen fabric leftover from our bed project that I have been saving and yesterday I finally put it to some good use. I made placemats! Originally I had plans to make pillows (of which we don't even need), but literally every time we sit down at the table I place kitchen towels under our plates. Until yesterday, nothing has been successfully produced from my sewing machine. To say I am sewing-challenged is an understatement. The following photos may be pretty, but I promise this was a war zone.

The standard sized placemat does not work with my 4 chair round table because the corners touch, so I wanted to make a fabric charger type placemat instead. First I made a rough cut against my plate to help me with the dimensions, which was 14x14.

Then I pinned both squares together, inside out.

I sewed around the edges leaving a 1/4 inch seam allowance...

...making sure to leave a 2 inch gap for when I pull the square right side out. Tip: Clipping the corners helps!

After my fabric was right side out I placed a pin over the gap to help the fabric stay folded in while I ironed over everything.

Voila. I am still deciding if I want to make an outside hem for decoration, but that would mean tackling the sewing machine again..hmm

Tip: Having your hubby come home with 'just because' flowers is really encouraging :)

Frames

This past weekend I had a new project: picture frames. They are 20x20 with a 7x7 photo cut out. I love a good project but honestly, that was plan C. I first searched nearly every store and when that wasn't fruitful I priced out custom frames. When that was through the roof expensive, I then decided it was project time. It wasn't the most fun I've ever had, but I really love the end result.

Like new

Let me start by saying the real title of this entry should be "Magic". Last night we celebrated Christmas with my parents and one thing we received was this:

We have a dozen pieces of All-Clad stainless steel cookware that I absolutely love, but had no idea what food and oil would do to them. After seeing the before and after photos below, I don't know why I didn't buy this a year ago.

Magic. This is a great gift idea, thanks Mom!