snow globe it up

How to make your own snow “globe”.  I’ll have to try this for little D, he loved seeing them in the stores.

In other news little D has been doing a lot of standing and wanting to walk… he also got a nasty cold and is currently recovering.  Teething is also back on the agenda and so therefore are bibs.  Yay. 

I ordered a TESTTUBE from newbeauty after reading about it in the paper and finally received it – plenty of skincare samples and some fullsize to last for awhile.  Including Lancome’s Secret de Vie which runs you $225…  please tell me how can a moisturizer be that good.  You can read all about it here.

fa la la la la

 

So it’s been awhile since I’ve written, mainly due to too much Christmas crafting and sickness in our house.  Both the husband and the child have been in various stages of colds, coughs and stuffiness for the past two weeks.  How is it that the person with the least amount of sleep/rest has been able to stay well???  Well here are a few highlights, more to come.

Made these pillows for a friend, a bird pillow and a leaf pillow – they turned out better than expected, which is always nice. 

And lastly, we bought a painting yesterday at the Collective in old Ballard.  We usually just wander around in there while I mutter about how I’ve seen this on craigslist or we should be able to find something like that at goodwill, when we came across this abstract painting.  It had no price so of course I asked, out of curiosity.  It reminded me of two paintings my parents have, which I love.  When I was little I remember studying them, trying to figure out what the shapes/colors were, imagined seeing clowns, or people, or animals etc.  So when I asked, the girl said I think it’s $75, but I need to check.  I thought, did she mean $75 or $7500?  I was pretty excited to hear $75.  She checked and it was actually $150.  But we got it for $130.  It does need a frame and has no signature but I really like it.  It was hanging in the shop vertically, but when we brought it home I thought it looked better like this. 

Here it is on our wall.

So which way do you think it goes?  A, B, C, or D?

spread the soft tree love :: eat peppermint bark

  

Finally I can share my soft trees with you!  I made a small forest of them for my siblings and mom for St. Nicholas’ Day which we celebrate (December 6) with small gifts and family dinner.  Thanks to littlebird for sharing her pattern and all the inspiration here.  Everyone liked them!  They are the perfect project for me at this point since they are super easy and quick.  We like instant results!  Now that I’ve given all mine away I need to make some for myself. 

We also put up our tree today – the husband is the light-put-er-on-er and he also ended up doing most of the ornament hanging :: once again he did an amazing job!  Little D was also enthralled by the glowing lights and shiny baubles.  He has also just started to crawl, meaning there is some forward motion to his floor movements.  Yay!

And I made peppermint bark.  When I was working in my pre-Little D days, one of my co-workers always brought us a tin of the Williams-Sonoma peppermint bark - I ate it in like one day, of course I shared it too – sort of!  And since I’m not working now I was missing it and decided to make some.  And with Little D around keeping me busy, I’m not eating as much of it.

t’s peppermint bark

Melt 1 lb semi-sweet chocolate in microwave, add 1/4 tsp peppermint extract.  Spread with offset spatula on parchment paper to about 1/8 inch thickness.  Cool.  Put in fridge for awhile.  Meanwhile smash 10 candy canes in ziploc baggy.  Take the now cooled semi-sweet chocolate out of fridge.  Melt 1lb white chocolate, add 1/4 tsp peppermint extract and 1/3 of the smashed candy canes.  Spread with offset spatula over semi-sweet.  Sprinkle remaining candy cane pieces on top.  Chill.  Cut or break into pieces.  Eat.

I used Ghiradelli chocolate chunks from Trader Joes. 

And if this doesn’t make you feel sad.

the violet pear Etsy shop is on it’s way…

I’ve been working on setting up my Etsy shop, but it’s taking a bit of time.  I am excited about it though, and everytime I get up at night to feed Little D, that’s what I’m thinking about… if indeed I’m thinking at all.  That and all the things I want to buy on Etsy!  If all the stars and planets are in alignment, I’m planning on rolling it out next week.   I’ll be selling my jewelry first, and then adding other crafts here and there.  I’ll give you a sneak preview soon.  YAY!

update: yeah, it won’t be opening for awhile… no need to put extra pressure on myself!

any cool bibs out there?

So our baby is a drool monster and although I always said I’d never have a bib baby, I now have a bib baby.  Little D has sensitive skin so we have to keep a bib on him to absorb all that liquid.  And the big problem?  There are no cool bibs.  None.  There are some cheap simple ones at IKEA (can’t find them online), white terry with colored edging, but once washed they went all wonky, like a cheap tshirt.  And of course we received a ton of ducky, doggy, and teddy bear bibs.  At first I refused for him to be seen in these outside the home, but I’ve become a bit immune.  No more.  I decided to make a bib, since I had a lot of leftover white flannel (which was originally going to be a crib skirt for his mod IKEA crib).  Cut out two bib shaped pieces, sewed a few blue lines across them, then sewed right sides together, turned right side out, added some velcro and voila.  Now the only problem is I have to find the time to make more.

past projects

Here is a list of past projects I’m planning on uploading at some point:

• blankets
• bassinet
• earrings