Hey Little Birdie!

I am fixated on the idea of one day having a charming nook in my kitchen. I sadly don’t think it is architecturally possible in the house I currently live in. But since we don’t plan on staying in this home forever, my dreams are filled with kitchen banquettes. Here are some beautiful options:

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Aren’t they lovely? To me, banquettes create such a sense of community around the table. I can’t resist them! When it comes time to bring one into my space, I may use this clever Ikea hack as a starting place.

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For some reason, my brain is mush today. Actually, I think it’s been mush all week. So consequently prepare yourself for a stellar post. Seriously, hunker down because instead of opting for something logical and coherent, I am going with several random thoughts that have been swarming around in my little noggin for days… all in the attempt to clear some space out of the vast chasm of craziness in order to make room for only thoughtful and intriguing ponderings going forward. I know, that’s a lot to expect, but I am nothing if not overzealous. So, here we go…

Last week Design Mom posted these Knitted Bean Bags from Zilalila, and ever since, I can’t stop thinking about them… even though they are only found in Amsterdam and cost more than my couch.

Have you seen this Milk Art that you can do with your kids with ingredients even I have in my kitchen? Which honestly is saying more than it should. Regardless, Lyla and I are doing this for sure. Thanks Evie S.

Do you like documentaries? I do. So, I want to watch the show 50 Documentaries to See Before You Die by Morgan Spurlock, the guy from Super Size Me and The Greatest Movie Ever Sold. It airs on Current TV (channel 358 on Directv) on August 2nd.

Another crafty thing (found on Momtastic) that I really want to try with Lyla is spin art using that salad spinner that you never use. Come on, you don’t use it, do you? Next you’re going to tell me that you actually eat salad!

I’m also pretty much enamored with these sweet dolls from Goodbye Blue Monday on Etsy. Lyla’s favorite is Coco. And yes, that means I’ve taught her how to do some online shopping. And yes, I am a role model of a mom. My workshop registration will open next week.

As I type all of this up, I realize that there are many, many more things still rattling around up in the soft corners of my brain, so clarity and introspective decision making might still be slightly out of grasp for me. Oh well, there’s always tomorrow. One thing that might help is if you tell me some of the randomness brewing in your head. You’d do that for me, wouldn’t you? Prove it.

Hi everyone! Claire’s party was this past Saturday, and it was a lovely time. Like the paper heart garland that I shared last week, I made many of the other decorations myself. And they were all relatively affordable projects that anyone could do! Believe me, I am not an expert crafter- I have never used a sewing machine and I cut with scissors like a first grader. Regardless, I love hand making things, especially when these things are to celebrate my favorite little girl in the world. Here’s an easy idea to dress up your table- a do-it-yourself table runner made with only 3 items!

First, I bought a 3 yards of burlap from the craft store (I used a 50% off coupon so it was less than $7!) Then, I cut the width of the burlap to 20 inches, which is a standard width of a table runner. I then grabbed a bunch of ribbons in different sizes and textures that coordinated with the party decor. I simply cut them a bit longer that the width of the burlap and arranged them into a random pattern that I liked.

Then, I cut some iron on hemming tape that I picked up at the craft store the same length as the ribbons. And then placed the ribbons on top of the hem strips.

Next, I heated up the iron to the wool setting, turned off the steam, and placed a washcloth on top of the ribbon as I pressed down and sealed it to the burlap. Super easy!

After I was done ironing all the ribbons to the burlap, I simply used scissors to trim the excess ribbon from the edges of the runner.

Here is what the completed table runner looks like! (Ignore all the leftover heart confetti, this was taken after the party. I forgot to take pictures with everything set up on the table, oops!)

Have a happy Wednesday!

Here’s a sneak peek at a portion of the decor for Claire’s third birthday party! Like I mentioned last week, the theme is centered around a song from Yo Gabba Gabba performed by The Roots- “Lovely Love My Family.” Therefore hearts are the natural go-to for decorations! I wanted to create something different than tissue pom pom garland that I did for her party last year. And after spying a digital suite of papers in her party colors of teal and coral, I had the idea of creating a heart garland out of the pretty paper designs. Here’s how I did it:

First I printed out the digital paper designs onto card stock:

Then I cut the card stock into even strips using a paper cutter:

Then I took two strips of the same design and stapled one end. I printed both sides of the paper with different designs, so I made sure to staple the strips so that when I made the heart one design would appear on the outside and one on the inside:

Then curved over the ends and stapled the bottom point of the heart to form the shape:

Then I repeated the steps to form another heart and stapled the pointy ends inside the top seam of another heart to form a chain like this:

After I made a chain the length that I needed, I stapled some matching ribbon to the seams of the last heart on either end of the chain. This way I could easily attach it to the wall:

Here are some completed chains:

So pretty, festive and easy!

I can’t believe it is already that time of year. I am in full swing party planning mode for Claire’s third birthday. And now I’ll just try to hold back the tears that well up in my eyes when I have to admit that she is getting that old. Just this morning, I told her I couldn’t remember the last time she snuggled into me and fell asleep like she used to as a baby. And there came those blasted tears again. She may have special needs and be different from most kids in many ways but in some ways she is just like every other almost three year old that doesn’t want to hold still to snuggle with their mommy anymore.

The celebration this year is inspired by a song, “Lovely Love My Family” from The Roots. You know, Jimmy Fallon’s late night band? I love them. They happen to be cool enough to appear on Claire’s beloved show, Yo Gabba Gabba, and performed this little number. She adores it. I thought it was immensely fitting because of all the love that surrounds Claire and the love she gives back so freely. So her theme is the song, love, and hearts. But not in a Valentine-y way, it’s summer after all! Here is a peek at my inspiration board:

1. Nostaglia Papers from Jen Allyson- these serve as my color inspiration. Lots of teal and coral with some gold and green mixed in. I’m also using these papers for a few decor projects. Like making interlocking hearts garlands out of them and decoupaging a large number 3 with them.

2. Lovely Love My Family print by Tuesday Mourning- this print represents Claire’s theme to a T! Coral pink, hearts and her favorite song. I plan on displaying it in the table centerpiece.

3. Teal and coral supplies from Etsy (images from here and here)- why go to the hum drum party store when Etsy has the most adorable things in exactly the colors you need? Thank goodness for Etsy!

4. Food ideas (image from here)- you can bet there will be a bunch of heart styled food at the brunch buffet. I have two heart cookie cutters and I’m not afraid to use them! So far my food plans are not totally set, but I am thinking breakfast pizza, mini doughnut muffins, fruit and some kind of dessert. I’ll be sure to give you all the details when I finally decide.

A few other projects I plan on undertaking are making a table runner out of burlap and attaching ribbons in the party colors in a vertical stripe pattern, creating a photobooth space and using some of these printables as cute props, and making these sweet little heart crayons as party favors.

Well, that’s all I have for now. Let me know if you have any additional ideas to share with me, you know how I love party planning!

Today is a big day in our household. We are potty training… finally. And, we are having our last home study visit for our adoption certification, which means our caseworker is coming to the house to inspect how fit our household is… fingers crossed on that. All of this turns me in to a frazzled mess. But when things finally settle down, I plan on scavenging through my jewelry drawer and Lyla’s old clothes boxes to create my own version of this super easy craft. Super easy is how I like them. Just ask Mike.

Anyway, check it out. Family Chic has some of the greatest, and at the same time simpliest, DIY ideas. Camilla is officially one of the best.

I think one of my goals for summer will be to expand my wardrobe with inexpensive, DIY accessories. I mean, couldn’t we all do that? Yes we can. Oh, and you can thank me in clean underwear and a dust-free, adoptive-baby-ready home. Thanks.

Have you seen this? Way back when Design Mom (an incredible blogger) was moving her sweet family to France, she featured a totally do-able craft from Destri Bufmack of The Mother Huddle. And by totally do-able, I’m talking “Jina could craft this”, and so I did.

Last Friday night, we HLBers decided to get together for a craft night. Normally, such an idea would frighten an inexperienced and very uncrafty girl like myself, but I’ve learned to go with it. Yep, that’s my big mid-30′s life lesson. If you missed it, stop now, go get your notepad so you can keep this one for posterity… “Go with it”. Not to be mistaken for “Go with God”.

And I did go with it.

Here’s my final product. It’s perfect for my little Lyla, because she is obsessed with the Alphabet song. So, two birds, one stone… craft night success for Jina, learning tool for Lyla. I think that more than doubles my good mom points for the week.

Oh, I almost forgot, details. Well, I pretty much followed Destri’s step-by-step tutorial on Design Mom. My only changes were scrapbook paper rather than fabric, and mine wasn’t so neat on the backside. But neither am I. Yep, I went there.

I can honestly say that above almost all other skill set I strive to nurture my children’s creativity. They will spend years with numbers and letters, but art… that seems to be fleeting. I want them to relish in the joy of creating without boundaries or limitations but most importantly without criticism, again there is no shortage of that in their futures.  It seems to herald the Pablo Picasso quote “All children are born artists.  The problem is to remain an artist as we grow up.”

Their little creations are by definition beauty in the eye of the beholder.  You might see a mess of lines and scribbles. But I see the new little shapes they are trying to form, I spot the color they seem to be favoring that day. I watch to see what hand seems to be dominate. I look at their little faces all fixed in concentration or perhaps covered in paint and or marker.  That is what makes their art priceless to me.

I am constantly looking for ideas for crafts for my two toddlers, particularly around holidays. Mother’s Day is an especially fun occasion to create for because I know the kids’ grandmothers see those same elements in their art as I do.

Here is a little collection of ideas for your little ones to make for Mother’s Day gifts.

Go get several of the same sized canvases, like three 12x12s.  Hobby Lobby has cheap canvas packs.  Let your kids go for it.  Hang them as a triptych in your living room.  You remember how good you felt when your work made it to the fridge as a kid? Just imagine making it to the wall (with out getting in trouble).

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For the mom/grandmother who loves to garden (that would not be me) painted terracotta pots filled with flower would be a great alternative to the 9.99 bouquet you are going to pick up a Fry’s.  In my opinion, at least.

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For the higher maintenance gal, instead of heading to (insert body product chain here) for bath goodies, try making some homemade soap. Surprisingly easy, there are so many cute ideas out there. This one from Martha is my favorite:

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Or for the even HIGHER maintenance lady, you know the one that wants jewelry (me raising hand), polymer clay pendants could be a great project. They could also turn out very poorly, we haven’t tried it yet. I was thinking attempting a small bead made by hand but trying little mold or shape cutters could be an easier way to control the size. I mean, I love statement necklaces, but I want to make sure the chain it would go on would support it. This fingerprint pendant is too stinking cute.

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Here are a couple more ideas that are really sweet, they are obviously more labor intensive for the parent but still involve the kids.

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Ok, moms, I hope you have a wonderful Mother’s Day. You are doing a good job, let yourself celebrate that this Sunday.

There is one spot in my house where things have gotten a little out of control. Okay, if I’m honest, there isn’t just one place, but today, let’s focus on one in particular… It’s the front of my fridge.

Now, generally speaking I live in the happy medium between a bare fridge and one overtaken with magnets, pictures, & other memorabilia. But lately, I’ve been thinking I want to further organize my haphazard collage. Insert: Jina’s DIY MAGNETIC MEMO BOARD. Wanna see?

First I started with this…

Materials Needed:

• A frame (Not too heavy. This is an old Ikea frame, but you can get one from anywhere. I’ve been scouting them out at Goodwill lately.)
• Cork board (I got mine at Target in a pack of 6 or 8. I’ve used the others inside my kitchen cabinets to keep favorite recipes handy.)
• Magnetic Strip (Available at any hardware store. I bought this brand at my local Ace Hardware.)
• Scissors or Exacto Knife
• Superglue

From there, I took everything out of the frame and used the glass as a template to mark where I needed to cut the corkboard.

I used scissors to cut the corkboard, but an exacto knife would probably be a cleaner cut… and well, more exact.

From there, I put the corkboard in the frame and used the frame backing for added support. My frame had one of those legs on the back to help it stand up, but I cut that off, so it wouldn’t hinder a flat attachment to my fridge.

Next, I applied the magnetic strips on the back of the frame. You can see in the picture that the ends curled up a bit (due to the fact that it came wound up). This proved to be a problem later in the night. Let’s say about 2am, we heard a loud crash in the kitchen. Mike being the man in our marriage, got up to check it out. Came back to bed and said, “Sorry, babe, your craft thingy didn’t make it.” Suck it. So, the next morning, bound with more determination, I superglued those magnets back to the frame. (Oh, yeah, they totally stayed on the fridge, but not on the frame.) Once I glued them, I weighted the whole thing down with 4 massive books for several hours. Long story not so short, success! And now, it’s been up for days with no loud midnight crashing.

Oh, you want to see the finished product? Okay…

I pretty much love it. And it was nothing hard at all, which is kind of my style. But don’t think that let’s you call me easy…

I’ve been thinking quite a bit lately about perspective. It is no surprise that as a mom, who wears many hats and is often found knee-deep in the details of life, that the idea of perspective often becomes a concept I aspire to yet simultaneously fall short of. But I think no matter what your lot in life, perspective is one of those notions that as humans often illudes us. We are selfish in nature. We find our lives all-consuming, and it has to be a conscience decision to think outside of ourselves and see a larger picture. One in which we have a distinct place and purpose, but do not play the only part.

Not long ago, one of my favorite people in this whole wide world talked about the idea of seizing gratitude in her life, regardless of her circumstances. The more I think about that the more I’m convinced that gratitude is key to actually having that proper perspective. Once we place our focus on what is present in our lives versus what we are lacking, then we see the bigger, fuller picture of our existence.

Ashley Ann is one of my cherished daily blog reads. Earlier this month, she posted a DIY notepad that is true gift. The idea is simple – before bedtime, write down your favorite moment from that day. At the end of the year, you will have a chronicle of all that is wonderful in your life. Check out this link, and download one for yourself. I am starting mine today, and I already have my favorite – “Eating blueberry muffins that my amazing sitter Megan lovingly baked with Lyla yesterday.”

What is the best of your day today?