Fresh Produce, Home Projects &Taking a Break

These past two weeks my life has been threatened to be overcome by a multitude of fresh produce. I, however, have not been easily subdued.

All that fresh produce has led to things such as this:
As well as this:

Craig has spend his last two weeks working on projects around the house like this:

Painting our bathroom a new shade of green (and I finally framed the photos Jessie took last summer!)

Also, this...

Tearing down our old metal patio cover and bulding this new white, light, and beautiful one with his own two hands.

And (not pictured) taking EVERYTHING out of our shop/ laundry room, painting the whole area, including the cabinets, building new shelving, and finally, re-organizing everything!

So, Saturday we took a break from our projects and hit the beach with one of our favorite families.

It was fun making time for things like this:

And, of course, this.

Then coming home for this:

And all this, cuteness....

A little bit of this

And (what else???) more of this.

So, after a much needed break, I'm now planning on tackling this

And these.

Wish me luck!

Company Girl Coffee

One of our small things this week over at Home Sanctuary was to organize our pens and pencils. After I organized the jars of pens and pencils I have by each phone I moved onto:

The Kids Art Tub

Anybody have something that looks like this at home? Well I did. A few days before I had seen THIS LINK on organizing art supplies, and thought, "I should do something like that will all our art supplies". So I dug in, sorted all the pens, pencils, crayons and paints. Threw out the dried out pens with no lids and broken crayons. Dug out some of my pretty canning jars and whalla....this turned into.....

THIS!!



Already Anna and Wyatt have been getting good use out of these organized art supplies, and I am so glad I took a little time to get it done. One reason I love Home Sanctuary, is that am inspired to get little things accomplished every day, that would otherwise be put off, again and again!



If you have little budding artists at home too, let me recommend a couple books:


Great Artists by Maryann F. Kohl ~ this book contains hands-on art projects for kids that are styled after the great masters of art. I copied off a few to hopefully try with the kiddos this summer.

ABC Museum by the Metropolitan Museum of Art~ This is a really fun one for all ages (little kids especially!) each letter of the alphabet has a word chosen, which is represented by 4 works of art. So, for example "A is for apple" shows 4 different works of art with an apple in it. Wyatt was easily able to read this one, and Anna loved it, too!

(both books I found at the library)

"green" game

I am a copy-cat again. I saw this idea HERE, and since I always have an abundance of cracker and cereal boxes, I thought I'd give it a try.

I used my CM circle cutter to cut two matching circles out of each box: Cheerios, Cream of Wheat, Wheat Thins, Quaker Oat Squares, Ritz, Strawberry Frosted Mini-wheats (which are so disgusting, by the way) and Regular Frosted Mini-wheats. Then I threw the leftover cardboard in the recycle bin.
Anna uses this game more like just a matching game, rather than memory. She just puts them all face down, picks one up and turns the others over one at a time until she finds a match! You could cut out 4 of each kind and play as a memory game where each player takes turns trying to find matches. The boys love to play it that way, but Anna isn't quite there yet. It is an awesome FREE project that only takes a few minute to complete and provides her with a little activity while I get stuff done around the house. We store the circles in a zip-lock baggie. She has fun finding matches and it is a little challenging since the matches don't look exactly alike.

Try it, and feel good about being "green".

Flower Hair Clips

Make these cute flower hair clips for the little lady in your life. I did, by following THIS tutorial.

And yes, they are quite addicting. I made 24 in the past 20 hours!

get inspired!

Inspiration comes in waves for me. There are days...even weeks when I'll go about my daily routines, not feeling particularly inspired. But every once in a while there are little things in the everyday that pop out to me and really inspire.

A wonderful, deep conversation with my husband,

the "almost" spring sunshine pouring through my bedroom windows,

brisk morning walks in the sunshine pushing my Annie-girl, and praying,

looking through fun magazines and tearing out ideas or anything that catches my eye,

grabbing a couple books for ME at the library to browse through,

AND, believe it or not, getting a cold and forcing myself to slow down, take a break, and snuggle on the couch with my 5 year old for most of the afternoon yesterday.

Lately I have also been inspired by these crafty mama's and their blogs. I haven't posted anything new for a while mostly because I was feeling a little un-inspired. But I'm still enjoying everyone's elses blogs, especially Tiffany, Emily and Tanya, who have some awesome crafty ideas, and have inspired me to tap into some of that inspiration myself.

I started with this clothespin bag. Yes, I am one of the few who actually hang my clothes out on the line to dry in the warmer weather. Won't this look cute hanging on my line, storing my clothespins for me?

I am contemplating making a couple more for Anna's closet to store her undies and socks in, or maybe little toys, or (if you are so inspired) you could make some for your pantry or hall closets to hold plastic bags or other fun stuff in. Everything seems so much more fun with a cute container!

One of the books I grabbed at the library was "Toys to Sew" by Claire Garland. It caught my eye on my way up to the counter to check-out and after looking through it I decided to attempt this Ballerina Doll for Anna, made entirely from scraps from my fabric tubs. Will those things ever be empty??
She has HUGE brown eyes, and is a little funny looking, but there is something so sweet about a homemade doll...

....and the best part is, Anna just loves her!

Stay tuned for more of my blast of inspiration which may be coming your way sooner or later. And, let me know, how have you been inspired lately?

This is my "new" red table. It was free because I spotted it in my in-laws garage and asked if I could have it. For nearly a year it had a white cracked coat of paint on top with black showing through. I liked it. I thought it added to my miss-matched, shabby-chic, kid friendly home. And I didn't have to worry about nicks, scratches or permanent black sharpie. Those all just added to it's "character". But I'm guessing other people just thought it looked like a crappy, paint chipped table. So I finally decided on a color...."ready to dance" red. Craig, my painter, put 7 coats of paint on this baby and two coats of sealer.

It turned out really nice and adds a good amount of color to our kitchen/dining area. I used to like to say I had a yellow, red and blue kitchen. But in all actuality the only red I had in my kitchen was this red bowl, which was my inspiration color for my red table. Now I can honestly say I have a yellow, red and blue kitchen.
Speaking of bowls....these are my fruit bowls and they are one my most prized possessions. They are something I really wanted but would never buy for myself because they are expensive and frivolous, but a good friend of ours knew I liked them and surprised me with them. So nice! Tuesday afternoon I went grocery shopping and filled these with produce. About 10-12 apples, 6 pears, and a big bunch of bananas. Today, less than 48 hours later there are two pears and two apples left! Does anyone else constantly hear, "mom, I'm hungry??" I feed my kids, I tell you but they devour this fruit.


On, another note. I cut bangs. I was getting frustrated with my hair, and have no patience so I grabbed my scissors and went to town. I'm liking them, but It's always a little awkward to have to explain to my hairdresser next time I go in that yes, it was me who tried to cut my hair and not some ill-trained professional.




And last, but not least. I had this great idea to video the kids doing something cute at the new red table. I must have taken 10 out-takes, deleting them, and I finally just decided to stop with this one. One of my problems was trying to manufacture the spontaneous cuteness, another was I only have 30 something seconds on my memory card to record something. But this one turned out a little humorous as Anna "christened" the new red table with water, and then she gets really distracted, and the time runs out. Note: notice how nicely it beads up on the new table.

Enjoy! :)

Company girl friday......

I couldn't get the company girl coffee logo to post, but if your here from Home Sanctuary you're at the right place. I am slowly getting used to fall and settling into a routine. My body is adjusting to the cold and it's kinda fun to pull out sweaters and sweatshirts I haven't seen for a year! This past weekend I took the boys down to the park for some photo's. I only order the smallest package of school photos cause they usually don't turn out so good....but ya gotta have at least one for the scrapbook, right?

So I took a few fall pictures to give to family. And, today I need your help. I picked the best ones and you get to vote on your fav:

Wyatt #1

Wyatt #2


Wyatt #3


Will #1




Will #2





Will #3

Pick one favorite of each boy and post it in a comment. I'm making reprints, but I'm having trouble deciding which ones.....

I've also caught the sewing bug again lately and have been whipping up a bunch of these re-use able grocery bags. I'm intending on giving a lot away as gifts, but I got to thinking....what if I could sew up even more and try to sell them at a Holiday Bazaar? That is where I need your help. I am terrible at deciding how to price things. So, if this were something you would buy, how much would you pay for it? It's lined inside with a coordinating fabric and the dimensions are very similar to a brown paper grocery bag. But it's easier to carry, holds a lot, and is way cuter. And what mommy doesn't want to look fashionable while carrying their groceries from their mini van to their kitchen?

Leave me a post of what you think would be a reasonable asking price. Anything goes....I won't be offended!



The inside lining and straps....

Ready to put those groceries into your pantry!

I'm continually inspired by Home Sanctuary to create one of my own. My favorite place to decorate is the top of my piano. It's kinda like my mantle since we don't have a fireplace. I found these little tea light holders at Wal-mart for $.50 after a friend told me about them. Actually she and Craig conspired a plan in which she had our whole house filled with glowing tea lights right before we came home from a date! They are great for adding a little glow at a low cost (and they can be quite romantic as well!)

The kids and I gathered leaves on a walk the other day so I scattered them about, too. And a few weeks ago I used some old wood Craig had snagged for me to make the "Faith Hope Love" sign above the piano.

Now, don't forget to vote!! :)

catchin' up

We've been busy this past week and I'm just now finding time to catch up the blog.

First, we spent a couple days with our good friends Brian and Jessie who were visiting from the east coast. We stayed at a beach house and got to meet their (almost) 11 month daughter Ava, for the first time. Jessie is an amazing photographer and took some family picture of us on the beach the evening we arrived. We had planned on doing more beach photos the next morning, but woke up to rain. So we settled for some indoor shots of the kids. None of which I have seen yet and I am very excited about them. She always does a great job.

Our kids with their new friend, baby Ava. She is adorable!

This week we have been busy with Wildcat Hoop Camp. Craig and Brian, a fellow teacher, coach, and friend have run this camp for 8 years now. It makes me a little sentimental thinking back on how I used to bring Will at age 1 to visit daddy at hoop camp and now both my boys are old enough to participate. Will is competitive and gives his all. He looks forward to each day and hopes to get an award at the end of the week. Wyatt wasn't so sure. After the first day he was hot and tired and said he would rather be home picking flowers with me and digging for worms. I told him that you have to go every day to get a medal (each kid gets one for participation) so then he was inspired. This morning he was up and dressed in his bball gear before I even knew it.

We may have another hoopster on our hands, yet. He's a little wild and crazy on the court, but we'll see.

Will practicing little dribbles
My two younger nieces are doing WHC as well. This is sweet Hilary with Wyatt. She is about 7 month older than Wyatt and Wyatt just loves her. Really, and truly he does. In fact, he tells me all the time "I'm going to marry, Hilary, mom".

(Side note: bandaid on Wyatt's face due to him sliding down carpeted stairs on his face at the beach house. Nice rug burn!)

Next up: The Good News According to Uke!

This is Will's ukelele class. He had been taking lessons from my mom (an avid uker herself) for the past 6 weeks. Notice he's the only boy among the 6 other girls! He is such a good sport and is coming along with his songs. Next week they perform for a group of retired folks at an assisted living facility. They do lots of gospel songs and hope to share the good news according to uke. Thus the name of the group. Aren't they cute??
And lastly I have squeezed in a little sewing. This is a re-usable grocery bag I made with (you guessed it) fabric from my stash. It is designed after a plastic grocery sack, and turned out ok, but I'm still not sure if I really did it right. I am currently working on a different style of grocery bag (designed more like a paper sack) and if it turns out well I want to sew up a bunch for Christmas gifts or to use as gift bags. Going green, you ask? No, not really. I just like to sew and this is a good way to use up my fabric. And I get .06/each for bringing my own bags to Ware Mart! And let's face it, who couldn't use an extra .06??
The remainder of our summer is pretty much all planned out including swimming at Aunt Paige's pool, a trip to GP, one last camping trip, school shopping, and my parents keeping the kiddos overnight so Craig and I can go to IKEA. I know it's bound to go by fast, so I am treasuring these last few weeks of summer!

Copy Cat

I don't mean to be such a copy cat, but I saw this cute idea for a little girls dress made from a men's button down shirt on Michelle's blog. Today I went to Goodwill and found a cute button down shirt for $2.49. It was a woman's extra large, but I decided to give it a try during nap-time today. When Anna woke up I tried it on her and finished it up. I turned out a little big, but that's ok. She can wear it next summer as well. To try one yourself go here. And don't worry, I won't call you a copy cat. :)