Amen

I did something this morning I haven't done of my own volition for 15 years. I went to church.

Of course there are unlimited opportunities for deciding where to worship, but in the end I didn't stray to far from what I was familiar with. It was not the church of my husband's family, or that in which I was baptized in, nor was it the one that served as my refuge in high school in rebellion to growing up in a religion-free home. It is my grandma's church that brought me inner peace this Sunday.

I debated writing out the rationale for my renewed interest in the divine, but it would probably be a big yawn fest. Suffice it to say I am doing this for my own growth and betterment as an individual - nobody else came with me, and I did not go with the goal to seek out new acquaintances.

On an unrelated note (no pilgrimage or spiritual journey planned to date), I will be taking the rest of the month off from blogging. I will be starting working from home at the end of this month, and I also have a pile of stuff to list for sale on ebay and the like. I guess it is time to get all of my affairs in order!

See you in March!

Happy Valentine's Day from Mr. Lion, Chicky Friend, and The Sun!

Meet Mr. Lion, Chicky Friend, and The Sun

They are Hank's favorite toys right now. I think we can assume it is because he likes yellow, although BT claims the lion's face looks a little like - well - a boob.

I made Hank's Valentine incorporating his three friends

I included a picture of the toys and a story about them inside the card so years from now he will know who these guys were.

Mr. Lion is used in bed during the wee hours of the morning, when BT and I want to grasp onto just a few more minutes of sleep. Chicky Friend and The Sun are employed when we put Hank down in his bouncy seat to play, and he fusses a bit because he's not sure he wants to play or be held. Chicky Friend inevitably ends up on his arm like this

He does this all by himself!

For BT this year, I had a Flipbook made of a series of head shots (43 total pictures of Hank's different expressions plus credits) that I took of Hank before I decided on how I wanted to do the photoshoot for this project. Here is the book

and here it is wrapped with his requisite V-day peanut butter cups

Hope you had a good one, friends!

Hank Loves His Family to Pieces!

This was a project that let me know things ain't the same as they used to be on the crafting front.

It looks simple on the surface

But these tins, full of glass marble photo magnets, took days to complete. There were many steps, including taking the photos, formatting them (thanks, Babe!), finding the right adhesive to work with the marbles and the photo paper PLUS the pen I used (E6000 did not work with the paint pen I originally used to add the drawn in details).

Despite all the work, they turned out pretty cute. These are destined for Hank's cousins and his grandparents. The magnets show Hank's face, torso, rear end, and feet that were "graffittied" with Valentine writing - kissy lips, a heart, devil tail, and XO. I'm not sure why the face one turned out all ghosty - it kind of creeps me out. The card inside the tin says Hank Loves You to Pieces.

Here they are wrapped

in gift card tins purchased from Michaels a couple of years ago during Christmas.

I totally stole this idea from Leslie and her girls, who gave me a box of their lovely artwork turned magnets for Christmas. Leslie also advised me on where to buy the glass marbles (these are the large flat stone type - on clearance at Target for $2.48!) and tried to help me steer clear of using the wrong glue. I *hate* E6000, but I guess it is what works - so long as you don't use oil-based paint pens!

The tins were sent in transparent padded envelopes with these printable Valentines (more work - print, cut, round corners, address) and some suckers from Target that had a place for To/ From on the wrappers, but none of the pens I tried worked on them, leading me to print out and cut tiny labels for each one...can you say freak?

So I went a little nuts on this one! They were Hank's first Valentines, and I wanted them to be special. I think I'll stick with my rinky dink hour long craft projects from now on, though.

On hand: Tins, glue, photo paper, ribbons, cute baby

Upcycled: Finding new use for gift card tins (although these were not purchased with the intent of using them for gift cards)

Cost: Magnets ($4) and glass marbles ($2.48)

More Thanks

My thank you gifts for Emy and Shanna were inspired by this mod wreath that popped up on Apartment Therapy over the holidays

Unfortunately this was not a freebie craft project, as I got my mind set to do it, but didn't have anything on hand except for the ribbon and felt. I wanted to make wreaths just like the one linked to above, but I figured the material and shipping costs would be a little excessive, so I went with a smaller version.

The wrapping materials were all from my stash

I LOVE the beaded acrylic balls on the sheer ribbon (yes, it came this way, pre-threaded. I think I got it at Walmart before they closed their fabric section at our local stores). The boxes were from the dollar store of all places.

Thanks again to everybody for their generosity! I get so many compliments on all of the handmade items people see me use with Hank out in public, or if somebody visits and sees his room. They usually ask me if I made such-and-such, but I say no - this is from a friend I have not yet met in person, but is still a very important person in my life.

On hand: Felt, ribbon, bells, wrapping supplies

Upcycled: Fabric scraps used as packing material

Cost: About $20...I didn't get the yarn on sale and, though the styrofoam wreath form is the flimsiest piece of nothing you can imagine (most of them on the rack were broken), they cost 6 bucks each. I saw recently that somebody used a piece of styrofoam that came with a packed item to cut a wreath form. I also saw the rounded version of this size wreath form (which would have been fine) at Dollar Tree.

One of the thank yous

Here is one of the T-Hank you gifts I sent out, for Telfair (the knitter)

It contained a hedgehog pouch I have been holding onto forever for her, smiley face knitting needles, and a knitting spool. I also included a pattern for a hat that uses size 10 needles, and a book each for Telfair and her daughter, Snoop.

The brown bag contains some stitch markers I fashioned out of Italian paper clips and some beads I had on hand. They didn't turn out super, but as I wrote on the bag - I tried.

Thank you again, kind friend, for thinking of us!

On hand: yarn used as box filler, pouch, knitting needles, yarn used to make backing for stitch markers, skirt pin, beads and findings

Upcycled: Yarn as packing material?

Cost: <$10 for yarn and knitting spool (purchased half off at Michaels)

Tapas Party

Isn't it funny when you say you are going to a tapas party, it sounds like you are saying "topless" party?

We hosted the Bluebird family last night as a thank you for allowing us to use their cabin last month. So what we if don't have any real furniture - I miss entertaining!

Most of the menu came from two cookbooks: Tapas and Tapas Made Easy. I did, however, use the Martha Stewart baked Tortilla Espanola recipe (shown above - with no green stuff. I used Yukon Gold potatoes), as I did not want to risk a big flop cooking it the traditional way in my stainless steel pans. OMG - yum! Please consider making this if you need a brunch entree. Don't let the fact that you basically boil the potatoes in oil deter you - the extra calories are worth it!

Other tapas served

~ Pork Brochettes

~ Chorizo in Red Wine

~ Sizzling Chili Shrimp

~ Cauliflower Fritters

~ Tostas with Black Olive Tapenade

~ almonds and olives

~ for the girls: bagel pizza bites and mozzarella sticks

~ Sangria!!

We had a great time

and Hank found a new friend

Thanks again, guys!

Diaper Delivery

Ever since we decided to stick with disposable diapers, we have been overrun with diapers.

First, we had all the 7th Generation diapers that didn't work out. Then, Hank went through two growth spurts in close succession that left us with large quantities of size 1 and size 2 diapers (he is now wearing size 3 diapers and 6-9 month clothes -- at 3 months...)

What to do with all the extra diapers? I could send them off to our thrift store, as they are pretty good about bagging them up for sale. But instead I have been doling them out to expecting parents. I made a eco diaper cake for a co-worker, and another cake using Pampers for my sister-in-law. I didn't get a pic of either, but they were basically just the diapers with ribbons tied around each layer.

Some friends of ours just welcomed their third child, a girl, after two boys. I know J is thrilled to finally get to buy girl stuff. In determining my gift for her, I knew it had to be girly, and had to include diapers. Here's what I came up with

It's a changing mat that holds a few diapers and wipes (tutorial here). I used a thrifted pillowcase and a piece of minkee fabric plus a layer of cotton batting to give it a little more rigidity. It folds up and has a velcro closure. Guess I should have taken a pic of that as well...

I used the rest of the pillowcase to make a small tote bag to hold the changing mat and maybe a change of clothes

(The ribbon is strung through two button holes. I used almost every scrap of the pillowcase in this project, by doing things like including a pocket inside the tote bag)

I'm sure by now J has ditched the two ton diaper bag for quick trips in favor of the basics. We have a store bought version of a diaper changing wallet like this, but I am too chicken to go anywhere without the big boheemoth. Even if I am just running into Target for - ah - more diapers, I take the big bag with me. You just never know if the roof of the store might cave in and you need to slather your baby with sunscreen. Stat.

On hand: Thrifted pillowcase, Minkee fabric, batting, diapers!!, sample pack of wipes, ribbon

Upcycled: Thrifed pillowcase used for changing mat and tote bag

Cost: $0

We got a new dog!

Except this one doesn't potty in the house and cost hundreds of dollars in vet bills for an as of yet unidentified skin condition...

Hey - speaking of hundreds of dollars - guess how much our gas bill was last month? 370 freaking dollars! I'll save you the trouble of hopping over to my profile to remind yourself where I live. Nope - not the Midwest, but balmy southern California. We are investigating a leak, as there really was no discernible difference in our heater usage compared to the couple months prior. Although, admittedly I am a hyper-paranoid mama who most likely does keep the house a bit too toasty.

Anyway, here is our draft guard for the front door until BT can install a weather strip (a project that most likely went to the top of his list once he opened that bill)

I used this fun project guide from Family Fun since I just happened to have a pair of old brown knit tights that I no longer wore

I just used polyfill (and the other leg from the tights) for stuffing, as it is likely the dog will be in place when somebody is coming in through the front door, and it seems like it would be more difficult to open if it was filled with a weighted material. Plus the fact that I didn't have 5 pounds of rice on hand.

On hand: Tights, felt, ribbon, button, polyfill

Upcycled: Tights turned draft guard

Cost: $0

Relaxing laundry gift

I play Favorites.

I figure every day, on average, I add 5-10 "Favorites" - be they etsy sellers, internet links, or blog posts through Google reader. It is getting pretty insane keeping track of it all - things I want to make, to buy, to eat... I look through the links periodically to try to weed out those that no longer strike my fancy. But still, I have overwhelmed myself with too much good stuff. Stop finding all the cool links, guys!

Anyway, I found this post through Kirtsy, and had it favorited. More for myself than anything, but then yesterday was my mom's birthday (and we were there on the day - it's been over a decade since that happened!), and I thought a basket of spa-like laundry goodies would be the perfect gift for her.

I just used vinegar for the laundry brightener, and Borax for the laundry booster, and added lavender scented essential oil to each. I also cut up a fat quarter into fourths and included those as reusable dryer sheets. Just add a few drops of the oil before tossing into the dryer. The brown envelope contains a printout of the blog post linked to above so that she might get some other ideas for making doing the laundry more like a relaxing bubble bath. Don't we wish!

On hand: Basket, bottle (French lemonade bottle from Cost Plus), screw lid jar, Borax, vinegar (I knew there was a reason I bought the gallon sized one!), fabric, ribbon and basket filler

Upcycled: Reused empty lemonade bottle

Cost: About $6 inc shipping for essential oil bought from etsy seller gotwick.