Otto has FINALLY healed from his TWO knee surgeries. I still can't believe that he spent 20+ weeks trapped in my living room.....It sure was a long winter! These pictures don't do him justice, but I am so glad he can run laps around the yard now. He even goes jogging with Aaron. $5000 well spent if you ask me....okay not really, but I have to tell myself that. :)
I had so much fun making stuff for the baby room! I think Aaron would have preferred that I just bought new since he got roped into helping with a bunch of it, but oh well.....a little crafting never hurt anyone.
Aaron was nice enough to sand this once pink dresser that my Mom and I found at an antique store. Here it is now...
Not a very good pic, but it is now white with crystal drawer pulls. I then put a piece of really cool modern paper on top and covered it with plexi glass. I also made the baby blanket on this chair and the pillows on the bed in my previous post. I could get obsessed with making baby blankets because they are so easy, but stopped myself at 2. My Mom is the crafty one that made the diaper cake.
These bookshelves are made out of rain gutters. I am still so impressed with how these turned out and they were so cheap and easy.
Origami is supposed to be a craft for kids ages 8 and up.....yeah right! I had to watch a Youtube video 5,000 times to figure out how to fold a basic crane and then folded all 30 in one evening before I forgot how to do it. Mom-Your bird made it on the mobile, but your seals/dinosaurs did not. :)
I saw some burp cloths like this at a boutique and they were $30 for 3 of them. I bought $5 of terry cloth and used fabric that I already had. I have enough terry cloth and fabric in my stash to make a ton more of these. If you have some fabric and and old towel laying around, you could basically make these for free. I also want to make some that are backed with chenille, but that will have to wait.
I took measurements from a $30 nursing cover I bought for a friend and made my own for about $5. Sew easy!
I have a ton more things that I want to make and have a feeling the Lil' Mangler is going to wish that his/her Mom was not so crafty. :)
For those who have not seen my baby room, I thought I would post some pics. If you want to see some better pics please check out my sister's blog....she is a much better photographer. :)
I planted my spring garden on April 5th and I have to say it was so great to be gardening in the 75 degree weather we had that weekend. I even got a sunburn on the back of my neck from gardening.....one day I will remember that I don't have long hair. Anyways, In my square foot garden I planted brussel sprouts, chard, beets, radish, arugula, and lots of different types of lettuce. I did the radish and beets by seed and everything else is from starts. I checked it today and my radishes are already sprouting....very exciting.
I had quite a few herbs come back and I planted some extra parsley, sage, thyme, and garlic chives. I have another container like this that I filled with more lettuce. I harvest the leaves as they grow instead of the head of lettuce, so you can plant it very closely.
More lettuce and some Kale. This kale is supposed to get 2 feet tall, so I think it will look very nice on my deck. I also planted some bok choy in a pot on the deck.
I hope I can meet my goal of having a 3 season garden this year. I can't believe summer planting is just around the corner.
PS-I got a 96% on my gardening test, so that means I have a Certificate in Home Horticulture. Pretty fancy....I know :)
I went wedding dress shopping a few weeks ago and I bought the first dress I tried on in the first store I went to. I wish I could say that finding the accessories for the dress was just as easy, but it has been lots of fun. I still need to find red/white buttons for my jacket, finish my hair fascinator, and find a vintage red bracelet. Did I mention that I only have a couple of weeks left to do this?
I have a feeling I will look back on this and say "Remember when I went through that weird vintage phase?" or "Yeah...I thought a mini dress and red shoes was a great idea at the time...now...not so much."
Oh well.....you gotta give me credit for "uniqueness" :)
I watch a lot of TV and I like crafts that I can do while I watch TV, so that I don't feel lame. I thought embroidery would be a good option. My sister also happens to do embroidery and when she comes to visit we end up doing more talking than crafting. I figured that next time she came up we could talk and embroider at the same time.
I found a really cool book that focused on embroidery and wool, so I bought that and a few supplies and got to work. This bear was a project in the book and since I was too lazy to go to Kinkos, I made my own pattern. I cut him out of wool felt and stuffed him with cotton batting. This gave him a heavy and lumpy texture which I really liked. Most of this project focused on the blanket stitch, but I picked up a few others along the way. This project was super fun and I loved the freedom of embroidery. You can really do alot with it.
Aaron thought I should name him Stitchy and said that it looked like he ate too many lean cuisines because he was skinny. Obviously, he doesn't know anything. I ended up giving this bear to Miss Rowan and now that she is on my homemade list she can never escape. :)
This is my new favorite pasta. Aaron sometimes thinks pasta without meat is not a real dinner, but he says this one is so flavorful he doesn't miss it and he often requests this one.
I don't have a real recipe for this, but it is easy to improvise and my estimates are with 2 people in mind. I dice up half of an onion and cook it in a little olive oil for about 10 minutes. I then add a bunch of cut up chard, garlic, red pepper flake (I like this pasta spicy), salt/pepper, and a splash of balsamic vinegar. I also sometimes add a little water to help the chard cook down. I then boil the pasta and usually use rigatoni or penne. When the pasta is done I mix everything together and add feta cheese and some parmesan cheese. This is my new favorite feta cheese. It is almost a blend of feta and fresh mozzarella....very mild
I also made this once and added bacon to it. What I really like about it is that it is quick, full of flavor, and you can easily change it up. I planted a ton of greens this year and plan to make this pasta or something similar alot.
