Happy 6th Birthday Harper

My baby girl is 6 today. Six. How is that possible? We are having a family party for her tonight. So I will have party photos up next week. Today I have this shot for you.

Nice, huh? I was taking photos of the garden and realized that I haven't taken any decent photos of the kids in awhile. The lighting was good. Why not try to snap a couple of close-ups of the kids? Harper was more than willing to pose for a shot. Just as I snapped the shot her finger went straight in her nose. The little stinker. She immediately asked to see it on the camera. She was most proud of herself. All the other shots she is sportin' some sort of fake grin. Sigh.

I was debating on whether to post this shot. I imagine it is one of those photos that will embarass her beyond belief in a couple of years, but you know it does really show her sense of humor. There is never a dull moment when she is around.

Miller was not thrilled with the idea of having his photo taken. At all.

See what I mean.

Harper, I hope you have the best birthday ever.

Happy Birthday sweet girl.

Team Up Thursday- Structures

This week Cara chose Structures as our theme. I thought that should be easy enough. I actually imagined photographing something that the kids built with legos or blocks, but then I remembered this shot that I took a couple of weeks ago at the Renaissance Festival. I thought it would be perfect. I mean it is a castle. The man who lives in this castle has been working on it for 40 years now. It is so remarkable.

Cara's photo is so intriguing. It's definitely not the type of structure you see every day. That is for sure. I love that her shot is so modern and mine is more medieval.

Grab a partner and join in on the fun over at Mental Inventory.

Garden Update

Here are some garden photos for your viewing pleasure. The day lilies are in full bloom.

The herb garden is doing much better this year. I decided not to thin out the plants so we will see if they keep thriving.

Basil

Cilantro

Parsley

There is also some random dill that has popped up and some chives returning from last year. The parsley from my very first year is still around too.

Only one of my blueberry bushes is producing berries. They are not plentiful, but the kids still get very excited.

Look at my poor broccoli. We can't figure out what is eating it.

I am not sure what these are, but it seems like I take a photo of them every year so I don't want to break tradition.

T-Shirt to Cardigan Refashion Take 2

I just barely squeezed this one in on time for Crafty Tuesday. It was a slow week and lazy weekend for me. I did manage to make favors for Harper's birthday party on Friday, but that will have to wait until next week.

I found two of the same shirts in different sizes at Target on clearance. I usually like to refashion with thrifted or items headed to Goodwill, but I couldn't pass up this deal. I have had this idea in mind for awhile and was waiting for the perfect t-shirts. These were super lightweight so I knew they would be perfect for summer.

This is what I was going for. Anthropologie is my go to site for inspiration.

I did take photos so I will post a tutorial some time this week. From start to finish it took me about an hour and that was taking time to photograph each step.

The cardigan can be worn open for a casual breezy look.

Or pinned to the side for a more structured look. I think it would look cute with a belt like this one. It's on my to-do list. I even have all the supplies.

It turned out a little longer than I would have liked, but I wanted to use the existing hemline and the base shirt was a XXL.

This week was mostly spent thinking about things I could or should make. I have started doodling ideas in a notebook that I carry with me. I am hoping this helps me to actually make these ideas a reality. I think part of the problem is I read way too many inspiring blogs. There are so many talented ladies out there in blogland. The other problem is of course time. I am trying really hard to focus on one small project at a time. Thinking about all of the things I want to do or need to do makes me just shut down and do nothing at all. Which is no good.

Since I am obviously chatty today I wanted to share a couple of links with you. I recently came across this blog called New Dress A Day. She is refashioning thrift store finds every day for a year and only spending $ 1 a day. How cool is that? I don't think I could pull off half the outfits she comes up with, but it is still inspirational.

I am sure many of you read the Angry Chicken blog so you probably have already seen this, but for those that didn't I thought I would share. This site allows you to turn your blog into a book (or books). Of course it would cost me about $114 just to compile my first year of blogging, but you can also download it as a pdf. I am seriously considering doing this. It might even motivate me to blog more.

So what blogs inspire or sites you?

Happy Crafty Tuesday everyone!!!

Indulge

For Team-Up Thursday this week, we chose indulge. Cara's image is so sweet and innocent and well mine is um... more adult. I actually took photos of some dark chocolate too, but they didn't come out the way I wanted them too. I think my original idea would have matched up better with her photo, but that's ok. I do love that both of of our shots are of cold things. Especially since it has been very HOT here.

Indulge in more great photos here.

Happy 4th Birthday Miller

I can't believe my little boy is 4 today. We had a party for him on Saturday night. I know last year I said that this was going to be the year that Miller gets a class party, but obviously I lied. I decided a couple of weeks ago that we were going to do a family only party. Miller requested a bowling party so we convinced the family to go bowling with us.

Then we had everyone back to our house for pizza and cake.

I made 2 cakes from scratch. I am not the best baker, so this was quite an accomplishment for me. I have issues with following the directions exactly, which is pretty important when you are baking. So I made sure I had ALL the ingredients and actually followed the directions. It worked pretty well. Mitch once again did the decorating.

My sister-in-law's birthday was yesterday so we celebrated her birthday too. She requested this cake. I like to think it is healthy.

Happy Birthday sweet boy.

The To Do List Is A Little Bit Shorter

I actually have a little bit of craftiness to show after a long, productive weekend. I finally finished my pending wholesale order that took way too long to finish.

Then I finished my sister-in-law's birthday present. I made her a Buttercup Purse, like the one I made myself a couple of months ago. I enlarged the Buttercup Purse pattern and added a recessed zipper. The tutorial I found online was very confusing, but I somehow figured it out. Now I want to create a clearer tutorial on how to do this. Why is it one thing gets crossed off the list and something else is just added in its place?

Here's a close-up of the flower. I made it a pin so it is detachable.

See I told you I put in a recessed zipper.

There's a little pocket inside too.

I also labeled everything in my craft center. So now there are no excuses for misplaced items. I used chalkboard contact paper and my trusty die cutting machine. The contact paper is really cool. I have had it for awhile and was excited to finally use it.

Since I was obviously all about getting things done this weekend and Harper asks me at least once a day when I am going to finish her cape, I finished the capes that have been cut out for weeks now.

Miller requested a Batman cape.

I really planned on getting shots of the kids modeling their new capes, but instead we spent the evening in the ER.

Yes, that red stuff you can barely see on the sides is my husband's flesh.

My husband has been working on a Fairy House for Harper for a long time now. This is his second trip to the ER. It has turned out to be a very painful and expensive project.

I hope everyone had a safe Memorial Day Weekend.

Happy Crafty Tuesday!!