vol.25

a trip down memory lane...

For trinity's birthday last month I started looking online at doll houses. I have had soo many good memories of playing with cute little fuzzy animals . Oftentimes they were dressed in suspenders, the girls wearing lacey dresses. I had NO idea that they still made these animal families! I was surprised to come across calico critters. I think at that time the company was called sylvanian families.

 
"mr fisher cat looking dapper in his button down shirt"

We had a couple of the families, and a wooden dollhouse that was unfinished. I'm not sure where the doll house came from actually... but we still had quite a bit of fun with it. Anyhow, you can imagine how excited I was to come across these critters again. I bought her the fisher cat family (her favorite of the bunch) and kitchen set, and bedroom set for her birthday. While my brother and shaela were here we made her a 1 1/2 story doll house out of foam core board. My brother got pretty creative and made her dormers, the roof also opened, to create an easier play area. It really was fun, and my intentions were to make sure she would actually play with a doll house before we paid the big bucks for a real nice one. She really liked it! The calico critters kitchen set came with soo many pieces. lettuce, knife block, refrigerator, sink, basically everything you could possibly need in a kitchen.

"the ladies in the kitchen"

I really need to take a picture of the house we made, it is pretty neat. :) But anyhow, since she passed the test she got the calico critters deluxe house for Christmas. I had a coupon so I saved some money on it. She also got the living room set, and two other critters in costume, the bunk beds, and the baby twins to complete the family.

they are sooo adorable. I feel like I am reliving my childhood through Trinity. I guess that isnt so bad? It really has opened up my eyes to the world of miniature dollhouse collecting. I am shocked at all the furniture/items I found on this website. It  really can get addicting! I have already found a new living room couch, and picked out a fireplace. We need to recover from Christmas spending, but I am sure she will be thrilled to add to her collection, at any given time. :) For 13.99 I think this set is a steal of a deal.


and this fireplace is only 11.99


they even have an electric guitar!

I imagine it all adds up pretty quick though. :) I have been feeling inspired, and plan to make shrinky dink plastic picture frames. I can use my own artwork, but I think I will take family portraits of the cat family and hang them in the living room. I did use some scrapbook paper I had lying around and wallpapered the bottom floor of the dollhouse. :) I can easily switch out the papers, I adhered them with scotch tape.


dining room looking into kitchen before....


and after wallpaper.



The kitchen with wallpaper. That empty space above the sink would be perfect for some funky home sweet home art. :) As you can tell I had fun photographing the dollhouse.


The living room with new wallpaper.

the master bedroom. The comforter was a little too froofy for me, so I went with the minimalist look of no bedding.  :) The sets really came with a bunch of little detailed pieces, perfume bottles, brushes, alarm clock... I bought her two containers, one for the furniture dolls, and another little one to keep just the small stuff in. We'll see how long I can keep everything together. I know she will appreciate my strictkness when she is a little older and actually wants to use the little pieces. :) Or at least that is what I keep telling myself.

The house has a really cute spiral staircase leading to the second level. I have quite a few more pictures uploading on flickr. Do any of you remember these toys from the late 80's early 90's?

...anyhow! Christmas was nice for us. We opened up our presents Christmas Eve, and had mom and dad and my sister and her husband come over early christmas morning. We are always up before the sun! :) 6:30-7:00-ish. I got a much needed new set of Martha Stewart pots and pans. I'm really enjoying them too. I bought Jaydon the via venezia espresso machine sold by starbucks.

I think he was a little surprised. :) I wish I liked coffee a little more. In all honesty, I like creamer with a little bit of coffee... I mean just a tad bit of coffee. :) Well, thats my incredibly long update. I also listed a new print, but I'll try and get a separate post up for that.

Happy Holidays!!!

hello!

Sorry I have been kind of mia. I think I have been as busy as everyone else! :) Trying to get orders sent out asap, and also doing some baking, decorating, wrapping, more wrapping... mailing Christmas cards, listening to bunches of Christmas music (one of my favorite parts of the year!) We have also been working on things around the house. The kitchen is now finally painted:

Not the best picture, but you can get an idea! :) I was surprised to hear that some of you had plans for painting your kitchen the light green, with wainscoting.... maybe I should have left it as it was! :) I do like the change, it seems to have brightened up the kitchen some, and feels a little cleaner. New paint seems to always do that though! We have just about decided to replace the kitchen cabinets altogether with a set of unfinished oak cabinets from home depot. Jaydon can stain them, and they will be all nice and fresh. We'll be able to change the layout of the kitchen since it is kind of oddly designed now. We'll have to see... at any rate I am really excited!

Some of Jaydon's gifts came via fedex today so I am doing some more wrapping. I have to admit, I have pretty much avoided ALL the crowds this year. Done 90% of my shipping online, and it has been so nice. Its been snowing like crazy here, and we will be needing to venture out this evening to get a few last minute stocking stuffers, and groceries. Its been nice to be a hermit, and enjoy the snow from inside my nice toasty warm house. :) Next year it will be fun to get Journey out in the snow, but this year... I am just trying to keep her warm. Speaking of Journey, she cut her first tooth! Yay for that. She has since settled back into a nice routine, making it much easier to get things done around here... sigh of relief there!

If I dont get another posting in before Christmas... Happy Holidays!!

We're selling our house!

Yep!! That is the really good news I have been really excited about. :) I am definitely "sentimentally" attached to this house, and I love the 10 foot tall ceilings... it is just too small for our growing family. We met with a realtor (friend of the family) last sunday afternoon and he gave us the run down on which projects finished will give us a bigger return on our investment. So, we are armed with a list of things that need finished in order of most important to least. :) I have already begun painting my kitchen. For some reason we decided that a move from the green to a more "earth tone" would be a smart decision. :)

We will also finally be finishing up that kitchen floor. New hardwood will be laid, and the kitchen cabinets will be coated in a new fresh white paint, and the counter tops will be replaced.

I already have the walls and trim cut in with the tan (our living room color) paint. It really looks blah next to the lighter green, so I am excited and anxious to get the green covered completely.

We already have a house in mind, which is what stirred the sudden interest in selling our house. It is here in the same town, a street over from where we lived before moving into this house. :) It has been on the market for a couple months, and I am trying to not hold my breath that it will still be there when we do finally sell our house... but I cant help but keep dreaming up decorating ideas for said house. :) Its a 4 bedroom 1,393 sq. ft home. Which seems sooo huge when your living in a 740 sq. ft. home. Well, 960 something if you count the front porch and unfinished utitilty/storage space. The house is older still, but I think that is why I like it so well. I seem to  be drawn to the older houses... I dont particularly care for the mortar walls, but I suppose I am used to living with them. :) The house also has slightly higher ceilings.

Anyhow, the "other" house has 4 bedrooms plus an extra room that could be used as a dining area or just an extra room. It has 6 windows and gets a ton of light... so I am wishing and hoping to use it as my studio and craft room for the girls and I.

It also has a really long living room, that we would probably break up and use as a dining area/living room. AND... it also has an actual utility room. YAY! I just may finally get my yellow laundry room... complete with that button jar that I had posted about awhile back. :)

So, that is my good news! Keep your fingers crossed that when we finally do sell our house, we will find something similar if not this exact house. ;) We are shooting for a listing date of the middle of February. I hear interest rates are expected to drop into the 4% range... that should really speed up the housing market. I hope hope we are able to get everything done by then. Wish us luck!

two new prints!

I am really loving this... finishing up two new prints in addition to getting a bunch of other new "stuff" listed in the shop. :) Then I remember that my November newsletters still havent gone out yet, and I kind of get brought back down to earth.

So, here is the first print. "I carry your heart"

 

Remember when I hosted the giveaway a couple of weeks back and asked for sappy love quotes? Well Kari supplied me with this one by ee.cummings. I immediately loved it, and while I did get quite a bit of inspiration from others, I happened to get this one done first. :) Thanks Kari!

The second print finished is somewhat of an addition to the popular "whatever floats your boat" print. :) So, you can purchase it as a single, or as a set for 5.00 cheaper.

You can find "she sells sea shells" here.

and the print set here.

I have been really excited this past week.... and I am really wanting to share some really exciting good news with you all... but I want to wait until I can give you a proper posting. :) So... stay tuned!!

Shop update!!

Hello~

Hope everyone has been doing good... we have been doing good here. The holiday season seems to be in full swing, and so far all of Trin's gifts have been purchased online. I love it! Its so nice to stay at home and shop in my p.j's. Then have the "stuff" arrive on my door step.

Anyhow... I have been suuper busy this morning trying to "un-pile" a looong list of things that have needed listed in the shop. Some of you may remember my moving postcards.... from a few months back (yes months!) I have been so awful about getting them listed, but finally here they are!

You can find them here. If the link says sold out, be sure and "search" my shop, I probably have them re-listed.

Second... these super adorable bookplates that promosinasnap printed for me.

I simply adore these. I bought each of my nieces a couple board books this year for Christmas, and these really helped add a personal touch to the inside of the book. :) They also have a line to write the date the book was gifted/acquired. With these, you wont have to worry about loaning your favorite book to your dis-organized friend. :) She'll always remember who she borrowed it from. Bookplates are also a great little gift to give your kids school teacher. They are meaningful AND affordable. :) Also, they make great stocking stuffers! You can find them in the shop HERE. If this link says they are sold out, then dont worry... I should have more listed! :)

The third item is another "new" item I am really excited about. It is the first canvas tote I am offering for sale in my shop. I have made a few of these as gifts for friends and family, and I recently did one with this image... I loved it so much that I decided to also do one for the shop. It has a weathered vintage type feel to it, and I absolutely love that when its paired with this guitar. :)

Well, that is it my big update... I am also working on some original acrylic paintings that I hope to list all at once maybe before the weekend. :)

handmade holiday ornaments

Hello! I am sorry to have kept everyone waiting for my handmade ornament post. It has been so busy around here, I still havent even gotten the newsletters out yet. Hopefully in the next couple of days. :)

So.... here is what I whipped up using a very simple salt and flour recipe.

Recipe and text courtesy of Sunday school idea's website

Ingredients

• 1 c. salt
• 1 c. warm water
• 2 c. flour

Note: use only plain all-purpose flour – don’t use bread flour or self-rising flour

Preparation

Combine flour and salt in a mixing bowl. Slowly add ½ the water while stirring with a fork. Slowly add more water, spoonful at a time and continuing to mix with fork, until it creates a ball of dough that is firm and just soft enough to knead. (The exact amount of water will depend on the moisture content of the flour as well as the general humidity in your home as you prepare the recipe.) Turn dough out onto lightly floured surface and knead until smooth.

If used for play, dough will keep indefinitely if stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator. However, if you want to create hard-baked designs, remember that the dough will begin to lose its ability to hold fine detail after about an hour. Detailed designs, such as ornaments made for sale, are best modeled right after the dough has been kneaded.

Note: Although all the ingredients are edible, this dough is not food. The salt content is very high, and young children should be strongly discouraged from eating it. Also, keep out of reach of pets: I've read online that dogs that ate the stuff have gotten sick, even died, due to the high salt content of home-made play dough. .

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Be sure and check out this link. There are quite a few other helpful ideas on their website.

we (my sister in-law and I) used a star cookie cutter, and I ended up free handing the birds, candy canes, and a few hearts. I cut the dough with a knife. :) We used acrylic paints, and the foam brushes really worked well to get a base white coat on each ornament. Oh- one other important thing to remember. Poke holes before you bake. We used a straw.

A few of the stars Shaela (my sister in law) painted. I thought they turned out great with the silver.

Here are the birds after painting...

and some hearts. It is amazing how the red and white theme seemed to take on different styles. The stars and stripes reminded me of the fourth of july... and I didnt really want that effect. :)

Here is the tree and a peak at the star garland I created with paper.

 another angle...

and a close up of my favorite star. :) These really were fun to make, and it kept us busy allll day. We started early in the day and were still painting into the evening. Of course we had a few "baby Journey" interruptions but nothing too extensive. :)

The star garland was easy, and I still have quite a few stars cut out that need to be strung. I also painted my first holiday sign on wood, and am planning to paint another sign for a family member. Similar... but different then mine. I'll be sure and share when I feel like I can. ;) Well, I am making gifts for my nieces this year and I had best get back to it. I wanted to make time to get this post in. Hopefully it will inspire you to make some of your own handmade ornaments. I have some really good memories of my mom making ornaments when I was younger. Although at the time she was making them because we couldnt afford otherwise. :) She made snowmen out of socks and felt, angels out of scrap material and halos out of tin foil. Several years later she came across the salt dough recipe and we all had another batch of handmade ornaments. This next set were made with cookie cutters and we decorated them with fabric paint. The kind in the little tubes that allow you to make a dot super easy? :) hmmm.... such good memories.

outgoing with every order...

are these cuties! :) Take a peek.

mini notepads had a re-design and I am no longer sending out the "jot it down notepads"

I'll be sending these out with every order. I do have a slightly limited supply of the holiday notepads so they will be sent until I am obviously out. :) I tried to plan it so I would have enough for the month of December. We'll see how that goes!

Did everyone have a nice thanksgiving? Ours was nice if even a little crowded. :) My sister and I made some ornaments from scratch, and I plan to share pictures of those here real soon along with the recipe we used. We'll be decorating our tree this evening, so I'll get pictures of them in their new homes. This year I bought some red and white ornaments, and I think the majority of my tree will be red and white. :)

Is everyone enjoying the Christmas rush? I am dreading it with a passion. Shopping with two little munchkins is a task to be reckoned with... without having to deal with crowds and long lines. :) I am planning to do MUCH of my shopping online this year.

Happy Holidays!!