vol.25

fuzzy wuzzy was a bear...

"fuzzy wuzzy was a bear, fuzzy wuzzy had no hair. If fuzzy wuzzy had no hair, fuzzy wuzzy was no bear? Wuzzy he?

The "wuzzy he", was a part of the rhyme that my cousin shannon and I made up. We thought we were so clever too. :) (now watch someone tell me its supposed to be said that way in the first place!)

Growing up this was my all time favorite tongue twister. :) It seemed only fitting that fuzzy wuzzy would kick off the first print in a new series. You can find him HERE. I have big plans for a few other tongue twisters, and I would love to hear your favorites!

for my kitchen...

Just a quick post to share what I've been working on today. I've had this idea in my head for awhile now, and it feels nice to finally be able to mentally check it off the list. :) Jaydon hung my grundtal shelves from ikea. I love them, but (like always) I do wish they could have been centered a little better. Had to hang them where there were studs. I'll try to get some close ups of the shelves, but for now I suppose this will have to do. The picture is going into a larger frame I sprayed black, hopefully it will fill in this area some.

(the white cabinet door is leaning against the wall, because I had thought about painting it with chalkboard paint and hanging it instead of a picture. Figured it would make good use of that cabinet door... but it wouldnt be an ideal spot. In fact I could barely reach it. Its so nice being short. :P)

As you can see the kitchen is still in progress. :) I am still scraping away at the paint on the cabinets. We decided to keep the upper cabinets, but add a coat of paint and some nice dentil chair rail. We'll be using the same doors as the lower cabinets. We also have  a door and drawer face on order, so that will be coming in soon!

I bought this platter from ikea, and love it! I had a hard time finding art to match the colors... so I decided to make something that would. :)

Well, hope you guys are having a nice week so far. :)

etsy must haves- Wee Woodland Mushrooms

ok... these are just TOO cute! It has been awhile since I've done an "etsy must have" post. I instantly felt the need to bring it back when I spotted these ADORABLE mushrooms on etsy. I can see soo many cute possibilities for these little gems. They are handmade by Wee Wood Natural Toys.

Wee Wood says this about they're uses:

"Use them in whatever way suits your whimsy!
Nature table, woodland, gnome or fairy playset, game tokens, have your wee child count, sort and stack them!"

Can you picture them lined up on a windowsill?. :) talk about cute overload!

The mushrooms are painted with nontoxic paint and sealed with a nontoxic and hypoallergenic sealant. Doesnt get any better then that! :) 

well, I guess it does get a little better. :) See... after visiting Wee Wood, you can report back here with your favorite item from they're shop and you are automatically qualified for a 10% discount off towards your purchase. :) Just be sure and post your favorite item here, and then again in the message to seller upon checkout. I thought it was nice of them to offer that up!

oh and btw- your item purchased does not have to be your favorite item. :) Just in case you were wondering! Hope you guys enjoyed these cuties as much as I did. They also have some wood cars listed that I am thinking about buying Journey. She loves cars, and I love that they are a natural non toxic toy. :)

happy friday!!

p.s. you can also find Wee Wood on facebook and flickr !

my new favorite drink at starbucks...

I completely forgot to mention this in my last post! I have no idea how I could forget to share such an amazing discovery with you all... so here it is!

So, we're on the coast and looking for a starbucks. I'm not much of a coffee drinker, and remembered hearing about a captain crunch berry frappucino somewhere in blog land. But couldnt remember where. Captain crunch berry cereal is one of my all time favorites, but for some reason it usually leaves the roof of my mouth raw. Now I am in NO way implying that this keeps me from eating it. ;) ANYHOW, I didnt know the recipe so I did a google search on my phone and found this website.

They gave an actual recipe:

"The 'Captain Crunch' at Starbucks
If you haven't ordered the Strawberries and Creme frappuccino yet, you're in for a treat with this one; order this with a shot of caramel, two shots of toffee, one shot of hazelnut, and two scoops of chocolate chips - guaranteed to super-charge your day."

Now that seemed like a pretty long list of ingrediants, and I was definitely on the verge of chickening out. I mean how do I order it? Do I ask for captain crunch berry frapp, or do I just list how to make it? Would they look at me like I'm a difficult idiot of a customer? Well, it was my turn in line, and I mustered up my courage, and said, "Theres this drink I've been wanting to try its called the captain crunch berry frappuccino, before I could finish the lady (being VERY patient with me) asked if anyone there recognized the drink. One girl piped up and said "yep! Its a strawberries and cream with a pump of toffee nut." Instantly I'm thinking... uhh... theres more, I need a pump of hazelnut, and a pump of caramel, and some chocolate chips. Only... I didnt say that. I DID muster up the courage to request the chocolate chips. So glad I did. :D It was yyuuummmy! Completely hooked I am. As they're making it the starbucks ladies are talking amongst themselves and she's like you HAVE To try this it totally takes like the cereal. I felt all proud and victorious.

One pump of toffee nut was perfect, and the chocolate chips added some nice ceareal-ish texture. My dad thought I was crazy, why would you want to drink a cereal? I suppose he does have a good point, and I suppose my answer would be because I can! :P

I've looked online and seen a few different variations on the recipe, one pump hazelnut, and one pump toffee nut. I guess you'd jus have to experiment to your liking.

So anyone feel like an ice cold drink of captain berries, I HIGHLY recommend you give it a whirl. Be sure and report back!! ;)

back from the ocean- WARNING- this post is heavy on the pictures!

I'm back! This is the beach house we all stayed at. It is one of many beach cottages located in a little community called bella beach. We have stayed here two other times, and twice in this particular home. It has a carriage house in back, and three rooms inside the house. A big bonus room upstairs with a hide-a-bed. I am totally LOVING these bungalow style houses. I would love to build one similar but I think the craftsman styling may be a bit out of our first time home builders budget. ;)

We bought seafood here, and it was sooo yummy! We bought crab, steamer clams, smoked salmon, smoked tuna (which was probably my favorite) shrimp, and oysters. My mom fries them and they are soo yummy. Although the house is usually divided down the middle, half of us love the oysters, the other half... not so much. :)



journey and noah really warmed up to each other. :) This was about half hour after seeing each other again for the first time in a month and a half.

Here's journey peeking over daddy's hat.

and trin and jada, admiring each others' flowers. :) I took quite a few of them on the front porch.


we even had sunshine! Had alot of rain, but it was balanced out with sunshine!

Did some shopping at the outlet mall. Gotta love that place. Bought me a new pair of skechers. Just 2 hours after buying them I accidentally broke them in. The waves caught me by surprise as I was snapping pics!


Journey wore these baby legs from target. They turned out perfect for the cooler weather. The house we were in also had wood floors, so they helped cushion her knees a bit when crawling. She did not want anything to do with the sand, and sitting on this blanket in the sand was even pushing it for her.

We stopped in Salem, OR for pizza at straight from new york pizza. It was sooo yummy!


It was a really nice weekend. Enjoyed seeing everyone again, and loved using my new camera! I took a billion pictures, as you probably guessed. :) Now to hopefully finish up things with our house. I painted a bit last night, and am getting ready to do so again. Hopefully I will have some pictures up next tuesday!

yummy beachy-ness

rescue me by walkingtojericho totally love this!

We are heading to the oregon coast for the weekend, and wont be back until monday. So I will not be able to respond to e-mails (or mailing prints) until sometime tuesday. :) My entire family is meeting up around lincoln city, OR and it will be sooo nice to have some quiet time and a break from all things house related. :)

I did a search on etsy for ocean image and came up with some beautiful photographs. Sooo many talented photographers out there.

 
blue beach days by greenislandstudios totally diggin this print but really hoping to see some sun! Rain is in the forecast, so I'll be keeping my fingers (and toes!) crossed for some nice sun-shiny weather.

Looking forward to using my new camera! woo-hoo, my brand new remote came in so maybe I can actually get some pictures of Jaydon and I while we are there too.

These photos have me totally geared up for the beach. Now... I just need to pack.

I'm packing my house up!

 

Thats right I totally am. We're not "officially" moving yet, and I am not really packing up the entire house. But I AM packing, and beginning to get a little stressed. (ok that honestly started happening daays ago) It all started on Friday when Jaydon had the idea of listing the house NOW. Before all our renovations are done. For a cheaper price of course. Why in the world would we do this? Well I guess I am not entirely sure that it is a good idea, and I am little uneasy about listing now. BUT, the couple of main motivators are:

1) the rise back in interest rates: Even if we got considerably more for our house when it was complete three months (or so) from now, if interest rates are significantly higher at that time our new house payment will be quite a bit more then it would be if we could lock in a low rate soooon.

2) time, time: I am just mentally tired of living in a remodel! There is always a project needing finished up over here (like many people's home's I'm sure) and our list is never ending it seems. I want to be able to go somewhere for the weekend and not have to think "well, we really need to finish this up..."

So, this house has really grown on me, and it was absolutely perfect for us three years ago. We could only afford a fixer upper and this was definitely your definition of a fixer upper. BUT, we have really outgrown it. Maybe a newlywed couple or older retired couple will think of it as perfect for them. I sure hope so. :)

This brings me to stressing. I tend to do that anyhow. ;) I've been dreaming about the house finally being done and "staging" the house for sale for so long that now I am kinda worried about how unfinished everything is. The kicker... we're still planning on continuing the remodeling and finishing things up. Which at that point we will list with a good friend who also happens to be a realator. :) Until then Craigslist will be our method of choice. I hope hope that we are doing the right thing. So, keeping it clean and "staged" while remodeling and keeping two kids in tow should be interesting. We are renting a storage unit and the boxes (and some of the furniture) will be more appropriately placed there. :) Giving us more space and less clutter to keep up on!

Will it be bad to show the house and continue to raise the price as we complete new projects? I dunno I guess we will see. Anyone have any tips to keeping your house show ready or near show ready with a baby and 4 year old? :)

Keep your fingers crossed! ;) I may be a bit MIA around the blog during this BUSY and stressful time. I decided to take a break from packing/cleaning/organizing to give you all that update. The girls are sleeping so I had best take advantage of this time and get some more done. :)

One more thing: I'll be officially ending the BOGO sale tonight at midnight! Thanks everyone!!

Have I told you how much I love this camera?

It feels soo good to have a camera in my hands again. :)

woohoo! Planning a couple new photo shoots already. :)

On another note: Krissa you asked for a blog button to link back to, well this is something I've been thinking about adding to the blog. Your question came as I was in photoshop dinking around... so I whipped this new blog button up. :)

I appreciate you asking, and If anyone else would like to add it to they're blog that'd be great! If there is another size that works out best for everyone just let me know. I wasnt really sure how to go about creating it. This one should be sized at 150x150.

Ok Doke! Jaydon is working away on the kitchen and is hinting around that he needs a espresso... so I guess I need to get busy making him one. :P

i would love to introduce you to my new love...

We only met yesterday and I am smitten already! I've been really excited to update the blog and tell you all that I had placed my order... but I've been so busy printing and packaging orders (and trying to keep it all straight!!) that I havent had the time. :) I really appreciate everyone's support and well wishes.

So... about the camera. I had considered going the nikon route, but in the end I decided to stick with sony. One reason being the fact that I did just purchase a new external flash and flash diffuser for that wedding I shot back in January. I wasnt really wanting to deal with trying to sell them. It seemed like I was getting the most bang for my buck with sony, and it isnt as though I need a pro camera. I am definitely NO professional! :)

This is the sony a300. Still considered an entry level dslr. But it is definitely a step up from my a100. The pixel count is still at 10. Which has been perfect for large size prints. It also has live view on the lcd display. What I like best about my new camera is the screen. It swivels out and tilts up and down. No more lying on the hot cement to get shots like this:

my brother and his (then fiance') wife. :)

I really like how it feels in my hands. Not too heavy and not too plasticky. The color was something I really liked at first, then I decided to google "gold sony a300" to get other people's opinions on the color. Most people hated it, :) said it cheapened the looks of the camera. So then I wasnt sure I wanted it in gold. Was a little concerned about scratches showing up more so then with the black finish. Something that played a BIG part in my decision is the fact that sony is about to replace the a300 (and a few other models) with newer models. This meant that the black was out of stock in many places. I did find some kits available on ebay but wasnt sure I was brave enough to order my camera from ebay. I've been burned on more then one occasion, also I should note that I have also had great luck with ebay, but on smaller less risky purchases. ;)

Anyhow, sony had the gold in stock. I decided I really shouldnt let other people's opinion affect me THAT much. I mean- before I read other people's opinion I HAD liked it! :) So I ordered it and here it is. :) The gold really looks more silver. I'm not sure anyone would mistaken it for gold. Certainly not a flashy blingy (is that a word?) gold. :D

This is one of the first pictures I took with my new camera. Orders from the previous day waiting to go out with my mail this morning. I always set them on top of my shoe cabinets right by the front door. Helps me to remember to put them out! :) To say I was surprised at the response I got from the sale would be an understatement. I've had 27 orders from the time I announced the sale! A couple of you blogged about it:

Deanna Maree
gluestick girl

and I thought that was suuuper sweet. If you blogged about it and I missed it somehow I would love to thank you for it just the same. :)

I think I'll leave the sale up until tuesday morning. Still not sure on that, but as of now it sounds like a good idea.

So the gist of it all... is thank you! I was able to replace my camera (at a time when extra money was going towards the kitchen remodel) within three weeks of losing my a100. I really enjoyed reading your notes in "the message to seller." So many thoughtful people!! :) Hope you all have a wonderful weekend! I am planning to take bunches of pictures!

BOGO- BUY 1 GET 1 FREE sale!

I have officially launched the big sale. As some of you know from my previous post I've lost my beloved camera, and have decided to have a big sale in hopes of raising some extra money for its replacement. If I give away prints it is generally a buy 2 get 1 free sale, but this time I've decided to do a buy 1 get 1 free sale. I didnt put an ending date on the offer, it will probably depend on how well everything goes, how busy I stay etc. :)

I was really wanting to do something in honor of my lost camera, and had the idea of making camera id tags for your camera bags or even to hook onto your camera strap in some way. 

If the unthinkable happens and you find yourself misplacing, or in my case losing your camera off the tailgate of the truck, HOPEFULLY you will find that your camera is able to return to your loving arms. :) It is NO fun losing your camera and I do not wish that on anyone! I really wish I had of done something like this when i still had my camera. I think it would be cute to print these on shrinky dink plastic, and attach them by way of a key ring or string. Anyhow I have added them to DIY downloads section in the right hand column of the blog. :) Feel free to share them via your own blog!

So... the sale is live as of now, and if you havent stopped by the shop in awhile you will see several new prints listed. Been super busy getting some new ones finished up. :) like these guys...

from the heart 20.00 in the shop

the robots were a commissioned piece for a couple celebrating they're 5 year anniversary. I fell in love with the bots, and fortunately, they were willing to share! I added them to a new print set with my love happens robots.

and also a new version on this popular print:

 

bound to you in vintage colors also 20.00

I have 5 other prints just about finished making up two new series. One being a new kitchen series, and the other a new nursery themed set.

Anyhow... if you have had a favorite print in mind for awhile, now will probably be your best time to grab it! I probably wont repeat the buy 1 get 1 free sale again anytime this year. So when you feel like shopping, head on over and take a peek at whats new!