Some people go on vacation, I'm hiding in my closet....

January is so depressing, don't you think? Everytime I talk to a girlfriend on the phone we both feel more depressed after we hang up. It's freezing outside, even in Texas! All the grass and trees are dead. But even worse, it's time to start digging through piles of receipts and figuring out taxes. Yuck! I needed a little pick me up and a fast one! Trying not to turn to my usual comfort of chocolate, I picked cleaning out the pantry instead. It was surprisingly a quick pick me up! So I decided to take on the dreaded entry closet. Then, I felt pretty brave, and still had another 40min before the baby woke up from his nap so I took on the mother of all messes, my closet! It is such a great feeling to accomplish something. So when I look outside and get depressed I can open up my closet and take a minute vacation with my eyes. Maybe stare at my beach bag and sunhat and pretend I'm lying on the beach with a (non alcoholic- but don't tempt me after today!) pinacolada. With my luck, one of the kids would come in and find me laying on the floor in my closet and call 911! A girl can dream though! Hope this inspires you to clean out your closets.

Modern Quilt

Front & Back baby quilt, originally uploaded by Nestlings.

Yesterday, I tried to spend a couple of hours studying in the office which is open to the rest of the house. This is great when you’re doing mindless things like surfing the web and instant messaging with friends. Not such a good thing when all of the kids are home from school and you’re trying to figure out which King Frederick goes to which country and what the Habsburgs, Ottomans, and Holy Roman Empire all have to do with each other and why they all can’t just get along. Needless to say it wasn’t working out and I decided to take refuge in my “work-room” which has essentially just become a place to store all my craft stuff.

While moving my dusty sewing machine off the desk, I thought back to one of the last really fun projects that I was able to complete this past summer. When I found out my friend Kristin was expecting a baby I knew she would appreciate a handmade gift and I was dying to try a new technique from a link that Kristin had found at katydid.squarespace.com.

While scanning through one of my favorite (and sadly discontinued) Blueprint magazines, this article on The Modern Baby Shower included a centerpiece of circles in varying sizes that looked adorably fun and whymsical. I knew I wanted to include a similar idea. Since Kristin knew it was going to be a boy, I used two of her favorite colors grey and yellow and incorporated an elephant she designed (check out her link above).

This was the first quilt that I have machine quilted (I'll admit it, before this a had been a hand quilt snob). The random stitching is a cinch to do and makes the entire quilt so visually appealing that I couldn’t help but become giddy with excitement.

The picture shows both the front and back of the quilt. I appliqued two elephants to the grey side and a series of different sized circles in a corner of the yellow side.

I can’t wait to try this quilt again, maybe next time it will be for a new niece or nephew???

I'm linking to this fabulous party:

Ribbitt!

I loved Zeke's baby hooded towels, so when he grew too big for them, I was super bummed. Using everyday, boring towels was no fun, and his head gets cold when he gets out of the shower. Enter my homemade hooded frog towel. Sooo easy to make. I used this website to teach me how. I found a pack of towels at Wallyworld for 7 bucks and I can make another towel from it! I think this would be a perfect gift for $3.50, and it took me about half an hour (tops) to make. My model was NOT cooperating this morning, but you get the idea:)

Our B-day Tradition

In honor of my hubster's b-day yesterday I wanted to share our new fav tradition. I found this ceramic cupcake at Hobby Lobby but you can also find it here. I just found a small version of this for valentine's day at Target and picked up some for gifts! In the morning the b-day boy/girl comes down to breakfast and finds this adorable cupcake sitting on the breakfast table. Later that day when they come in from playing/school or work the cupcake is missing and the hunt is on! They search the whole house to find their surprise. In my husband's case, it was homemade caramels that my mom made and shipped from Washington. (Yay for moms!) The hiding place was the dryer, because what husband would look there?! My girls get so excited about this tradition that we had to do it on their un-birthdays too! This is also my new fav b-day present for my friends. Just think of the possiblities. A bracelet, tickets to a concert, a love note & massage gift card. Or even a clue to a big present's hiding spot. So many ways to be creative! I just love cheesy traditions and hope your family will love this one too!

Birthday tradition

In honor of my hubster's birthday yesterday, I thought I would post our recent tradition that I love. For everyone's b-day, or for just a fun pick me up, we have this ceramic cupcake that is waiting at the breakfast table in the morning. When the special person comes to breakfast they will see the b-day cupcake waiting for them. Then when they return later that day, the cupcake is missing! The hunt is on! They have to go through the house in search of it and their surprise. My hubsters surprise happened to be caramels. And the hiding place: the dryer. What man would ever look there! My girls get so excited for this tradition! Its just as fun to hide it and think of things to put in it as it is to get the surprise! This is also now my new favorite gift to give my friends. I found this one at Hobby Lobby but you can find it online here

The Family Room Reveal

So, we moved into our house about 18 months ago when I was 8 months pregnant. Awesome, so fun. This family room downstairs was a wreck! We decided to leave up this rock wall because it's possible to put a wood stove there that can heat the entire house if worse comes to worse (the clock covers the hole for the stove). Someone decided it would be great to cover the wall (on the right) with rustic wood (attaching the wood with glue, nails, AND screws) and then covered that with fabric. So ugly I was horrified to even take a picture. But we did end up with a holey wall for 6 months. That was also very fun. Anyway, so glad that I can sit in this room happily all evening and enjoy the fruits of my labor. I painted the room, we put in new carpet, Zac put in the light fixture, I made easy curtains with my mom, made some pillows from black and white houndstooth for the couch, blew up some family pics for the back wall, and put up new bookshelves so my crazy little guy can't pull down the dvds (everyday! grrr) anymore. I also spray painted one of those metal stars you see everywhere so it could cover up the ugly thermostat that those genius builders of my house decided to put smack dab in the middle of the wall. We love the room now and aren't embarrassed to watch movies with friends anymore!

Here's a picture of little Z showing us that he did not like that ugly wall!

Furniture Find of the Week

1960 china hutch, originally uploaded by Nestlings.

I’m still a little giddy after yesterdays find, the lines on this hutch are gorgeous and it is in amazing condition a classic piece from the 1960’s (I think). Normally I can talk myself out of most purchases, and just walk away, but I found myself having a difficult time walking far enough away from it to pay for it. Yes, I was that excited.

When I first saw it, I thought David would have a heart attack (he loves the more traditional look) so if nothing else it would go into my work room just so I could gaze at it. Much to my surprise within 10 minutes of bringing it inside he had already picked out 3 places it could fit in our home and not a single one of those included the garage!

If anyone knows anything about this style or the exact age I’d really appreciate it. My initial guess is that it’s from the 1960’s. The inside contains a label from “Garrison Furniture Co. and the back is stamped number 248.

My initial thoughts are paint it. Maybe white….maybe gray…maybe some contrast colors on the inside of the hutch and where the cabinet doors come together to make an oval. So many possibilities, I just can’t decide.

Mr Potato Head in Felt!

So my super crafty sista Mandy made the K-utest Christmas present for my little guy. She is always looking for ways to entertain her Z during church and this is a perfect quiet toy. She found instructions on this site here. The mustache is my fav! So go ahead and make one today, church won't feel quite as long with this adorable toy to entertain your little ones!

Back to School Shopping

1) Great vintage upcycled notebook, the typography is lovely here 2) Repurposed shift Key flash drive here 3) A repurposed door turned into a desk shown here 4) Messenger bag black and white wool herringbone here 5) Contemporary office chair here 6) Chocolate always helps me study here 7) Cool black white polka dot pencil case here 8) Graphite pencils wrapped in a vintage French novel paper so chic here 9) Wool laptop sleeve here


Tomorrow I begin a new semester of school and in anticipation I went on a little hunt to find some fun new things I thought would make the next couple of months more successful. After paying for tuition and books my there isn’t much left to fill my wish list but a girl can always dream…

Wrap It Up

I love having a beautiful stash of wrapping papers, there’s something about a well wrapped present that just screams fun and excitement. My friends at American Crafts have always kept me well stocked with their beautiful papers, ribbons, trims, and tags they carry an amazing line of products (too many to mention here). Thanks to them, I was able to wrap this birthday gift in less than 4 minutes, the hardest part was choosing which paper to use!

Jewelry holder

So I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE, how this jewelry holder turned out! This is to hold all the girly necklaces and scarves that an 8 year old girl collects. I first did a photoshoot with this darling girl in freezing cold weather. Then blew up a photo to 12x18" and cut some 1/2" plywood to the same dimensions. We painted the sides of the wood dark brown but any color will do. Then we used contact cement (stinky stuff!) and rolled it on with an old credit card (to ensure smoothness). You need a thin coat on both the back of the picture and the wood. Make sure not to get this on your hands or clothes (worse than super glue people!). Wait 10 min til its almost dry, then with atleast two people, line it up and with a rubber roller (scrapbook tool) we slowly rolled the picture on pushing out the airbubbles as we did this. After that, we put the whole thing into a space saver bag and vacuumed out the air. Then it sat overnight. We carefully trimmed off the excess picture with an exacto knife. Then came the fun mounting of knobs. We drilled holes and then cut off the excess screws on the back to make it lay flat against the walls. Then added the flower with hot glue. This project takes around 5 hours of time but is well worth it in the end. I know the owner will take good care of it, but I'm so sad to see it go. When I get over the exhaustion maybe I'll tackle one for my own kids!

I'm linking to this great site!

Think BIG goals

While I realize many people feel New Years Resolutions are very passé I actually look forward to the tradition for two reasons. 1) Because it forces me to look at areas I can improve and 2) because I love to look back and see that I have in fact accomplished something. Our family tries to make the goals do-able and we’ve broken them down into three categories
1.) Improve
2.) Change and
3.) Accomplish

I’ve tried to let my kids set their own goals but when my five year old decided he wanted to “change” the fact he couldn’t drive a car we decided to steer him in the direction of “changing” bikes and learning how to ride a bike without training wheels (whew, we dodged a bullet!).

My “change” this year will trying to decorate with big statements and I think I may already be on the road to accomplishing it with these tree trunks I added to my boring gray wall in my family room this week!

So, to sum it up, some of my attainable goals this year will be:

1.) Improve-my tone of voice. While I love sarcasm, I’ve realized my 15 and 13 yr old just don’t get it.

2.) Change- less conservative and more “BIG statements” this year.


3.) Accomplish- Learn how to speed read

Magical Beans

After seeing this post on how to make a lima bean wreath, I went for it- and spent about 4 hours hot gluing. Just a little time consuming, but worth it in the end because I can use it for all those weird holidays that I don't have a wreath for, just by changing the ribbon. Pink for Valentine's Day, green for St. Patty's, etc. I'm loving it and it's worth all the hot glue burns:)

little woolly trees

So it's been our tradition for Christmas every year to make homemade gifts for us 3 sisters. While it sounds super cute, its getting harder and harder to find the perfect item that my amazing sisters can't and haven't made themselves already! This year has been no different. My sister Renee (aka greenay) likes to reinvent & reuse items. (hence the green nickname) This year she took old sweaters and crafted them into a family of trees for me. I can't decide which one is my most fav, the polka dot one because I'm obsessed with polkas or the littlest swirly one. Aren't they adorb! That's right adorb, I abbreviate everything!

Now you know your ABC's!

After wanting to learn to applique for years, my mom finally taught me and Sassy, aka Andrea, this summer. Let me tell you- it is so easy! Especially the way I sewed this letters on, I just randomly sewed around the edge, so it will fray a little when washed. I ironed the letters onto the white cotton background using a fusible webbing, then sewed all the squares together. I always use 'warm and natural' batting for in between my quilts and then I got brave and hand quilted the squares with turquoise thread to match the back. My friend who had a baby in November isn't a quilter, so I'm hopeful she didn't notice my very imperfect stiches! I never got a picture of the finished product (as always!), but I was pretty close at this point. I just needed to finish up the binding. Anyway, I loved working on this quilt and was super sad to give it away- hopefully Hannah Rose will love it as much as I do!