edible decor

last year our good friends got us a whirley pop for christmas. it only took us a year to open and use it. and of course, the first thing i decide to do with the popcorn is a christmas craft project. our rotating tree was looking a little sparse when the lights weren't on so i decided to string a popcorn garland to jazz it up. it was pure torture for the dogs, they love popcorn. bosco literally sat underfoot the whole two hours it took me to string it. occasionally scoring a kernel or two.

behold. the finished product.

so far the tree is still standing. i was worried i'd come down to an annihilated tree this morning. we'll see if it makes it the rest of the holiday season. i'm not sure if the dogs realize what and where it is. let's hope they don't figure it out.

felt fetish

i don't know why but i have a love affair with felt. lately my craft projects have revolved around the medium. right now i'm attempting to make 3 dimensional felt flowers. it's basically trial and error, trying to use paper techniques and applying it to felt. once i master them i'll have to figure out how i'll use them. i will be posting the new felt hair clips i made for the craft show i did few weeks ago. i've got a few new designs i came up with that i'm pretty happy with.

i finally finished the stocking i started last year for the little man. my brother and aaron both have/had stockings made by our mom's so i thought i'd do the same for avery. it's made from a kit just so i can get the hang of layering and what not. if i do another larger felt project i think i'm gonna attempt making avery a halloween bag. although this one is reasonably priced.

shop update is coming really soon. i promise.

halloween 2010 in a nutshell

halloweens of yesteryear. yeah, we love the holiday!

everything is coming up poppy

one of my first crafting projects in a long time: baby bedding for my friend, greyson. she's expecting her first, a little girl, in a few weeks and i volunteered to make the bedding for her as a shower gift.

she picked the fabrics and i did the rest. this was the first time i've made either a baby bumper or a crib skirt. i crossed my fingers and prayed the end result would be somewhat recognizable. i ended up using the directions from amy butler's little stitches for little ones book. the directions were fairly simple. but i'm not sure if i'm out-of-practice because i did find myself reading and re-reading each step. what am i saying? i've always had a hard time reading patterns. it's like it's written in some kinda sewing code or for the dyslexic.

in the end, i was happy with the outcome as was greyson. the nursery is absolutely adorable. almost makes me want to have a girl for our next. almost.

another crafty project i did for her shower: poppy cupcakes. brett and grey are 90% sure they are gonna name her "poppy" so as one of her gifts i got her this. which inspired me to to makes these for the shower.

they are homemade peach cupcakes with cream cheese frosting. i used prepackaged fondant to make the flowers, didn't trust myself to make my own. unfortunately i could not find black edible candy balls in boone, so i used yellow instead. they still turned out great and actually matched the cake at the shower, at least the coloring (ha, ha. if you saw the cake you would understand why this is funny). nothing like a baby to inspire some craftiness. tomorrow i'll post my ghetto-rigged teeth guard i put on little mans crib yesterday.

cutting up

last week we had a pumpkin decorating/carving party at our place. we had appetizers, chili and butternut squash soup for dinner and cupcakes for dessert. the party was a huge success and i think we may have started a halloween tradition. unfortunately, not everyone was able to carve their pumpkin. we did a little too much chit-chatting and some friends had to leave before we got started. for those who did stay, we did get some crazy pumpkins. see photo below.


and here are two cuties who came but were a little too young to participate. there's always next year, boys!

red all over

Red Rum - letterpress greeting

Red Love Grows with Dove

Hand Screenprinted Birch Forest in Red fabric

VIVID RED POPPIES Shoe clips

purple people eaters

PASSIONATE PURPLE Recycled Magnetic LOCKET SET

Violet Hydrangea Ring Box

Handmade Purple Tiny Tile Bobby Pin Set

Penelope Necklace No. 2

perfectly pretty in pink

this is actually proving to be more time-consuming than i thought. looking for the perfect item then trying to find the perfect corresponding pic, yeah it's taking me a lot longer than i expected. hence the lack of commentary.

one reason i'm doing this is to spark some inspiration. i've started crafting again. little things here and there. i was just asked if i'd like to consign some of my stuff at a local bookstore. i hardly have enough to keep my etsy store up and running let alone consign or have a booth at a craft fair. since the weather is starting to grow colder and our lives a little less hectic, i'm shooting to get back in gear. i need to set mini goals and a little sweat shop in my craft room. maybe then i'll get some stuff done.

Polaroid Coaster - Pink Fairies

Savoy Truffle - 9-Piece Enameled Bangle Set

Pair Vintage Table Lamps with New Custom Drum Shades

Large berry bowl strainer and scallop saucer in lilac.

berry blue

Navy Blue with Honeysuckle print throw pillow

Dipping dish - beetle in ocean blue

Coco - 3 lovely blue wool felt flowers headband

Tattoo Style Anchor Love Pendant

go for green

Peacock Parade Necklace

Sweet Little Blue Bird on a Pale Green Bowl


9 Mossy Green Felted Wool Acorns


Landscape leather bracelet

color feast

this week i'm bringing back the color wheel. but this time i'm combining my love of color with my love of etsy. just in time for the holidays.

i meant to start this yesterday so i'll be a day behind. today we are yellow.

Copper and Honey Felt Flower Brooch

Sweet Sterling Silver Honeycomb Necklace by Rachel Pfeffer

Sweet Lemon Cream Soap Loaf

Gorgeous flower shaped filigree silver hairpins

AUTUMN WIND - Original Mixed Media Painting on Canvas

princess me

another found image on the laptop. gonna have to bite the bullet and get a new printer/scanner if i want to continue with these weekly updates. i've pretty much exhausted my online stash of photos.

any suggestions on an all-in-one that's reliable and good for printing pics?

aaron's birthday weekend starts with a 10k in the a.m. for some reason, this is how he wants to start his day. ran a half marathon last weekend and now he's a running machine. somehow i foresee all our future trips/vacations involving some type of race or run. avery and i, a.k.a his travelling cheer section, are along for the ride. go a-wes.

the rest of the day will be spent at the nc zoo with the little man. please make the temps bearable. that's all i'm asking. thank you in advance.

fashion forward friday

my printer/scanner is on the fritz so i've had to resort to photos i have on my computer/email. a few months ago my dad reconnected with an old friend who shared some photos he had from the 70s. i don't remember when this was taken but it's me with his two sons. it's crazy there are pictures of me out there that i have never seen and could possibly never see.

i was very fashion forward for a toddler. pairing stripes with plaid and a sundress. i guess i have my mom to thank for that.

in the bedroom

sooner or later i'm gonna get around to decorating our bedroom. i'm pretty much at a loss on where to begin. i've been building somewhat of a furniture backbone but still need to get ideas on how to bring everything together. thank goodness for the internet. i stumbled across a really great website to find ideas for any room in your house.



above are the gender-neutral designs i like. below is what i'd love if i didn't have to worry about appeasing the man. yep, i'm sure i need a little girl or avery's gonna be surrounded in purple and poofs pretty soon.

remember them?

yeah. they still do exist. although lacking the attention they probably deserve. fortunately for us the dogs and the boy have become instant pals. well, I guess pals is not quite the right word for it. marley barely acknowledges his existence and bosco has found a new salt lick. the boy, however, is thrilled about their presence. always following them around the room, picking up their toys and sticking them in his mouth, smiling/giggling when they do give him any attention. we'll see how long this idealistic situation will last. I think we might see some bumps as the boy becomes more mobile. which is gonna be any day now.

flashback friday

to help me get back into the swing of blogging again, i'm introducing a weekly assignment for myself - flashback friday. i had another picture in mind but it would have involved walking downstairs and scanning the photo. so my lazy butt searched my laptop and found this lovely photo.

so this is a flash"way"back photo. i'm guessing it was taken in 1978. i look 3ish and brian 2ish. it's either seoul or taegu korea and we're with our youngest older cousin. i thought this was an appropriate first photo since my mom is about to head back to her homeland in a few weeks. she's flying solo but we're hoping the next time she goes, i/we can go with.

and so it begins...again.

he likes what he sees

we've had a busy, busy summer. actually that's and understatement, we've had an insane summer of travel and family. although i love seeing everyone, it's so nice to have a weekend or two at home just relaxing. (although ours have been full of playing catchup on house/yard work) things are finally starting to settle down. so here i am, taking a breather, posting a recent photo of the boy.

more posts to come of how we've spent our summer vacation. they'll be short and sweet, but it'll be something.

isabella marie

Born July 18th @ 11:19 pm, Isabella Marie Rich!!! She weighed 7 lb. 11.4 oz. and was 19.5" long, a big baby for 37 weeks!

congrats to my brother and sister-in-law and a warm welcome to isabella! we can't wait to meet you!

"blueberry sorbet...the kind you find..."

last week one of aaron's patients brought him a huge box of blueberries. i'm talking HUGE! we love fresh fruit but we both knew there was no way we were gonna be able to finish them off before spoilage. so i went to my handy-dandy phone and looked up a recipe using the epicurious application. (if you have a smart phone, i highly recommend this free app.) unfortunately aaron's not a big cheesecake fan and i'm not a big pie fan so that nixed about 75% of the recipes. i was able to find a sorbet recipe that used six cups of blueberries, which is about half of what we have. i actually had all of the ingredients in house. score.

i got everything ready and we opened up the ice cream maker. (yes, we actually own an ice cream maker, it's the only thing aaron put on our wedding registry.)

me: i have to put an egg white in there about 3 minutes before it's done so that it can emulsify.
awes: what's emulsify?
me: i'm not sure, i know they do it on "top chef" all the time so it must be some fancy cooking term.
awes: eww, nice

emulsify: combining two liquids together which normally don't mix easily.

30 minutes later we were dining on some fresh sorbet. aaron laughed when i put them our martini glasses and made it look all fancy. i didn't strain the blueberries mixture so it has a bit of a pulpy taste. but it's good otherwise.