Birdhouses

After our bird-making blitz the other week, our birds needed a home.  One morning, while looking at Design*Sponge together (What? You don't look at design blogs with your children?), my daughter and I saw a gorgeous kid's room with a hand painted tree mural and little wood birdhouses attached to it.  (Click here to see the post.)

Bingo!  A home for our birds!  Last Fall, I was able to grab some wall decals on super sale at Goodwill, so my daughter already had a tree on her wall, so off we went to the craft store to find wood birdhouses to decorate and hang.  We scored some small, plain, wood mini-birdhouses for a $1 and rushed home to decorate them.  The wall decals are easy to remove and I attached the birdhouses with 3M's removable mounting strips, so when we get tired of the look, we can easily pull it off the wall, and start over with whatever great idea we come up with next.

We're both pleased with the results and it really turns the tree on her wall into a focal point and she enjoys, "sleeping under the trees with the birds."  Which really makes this inexpensive project priceless.

English Tea

It all started while I was reading, Country Living - England.  There was a great article on keeping the tradition of having tea alive.  Next thing I knew, my little partner and I were in the car, on our way to the closest British Grocer.  

Of course, since we purchased lemon curd and clotted cream, a quick batch of scones needed to be baked.  Then tea was served and we sketched, and we talked, and we pretended were royalty.

And that, my dear & patient husband, is why nothing else got done today.  These things just happen. (But we did save you scone!)

The bad news

I've received so many emails asking if we are okay.  I didn't mean to be vague about the "bad news" I mentioned in my last post, I just wasn't ready to talk about it.  But you are all so supportive that I feel I should share.

Our dog, Jack, was diagnosed with malignant lymphoma last week.  A routine, yearly check-up found enlarged lymph nodes all over his body and after three days of waiting for tests results, our worst fears were confirmed.  He's been given three months to live.

He's 12 years old and has lived with us for about 10 of those years.  (He's a rescue dog.) Right now, he's feeling fine.  We were completely taken by surprise by his diagnosis.  So our plan is to keep him comfortable, manage his symptoms, and spoil him rotten until his quality of life indicates that it's time for us to let him go.  We are trying not to focus on losing him right now and will just enjoy our days left with him.

I had to put my beloved dog, MaryAnn, down when I was pregnant with our daughter.  As hard as that was, it's nothing compared to being a mommy and dealing with my own grief while trying to help my daughter deal with the loss of her beloved pet at the same time.  Heartbreaking.  I've been lucky enough to find a great list of children's books that are geared towards dealing with the topic and I'm hoping the books will help all of us navigate through these difficult next few months.

Thanks to all our friends and family who have helped us as we dealt with this news.  It means more to us than we can ever tell you.

Where I'll be this weekend

It's been a week filled with good news and very bad news (hence my sporadic blogging).  I'm spending my day in the yard, under the shade of a tree, reading magazines.  What do you have planned this weekend?

In hiding

I love to take photos.  I hate to see myself in photos.  I never take self portraits.  I get a bit "pissy" when someone points a camera in my direction.  I cringe and beat myself up when I see myself in photos.  I'm in hiding.  Always telling myself I'll like to be caught on film when I'm thinner.  Except....

I recently came to the realization that there are very few photos of me during these early years of my daughter's life.  What if, one day, she wanted to look back on her childhood and remember what I looked I like when I was younger?  By hiding from the camera, am I denying my daughter (and myself) the chance to go back in time?  

As I work on rebuilding my self-esteem, I think I need to work on accepting how I look now.  And I need to document it.  When I look back at photos of me when I was in my 20s, I remember how I hated the way I looked when I got the film back from the photo processors. (Remember when we got film developed?).  Now I look at those photos and think about how thin, and young, and pretty I was.  I need to remember that one day, I'll look back at today's photos and, at the very least appreciate my relative youth and the person I was at that time.  I'm going to make an effort to take more photos of myself and let others take them of me.  

What about you?  Do you like the way you look in photographs?  Do you hide from the camera?

A flock of pom pom birds

I'm trying to do something creative with my daughter every day this summer.  On Thursday, we went crazy making pom pom birds.  After seeing my buddy, Nikki's, post the other day, I remembered that I had an old Martha Stewart pom pom bird kit rolling around in my studio.  I picked it up ages ago at Big Lots for $2. So I dragged it out and then pulled my personal collection of pom poms out (yes, I have a personal collection of pom poms, don't you?) and my daughter & I went nuts making pom pom birds.

Seriously, we have a flock of them now.  We had a blast taking photos of them when they were done, but now the burning question...

What exactly does one do with a flock of pom pom birds?

Scrapbook Royalty

I'm a guest blogger over on the Scrapbook Royalty blog.  If you love my Bakery Coasters (as seen above), you might want to hop over and drop your name in the hat.  I'm giving my ONLY set away over there.  To enter, leave a comment on my blog post over on the Scrapbook Royalty blog.  Comments left on my blog won't get win you any prizes today, but I you can still say "hi"!

If you like sushi better, I still have a set of those in my Etsy shop.  I'm donating 10% of all the sales I make this week to Scrapbook Royalty, so if you have had your eye on anything lately, why not make the purchase and help support Scrapbook Royalty, an organization that helps crafters raise money for worthy causes?

Future Blogger

My mother tells a story of how, when I was a toddler, she looked on in horror as I imitated what she looked like when she was talking on the phone.  There I was, holding my toy phone to my ear, leaning against the counter, throwing my head back in laughter.

As I ran around the yard the other day, styling photos for my blog, I looked over and caught my daughter arranging her toys and snapping photos of them with her toy camera.  It is shocking to see a snapshot of yourself.  It's also jolting to realize that your little ones watch every move you make.  It's an awesome responsibility.  But, when I watch her do something creative, I feel like maybe she's learning how to enjoy life.  To see the beauty in every day moments.  A mother can only hope that amidst the lessons of housekeeping and bill paying and trying to find balance, we are also passing on lessons of joy, creativity and love.

Breakfast in July

Is there anything better than a quiet breakfast on the patio, before the heat of the day sets in?  It reminds of summer childhood mornings, eating breakfast with my grandparents on their screened-in porch in Cleveland, Ohio.

Published in Somerset Life

I have been reading the magazine, Somerset Life, since it began publication.  It's one of the prettiest magazines out there.  A magazine to relax with.  The kind that you bring home from the bookstore, find a comfortable spot in your home, brew some tea and then read it.  I've been published in a few of Stampington's magazines, but now I can proudly say I have some artwork published in Somerset Life!

A few years ago, I submitted some collage kits for some retro paper dolls.  There was a kit for a Retro Housewife Paper Doll and one for a Retro Office Gal Paper Doll.  If you have been reading my blog for a long time, you know that I used to be really big in paper dolls.  I remember the night I got the idea for my paper doll kits.  It was a "jump up in the middle of the night" moment, afraid I would lose the idea.  Included with each kit, I listed some of my favorite old movies, each one depicting either the retro housewife or the retro office gal accordingly.  I loved combining my love of old movies with paper dolls.  (Not to mention how therapeutic is was in dealing with my emotions regarding my recent move from career woman to full time mommy!) And now my kits are in a magazine.  I hope the kits and the article inspire you to play with some paper dolls!

Did you want to know my list of movies?  Here they are:

Retro Housewife Movies


Please Don't Eat the Daisies

Yours, Mine, Ours (The original please, with Lucille Ball.  Not the bad remake with Steve Martin!)

The Thrill of It All (This one is about a woman deciding between her family & her career.  It's a story that could only have happened in 1963, yet rings vaguely familiar as we all struggle for balance and fulfillment.)

Retro Office Girl Movies


Best of Everything (You think you are having a bad day at the office?  Check out the way women, especially if they were trying to have a career, were treated in this melodrama!)

Adam's Rib

Woman of the Year

Mad Men - Season One (Actually every season is amazing.  I know this isn't technically an old movie, but I love, love, love this series.  And I'm guessing it's pretty darn accurate in it's portrayal of women in the workforce in the 1960s)

What movies do recommend for the retro housewife or retro office gal?  I'd love some suggestions!



And, if you want to buy the magazine, it's carried in bookstores or you can order it online here.

P.S.  Thanks to all the Somerset Life readers who have contacted me and asked me about buying my retro paper doll kits.  I made the ones for the magazine ages ago and don't have much of the goodies left.  I'm waiting to get the original kits back so that I can put them in my Etsy shop.  I also think I might be able to make up a couple of Retro Housewife Paper Doll kits, I'm going to try to get it all together and listed in the shop in the next week.  I'll let you know when I do!

Headband Holder Tutorial

If you have a little girl with very long hair, who loves to wear headbands, this tutorial is for you!  We have struggled to organize the huge amount of hair accessories that we have on hand forever.  And headbands are tricky.  They are large and cumbersome and get tangled with one another.  Not a good thing on a busy morning.

But a simple solution lies in your kitchen cabinet!  An empty oatmeal box is the perfect size to hook headbands around without them falling off or stretching them out of shape.  And there's a handy-dandy compartment to stow away other accessories and hair bows inside the box.

Here's how I made mine:

Supplies:
1 cardboard oatmeal canister
2 pieces of 12" x 12" scrapbook paper
Ruler
Scissors
Glue or double sided tape

Instructions:

-Measure the height of your oatmeal canister and cut your scrapbook paper to size.  I only measured to just below where the lid sits, because I wanted to be able to easily open and close the lid so that I could use the inside of the box for storage.  If I put the paper all the way up and under the lid, it would be a tight fit and make getting in & out of the box difficult.

-Tape or glue the paper around the canister to completely cover the outside.  It took me about one and half sheets of paper to do this on my canister.

-Slide headbands on.

I bet that using felt instead of paper would make the headband even less likely to slide around on the canister.

P.S.  If you like the felt flower headbands shown in these photos, you can learn how to make them here.

No More Wire Hangers!

I just got my hands on the book, The Homemade Home: 50 Thrifty and Chic Handmade Projects by Sania Pell and it's now my favorite book.  The projects are so brilliant, but so simple.  Whenever I get a new crafty book, I always pick one of two projects to work on, but I can't stop with just two for this book.  I want to lose an entire weekend (or week) and just spend hours and hours doing the projects.  The great thing about the projects is most of them can be done without a trip to craft store!  So, it's just a matter of finding the time to do them!

This weekend, I snuck off for a couple of hours and did the Covered Coat Hangers project.  It's great because it uses wire hangers.  The whole time I was working on them, I was thinking, "No more wire hangers!" ala Joan Crawford.  You know from Mommie Dearest ?  I think a lot of pain and agony could have been avoided if only Christina had covered the wire hangers in fabric!

Of course, in typical katydiddy fashion, I went nuts making these and then sat there, looking at them and wondered what to do with them.  I could wrap them and give them as gifts, but I love them too much.  So I dug up some old lingerie (that sadly no longer fits me) and put it on the hangers.  I'm thinking I'll hang them on my closet door.  They are so beautiful to look at it and maybe looking at them everyday will motivate me to eat right so I can wear them again someday.  See?  I knew I could twist buying another craft book into a noble effort.
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Monthly Newsletter Article: Creative Vacation

It's summer and the living is easy.  Or is it?  I know many people who work for themselves and never take a minute of vacation or time off.  What's the point of working for yourself if you can't catch a movie on Wednesday afternoon once in awhile?

Or are you one of those people who take the time off and then feel so guilty that you can't enjoy yourself? 

Everyone needs some down time.  Whether you are doing art for business or pleasure, we all need to take some time to recharge.  To have a change of scenery.  It fills us up creatively.  Here are some tips to help you carve out some "me" time this summer without the guilt.  You may even make a little money while you are sitting on the beach!

Here are a few ways I have personally organized my work and play time this summer to ensure that I can get the relaxation I need without jeopardizing my business:

1.  My daughter is out of school now and I don't have daycare services!  I made a real effort to realize that I can only do so much in this situation.  I sat down with my husband and we decided that I would work on Tuesday and Thursday nights from 6:00pm until 9:00pm.  I'll get as much work done as I can during that time and he'll spend some quality time with our daughter.  It's important to be honest with yourself and your family.  Take a look at what your situation is and decide on a realistic amount of time that you can work without making yourself crazy and burned-out.  Even if you don't have young children to care for, set working hours and stick to them.  Then, when you are playing and feel those old guilty feelings come up again, remind yourself that you will get to your work during your "office hours" and that there is no reason to feel bad about taking a little time off.

2.  I'll be spending lots of time at the library and the beach this summer and not a lot of time on my computer or working, so when I am working, I am focusing on my passive income streams more than my active income streams.  My affiliate program fees, endorsements and ebooks are my main focus as they take much less work to generate cash.  (For more information about affiliate programs read this archived article and/or buy my ebook.)

3.  During my scheduled work hours, I'm taking advantage of technology!  My blog posts, ezine articles etc. can all be written when I have time, and then be scheduled to post at a later date.  If you have a chunk of time, why not write a couple of future blog posts, schedule them to go out throughout the week and then site by your pool while your blog hosting service makes sure they go up on time?  This is great way not to "disappear" when you are on vacation too!

These are my top three tips for surviving a busy life and finding time to play. What are your tips for balancing summer fun and work?  Share them in the comments below!

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A lesson in simplicity

I had a wonderful summer weekend.  Filled with fireworks, swimming, visits with good friends and our meals were made from the season's bounty of fruit and vegetables that are starting to make their way into our farmer's market.

Yesterday afternoon, I had one of those moments.  Those rare moments where you feel so good and relaxed and happy that you almost have to pinch yourself to see if it's really all happening.  And the funny thing is, I wasn't doing anything spectacular.  I was folding laundry in my room.  I could hear my daughter splashing in the bathtub as she rinsed a day spent at the pool off of herself.  I knew our wet beach towels and swim suits were hanging over the patio chairs outside.  The smell of charcoal floated through the window as my husband prepared to BBQ some chicken.  It was all unplanned.  It reminded me of my childhood summers.  It was so simple.

I'm vowing now to continue on my journey of simplicity.  To spend the summer carefree and not plan it away.  To just let things happen.  Because that's when the best stuff happens.  As you can tell from my breakfast photos, I think I'm off to a good start.

Happy 4th of July!

Just in case you needed a little festive inspiration for your BBQ this afternoon, here's my table setting for our patio.  It's just the three of us for burgers and hot dogs, but I still like to make it special.  I think that too often we only take the time to decorate and make things special when we have people coming over, and forget to take the time to create a beautiful setting when it's just the immediate family, or even just for yourself.

After dinner, we'll head down to the local park to meet-up with friends and watch the fireworks.  I'm looking forward to a fun and relaxing day.  I hope, no matter where you live, you are doing the same.

P.S. If you want to learn how to make pinwheels like these, there's a great tutorial at The City Cradle by Disney of Ruffles & Stuff.

Elephants Love Cupcakes Too

I recently received a wonderful package from Tricia Tharp, the talent behind frizzlestixs.  I received some of her Elephant Cupcake fabric as well as the stamp of the same image.  As soon as I opened the mailing envie, I was instantly enchanted.  Her packaging is simple and sweet.  I pulled out a darling set of stamps featuring her original illustrations and then the fabric.  My daughter & I jumped for joy when we saw the fabric.  So cute!  My daughter called dibs on it, but I told her we would see and, being the meany mom I am, I proceeded to make something for myself out of it.  I made the super cute hand towels above.  They are now hanging in my kitchen making me smile every time I walk by them.

(Shhhh!  Don't tell my daugher, but I have some fabric left over and she'll probably still get something too.)

Thanks Tricia for such a lovely package.  It was so sweet of you to send it to me.

And dear, readers, don't think I'm waxing poetic about Tricia's work cause I got a package.  Check-out her shop for yourself and see the overwhelming cuteness for yourself.