Bird and Berry

Crafting for a special boy

2011-10-21T12:08:00.001-07:00

I have a nephew who has lots of handicaps and this month his parents found out he also has leukemia. We were crushed for them and him and have been thinking about them constantly. Upon finding out about the leukemia the doctors started chemo right away, but shortly after his third treatment his body began reacting poorly to it, to the point that he had to be life flighted to primary children's. He has been in ICU there now for about two weeks and just had his sixth birthday yesterday while in the hospital. I have wanted to do something but didn't know what, but I finally decided I wanted to make buttons for them so that they could give them to friends family and nurses. I wanted them to represent Ammon and his strength and bravery. So after reading their family blog and finding out that a friend told them that his name Ammon Everett means hidden strength I made a crest with the words brave like Ammon and hidden strength on it. From there I made little paper buttons and tonight or Sunday we are going to take them to the hospital or their home.
This poor little guy needs all the prayers and love and support he can get. He encompasses all that his name means and stands for.

Where I have been & What I have been up-to

2011-10-03T12:45:00.000-07:00

Life has been busy and here is why:

Party Lights needed to go up for the two ice-cream socials I had at the house for church. My brother-in-law (lucky me) works for a Christmas lighting company, so he was able to come and custom cut the length of lights I needed.

Parade of Homes needed to be attended. I just had to take my daughter and niece and nephew to the up-house. an exact replica of the movies house including furniture etc.

How cute is all that?!?

 The garden has needed tending...

 and eating.

Naked butterflies and dogs have needed watching.

 Weddings have need officiating and cake has needed to be cut.

Back steps have needed to be fixed up and stained and a dinner bell needed to be installed for kid who wants treats while playing.

Invitations have been made

Tears have need shedding. Funeral programs needed making.

 Gardenias were her favorite flower

 Funeral favors were made.

 Out of Grandma's bird seed that she would faithfully feed her blue birds.

Grandmas make-up was done. If I did cosmetics for 8 years just to be able to make my Grandmother look beautiful and like her-self for those who loved her it was worth it. All hard, but worth it.

 Flights were made with little girls to put on a baby shower out of state.

Bribes were made so passengers would be nice to us. 

Halloween crafts and plans have been started. More to come soon.

These and a million other things that my brain will not even let me remember right now are the reasons for my less than frequent posting.

So when you are wonder why I have not been posting know that it is not because there is nothing to post about. It is because I am tooooo busy doing things, and I do not have time to post. 

My Grandmother all though 82 passed away unexpectedly in August.  She was as beautiful on the inside as she was on the outside, and gave me the love I have for my heritage and family history. She was an inspiration to all that met her, and although we are sad for our loss we rejoice in the sweet reunion she must have had with her sweet heart whom she has been apart from for 44 years.

Paper Doll Baby Shower

2011-10-03T11:31:00.000-07:00

There comes a mile stone in every hostess's carrier when you know you must be good, and that mile stone is when you are asked to cross state boundaries to do a party. It is quite the feat to pack a party and execute it far from home, but I can now check it off the list of things I have done in the universe of part planning. Here is the Paper Doll themed baby shower I did for my Sister-in-law. Invitations, Decorations, Food and all. Thanks to the help of a group of ladies in Arizona that have been throwing parties a lot longer than I have it went off with out a hitch.

The invitations I made turned out just as I had hoped. I do have to say that was a lot of paper dolls to cut out though 3x48.

I loved the pedal envelope I put the invitation itself in.

And the paper doll holding a banner with her registry info on it was the perfect touch.

I ended up using the concept of the yellow dots strung together in the band all through out the party.

I made a cute banner for out-side that said "I'm gonna buy a paper doll that I can call my own". The lyrics to a song I found that inspired the rest of my party playlist of old time Jazz songs that were perfect for the shower theme.

Party Playlist:

Buttons and Bows by Dinah Shore

Bye Bye Blackbird by Enoch Light and the Brigade

Didn't Leave Nobody But the Baby from O Brother Where Art Thou?

Flat Foot Floogee by Slim Gaillard, Bud Green, Slam Stewart

The Glow Worm by the Mills Brothers

Goodnight, My Love by Mack Gordon, Harry Revel

Mairzy Doats and Doazy Doats by the Merry Macs

*Paper Doll by the Mills Brothers

Yes Sir, That's My Baby by Enoch Light and the Brigade

This was the craft table I had set-up so that guests could stuff vintage fabric dolls and cut out magnetic paper dolls I had printed. By the end of the shower Lindsay's baby had 8 stuffed dolls and a metal lunch pale full of magnetic dolls and their clothes. All the paper doll images were vintage Betsy McCall paper dolls I found online. Here are a few more pictures of the tables details.

My mom decorated this box to be a playhouse for the stuffed dolls. Look how cute the bird cage and button clock are.

I made sure to have cards with directions for each craft on them, and decorated with paper doll dresses that were dressed up with glitter, mini clothes pins, vintage child care books, measuring tapes, and pattern paper.

Pattern paper flowers in vases.

A look at the scratch off game I made for guests. Who ever had Betsy McCalls matching dress and doll won.

And this is what they won. A basket full of Utah peaches.

Guests also got a little party favor that they could use when coming back to see baby. custom hand-sanatizer. The label read "Thank you! You're a doll for coming" and then had the date of Lindsay's shower.

They could also fill out a fill in the blank wishes for baby card.

The food table was amazing and everything tasted great. We had doughnuts, sausage, mini quiches made from scratch by my mothers wonderful friends, fresh Bear Lake raspberries from Utah, homemade raspberry muffins, assorted fruit, milk, chocolate milk, and orange juice with bay leaves and raspberry puree.

Here are some additional pictures:

I lined all the food trays with a cute brown and pink polka dotted fabric that I had cut to fit with a scalloped rotary cutter. I thought it looked cute and added to everything. The food signs were paper dolls I had printed, glittered up, and cut out and then attached to little chalkboards I had found at Joanne's.

We used a vintage suitcase to put the drinks in and I believe the bottles are from World Market. Note the pom pom garland on the back-drop (just like the invite). I made those with some yellow yarn and a pom pom maker.

Paper straws I ordered from the Sugar Diva. They had great costumer service and got me my straws fast and for no additional shipping cost. Then I just added a simple flag to them.

I made little paper cup liners for every other cup to go with the party theme.

The table back drops were two sets of curtains I found at Ikea for cheap.

Love my moms butter bells. I stacked the plates and napkins together so guests could grab both easily.

We lined a coffe table with pattern paper and had assorted fruit out for guests.

I just had to have these ceramic berry baskets for the party. You can find them at Crate and Barrel.

Last but not least the... "Mom to Be" with her kid sister.

I made the mom to be ribbon out of fabric, paper, glitter, and well ribbon. It had a magnet on the back of it since I didn't want it to pull on her shirt and I didn't know what she would be wearing.

I had a blast doing this party, but can honestly say I do not want to see paper dolls for awhile. I wish Lindsay and my brother the best with her new little one which is due any day or minute.

If you would like custom invitations for your next event or have questions about this party or anything that you have seen in this post. Please contact me.

Fire Pit Area and Benches

2011-10-03T08:39:00.000-07:00

The fire-pit area and benches are now complete and ready to enjoy. I am so happy with how it turned out, and know we will be enjoying it for years to come.

I was having a hard time finding a seating idea that would be good for around a fire-pit area, look great, fit into my budget, and be something we could easily build, so when I found the benches in this picture above I was ecstatic because the design seemed to fit everything I wanted. Only problem was that I was going to have to make the plans on how to build them.

It only took Ryan and I a couple dozen sheets of paper, three recalculations, a bad google sketch-up, and a couple of nights standing in the backyard in the dark staring at the corner to figure it out. The wood and supplies probably cost us about $250 which was pretty good for custom made to fit outdoor benches that we could make to look exactly how we wanted.

We first started by building two simple frames out of regular 2x4's and screws. Then covered the frames in 1x3 wood with spaces in-between each board to get the look we wanted, and to leave room for expansion and contraction of the wood itself. We had some extra help on this part of the project since the Missionaries living in our basement wanted to help out. One of them was a farm boy from Arkansas that has carpentry going back in his families blood for generations. I am also now convinced that there should be a farm boy work exchange for west coasters. Have a young farm boy stay with you for free during the summer in exchange for work around the house. They get to see the west and you get to get some work done by a kid who thinks your yard and projects are nothing, because he is used to building whole barns with their grandfather on a friday afternoon.

We used a compound miter saw to cut all the wood and a nail gun hooked up to an air-compressor to nail in each board. Calculating everything was for-sure the more complicated part of this project the building was pretty straight forward and simple though. We did however end up using tile spacers to space out each piece of wood, so much for all our precise calculations. Sometimes you just do what works, and use what you've got to get the job done.

Once the benches were built we sanded them down as best we could. The wood we used was not of finishing quality, but that is what kept our cost down.

Then I used what is still my favorite tool every, my Earlex hv 3500 spray station to spray an exterior wood stain onto the finished benches.

We went with a deep brown stain called Coffee Bean by General Finishes to match the color of mulch we will be using in the front and back yard, and to mimic some of the wood furniture pieces that we have inside the home. General finishes is the only brand I would trust for indoor and outdoor stains, paints, and topcoats for furniture. Their products are of such great quality and when you have worked so hard on something you do not want to throw all that hard work away, by using a bad product in the last step.

Besides the stain I also opted for a semi-gloss exterior topcoat, which is not really necessary, but gave it that extra finished look I wanted.

Then all that was left was just taking it around to the back, positioning the benches together, and leveling them out with the gravel around the fire-pit.

I also bought two outdoor bench cushions from Walmart in a black and white demask pattern to match and tie in with the black shutters and exterior doors around the house. Then I brought in some mix and match blue outdoor pillows from Ikea that were a steal of a deal. In-fact I took back some other pillows that I had bought at Home Depot just to buy more of these, and I am glad I did. The other nifty thing I added to these benches was hinged doors in the back so that I could possibly store the bench cushions, fire pit  insert, hammock, and or Jayna's sand toys during the winter.

The thing I am loving too about this project is that even though we have an outdoor dinning set around the other side of the house I can bring that table right over to the fire-pit area and put it right over the fire pit and have a great big dinning area if I want with plenty of seating. And it is the perfect spot to sit for backyard movie night.

We even took family pictures on the benches right before the Pioneer Day party I hosted. My heart was 

swelling with pride that the whole family was gathered around my hard work for pictures.

If you have any questions about this project or any of the products used feel free to contact me.

Thank you.

Professional Picture Credits to Akemi Photography

Days of 47 Celebration

2011-07-27T14:42:00.000-07:00

Here in Utah we have Pioneer day on the 24th of July celebrating the Mormon pioneers that settled Utah. So July feels like one big party with that and the 4th of July. I love it because I can get double use out of my 4th of July decorations. I put them up at the beginning of July and they do not come down until the last week in July. So when we realized that all of Ryan's siblings and his parents would be in-town for the weekend of the 24th it seemed like the perfect excuse to have a party and go all out. Here are some pictures of what I did.

We made cheese stuffed burgers one feta and the other spicy, homemade hamburger buns, hand squeezed organic lemonade with your option of adding freshly blended strawberries, homemade mayo, homemade fry-sauce, homemade spicy pickles, corn, chunky black bean salsa, and fruit salad with homemade whipped cream. All the food was a blast to make and it tasted delicious. I figured the effort to home-make everything was worth it with the celebration being centered around the pioneers who were not afforded all our modern food preparation short cuts we have today.

Personalized bottles for everyone complete with paper straws and the party logo. I actually had to add those paper circles to the straws because the straws were to short for the bottles, but I loved what it added to them.

I have bun stacking skills, who would have known.

Dollar store jars. I would have bought more, but I am ban from buying more jars via the husband.

Burger flags. We had to have some way to tell which burgers were which.

I used this old record stand that I already had to hold the plates and napkin rolls.

I even had some international guests. Two foreign exchange students from China that are staying with my sister-in-law. I am pleased to announce that they both eat seconds, and I was proud to give them such an american experience. Does this mean I can officially say that people from all over the world come to my parties?

The best party of all...just seeing everyone sitting around enjoying good company in my back-yard.

Yes I actually weaved red white and blue 30 foot fabric banners in-between my picket fence slats.

Hope you enjoy the party...I know I did.

How to Make A Fire-Pit on the Cheap

2011-05-10T18:50:00.000-07:00

(yes I know the shutters do not match, and the black plastic pipe-thing is ugly...just give me a month or two)

I have been wanting a fire-pit area in our backyard since we moved into the house two years ago. I knew right were I wanted it too, and it just so happened that, that spot in the yard did not grow grass well and had tons of weeds...Bonus. This year I sneaked it into my budget by racking my brain on how to do it cheap without compromising the look or the long-term durability of everything.

In this post I will give you a step by step tutorial of what we did to make our fire pit and fire pit area.

Step One: We choose a place to make our fire pit area. Were the garbage can and junk is, is where I choose to make ours. The white picket fence we put in around the basement last year and the house naturally make a square section there that I thought would be perfect. It is close to the house which was a concern at first seeming as though House + Fire is something no-one wants, but I have a solution for that later.

Step Two: We marked our desired spot with rope and stakes and dug it out. We did this a week or so before dumpster day so that we could ditch all the dirt. Then we loosened the ground so that we could rack the dirt around to get it as level as possible.

Step Three: We bought a $99.00 camp chef gas fire ring from Walmart. It is a portable camp fire ring that hooks up to a BBQ size propane tank. It is what we will be using for our fire pit later. Walmart will do site to store delivery too so that you do not have to pay for shipping.

Step Four: Once we got our fire ring we took the propane hose to a propane place and had a longer hose made. We needed a 12 foot hose and it only came with a 5 foot one. That cost me about $24.00 which was way cheaper than buying parts and a hose from the big box stores. Then we figured out where we wanted the fire pit to be located in our area and made a trench from the fire pit to where we wanted the propane tank to be. We are placing the tank in the corner and it will be behind a sectional bench we are also working on for this area. Then we placed a length of pvc in the trench with an elbow on either side to run our propane hose through. Once placed we buried it.

Step Five: We covered the entire area with landscape fabric so that weeds will hopefully not grow in this area. Chances are they might, but just spray or pick 'em when you see 'em, that is what I do.

Step Six: We bought 3/4 tons of gravel from a pit and headed home and unloaded it into the fire pit area.

Step Seven: We needed some edging to place between the grass and the gravel in the fire pit area which posed a dilemma for me. Last year when we made our garden area we used the thick black plastic landscapers edging that all the big box stores carry and this year after one winter it already looked like crap. I looked into metal edging, but found that no-one carries it and I was not about to use the fiberboard stuff, fake rocks, or flimsy decorative plastic. So after thinking and looking and thinking and looking I decided I wanted to use stone or a concrete composite stone. I knew it would add to the price of the project so I went as cheap as possible. Well almost as possible. I had a smaller brick sized stone picked out that was $.49 each, but then very last minute changed my mind and went with this stone at Home Depot in a charcoal that runs about $1.29 each, and I am so glad I did.

Step Eight: Using the gravel and a level we placed the stones level with the ground around the edge of our dug out fire pit area making sure each one was level and in line with the one before it.

Step Nine: We racked the gravel all around the area making it level with the stone. We could actually use more gravel than we got, but we are going to wait until our next gravel project to add more. Keep in mind too that it will seattle over time so do not be shocked if you need a little more next year.

Step Ten: We made our fire pit circle. We chose another triangular stone from Home Depot to make this part. Again making sure to level each stone. Also make sure it lines up with your hose you buried. We choose not to mortar any of this stone. It is heavy and big enough that it should not be a problem and it is easy to fix.

Step Eleven: We simply hooked up the fire ring to the hose, hooked up the other end of the hose to the propane tank and turned it on and lit it. The ring puts out really good fire. I used all of the lava rock that comes with it and am going to buy some-more to fill the entire circle so that you will not be able to see the metal fire ring. Our fire pit is off center, but it will be centered with our benches we are making and I left room to plant some plants behind the benches as-well.

We chose to use gas because it does not put out any sparks and we thought we would use it more since it is easy to start and does not have the mess of charcoal and wood. Also I love the idea that I can remove everything when it comes winter time. I will not have to worry about rust etc. I do think I will get a fire pit cover for Spring and Summer though and then will cover the exposed ends of the hose when not in use too.

We love how it all turned out and the stone edging makes it look so professionally done and upscale. In-fact this next week the black rubber is coming out of the garden area and more stone is going in. All together I think this project cost me maybe $250. The fire ring and propane tank were probably the most expensive items. Which when you read the not so impressive reviews on fire pits that run from $200 to $500 like I did, it makes this project of a fire pit area and fire pit pretty impressive if I do say so myself.

If you have any questions about this project please leave a comment or contact me. Thanks!

Here is a sneak-peek at the benches...

they are going to be stained a dark chocolate.

Invitations... Invitations... Invitations

2011-05-08T14:15:00.000-07:00

I wish I partied like this family friend of mine that just had me make four invitations for four parties she was throwing between April and May. Now that is a serious party schedule. I had a blast making the different invitations and helping them with themes and ideas for each party. Invitation making has got to be one of my favorite things to do.

Invitation One: This was for a Bridal Tea party at a fancy hotel tea room in Arizona. The invitation was made to somewhat match the hotels menu and it turned out cute with just enough fancy.

Invitation Two: I did not get a picture of this one, but will share the file with you. It was for a wedding rehearsal dinner that was being held at a restaurant in a mexican-market her in Utah. I loved how it turned out. It was colorful and playful and I think it got across the atmosphere the bride and groom wanted for that night.

Invitation Three: Was for a one year-olds birthday party that was going to be taking place poolside. I loved what the little beach balls added and then loved that I came up with the idea to add some texture with a "sand"paper band around each invite.

Invitation Four: Was a fun retro housewife themed bridal shower that was sure to be a blast to attend. I made the invites along with recipe cards for the guests to give to the bride, a registry insert, favor tags, and a game.

If you are interested in having me make custom printable invitations for your next party or event just contact me through my blog or at thebirdandtheberry@gmail.com

Everyones Mad Here

2011-03-14T09:38:00.000-07:00

This year for our joint birthday Jayna and I decided to have an Alice in Wonderland themed tea party. It turned out great and everyone had a wonderful time in "Wonderland" celebrating with us.

We sent our invitations out with little skeleton keys attached to them with direction to bring the keys back to the party. I copied the invitation idea from an Alice in Wonderland comic-con party Disney held. It was easy to find a free Alice in Wonderland font online too. The skeleton keys were a little tricky to find at first. I kept thinking I needed antique ones, but they were really expensive and ranged in price a lot from place to place. Then I tried my luck at Lowes and to my surprise they had the perfect little key. The secret is to go ask the "key making man". They were not out in packages, he just had a little box of them behind his desk. If I remember right they were like $3.00 each which was cheap compared to the $10.00 antique ones.

Since my prop budget for this party was a little smaller than Tim Burton's I used lots of things I already had and made lots of things out of paper. I stuck cards in my topiary and all around the table. The Butterflies are a Martha Stewart clip-art project that you can get for free online. I changed the colors of the butterflies myself by adjusting the hues in Photoshop so that it would match the colors of my party better. Then I just printed them on card stock, cut them out, and glued them together. Simple rolled scotch tape held them to the walls.

This is what the entire room looked like before the party.

I used some of my antique medical bottles to recreate the shrinking potion Alice drinks. I did one big jar and one small jar to represent the shrinking. I got the colored liquid with just water and food coloring.

I made sure to have random stacks of tea-cups on the table to add to the madness.

Each place setting for the adults also had a teas-cup and saucer and a little stripped straw with a drink me tag on it. I just used regular paper and a stamp set I have to make the tags.

I also placed stacks of books around the table with cards and butterflies adorning them.

One of my favorite things on the table was these simple and easy to make crepe paper banners with the words I'm Late trailing on them. I took regular crepe paper and folded it in half and then fringed it with my scissors to get these frilly banners. Then I printed the words I'm Late out on my computer and edged the letters with glue and glitter. Then after I laid the crepe paper out on the table I hot glued the letters on.

Moss carpet and rocks also joined the party to give it a touch of a woodsy feel. I also used three different table cloths to layer the table with. I didn't even bother to iron them. again I was going for Mad and I figured the Mad Hatter would not have iron his tablecloths.

I also had little round cutouts with Alice in Wonderland sketches on them all over the table. Again something I just did on the computer. For desserts I made blue french macaroons with homemade blackberry jam filling and mushroom cookies. Both were perfect for the look and feel of the party.

For a cake I made a big 6 layer rainbow cake all dressed in white frosting to conceal the colorful surprise awaiting inside. It tilted over night, but I figured that went with the theme too. I am not a great cake froster so I went with a more organic look or at least that is what I am going to say.

The kids (and even adults) loved the cake. It is for-sure a crowd pleaser.

My mom that had traveled out for the party from Arizona brought and made this cute Birthday flag banner. It even has two blank spots at the end that you could put temporary felt numbers on it, so that you could change it out ever year.

For the little-ones I made a replica table just their size minus a few things they might break or ruin.

Since we couldn't just eat cookies and cake the whole time I made these sandwich picks to go in the grilled turkey sandwiches the husband made for us. I also served a spinach strawberry salad that is one of my all time favorites.

Then for an activity us ladies made charm necklaces using the keys I had sent out. We made an Alice shrinky dink charm (get it? shrinking Alice) and a shrinky dink initial charm that looked like a type writer key. The other charms were just discount bags of bird charms that I found at the craft store. While we did that I had the little girls color wooden letters of their first initial. So at the end of the party everyone had their own little craft they had made.

Everyone had a great time and I had an even better time coming up with the idea and making everything for it. I truly love sharing my birthday with Jayna she is the greatest and makes doing things like this so fun. For weeks whenever she would see me making something she would always say "mom you make it for my party? Thank you." Now I have 11 months to think about the next party.

Let me know if you have any questions about this party or anything you have seen or read in this post.

I am in Baking Heaven

2011-02-16T09:31:00.000-08:00

Remember my 1940's stove I purchased this last weekend? Well guess what?!? The oven bakes amazingly accurate. After reading forums and looking at range restoration sites on-line I found out quickly that one of the most common problems with antique stoves is that the ovens are way off and need to be re-calibrated, of which I knew the husband would not be into paying for. So after we hooked up the gas-line to the stove, checked for leaks best we could (I think I will still have the gas company come out and check it too) I whipped up a batch of blueberry muffins and put them in an old pan of my Grandmothers that was just as thick and hefty as my new stove. Then I turned the oven on, match lit it and turned it up to 425, put the muffins in, and crossed my fingers.

Within 10 to 15 minutes I pulled out perfectly even baked muffins. It was like I pulled them right out of the 40's myself. I think this oven will be the closest thing to a time machine I will ever have or see. I seriously have never been so excited. Okay maybe a couple of times I have been more excited, but still it was amazing. I mean what are the odds of me finding a stove like this? Let alone it has all the parts, works, and bakes great?

Next I am curious to see how a regular modern pan will hold up to the heat this mama puts out. I swear you could third degree burn yourself on several surfaces while this thing is baking. The Kenmore sign on the front is also the oven vent and that thing gets hotter than hot. I also made a note-to-self to never put anything plastic in the storage area, because it would for-sure not survive the oven being on.

I just have to think 1940's and what they had and used then and everything should be good. I may need a couple more pans from the Grandmother. Oh, and the compartment I thought was a warmer I am not so sure about anymore, I think it might be a broiler, but I am not so sure how to figure that out. So I think from now-on I will bake all my cakes and cupcakes down-stairs in the old oven. It is just so fun, and even more fun to say I baked it in an oven that is almost 60 years old. How crazy is that!?!

Something New and Something Old

2011-02-14T20:23:00.000-08:00

There is something new at our house and this is what it is making me in-vision.

Every once in awhile there are things in life that come up and make you put on the breaks and move in a different direction, and we have had one of those things come up. We just found out that in March we will be having the missionaries for our church living with us for six months. It will be either two sisters or two elders, but we are not sure yet which it will be. They will be living in our basement which works out well since it has it's own entrance, kitchen, bath, and bedroom. We have never wanted or considered renting out our basement, but when our bishop asked us if we would be willing to house the missionaries we couldn't say no. We feel like we have really been blessed in life and with our current situation, and saying no to an opportunity like this that we can so easily accommodate would have been ungrateful. I am a true believer that when you have more you need to give more.

I will admit though that when we got the phone call I was in a panic. Husband had to remind me that it was just the missionaries and that we were not opening up a bed and breakfast. The next day I was on the search for appliances for the basement though and right away I found a great fridge for $100 and and a stove that really peaked my interest. A few calls to bug the husband at work and I had the fridge arranged for pick-up the next day and an appointment to go look at the stove that night. I knew I was going to have to work my magic on the husband with the stove since it was a 1940's gas range in an old house downtown. The guy selling it told me it was in a vacant duplex of which he occupied the other side and that I could just let myself in (who does that anymore?). So on our way to a fancy dinner to celebrate our 8th anniversary we made a detour to a creepy old house to look at an ancient stove. I told husband that this date was my kind of date. I always joke with him that he could buy me an old dilapidated building and I would be ecstatic. We did as the man said and walked right in to find the old stove with hand written instructions on how to start it up. We surprisingly got everything lit and the stove was actually in decant shape both visually and mechanically. With a little back and forth and some finagling (of which I will not go into to save the integrity of my marriage lol) we had the old stove in our basement by saturday night.

I worked on cleaning it for most of Sunday and part of Monday and it shinned up nicely. It took a ton of elbow grease and my hands have a slight chemical burn on them from when I stupidly took my gloves off a couple of times, but it was all in the name of saving a piece of Americana. Now the missionaries by no means needed an antique stove, but I figured if I was going to buy something I might as well buy what I wanted.

The only thing missing from the entire stove is the knob for the timer, which sadly does not work. I just find it amazing though that it has all the other original parts and pieces to it.

It is a Kenmore 5 burner range that has a chrome griddle which still needs some major decreasing

a storage area a warmer

and a little oven (that you have to match lite) that I am dying to try and bake a batch of cookies or cupcakes in. The feeling of "domesticness" when in the presence of this stove is overwhelming. It makes every fiber in my being want to make an apple pie.

I even managed to repaint all the words and numbers on the oven knob too.

So even though some things have been put on hold like our slide project and basement renovation, fun things are still going on here at our house.

The fridge we got is just your average white amana fridge, but I am thinking some chalkboard paint might take care of that. What do you think?

Pottery Barn Kids Light Knock Off

2011-02-11T10:48:00.000-08:00

I just loved this light featured in a Pottery Barn playroom and wanted something similar for my Dr. Seuss playroom. So I went about trying to figure out how I could make one myself and I succeeded. Gosh I love it when ideas work out!

First I searched the internet high and low until I found this tutorial on how to wire together multiple Ikea Hemma cords. I was glad to find it because it meant my idea was doable.

I went to Ikea myself and bought three Hemma cords and three red lamp shades. I chose to buy blue cords since it would match the room and add that much more fun to the light itself.

Then at home I bound all the lights with the shades on together so that it would be easy to figure out how long we wanted each cord.

Next Husband ( he does all the electrical stuff at our house) cut the cords to the length we wanted them to hang and exposed the wires inside the cords.

You can do this either with a wire cutter and stripper, or a razor blade.

Than he exposed the wires even further by stripping down part of the white and black wires.

For this project I also needed to purchase a ceiling light kit. I spray painted mine black to match the room since brass was the only color I could find that had a center hole big enough to fit all three cords.

Once we had all the cords ready we pushed them up through the light kit.

Husband is wearing gloves because I was to impatient to really let the paint dry, and he did not want black hands.

At this point we wired all the black wires together and all the white wires together and then we wired it like any normal light to the ceiling.

I really like how it turned out. The cords still have some wave in them, but I think over time they will straighten.

I only did three lights, but more would be fun if you are willing to deal with the wiring difficulties that would cause.

We had a couple of brain farts on this project though. At one point we thought we it was not working and that we had wired it wrong only to realize we had no light bulbs in the light, then the bulb we put in it was dead, but it took us a while to figure that one out. So take it from us, work smarter not harder.

TV Frame: Part 2

2011-02-07T14:06:00.000-08:00

The "TV above Fireplace" project has gone very well. The wiring was a cinch and the frame painted up beautifully.

I have to give all the painting credit to my friends at Earlex though. Without their awesome paint sprayer I would not be achieving anywhere near the professional finishes that I am on paint projects. My HV 3500 sprayer also saves me tons of time on painting. I painted this whole frame with 2 coats primer, and 3 coats of paint in two nights with each coat taking me maybe 5 minutes. Now the longest part of any paint job for me is waiting for coats to dry. This frame would have taken me forever to hand paint with all the detail on it. So Earlex I bow down to you. Thank you, thank you, thank you, for making such a user friendly product.

I used the "house gray" for this frame which again is San Antonio Gray by Benjamin Moore. Remember though I mix all my Benjamin Moore colors in Behr paint from the Home Depot to save money. Then I used my favorite glaze Van Dyke Brown from General Finishes to add some depth and antiquing to the frame. The frame will also be getting 2 to 3 coats of top coat from General Finishes on it, but I wanted it up in time for our little Super Bowl party so I opted to do it later when we have to take it down to patch the drywall.

I love how it turned out, I am super glad I got to finally use my big frame that has been floating around for years, and I am glad the big TV is down in the basement and not blocking my family room window anymore.

Eventually we will get a bigger flatter TV to go in the frame, but for now this is great. I am sure when the drywall is done and the room is more decorated I will show you pics of the entire room transformation.

If you have any questions about this project feel free to contact me. Thanks!

TV Frame: Part 1

Fun Kids Valentine

2011-02-04T10:13:00.000-08:00

I saw these cute kids valentines on Martha's website, and decided to make some with Jayna for her to take to her play group on Valentines Day. They turned out super cute.

We took pictures of her facing sideways making a "blowing bubble" face which sounds simple, but was a chore to capture just right. We took the pictures against a blank wall so that they would be easy for me to cutout in photoshop, and I dressed her in a bright and colorful shirt so that there would be lots of color on the valentine.

Then I downloaded the pics to the computer, did some editing, and added some hearts and text. Jayna thought she really blew the hearts in the picture her reaction to the edited picture was great.

Then we printed them, cut them out, filled our little bags with candy, and stapled the cards onto the bags with pink staples. It was super easy and super fun to do with her.

I am in Love!

2011-02-03T10:38:00.000-08:00

I am in LOVE, and just in time for Valentines.

I saw a post about Dutch airers on Apartment Therapy the other day, and they looked so cool and seemed so dang practical for clearing up floor space in the laundry room. That is when I vaguely thought I remembered Ikea selling something similar. Sure enough they do, so I picked one up last night.

I Love it! First of all it matches my laundry room perfect and I think it is so fun to use. I am already planning on purchasing a second one to put on the other side of this one. It was really easy to put together, but then again I have not meet an Ikea product yet that has made me have a nervous assembly breakdown, and I know others have.

I do have a sad side note to my love story though. The rack does and did not come with ceiling hooks, and since I am really impatient I had the husband just use whatever old hooks we could find which were just little ones. So this morning when I went to try out my new toy by hanging wet jeans on it the whole thing pulled out of the ceiling and fell. Sad day! My new love already broke my heart, but it was kinda my fault. The husband said we will get bigger hooks and anchors tonight. So for now I will follow the laundry room motto and...

2011-02-02T13:00:00.001-08:00

The Hutching's project list seems to be growing by the minute around here. Half of me is trying to get as many indoor house projects done before the weather gets nice, and the other half is dreaming up a million outdoor spring and summer projects. So I am slightly working against myself these days.

To see what we have been working on click the read more button.

The T.V. frame is getting it's first coat of the house gray (Benjamin Moore: San Antonio Gray). And I have to say that wiring the T.V. above the fireplace has been one of the smoothest projects we have ever done. I even punched the cable through the exterior wall myself. Which Dish wanted to charge us $75 to do. The drywall will get screwed back up shortly, and my job of patching will begin. I am trying to at-least get the frame up before our little super bowl party on Sunday. The new arrangement of the family room furniture has opened up the space dramatically, and I am excited to start working on actually putting that room together.

I will be shopping at Ikea tomorrow for the last couple of things for Jayna's room.

I also have one project for the playroom almost finished

and a new light fixture for it in the works.

The slide project has been on hold because the Blue Beauty had a flat, but now that it is back up and running I can go pick up the drywall and paneling I need for the next step.

Some how in the middle of all these projects I managed to get a wild hair.

I have always wanted to raise something in the backyard, my husband always says I should live on a farm, but I assure you I do not. I tell him I want an urban homestead and that this is my urban homestead. I have tossed around the idea of bees, or chickens for years now, but since I am still intimidated by the bee idea the chicken talk around here has gotten serious. I have even designed plans for a coop in the last couple days since I have been sick and laid up on the couch. I think the only reason why husband has participated in dialogue with me is because I am sick though.

When I see coops like this one on the Fancy Farm Girl how could I not want chickens.

Then when I found out these Silkie hens would be best for my area I was sold.

So we will see how far my wild hair gets who knows.

TV Frame: Part 1

2011-01-19T10:01:00.000-08:00

Last night we started making the frame for our t.v. that we will be wiring and mounting above our fireplace.

don't mind my messy garage floor

We decided to use this large vintage frame that we already have, but you could always make your own frame out of any molding you like. The frame is in no way perfect, but when I paint the whole thing it will hide a lot of the imperfections.

So first we made a box out of 1x4 pieces of wood to match the measurements of the inner part of the frame that we are going to attach it to. We simply cut the wood and glued and nailed it together. I did make the big oversight of having my side pieces match up inside of my top and bottom pieces, which I should have done the other way so that when you see the box on the sides it is one solid piece of wood and you do not see any edges.

Hope that makes sense.

Our second step was to attach the box to the frame. We used our nail gun to nail through the frame and into the box.

We will also probably end up attaching a small piece of molding at the end of the box that meets up to the wall. Sense everything is not perfectly square there will most likely be a gap somewhere between the wall and the frame when we hang it.

Tonight we will be cutting the inner backing to the frame and box for Part 2...

A Slide In-side

2011-01-18T13:45:00.000-08:00

example of what we are going for

I am really excited about my little side slide project Jayna and I have started on. So far it has been pretty easy, but that may be because I have only done demo.

I removed the back wall and studs to this basement closet that is under the stairs. Why there was a wall there to begin with is beyond me when you could have just that much more storage. Next I need to make an opening in the side wall, move a little electrical, and finish out all the walls. I am thinking it will be easiest to just throw on some paneling and trim and paint it rather than mudding and sanding drywall.

When that is finished I am going to frame out a half wall with a platform in the closet opening and make a little ladder on the back side and a spot to attach the slide.

Like my sad photoshop rendition of it?

So far this is the husbands favorite project since he has not had to help. I'll keep updating you as the project moves along.

Project List

2011-01-17T13:22:00.000-08:00

Here is what is in the works for the hopefully near future:

* Jayna's Big Girl Room Complete With Her own Cafe*

awning to entrance of cafe

which is almost finished. she just needs a table and chairs, book shelves, and a new light.

*Mounting TV Above Fireplace*

consists of opening up a wall, running wires, building a frame for the tv, moving current tv and entertainment center to the basement, patching drywall

*Moving Basement Wall For Theater Room*

love this room

this one is going to be messy and long, take down wall, build new wall, drywall, electrical, move doors, replace carpet, too many things to list

*Under-stairs Play Area With Slide*

don't even ask where this project came from, it is just something Jayna and I dreamed up one day. open up closet under stairs, finish walls under stairs, make opening in wall for kids to access under the stairs, make platform with steps for stairs, make slide, yes I am going to attempt to make the slide.

Crossing my fingers that these projects get finished sooner than later, but knowing better than to hold my breath. Hoping the house will not be in too big of ruin with all these things going on.

We will start out tonight with the first trip of many to
Home Depot.

What's Cooking Good Looking?

2010-12-23T07:04:00.000-08:00

The "Elves" finished Jayna's play kitchen tonight and it turned out great. Here are some pictures of it staged. I only wish my kitchen looked this fun.

The kitchen in all it's glory

I thought the bubbles would add a nice touch for you

Cooking up some brownies

Ding... I think they are done

We probably need some milk with those

Oh, here is some

My DIY frosting bottles

They even squirt

Need a Demo?

If you have any questions about this project just leave a comment.

On the 9th Day of Christmas...

2010-12-22T12:45:00.000-08:00

*i love tilt shift photography it is so fun to play with*

On the 9th Day of Christmas... Santa's elves are just about done making Jayna's present. We have been trying to squeeze in time to work on it in here and there in-between shopping, making neighbor gifts, mailing gifts out, going to a live nativity, visiting friends, and trying to catch the Christmas mouse that decided to join our family this week. But tonight all we have to do is cut the bead-board and attach it to the back of each kitchen piece. Friends and family keep asking for a sneak-peek though so here are some pictures to hold you over until I can take pictures of the finished kitchen tonight.

Sink Skirt

Sink

Oven Door

(yes, the oven has a light)

Fridge Handle

I have to again plug the wonderful paint products I used for this project, because without them it wouldn't be half the quality kitchen it is.

General Finishes polyacrylic top coat in Satin that never fails to impress me.

And the Earlex HV3500 for saving the day once again by making painting a breeze. I cannot even begin to tell you how much time this puppy has saved me on this project. If you do any regular painting at all you have got to check this out.

Play with Your Food

2010-12-13T07:14:00.000-08:00

Even though the play kitchen still needs to be finished, and the hour glass to Christmas Day is quickly running out of sand I couldn't help but make these for Jayna's Kitchen.

Felt pastas!

Bow Tie, Lasagna (which I just realized is spelled wrong on the tag, good thing she is only 2 1/2), and Whole Wheat Spaghetti

They were so easy to make and I already had the felt, so why not.

I made the labels by combining a free silhouette download and tag download that I am sorry I do not have sources for either. Although if you would like to download the tags I made click HERE.

The husbands eyes are starting to roll as all the kitchen stuff from grandma and I starts popping up here and there in closets and hiding spots around the house. I think he is wondering if she will be taking this kitchen to college with her and if it really cooks things. That is how overboard it seems to him.

I see where he is coming from though considering Jayna thinks a nightstand with a drawer is a kitchen.

This Years Christmas Decorations

2010-12-10T13:30:00.000-08:00

When the husband was finished getting all the Christmas boxes down from the garage I asked him what theme he wanted to do this year, of which his response was "We do themes?". Apparently he has not noticed that for the past 8 years we have had a different assortment of Christmas decorations out every year.

So here is what is up and out this year at our house...

The stocking are hung with care and flare,

paper whites and vintage family ornaments from the 50's decorate the mantel,

wish I had a nice warm fire to share with you,

jars of Christmas candy of course,

our countdown calender,

vintage Christmas berry clusters add a nice winter touch to my topiary,

the table is set,

and the goose is dressed,

everything sparkles

ribbons and garland

more ornaments

more sparkle

and of course the tree

Happy Holidays!

Santa's Workshop is Now Open

2010-12-09T22:05:00.000-08:00

It's official Santa's little elves are hard at work at the Hutchings home. Jayna loves little play kitchens and since she does not have one of her own to play with at home we decided that is what we would get her for Christmas this year. Shhhh!

Of course you know me I couldn't just go out and buy one...So this is post one of the home-made play kitchen we are making Jayna for Christmas.

You have heard me talk about the site Knock-Off-Wood (which is now Ana-White.com) before and now you are going to hear me talk about it again since that is where I got the free plans for this cute little kitchen. You may also remember the children's picnic table I built this summer using her plans.

The plans are really simple and come with all the information you need to build each piece. We bought all the wood for a stove, fridge, and sink, plus nails for about $90.00

First we simply cut all our wood to the appropriate sizes using my awesome compound miter saw.
Then followed the instructions about where to glue and nail each piece, and before we knew it we had the beginnings of a little kitchen.

It was super easy and simple, but I must say having all the right tools helps a ton. This summer I spent my dough on an air-compressor, nail guns, and a miter saw. I bought them all refurbished from Tool King and was pleased with the whole process, and so far the tools have been great.

After building each piece we filled in all the nail holes, let the filler dry over night and then sanded all the pieces down. Next we cut out the spot for the sink and later we will build the fridge door and oven door. Then all the pieces will get a nice coat of paint.

If you want to make this play kitchen for your little chef this holiday season you still have plenty of time. Buying, building and sanding everything only took us a total of two or three hours.

Stay-tuned for more posts from Santa's workshop.

Mans Day Out

2010-11-14T13:02:00.000-08:00

On the 7th of this month the husband turned the big 30 and yesterday was his surprise party. I had been planning this day out for him and his two friends and brother for a long time, so it was fun to see it finally come together. I got the idea for this party from a real party featured on hostess with the mostess. I wasn't with the boys for all the events so my pictures are lacking unlike theirs.

Last month I made and sent them their invitations which I went a little over-board on, but I loved how they turned out.

I made a tri-fold pocket invitation that had little cards with all the birthday party information and instructions on them. I found the perfect paper to make the invitation out of and chose a cream paper with little confetti spots for all the inserts. It turned out just the way I wanted it to.

Each card in the pocket had a little image and title on the top and then contained the corresponding information. One for the schedule of the days events complete with a little picture next to each thing they were going to be doing.

An attire card asking them to dress up for the theme of the party.

An F.Y.I card telling them to bring their golf clubs, and guns.

And then finally a card reminding them the party is a surprise and telling them what to do when they got to the house.

I also had bought the boys fedora hats and sweaters to wear, so with their invitations they received a hat box with those items in it.

Here is a picture of all the invitations finished and done before I delivered them.

I got the hat boxes at Joanne's, and made the little number tags with their names on them in photoshop along with the invitations. This has been my favorite invitation I have made to-date. I figured I could go a little over-board since I only had to make three.

The boys and the husband loved their Man Party, so it was a big success.

Here are some pictures of their day.

Straight From the Factory

2010-11-10T11:10:00.000-08:00

Don't you just love this nightstand I bought for Jayna's big girl room I am working on? The color is great and the finish is factory perfect. You know you can make and refinish furniture, but the finish and quality of already made store bought furniture is way superior.

NOT!!!

That is just a $10 yard sale find that I painted.

This post is going to rock your painting world...

After painting some old chairs using a spray gun hooked up to my new air-compressor I knew spraying was the way to go, but still thought there had to be an even better way to do it. The problem with the air compressor set-up was that my compressor was too small and there were lots of variables between the gun and the compressor which makes dialing everything in just right difficult. Also I would only get about half a minute worth of spraying in before my compressor would have to re-fill. Which for the life of the compressor is not great, and makes the painting process not that much more time efficient then painting with a brush. So the whole thing left me feeling like I had wasted $80 bucks on a gun and I still felt like painting all my upcoming projects (play kitchen, office furniture, kitchen cabinets) was going to be a timely, messy, pain as-usual.

Then I ran across some paint systems on youtube and down the internet rabbits hole I fell until I ended up on Earlex's website looking at the HV3500 spray station. It was made for serious DIY painting and looked to simple and easy to be true. I just had to try it. So after talking to Earlex the Bird and the Berry had a new sponsorship and my paint system was on its way.

When I received the spray system my first pleasant surprise was how simple it was. There were no extensive instructions or anything, it was ready to go right out of the box. The whole system was so compact and self contained, that I really wondered how it could out perform my compressor and big metal gun that had already disappointed. I took it down stairs filled the plastic paint container with primer, watered it down as the tips and instructions had suggested, plugged the hose into the gun and turned it on.

It was a dream! I think I primed the whole night stand in a couple of minutes. The paint came out perfectly with little to no overspray. It was just too easy!

No more coat after coat of painting with a brush. I could hardly believe it and I was doing it. The paint gun went together, worked and cleaned up exactly like the company videos and directions said it would. I was really impressed. I feel like I could paint anything, anytime, anywhere and I am going to.

So now I have a little spray station in the utility area of my basement. I just hung a plastic drop cloth in the corner and laid my painters cloth on the ground and that is it.

It is not glamourous, and is a little dungeon like, but it is right by the utility sink for easy clean-up and I do not have to worry about spilled or over-sprayed paint.

This product in my opinion would be worth every penny. For DIY ladies and moms it is light weight and can be moved very easily. This system makes little to no mess and you could even start and finish a whole coat of paint during nap time.

I will be featuring more about this product when I paint what we are making Jayna for Christams. In the meantime check out all these Earlex videos. It looks too good to be true, but it really is true. The other thing I was impressed with was when reading reviews everyone that had had a problem with their purchased system said that their problem was resolved easily and quickly. Good Costumer Service is like gold these days especially when buying on the internet.

The "Queen" has arrived

2010-10-30T14:00:00.000-07:00

This year I made Jayna a little queen costume for Halloween. She had this cute white dress that would be for a wedding or fancy event and since we have not had any of those I thought it would make the perfect queen dress. The best part about this costume was that everything was so simple and fun to make.

Her cape was made out of one cut of felt that I simply cut little slits along the bias to weave ribbon through. I placed the slits down into the fabric more to create a big collar for her majesty. Her scepter was just a foam ball and a dowel from the craft store that I wrapped in different beaded garland that I found in the dollar bins. Then I added some blue ribbon to the ball that also had beads on it.

Then I found these cute little jewels in the jewelry sale bin at Joanne's and thought they would make great little royal brooches.

Her crown is made out of lace that I cut to fit the circumference of her head. I got it to stand up by painting it gold with craft paint then doing two coats of Modge-Podge and adding glitter to it. I simply hot glue gunned the two ends together when the paint dried. I love that the lace has so much detail in it.

I didn't search everywhere, but I was having a hard time finding white child dress shoes this time of year. So I was really happy to stumble upon these cute gold ones. They look super cute for the "queen" and she can wear them after Halloween.

Her trick-or-treat bag was just made out of some leftover white felt I had. I just cut out a large rectangle, sewed up the sides, made some slits, weaved the ribbon through and added some jewels.

I just love how this costume turned out and think she looks so sweet. If I would have put more thought into it sooner I would have had husband and I dress up as her guards to escort her around the neighborhood. This costume would even be cute for a little girls birthday party.

Happy Halloween!

Halloween Outdoor Decor

2010-10-25T17:53:00.000-07:00

I try to add a little to all my Holiday decorations each year, and this year I decided to take another que from Martha and make a "spooky" wreath.

I found all my needed supplies at Taiwan Imports (whole sale only, not open to the public), but you could find similar supplies at Michael's or the Dollar Tree.

I simply got a basic wood or twig wreath and picked out the moss of my choice. Reindeer moss provides a scary texture and comes in the bright green or cream.

I glue gunned patches of the moss onto the wreath until it was covered to my liking.

Then I added my spooky spiders and centipedes with a hot glue gun as-well.

The finishing touch was the black ribbon to hang it on my door hook.

It was a fast and easy project that added just the right touch. I also found my urn planters at the same store on sale. They were actually different colors, so I sprayed both of them black. They will be out there year round, but I love them with the gray pumpkins on them.

Of course the window silhouettes went up again this year (that was last years addition), and they are a hit once again. I was surprised at how many people in the neighborhood kept asking me if they were up yet. I have already started thinking of things I should do next year, but as for this year I am done.

Upholstery Reveal!

2010-10-24T17:54:00.000-07:00

BEFORE

I got my living-room chairs back awhile ago, but have been trying to wait and show you the whole room makeover, but now that some projects are on hold and the Halloween decorations are up, I decided I can not wait any longer and have to at least share my chairs with you.

AFTER

Brian Maxfield at Rocky Mountain Upholstery did a great and timely job on the chairs and I just love them. His little shop is not to far from me over in Midvale and the guys their are always nice and helpful. Brain even sprayed them with a fabric protector for me. So if you have any upholstery or fabric protecting needs I would recommend calling him any day.

I got my pretty blue fabric at Joanne fabrics on sale, and with a little work I whipped up some pillows in this cute polka dot fabric I have had lying around for years.

As you know I find and collect most of my home furnishings and accessories from thrift stores and junking, and I am still always amazed at how well things come together. This room has been no exception, but I do have some blending to do since I have 6 different fabrics 3 of them blue trying to live in that same area. I am sure I will find a way to make it work somehow.

Sleeping Beauty

2010-09-17T13:47:00.000-07:00

I love love love my new bed! It is everything I could have hoped and dreamed of. I have really bad leg, joint, and hip pains with my medical problems and my new bed has cut that pain down by about 80%. My problem before was that I would already be in pain before going to bed and then because I could not get comfortable in bed all my moving around would just further inflame and agitate my pain. Now I am able to sleep in pretty much the same position all night long. I love it!

We ended up buying our mattress at RC Willey due to the really positive experiences we have had buying from there in the past. The mattress we chose was the Serta"Cypres" in a king which is actually a mattress that is made right here in Salt Lake City. It is a foam mattress, but unlike the hot and stiff Tempur-Pedic beds this is made out of a latex foam that does not get hot and is soft. I about brought my back trying to help Ryan get it up our stairs though. I new we should have gotten delivery, but the husband wanted to pick it up in the Blue Beauty (our truck). I didn't realize how big the actual mattress was until after we had set it up and it was to my hips. I am pretty short at 5 feet 2 inches tall so my first comment about the bed was that I will never be able to get in it pregnant. I will have to have a step stool or something. I could not even get in and out of our last bed with out standing on a big make-up box of mine after I had had Jayna by C-section. So with this bed there is no way. I think the mattress it self is 14 inches tall and then you add the box spring, frame, mattress pad to that and you have yourself one tall bed to get into. It hasn't bothered me like I was afraid it would though.

All my bedding came together really well too. I got my decorative pillows at Peir 1, my shams at Target on sale for only $10.00 along with my sleeping pillows, my Duvet cover and quilt at Pottery Barn, and my bedskirt and Duvet insert at Bed Bath and Beyond.

So far I have loved everything I have bought. We will see if that is still the case after I wash everything. I am kinda dreading that part.

The room looks a little cold in this picture with the stark white walls. I am planning on painting the room a beige to warm it up a little and add some contrast to the window trim, fireplace, and balcony doors. My other problem now is that my bed dwarfs my little white pedestal side tables. In the picture above you can barley see the top of a flower arrangement I have on one of them. Also it leaves us reaching down to our night stands while in bed. So I will be thinking of solutions for that in the future.

I hope you like my bedding because I am in love with it. Mixing white and cream like I have done on this bed was something I normally would not have thought of, but I love how it looks and feels. There is nothing better than crawling into a puffy well made bed at the end of the night. Now go make your bed!

The Bed and Breakfast is Now Open

2010-09-10T11:18:00.000-07:00

The husband and I have been sleeping terribly lately, and I have been pushing for a new bed for awhile now. So this past Labor day weekend we went out and made the big purchase for our new King size bed. I am so excited about having a new bed and am crossing me fingers that it will be the solution to our tossing and turning.

Since we upgraded from a Queen to a King I need all new sheets, toppers, comforters, quilts, bedskirts, and a headboard. I thought it would be fun shopping for all these things, but for some reason it stressed me out big time. All those items can add up quick and trying to figure out what I wanted, and need and then matching it to the existing things in the room ( like this new piece of art we picked up at Tuesday Morning for $20) turned out to be a little of a challenge. After two days of searching the entire Salt Lake Valley Jayna and I managed to pull it off some how and we only had to make three trips to Pottery Barn.

The other thing I have been really excited about with this new purchase was moving our old bed down into the basement guest bedroom. In the past we have had a Queen full size Air mattress down there which has worked out well for guests, but I wanted something a little more long-term setup. So last night we went to work doing moving the bed and I worked on all the bedding and decorating for the guest room.

After a little steaming of the sheets and some accessories here and there it looked better than I had imagined it would. In the future I will replace the existing side tables, but for now it is set up and ready for guests.

So for those of you who have visited before come back and try out the new setup, and for those of you who have never visited come on over. Now I know in the beginning of this post I was complaining about the bed I am now inviting you to sleep on, but for short stays it is just fine. Who knows maybe if you are good guests I will even buy you a new topper.

Pics of the new Master Bedroom setup to come .... Here is a look at the some of the bedding

Oh, and did I mention that your new guest Apartment also has a new popcorn machine in the kitchen for those late night snacks?!? It was a promotion they had at R.C. Willey when we bought the bed. Any purchase over $499 could buy the popcorn machine for $10. I couldn't resist adding it to my party collection.

My Achy Breaky Heart

2010-09-02T08:54:00.000-07:00

Now I know it is not Valentines Day or even close to it, but hearts have been on my mind as of late. I feel like I have fallen off of the Blogging World these last couple of months. There have been lots off life things going on that have been occupying the part of my brain that used to be dedicated to blogging. On-top of all that I have had some unexpected health issues. I have 5 million issues as is that I am working on, but the other week by heart started acting up and was racing and skipping beats. So after an EKG and emergency cardiologist appointment. I ended up on a heart monitor for 24 hours and had an uncomfortable tiring week to say the least.

Thanks to my wonderful husband and brother-in-law I made it through and feel like I am slowly recovering and coming back to life. My husband even witnessed that I am life force of the house when he saw that as soon as "Mom" went down the garden started to die, the fresh cut flowers on the dinning room table wilted, and everything else went to pot. I told him it was kinda like Avatar.

So to top off this post I thought it would be appropriate to include a tutorial I found for a cute little heart pin you can easily make with craft scraps. So here is to Hearts and all that they do for us. I know I am more grateful for mine now.

Molly's Sketchbook: Valentine Pins

These little valentine pins are as fun to wear as they are to make. They would be a perfect project to make with kids for their class valentine swap. Each one takes minutes to make so you can whip up a bunch in no time!

Materials

One Wool Felt Bundle in Spice (I also used individual piecesof fuchsia and a bright pink which I had left over from our all of our Christmas projects.)
Valdani Embroidery Thread in various shades of pink, red and orange.
Bamboo Stuffing
Small safety pins
Pinking Shears

Download, print and cut out our Heart Template here. I traced mine onto a piece of cardboard so it would be sturdy and reusable.

Cutting

Cut two 2 1/2-inch squares from one of the felt pieces.

Stack the two squares neatly on top of one another and trace the heart template on the top square using a pencil.

Using pinking shears, cut through both pieces of felt around the marked heart. You will have two heart shapes. If there are any pencil marks visible just flip the pieces over so their tops are mark-free. Line up the two hearts wrong sides together.

Sewing and Stuffing

Cut an 18-inch length of embroidery thread in a color that contrasts pleasantly with the felt. Sew the two shapes together all around the edge, 1/8th of an inch from the edge using a small neat running stitch. In order to hide the knot start your first stitch in-between the two pieces of felt. Stop before you get all the way around so that you leave a small gap as pictured above.

Using a pencil or a knitting needle stuff the heart tightly, using one small bit of stuffing at a time.

Once the heart is stuffed tight sew around to close the gap.

Tie a knot on the back side of the stitching and then stick your needle through the back of the heart. (Do not poke through to the front!) Pull the thread through and clip it very close to the felt, this will hide the end and make the back look nice and neat.

Attaching the Pin

Place a small safety pin on the center of the back of the heart. Make sure it's oriented so that you will easily be able to open the pin once it's sewn onto the heart.

Tie a small knot at the end of your embroidery thread and begin sewing the pin onto the heart through the back ring of the safety pin as shown above. This will help to anchor the safety pin.

Sew the safety pin on securely as shown above. When you're done you can hide the thread end in the same way as you did in the "Sewing and Stuffing" section and you'll be all done! Repeat as many times as you want to make a beautiful array of pins!

purl bee January 28, 2009

Lemonade Anyone?

2010-08-23T08:58:00.000-07:00

The Lemonade stand went well last week with the girls. The weather cleared up just long enough for us to get a good hour of selling in. Only two out of thirteen girls showed up, but I am sure it was because a lot of them probably thought it was cancelled due to the weather. When life gives you Lemons you just make Lemonade though right? Or in this case Rosemary Lemonade and Pink Lemonade Cupcakes!

The Pink Lemonade Cupcakes were a hit. I got the recipe from Sweet Tooth and then adapted my personal frosting recipe to have some Pink Lemonade in it. The straws added just the right touch to them. I got the cupcake topper idea and download via iDIY and compliments of Christy of Farouche. I simply made the circles the size I needed them and then printed and cut them out. Then I punched out some green circles and cut them up making that fun fan effect, and then hot glue-gunned the circles together and glue-gunned a toothpick to the back of them. It was really easy to do and added that much more to the Lemonade Stand.

I used the same download to make a sign for the Lemonade dispenser and stickers on the cups. The pendant banner I threw together really quick on the sewing machine with some scrap fabrics and ribbon I already had at the house. I kinda want to make another one and put both of them in Jayna's "Big Girl" room when I get around to doing it. The ribbon and fabric tied to the tops of the glass lids is just that, ribbon and fabric. I just ripped some strips of fabric and cut some ribbon and tied them on and curled the ribbon. Taking your party or Lemonade stand to the next level visually really does not take much effort at all. Just a little planning and homemade innovation.

Two Down - 5 million to go!!

2010-08-18T09:31:00.000-07:00

It is no secret that I have a major chair problem. In-fact the husband has currently banned me from any purchases that involve a raised surface used to sit on. When I see a cute old chair sitting at a thrift store or yard sale with its sad tattered upholstery and worn chipped paint I can not help but rescue it and bring it home to have a warm place to live once again. I am like a cat lady, but with chairs. My whole garage and basement is just full of the little suckers. I keep trying to explain to the Husband that chairs to me represent entertaining and filling my home with places for family and friends to gather and enjoy one another. So far he is not getting it. I have saved us a ton on chairs though.

I found two of these chairs at a local thrift store about a year ago. They were rolling them out to put on the floor while I was there, and I about attacked the worker so that I could snag them up. I bought them for $5.00 each.

The last coupe weeks I have been working on repainting them so that I can take them to go get upholstered finally. I am so excited to take them to Brain at Rocky Mountain Upholstery this week so that he can work his magic on them. Brian is one of my sponsors so check out his info in the right hand column. I will post pics as soon as they are finished.

Fireplace Redo

2010-08-11T07:27:00.000-07:00

Last week I decided to finally repaint our fireplace mantel.

It was a poorly painted black and I decided to do it in the same cream I am also going to paint my kitchen island in.

I did some really clean antiquing on the edges to give it a little character, and it has a professional finish since I used my General Finishes top-coat that I love!

I am still playing with the items I want on the mantel, but this is what I had come up with that day. I am not sure about the tins with moss on either end. I may change them out for some of my vintage bottles and candle stick holders. I love the photos hanging from the frame wire. They are real vintage photos of my grandmother at the beach.

They are the most amazing pictures and I have always wanted to blow them up, but am glad I could display them like this for now.

Crab Boil!

2010-08-09T07:21:00.000-07:00

While my parents were in-town in July I decided to do a crab boil just for fun. It was a big hit and a blast to do. In-fact since then we have already done it again with some friends of ours.

All you do is take about 3 lbs of snow crab clusters, 6 ears of corn, some kielbasa sausage, 5 lbs of red potatoes and boil them up in a big pot of water seasoned generously with Old Bay seasoning and you have a pot of yummy goodness.

Here is an actual recipe if you need more directions.

Then I just laid out some butcher paper down the table and pored out the already drained pot right in the middle of the table and let everyone just go at it.

I found all my plastic plates and cloth napkins/bibs at the dollar store, and got the crab crackers and forks from a local kitchen supply place.

My grandmother looks so cute.

This is an easy and fun summer dinner to enjoy with friends and family.

I made these cute little invitations if you would like to host your very own crab boil. Click here for a blank download.

Faces Party

2010-08-05T14:37:00.000-07:00

I recently helped a girl friend with a surprise party for her husbands 30th and it was tons of fun. We went with the same idea and theme as I did for my brother-in-laws B-day celebration and used a picture of the B-day boy for our decorations.

I took my cupcake making skills to the next level and did edible pictures of the birthday boy on the cupcakes.

I was really pleased with how it turned out and it took the theme to that next level.

I made the invitations too and decided to go all out.

The inserts we came up with were really fun.

Stars and Stripes

2010-07-02T09:18:00.000-07:00

The Fourth of July is a pretty fun holiday here in the great state of Utah because we kind of celebrate it twice. We do the normal 4th celebrations, and then have a repeat on the 24th when we celebrate Pioneer Day. So with the style of my home and the fact that Utah does two celebrations in July I find it my American duty to fly the stars and stripes a little more than most might in July. The husband thinks I already went overboard, but this is just half of what I wanted to do this year. I didn't even get around to spray painting stars on the lawn like I really wanted to.

This is a photo of one of my ancestors celebrating the Pioneer Day in Farmington Utah. He was one of the first people to own a truck there, and he sold produce and flowers from it. No wonder I love gardening and growing flowers to cut.

We snuck in the quick project of painting the shutters black last week and I really like how they turned out. I still have one set in the back to paint and have to replace four that have broken slates. I about had a heart-attack watching and helping Ryan hang the bunting and shutters up on the top windows. I was up stairs handing things to him out the window while he was on a ladder. I kept holding on to his tool belt which then made him nervous.

This year I put the lights on the front railing along with some flag garland I found at the dollar store.

I also loved these dollar store ribbons I found to hang on my new gates too.

I think the house shows good improvement from last year this time. Maybe next year we will get around to getting rid of the ugly planter area in front of the porch. For now just ignore it. That is what I do.

I am also thinking of purchasing these lights for the front.

And then these for the basement entrance, balcony, and back entrance.

What do you think?

Have a Happy and Safe 4th!!!

Mail Box Area Clean-Up

2010-06-29T21:46:00.000-07:00

I decided to clean up our mailbox area awhile back. It is one of those awkward places that you do not know if you or your neighbor is in charge of. I guess I was feeling in charge that day.

I weeded and cleaned everything out. removed some ugly paver stones that are all over our property that I hate and replaced them with some rocks I had removed from another planter area earlier. It was funny because all the rocks I had fit exactly around the mail box area like they were suppose to go there all along. I even scrapped and painted the neighbors mail box post and spray pained their box. I asked the husband if he noticed after he got home and he told me I was probably the only one in the neighborhood that paid attention to what the mail boxes look like, which is probably true. Him saying that made me feel like I could have probably painted everyones mail boxes and no-one would have noticed. Kind of a funny thought. I sprinkled some wild flower seed mix on the new dirt I put down and I was done. It is always a good feeling to get little projects like that done. I tried to see if I had a good before picture since I forgot to take one, but this was all I found.

It reminded me of how bad our yard was when we first moved in. Our house before we moved in had not been lived in for a entire year and was a foreclosure so it may have not been well taken care of for even longer than that. The weeds were sky high everywhere and it took us forever to get it all under control. So as many things as I still want to change our house looks tons better than when we moved in.

These were the weeds and things growing in the garden boxes down to the basement entrance when we moved in. Now I have my Peonies planted at the top along with wild flowers and bulbs growing in the other tiers.

How Does Your Garden Grow?

2010-06-28T10:09:00.000-07:00

I was looking back through past garden posts and realized I have failed to post about buying and planting everything in my garden. We have had some weird weather here in Utah this spring. In-fact a week or so after planting everything the weather hit freezing and it snowed, but I am happy to report that it looks like all my tomato plants have survived.

Back in May Jayna and I headed down the road in our blue beauty truck to Bland's Nursery to pick up things for our garden. Bland's Nursery is always so fun to go visit. The people are great and always helpful and I love the "mom and pop" "old farmer" feel the place has.

Jayna loves riding in the wagon, and they have a great selection of flowers and plants. I was a little too excited about having a garden this year though, so I kind of ended up planting a one of everything. We bought 2 Rosemary plants, Chives, Basil, Parsley, Oregano, 4 Red Bell Pepper plants, 3 Jalapeno plants, 2 Cherry Tomato plants, and two Heirloom Tomato plants.

Then at home I had Watermelon, Cucumber, Squash, Zucchini, Pole Beans, Peas, and corn all started from seed.

After we got home I spent the rest of the day spacing out and planting everything. Now if a master gardener were to look at my garden boxes I am sure they would kill over.

Everything is probably spaced to close and I most likely have to many things in each box, but I don't care. This is my experimentation year and I am enjoying it. I used to have a garden back when Ryan and I first were married and lived in a little duplex in Provo, and my best garden was the one I planted the first year when I just threw everything in the dirt wherever. After that year things went down hill the more I tried to think and plan it out. Funny how that happens sometimes. Maybe ignorance is bliss.

Here are the most recent pictures of my garden so you can see the progress.

Princess Perfect Gift Bags

2010-06-18T19:27:00.000-07:00

We have a trip to the Magic Kingdom coming up soon and we are going with my husbands whole family. I am super excited to take Jayna for the first time, and know she will have a blast since she has two cousins about her same age. One that is four months older, and one that is 4 months younger. So when I came across a cute little tank top with three Disney princesses on it at Walmart it seemed like a no brainer times 3. From there I kept finding cute little things for the girls and finally had to just stop myself and package them all up. These would be really cute gift bags for a Princess party though.

I found the cute little colored soft bags at the dollars store along with the Alice in Wonderland books, Princess disks and little cupcake hair clips.

I also snagged some Little Mermaid beach balls for them at the dollar store too.

Then when I was at a local pharmacy I saw these cute little wand suckers and had to pick one up for each of the girls since they were only 30 cents.

I then made little tags for each of the bags that had their name in a Disney font and a princess that coordinated with their tank top and the disks I gave each one of them. I also threw in some princess fruit snacks and a pair of sunglasses that I found in the dollar section at Target after I had taken these pictures.

I am hoping the girls will like them and be able to play with their toys at the beach and wear their matching tank tops to Disney Land.

Let the Building Begin...

2010-06-17T21:12:00.000-07:00

I happened to weasel my way into getting some of our tax return money as a stay-at-home-mom "yearly bonus", and decided to make some big purchases with my dough.

I love the blog Knock-Off Wood and like everyone who follows it I have a long list of things I want to build. So I set out to buy some big power tools to help me start "knocking off" projects on my list and improving my new found hobby of building my own furniture.

I ended up buying a sliding double miter saw, and a finishing nail gun and air compressor both of which I purchased reconditioned from Tool King.

It was great to order from them since they are located in Colorado and it only took a couple of days to get to me. I was super excited when the boxes arrived and opened them right away. I have to say though that seeing my new tools in-person was way more intimidating then I thought it would be. I think I will need to do a run through with the husband before I go at it on my own. I have yet to find time to play with them but will soon enough.

This brings me one step closer to holding my girls workshop I want to do in either July or August too.

I will let you know how my tool run through goes.

The Fence is Done!

2010-06-16T09:32:00.000-07:00

We were hoping to have the fence done awhile ago, but the fence company got behind on its orders after the holiday weekend. I was so excited to finish the project and see how it looked all assembled that last Friday I buckled Jayna up in the truck and headed out for a days worth of "Man" work. We first went to The Home Depot to return eleven 80 pound bags of concrete that we did not end up using. I needed them out of the truck to pick up the rest of the fencing, and since I could not pick them up myself and throw them out of the truck that was my solution. Once the workers helped me clear that out we went over to the fencing company and loaded up everything minus two rails and the gates (they didn't fit). Then we loudly headed back home in the blue beauty. At home I backed the truck up onto the lawn and went to work building my fence. It was pretty easy, but slightly difficult since I am 5 2" and the fence is 6 feet tall. Putting in the top rail was for-sure the trickiest part and required me to use a chair to get the job done. The picket fencing went in super easy until I realized that the guy who loaded me up must have left out an assembly direction or two. I called him and sure enough he did, but it was no big deal to go back and do. I left all the pieces that were going to need cutting to do the next day when Ryan was home. I can use a saw, but am still a little uncomfortable doing it while I am home with Jayna by myself. Who will pick up my fingers and drive me to the emergency room? Half way through my venture my good friend came over and helped me finish the rest in the rain. I was proud I got so much done on my own.

Ryan was pretty impressed to pull up to the house and see most of the fence already assembled. Then the next day we cut the pieces that needed resizing, and hung the gates.

We still have about three sections around the basement entrance that are on special order for us and have not come in yet, so we will have to finish those up at a later date. I think it turned out great though and I am so excited to be able to lock Jayna and the dog back there and not have them running wild in the neighborhood. It was our biggest project to date even though we have remodeled an entire condo before, and it almost cost about the same as remodeling our condo too. The killer of the whole project though was that right when we were almost done with it the old wood fence behind our garden fell over. How is that for ironic? We will have to fix it later though, we just need to go over into the neighbors yard and put in a new post for her. For now we just pushed it back over the other way and it is resting on a tree in her yard.

June Giveaway: Frog Tape

2010-06-13T19:36:00.000-07:00

Giveaway!

The winner of the Giveaway will receive a Frog Tape gift bag that includes two rolls of Frog Tape, and a Frog Tape T-shirt and Tote.

FrogTape® is the only painter’s tape treated with PaintBlock® Technology. PaintBlock is a super-absorbent polymer which reacts with latex paint and instantly gels to form a micro-barrier that seals the edges of the tape, preventing paint bleed.

To enter Giveaway click "Read More" for further details.

How To Enter: (Total of 3 possible entries)

1. Become a follower of the Bird and the Berry blog and leave a comment on this post that says "follower".

2. Visit the Frog Tape website to learn more about their products and leave a comment on this post about what you learned or liked.

3. "Like" the Bird and the Berry on Facebook and leave a comment on this post that says "Facebook"

This Giveaway will end on Sunday June 20th at midnight mountain time.

Winner will be announced on Tuesday June 22nd.

So good luck and check back!

Here is how I used Frog Tape!