silly as it sounds...

origami ornaments

here's a fun way to use up a lot of paper scraps at TwoPeas today:

Japanese kusudama flowers

also, i'm thinking?
a "fun" way to keep little or kind-of-still-little hands busy as beavers
on cold snowy icy days....
*wink*

happy holidays!!!
xoxo
tia

green + wall

no, really.
green ON my wall

the wall vinyl is from my dear friend amy's cute shop:

Once Upon A Design

and they are on sale through the 10th of May  :)
love the new color of green, amy!!!

mountains + pods + snow

i am sorting buttons by color.
i am sorting flowers by color.
i am sorting cardstock by color.
i am sorting many things.

organizing.
productivity.
simplifying.
consistency.

these are my everest, my k2, my mckinley, my kilimanjaro.

i've been buried under a mountain of supplies, working slowly and steadily toward a more organized, productive, simplified, and consistent environment.  i've accomplished it completely in theory in our main living spaces, and have felt the benefits of peace ripple through my family.  i don't know how well i will be able to accomplish it in my creative space; part of me wonders if there is a line between organized and creative--some kind of funky border between two metaphysical realms that just cannot be reconciled.  does too much organization squash the creative spirit?  will too much chaos send me running to the hills in maniac disarray?  lol.  balance.  i think its just all about balance.

so many things in life, i find, can be soothed by balance.

so many things in my life, i find, are a pendulum.

if you're reading this, you can consider yourself either very lucky or very annoyed, that you have stumbled upon one of my late night ramblings.  though, truthfully, it is morning.  i just haven't gone to sleep yet.  my apologies, in any case.  usually this babble is sifted and funneled into prose in my journal, but tonite my fingers are restless, and so off to the Qwerty races it is...  ;)

i've been having a great relationship with my iPod these days.  just discovered the many wonders of podcasts, yes i did. (get with it, tia!, you scoff)  podcasts, audiobooks, great music, and a video or two for good measure:  combine those ingredients with the wonderousness of technology, and you've got yourself a recipe for Cable's Last Stand.  (that is, until all those shows the writers have been furiously cranking out start to trickle into the evening lineup, and i'm just a sucker for a new Lost or Discovery Channel Docudrama...)  i've been tuning in to oprah's chats with about ekhart tolle's book a new earth (what are the odds that she'll ever let him get in more than 20 words at a time?) and love the bits i'm picking up therein.

who said spring was here?

who said that?  who taunted me thus?  who embedded said false hope?  who thought it would EVER snow this time in the season?  not i, said the fly.  not i. 

really.

it was beautiful at moments.....moments.....but i am perplexed, really.  wouldn't you know, i bought a flat of blooming ranunculus plants only days before the flurries blew in?  of course.  i am crossing my fingers and toes that they survive.

oh! i think the paint is finally dry on the layout i'm working on...

i can finish the journaling...yay!

want a peek?

it's supposed to be a secret....

shhhhh......

you didn't see anything

sunday + snow

i felt like julie of the wolves
black furry ushanka,
gloves, scarf, coat
and boots

walking through the snow.

earlier that morning
we got ready for church and looked outside
it was snowing
a beautiful, delicate dusting

"lets walk to church!" i cried
and braxton obliged

the snow tickled our cheeks and frosted
the sidewalk

the snowball thumped my earlobe
from the south-east

and braxton chortled in triumph

i replied, rubbing my neck,
"the good thing about snowballs
is,
they bounce"

:)

table drowning 101

**photos by Amy Grendell

we had a book club dinner this week, amy, rachael, jodi, anna, kathryn and me at amy's house.
we'd all finished up the three books in the Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer and,
always looking for a good excuse to have a mom's night out, decided to do a little book club dinner!

when i told amy i'd do the table decorations, (poor amy) i don't think she understood... ;)

in my husband's words, i took half the stuff out of my house and dumped it on amy's table. ha!

the theme ended up being "Old World" glamour, and though the pics are taken with the lights
on, just imagine a candle-lit table full of shimmering ruby ware, glittered birds, mirrors layered
with old window frames, strings of silver chain and pearls, and deep rich satin cloth.  YUM!

the light fixture dressing was my FAVORITE part of the table!
it was completely macguyvered.  i swear. i bought a random remnant at
the fabric store in a pretty deep red sateen, pulled old vintage lace bits
and pieces from my lace bin and stitched them randomly to
the bottom edge, looped 3 french sateen ribbons around it
all, then secured it to the light with office binder clips!
i was worried...in my head, it kept working out all wrong,
but irl it ended up turning out great!  i was going to disassemble it,
but i think i'll keep it around for awhile for MY table at thanksgiving dinner!  :D

oh, yeah.
and we talked about the books.  ;) 
if you haven't read them, i recommend them for a fun, quick, highly
addictive read. 
if you have read them, well, what do you recommend for us next? :)

granny squares + first 2 rounds

giorgina had a good suggestion about the granny square
and wondered about steps.  so i took some photos of mine
as i crocheted along, and will share with you the pattern i used.
it is really my own adaptation of a few other patterns i studied,
and each one turned out a little differently, depending on yarn
thickness and the size of my crochet hook.

i'm not any kind of expert or anything, so excuse any errors
or silly mistakes

i even crochet BACKWARDS, if you can believe it!

it's just the way i learned to do it; it is most comfortable for me.  so there
ya go -- goes along with my goofy-foot snowboard tendencies, i guess.

okay.  so anyway...to the pattern.  i call mine a "grammie square" simply because my i call my grandma who taught me how to crochet "grammie", not "granny".  it starts with a good ol' round of chain (ch) 4, builds to a larger circle, then squares out.

1. make your loop
2. chain (ch) 4
3. with last ch still on hook, insert hook into first loop again
4. yarn over (yo) to make a slip stitch (sl st), completing your first circular chain
5. now (ch) 4; this counts as your first double crochet (dc)
6. now (dc) into the center of your circular chain
7. and again, (dc) into center of circular chain until you have 15 true (dc)s and the initial (ch)4, making a total of 16
8. simply showing all 16
9. now make a (sl st) into your first (ch) 4 to join the round

• a--now i did a puffy popcorn-type stitch for the next round. to start, chain (ch) 3
• b--yarn over (yo) then pull a loop through one of the spaces between your (hdc)s, and without losing the loops on your needle, repeat it once more [(yo) and pull a loop through].  you should now have 7 loops on your needle
• c--close it all up with a slip stitch
• d--then (ch) 1
• e--repeat b. through d. 15 more times until you have 16 popcorns between your 16 (hdc)s in the row below
• f--(sl st) to close
• g--just showing the view on the other side of the round

okay...i must get to bed, but will share the next 'squaring off' round and finishing rounds in my next post!
here's a peek at the finished blanket...
a 'grammie square' baby blanket

the colors make me smile!

skirt + happy + foot

this makes me grin
i really couldn't stand this all-demin skirt before
i really loved these fabrics on my shelf
and now they are alive
and i can wear them
and smile

but my husband will want you
to notice his edged lawn
and green blades of glory
that is his smile-maker these days

we survived the fourth
even though our neighbors blew up an arsenal
and we were under heavy attack
aka debris + a southerly wind = raining embers
but we really did enjoy ourselves
despite the hazards

the trouble started today
when baylor squirmed to run away from me in the store
and his body squirmed one way
but his foot stayed put
so friday = x-rays and probably a wee little toddler cast
my poor baby!

refashion

i am so enamored with this idea.  it all started when amy, shannon and i wandered the portland saturday market in march; i haven't had the guts to actually DO it yet though.  until now.

i dared myself.

usually i get to buy new clothes when i go to CHA...but not this time.  THIS time i've challenged myself to actually refashion whatever clothes i have, using only materials i already own, and create new wardrobe!  okay, well, maybe not a new wardrobe....but at least a few fun pieces!  my room is a disaster zone. but i go to bed tonite with one brand new skirt made from an old jean skirt i didn't like the length on & some delicious fabric scraps,

and a brand new tote bag made from an old Gap sweater from a thrift store (it's almost done...just have to finish handles), and 2 aprons half way accomplished.   i am having SO MUCH FUN!!!!  i was pretty perplexed when i was working out how to get the skirt ruffle the way i was envisioning it in my head...i am not so 3-D minded...i totally sucked at physics in high school.  seriously. my brain just goes all wonky on me (you want me to imagine WHAT?!) and i get really confused.  but after a lot of googling and a really thorough read of my totally awesome and retro Reader's Digest Complete Guide To Sewing from 1976, i had a total AHA moment and it all fell into place!  :D  i felt so smahhhht!  lol anyway, i found some rad links along the way, so thought i'd share:

Lots of Fun Tips Here

Fun Little Tutorials and a good read

Wardrobe Refashion Jackpot

Want This Book Now

Rockin Aussie Refashioners

I Am Making THIS Awesome Skirt NEXT!!
i'm totally stoked to make that one.  i have a bunch of thrifted button down shirts that i knew i was collecting for a reason...now i know!  :D  can't wait to do that one.  i will probably end up making a couple of them, even.

this is so fun...i can't believe how many ideas are jumping out at me, now that i'm looking at my wardrobe with new eyes!  :D

refashioning.
do you refashion?
show me!  :D
i am quickly becoming addicted.....

completely trivial but prudent

i am forever losing the pamphlets to my paint swatches in my house,

and since receiving emails asking about the colors used, i am going to

post them so that i will not ever forget! LOL!  :D

okay

they are all BEHR Satin Enamel:

(of course, these colors online don't really do the hues justice AT ALL...)  :P

Master Bedroom:  "Flower Field" PIC-24

Living Room:  "Summer Tan" PIC-33 & "Cinnabar" RAH-93

Kitchen:  (this one i've lost. this is the closest so far i can come up with) "Moss Landing" 410D-6

whew!  now it is documented and saved! yay!  :)

happiness inducers

i made up a little 'to do' list last night regarding all the things i need to get done or get started on today and i just kind of froze with feeling of overwhelming exhaustion!  it just seems one of those days where anything and everything needs my attention.  were it not for the scientific improbability and ethical quandry of it all, i may have actually considered some sort of cloning process.

so this morning

just the thing i needed.

the pacific northwest glistened with the promise of spring...a glimmer of sunlight!!!!!  i had just finished putting away my much-needed groceries into our (ack!) empty fridge & freezer and made my way into my room for said daunting 'to do' list...and was instantly transported into hope and happiness with a glow of color

tucker had the audacity to glower at me for attempting to catch it with the camera

or maybe he was scowling at toby for taking the sweet spot on my bed...

they tend to argue over that place quite often

in any case, i couldn't help but be instantly happy and hopeful and full of excitement to tackle my day, after such a promising display of ecclectic joy.  :)

not to mention, my happiness at receiving this gift of a quilt from my mommy...the Bella bedding from anthropologie.  AND the fun little odds and ends i am in the process of collecting and assembling to complete the color menagerie in said bedroom... :D  there will be more photos to come of the results, i am sure!  :)

okay...one more for now...

have a happy, colorful day!!!