Tuesday, May 22, 2012

My morning on the farm

This morning I worked at Native Son Farm.  Matt and I have been doing their work-share program for over a month.  We work about 4 hours a week and get a box of produce.  It is always more than enought to last us till the next week.  This week we got red leaf lettuce, cabbage, red potatos, basil, kale, carrots and tomatoes.  I've been illustrating what's in the shares on the farm's chalkboard.




Fresh picked strawberries and tomatoes.



This is some of the produce, getting set up to be packed into the CSA (community supported agriculture) shares.  



Picking strawberries is back-breaking work, but it's soo worth it.





These are two lone sunflowers that grew from last years crop.


Tomato and basil planted side by side.  One of my favorite combinations.





The structure in the background is called the hoop house.  The tomatoes and basil are housed in there.  It stays really warm and humid all the time.




Purple peppers growing.





Thursday, May 17, 2012

Ombre Hydrangea






Wednesday, May 9, 2012

Wood you, or woodn't you?

After having worked at a Montessori school for almost a year, I see the significance in having toys or works that are made of substantial natural materials.  Toys made of wood are much lovelier than their plastic counter parts, and also last much, much longer.  I gathered some fun wood toy ideas from around the web.




applenamos - $40
These are beautiful wood produce pieces to be used in a play kitchen.  I love the pear and the peach with their subtle color changes. 


This wood wave puzzle would look cute on any shelf and is hand made by a craftsman on etsy.



This fun pull toy has a tutorial on how to make it.  Only problem is it's in another language, but it's pretty easy to guess what the few steps would be.



Bella Luna Toys - $299.95 (just the dollhouse)

This is a Waldorf doll house.  They make beautiful toys, and from natural materials but are usually on the pricier side of toys.



These hippopatmi remind me of the Waldorf style, but handmade by a person on etsy and much better prices.  They have all kinds of animals and toys to choose from.


Here is an example of snails the shop also has.




Bella Luna Toys - $269.95

This Maine Dory rocking toy is also from the Bella Luna store online.  It looks so cool and fun to play on.  I would have wanted this as a kid.


I add toys as I see them to my pinterest page.  If you are interested you could follow it and would see as new things come up.

Secret goal: Matt and I to someday start a toy store of our own, making only top-notch pieces from wood and other natural materials.

Thursday, May 3, 2012

Hallway Update


This is what our hallway looked like when we bought the house.  Lovely peel and stick tile, moldy ceiling, and less than desirable paint colors.  Since then we have moved one bedroom door down and to the side, put in an A/C unit where there was once a tiny empty closet space, painted, wallpapered, put up a new ceiling, new light, and all new doors and trim.



Here is the same angle of the hallway the way it looks right now.  We still need to put the door knob on the linen closet, caulk all the trim, and put up crown molding.  Then the hallway will be complete!


For an idea of lay-out: the bathroom is the first door on the left, then the linen closet, then the master bedroom is the last door on the left.  Across from the master is another bedroom, and across from the hall bath is the third bedroom.


Here is a close-up of the grass cloth wallpaper.


Before I painted the hallway tan, I had it the green color of the entry room.  I felt like it looked too jungle themed with the green and grass cloth.  It works much better with tan.

Wednesday, April 25, 2012

How-To: Book Sleeves

Almost our entire bookcase has books that are covered in brown paper or brown paper with a white floral pattern all over it.  I find that it makes the bookcase still a focal point, but much less chaotic.  My husband would say otherwise.  Here is how I cover them.


I am currently working on covering the Lemony Snicket: A Series of Unfortunate Events books.


First I take the roll of paper, unroll it a little and fold the bottom edge up about 1 to 2 inches.  I then lay the book I'm covering on the paper to measure how much to cut off of the top.





Once I have cut the roll off, I fold down the top part to the size of the book, or just a smidge bigger.  It doesn't need to have too big of a space around the edge because the book will sit at the bottom and the extra on the top looks odd to me.


I then fold the side over, a little wider than an inch.




I roll tape and put it on the side flap.  I usually do four pieces per flap but there are the occasions that it requires 3 top and 3 bottom.


I then place the back cover in the pocket I just made by taping the flap.




Next I flip the book over, cut the paper to form another flap, and mark where the book ends.  That's how I know I'm making a snug fit, but not too small.













After the flap is folded, you place tape on the folded parts, fold it back together, and put in the front cover.





I then use a black pen to write the title of the book and the author's last name.  Open the book before you start writing so you know it's facing the right way.  If you write it upside down, you could just take the book out of the cover and turn it the other direction.
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I had intended on having the series covered before I posted so I may update later and show the covered stack of books.

Monday, April 23, 2012

Happy birthday Matty!!

My darling husband's birthday was this weekend.  We had a laid back birthday: went to church, ate barbecue plates we bought as a fundraiser, went to walmart to get his grill, made him a cake, and had a lovely dinner.



I bought a bag of plastic frogs to be the candle holders.  I drilled 28 holes into the 8 frogs.  I intended to paint them but never did.




Here they are on the triple layered chocolate cake with chocolate icing.




Matt was super excited about his grill.  It is charcoal on the left, gas on the right, and even has a gas eye on the far right for frying food.  I'm excited about all the fresh turkey, fish, and deer he'll be cooking on it.



Matt made deer burger sliders, grilled carrots, and stir-fried kale, bok choy, and onion.



It was delicious. 








We had cake and ice cream.  I was pretty pleased with how the cake turned out.



Happy Birthday again to my sweet husband!  I'm so grateful to have you in my life, and look forward to all the birthdays and milestones we will celebrate together.

Friday, April 20, 2012

Outdoor Design

Matt and I are starting to think about the exterior of our house.  We have been working two years, solely on the inside, and the outside is in dire need of attention.  The first priority is to get a single car garage door put on, then to put up siding on the half of our house that has faux-wood-composite-rubbish.  I never post pictures of the outside of our house to Facebook because I find it embarrasing.  But that will soon be changing.  I like to find inspiration in pictures and shopping.  These pillows seem like really fun jumping off points.










Monday, April 16, 2012

Just monkeying around

I was catching up on some blog reading when I saw on How About Orange that there is a new website called PicMonkey where you can edit your photos for free.  I decided to play around with it for a few minutes.  I started with a photo I'd taken of some carrots from Native Son Farm, I'd mentioned here, that I am using to paint from.  I had fun trying several different effects.  I think I might become a big fan of PicMonkey.


Original image



 A few subtle effects.


 Added a couple more effects and some text.



Overly dramatic carrots, but I still think they're lovely.