Furniture Beautification

Remember this?


A few fabric straps and upholstery tacks later, it is now this:

Perfect for hugging, fake sleeping and goofing around in. What more could one want in a chair?

Something from Nothing

You may remember that I removed a whole front yard's worth of ivy a few months back. At the time I had no plans for the space except to get that durned ivy out of there. What I ended up doing was to use it as an incubation area for plants that needed to be rescued from the backyard. Not sure what I'm talking about??? Let me explain. Our backyard is a bit on the wild side. There is a lot of mysterious stuff growing back there and I have yet to figure out what most of it is. In the meantime we had to mow the "grass"--more like clover and what all else. But I felt bad mowing over some of these poor plants so I transplanted them to the front.

Exhibit A: these little guys.

Yes. I am a poor excuse of a lawn.

And now a few months later in good soil look what they turned into! I'm not sure what kind of grass this is called, but at a local gardening center, they were selling little pots for $6. Now in the backyard (no I still haven't done much back there--maybe next summer), the little sprouts are back again, so this is what I'm doing:

Packaged up in origami boxes for some garden-lovin' friends. The tutorial for the boxes is here.

**Whew. That was a long-winded story for "look, I made some origami boxes for my weeds!"

p.s. I'm not sure what is going on with my email. I recently discovered that a lot of it has been landing in my junk mail folder. If you've sent me an email, please be patient for a response as I sort things out. Thanks :)

Boxer shorts

When I take my kids with me to the fabric store, they always have opinions on what I should buy. Usually their taste in fabric is much different than mine. Most of the time I can talk them out of whatever oddball thing it is they want, but there are times where I think they should be rewarded for having to put up with wandering the aisles with me. So I buy the various half-yard of fabric to appease them. Well, I finally figured out that it only takes a half-yard to make boxer shorts. So now that fabric won't go to waste, and mama has a way to make her kiddos feel special. Bonus.

Having said that, here are a pair of 2T boxers being modeled by my 7 year old. I made these using fabric I like, and the intended recipient has all of a sudden decided he has opinions on what clothes he will and will not wear. Hmph!

peek-a-boo pillow

Made using first sight fabric. The little animals were just begging for this!

Life is Beachy

Sigh. My sis and her family and my bro came to visit all at the same time. She left yesterday and he left this morning, and here I am looking through pictures feeling all left behind. For some reason I thought we'd have a chance to do some crafting, but Olympic fever took hold here, and our evening hours were spent watching swimming and gymnastics--and it turned out to be hilarious. It's been so long since we've all been together that I forgot how fun it is to listen to my sibs' ridiculous commentary. Truly funny people.

I also got some insight into my sister's way of blogging. I'd see a plate of muffins and want to take a picture for the blog, and she'd say, "What does that have to do with crafting?" So now I know why her blog is so focused and mine is all over the board. :)

One of the many highlights of their visit (aside from our visit to the Chinese store, Uwajimaya, the Chinese bakery, and the fabric store...) was our trip out to Anderson Island where we rented a cottage on the beach. Here are some vacation pictures to bore you.

As if a beach and a view of Mt. Rainier wasn't enough, there was an orchard with apples, pears, plums and nectarines. The nectarines were the only fruit that were ripe for the picking. YUM! Miss you guys! Come back soon!!!!

On my mind Monday

I love herb gardens. Especially the ones surrounded by willow edging.
I love weeding. Rustic baskets make it even more rewarding.
I love blueberry picking with my boys. Especially when it involves meeting up with a bloggy friend for the first time, and it turns out she's every bit as nice as you'd expect. Thanks for a fun time, Chara!