busy as a bee

i have been filling my days making lots of arm warmers, wallets and other goodies for the holiday shop party. this has been a motivating experience for me and i am so happy i did it. i love my home and have a hard time leaving the comfort of it, so when my dear friend dani suggested we share a table i knew this would be a perfect reason to get myself out there. i was completely amazed and inspired with all the creativity that was filling the space. good food, great music and incredible handmade goodies made for a fabulous shop party.

tiny moments

life seems to be flying by at super speed these days. i lie in bed every night awake thinking about all the things i need to be doing or should have done from my checklist. last night after watching the minutes slip by i finally decided not to be so concerned with all the little things and just enjoy the moment. living in the moment and enjoying every day as it is is now my new number one on my checklist. i woke up this morning to the most amazing smile from my 4mos old. life couldn't be sweeter. checklist complete!

happy december. may your days be filled with tiny special moments and lots of smiles.

halloween and all the chaos

i love this time of year and had high hopes of catching a few pictures of the halloween spirit. but, as life does, caught my attention without my camera in hand. so many moments i wish i had recorded in the mist of all the chaos. 

once again, we dressed up and ventured over to the desirable mcdonald area to trick or treat and enjoy an evening filled with music, haunted houses and too many people to count. overwhelming as it may be, the kids enjoyed themselves and i enjoyed for the most part watching the mass of people and all their creativity. 

i had mentioned earlier in one of my posts that i was excited about making our costumes, but, my eyes were bigger than my sewing machine. having a three month old changes things. my time as is my hands are filled with the little munchkin. fortunately, gavin's papa is very creative and made an incredible costume. i am so impressed and gavin was beside himself. stella on the other hand could not decide what in the world she wanted to be, so many ideas but never a concrete decision. i love her final resolve of a black kitty. she was in full character meowing the entire evening and is still wearing her tail and whiskers. 

 

one scary cheese, one pre-teen nerd, one bat and one little black kitty.

i hope everyone had a wonderful halloween. i look forward to a lovely fall.

who bread

i have been making who bread on a regular basis from this amazing recipe by soulemama, which is one of my favorite blogs. my family and i absolutely love this bread fresh out of the oven smothered in butter and preserves. quite often i will make a loaf in the morning and by late afternoon there will be nothing left but crumbs. can one live off of who bread alone?

 waiting to rise

WHO Bread - acoustic style

1 1/4 cup water
2 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons butter @ room temperature
1 tsp salt
3 cups of flour (2 cups unbleached white, 1 cup whole wheat pastry)
1/2 cup rolled oats
1 tablespoons brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
2 1/4 tsp active dry yeast (or, one package)

Pour 1 1/4c. warm water (about 110 degrees F), honey, sugar, and yeast into a bowl. Whisk until well combined and mixture is frothy. Set aside to proof while you mix together the other ingredients.

In a separate large bowl stir together, flour, butter, salt, rolled oats, and cinnamon.

Pour yeast mixture into flour mixture, and mix until thoroughly combined. (I like to do this with my hands.)

Place dough into a lightly oiled bread pan. Cover with a damp towel and leave in a warm spot to rise for about an hour (45 min. if you are impatient!). Punch down dough and let rise a second time for 45 minutes, covered with a damp towel.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Remove towel from top of dough and place pan in the center of your oven. Bake for 20-25 minutes. Done!

handmade odds and ends

i have been teaching myself to sew which i must admit has been a slow but rewarding process. i am definitely a beginner sewer, but with time and determination hope to be able to make all the things i have stored in my brain with ease. sometimes it can be slightly frustrating (okay maybe a lot at certain times) to have this amazing idea pop into my head, yet when i get into my studio i don't know where to begin.  the desire for instant gratification tends to take over me most of the time, but i am learning to step back and really think about what i want to do. i visualize throughout day and look forward to getting to my sewing machine which is usually late at night after all the kiddos are in bed.

i was really excited to make this table runner in time for stella's fourth birthday in june. this was a simple project, but makes me smile every time i look at it. i know that when i see this it is just the beginning of great things to come.

 i mentioned in my first post of a wallet i made from the same pants for stella's satchel. this was definitely my hardest project i have done, but with many hours and lots of patience i finished it and absolutely love it.

 i have many more things in the works like arm warmers, napkins and of course halloween costumes.

pumpkin patch

after a long weekend filled with birthday parties and lots of soccer we spent the day in the city and on our way home stopped at the cutest organic pumpkin patch in nicassio. this is my favorite time of year and although the temperature was well into the 90's we had fun searching for that perfect pumpkin.

now our next project is making that perfect costume. i love the ideas these kids come up with. we have made a scorpion, bat and fairy costume. this year will be filled with dry bones (from mario kart) a pumpkin with fangs and a tutu and my favorite from my nephew, scary cheese. i can't wait to get started! here are some photos from the years before of our handmade costumes.

move over coolots

i am sitting here thinking actually struggling with how to start this blog. i have so many ideas i want to share but get this overwhelming feeling of insecurity when it comes down to it. they say to write about what you love and what you know. i love to thrift and sew. i also spend a lot of my time rearranging my surroundings. my husband calls our home the ever-changing sand dune. he says it drives him crazy but i think he secretly likes it. maybe if i spent half the amount of time that i do rearranging, and more time creating and writing, i could fill these pages with my inner creative thoughts. i think in time i will be able to do just that. for now i will start with a little thing i call, "satchel of pants." this is a cute little satchel i made for my miss stella out of a pair of pants from a clothing swap.

i love to repurpose old, out of style and worn clothing into something useful and filled with love. this little number is made up of a not so stylish pair of pants but with great fabric. i came across this lonely pair of pants at a friend-filled clothing swap. clothing swaps are a fantastic way to refresh your closet without spending any cash. no money is exchanged just clothing. i also made a wallet of the same pair of pants which i will show in a later date.

well that wasn't so bad. the starting of this thing we call blog. i look forward to sharing more of my everyday adventures and creative ideas.