Just Make Stuff

G3: August

This month...

• We went to two baseball games.
• We only hosted one dinner.
• We accomplished two house projects...one that seemed crazy.
• We went to yoga class seven times (thanks to a Living Social deal).
• We cleaned out Sean's classroom.
• I started volunteering.
• We ate out way too much.
• We celebrated 12 years of marriage and Sean's birthday.
• Two of the three of us started our school year.
• Mac auditioned and made it into the next class at his musical theater group.
•  And...wait for it...Sean ran a record setting 151.66 miles. 

{G3 is a end of the month wrap-up for our little family}

Ten on Tuesday...

1. This Ten on Tuesday falls on Sean's 34th birthday so it'll be all about him.

2. It's his second day of school so Mac and I will "surprise" him with lunch. He knows we're coming due to questions like, "Hey, what time does lunch start this school year?"

3. We do have actual surprises for him though.

4. Sean shares his birthday with our friend Amber...they actually also share Oregonian residency (until poor Sean had to be stuck in California with his wife) and both Amber and Sean have the same middle name. Happy Birthday Amber!

5. I have my second statistics class in the late afternoon so we'll celebrate more when I get home. Guess what Sean wants his birthday dinner to be?

6. Taco Bell...it's apparently his favorite food on earth. I try not to take that too personally.

7. Today at school he will be wearing what we've coined his birthday shirt. It looks like this...

8. I got that photo of him last night while he was barbecuing chicken for dinner since I would never be up to get a photo at o'dark hundred when Sean leaves for school.

9. My sister found him this purple houndstooth number and gave it to him Sunday night at our family dinner. It's his new favorite shirt...

10. So happy birthday to our bold pattern wearing, Taco Bell loving Sean. We hope you have a great day and that you act surprised when we show up at lunch with a chili cheese dog. Love you...

Decorate...

This past Friday I was lucky enough to attend the Holly Becker's book signing and mood board presentation at Anthropologie up at The Grove. My mom gave me Holly's book Decorate for my birthday last May and I was so excited to meet her and get it signed. I also was over the moon to get to meet Leslie Shewring who does the Color Me Pretty column on Decor8. As I told Leslie, her column is my very favorite thing on the entire internet.

Holly asked for people to bring business cards. I have mini contact cards I had made at Moo last February when I changed my blog name. I crafted up a few little envelopes to package each one in... 

Here's just a couple of other photos from the evening...

Mac and Sean went up to LA with me so we stopped to share a quick snack at Umami Burger on the way to the book signing. We also had an amazing late dinner at Luna Park...the three of us shared goat cheese foundue, macaroni and cheese, fried apple pies with caramel ice cream and make-your-own s'mores...you've got to love a dinner full of cheese and sugar.

Just wanted to say...

I really love my family...including my brother-in-law who didn't want to end up on the blog. 

This is the aftermath of our dinner out tonight for Sean's birthday...I promise we all tried to tip our amazing server really well.

The stamp goes to...

Sorry that the giveaway ended up being really late tonight...the happy birthday seal stamp goes to comment #53...

Heidi said...

Congrats on being a part of the book! That's awesome! Love the stamp too, love lots of stuff from Catslife Press!!

August 26, 2011 at 05:44 AM

Heidi please e-mail your address so I can get the stamp off on it's way to you.

Can't believe I'm included...

I received an email late last year about being part of a new book titled Scrapbook Workshop.  

May Flaum was the editor and she was wonderful to work with, especially during our e-mail exchanges to figure out what the heck "technique" I could contribute since I am the least technique-y scrapbooker ever. 

I just received my copy on Monday and it's been so fun to dig into...

It's especially surreal to see this included among a list of such amazing crafty bloggers. 

I'm so grateful for this opportunity and I wanted to take a minute to thank Catslife Press and The Ribbon Jar...two of my favorite companies that helped me gather the supplies I needed to send in for one of my projects.

I'd love to share this extra happy birthday stamp with one of you...just leave a "pick me" and I'll do a random drawing on Saturday evening.

What are we, 16?

When it comes to our house I've had what people would probably identify as questionable taste. I will hang chalkboards, want colorful squares or huge rectangles painted on the wall or move bedroom furniture into the dining room.

I've definitely had some crazy ideas, but I'm pretty sure the craziest came this past weekend in our bedroom. This image has been tucked into my head for months and then I saw this on Flickr on Friday morning. Within minutes I was tearing into vintage dictionaries, unfolding a map from 1976, gathering some old wallpaper pieces and various other scraps I've collected...even some of our family photo-strips. While I was digging around for items I also decided the few packs of vintage buttons that I've never had the heart to use up had to be on the wall too.

 

That's when the staple gun came out and Sean really thought I'd lost my mind. He teased that we were apparently 16 years old again and hanging random stuff up on the wall...he insisted he wanted his old Lakers posters included too. He was not a believer in this whole project up until Sunday afternoon when I asked him to help me tear out dictionary pages. Then he was all about the definitions and just how tawdry I'd let him get. I can't even tell you the words that now adorn the wall directly behind our bed.

Okay enough talking...ready to see the craziest project ever?

    

I have to admit I really love it. And please don't worry, you're welcome to let me know I'm a decorating lunatic. It wouldn't be the first time I have heard it.

Ten on Tuesday...

1. What did you do this weekend? Me? Well I stapled packs of vintage buttons to our bedroom wall.

2. I'll share more tomorrow, but here's a peek at the craziness...

3. I keep a mental file of "Things I will not do when I'm a professor". Last night during my first Gender class I learned one more. I will not make it a class requirement to turn in notes for EACH of  5-7 assigned weekly readings for ONE POINT. Granted it's a hundred point class, but it feels pretty demoralizing to have to do all that work for a single point.  

4. I discovered last week that the top of the card catalog is my new favorite spot for taking project photos...

5. All I need is the step-stool and a high level of concentration since I have the worst balance ever.

6. By the way, McIntosh the crafty-machine has made three more things to share.

7. I was recently reminded that if you don't see an item and have it easily accessible you really don't use it. 

8. That's why I moved my patterned paper up from the bottom of my bookcase...

 

9. But then the paper holders needed to look much cuter since they're front and center now. Good thing I have way too much patterned paper.

10. It's 2:16pm and I have to go eat something dinner-ish since I leave for my three hour statistics class in 45 minutes.

One big layout...

When I participated in A Week in the Life at the end of last month I really had no intention of of making a book out of it. Even though I think they are so cool, I've found I'm not much of a mini book person...except if we're on a vacation like our road trips in 2008 and 2010.

I didn't want to let all those little life details get lost though so I made one big layout with every photo...

I actually mounted all of the photos on another color cardstock that I didn't end up liking. So the photos were cut in one big piece from there and mounted onto the yellow cardstock. This ended up helping me hang them off the edge easily. The photos came from the collages I shared in each blog post (made at Big Huge Labs) and were printed at Costco. The photos were cut apart carefully to keep them in chronological order...for some reason chronological order is always very important to me.

 

Behind the layout is a sheet of notes from the week. I simply made a pocket for it with a piece of blank piece of printer paper and adhered it to the back. The sheet has all of the bullet points I shared throughout the week...

I divided the photos up with a little square sharing the day of the week and the date.

 

Finally I added a title (I changed it to "our" week) and it was all done.

 

Love that our whole week is squished together in one image...and I'm already looking forward to doing this again next year.

Starred...

1. Untitled, 2. Lovely Summer Picnic Paper Garland, 3. milk with striped straw, 4. Reading Material, 5. Assorted Papers, 6. Baby Shower!, 7. Suzy Tuxen: A friend of Mine design studo, 8. happy summer!

This week's favorites...

• Oh my goodness so many good color combinations...one, two, three, four, five, six, seven.
• I want to live here please.
• While I'm still dreaming, I'd also like a white kitchen please.
• Super cute drawstring bags.
• Love how all these little bits and pieces are saved together in a scrapbook.
• This notebook project is just another reason why I love washi tape a little too much.

{Starred is a post every Saturday that includes recent Flickr Favorites and the blog entries I've found & saved (with a star) in my Google Reader}

Mac Made: 01

You guessed right...McIntosh O'kane (I think he hates when I use his full name) will now be sharing his crafty creations with "Mac Made". He has only asked me about 27 times in the past year if I'm going to "tell people on my blog" what he's created and now I am officially.  

So my dear sweet Mac has always been a tenacious person, if he wants something he usually figures out a way to make it happen. He decided months ago he wanted to try to make a pinata. We saw some in a booth at Renegade last month and that intensified his goal. Then in the last couple of weeks he said the word "pinata" so much that if Sean and I had a dollar for every time we could own a pinata factory at this point.

He carefully read these directions and invited a friend over who was nice enough to give him lots of help...and here is their "donkey" creation which might look a little more like a terrier dog...

  

I love seeing all those tissue paper colors together and especially the curly ribbon tail. 

Mac's favorite part is the "donkey" dog's mustache. Here's what he had to say about pinata construction, "It's a long, hard process and I learned that I don't like measuring things." Don't worry though, he's already talking about all the other ones he wants to make now.

Got to get my act together...

This is my kitchen and I've barely been in it. I cooked for last Thursday's dinner party and that's pretty much it. We've been scrounging around on leftovers and a little take out this week. But we're about to run out of milk and extra-sourdough english muffins so some grocery lists and meal planning need to happen sooner than later.

Today I did take a slight bit of initiative and made some vinaigrette to use with lettuce that needs to be devoured quickly before it goes bad. It's a Dill Vinaigrette from All Recipes (really love the iPad app). 

I thought I'd share our spice storage. There was this beat-up bread box that I couldn't resist in Texas three years ago...

And it turns out that with it's shelf it is just about the perfect size to keep everything tucked away neatly...

 

But maybe I should admit that I totally straightened everything up a little bit for that photo. 

A school kind of night...

Tonight I'm organizing binders for the school year, Sean's working on an Autism certification he needs to complete, and we're watching Waiting for Superman.

It's indescribably heart wrenching to watch the inequalities in the struggling school system. Tonight I'm counting our blessings, both for the opportunities Mac is fortunate to have and the chance that Sean has to try to make a difference. 

As of last Friday afternoon he is all ready for the new school year with his clean and rearranged half of a classroom. The other half is clean and empty as it waits for one of the new teachers...

Hoping for a great school year...

Ten on Tuesday...

1. I have an annoying habit of having a random word that temporarily ends up making it's way into too many sentences. I've noticed my most recent one is "curate".

2. We went to a fantastic vintage sale on Saturday morning and this is what we came home with...

3. Mac also picked out the cutest old Polaroid camera for his room. Love that he is starting to enjoy the vintage hunt as much as we do.

4. I spent Sunday in bed reading and watching movies which would have been a wonderfully lazy day if it didn't also involve pain medication, ice packs, hot showers, a neck massage, hot tea & toast. Migraines ruin all the fun sometimes.

5. My headache was probably made worse by the reading, but I'm halfway through The Help and am totally sucked into the story. 

6. Sean started this summer's yard clean-up project today and found this...

7. Can you see it? It's from this year's Easter egg hunt...or maybe even last year's. Too bad it was one of the ones with candy in it instead of money.

8. Sean and Mac went with me up to school today to take care of a few errands which meant we got to have dinner at my new favorite place, Pie-ology.

9. #3 BBQ Chicken Pizza...no cilantro, extra cheese, add pineapple please, and BBQ sauce on the side. Good thing I'm not picky, right? So, so good though.

10. I am excited to introduce a new blog contributor soon. We've negotiated his contract and he already has the project for his first column finished. Any guesses?

What I'm working on...

The graduate students in my department were told about assistantship opportunities just a few days ago so I'm working tonight to finish the application questions before the fast approaching deadline. I enjoyed my work so much this summer that I really want to try for this, although I suspect it's extremely competative.

Remember when this was a craft blog? Lately it seems like it's been about 85% life and 15% crafty...working on adjusting those percentages soon.

The least I can do...

This post about peanut butter pie popped up in my Google Reader last night. That led to reading this heart wrenching post. Which meant I was out the door within twenty minutes to get some Oreos, cream cheese and Coolwhip. 

It's just a pie, but the symbolism of taking the time to make this for my little family and join in a community of support was important to me. We know first hand how every tiny action and warm word can help you eventually get through what may seem impossible to survive.   

I made this version. It was finished too late to enjoy it last night so it sat in the fridge waiting for today. Mac and I shared a little slice this morning to try it out. Sean, the major peanut butter lover in our house, is having his first piece right now. 

I am so grateful for this chance to count my blessings and remember how important each minute and each gesture can be.

Starred...

1. card for lori, 2. Molly's Sketchbook: Felt Flower Charms, 3. may the road rise with you, 4. Previous design in new colours... :), 5. Envelope tape tags, 6. in-zinc, 7. rice aw09 , 8. Colour

Just a few crafty items from this past week...

• Love how this layout incorporates typing and handwriting. 
• The colors and details on this layout are super inspiring.
• How cute are these desserts? So excited to see more fall stuff.
• Great color combos...one & two.

{Starred is a post every Saturday that includes recent Flickr Favorites and the blog entries I've found & saved (with a star) in my Google Reader}

Perfectly necessary...

I've decided over the years that we have "needed" a lot of bowls. We "needed" them when they were found antique shopping. We've "needed" them when a cute one has caught my eye here or there. And we've especially "needed" them from Anthropologie (which I've admitted to before).

Earlier tonight when we were setting up for the dinner we were hosting I pulled these mismatched bowls from the cabinet for a little salad bar. It made me a little too happy just to see them all together...so maybe we really did "need" them after all.

Sawdust...

I should know not to wear sandals to a venue filled with a million little pieces of wood to walk on, but it provided entertainment for Sean since he was laughing each time I stopped to empty my shoes. We were at the Sawdust Festival which I have loved since I was a teenager. Every couple of years or so Sean and I have gone and this year we headed out again when a Groupon offer popped up with a half-off admission. 

I noticed today that over all of these years I still gravitate to the same artists. There's always a stop to add to our collection of ceramic mushrooms...there's checking out my favorite earrings too. And the last time we were there in 2007 I found a collage artist that I really love. I stopped by her booth today and asked permission to take some photos...

   

I don't know about you, but these make me want to grab a stack of newspapers right now and start crafting.

3:24pm...

At 3:24pm yesterday I was at my desk working on a future blog post. I had just gotten off the phone with my sister and was eating the tiniest scoops of Chocolate Chocolate Chip and Toffee Chip Graters ice cream. I promise they were small...and so amazingly delicious.

Sean was in bed. He announced that he was taking a half hour nap before getting back out to finish some yard work he had started that morning. In his defense he had just finished reading the new California Superintendent's "A Blueprint for Great Schools Report" which would probably put most people to sleep.

Mac was down the hall with his latest favorite music playing. He was tracing an image for a cousin who apparently really likes Elmo. Love that he comes to me pretty regularly for feedback on what he's working on. Other than opinions though, I'm no help since he's way better at drawing and tracing then I could ever be.

And that's just a minute of a summer afternoon around here.

Ten on Tuesday...

1. Before I forget, would anyone like the neon garland from Mac's party? We won't really have a use for it again. I'll send it to the first person who e-mails me about it. It's been claimed. 

2. On our anniversary we got a take-out pizza lunch to eat as we watched the majority of the Kennedy's miniseries on Netflix. We researched new vacuum cleaners together by reading at least a hundred reviews. Then we went for a walk, stopped by Target, and went to a late movie (Crazy Stupid Love).  

3. I'd been craving popcorn for over a week and kind of devoured our small bag like a crazy woman. Good thing Sean doesn't really care for it because I couldn't shovel it into my mouth fast enough.

4. I love that a lazy day like that with Sean was as happy and fun as our wedding day. 

5. We then had a momentous event in our relationship occur yesterday: Sean let me help him reorganize his classroom. He has to share his classroom from now on with a new teacher in his department so the room needed a major overhaul.

6. When I went to take "before" photos he told me if I was just going to make fun of him on my blog then I couldn't help him. We're about halfway done and will finish Friday.

7. If there were awards given for the ability to double-book I would definitely be in the running these last few weeks. You'd never know I keep an organizer and have a gigantic calendar hanging in front of my face everyday.

8. The dresser is done and at home in the dining room...

9. Now it just needs some cute stuff on top of it. I'm thinking this print I got last year, my yellow fondue pot and one more item that I haven't figured out yet.  

10. Last Thursday we marked the one year anniversary of me falling on my face. I have to say in the last year I've gained much more appreciation for the ability to remain upright and not having to walk around with a black eye.

Just wanted to say...

Thank you summer vacation. Thank you for baseball games. For the chance to go to a late movie. To get to be home with Sean and Mac each day.  And most importantly for the chance to relax a little. We're down to two more weeks of vacation left and we're going to make the most of it. 

A dozen...

So I have to finally admit it's been kind of a tough year for marriage in our family. I haven't shared that Sean's parents have separated after thirty-three years. Among the numerous changes that have occurred, it has given us a chance to examine how much care and concern a relationship needs to be handled with. 

Our anniversary this year feels kind of different. We don't have anyone in our family leading the way now. We have painfully learned how destructive a marriage falling apart can be. Most importantly, both Sean and I both know we are very committed to continuing to make ours work. 

So with that in mind, on our twelfth wedding anniversary today I am going to celebrate a dozen aspects of relationship that really work. Granted tomorrow I could tell you the 100 things we still struggle with, so please don't misconstrue this list as an indicator that we have it all together.   

1. We talk. And talk & talk...and then we talk some more. It's kind of impossible to be around me without that happening, but after all of these years thankfully Sean is right there with me.

2. We apologize. Okay if we numerically kept track Sean would beat me handily at this, but we both can be "I'm sorry" machines when we know we've screwed up.

3. We work well as a team. I think this is most apparent when we're in the kitchen...even though it can be a lot of work at times I love cranking out a meal or especially parties together.

4. We enjoy the same things. This continues to grow in our relationship. I fall deeper in love with sports and somehow his appreciation for crafting keeps expanding. I love that our individuals interests keep becoming mutual knowledge...and that we have found numerous things we enjoy to do together.

5. We get stronger. When our lives and our hearts have been put to the test we've been so fortunate to come out of our struggles with our connection strengthened. 

6. We go...we make plans. Sean counted last night that we'll have been out of the house three nights in a row off doing fun stuff (thanks to summer vacation). No matter if it's errands or a big trip I love getting out of the house with him.

7. We encourage each other. Sometimes Sean might not totally want to hear my version of "encouragement" and actually sometimes I blow his off too. However we are always there to be each other's biggest supporters.

8. We give each other credit. The joke is when I say "we" I mean "Sean". I try to always make sure I point out his hard work and he is so good about doing that for me...even when he doesn't have to.

9. We critique each other. Yes, this sometimes doesn't happen in the kindest, most loving, manner. We both mean well though and we're good about challenging each other to try to be the best versions of ourselves.

10. We're affectionate. Again, Sean is much better about this than I am, and it certainly ebbs and flows. However every minute of hand holding or quick kiss means so much.

11.  We laugh...I will laugh with him about things I would normally be mortified to share with anyone.

12. We balance each other well. I focused on this when we renewed our vows to each other two years ago...and it's even more true today.

Thank you Sean for the last dozen years...I love you to the moon and back.

Starred...

1. the Book Bag , 2. vintage, 3. Rainbow on etsy!, 4. Untitled, 5. gratuitous ranunculus photo no. 47, 6. Camping, 7. Global Swarming, 8. Vintage fabrics...

I skipped last week due to birthday party recovery so here are my favorite finds from the last couple of weeks...

• Lots of paper and glue inspiration...great layouts here, here, here and here.
• Love all of these packaging ideas...this collage...and free digital elements.
• And I have to make this salad sometime soon.

{Starred is a post every Saturday that includes recent Flickr Favorites and the blog entries I've found & saved (with a star) in my Google Reader}

And then we ate more food...

Okay in my last post I was talking about food and here I am again. We went to the fair yesterday and everyone knows that it's all about eating...

We walked around to our favorite exhibits...then we ate something. We stopped by the photo booth...then we ate something. We watched the super scary rides thinking who is brave enough to go on those...and then we ate something. We hit several Footsie-Wootsies...and then we ate something. We checked out the ice museum...and then we went home. Full and happy.

This meal was brought to you by Pinterest...

How did I ever find new recipes before Pinterest? I mentioned trying several new recipes back on the 4th of July and they were all fantastic. Pinterest also gave us Garlic Noodles which is now an all-time favorite family recipe. I just love that now I can see beautiful photos of food continually popping up with new ideas to try. 

That's how I found Lemon Chicken...which led me to Garlic Lemon Chicken Kabobs (because I prefer to always use boneless skinless chicken breasts). And then I found Garlic Rice Pilaf too.

I needed one more thing for dinner on Sunday night and there were these baked zucchini sticks just waiting for us and oh my goodness gracious were they delicious.

I know there's a million ways to find new recipes, but I am officially addicted to this one. I think next up on the list to try is Mongolian Beef.

So I need to know what's you favorite recipe find from Pinterest? Or do you need an invite? Feel free to e-mail me and I'll get one to you.

Ten on Tuesday...

1. First of all I just want to say thank you...again and again. The end (hopefully).

2. Three weeks from tonight I will be sitting in class starting my last year of school.

3. Man, I'd better get my act together in these last 21 days.

4. I will probably be making similar statements over next week and the week after as the time ticks further down.

5. I mentioned trying to use some of the time to catch up on scrapbooking and hopefully I'll get on a roll about making that happen. Here's a layout I made last week (very inspired by Tina Aszmus's work) as a cover page from Mac's next book...

6. Maybe I can set of a goal of 20 layouts...or a dozen. Heck even a few would be good.

7. August has several fun things planned too...I found out yesterday that I get to attend a Decor8 mood board demonstration and book signing at Anthropologie in LA. I figured I e-mailed my request too late, but I got very, very lucky. 

8. We also have our next party planned...

9. Sean's been a department chair for several years now and his little department is getting two new teachers and undergoing a lot of changes. We thought it might be nice to host a little get-together before they start the school year.

10. I used the banner from this create-your-own-banner set...I really love Crystal's digital products (and that she will often offer 50% off her kits on her blog).

G3: July

This month...

• We all went down the water slide on the 4th of July.
• Mac flew to Vegas.
• I graded my first papers ever.
• We tempted fate by heading out during Carmegeddon weekend.
• Mac got braces.
• We planned a dance party.
• Sean and Mac started summer school. 
• We checked a couple of things off of our summer fun list.
• And just when you think he couldn't run more, Sean ran 130.44 miles. 

{G3 is a end of the month wrap-up for our little family}

And then the police were on the front porch...

Okay where do I start? Mac's party was an adventure. The neon/80's-ish theme was embraced by Mac's friends and our family. The house was full of energy...dance music and lots of sugar certainly helped.

Instead of decorating around the house we concentrated on the dessert table and one other surprise for Mac. Sean and I took a couple of days to make hundreds of mini desserts. He kept track and I think the final counted ended up around 641. Granted it's a lot easier to get to that number when everything is tiny. A regular cookie or cupcake recipe will crank out a hundred items.

Apparently I have been reading way too much of Amy Atlas's blog since I was on a mission to have the table look perfect. We didn't have all the platters everyone seems to use so some cardboard, 1/2 a yard of fluorescent fabric and a staple gun helped create "trays" for the desserts to be placed on. I would actually love to do this again, but with cute little patterns.  

Little bites of rice crispy treats were dressed up with a swipe of white chocolate and sprinkles...

The mini cupcakes were pretty much glow in the dark thanks to gel paste food color. I also used this cupcake recipe again and cannot recommend it enough.

We made little pudding parfaits and strawberry shortcakes in dixie cups and Sean made a brownie cup recipe we've been using for years...

We also had a bowls of mini chocolate chip and sugar cookies. And we made sure to have boxes for everyone to take home leftovers...

Okay moving on to the police. Of course I thought everyone was kidding, but there they were on our front porch responding to a noise complaint. I had talked to all of our immediate neighbors personally before the party and left notes at several houses right around us, but I guess I didn't reach out far enough. I also made a point of telling the DJ we didn't want the music too loud in the first place...we wanted to avoid everyone having to yell and leave with their ears ringing. We had the DJ turn the music down more and the officers offered to take our phone number to call us (instead of coming back out to end the party) in case we got another complaint...which we did right as the party was over at 10:30. So much for thinking we were proactive ahead of time.  

The surprise for Mac was setting up a homemade "photo booth" (after seeing this). We hung fabric on the curtain rod in our living room and purchased a bunch of props. Now I have a couple hundred photos to go through and get a bunch printed to send with Mac's thank you notes...thankfully there's a 4x6 print coupon for Costco this week.

So music + sugar - police + photo booth = A super fun 15th birthday party.