the week in review: may 6-12

Phew! What a week! In between butterfly fun with the preschoolers and prepping for our mini maker faire  (more about that later)and Mother's Day, this week was BUSY! I had grand plans (of course) for a week's worth of Mother's Day projects but ultimately there just wasn't any time. I'll get them done eventually and I still have to post all the Cinco de Mayo fun I put together...better late than never, right?

The week was packed with preschool work, doctor's appointments and one happy long overdue visit with a friend. And then came the weekend which was full, full, full! Mister was selling his ukuleles at the faire  (if yer on intasgram you can search for SLOMMF# and see his stuff) and we had friends visiting from L.A. so there was a lot of busy, a lot of fun, a lot of chatty-chatty, food, and laughter! We did dinner at Jocko's which was hysterically surprising and then breakfast at Kreuzberg which lasted for hours...

Mother's Day was spent hanging out with the family a-go-go and enjoying fresh baked brownies a la mode. The sister-ago-go's garden is in crazy bloom and I had a grand time wandering around and photographing the roses (including armies of spotted green cucumber beetles).

This week will be full of laundry and cleaning and hopefully getting those darn Cinco de Mayo posts up! Happy May!

mother's day make: pom pom magnets

Yes folks, I'm STILL on my pom-pom kick. I just can't get enough, the options for color combos are so infinite or as infinite as my pocketbook and storage allows. My sister purchased a bright orange file cabinet for my nephew's house warming gift. She imagined it would make for great kitschy kitchen storage and wondered what kind of magnets she could make for it. Me being on this pom-pom kick, I came up with these! Whip up a batch of happy pom-pom magnets to gift yer  favorite kitschy mama or nana or auntie even. If yer mama uses a bulletin board, you can even turn 'em into fancy pushpins...I know, I did (photos coming soon)!

The first thing you will need to do is get yourself a couple of skeins of happy yarn and get to pom-pom making. You can buy a fancy maker, make your own, or use your hand. This method here might be easiest for your kiddos to try. I make mine by wrapping around my hand. This here is my favorite tutorial (thank you, Creature Comforts). To make the hand-wrapping go quicker, and to make your poms kickier, try wrapping three different colors of yarn at the same time. A thicker fuller pom uses about 50 wraps using three colors at the same time. When it comes to trimming your poms, trim close and tidy as you want a smaller, firmer pom-pom.

Button magnets are strong and universal. I pick mine up at the local craft store in the largest pack I can find (though I think I'm now going to order some online). I find myself making magnet gifts quite often. Use a strong flexible glue such as tacky, e-600, or hot melt glue. Yarn doesn't stick easily so make sure to use a good glue and let it dry overnight.

 

Package up in a cute bag, small box, or on a sheet of metal and give to your favorite mother-figure. Happy almost Mother's Day!

the may bed

My original may bed project took a back seat once I saw how festive all the Cindo de Mayo garlands I made looked. So now I have both the may bed and the june bed ready. Yay for being ahead of the game! DIYS for the garlands coming this week...

The bed is completely inspired by fiesta colors. Last month I had paired off and rolled up all of the pillowcases for future beds and the long pillowcase I had originally planned for this month wasn't cutting it, so I made one. When I make my pillowcases, I choose a different fabric for each side so I can have twice as many looks. The fabric is called Secret Garden from Alexander Henry and is newish (2010), not vintage. The flipside is from a vintage yellow sheet. I love how the bright granny squares tie it all with the happy garlands. This may be my favorite bed this year!

the week in review: april 29-may 5

 It was an epic week of child's play, visiting, crafting, bed making, and camping. I'm pooped all over again just thinking about it!

a happy little cloud

stuffity stuff and a mini may day garden

 Ever since the laptop took a dive I have had a difficult time blogging. When I refer to blogging I'm thinking of sharing my diy projects and recording the little bits that happen in the life of the a-go-go's. Life happens, is happening, and I want to remember the little details but man, do I miss the comfy hollow on the sofa where I would sit with the laptop perched atop my well cushioned lap and tippy-type away. I was so spoiled. I also really miss Photoshop. Editing my photos is a smidge less joy inducing and really now, I do even less editing than I did before because I have to which I suppose makes me think  more about the picture I am going to take. I'm still on my auto feature but I'm not worried about it. My photo skills are in my eye and not of the techie kind and I'm good with that. And golly I have so many photos to share...

 

Along with the photos are the lists and lists and lists of ideas for things to make even though I do not need to be making anything. I am not in need of anything only in want of..like a new laptop and good walking shoes. I want to make things for the shop if only to use up the piles and piles of crafty bits I had accumulated when I thought I could craft for income. I still want to do that but this internet dealio is simply too enormous to be seen. I'm a small fish...etc...etc. Not trying to sound whiny, just being honest here and if anyone has any crafty leads please share! I'm in need of a summer job while I go back to school. So share way! 

 

So my goals for the summer are to make these piles and half-finished projects disappear. Either finish them or pack them up and send them on their merry way. The longer I sit on an idea the more I fear it will pop up on Pinterest and I will have missed that boat! The common creative and all that jazz. Golly. I have three years with of lists to get through. Three years! Let's see if I can pull it all off. 

 

For now, I will leave you with my tiny succulent garden project that I never wrote up but have photos of. I had wanted to plant my succulent cuttings in my pile of mini candy, tart, and gelatin molds so that I could gift them away for May Day (oh, Happy May Day!) and while I did get some of them planted and photographed, I never got them wrapped up and given away...my head is too often in the clouds or in a notebook making lists or camped out in my hollow on the sofa rereading young adult fiction...ahem...so yeah. Oh my it is May, isn't it?  I need to get that bed redid...I think that will be a good start and a ridiculous story to share...sooo if you ant to art it up with me, get yer hands on some sturdy cardboard, scissors, tacky glue and chunky yarn. To be continued...lookie my tiny garden project...