heartfelt garland

get the pun? 

 

supplies: 

felt of the colors you would like

scissors to cut the felt

sewing machine 

thread of your choice

i handcut these little hearts out. and then i stitched them together. 

once i had stitched along one heart i would add the next heart to the line. 

go for it. easy and fun. and cheap. 

diy// laundry detergent

just made this again so i wanted to share one of my favorite diys.

what you need//
1 bar (or 4.5 ounces) of shaved bar soap // i have used zote or fels naptha 
1 cup of borax
1 cup of super washing soda 

steps//
stir ingredients throughly unless mixed well. i keep it in a mason jar in the laundry room. 

here's on the of the awesome parts. just need one tbsp per load and works for HE washing machines. here's one of the annoying parts: i had a really hard time finding super washing soda and finally purchased it on amazon.

peace out girl scouts

a busy season.

it's christmas + i am wishing it was a slower season for us. a season for advent - looking forward to the birth of Jesus.

but it has been busy busy.

we made an offer on a short sale in october and requested to close at the end of november. i don't know if you know much about short sales, but generally they are long sales - we did not expect to hear anything soon, but low and behold at the end of november we bought a new house!

here's me + mr. j with the keys after a long day at a craft show + it snowed!

it did not need quite as much work as our last house. well, that is a mostly true statement. the townhouse was remodeled in 2004 (originally built in early 1900s), but the former tenants did not clean or keep it up very well, which allowed us to afford the house and fortunately meant somethings were still intact and in good shape - like the heat, ac (which is unusual to have in new england) and new windows. however, the carpets were trashed. trashed. cabinets - nastified, as my friend cindy would say.

so we have been cleaning + then unpacking...

and painting...i went with moonshine by benjamin moore for the main color in the house. i'm into grey these days, no more beige for me. jude has been a trooper. and he's smart as a whip. he picked up the spatula i gave him to play with and started to pretend to paint.

philip making progress on the floors. he is laying unfinished red oak 3 1/4" floors. this is why i am not seeing my husband much these days, but i will be grateful come january.

i'll try to give more of a thorough tour soon!

xo

simple living diy's

i feel perpetually busy. do you? some times i think it is a choice on my part more than anything else. i like feeling busy and important. i am working on changing that. i'm trying not to clutter my day with unnecessary things, but i also like the idea of living less expensively (except for my weekly starbucks trips...that is a very necessary treat).

in light of this, thought i'd share a few of my pins on pinterest (links to my page) that have actually improved my life instead of making me feel bad about pinning things that i never actually do. one thing i am trying to do in actually check the link on what i pin...will i ever actually make this? if so then, i will pin it. besides a lot of stuff on there is spam now, fyi.

here's my list lately...

++ easy peasy shower cleaner - use a dishwashing wand while in the shower to clean - mix up this recipe

++ breakfast cookies - i made these first, but am hoping to try something a little crunchier with peanut butter soon

++ shredded chicken. frozen. best idea. i think i pinned this thought, but i just prepared a bunch of chicken and then shredded it and can take a bag out whenever i need it for a recipe.

++ homemade toothpaste and deodorant 

++ homemade laundry detergent

happy weekend...here's to a less stressful, less cluttered weekend...
katie

first birthday

one of the things that i was most sad about when considering moving to massachusetts last year was that we would have no one to celebrate jude's birthday with. i am so grateful that that was not true and we celebrated jude's first birthday with a group of family and new friends and even some old friends.

the decor was pretty simple. i like pinterest and i all, but i wasn't going to go nuts. plus we are on a tight budget.

i printed the invites on cardstock on our own printer. and used fun dowloaded fonts and washi tape to decorate them.

banner i purchased for a craft show.

lots of pictures everywhere

made the garland following this same idea // washi taped pictures on the picture frames

homemade smash cake // idea credit // washi tape flags

homemade pumpkin spice cupcakes with cream cheese frosting with washi flags

got in his stride...

 opening gifts.


bebe + pops!

happy birthday little j // love you so

felt like fall

this is a punny post, peeps.

i have felt like embracing fall lately. so i made a trip to michaels for some felt sheets.

i traced small circles on the felt and cut them out - then stacked them in a pattern so colors didn't repeat too quickly. then i stitched them together with my handy dandy sewing machine. i left a little gap between each circle.

and voila!

ignore the painting above the fall bunting. temporary housing, what can you do?

 i made have to make this little gem for every season - it was fun & cheap & easy!