Monarch Post

"Fair Trade Friday" giveaway!

 

Well, here we are again! Our second Fair Trade Friday Giveaway starts today. For our April giveaway, I chose this wonderful, reversible Adinkra batik apron from Global Mamas in Ghana. The reverse side is made from recycled flour sacks. Love it!

Here's the product description:

"Adinkra symbols represent aspects of life in Ghana, West Africa, and are used for storytelling and decoration.

• Sunflower Red of Adinkra Blue
• 100% cotton
• Front pocket
• handmade in and fairly traded from Ghana

Global Mamas if a non-profit organization assisting small women-owned businesses in Ghana, where the vast majority of women earn less than $2 per day. Proceeds from the purchase of this hand-sewn apron go directly to the women artisans and seamstresses, as well as the non-profit programs that assist them with business development. That adds up to an investment both darling and dedicated!"

This fabulously-fun apron is from The Hunger Site. Stop over, and look at all the amazing handcrafted goods they carry. For each item sold from their website, a number of cups of food are donated to help feed hungry people around the planet.

Also, check out the artisan page. You will meet craftspeople from around the world, see their handwork and learn their fascinating stories.

There's also a button to click everyday that will make a food donation for you at no cost to you.

How's all that for super-fabulous-amazing-goodness? I know. I think so too!

I'll keep this giveaway open till next Wednesday, May 5th
9:00 am MST. I'll draw a winner, and announce it then.

*** Almost forgot, pick the color of apron you would like to receive if you win, when you leave a comment! ****

Happy weekending to you, xoKelly

P.S. My friend Julie, @ A Cup of Coffee My Dog and Me, won the first "Fair Trade Friday'' giveaway. She just wrote a post about it, and took a great photo of the purse she won.

spring cleaning

I spent the weekend spring cleaning. This time of year I don't even mind cleaning. I dust, wash, and scrub away. I plow through cupboards, and closets. And I rearrange and reorganize too.

Here's what I came up with for my problem corner in my kitchen: It's a small counter area by the fridge; I've always kept my cookbooks there, and that works well, but the corner always seems to be a mess-- kids school papers, things that need to be filed, etc. land there and sit.

So last week when I went into my friend Brenda's shop, Just a Bed of Roses, I spotted this rusty old red dishdrainer. I thought it just might work in my kitchen corner, with the butterfly file folders I found in Carmel a couple summers ago. The folders have been sitting around, just waiting for the right spot and purpose.

And so the dishdrainer/kitchen filing system was born. The folders fit perfectly. I still need to label them, but no more corner clutter (hopefully). Nice and kitschy-cute too.

The silverware area is perfect for recipe cards, and my cell phone. I hope that cuts down on my cellphone cellphone hunting time!

While I was rearranging, I added my kid-made Mother's Day flowers and a flower drawing in a $1.00 thrift store frame.

 

I put the kids' art markers  in some English baked bean cans, I bought a few cans awhile ago at a British foods store. I love those cans. And BTW if you have a British foods store around your area, I highly recommend the Heinz baked beans. They are so much better than any of our American versions, I think anyway. When we lived in England, I adopted the English custom of eating eggs, sausage, baked beans, and sliced tomatoes for dinner. We still eat that quite often for dinner.

The counter drops off and next to it is my computer area. I pulled out my wellie boot planter, and filled it with new (matching!) pens and pencils. So much better than the jumbled mess that was there before.

I feel so organized today :-) 

Just thought I'd pass the drainer/file idea along; it's yard sale season now and you never know how many rusty old dishdrainers you might just find waiting for a new purpose in life ;) 

What did you do over the weekend? xoKelly
  

fourth inning stretch

I've spent the last few days in my workroom or on the baseball field. (Had a few special orders to do.) I decided on purpose not to take anything to work on last night and I wanted to just enjoy the game, but I usually get antsy by the fourth inning, and I want something to be doing with my hands. Ball games last about two-and-a-half hours. I make it through the first hour-and-a-half just fine, but then...

See the strawberry pincushions in the basket-- my favorite ballgame fix for fidgety fingers. Not good, I know. I should be totally present, I know. But maybe since I've been going to baseball games every spring for, what, like the last twenty years counting both boys, maybe it's okay. Right? I hope so.

Gladly going to ballgames, mind you. I love to watch my boys play. They play with all their heart, and it's great to watch. I marvel at my All-Star boys, myself being the gym teachers worst nightmare child and all. Anyway I could figure out a way to weasel out of gym, by golly I did it. The boys definately got their coordinated/athletic genes from their Daddy. And that's good. It always helps a boy to be good at a sport, girls too, but especially boys, I think. 

I took a book with me to the half-hour practice before the ball game. I started reading it. (I ordered it after realizing last week that I have problems in the area of always feeling like I have zero time anymore). The Power of Slow, 101 ways to save time in Our 24/7 world, by Christine Louise Hohlbaum. Christine says the first thing we need to do is stop multitasking so much. So ya, I put the book down too.

But then my dearest childhood friend, Norene, stopped by our ballfield... right around the fourth inning. Her oldest daughter just got engaged last night. We talked through the rest of the game. We used to have gym class together in junior high. She was a gym weasel too. Worse than me. She figured out how to slowly move backwards in the gym line, sometimes completely escaping embarrassing episodes of rope-climbing, basketball shooting, and the ever so unglamorous trampoline somersaulting thing. (Yeah, that was definately a life-skill I needed to learn in school. WT--?) She graduated with the second highest GPA in our high school class. She deserved it. She was really smart at gym.

Anyway, I digress. I just wanted to wish you a lovely weekend with loads of time for doing exactly what your sweet little heart wants to do:-) xoxoKelly

springitis infected

 
It's beyond gorgeous here today. Over a balmy weekend, our town burst into pinks and whites. My very favorite time of year. I only wish it lasted longer.

I'm doing my best to stay focused and be productive this week; trying to make up for being so unproductive last week... But it's reeeeally hard to do with my serious case of spring fever :-)

 
Working hard at channeling all my spring euphoria, and taking my color cues from Mother Nature-- and whatever kinda bird it is who's been chirping (loudly) away at 6:00 am every morning right by my bedroom window. He sounds so happy though, I can't be mad at him.

 
I've had so much fixing up these ready-made birdhouses with a little paint, polymer clay, and fabric from a velour baby shirt. Really sweet for a nursery or little girls room, (if I do say so myself ;-))

 

Then I painted some alphabet letters, and decided they could benefit from a singing red bird too.

Which then of course, led me to make a big red bird pillow out of an old velour jacket. I mean really, what could be more logical ? ;)

 
Not quite sure which shop(s) all this will end up in... I have more spring-inspired children's items I'm still working on. Those items involve a spring-green, beaded cotton sweater, and a hot pink velvet jacket. ( Proving beyond a doubt how deliriously spring-fever-giddy I really am at the moment.)

Thanks for checking in on me. Hoping you're having a wonderful spring day too. I'm off to the baseball field to watch Jesse pitch, hit, catch, and sliiiiiide... Grass stains are such a great novelty after a million months of winter.  

Oh spring-- I luv, luv, luv you.  xoxoKelly 

   
 

it's all good...

I felt so frustrated with my week. I think I overbooked myself. Too many to-dos, appointments, errands, a husband out of town, "surprise" homework assignments, and baseball season starting up. And I can't seem to even get the laundry done-- or find my favorite bra. How do you lose that?  I've run from one thing to the next, and I've been ten minutes late to everything.

A day late and a dollar short describes this week-- I hate it when I feel so disorganized.

But this morning, Jesse told me that he'd brought home his "published book". Our grade school is great. One of the really cool things the kids get to do is publish their own book about themselves. They start at the beginning of the school year, and they work so hard at their "ME" books. The manuscripts go off to a professional printer, and at the end of the year, the kids get to take home their own published books.

My frustrating week got put into perspective when I opened the book and read what he had written...

Here's what he wrote on the page next to this photo:

My Family

My family is sporty. The best thing about them is they're funny. My Dad and brother always cracks jokes about me. My Dad sometimes, when we're playing golf he will joke about my brother hitting it into the trees and we say, "I hear some lumber"!

My Dad when he's not at work or Costa Rica, or anywhere, he likes to go golfing with me and my brother. My Dad is really cool about me doing something bad. He is A BIG fan of Ohio State because that's where he was born and my grandma and grandpa live there. My Dad is a good golfer my brother isn't. He loves anything my mom cooks.

My Mom is a good cook. When you eat her tacos it's like the best tacos I've ever had. She makes pizza toast and it's so good! She always knows what to do. She hates it when the dogs poop or pee in my sisters room. She has her own blog and she sells arts and crafts on the internet. Her blog basically says stuff about our life.

My dog Winston thinks he's so fierce but when he gets outside and finds a dog and he puts his tail between his legs turns around and runs. He is a scaredy-cat. He has this thing when he barks we have a collar that sprays him with lemon juice. Winston fights with my dog Greta and makes funny noises. He is a wired-hair fox terrier.

Greta is my other dog. She hates when you run or hit the ground with your hand. Greta bites your ankles when you run fast. She is a Maltese Poodle mix and she's tiny.

My sister Sophey is in 3rd grade in Mrs.Rowland/Anderson's class. She loves polly pockets to play with. She makes a lot of funny jokes about our family. This summer she said it stunk that both her friends moved. One moved to Bountiful but still goes to our school. The other moved to Oregon. Sophey is a little sporty.

My sister Ainsley is 24 years old. She just graduated from the University of Utah. She works at a valley view golf course and Grounds for Coffee in Layton. She loves to work at the golf course and coffee shop. She rented a house last November behind the dollar theatre. She got a bachelors degree in psychology.

My brother Corbyn is 18 years old. He is waiting tilll spring to go to college. He is going to the University of Utah like my sister. In high school he played baseball for Davis High School. We had to go to St. George for a baseball tournament. He usually sits in our basement playing Xbox 360 all day. The End.

So that put my week right into perspective. The big picture is good. It's all good... And I definately know one of my kids thinks his life is pretty happy... And now I'm off to my next appointment-- I'm taking a class to learn how to use my serger (domestic geekery, for sure).

Wishing you a lovely weekend! xoxoKelly

ewes and news

I drove by my favorite postage stamp sized farm yesterday. Seeing the baby lambs are a favorite spring thing of mine. Look at the mama-- I think she looks stressed out; like she's counting to three ;)

Got one to turn around and smile for me. Isn't he darling? Is there anything cuter than baby lambs or  bunnies?

***********************

FYI:

Just signed up to go to The Creative Connection Event this coming Sept. 16th - 18th in Minneapolis. I think this is going to be wonderful time! Sign ups are going on now... just wanted to pass along the link in case you haven't seen it yet!

 xoxoKelly 

temptress spring

Finally feeling back to normal, I definately lost a few days last week.... So yesterday morning after dropping the kids off to school, I headed out to a favorite walking trail for fresh air and a look around for spring.

We are blessed to live in a town with good city planners; people who actually think about (and build)things like walking trails, bike paths, green space, and great parks for the kids.

This bridge path criss crosses around a mountain snow-fed stream.

There are cows and horses in the fields adjoining the trail. Earthy. I like the smell of cow manure. And I'm sure that's probably weird.  

Spring was peeking out-- flourescent greens and dots of bright flowers everywhere.  

It is unusually cold in Utah this year; snowstorms still happening-- three last week. The biggest of the three dropped six inches of snow. One day it's in the 60's and the next it's back to snow shovels and boots. Each rare nice day, I see chilly people in flip flops and shorts out and about-- we are all so done with winter here.

 

Dashes of purples.

And just a pinch of red. The teeniest little tulips I've ever seen.  Glad I had the chance to see it all yesterday-- it snowed again last night.

Well, I'm off to do some body maintenance today-- the dentist (dreading), and the hair stylist (excited!). And I'm putting my flip-flops back on the shelf and pulling my socks out of the drawer... yet again...  xoxoKelly

P.S. Went out with the hub on a date night last night to see DATE NIGHT. FYI-- It was pretty bawdy (be warned) and stinkin' hilarious I thought. Why am I the one always laughing the most in the theatre?

   

  
  

  

not too chirpy

    Wishing I felt more like these guys look-- I'm definately not as chirpy.  Had a migraine yesterday, doing better today, still very tired  though... It's awfully hard to be creative when your head feels like it's about to explode off your neck, isn't it?

 Etsy updates and projects in the works will have to wait till early next week... And I'm going to get moving here, and go see a movie with my kids this afternoon before spring break slips away completely. 

Wishing you a springy (hopefully), lovely weekend. xoKelly

circling around spring break

 
  


It's spring break time here for my gradeschoolers.

And I'm working on lots of fun spring/summer kid ideas and projects for my Etsy shop this week-- mostly in the early morning hours before my kids are up and moving. Hoping  to restock my Etsy shop and have a few things made for the gift shop gig in a few days.

So stopping in to say "hi!" and I just had to show and tell what came in the mail yesterday for me. I ordered this fabulous paper mobile (custom made with my colors even!) from an Etsy shop called Haru. Shop owner Beth is a wonderful artist,  and oh so talented with a pair of scissors! Stop by her shop, and you'll be amazed! (And I'll stay right here and be amazed by how cool my mobile looks hanging from our dining room mirror! :))

Back in a couple! Take care, xoKelly

   
 

Easter

We had a lovely Easter day. I wanted to steal the little green bunnies in the planters where we had brunch, but I didn't :)

 
Easter egg hunting at the end of church. 
 While we were in church, Ainsley leaned over and told Jesse that he looked really nice. He said, "thanks, it's a real tie, not a clip on. Mom finally bought me a real tie!"

 
These two were so excited to wear their new Easter outfits.

Brunch. Aaaahh, brunch. I had a holiday-cooking-vacation. Yay.

And the daffodils at least weren't covered with snow, like they were on Saturday. Gorgeous day, even if the sun wasn't shining-- I kept spring in my heart all morning :) xoKelly