Monarch Post

I sewed me some Valentine's Day luv...

I feel like I'm always driving lately...

two more Dr appts this week, still working on my bum foot...

kid chaffeuring, ballet ( two nights a week), a baseball tryout,  fabric stores, etc.

You know how it goes, I'm sure.

 

But today I got to drive to a favorite happy place of mine and drop off

my freshly sewn Valentine hearts :D

It's been pretty gray and dismal weather wise lately.

And gray just isn't my favorite color, you know?

But I finished up my hearts and they are cheery.

And so is the sweet children's and mom's shop I sell them at...

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

But my computer is uploading s.l.o.w.l.y again tonight.

So I will love you and leave you with lots of cheery photos

(and less words).

for a February day.

The white hearts are from a recycled bedspread.

And the flowery ones are made from a thrifted pinecone hill pajama top.

The polka dots and paisley are new fabrics.

The beads were from a vintage necklace.

 

I took lots of photos, because it was fun : D

 

 

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

and now for the shop... stinkin adorable today!

 

*ALL TUCKED IN*

There.

Are you cheerier now...?

Good.

Mission accomplished ;)

 

XO!

uh...stuff

Hey! I'm here... with yarn...

and uh... January excitement :)

The last two weeks I've been cleaning and organizing the house

and dropping off loads of stuff to the thrift store...

and... then going into the thrift store to see what "needs"  to be taken home...

'cause that's what I do :)

 

The yarn is for an afghan I AM going to make this year for THIS HOUSE.

I never finished the last one I started, didn't like it.

I decided a good way to stay organized would be to tape a piece

of  yarn to the labels so that I would know the brand if I need more

since I'm making up my own pattern.

I'm thinking of something like this one here.

 

I spent one nine hour day cleaning my craft room.

It was  scary in there...

I should have taken a picture of the before,

but I was too embarrassed,

and I didn't want to scare you. ha ha.

It's nothing fancy and I won't be in the pages of Where Women Create anytime soon...

but this is a happy place for me.

and it feels SO GOOD to be in here when it's really clean.

Not perfect, but much better.

Cute new red wicker baskets courtesy of  Michaels after Christmas sale.

(What is that fabric doing hanging down the back...hmmm.)

And cute new fabrics to round out my stash... heaven.

I've started making complete sock monkey outfits.

This is one basket of materials gathered to make a monkey and designer outfit. :)

(I'll show you the finished outfits pretty soon... getting there.)

tabletop inspiration.

shelf top inspiration.

I started prayer art journaling in the mornings too...

I'll tell you more about that later.

Clarity.

I like that.

In other news,

our warm, snowless winter finally ended.

It is FREEZING COLD today!

Soup has been on the menu around here lately.

White chicken chili from a mix last week.

I've never made white chicken chili, so I played it safe with the mix.

It was good.

Too spicy for the kids, but not me.

I like it hot.

And I've been stopping for lunch lately at my favorite fast-food Mexican place.

Heat right now in any form is good.

Lizard art, hot pink cacti, and purple booths:

It is the tackiest, craziest looking place you've ever seen-

and exactly why I like it...

 that, and the great add-on bar full of jalapenos, salsas, and killer chipotle salad dressing.

I picked Winston and Greta up from the groomers one day after lunch at the crazy Mexican diner.

And no, he did not have Mexican leftovers- this is his normal,"whoo-hoo I'm going for a ride!" look.

I was so happy when I saw their fur/color coordinatedpolka dot bandanas...

Probably weirdly happy over that.

I hope that's just the designer in me...

Or it's just the weird in me :) 

And while were on the subject of weird.

My feet win.

They are homely.

But I would be fine with homely now, if they were just working...

The left one is the normal one-

ya, the one with the big gap and the second toe heading west.

It's inherited

from my Mom's side...

the Warner toe.

(You'll see it everywhere at family reunions- serious :)

Three of our four kids have it too...

Definately a dominant gene.

(Leftover from my monkey ancestors tree-climbing days, I guess ;)

 

I have been to SIX  Dr. appointments (two podiatrists and one chiropractor) in two weeks.

Apparently, I have a predislocated second toe (the bruised one).

I woke up with it like that one day,

without injuring it.

(The bruise is from acupuncture.)

The podiatrists are telling me I will have to have surgery to correct it...

But I'm giving the chiropractor a shot at it for awhile.

If it's not better by March, I'll have the surgery.

It's slowing me down right now,

by evening I am just done

and I've got my feet up.

YUCK.

And that was probably just TMI, but it's life- right?

 

Except for the bad feet scenario,

I have the best feeling about this year...

I'm not sure why,

But I think it's going to be really great...?!

Mike woke up the other morning  feeling just the same

and I'm hearing other people say it too.

Bring on 2012!

I'm excited to grow my business and to grow as a creative person...

I think the vision thing is finally in place for me.

It's about children, gardens, life, creating, spirit,  joy...

why did it take so long for me to get it?

S.L.O.W. learner...

 

How about you?

What are you thinking/ feeling about 2012?

 

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

Okay, I'm stopping here for now...

It's taking me forever to load photos for some reason,

and I need to get to work.

No Dr. appointments today-

I have the day to spend in my craft room.

(YAY!)

HAve A HappY FRIDAY,

XO!

 

(P.S. the blog is under construction... I'll have a new one in awhile, but the zinnias are kinda cute for now, aren't they?)

 

 

 

 

saved

Hi. I just gotta tell ya... somedays when my Mom works in her studio all day, I get so boooorred.

Bored. Bored. BORED.

The kids are at school and it's just me and Greta. Let me tell you, you can only stare out the window, bark at the cats outside, chew your foot, and stare at the wall (like a sitting panda bear) for just so long...

Sometimes I watch and wait for the kids to come home.

I love the kids so much.

Luuuvvv, luuuuvvv, luuuuvvv the kids.

(Wag, wag).

And then Corbyn came home.

He asked me if I wanted to go for a ride.

A ride? A RIDE?

Serious?

Really?

Are you really serious??? 

Oh boy oh boy oh boy oh boy.

Oh boy.

Greta couldn't go today...

Corbyn said it was a long ride and she just gets too nervous in the car.

(This was fine with me).

(My Mom took her out the next day for a little ride.)

Goodbye boredom...

Heeellloooo open road, rock and roll stereo, wind in my fur, treats at the drive-thru!

Adventure!!

Whoooohhoooo!!!

 

Lickey kisses and paw shakes,

Winston

 

 

fall-ness

Hi guys. I'm back again. I've been working away in my studio, getting past my creative hurdles, and every day I think-- I need to post those how-tos! And ahem, haven't got there... but I will one of these first days.

Never made it to the SLC farmer's market this summer either with the upended summer that it was. I realized there were only a couple of more weekends left to hit the market. So Mike, Sophey, and I headed out for a day in Salt Lake.

The dogs are one of my favorite things about the farmer's market.

We went to the new Whole Foods store and did some shopping after the market.

And then we went to a favorite little consignment shop, Emiliejayne's.

But I dawdled behind and took house porch photos,

because I like to take house porch photos in the fall.

(Don't ask me why).

Emiliejayne's is loaded to the top with stuff, but it's all organized by colors.

And somehow, that just seems to keep it from feeling claustrophobic.

And it appeals to the organized part of me (which is usually a small part, but hey...)

Why didn't I buy that lamp or those glasses? They are awesome.

Cute idea for a wreath. I think an embroidery hoop would work for it.

Had to show you the crazy blue lady!

My husband is a trooper... When he posted on Facebook what he was doing for the day, Ainsley said he had lost his "man-card".

He just laughed.

But he did get to pick dinner at a local microbrewery. So he had his fun too.

We all had fun.

It's good to go and explore the city sometimes; it gets the ideas rolling again.

In other news around here... I've been sewing. A butterfly skirt/costume for Sophey.

TIP:

If you are going as a butterfly for Halloween, please make sure your wings can shake it, baby.

It's working... oh ya.

And I'm working...

 

I've got a studio full of projects in the works for sale soon--

cute things for kids and their mammas...

tea towels (that's a sneak peak above), totes, aprons, toys, pincushions, pillows, hair doodads,

AND... a zoo ful of half-naked sock monkeys who may begin rioting if they are not properly dressed soon.

That would be bad.

Gotta go work ;) 

Hope you are enjoying the day, and thanks so much for stopping by.

XOK

Sun*day on a Friday

 
I'm backtracking for a post today... last weekend we threw a wedding shower for Ainsley and her girlfriends at our home. It was a craaazy busy week and I want to do a post on it, but the cool craft/wedding idea went home with the-bride-to-be without a photo; I'll have to retrive it and photograph it before another post.

But before the kids went back to school, I helped organize a fieldtrip with our church kids to Salt Lake City. We went on a hunt to find God in places other than our own church.

 
 

It was a gorgeous sun-dappled August day and Salt Lake city was wearing its finest dark aqua-blue sky for us.

 
The Cathedral of the Madeline is a stunning old grand dame with wonderful bones; she's painted so beautifully too. Feels like I've stepped back into time and Europe when I walk through her doors. It smells really old, spicey and just polished... with Lemon Pledge.

 
Loved the baptismal font.

 

 
 
Sunlight streaming through stained glass takes my breath away.

 

 
The kids were so attentive and well-behaved.

 

 
After the tour at the Cathedral of the Madeline, we went to a sister church, St. Paul's Episcopal in SLC. The kids were given snacks prepared by St. Paul's.  After the snacks we toured this lovely old church and the grounds too.

 

 
Each child was given a disposable camera with the instructions to take pictures of where you find God today. Lots of photos of flowers and other children were taken... the kids always get it.

 
 

 

 
Oh, those doors with all the kids charging out... such joy to watch.

 

 

 
After our tour at St. Paul's, we went to The Salt Lake Peace Gardens. Various ethnic communities in the Salt Lake valley have each planted their own gardens, all of the gardens then make up the entire Peace Gardens.

 
 

 

 
We had a sack lunch picnic at the Peace Gardens (we packed sack lunches the night before for all the kids). After lunch, the kids climbed trees (more fun apparently, than the swing sets) and played freeze tag to burn off energy... the parents watched and wondered how the kids had so much energy in ninety degree weather. I said "youth is wasted on the young". We all agreed.

We made one last stop at a funky place called Gilgal Gardens. Lots of stone and scripture creations there, but this on the side of a trash can made everyone laugh

After the Peace Gardens and Gilgal Gardens, we headed back to our church for music, communion bread-making, scrapbook-making, pizza, annnnd a sleepover.

We were gluttons for punishment :)

 

 
 

 
 
The cameras were rounded up and taken in for one hour development. Scrapbook supplies were spread out and the kids snipped, glued, and colored away.

 
 

The kids were fascinated with the film negatives-- they had never seen photo negatives and wanted to know what they were for?! (Ya, really).

They asked if the negatives could go on their srapbook pages.

I told them they could do whatever they wanted to-- it's art!

And the adults felt old.

 
 

 
We finished the day with a short, lovely outdoor communion service. 

The kids each held a small lit (!) candle; there was only one slightly singed head of hair-- whew.

In the morning we were served breakfast by members of the parish; the kids rolled up their sleeping bags and got their rides home.

And the adults tried to unroll various muscles after spending the night on the floor...

I went home and slept on the couch for four hours.

 

It really was a beautiful day... all in all.

 

 

 

Happy Easter, happy Spring!

 
Never lose an opportunity to see anything that is beautiful.    
 
It is God's handwriting- a wayside sacrament.

 
Welcome it in every fair face, every fair sky, every fair flower.

~Ralph Waldo Emerson~

 

TGIF

 

 Oh, happy day. It's Friday afternoon...

I spent most of my week trying to work with a major backache. I think I might have had a pinched nerve. Me and the old heating pad are like BFF's now. (I'm thinking all the headaches lately have been part of the same back pain issue.) 

Yesterday, we went to Salt Lake City with our Girl Scout troop to Primary Children's Hospital . The girls had made about thirty-five hand-tied blankets for a troop project and we delivered them all last night. Primary Children's is considered one of the nation's top notch hospitals, and it's easy to see why-- everything there is so well thought out. The hospital is absolutely incredible, and the attention to every detail is amazing. We were greeted with such warmth, and the girls were fussed over and even photographed with their blanket donations. (Two minutes later we were handed copies of the photos.) We were also treated to a wonderful tour of the facilities. Our tour guide, Marie, was so great with the girls-- taking lots of time to thoughtfully answer their every question. It's the kind of place that leaves a big old lump in your throat.

What else is new? Lots of half-finished holiday crafting projects in my studio at the moment. I've got an explosion of ideas going on and the studio looks like it!

I'll have lots of show and tells by next week for you. Happy weekend everyone. XOKelly

 

P.S. If you are ever in need of a great service project for church, scouts, etc. Primary is always in need of toy and clothing donations. Handmade fleece blankets, quilts, and muslin therapy dolls are very appreciated too.

P.P.S. No dogs were harmed in the taking of photos or writing of this blog... Winston is just weird ;)

P.P.P.S. I really didn't want to do my link in purple, but Typepad decided that purple would look really special today.... Ggggggrrrhhh!!!

 

tricks and treats

 
 
Whew. What a busy last week. Halloween parties all over the place, including here. And in between I had a couple of near-migraine headaches, so lots of other things just didn't quite get done the way I wanted to... back to finishing all my project ideas up this week now.  

 
In the middle of the party here at our house on Friday night, we had the most spectacular sunset I think I've ever seen. One of the Dads phoned and said to go look outside at the sunset...

 
 
Breathtakingly eerily beautiful-- it was so surreal. Great special effects for a Halloween party ;)

xoKelly

 

 

the pumpkin patch

 
 
We went to the pumpkin lady's house and picked out our pumpkins this week. We started coming here when our oldest two were very young. It's a small farm in the middle of the next town. (Think of the movie "Up".)

We go here for two reasons:

#1 The pumpkin lady leaves long stems on the pumpkins. We like our pumpkin stems long. 

#2 The pumpkin lady always has Smarties in her apron. (She gives me Smarties too.) 

I think I have a personal third reason...

The pumpkin lady has the coolest, frothiest white beehive hairdo ever. It's kind of a French knot in the back with mounds of white curls and white bobby pin intersections. I try not to stare; it's hard not to. She drives a tractor with that twelve-inch high beehive hairdo. (At Christmas she puts her tractor on the front lawn and decorates the whole thing with red and green tree lights.) She's in her seventies. I am impressed. She reminds me of my Grandma Warner who was a farmwife with white hair, aprons, and Smarties in her purse. 'nuff said.

Happy weekend. XoKelly

shopping around

For the past few years I've signed up to help with school holiday parties at Jesse's and Sophey's back to school night. But this year all the fill in slots for help were pretty full by the time I got to the sheet. The "provide school supplies" line sounded like a great (ie., easy) idea this year-- and I've always liked being a supply kinda person. Then last week I spotted the black totes at my local craft store... Aha! finally had an idea for a craft project. Yay! (my idea well has been running dry lately), so I bought the totes and hit my studio; thinking pretty, but practical thoughts. 

  

*(This is also counting as my end-of-the-year-teacher-appreciation-gift, since I stink at ever getting anything more than a quick thank you card signed. I have two birthdays that last week of school, so all my good intentions for doing something really nice for our teachers just never quite happen.)*

Anyway, the fabric sewn to the front of the bags is a big pocket. I cut the paisley fabric into a rectangle that fit the bag well and then cut a strip of the brown and black print and the checkered fabric to fit vertically along the side of the bag. I zig-zag stitched the brown fabric onto the paisley fabric first and then zig-zagged the checkered fabric. The vintage lace got stitched on last. I ironed the top of the fabric down about an inch, and ironed the three side edges under about a 1/2".

At this point every extra idea I had to make it look like a teachers bag seemed like a big cliche. Apples? No. Pencils? Nah. Well, what then? So I put the project aside for a few hours (I always think of it like cooking-- on the back-burner and slow simmering..) until this idea came to me: If the kids did the artwork, those pencils or apples would be fabulous, AND they would be involved in the project. Perfect. I handed Jesse and Sophey a box of fabric crayons and fabric pastels with the instructions: draw something school-ish for your teachers, pretty please (followed by please please please).

And they did! Way better than anything I could have ever come up with... kids are so cool.

Jesse's pencil art: 

 

Sophey's schoolhouse art:

The drawings are done on a piece of torn canvas. Sophey used fabric crayons and Jesse used fabric pastels. I sprayed both pieces of canvas art with clear matte spray polyurethane sealer, and then allowed it to dry very well (a few hours) to protect the artwork before sewing the canvas onto the other fabric piece. I added a few big buttons for interest. And then I sewed the whole piece onto the black canvas tote bag. I pinned the fabric in place securely before sewing to make sure the pocket wound up even. It worked. A little tricky and bulky, but still easier than I thought it would be.

Can't wait to hear the tote report after school today :)

In other news around here, I went with my girls to SLC to our big outdoor shopping center, Gateway, over the weekend. We went on a clothes hunt. Didn't find much. It seems the palette for winter this year is black, grey, creme, and black, grey, creme, and dusty rose.... ugh. Not a fan of dusty rose. I think I O.D.ed on it in the '80s. I had a dusty rose bedspread, chair, and waaay too many dusty rose clothes back in the day.

Anyway, a stop by good old bright and happy Anthropologie saved the day. I am always totally inspired by the colors, the displays. SO creative.

 

Dog tea towels?! Man. Eighteen dollars each?! No mon :(

 

So I came home with one little tea cup and a few more bowls. But I'd say my new/old church rummage sale tea towel (compare at 25 pennies, people) is looking pretty darn Anthro cool with the cup, now isn't it?

Sweetness...

 
with a flowery handle. It really is the little things, isn't it? 

And while we're in the kitchen, and I'm writing another catch-up marathon post, here's what got baked last week too. Very yummy. And less sinful than those Oreo cupcakes ;O

 

Here you go:

LOW-FAT PUMPKIN COOKIES:

• 1 cup canned pumpkin
• 1 cup brown sugar (I used 3/4 cup- it worked)
• 1/3 cup applesauce
• 3 cups oatmeal
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp ginger
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ground cloves

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix together the pumpkin, sugar, and applesauce.

In a separate bowl, combine the remaining ingredients, then add to the pumpkin, mixing well.

Drop by spoonfuls onto a baking sheet. Bake for 13-15 minutes or until done. Recipe found at About.com

Oh, and I almost forgot. I added my own drizzly frosting made with a pkg of low-fat softened cream cheese and about 2 cups of powdered sugar and a little vanilla. Mix in mixing bowl till smooth, adding a few tsps of milk till its drizzable. (You know what I mean.)

ENJOY!

P.S. I'm gettting ready for the CREATIVE CONNECTION EVENT this Thursday - Sunday in Minneapolis. It's going to be three days filled with arts and crafts and estrogen galore, I'm sure. AND I'm going with Mike, so three days alone with my husband. Wow. Gotta million things to do though. I'll be back with a report on all the wonderfulness early next week.

Have a lovely week, my friends. xxKelly