May Day Baskets

For as long as I can remember I've wanted to make May Day baskets, but I never followed through with it.  This year I decided to make it happen by keeping things simple and starting out small.  The May Day basket tradition is to leave baskets of flowers at your neighbors door.  This year I left a basket of flowers at our door, waiting for each of the girls when they got home from school. I think this got the girls excited about the tradition and next year we can all work together to deliver baskets. 

I found the little pots in the dollar spot at Target, 8 for a dollar, they are small and super cute. I only used two of the pots, leaving six for us to give to our neighbors next year (planning ahead!).   

I didn't have any fresh flowers on hand, so I decided to make a flower garland and tie it up to look like a colorful bouquet of flowers.  The garland was so easy to make, tutorial found here.  The yellow yarn came from Anthropologie at Christmas time.

Next year, we may purchase fresh flowers or make our own again...that all depends on the status of our bank account.   Last year, I had high hopes of delivering Christmas cookies to our neighbors but with Jeremy's finals and traveling, it was hard to make it happen and this Christmas will probably be the same.  A May basket might be a nice alternative for our family.  Plus, making our own flowers would allow me to plan ahead and have things ready to go months ahead of time.  Will someone please hold me accountable to this?  

Happy May!

Pretty, Pretty Balloons

One of St. Louis' yearly traditions in September is a Hot Air Balloon Glow on Friday night and a Balloon Race on Saturday afternoon.  This year we officially participated in the Balloon Glow, by picnicking in Forest Park with some friends, and we unofficially participated in watching the race on Saturday, by cruising around in the van with the kids watching for balloons racing through the sky. We plan on making this event a yearly tradition for our family during our time here. The kids loved it, we loved it and I think the whole experience deserves some recognition on our Christmas tree this year and for years to come.  

Christmas tree?  Yes, especially after I saw these ornaments; they seem like the perfect way to remember don't you think?

 

Since the cost of three ornaments (one per kid) is way out of our Christmas budget I plan on making my own version this year and I will let you know how it goes.

Have you seen all the holiday trim for yourself?  Don't even get me started on the gift wrap section.

Today I Love...

Volumes

by Anna Maria Horner

I have loved this fabric from the moment I first laid eyes on it.

I love the colors, I love the pattern, I love that it is 54" wide.
 There are so many beautiful ways to sew with Volumes.

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 I love it as a clutch

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 I love it as a dress

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 I love it as pants

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 I love it as a bag

and I love it as Lincoln's bumper.

What is your favorite line of fabric?

this week's weather report

The mornings have been gray and rainy here.

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After the morning storms

the sun begins to peak through all of the rain clouds

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and the rain begins to subside

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and by the afternoon

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the blue skies appear and the sun is shining.

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Today I Love...

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Five blogs/websites

Dolci Odille: I found this blog of the letterpress and design company via "Once Wed," a wedding blog I subscribe too. Their projects and design work have been around the "Blog Block" for a while now and I just recently spent a little more time on their site. I plan on stopping by there before the next party I host. I am certain to find inspiration for the invitations and the decorations. There is a really fun flower garland DIY that I want to make for the girls.

Made by Joel: Another frequently featured blogger who is also writing a book. This is one of my must visit spots for some "how-to-toys " to create for your kids. I have the fishing pole on my list for this summer. This is also a great site to visit if you plan on making Christmas gifts this year and your gift list includes some little ones.

The Willows Home and Garden: a shop in Phoenix, Arizona that also has a blog. I love this blog, she shares so many lovely things. She knows how to host a gathering, how to set up a beautiful display in her store and is in the process of remodeling her kitchen...the before was beautiful and I can't wait to see the after.

Alice Lane Home: another furnishing boutique with a blog-yay! This is a new to me place I visit for some sophisticated design inspiration, which I am hoping to add a bit of to our apartment-to hopefully make it feel not so apartmenty.

And finally:

Imogene+Willie-I really have not spent much time on their blog, their website is really what got me. This is how they describe their business:

imogene + willie is an unseen retail concept. It is a mix of product design, product execution, and product distribution... all in one retro-fitted gas station. It is like an artisan bakery for premium apparel

Go to their site, let the video load and watch it. It is just beautiful and if we ever make our way to Nashville, we will have to stop by and have a look at those denim shirts and of course the jeans.

Take a look and tell me what you think!

duck tape and jonathan adler

The girls got a package in the mail last week. It was full of supplies for the girls to create several of the projects in our Kid Made Modern book and Green Crafts for Children book.

One of the supplies was duck tape to create the first project on the docket, the colorful satchels found in Kid Made Modern, created with duck tape and priority mail envelopes.

So many colors of duck tape in a tall pretty tower.

My mind began to buzz with other ways to use this tower in our creative endeavors. A quick flip through some of my inspiration files led me to search for Jonathan Adler and all of his beautiful, bright pillows.

So, first we will make the satchel, then perhaps the duck tape wallet. And after all of that practice I will be able to tackle these new ideas.

I hope to find some time this weekend to sit back and be inspired and if I can squeeze it in, make something. I am also planning a fun DIY to do with your kids-which I will share next week. In the mean time, head over to your local bookstore and browse through one or two or all of these books.

One-Yard Wonders

Green Crafts for Children

Kid Made Modern

Martha Stewart's Encyclopedia of Crafts

Have you made any fun crafts with your kids lately?

apartment living

We will be downsizing when we move in just a few months, so I am gathering ideas for how to fit all of our stuff into smaller square footage. Here are a few of my favorites from my flickr page. Have I mentioned we found out we will be moving to St. Louis? We are super excited!

1. Modern office: Vintage Jacobsen Swan chair + IKEA bookshelves, 2. Ideas for small spaces: Dresser in the living room + small tables, 3. gasl_small_apartments_13, 4. domino tori10, 5. kitchen, 6. Kitchen, 7. Ideas for small spaces: White curtains + faux paneling + modern fabric + tidy storage, 8. Desk, 9. bookcases

Wednesday Inspriation...

Wednesdays are are hardest day of the week for me. I think by midweek I am just worn out. So far, I have spent Monday and Tuesday, tackling all of my crafting supplies. I am keeping only my favorite things and tossing the rest into our garage sale pile. It is so freeing to let things go.

In addition to going through all of our belongings before our move. I hope to finish decorating the kids room. It needs to look finished for staging. :) Plus, I really want to see my vision for this room to come to fruition before we move.

The girls were both given matching day beds this summer. I LOVE them and can't wait to make the bedding. I have been on the look out for pretty photos of daybeds to help me in my endeavor. Below are three pretty photos that I found via Ohdeeoh.

These rooms are the work of Sixx Design. A husband and wife team with 7 children!

I love the beds.

I love the curtains.

I love the artwork.

They have a reality show coming to Bravo. It makes me wish we had cable. =(

what rooms are inspiring you right now?

President's Day

I am ordering for this for Lincoln's half of the room.

found on etsy via ohdeeoh

And I must add this to my list of things to make.

Found here.

I am going to spend the rest of the kids rest time sorting through my HUGE mess of craft supplies. I can't find anything in the mess, so that means making things is pretty impossible lately. I miss crafting.
I will share photos of our Valentine's Day party tomorrow.

Happy Monday!