Ransacked Goods

Outdoor Chalkboard

I've been meaning to do this outdoor chalkboard project for so long! It was put on the back burner so many times I just forgot about it. But last weekend we got motivated to finish up some projects in our backyard. One trip to the hardware store for a can of paint was all it took, now that's not too hard. The Chickpea helped me slap a coat of primer on a big board we already had, then three coats of chalkboard paint. Yeah, my little helper got board so I did most of it. The hubby mounted it to the fence and I repurposed 2 hooks (they are a little creepy because they are shaped like fingers) to hang 2 chalk buckets. Instant play time, they love it. Now to be an over achiever I also painted the inside of the chicken coop (I should call it a kid coop for now) with the chalkboard paint and recovered the benches inside with new oil-cloth. We're ready for Summer.

Rainbow Party Favors

We're hosting a my daughter's 5th birthday party this weekend. She's not really interested in gifts but has asked several times for a rainbow birthday. I went to our excellent and cheap local party supply store and picked up some rainbow themed favors and these plain brown pastry bags. The Chickpea and I then sat down with a set of ink pads and decorated them which was fun to see what we could come up with. The adorable rainbow buttons came from buttonsandbadges Etsy store. We'll pick up some rainbow colored balloons and I found some rainbow striped candles at Target. Check, done! We're ready to get our rainbow on! Now if you wanted to go full tilt check out this board.Excellent ideas if you've got oodles of time and sugar.

via buttonsandbadges Check out what else they have!

covet garden - new issue

via covetgarden.com

Check out Holly Wheatcroft's home in the new issue of Covet Garden. I'm in love with the simple paired down white interior with pops of lively hand woven textiles. Some beautiful sources for ikats and block printed jems that give just a hint of a bohemian style. I wish I was brave enough to paint my hard wood floors white!

Whole Cloth Baby Quilt

Just in the nick-of-time I finished the baby quilt for my nephew before I was off to my sister-in-law's baby shower in Nevada over the weekend. I was inspired by some really lovely whole cloth quilts that I had seen, particularly this one and this one that really let the simplicity of the fabric and pattern speak for themselves. An of course I fell in love with the linen car fabric from Kokka. So many amazing Japanese import fabrics to swoon over, here. I wanted to get in just a little modern patchwork on the back with some scraps I had around. I love piecing fabric together without a pattern, so liberating. I hope this little gem will be loved for years.

Green Shoes

Check out my new pretties to wear this summer. Yeah, I know... great shade of green! I've never been that much of a green fan. Funny how wearing an ugly wool forest green uniform for 7 years straight will kind of zap a color out of your wardrobe for your adult life (anyone else out there feeling me?). But I'm completely drawn to kelly greens, mint greens, jade greens now. I'm talking just a pop of color not much. It's an unexpected jolt of Spring that's making me happy.

Baby Shower Gift

I am over the moon with excitement for the arrival of my new nephew in a few months. I find myself scouting for cute boy gear which is a real treat. I love it when boys clothing and accessories are done well. For example Tea and Mini Boden hit it right on for me if I were lucky enough to have a little guy. 

My sister-in-law's baby shower is in just a few weeks. I made the baby a few bibs with this vivid retro fabric from Alexander Henry that I had in my stash. And I made her a simple little clutch just big enough to fit some essentials. I stashed it with a few diapers, a small package of wipes, hand sanitizer, tissues, sunscreen and an organic onesie that I embellished (and forgot to photograph). Both are linen with soft linen because it just looks good with everything right!

The knit blanket they are sitting on was my brother's when he was a baby. Goodness knows why I have it. It has a nice big hole in it but I can't seem to get rid of it. I'm still trying to think of a way to change it into something else for his son, a pillow? I only wish they used natural fibers more back int he 70's. Oh well, work with what you've got.

Caine's Arcade

This is totally cute.It will make your day. I wish we could all be so inspired and rewarded with generosity.

 

 

Knot Thread Stitch by Lisa Solomon

Hey folks, my super talented friend Lisa Solomon has a new book coming out called Knot Thread Stitch, keep an eye out for it. In Lisa's fine art work she pushes embroidery and crochet to a new level making the most beautiful installations that combine her stitch work with vivid colors and drawings. I'm looking forward to seeing the projects she's come up with in her book. There is some inside scoop on it here from Lisa. You should also take a look at her amazing list of contributors. And check out the beautiful pictures of her home on SF Girl by Bay here.

Kate Bingham Burt 
Lisa Congdon
Andrea Corrona and Ezra Jenkins 
Wendy Crabb 
Camilla Engman 
Susie Gharhremani 
Christine Castro Hughes
Heather Smith Jones 
Amy Karol and her daughter Delia
The Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery – Ashleigh Giberson + Amanda Jennings
Martha McQuade
Sally J. Shim
Blair C. Stocker
Betsy Thompson
Patricia Zapata

 

Happy Easter!

Have a wonderful Easter filled with inspiring color like these little gems. And of course add in a little candy and lots of family!

Our crafting table cloth is a laminated piece of fabric from Anna Maria Horner and it always makes me happy. Doesn't it makes these eggs come to life!

 

Heart Tag

Last month I started noticing this petite heart tag someone made around my neighborhood. Most of them are right before the walkway entrance to someone's home. I'm guessing they were a Valentine's Day gift to the 'hood. Come on, how sweet can you get. I'm only a little upset that I didn't get one in front of our gate. I've always wanted to give moss graffiti a try. Perhaphs I could plant a few messages around my own neighborhood.

Sheryl Sandberg: Why we have too few women leaders | Video on TED.com

So for any of us in this room today, let's start out by admitting we're lucky. We don't live in the world our mothers lived in, our grandmothers lived in, where career choices for women were so limited. And if you're in this room today, most of us grew up in a world where we had basic civil rights, and amazingly, we still live in a world where some women don't have them. But all that aside, we still have a problem, and it's a real problem. And the problem is this: Women are not making it to the top of any profession anywhere in the world. The numbers tell the story quite clearly. 190 heads of state -- nine are women. Of all the people in parliament in the world, 13 percent are women. In the corporate sector, women at the top, C-level jobs, board seats -- tops out at 15, 16 percent. The numbers have not moved since 2002 and are going in the wrong direction. And even in the non-profit world, a world we sometimes think of as being led by more women, women at the top: 20 percent.

via www.ted.com

Anyone else out there a TED geek? I found this talk from Sheryl Sandberg incredibly motivating. I already knew to "sit at the table" but "don't leave before you leave" was a really insightful point that I hadn't heard verbalized for many young women in the workforce. Give it a listen.

Sesame Street: Change the World

I've been looking for videos to have in my repertoire for when I need to give Apple her inhaler. Believe me, it's not easy to get a toddler to sit still while you stick a mask on her face and count her breaths. Did she get too much, too little? Sit still!!!! This one is adorable.

Homemade Muesli

My husband is a creature of habit when it comes to his eating. While I live to eat, he eats to live. EVERY day, day after day he eats a boring bowl of muesli for breakfast. While he may shake it up every once and a while - this is it folks. My taste buds are bored just thinking about it. But combine this with the fact that he is gluten free and pre-diabetic, this is an excellent breakfast for him. So I wont mess with what works.

I do however take issue with buying it for $3.50/pound at our local store and it's not even organic. He goes through at least 2 pounds a week so I hunkered down to reinvent it with my own recipe using organic ingredients. Here is what I came up with and it's around $2/pound and all organic. 

 

Erik's Homemade Muesli

3 cups organic rolled oats

2 cups organic rolled barley

1 cup organic rolled rye

1 cup oat bran

1 cup sliced almonds

3/4 cup misc. dried fruit

1/2 cup unsweetened dried coconut flakes

Tylenol & Asthma

Does Tylenol Worsen Asthma For Kids? : Shots - Health Blog : NPR

Just a quick but important read for those of you with kids - especially any kids with respiratory issues. I'll reluctantly be switching to Ibuprofen for my kids.

Handmade Tissue Paper Valentines

I'm so please with how this year's Valentine's Day cards turned out. Best of all so is the Chickpea and she is really looking forward to giving them out to all of her buddies tomorrow. She had such a good time making them and they kept her busy for nearly an hour of fun filled yet focused time. These cards are brilliantly easy because we found 4" cardstock hearts that had a peel off sticky side. Add pre-cut squares of tissue paper and you get pretty little mosaic hearts. I then stamped them with a few little words on front. On the back she wrote her friend's names and we attached a little heart shaped notepad.

Kid Crafting Books

I don't think I've ever written about one of our favorite kid's crafting books, Every Day is a Holiday by Heidi Kenney of My Paper Crane. The Chickpea and I like to just sit down and flip through the pages for inspiration and a few giggles. There are some really adorable projects in here, conveniently organized by month if you're looking for a now project or planning ahead. Above is a star decoration we made for her room with tissue paper balls based on the hat project on the cover.

Are there any kid crafting books or sites in particular that you love?

Wooden Princess Wands

via www.etsy.com by 3PrincessEngravings

Here is a link to the lovely wooden wands I gave out to a few people this Christmas. I have bought a few other personalized natural wooden baby gifts from them too. They are excellent in quality and really affordable. Check it out.

Holiday Teacher Gifts

We gave each of the Chickpea's teachers a little homemade holiday gift this year. We made vanilla extract a few months back and then made some vanilla sugar - general recipe here. I also stopped by Miette, one of our favorite bakeries, and picked up little packages of walnut shortbread cookies. We bundled everything up in these sweet muslin bags that we stamped and punched out little tags with a message for each teacher.

While they aren't strictly made by the kiddo she helped in every part of the process and they were made over many days of crafting. It really helped to spread things out over several days.

We packed up a few more of these for friends. We'll be making another batch of this killer fudge from Martha. I made some for a Christmas party and I'm totally adicted to this easy confection.

Salt Dough Christmas Ornaments

Despite my lack of posting we've actually had a lot of crafting going on here. With a 17 month old cruzing around the house this year we only put up the non-breakable ornament on the tree. While the little distructor was napping her sister and I made ornaments with salt dough. It was a first for me and the results were really satisfying.

We rolled out several batches to cut up. More than I was really expecting.

After they were baked we painted them with our new glitter paint. Who doesn't like glitter on a tree. I think they are adorable and I'd love to make some garlands out of them next year. There is something satisfying about making decorations that are not meant to be permanent. Try it out, here's the recipe.

 

Salt Dough Christmas Ornaments

Ingredients:

1 cup salt

2 cups flour

1 cup water

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

Directions:

Mix salt and flour in a bowl. Stir in water and oil little at a time. Next knead with your hands until you get smooth clay like dough.

Roll your dough about 1/4 inch thick and cut out your shapes with cookie cutter. Poke a hole with a wooden skewer for hanging.

Put your shapes onto an a cookie sheet with parchment and bake at 300 degrees for 1-2 hours until hard. Remove from oven and allow to cool completely.

Once dry paint with water based paints, glue, glitter etc.

Painting Again

Life has been more than busy and overwhelming around here. But what has been exciting is painting again. You see I'm writing and illustrating a children's book.And believe me writing a sescint story that has the right flow and excitement that I'm looking for has proved to be WAY more difficult than I expected. Thankfully the illustrations are easier (but not by much). I have found that this whole process has really challenged my brain. I'll post more pictures when I'm finished. For now it's a mad dash to have my dummy finished in 2 weeks!

Hey, Bro, That's My Little Pony!

via online.wsj.com

Cult following of My Little Pony by teenage boys and straight men? You got it. Bet the marketing department wasn't expecting that. This article cracked me up. I just love it how unpredictable commercialism is these days.

Happiness Pillow

Spotted this cute pillow at the flea market. Only I hate marshmellows....

Not So Good

Dear Spaghetti Squash.... I'm underwhlemed, sad to say. I really want to like you because you seem so cool. A vegitable that miraculously turns into noodle when cooked! Who would have thought you'd have all of that goodness spun up inside? But you're bland and I'm not a fan of that.

Anyone have a good recipe?

The Saddest Crisp

Last night we hosted a little going away gathering for some dear friends who are moving to South Africa. We had a great BBQ dinner, sat outside and ate by candle light and let the kids roam wild. It's such a great feeling when you have a diverse group of friends who all just click. You'll help one another out at the drop of a hat, you'll listen while another parent speaks to your child about something serious in a firm voice and it sits well with you, you'll commiserate about marriage, you'll share stories about sleepless nights, tough choices at work and pre-children travels, and basically you just adore one another's children and don't get sick of each other - that friendship is not easy to find and sustain.

We ate a peach blackberry crisp and homemade fresh vanilla ice cream which the Chickpea and I made with love for those we care about. There were tears all around, long sustained hugs and shouting of last goodbyes into the darkness. We've all decided that we'll just pick up where we have left off when they return in 2 and a half years. But life is best left unplanned and we all know that often the choices and events that have the most impact on us aren't always ours to make. I remind myself to let go and seek out kindness and embrace it when I see it and all will be well.

As sad as we are to miss our friends we know it is a great opportunity and we are undeniably happy for them. I don't know what to expect from the kids. Chickpea's best buddy departing will leave a big hole to fill but kids are resilient and adaptable. Thankfully, the little girls have a few more weeks before they say their final goodbye.

Thanks!

 

A quick thank you to who ever added a little glam to our otherwise dull neighborhood.

Halloween Paper Bag Bowls

via thelongthread.com

Can't wait to try this paper mache Halloween bowl with the Chickpea next week. I love having holiday decorations that you can pull out ever year. We used to have these lovely red unglazed ceramic jack-o-lanterns that my mom would pull out every year. I'm sure she still has them hidden somewhere.

I already have the mini play-doughs and pumpkin erasers to fill the bowls!

Early Gift Making

A little holiday crafting has begun. It's never to early to get into the spirit. And slow and steady is my pace now days when it comes to crafting. See if you can guess what we're making. I'm not going to give it away.... but you can take a peek here. And make a note that children of friends make an excellent assembly line!

Italian Cooking

A little while back I took an Italian (specifically Calabrian) cooking class on the recommendation of a friend of mine who has already taken several here. I signed up for it ages ago because her classes always sell out and I nearly forgot about it! Thank goodness I didn't because it was a really relaxing evening, the food a treat and so refreshing to absorb myself in something completely out of my routine. I wish I could just meditate while making pasta all day long, but alas, duty calls. Several people in the class had recommendations of classes all over the Bay Area so hopefully I'll get to try another one soon.

Check out the menu we prepared below. This class was devoted to making ricotta from scratch. It was heavenly - warm a goopy, I'd take it on anything. And I think the fact that it was made by a little old Italian lady who didn't measure made it taste better.

Bruschetta con Ricotta Fresca (Bruschetta with fresh ricotta)
Ravioloni Calabresi (Large ravioli filled with fresh ricotta, sopressata, parsley, egg and pecorino cheese)
Frittata con ricotta (Egg frittata with ricotta)
Zucchine ripiene con ricotta (Zucchine stuffed and baked with ricotta)
Cannoli Siciliani (Homemade cannoli shells filled with homemade fresh ricotta)

 

Check out Rosetta's beautiful book too.

 

DIY Alphabet Art

I had an idea of doing a large piece of art with the alphabet after doing these small scale watercolor pieces with my daughter's preschool. There are so many beautiful renderings of the alphabet for sale but really it's such an easy concept to do at home. I'm really please with how it turned out and I'm sure we'll enjoy it for a long time. And what I really like is that it's kid art that doesn't really look like kid art.

So here's how we made it. With a pencil I blocked out a grid of roughly 25, 5x4" boxes on a piece of watercolor paper I had. I also made sure the overall piece would fit into an old IKEA matted frame I had sitting in the garage. I used a set of 4" repositionable vinyl letters to set up the letters in the grid, sticking them down really well. I had an old pallet of gouache paint with a nice range of color in it so we just used that. And away me and my daughter painted over every inch of the paper. While I tried to limit the number of colors we were working with for simplicity, she mixed a few new ones and it turned out beautifully.

Olive Oil Granola

After growing sick of my own granola I decided to try a new recipe and I have to say this is my new favorite. Oh cardamom how I love you! And the granola was surprisingly lite with the olive oil. Give it a try: Olive Oil Granola with Dried Apricots and Pistachios. My only alteration was omitting the 3/4 cup of maple syrup, yikes this isn't supposed to be frosted flakes! And I'd probably cut the brown sugar back even more.