Ransacked Goods

Lemon Tea Cakes

Guess what, rain - rain - and more rain today. I am so not a Seattle girl anymore. I heard someone say on NPR the other day that it takes 10 years for you to adapt to a weather pattern in a new place, be it hot, cold, wet or mild. I'm going on 14 years down here in the Bay Area and I love our mild seasons, one wardrobe, the early springs, the light jackets....

So the Chickpea and I hunkered down for a lush little tea party of our own today. We baked these satisfying little Lemon-Lime Tea Cakes and poured some strawberry tea and sat and chatted. Then it was on to dancing in the livingroom with her yellow tu-tu, the same one I used to wear when I was little.

Rainy days aren't son bad after all.

Doll Bedding

A new quilt and pillow finished from scraps for Chickpea's dolly bed. Thank goodness I can rest better now that they are sleeping in a matching and well fitting set-up. Really she'd be happy tucking them in with a dirty tea towel from the kitchen and a damp washcloth left over from the bath. But doesn't she look cozy?

Recycling & Melting Crayons

I've been meaning to do this crayon craft project with the Chickpea ever since I first read about it on Craft Apple. We inherited a bag of old broken crayons that still have good life but are a little ratty. Plus I think larger sized object fit differently in small hands and lend themselves to different explorations. So we gave them a try today on another rain filled day.

Unwrapping the crayons was therapeutic and the confetti like mess actually quite pretty. Breaking them was satisfying and melting them a little tedious. 

 

But we had fun and they turned out well. We're ready to bust out the paper and play with our new inventions now. I think if I do these again I might try using fewer colors and melting them in the microwave and pouring them into fun candy molds as was suggested on another site. But really the possibilities are endless - maybe we'll try soap next?

Random Thoughts

I'm just a random jumble of to-do lists these days. Good intentions but lousy follow through - I'm being too hard on myself - I'm a busy full time working, pregnant Mommy, with an almost 3 year old. I'm also an artist, collector, crafter, friend, wife, traveler and general neatnik housekeeper. Too many personas to attend to at once, what's a girl to do. So here are some of my random thoughts and places I've visited this week.

• For all my designer, artist and architect friends who have had a rough year - NY Times article Architect, or Whatever. 
• Craft Hope for Haiti shop on Etsy. Don't hesitate, just shop and keep those donations coming.Indie Fixx has some cool auctions up too. I'm proud the company I work for is matching dollar-for-dollar the donations from it's employees.
• Polyvore is very addictive, creating sets, layered and collages products and images of your choice - cool in a materialistic kind of way.
• A new e-book on how to become a textile designer is coming out by Lizzy House. I'm quite intrigued after my stint in fabric design school.
• I'm going to (or should I say the hubby will do it for me) go Rust-Oleum crazy on the adorable cast iron kids bench (above) I picked up at a garage sale for $10. Turquoise or teal, perhaps like this table?
• Curtains for the front room are finally coming together with this fabric from Echino. I'm in love with so many of the patterns.
• Just finished reading Goldengrove on the way home today. Heavy but good.
• I'm posting to craigslist like mad - it's winter cleaning around here and that means purging what's not needed. Chuck it!!
• Rain, rain and more rain here... I'm thinking boots, the Recchiuti hot chocolate I slogged out in the rain for today because I couldn't be cooped up any more, the clogged sump pump that almost flooded our garage again... and how I miss sunshine.
• I know there's more... there is always more.

Penguin Soda Maker

This is mundane but here's what I totally have the "want-me-give-me's" for today, the Penguin. If you're like me and utterly addicted to bubbly mineral water you think about the plastic consumption, the lugging of bottles home from the grocery, and jeez - why isn't plain water good enough anymore! I'll easily drink a 1.5 liter bottle every day if it's around and that adds up. Mom, I know you're guilty too. There are other carbonaters on the market that will take your perfectly good filtered tap water and turn it into fizzy water but the cool thing about the Penguin is that it uses glass bottles to store your water. You can make whatever flavors you want (think cranberry juice, lemon with simple syrup, root beer) or just have it plain - brilliant! But at $200 a hefty investment.... sigh.... I want....

Weekend Thrifting

I love this picture of Chickpea, although the photographer in me says it could have been better and I knew when I took it that I had already missed the shot I wanted. Such is life with a roving 2.5 year old, deliciously adorable and innocent one minute then off like a shot to something new.

This weekend was the first time that we took her out to do some real thrifting and vintage scavenging in Alameda. I used to love spending full days roaming antique malls, stopping at garage sales and cruising eBay but my fondness has faded over the recent years. I think it all started when we moved into our new house 4 years ago. Our old place (although it's the same age and style as the new one) just craved color, happiness and kitsch - perhaps it was the bleak neighborhood that forced us to liven up our interior. But when we moved what we had looked out of place and awkward so most of my fun finds remained tucked away - the pink girraff salt and pepper shakers, the Thailand Jim Beam bottle, the cowboy lampshade. Our house has been going through a bit of an identity crisis ever since. But you grow up, your tastes change and what you choose to surround yourself with does as well. I still love vintage finds, appreciating old character and history but it has a different place in my heart and home now. I'm constantly working on removing the clutter in my house for the sake of simplicity, choosing to keep what has purpose, meaning or truly makes me happy to look at.

It was fun to see what Chickpea was drawn to: "broken dollies", a wicker baby carriage, train sets... I found myself looking mostly at what would amuse her and not what would fill my house, a happy change for the eyes.

But mostly we had what she calls "good times", running around and exploring. So what did we walk away with, a wicker doll rocker for her and a rosette cookie set for me. I had just asked my mom the other day if she still had my great-grand-mothers but she didn't. Funny the way things appear when you want them to, burried at the bottom of a box none the less. I'm excited to make these Swedish goodies but more on that later. We also happened upon another score the day before at Urban Ore, a BOB stroller (below) for just $38, nice I know. Sure it looks like it sat on someone's porch for a year but it's a nice ride for a fraction of the price!

Crafting With Kids

Crafting Fun: 101 Things to Make and Do with Kids by Rae Grant

I just picked up this book with more classic crafting ideas for Chickpea and me after our pine cone fun. I like the fact that most projects in this book can be made from things that you'll find around the house or minimal items that can be purchased easily and don't need to be stored. They aren't overly complicated and don't need a whole lot of instruction or detail work that can often make kids feel frustrated or inadequate. I also like that is organized by season so we can welcome each one - or just save them for a rainy day. Some of the ideas are really basic and familiar but it's nice to have them all at your fingertips in one place.

Here are a few I'm eager to try:

• Paper mache
• Bean painting with glue
• Tin can lanterns
• Ice pictures
• Pomander
• Beeswax candles & cutouts
• Potato prints
• Paper hats

Homemade Pizza

We like pizza around here - that is homemade pizza. It's an event for Chickpea and me, rolling the dough, choosing and layering the toppings. It provides the perfect exploring and snacking opportunity for her and chance for me to teach and relax. I wish more meals were like that around here for us and I'm trying to make them so. Cooking was always a family activity when I was growing up and it will be in my home too, it's just a matter of time and experience. Chickpea and I made our dough from scratch this time and it turned out perfectly. It was loving made with hands eager to pull and kneed it and not too patient fingers to let it sleep and rest.