Birthday Boy

Without Evan, life is as boring as unsweetened oatmeal.  Or as dry as a mouthful of Saltine crackers.  He makes life so much fun and I am the luckiest girl to have him.

 p.s.  do note the tiny frog atop Evan's nose.  See?  Fun.

And his cake?  Tasted exactly like a giant Ding Dong.  Mission accomplished.  Happy Happy Birthday indeed.

**edit**

Some notes on the Birthday Cake.  I used my most favorite Chocolate Cake recipe topped with Ganache (found here) and filled with a heaping helping of The Best Frosting Ever (found here).  So easy and delicious.   Make one!

Lavender Scrub

Last week, while I was feeling under the weather, I must have washed my hands at least seven million times.

And it's winter.  And it's Montana.

(My hands are dry)

So yesterday, I whipped up a little scrub.  It is heaven.

Lavender Hand Scrub:

2 1/2 c. sugar
1 c. extra virgin olive oil
4 T. lemon juice
plenty of lavender buds

(you could definitely substitute the lavender buds for any essential oils you have on hand.  I personally love the look and extra exfoliation the buds provide.)

Gather all ingredients and mix.  Done!  Recipe adapted from this one.

I'm thinking that this recipe will be great for making little Christmas gifts next year.  Picture this: little jam jars and a tiny spoon tied up with some pretty ribbon.  Nice!

I should probably mention that it works like a charm and left my hands feeling/smelling amazing.  My whole outlook on January has changed.  For the better.

The flu, a fuzzy gnome, and a very sad ending

I have been on sick-leave this week.  Flu.  I hate you.  But I think I (well we, because Evan and I like to share everything--including illness) am on the mend, which is great, because the only thing I've been able to do this week is flip through an Ikea magazine.   Like maybe 500 times.   And the blazing fever I had only fueled my urgent desire for another book shelf (I'm thinking this one).  Long story short, being sick makes me want to go furniture shopping.

Anyhoo, last week, before I was ill, I was able to have a serious crafting session with my artsy friend Shelece.  She is good.  And she taught me to felt things.

Meet 'Little Gnomie'.  

I was thinking he could live in my little greenhouse (perfect size!), and be in charge of the pine cone situation.  Well, I was just so pleased with him, and I didn't want him to go live in the greenhouse just yet, so I had him sitting on this table.  Where I could get a good look at him.  Because he made me ridiculously happy.  Which seemed safe enough.  And besides, it was just going to be for a couple of days...

This is where the story gets really sad.  Please go grab a box of tissues.  I'll wait...

Okay.  Are you ready for this?  

Gesso ate him.  You heard me-- Ate.  Him.  *sob*

And I don't really feel like talking about it.

Feeling Blue

After reading Mandy's magnificent post, I felt inspired to bring my own 'splash of color' to dreary dreary January.  And while all colors are nice, I went ahead and filtered out anything that wasn't blue.  Because I love blue.

The latest Globe find.  The reason you need so many is because they are all different!  This one has half of Africa being owned by the French.  I am collecting History (as explained to an exasperated Evan).

My most favorite pillow I have ever made.  It recently underwent some dramatic re-constructive surgery when Gesso confused it for a blue donut.  Honest mistake.

A little thrifted vase full of lichen-covered twigs (LOVE those).

New teal calender on my blue wardrobe.

A tiny sack of Blue Bird flour.  Matches this perfectly. (Thanks A--I love it.)

My toenails + the bathroom rug = BFF.  Sorry about the creepy foot picture, but you have to admit, that's some good matching.

My little butter crock.  I got it for my birthday and loved it so much that I got one for both of our moms for Christmas.  A little bit of butter has been added to almost everything since then.  

some more jabber:

::  I recently placed an order for another case of cocoa powder.  That means we average about a canister a month.  But who's counting?   *burp*

::  Can't get enough of this smoothie.  We've had it every day for lunch this month.  It's equal parts Popeye and awesome.

:: I bought a cake decorating kit.  It has changed my life.  I recently used it to decorate 4 dozen cupcakes for a baby shower.  At the end of the night, there were just 2 left.  Why?  Because of the cake decorating kit.

::  I accidentally came home from work with a 25 lb. bag of rolled oats.  Evan was so concerned.  We are just two people, after all.

::  Since that day, I have made four batches of granola.  And yesterday I made these cookies with coconut and hemp seeds.  And they are gone already.   He is no longer feeling concerned.  He is feeling good.

{this moment}

{this moment} - A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week.

If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' over at Soulemama for all to find and see.

A Seinfeld Christmas

Remember Christmas?  It seems so long ago.  I wanted to step back in time for a minute and share one of the gifts I made.

My little brother Curtis is way into t-shirts.  It's more of an obsession.  And so I've been giving him t-shirts the past few Christmas'.  And while everyone else is getting homemade gifts, I couldn't talk myself into buying 'just a shirt'.  I  had to make it.

And so I used a freezer stencil (which I didn't do a tutorial of because I was feeling very lazy, but it is so easy, I promise), and made 'The Kramer'.

Last Christmas I made George Costanza.  (bad picture) 

My favorite part was when he was wearing both of the t-shirts and it felt like the best television reunion ever.  I can't wait to see who emerges out the fabric next Christmas.  Elaine?  Jerry?  Newman?

Little Greenhouse

A couple of years ago Evan and I were out doing some shopping and we saw this little greenhouse.   As soon as I saw it, my eyes glazed over and I began drooling over everything.  I needed to have it.  Never mind that we were poor students living on a tight budget.  I needed it anyway.

And so my sweet Evan got it for me.  And I loved him for it.

But the problem was, we had no money to fill it with plants.

And so it sat empty until we graduated.  And then because we have been moving around like gypsies ever since, I felt like I should wait until we were 'settled' before filling it with little plants (I have found out the hard way that plants don't handle moving very well).

And then a couple of weeks ago I got tired of waiting.

So I filled it up with some little plants, a few lichen-covered sticks, and some special  Moki Marbles.

And I'm still a little bit drooling.

{this moment}

{this moment} - A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week.

If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' over at Soulemama for all to find and see.

Castle Peeps for a little Prince

My friend Allison is having a baby this month.  A little boy.   As I was pondering what to make for baby boy, I stumbled upon this fabric, and this tutorial.  Perfect!

And so I made it.  I realize that this isn't a traditional newborn gift (Evan is really very worried about the choking hazard the little chickens might pose), but I think it will be nice to have a gift that the baby can grow in to (rather than quickly grow out of).

I made a few minor changes to the tutorial:  I used flannel instead of felt for the background, and instead of a button/handle combo, I attached some Velcro (which is hidden behind the castles), and made a little bag for holding the peeps.  Instead of using cardboard, I used some heavy interfacing.  I did this because I thought it might be more flexible and convenient to roll up the board like a burrito and stick it in a bag for playtime emergencies.

And it's really fun to play with.  Like, really really fun.

Pipsissewa

"It-breaks-into-small-pieces" is what the Cree name pipsisikweu means, because the Pipsissewa's leathery evergreen leaves contain a substance that was supposed to dissolve kidney stones. (It does not, in fact.)

Another small fact:  Pipsissewa is also sometimes referred to as "Ground Holly".  I know!  I love it.  Dear Parents, thank you for naming me after a plant.

 And it's much easier to pronounce.  So that's what I'm gonna call it.