classic campbell

The Annual Back to School Photo

2011-09-07T02:09:00.006-04:00

For the first time in history,

All kids,

In school!

And even though I tried so hard last year, this was also the first year that they all made it into the first day of school photo.

They all insisted on having their individual photos taken as well. Wilson was first:

I'm not sure what the power rangers pose is, but I love the puffy eyes of a kindergartener waking up too early on the first day of school.

Certainly Henry has a hero:

But I'm not sure if it's a power ranger or his big brother.

And Anna Jane was so ready for 2nd grade. All summer she kept asking how many weeks she had left before she could go back to school.

A few days before school started, she accompanied the boys to get their back to school haircuts and insisted that I let her get her 'vangs' cut, so she's got a cool new 'do.

We've survived the first week and a half, some preschool potty anxiety, riding buses in the morning and afternoon, and remembering to pack three lunch boxes and snacks, signing and returning forms, etc. Now when the homework starts next week, we might all explode.

A Garden on My Kitchen Table

2011-06-23T14:56:00.001-04:00

I work here:

More specifically, I work here:

I seriously cannot believe that I get to look out of my window and see this garden all day long. We have a horticultural therapist that works crazy-hard and keeps the garden up. It is truly therapeutic for the students and the staff. The therapist feels very strongly that everyone should benefit from the garden. We grow vegetables and herbs and fruit and lots and lots of flowers.

There are 4 large raised beds so that the plants are accessible to everyone. If I had any sense I would take more time to cut flowers and have them fresh on my desk everyday. But I'm definitely not missing out on much with this view.

This week, Henry and I stopped by school and collected some flowers from the garden.

We brought them home to put in a big vase on the sewing table. Which is really supposed to be the kitchen table. But it's the best place for me to sew, so we don't do much kitchening there. More sewing. But my machine is at the machine spa, so it's back to being a kitchen table for a few days.

The plan was to stick them in a large vase, take a photo, and post on the blog. Then I got a little carried away.

My grandmother gave me this crate about 10 years ago. Clearly, it's awesome, but I really haven't had a good use for it.

This didn't all come to me at once, but after a few brainstorms, I decided to fill it with canning jars, and then fill them with the flowers from the garden.

I don't however, have many canning jars. I don't can, so whenever I do have them, I give them to friends that need them. I do have a couple of jelly jars.

And milk glass glasses.

And funny enough, the small jars on the left of the above photo is from Old English cheese spread. They are small and very plain and I keep sewing notions in the jelly jars, milk glass, and cheese spread jars. I know that cheese spread stuff sounds gross, but I will soon share with you a recipe that will convince you that it is the best preservative rich food you've ever had.

I wasn't sure of the best plan of attack, and the way I saw it, I had two options: Fill each jar with only one kind of flower, or fill each jar with a mixture of flowers. I decided on the latter.

I started just sticking them into cups, and cutting them to size. They really didn't look too hot, but I kept going.

I realized very early on that I needed a few more jars and many, many more flowers.

The overall effect is pretty close to what I wanted, and no matter what, it looks a little nicer than a clunky (though super awesome) sewing machine.

I kind of love it.

Yesterday...

2011-06-23T10:02:00.004-04:00

...was my 9th anniversary. What is it they say about how most girls marry guys that remind them of their fathers?

Do you think that's true?

The Big Swim

2011-06-21T21:31:00.004-04:00

We jumped right in and joined the swim team this year. We had planned on only signing Anna Jane up, then I heard that they needed 5 year old swimmers. I told them I had a 5 year old, but he couldn't swim. They signed him up anyway.

I have never seen more progress in this short amount of time. By the second day, Wilson had abandoned his 'swimmies' and now he is swimming like a fish, jumping off the board, and swimming in 'the deep.'

The kids have both formed strong bonds with their coaches. Here is a pre-race pep talk.

And another....monitored closely by the medium brother.

These are photos from the first meet, last week.

Our first experience with the event board:

There were lots of shots of the kids actually swimming, but you can't really tell if they are swimming or floating or moving or stalling, so I've just included some behind the scenes shots. Actually they are all before the scenes shots.

Deciding he needed a little more stretching before his dive in:

Listening to his coach....or maybe it was the opposing team's coach, that could explain the hiding behind the goggles:

Anna Jane was really worried that she wouldn't win her race...

We assured both kids that whatever happened, we would jump up and down and cheer as soon as they jumped in the water. Winning wasn't even in our minds (for good reasons).

So Anna Jane jumped in and swam her little heart out and made it to the other side of the pool without stopping. That was our goal. She did it.

So Wilson jumped in the pool, swam right to the wall and started sobbing. We jumped up and down and cheered and congratulated him on jumping in the pool.

I was so proud of the kids and thankful to the coaches for sharing these skills and positive experiences with my kids.

Tonight was our second meet. Anna Jane smoked the freestyle and had definitely increased her speed from last week. Lo and behold they also entered her in the backstroke race. That was a little crazy....she had never been the length of the pool on her back and was super nervous. But she did it and it actually looked like the backstroke. I jumped up and down and cheered. I'm not one for playing it cool. Luckily they still like seeing their mom go nuts on the side of the pool.

And my sweet Wilson....this morning he had decided that he would sit out the rest of the year and pick it up again next year. Even though he had the skills to compete, he just isn't probably mature enough yet to keep up with the practices and demands of being on a team. But late this afternoon he had made up his mind to stick it out. He wanted to race at the meet tonight and he didn't want it to be his last one.

So the buzzer goes off and he jumps in the pool...and he SWIMS! In the midst of all of my jumping up and down and cheering, I see a few adults on the side of the pool pointing and grinning at my little jellyfish. He gets halfway to the other side and......stops. Turns around. Sobbing. No problem, the swim coach jumps in and swims him to the side. The crowd goes wild and I assure him that I am so proud, that he did more than he has ever done at a swim meet.

I am bursting with pride for my babies...It's amazing to see their confidence grow and I hope this is the first swim team season of many. Many.

I Love My Molly

2011-06-06T08:07:00.001-04:00

Even with beans all over her face.

Working Towards the Heisman

2011-05-23T16:29:00.012-04:00

Wilson has been waiting 5 long years to be 5 years old. Five years old is the magic age to sign up to play football. It has been such a positive experience.

Contrary to the widespread belief that these photos will generate, Wilson rarely runs the ball.

In fact, every time he has run the ball, he has ******shhhhhhhhhhhhh******** dropped it.

Even on this run.

HOWEVER...after every play, the tough, tough running back/linebacker/quarterback/center turns to me with a thumbs up from the middle of the field. And after a successful run, which ends in a trip or a slip and a dropping of the ball, he turns to me with a thumbs up and a "did you see that mommy!?!"

And what makes me the happiest is that he is just as happy and satisfied on the sideline as he is on the field.

We are working towards the Heisman. We've got our intimidating game face down, no doubt.

Something Old Meets Something New

2011-05-21T07:37:00.005-04:00

This is the something old. It was the first thing I ever ordered from a catalog. Back when you actually ordered from catalogs....called the toll free number, told them what you wanted, waited for them to tell you whether or not they still had that size, or that color...paid with a credit card.

I ordered this frumpy gray sweatshirt from J Crew when I was in middle school. J Crew would never make anything so loose fitting or reasonably priced these days. I wore it all through high school, college, 9 years of marriage and kids...it shows its wear.

But really, for 20 years of being loved and tossed around and spilled on and washed and washed and washed, it's held up just fine.

And my NEW CAMERA just loves it! And I love it. And I love my new camera. It seemed to be a long time coming....as in I saved the money several times and just couldn't do it. Despite wanting it so badly, and for so long, it's a lot of money to spend on oneself. But everything seemed to be on hold without a camera: the blog, the etsy listings, documentation of birthday parties and holidays. So I have justified it. To myself at least :)

And I have learned a lot about myself as a 'writer.' I write about my photographs, rather than using my photographs to enhance my writing. I just didn't see any value in writing without accompanying photos.

So with all of that said, I expect this camera to solve all of the problems of the world. Except the fact that the world is scheduled to end this evening. That will be a bummer.

An Early Birthday Present Experience

2011-04-28T17:09:00.005-04:00

before

during

after

beauty is pain :)

What a Long, Strange Day It's Been

2011-03-29T00:05:00.009-04:00

There was a series of unusual events today that must be acknowledged.

We started today, March 29th (3 days before April) (a week into spring) (the first day of spring break), with snow. Every morning before I get out of bed, I check the weather on my phone. When it said 'snow likely,' I re-entered my zip code, certain that I had accidentally clicked on the wrong link. Surely it's not going to snow in North Carolina. Today. Good thing I'm not responsible for the forecast....I would have gotten this one very wrong.

Then we had sweet Henry, who insisted that his chapped lips would be healed with a band-aid.

He wore it throughout dinner, throughout his cookie dessert, and throughout the countless episodes of Power Rangers Samurai that he insists on watching daily.

Then we had my Wilson, who often stuns us with his amazing memory and his interest in all things educational. After kissing him goodnight, he asked me with sincerity if there were really stick-people. Quite a curious question, one of my favorites so far.

Then we had the ruffle flower pin that I was wearing... that someone bought right off of my sweater. Really. Gotta give the people what they want. And if it's the flower from my shirt, then off it goes.

Never fear, we still have some pretty ordinary happenings to report.

The camera is still broken. There is no focus, no zoom, no recognizable photo produced by the blasted thing at all.

And the 6 year old girl who lives here still thinks that she is the star of iCarly, where acting sarcastic and sassy makes you a huge star. The parents that live here still thinks that it makes her a little difficult to manage.

And the house is still covered in scraps of fabric, because if it wasn't, there would be reason to think that it wasn't actually my house.

Local Loss

2011-03-19T19:05:00.005-04:00

I lost one of my students this week.

God is so happy to have him.

But I will miss him.

If I had a single flower for every time I think about you,
I could walk forever in my garden.
Claudia Ghandi

Non Advertising, But It's What's Going On

2011-03-09T18:41:00.009-05:00

I have tried very hard not to use my blog for advertising. The last thing I want you friends to think is that I'm trying to make you buy something from me!

Of course, if you *like* classic campbell on facebook and show your support for my entrepreneurial adventures, then I will try to get you to buy things from me! Or at least update you on things that others have bought from me.

And even though I try to use these two avenues of social networking differently, I do believe I have erred on the side of caution...extreme caution.

Because I have been alltheway busy making bucket liners and ruffly flower pins and other custom projects, I have not had a lot of time to do many other creative things. All of my creative energy right now is flowing right into my "business." So, that means that there has been no creative flow into my blog.

But I decided just recently that since my purpose for the blog is to share about me and my life and my ~~eating~~ cooking and my creating and my kids, then it makes perfect sense for me to share some of these "business" creations with you too. I do not want to make you buy things from me (though I will not prevent it), but this has become a very satisfying and important part of my life, so I want to share it too!

I realized that there were a lot of things that I haven't shown you and they were pretty cool things.

Like the princess and the pea playset. These are some of the most fun things to make.

I love love love to combine fabrics and this project was the perfect outlet for that!

And in case you haven't noticed, I've been making these ruffly flower pins.

At this point, I am selling them just as fast as I am making them. Without any time to photograph and list them on etsy, even. There are rarely two that are alike, so my opportunities for fabric combining are endless!

And the banners are still popular on etsy and otherwise. I need a great camera to take photos of all of the different ones I've made. The photos I've taken really do not do them justice.

I love making these things for others. My spring fever makes me anxious to whip up some new clothes for Anna Jane...and my sweet sister-in-law is getting married very soon, and I have a lofty goal of making the dress I'm going to wear to the wedding. It's hard to fit all of these things in, but I'm looking forward to all upcoming projects, whether they come to fruition or not!

My Baby's Birthday

2011-03-07T19:50:00.007-05:00

so sweet

very observant

such a helper

growing up too fast

eager to try anything

brave. and strong.

a big helper

willing to do anything to make his siblings happy

I love love love my kids' birthdays. We all get so excited about celebrating and making the birthday boy or girl feel very special. I have been looking forward to Henry's birthday so much...until last night. When I realized that yesterday would ~~unfortunately~~ ~~sadly~~ ~~horribly~~ probably be the last time I'm ever the mother of a two year old. *Sob*

But thank goodness for the blog, where I can click on a blog post be transported back to so many days in my kids' lives...like this one, where Henry learns to rap:

Happy Birthday to my baby Henry!

You Will Never Meet Another Like Me (and a recipe!)

2011-03-06T14:23:00.005-05:00

Most of us around here are happy about last night's basketball game...The second meeting between Duke and Carolina this season, and though we lost the first game, the HEELS won last night's match up.

Facebook was alive with happy UNC fans before, during, and after the game since we led the entire time.

Now, if I had written this post 20 years ago, I would have been very disappointed in the outcome of the game.

If I had written this post 25 years ago, I would have loved that Carolina had won.

Confusing? The explanation is even more confusing if you are familiar with the Duke/Carolina rivalry.

I, Katherine Campbell, like both Duke and Carolina. I realize that several of you might have just thrown your laptops across the room and un-followed my blog. I do have a reasonable explanation for those of you who are still reading.

I grew up a tarheel fan. My parents are tarheel fans. My sister is a tarheel fan. I have fond memories of ACC tournaments in Charlotte, pom poms with carolina blue and white streamers, and a newborn sister who came home in a UNC onesie from the hospital.

Then came the rebellion. I was a really good kid. But all kids need to rebel in some way, and this was my outlet. I became a Duke fan.

It didn't break my parents hearts, thank goodness. They dealt with the rebellion in a very healthy way. They allowed my rebellion and even supported it, probably knowing that if they forbid it, they would lose me to the Blue Devils forever.

They took me to Duke basketball games, they bought me Duke t-shirts and Duke posters for my room. They even took me on one of my Dad's sales calls, where I had my first run-in with my heart-throb, my beloved Quin Snyder.

I continued to love ~~Quin~~ Duke throughout high school. But as I entered college, Carolina started to sneak back into my heart. And eventually I went back to my roots. But I did not lose all of my love for Duke. I love them both. But if they are playing each other, I love the HEELS more.

Honestly, I would rather see Carolina rip into State or Wake first. And there go the rest of my readers....

But in case of a not so super outcome to last night's game, I decided to make an alltheway super dinner. I have mentioned this dish before, when I shared my trip to Birmingham to visit my cousin Will.

The greatest thing about this dish is that you make your own pasta....you don't need anything fancy. However, it is a little time consuming, and the thought of making pasta from scratch is intimidating probably for the few readers still out there. So I have simplified the recipe for that reason. You can buy gnocchi in the pasta section of your local grocer. The shelf stable gnocchi is made from potato, and the recipe I have is ricotta-based. After you try the store bought version, let me know how much you love it and I will teach you to make the gnocchi by hand.

Gnocchi With Prosciutto*
2 packages store-bought gnocchi
1/2 cup butter
3 oz prosciutto, chopped
10 torn basil leaves
1/4 cup pine nuts
1 cup cream
1/2 cup shredded parmesan

*DO NOT EAT THIS IF YOU ARE MY SISTER

Beat 1/2 cup cream until whipped, set aside. Do not substitute light cream, it will not whip. Trust me on this one. Set aside.

Melt butter in sauce pan, add pine nuts and cook until nuts brown a little. Add 1/2 cup cream to butter and pine nuts and bring to a light boil. Cook for one minute, then turn heat down to low. Add basil and prosciutto. Fold in whipped cream and parmesan.

Add gnocchi to boiling water. Once they float (just a few minutes), they are done. Remove with slotted spoon as they float to surface and add to sauce.

Serve immediately. If you eat this the next day for leftovers, the sauce will separate, so I do not recommend making the sauce in advance. You can make and shape the gnocchi ahead of time if you decide to make your own.

It really is a great recipe, especially good for entertaining. Not really traditional game grub, but like I said, if things had gotten bad last night we might have had to turn the tv off. So at least we would have had the meal to enjoy.

As I said in a text to Will last night, gnochhi for dinner. so even if we lose at bball we win at eating.

We Made it to 5!

2011-02-21T18:00:00.005-05:00

I often have a difficult time coaxing the kids out of bed in the morning. I expected today to be easy, since I could wake Wilson up with the news of his highly anticipated birthday. He was sound asleep on his back when I entered the room. Before I could reach him, he sat straight up and said with disbelief, "Am I five?"

He would not take my word for it...he insisted on seeing himself in a "big" mirror, one that showed his "whole body." After checking himself from head to toe he got a big grin on his face. The maturity that comes with being 5 had finally sunk in.

Happy Valentine's Day!

2011-02-14T07:44:00.002-05:00

We spent lots of time on the couch last night making hearts with our hands...it's funny how pudgy these hands seem when you look at them up close.

I love them.

Anna Jane Hijacks the Blog!

2011-02-13T19:09:00.006-05:00

Hello my name is Anna Jane.

I am 6. My hair color is blond. I like drawing. My mom's name is Kat. I'm in 1 grade. My favorite TV show is WIPEOUT!

You can ask me questions on the blog. I will answer them next time while I'm watching WIPEOUT!

Read my
blog!

(typed by anna jane...with spelling assistance from her mother, kat)

Just Arrived!

2011-02-12T18:54:00.003-05:00

I got lots of these little lovelies in the mail yesterday...

There are lots more, these are the only ones that would fit on the platter for their photo shoot.

Right now, the only plan is to get them into some soil (porous, no fertilizer...cactus soil is good), but I have some high expectations for them in the upcoming months.

Until recently I was only familiar with the hens-and-chicks variety of succulents, but I've seen lots of arrangements lately that are just breathtaking.

And once I realized there were so many different variations, I decided I just *had* to have some. Then one day this shop popped up on my etsy home page...Succulents Galore. It was a listing for 24 succulents. It was fate, so I bought them up!

My original purpose for these plants is a living wreath. If you buy some now too, maybe we can all make one together!

I'm constantly amazed at the things I find on etsy and how much I love them! And how much people love providing them for their customers.

It's a great way to support artists. And the perfect place to window shop in your pajamas!

Sewing Class

2011-02-02T07:23:00.003-05:00

If you follow my facebook page, you might be tired of seeing these photos, but one last announcement about the upcoming little boy's necktie class that I will be teaching at Karen Gray Design, here in Winston.

These little ties are a great project for a beginner, but also fun enough to make that someone with lots of experience wouldn't get bored.

With Valentine's day coming up, a little red and white tie would be perfect. And it's never too early to get started on Easter outfits!

The ties I'm making now have a casing around the elastic, so you will learn that too.
The classes are on Feb 3rd (tomorrow!) and February 17th from 6-8pm. There are a few spots left in each class!

If there are any other things you would like to learn how to make, let me know and if there is enough interest, maybe we can add more classes to the schedule!

Blogging or Sewing or Etsying or Mommying or Wifeing (But Definitely Not Cleaning)

2011-01-28T14:16:00.017-05:00

All of these are keeping me very busy. But it seems I can only do one at a time. Luckily I love them all. Unluckily I have very few hours in the day to do them all (something about those 8 hour workdays).

So, yes...I have neglected my blog. But it's mostly because I am head-over-heels in love with my etsy success. And really, it's teeny tiny success, but I love it!

I definitely need some major photography improvement in my product photos. I was fortunate enough to sell some things to a professional photographer, and she offered to send me a few shots of my products "in action."

It is super difficult to take photographs of my banners...I'm pretty sure I need to purchase a wide angle lens. Though I should probably purchase a camera to attach it to first.

What can I say? Precious...no, that doesn't come close to covering it. I only wish all babies liked to cuddle up in galvanized buckets. Those things would sell themselves! This photo is definitely responsible for some etsy sales...even a boutique in Ohio bought 10 to sell.

I love making bucket liners for Easter, and I love making banners for nurseries and baby showers, and everyone's favorite....the birthday party! Check out my facebook page for some fan photos!

I decided to work pretty hard on the appearance of my "shop," and the first edition of this year's Etsy Success Newsletter was entitled "Shop Makeover: Week One." I subscribe to this newsletter, which I get through email. The first article was about building your brand...perfect. I clicked on that link and read that article. I scrolled down to the next article which was entitled "Banner and Avatar Tips." Those are key elements of your shop....they represent you and your products on all areas of the etsy site. When I scrolled down to click on the link to this article, I found this:

image by classic campbell

Honestly, I was frozen at the kitchen counter. And then, I think I screamed. And then I immediately emailed my new best friend Danielle, the author of the post and etsy employee who used my photograph to accompany her etsy success newsletter article. Granted, the caption didn't say "best photo in the world," or "best etsy product ever," or "go buy things from this shop," but what an exciting email. And thank goodness I subscribe to the Etsy Success newsletter, or I never would have known!

I'm working up the nerve to hire someone to create a logo. I have been really inspired by Jessica Hische's daily drop cap project. She has illustrated each letter of the alphabet 12 times. I am in love with so many of them...

randing is very important

ew look for my logo

ou will soon see a fancy logo!

hope!

e'll see...

Jessica created these letters for anyone to use on their blog...but not for logos or branding. But...you *can* have them tattooed onto your body, which she explains in further detail on the site. So breathe easy :)

Go look around her site sometime...it's beautiful! I would love to find someone to create a "C" for me and my logo. It's an intimidating step.

I try to keep all advertising off of my blog...I know that's not why most of you are here. But since the shop is a part of my life, and at this point, interfering with my bloggy self, I thought I would update you. If you do want to see more products and shop news, visit the facebook page!

I will be back soon to share a few more things...there is lots to tell (other than bucket liners and banners), and I promise to tell you sooner than later!

I Love Snow Days

2011-01-12T14:02:00.001-05:00

Christmas Card 2010

2010-12-23T11:28:00.001-05:00

Mema's Almond Coffee Cake

2010-12-22T08:42:00.001-05:00

My Mema was famous, famous for her chicken pies and her macaroni and cheese. Not her Almond Coffee Cake. I don't know if she ever even made coffee cake. So this isn't her recipe.

Well, then why is this Mema's coffee cake?

Because I used her cast iron skillet. You probably know those things are total heirlooms and so valuable to someone who likes to cook.

A few years ago I planned to give Dave a cast iron skillet for his Christmas gift. But going to Target and buying one just isn't magical. Receiving one that belonged to one of the best comfort food cooks ever is. It is magical.

My mom had Mema's pan and gave it to me to give to Dave. But really it's mine. Just like any other gift I've ever given him. Except the tickets to see Rush. He can totally own those.

At the end of this summer, I decided to make a cake one night as a gift. There was no energy to shop for ingredients and bake the cake, so I had to find a recipe that only used the ingredients in my house. It's never been so worth it to run out of energy. I was so happy with the outcome.

Most of us, especially if we are busy, are fond of those cheap, easy, creative recipes, such as pumpkin balls, turtles, and ice cream bread. But there is something satisfying and thoughtful and beautiful about a cake made with sugar and flour and butter and eggs....and not a processed food item in sight.

Mema's Almond Coffee Cake
3/4 cup butter
1 1/2 cup sugar
1 1/2 cup flour
1 tsp almond extract (can also use vanilla)
pinch salt
2 eggs
slivered almonds

Line large cast iron skillet with aluminum foil; butter or spray with cooking spray. Melt butter and mix with sugar. Beat in eggs and flour, add extract and salt, mixing well. Pour into lined skillet. Sprinkle top with almonds and sugar. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.

I made 6 of these on our snow day for teacher gifts. I lifted the cakes out of the pan with the aluminum foil and cool them on racks. I just added another sheet of aluminum foil to wrap and tied raffia around the whole thing. With a colorful tag it looks pretty festive.

It's a good cake to make lots of, one after another. Just run the bottom of the skillet in cold water after you remove a cake. This will cool it down enough that it won't melt the next batch of dough you pour in.

If you want another great flour-sugar-egg recipe, don't forget the sugar cookies. Best recipe for rolling and cutting and decorating. And no doubt the best cookie I've ever eaten.

Happy Baking!

Heirloom Ornament Tutorial

2010-12-19T19:33:00.002-05:00

About 10 years ago, my most creative friend Jessica invited me over to make some Christmas ornaments. She told me to bring a photograph that I wanted to use. I really had no idea what photo to take, and I didn't have kids yet, so it took a little thought.

An old photograph of my Mema and Papa is what I took, and it was the perfect choice.

These are my dad's parents. I made an ornament for my parents, my sister, and each of my dad's siblings.

We used wooden disks from AC Moore, jewelry wire, raffia and some deconstructed earrings.

The next year I made them of my Mammaw and Granddaddy, and gave them to family members.

Then I printed out a photo of my parents. Those photos and supplies have been sitting in my desk drawer for several years. Too many kids, not enough time.

But I found the time to make them this year and took some photos in the process...

You will need:

photographs
jewelry wire
a wooden disk
raffia
beads
mod podge (love it)
glue gun

And, depending on the weight of your wire, you might need a pair of needle nose pliers to help bend and shape the wire.

First, print your photos. You can do a sheet of the photos if you are making them as gifts, or just one. And if you're making just one, you could use the original if you want.

Trace the wooden disk onto each photo.

Cut the photos out just inside the line so that it will fit nicely onto the wooden disk.

Paint the disk with Mod Podge.

Stick the photo onto the disk. The Mod Podge will act as glue. Then cover the photo with Mod Podge.

Now take a break for some hot chocolate or spend some time wrapping gifts.

When the Mod Podge is dry, you can continue. Or if you are in a hurry, lay a piece of wax paper on the counter, and lean the disks against something so that the disk is laying on it's edge, and neither side is touching a large surface.

Cover the other side with Mod Podge and glue a piece of scrapbook paper to cover up the wood.

Cover the scrapbook paper with Mod Podge just like you did on the photo side.

Now really take a break. You want the disks to be completely dry before the next step. I waited overnight.

Unroll your wire and wrap it around your disk for a measurement. You want about 6-8 inches extending past the disk on either side for hanging.

Use the sharp part of your needle nose pliers to cut the wire.

You want to wrap your raffia around your jewelry wire to decorate the edges.

Put a bit of hot glue on the wire and stick your raffia in the glue. You want it secure enough that you can wrap it without it unraveling.

Wrap it around enough of the wire that it will reach all the way around the disk. You could also wrap it around the entire length of wire. It's just a matter of preference.

Use your hot glue to attach about an inch or two of the wire to the disk at a time. Hold the wire tightly to the disk while the glue cools. If you move too fast, the wire will try popping up as you move to the next section. Just be patient and do this slowly.

The raffia-wrapped wire should be stuck to the disk all the way around, meeting at the top.

Wrap the wire around itself, securing it around the disk. This will be the beginning of your hanger.

This is where you can attach beads or other embellishments. If you are using a pair of deconstructed earrings, they might already have wire loops. If so, just slide it onto the wire.

You can also buy jewelry pieces from a craft store, already looped. If you are just using beads, you will have to make wire loops to hang the beads from the ornament.

Just twist the wire around the bead to hook it on. You might need your pliers here to help bend. Sometimes the ends of the wire can poke your fingers and make it difficult to work with.

Then just loop the end of the wire around the wire that is already attached to the ornament. The next step will keep the bead from sliding off the ornament.

If you have thick wire, you will certainly need pliers for the next step. Find a long, thin, cylindrical object to wrap the remaining wire around. Preferably thinner than a pencil. I used a knitting needle.

If the very ends are too tough to curl, just clip them off with your wire cutters.

Shape your hanger so that it is somewhat of an oval, and embellish it with a rustic raffia bow.

Hang on the tree for the season, or hang it somewhere all year round.

I keep mine hanging on a wire tree in my dining room all the time, that also lets the curled wire and beads at the top stand out.

These make great gifts, especially if you do them assembly-line style. And they look great on the tree!

Christmas Card Collage

2010-12-18T10:41:00.006-05:00

One year, my mom gave me a big bag full of old Christmas cards. I saved a few dozen and stuck them in the bag each year as well.

I've had them in my classroom at school, just waiting to use them. But I could never come up with an idea that was worthwhile enough to pull them out for.

I brought them home yesterday, and we started brainstorming.

I told Anna Jane that she could cut out the pictures on the cards and we could punch holes in them and use them as ornaments on the tree. She cut out one, and it was big and cardboard-y and not really right to hang on a tree.

So, we decided to cut out lots of pictures from lots of cards and make a Christmas scene. She informed me that it was called a "collage," and as she is looking over my shoulder while I'm writing this, she told me that instead of calling it a Christmas scene, I should call it a collage. What an editor.

The first collage we made was a drawing of a house and yard, with cut out card embellishments.

First she drew her house.

She cut out parts of the cards that she liked and glued them on in just the right places.

The next collage we made was my favorite. We made a winter ~~scene~~ collage with just trees and stars and snow. For this one, we worked together. I cut out every tree and star and snowflake I could find, and she arranged them on the paper (we used posterboard).

It took the hard work out of it for her and left her the energy to be creative.

I can't wait to collect cards this year. I have a purpose for my collection!

This doesn't have to be a kid's project...I imagine creative adults could make some really stunning scenes. Think of adding some sheet music or tissue paper as background. The possibilities are endless, and mixed media can be really fun art.

Favorite Things Episode

2010-12-15T23:25:00.026-05:00

For Christmas last year, I gave Dave the first four seasons of How I Met Your Mother on DVD. We watched all of the episodes during Christmas break. If you've never watched episodes of a television show back to back, I highly recommend it. It's the way we watch Dexter also.

This week's episode showed Neil Patrick Harris's character receiving a massive holiday bonus, and deciding to buy his friends all of his favorite things, a la Oprah's Favorite Things Episode.

What fun it would be to give your friends and family everything you love? So I anticipated a snow day today and stayed up late to collect some photos of some gifts I would love to give. I tried to find a variety of prices, and gifts other than fabric, which was hard.

Seems that Oprah always starts the epidsode out with a big ticket item, so here we go!

This camera has been on my list for a few years.

And really, a camera can't take photographs without a lens.

This is, hands down, the best jacket for little kids. It is warm and cozy and soft, and even more importantly, easy to put on. It's a Widgeon and you can find it here.

I love this Serena and Lily fabric for a living room chair. And at $50 a yard from here, good thing I'm just giving it away, because who in the world can afford it?

Here is a little pedestal from the same source, at a bit of a lower price point. And who wants a cake stand without a cake to put on it?

This is a Martha Stewart recipe, so I'll just make the cakes to include with the pedestal.

And I just love Reece's Pieces.

I have my Nalgene water bottle with me all of the time. Mine is blue and it used to say University of Virginia on the side. It's so worn out, you can barely read it anymore. source

I really hate to clean. Really. But these things clean everything. They are the best.

I love anything with a monogram on it. These cutting boards come in lots of patterns and colors. This is such a great gift. This website has lots of other options as well.

I saw this bowl on an etsy treasury one day and fell. in. love. I think she only makes these lace bowls as special orders, but since we are living in a Christmas Wonderland during this post, I'll just special order them for all of you!

I bought three of these frames at our Junior League Holiday market this year. My friends Allison and Sarah personalize them for you as you wait. My frames are silver with white mats. They are so unique and very classy.

I read this book last year. I loved it. There's not much else to say. I loved it.

If you have any connection to Winston-Salem, then a Christmas without Moravian cookies is not really Christmas.

I love Lilly. This cashmere wrap is almost $300. It will never hang in my closet or on my shoulders. But I will use my imaginary holiday bonus to buy one for each of you!

My friend Lindsey always has these candles at her house. They are the best smelling candles ever. A very light and fresh scent.

I could have gone on like this for pages and pages. Looking for things to buy for others was a lot more fun than looking for things to buy for myself. Keeps the greed away.

I really appreciate manpower as a gift. My mom and dad scrubbed my front door this week. Mom is coming back tomorrow to clean my bathrooms. Dave put up new blinds in the playroom, and my Christmas wish is for him to help me start on my basement studio. These things are so valuable to me. It makes everyday life better, and the benefits last far beyond Christmas.

Please enjoy all of these gifts I have picked out for you. Another gift coming...an heirloom ornament tutorial!

Yay for snow days!

Yay For Me! And Yay For You!

2010-12-12T19:37:00.003-05:00

I just received this!

A big bolt of white cotton duck for slipcovering my living room furniture!

Sadly, the slipcovers will not be ready in time for my Christmas party. I know my family won't mind. I know my family won't even notice. But I will have to bite my tongue to keep from making excuses for my sad looking furniture. But hey, it looked just as sad last year and no one complained!

And the winner of the ruffle tree is Jennifer P!

Here is her comment:

Anonymous said...
Found your blog through etsy. These trees are so cute! I would love to have one to put in my newborn's nursery for her first Christmas!

jennifer p.

Yay for Jennifer! Please email me your contact info and I will ship a ruffle tree to you and your sweet baby!

Thanks for playing, I will have some info to you all about the coffee filter wreath soon...but right now I'm up to my jingle-bell-ringing ears in banner orders. LOVE IT!!

A Christmas Wreath. Or Two.

2010-12-11T15:55:00.001-05:00

I am bad at decorating for holidays.

Mostly because I am bad at keeping the clutter and mess at bay, and adding more things to the clutter and mess doesn't make things look festive. It just looks more cluttered and messy.

So I am very particular about my decorations. I have to truly love it or it has to have some profound meaning for me to add it to the mess of the house.

I. Love. This.

And by "this" I mean the felted wreath. Not the fake animal head.

Oh I just love it so much.

I am aware that it is non-traditional enough that there might only be a handful of you out there that agree with me at all. But I promise you, it would look perfect in my house. Over my woodstove. In the following felted ball colors:

source

I discovered this wreath last year on the Pickles website. Beautiful. I found the perfect felted balls (see above photo), but the price of one bag of balls times the number of bags needed to complete the project equalled no project.

But, like Pickles, I would love it too much to only hang it for one season, so it would probably stay over the mantel for a long time. Which I would really love. So maybe it will be a winter wreath...a little cash in my stocking could lead to flora-hued wool decorating my mantel. I'm not counting it out yet.

But since I found that photo last year, I have been looking for a wreath to hang over my mantel. So this year I made one.

Out of coffee filters. And a dollar store wreath form. And some hot glue.

And I hung the pom pom garland that the kids made last year, so at least I got my need for pom poms in there.

I think I will make wreaths for every season. And since I saved so much money on this one, perhaps I deserve to splurge on my felted wool pom pom balls.

And while at the dollar store, I collected a few supplies for Anna Jane to make her own wreath.

A green feather boa and a much smaller wreath form.

Frou-la-la

Thanks for all of the comments on the giveaway post. I can't wait to pick a winner. And I really can't wait to make more trees! I will pick a winner tomorrow, so that I can ship on Monday!

A Christmas Giveaway!

2010-12-08T17:32:00.000-05:00

I really love having a blog. It is a way for me to share my kids and my thoughts and my projects with my family and friends and others who read.

Last week I logged on to find that 100 people are following my blog. The next day, there were 101. It's funny to me that 100 people want to stay updated with what I have to say. I realize that there are blogs with hundreds, thousands of followers and countless other readers. So I know I'm small potatoes, but 101 is still a big number to me.

So please take this Christmas giveaway as a thank you.

I took one of these ruffle trees to a craft show, thinking that no one would want it, but figured it would add some color to the display. I might have gotten more comments on that than anything else on the table.

Last week I posted these pics on my facebook page. Immediately people wanted to know if they were for sale.

And I don't mind selling the ones I have already made, but I can't take orders for them now. I didn't realize they would be a big hit. But I will make them throughout the coming year and will be stocked up for next Christmas.

Saying "no" to making more right now is my Christmas gift to myself. And a pretty hard one to give, if I'm going to be honest.

So since I have these on hand (minus the candy cane stripe), I'm going to give one to a reader. Well, to a commenter.

If you want a chance at a tree, just leave a comment on this post. You don't have to be a follower. You don't have to like me on facebook. You don't even have to say anything meaningful in your comment. Just a "hi" or a "Merry Christmas" or anything that's on your mind.

I surely would be bummed if you all stopped following or stopped reading. But I would keep going. Because this page is a scrapbook of my life. And like with paper scrapbooks, we put photos and memories of things that make us happy. Our scrapbooks might not tell all the tales, because we want to be able to look through them and smile. So you know that there are ups and downs at this house, but I'm only taking pictures of the good things. And looking back at what I hope is a long list of comments will be a good thing for me.

And hopefully winning a tree will be a good thing for you!

Quick, Easy, And SOOO Yummy for the Holidays

2010-11-29T13:21:00.014-05:00

We have never hosted Thanksgiving at our house. Even though I love to cook, and would be ~~overlystressed~~ very happy to cook Thanksgiving dinner for any and all of my family, we usually spend one day at Dave's parents' house, and one day at my parents' house.

Not having to focus on a turkey gives me the opportunity to play with new side dish and appetizer recipes and to try new dessert recipes.

Here are a couple of my best recipes from this year. And while I love the challenge of a super-difficult, Martha Stewart caliber recipe, these are all magically easy and astonishingly delicious.

This first recipe truly is magic. 100% of the people I give this recipe to cannot believe the ingredients or the directions.

Here are the ingredients for Caramel Pie:

sweetened condensed milk
pie crust
whipped cream

That's it. That's the whole list.

I know you don't believe me. Let me show you how it works...

Buy a can or two of sweetened condensed milk. Brand name or not. It really doesn't matter.

Peel off the label.

This is what the brand name can looks like naked:

This is what the store brand can looks like naked:

DON'T OPEN THE CANS

Put the cans unopened in the bottom of your slow cooker.

Don't open them.

Fill the crock pot with enough water to cover the unopened cans by a couple of inches. Turn the pot on high and cover with the lid. Leave on high for 8 hours.

When you open the slow cooker after the 8 hours, the water might be a little brownish. It's just from two cans sitting in water for 8 hours. Don't drink it, but otherwise it won't hurt you or ruin your pie.

Take the cans out (carefully, they will be hot), and finally you can open them. I actually wait for an hour so the cans will cool down. If you open them immediately, there is a chance that the contents of the cans will spurt out. No one wants hot caramel on the kitchen walls, so let em cool down a bit.

When you open the cans, you will see nothing that resembles sweetened condensed milk. You will see this:

It will be dark and thick and really thick. Thick.

This, my friends is caramel. It tastes like those little caramel squares that are wrapped up in clear plastic. Creamy. Thick.

You can dump and spread it in a graham cracker crust and top with cool whip and be done. Or bake a pie shell and do the same.

The pie is pretty rich, so this year I made little caramel tarts, because it's always so disappointing to fill up your tummy halfway through a piece of pie. Leaving half a piece of pie on a plate is always an unfortunate occurance. And something I try to avoid at all costs.

To make the little tart shells, I rolled out refrigerated pie dough and cut it into circles with a biscuit cutter.

Then I tucked each little circle into a mini muffin pan.

Poke with a fork and bake until done, following the directions on the package.

The next recipe is the best one I have for kids. I was amazed at my Henry's concentration. And of all of the goodies at last year's Christmas party, these were by far the most popular.

Ingredients:
pretzels
rolos candies
pecans

This post is already super long, so I will let this be a photo essay-recipe.

Bake at 350 until soft-ish. 5 minutes or so.

I do this part. Melted chocolate loves to burn little fingertips.

Keep in the fridge. Bring to room temp before serving or eat straight from the fridge until there are none left to serve to your guests. Whichever.

And please don't forget the pumpkin balls. My friend Molly baked this in a bundt pan and said it made a great cake. Yum.

We all want to take yummy things to parties, and give homemade treats to neighbors. But they don't have to break the bank, or stress you out, or tie you to the kitchen for the entire weekend.

Don't forget to share your favorite recipes or goodies with others during the holidays. We can all use new ideas, and I always remember who I got my recipes from. Every time I make that goody or treat, I think of that friend. And sometimes I let them know that I have just used their recipe, and I thank them. It's a great way to connect.

Happy Sugardays. Um....Holidays.

A Gift for A December Birthday

2010-11-29T13:21:00.010-05:00

I love to gift this gift to little kids anytime of year, but realized it is an even better gift around the holidays.

Last year we were bombarded with birthday invitations from Anna Jane's kindergarten friends. Sometimes I made the gifts by hand, sometimes I tried the $10 limit (which is nearly impossible at Target). I didn't just want to give a variation of the same toy that everyone else was giving, if only because as a mom, I know there are only so many toys I can handle in the house.

My favorite party of Anna Jane's was the year when we asked guests to bring a plant for her garden, rather than a toy. During this time of year, there are more toys entering the house, more talk about "what the kids want," a focus on material objects.

Sometimes we skip the purchased gift and give a playdate.

I think time spent with a special friend, doing special things is a meaningful replacement to a plastic toy. Here is an example that we gave to Anna Jane's friend, Elizabeth Jane.

I printed out an explanation of the gift on a piece of cardstock and cut the edges with fancy scissors. This card says:

Happy Birthday Elizabeth Jane!

I am so glad that you are my friend!

I love spending time with you.

My gift to you is:

An Afternoon Playdate

Let's get our nails done and hit the ice cream parlor!

Let's leave it to our moms to set the date.

We can focus on planning our outfits and picking out our shoes!

Love, Anna Jane

I cut some pretty paper and wrapped it around the card.

I wrote Elizabeth Jane's initials on the card and attached it to a vase of fresh flowers. The "vase" is actually a glass fish bowl from the dollar store, and the flowers are cut straight from a garden.

There are unlimited ideas for playdates. A trip to the park, the local children's museum, even the zoo.

You could buy some pet food and deliver it to the local humane society. Call your local branch and see if they will give the kids a tour.

Visit the library, return to the house and bake some cookies.

Give memories, give the kids quality time with each other and undivided attention from an adult.

Now, don't get me wrong, Anna Jane will be thrilled if she receives a new Barbie from everyone at her birthday party this year, but this is a really great alternative.

My New Sewing Studio!

2010-11-13T21:44:00.018-05:00

Ok, beyond the title I won't lie....I don't have a new sewing studio. But there is a potential sewing studio in the basement.

On his list of Christmas gifts to give to others, Dave wrote at the bottom:

"clean out and paint basement for Kat"

And now that it's written on paper, it must come true, right?

Well, I'm considering it an eventual studio, and I've already gone shopping! And by shopping, I mean window shopping. And by window shopping I mean browsing on the internet.

Take a look at my eventual studio:

wall color:

floor color:

I KNOW, I KNOW!! White walls? Blah. Aqua floors? Dirty in a heartbeat.

There will be enough fabric scraps cluttering the area that will make up for any lack of color on the walls. And I know the floors will get scuffed, but really that's okay with me. There is yucky basement floor down there, and we have no chance of getting new floors, so a couple of coats of floor paint and crossing my fingers for good luck should spruce up the place.

First we need some major pieces of furniture:

I have one worktable, but definitely need another. Larger. In this photo , try to see through all that's going on and focus on the blue worktable.

I love that table. I love that table.

I also need something to hold my fabric. I found this piece of furniture on craigslist last night:

Some white paint....or AQUA!! And it will be beautiful. Perfect to store my fabric.

So those two pieces of furniture will pretty much take up the entire space.

Maybe a little room for accessories...

I need a vintage rustic wooden wall file:

Believe it or not, I do have several orders coming in at a time, so it would be nice to have a place to keep those orders in order. A place with chippy blue paint.

I also need a vintage green wooden utensil tray:

My craigslist hutch will have lots of storage room for notions, scissors, pens, etc. But sometimes you need things right at your fingertips, and this would serve as a place to hold those important things. A place with chippy green paint.

I am trying to be a responsible taxpayer by keeping up with all of my expenses ~~which far outweigh my income.~~ This box just screams "feed me your receipts!!!"

An attractive, inconspicuous place for record keeping. A place with chippy yellow paint.

And this green storage tray....well, ok. I don't know what I would use it for, but it has chippy paint, so I want it.

And of course, I need fabric.

Other than specially ordered fabric requested by a customer, I have been surviving on my small stash of fabric and leftover scraps from making Anna Jane's clothes.

So all of these things and an extra 10 hours in the day and I have a great little business going on here. Oh yeah, and I'd like a few more customers as well.

Emily and Todd contributed to the sewing studio last week:

So as soon as I get those extra 10 hours in the day, I will figure out how to use this monster and will monogram everything that will hold still. I CAN'T WAIT!!!

So here are my favorite sources, in case you want to design your own space. These sites provide great items, often one of a kind, and in most cases, affordable!

craigslist
etsy(search through the vintage listings)
goodwill online
hawthorne threads
fabric.com

And for inspiration, you can't beat flickr.

But hey, if we can get this space cleared out and painted, I will make due with what I've got and will be thankful that we've gotten that far!

Can't wait!

Halloween for Grown Ups

2010-11-07T19:10:00.008-05:00

Well, I'll just say it:

I don't love Halloween.

I don't like to dress up.

It's hard taking three over-the-top-excited kids on a candy/stranger/traffic/scary walk around the neighborhood.

I don't love candy, but I will eat it if it's in front of me. I will eat a lot of it if a lot of it is in front of me.

It didn't help that it was on a Sunday night this year, which meant no time to recover before work/school. But we got through it and the kids had a blast. I had fun too, don't get me wrong. I love family events. Especially if they are free.

The night after Halloween, Dave and I had a pretty spooky night of our own. It was a perfect Halloween for Grown Ups.

After the kids went to bed we stuck in the last episode of our current favorite show.

A few colleagues were talking about it one day and I could not imagine what kind of appeal this show had. Who wants to watch a show about a serial killer? Well, as it turns out, Dexter only kills bad guys. So that's okay. Right?

Plus, the actor who plays Dexter is from Raleigh. We played his high school for my freshman year homecoming game. So really, we are pretty close to being best friends.

Season 1 and season 4 are to die for (hee hee). But by no means, should you skip seasons 2 and 3. Currently season 5 is showing on Showtime. And since we don't have Showtime, we have to wait until the season is over. And then we have to wait until that season comes out on dvd. So expect me to be grumpy until I can watch Dexter again.

Our celebratory Halloween/Dexter dinner was one of my current super-favs...Rice Noodles with Chiles, Pork, and Basil.

Rice Noodles with Chiles*, Pork**, and Basil

12oz rice noodles

2 Tbs peanut oil
1 Tbs minced garlic
5 small dried hot red chiles
ground pork
1 Tbs soy, 2 Tbs fish sauce (or any combination of the two, equaling 3Tbs)
1 Tbs sugar
2 Tbs rice vinegar
1 cup shredded basil
salt, crushed red pepper

Soak noodles in warm water until soft, 15-20 minutes. I usually change the water several times. If you want, you can boil like regular noodles instead of soaking. Drain, then toss with 1/2 of oil.

Heat remaining oil over medium high heat in deep skillet, until it smokes.Add garlic and chiles and cook, stirring, for a minute. Add meat and turn heat to medium. Cook, then add soy/fish sauces and sugar. Stir to mix. Add drained noodles and toss (I stir fry the noodles a bit until they are as soft as I want them). Add vinegar and basil. Add salt and red pepper to taste.

*I can never find dried red chiles that are hot. I haven't been to the asian market, but I'm sure they have them. Add quite a bit of red pepper if you like it hot.

**I use ground turkey, not pork.

Confession: I crave this several times a week, and wish I could eat it that much. Actually, I could eat it that much, but Dave...not so much.

Confession: This Grown Up Halloween dinner was the first time that I've eaten any kind of meat since our trip to Birmingham. A few slices of proscuitto that weekend was the only meat I had eated in about 4-6 weeks. I've really embraced this meatless living. I decided from the very beginning that if I wanted to eat a cheeseburger, no prob. No rules. As it turns out, I don't miss eating meat at all. It might not last forever, but I love knowing that there is no food or diet soda that I can't live without. Because I've wondered before.

So make this dinner and watch Dexter. And if you know what happens during Season 5, DON'T TELL ME!! I will be such a happy girl when I can settle in with Dave and Dexter again.

Halloween for Kids

2010-11-05T21:59:00.008-04:00

Halloween costume decisions were pretty funny this year.

Anna Jane made her decision early and stuck to it. She was a vampire-cheerleader. Yes. You read that right.

The cartoon world has jumped on the vampire bandwagon with "Monster High," a little webshow that has produced toys and tv movies and a 6-year-old who wants to dress like Draculaura.

The best part of the costume decision was that our only expense was the adult knee socks that we turned into super-cool leggings.

Well, we *did* have to buy the black nail polish and blood red lipstick, but every household should have those things on hand for emergencies, right?

Wilson was totally pumped about being the red Power Ranger this year. We lucked out and became proud owners of a hand-me-down costume. He wore it to school and slept in it several times during the month before Halloween.

As of 3:30pm on Halloween afternoon, the Power Ranger costume was hanging on the back of the couch, waiting for a night on the town. At 5:20pm we left home without a Power Ranger.

Everytime I held the camera up, he made this face. He is so funny.

And the most costume drama came from Henry. We kept his options open...Superman or Batman. 'Cause those costumes were already in the playroom.

He went back and forth, which was fine because neither one would take any planning or running around town for last minute costumes on my part.

Then, two days before Halloween, he decided he would be a zombie. I know, I know. Two year olds really shouldn't know what zombies are. But mine does.

So Dave turned Henry's sweet little face into a zombie. The next hour or so was filled with tantrums unrelated to Halloween and totally related to not napping. He refused every costume offer and ended up picking out a shirt from his dresser.

It kind of worked out. Nobody had any idea that he started as a superman/zombie. He looked more like a football player whose eye black has smeared.

We visited the old neighborhood and collected a bit of candy.

And yes, that is at 6am the next morning. And yes, I let them eat a piece of candy for breakfast that morning.

And yes, the next afternoon I let them eat every piece of candy they collected on Halloween night. It kept them quiet for 30 minutes and BOOM. Done with Halloween candy. No more asking for "just one more piece," no more candy wrappers ALL OVER the house.

AND YES, my two-year-old knows what a zombie is, I let them eat a bucket of candy in one sitting, and sometimes I let them do anything if it keeps them quiet for a little while.

Maybe next year I will dress for Halloween as a mom who does everything right...I wonder what she looks like?

I Am Happy

2010-10-26T14:38:00.009-04:00

I am happy about my experience at the Flaunt Handmade event this past weekend. It was the first one and there will almost certainly be another. There were lots of people interested in both shopping and selling.

I took a few photos as I was setting up and then forgot to take any more, so here is a peek at my little booth:

My super friend Elizabeth grabbed us this corner spot and it was perfect for us. We had a nice corner where I could hang my two longest banners:

And a flat plaster wall behind me that let me stick my little pushpins in like a piece of cake!

I got orders for a few custom banners. I love those.

I sold quite a few of these organizers. I can't wait to make more. And if they don't sell, that's okay. I can use all of them!

I also sold some little neckties. They are usually one of my best sellers.

The fabric covered button rings are also popular sellers. A few middle school girls, cute as pie, each bought one. I gave them all a few of my cards to pass around school!

Speaking of cards...I haven't had professional cards made yet. I can't commit to a "logo" so I don't feel like spending money on something that I'm not completely happy with.

I cut these out with a little flower shaped punch. They are small, but everyone seemed to really like them. They were also a hit with little children, who often wanted to take things from each booth, but had to turn away empty handed if their mom didn't buy anything. So I charmed the under 7 crowd.

One shopper spent quite a bit of time deciding which bucket liner she wanted to buy to put in one of her antique galvanized buckets. She took a card and told me she would contact me about a custom bucket, and as she was turning to leave, she saw this one:

Check out her blog to see what she did when she got the bucket liner home. Then check out the rest of her blog to see what an amazing, creative quilter and applique-er she is! I am so honored to hear someone with her obvious talent complementing my workmanship!

I had enough positive feedback that I have energy left for the next two shows, though it did take quite a bit of ice cream and lounging on the couch for me to recover.

Got some great photos to show you soon. And a Meatless Monday recipe! Don't go far!

Flaunt Handmade Event

2010-10-22T21:36:00.005-04:00

Join me tomorrow at Flaunt along with my friends Elizabeth and Gina, plus lots of other local artists! We will be in the barn at Reynolda Village, a really great space for the event.

As soon as it's over I will post pics. I wanted to get some sneak peeks to you, but I've been stitching up to the last few moments! You can *like* the classic campbell facebook page for a couple of previews of tomorrow's goodies!

A Quick Story

2010-10-16T21:02:00.004-04:00

I know I've been gone for a very long time...I really hoped you missed me. Or at least noticed that I've been gone.

I have some great things to photograph and show you...and some upcoming craft shows to ~~warn~~ notify you about, but really quickly...

Last week Anna Jane had a spelling test.

Let me recreate it for you:

She wrote her name at the top in teeny tiny 1st grade handwriting:

Then she drew a long arrow from the side of the paper towards her name:

Where she left her teacher a little note:

It was one of those situations where your attempt to convince her that what she has done is wrong, is overshadowed by your uncontrollable laughter.

She gets it honestly, I once turned in a social studies report written entirely in yellow highlighter. I was honestly unaware of why my teacher called my mom in for a parent-teacher conference.

I'll keep my ears open for the phone to ring and try not to laugh out loud at Anna Jane's classwork.

You Need to Know These Things

2010-09-14T14:10:00.002-04:00

Some of you are new to the blog.
Some of you have been reading from day one.
Some of you are friends, and just catch up every now and then.
Even if I know you in person, there are probably a lot of things that you don't know about me....
Like...

I've always wanted brown hair. Like my cousin Elise. But I've never been brave enough to try it. I want a chocolate brown.
I don't like pizza. Or eggs. Or lasagna.
I love ruffles.
I feel very passionate about the work that the Junior League of Winston-Salem has done for the community. I love all of my time spent with that organization. LOVE it.
I wear flip flops all year round.
I wear hooded sweatshirts all year round.
I am wearing a pair of flip flops and a hooded sweatshirt right now.
I love ruffles. (I just realized I typed this twice. Must be pretty important, so I left it in.)
I want to eat ice cream every day. My favorite kind is the now-extinct One Sweet Whirled by Ben and Jerry's.
If my house was on fire and I could only grab one thing, it would be my baby blanket (after the kids and dog. duh.).
I've spent most of my life addicted to diet dr pepper. That's an understatement.
Last year I gave up soda forever. Hardest thing I've ever done. But now I don't really miss it.
All of my kids were born on their due date.
I love Bon Jovi and Michael Jackson and Phil Collins.
I've met Oprah.
I've met Quin Snyder. You probably don't know who that is but it was a lot more exciting for me than meeting Oprah.
We just got satellite tv. For the first time since Anna Jane has been a baby we have more than 14 channels. I've spent a lot of time in the last 2 weeks watching General Hospital and Beverly Hills 90210.
I love my high school. It is a stellar academic institution. I wish I could send my kids there. We are too far. And too poor.
I'm good at catering but not good at hosting. So if you come to a party at my house, you will find me hiding in the kitchen.
I trained for a half marathon but sustained a stress fracture a week and a half before my race. So 12 miles was my longest run. Not long enough to stick one of those 13.1 bumper stickers on my car.
Anna Jane is named after my mom (Joanna) and my mother in law (Jane).
I love carbs.
I can count on one hand how many times I've slept through the night over the past 7-8 years. Doesn't have anything to do with the kids.
I love Herve Chapelier bags. I WEAR THEM OUT. One time I was looking through my bag for something to write with and pulled out a raw sweet potato. It didn't surprise me but it surprised the friend I was sitting next to. And she's a chef. How has she never found a raw vegetable in the bottom of her bag?
I used to be a rock star.
I was the leading scorer on my college field hockey team. If you were on my team, you realize why I feel like this was a big deal.
I hate to wash dishes by hand. It's gross.
Some of my favorite ingredients are almond extract, coconut milk, and basil.
I saw John Mayer play at Ziggy's. There were maybe 100 people there. He was so much calmer before anyone knew who he was.
I've never lived in an apartment. I bought a house straight out of the dorm.
I cried with joy the day I got my kitchenaid mixer. At a bridal shower. From my mom.
My sister is tall and has brown eyes and is outgoing. I am short and have blue eyes and keep to myself. We went to the same college and people were always surprised to find out we were sisters.
Nothing makes me feel better than having a suntan.
I need to transform my basement into a sewing studio. NEED to.
One of my greatest friends from home conducted our wedding ceremony and baptized two of our kids. We can't wait to see how the third kid turns out.
My favorite flower is the peony.
I love bluegrass music.
I declined my invitation to become a debutante, I pull the skin off of fried chicken and throw it in the trash, and I order unsweet tea at restaurants. Other than that, I'm a pretty good southerner.

It's funny what comes to mind when you decide to share things with people.
Did you know any of these things about me?

Meatless Monday - Don't Forget!

2010-09-13T19:26:00.006-04:00

Send me your meatless recipes! As soon as you can!

I will compile them and then give you access to everyone else's!

And don't forget to link to my blog...

Just 8 more followers and someone will win the Food Matters book! Click on the little "f" at the end of the post to stick this on your facebook page. Or you can link to one of the other Meatless Monday entries and entice readers with one of your favorite recipes so far!

I will keep collecting recipes through the weekend, September 19th. Don't get left out of the fun!

New Ritual

2010-09-13T14:06:00.003-04:00

We've always scribbled on the protective paper on top of the table in the doctor's office. We've drawn dinos, pizzas, houses, family members...

This is the first time we've written a story.

me: Once upon a time
her: ther was a catrpilr.
me: He went on a walk and saw
her: a panda at the zoo.
me: The panda's name was George.

It was a short wait.

To be continued.

Lunch Box Fun - Cheese Garden

2010-09-06T21:31:00.006-04:00

Wilson - I loved my cheese garden!!

Yes, tough as nails Wilson loved the cheese garden I packed in his lunch box. After reading my last lunch box post, a couple people asked about getting kids to eat their veggies. I've got lots of tricks. Here is a quick one and I will share more later...

Slice a block of cheese and a cucumber into nice, thick slices.

Use a cookie cutter or a knife to slice the cheese into flower shapes. They can even be round, square or triangles. If you call them flowers, they will look like flowers.

Next, cut a "V" out of the cucumbers. Take out a couple of uncooked spaghetti noodles and break them into pieces a few inches long.

Use the spaghetti noodle to connect the cheese and the cucumber. If you make these the night before or they sit in a lunch box for a long time, the noodle will get soft, so either lie them flat in the lunch box or warn your sweetie that the flower will likely wilt while waiting for lunch. Regardless of that sad fact, it is so much safer than using a toothpick. For young children or adults. Just ask Steven Anderson...

A Cheese Garden!

I do have some hints for packing celery and carrots...and unlike the cheese garden there is more than just cosmetics involved...I can actually make them taste better! I'll get to that in the next couple of days.

Don't forget our Meatless Recipe Collection...I've already received reader recipes, and I can't wait to get more! Remember, you will only gain access to others' recipes if you submit one yourself. The more submissions, the bigger and better collection, so link to classic campbell on your facebook page and invite all of your friends to follow the blog for a chance to win Food Matters!

Meatless Monday Recipe Collection and a Giveaway!

2010-09-06T21:15:00.007-04:00

I've gotten a good response from Meatless Monday so far. Lots of people are incorporating at least one meatless day into their week. And are happy about it!
I'm having fun trying new recipes and sharing the good ones with you. I know that you probably have some recipes too that would improve our Meatless Monday lives, so let's share!

Last year I organized submitted recipes from readers and each reader who gave me a recipe got access to everyone else's recipe...kind of a prize for participating! This year's recipe collection will be your favorite meatless main dish. I'm going to include several (or lots) of my recipes that have made my family super-happy at meal time.

If you want to participate in the recipe exchange, email me a meatless recipe by September 15: kaelle78(at)yahoo(dot)com

I will send out reminders between now and then.Take one of my broccoli buttons from the sidebar to let your blog readers know what's for dinner on Monday!

Share the idea of cutting back on meat in your diet with your friends and family. Choose one day a week and make it meatless. Save the world. Direct all you know to my blog and we could end up with a collection of really yummy dinners to serve on Meatless Monday (or Thursday or...everyday...).

And one more thing: I've been reading Food Matters, the book I mentioned a while back by Mark Bittman. If we can hit 100 followers of the blog, I will giveaway one of these books on September 15th. Tell me your favorite vegetable in the comment section and you will be entered to win. Tell me you are a follower and you will be entered twice. Become a follower and you will also be entered twice. (Let me know how to contact you if you win! Especially if you are anonymous!)

Mmmmm. I love to eat.

Happy Birthday to Papa

2010-09-02T12:17:00.005-04:00

I'd Make a Great Neighbor

2010-09-01T13:13:00.012-04:00

The house next door to us is for sale.

Credit

Casey? Emily?

I know you're in the market!

Lindsey? Catherine? Elise? Cameron?

I know you're happy where you are, but I miss you terribly and would like to have you next door.

I'd babysit your kids, cook your breakfast, mop your floors, water your plants, deliver your mail, deliver your take-out, bring you to church, sign you up in the Junior League, share my internet, wash your cars, hem your pants, mow your grass, charm your colleagues, iron your clothes, pressure wash your driveway, read your bedtime stories, sort your mail, scrub your sinks, and walk your dog.

And if you all want to take me up on the offer, then the overflow friends can live in my basement.

Okay?

Let's get this house sold!

credit

Lunch Box Fun - Magic Apples

2010-09-01T07:27:00.006-04:00

My kids will eat just about anything I put in their lunch boxes. And I do feel sorry for them when I walk by their table and their lunch neighbor has Doritos and Oreos and Lunchables and Fruit Punch and Cheetos and white Powdered Donuts and somewhere under that pre-packaged, processed, painfully expensive pile of empty calories is maybe a sandwich. But maybe not*.

My kids eat veggies and they LOVE fruit. But also let me reassure you that if they had a lunch box filled with all of the above, they would eat that and love it too. Then they would ask for more. So we don't have a lot of junk food in the house because they would eat it all. If they could beat Dave to the pantry.

Because of preschool regulations, Wilson has to have a dairy, a protein, a vegetable, and a fruit. So I pack that way for all of my kids. It's healthy, they eat it. End of story. But just because they are healthy, not-fussy eaters doesn't mean that they don't deserve a little excitement in their lunch box. I've got lots of ideas for playing with healthy foods....Here's one:

Magic Apples

I can stick an apple in their bag and they will eat it just fine. But every now and then, we slice one...

Lay them in a single layer...

Sprinkle some magic dust...

Also known as this...

And snuggle them up next to a bagel (with cream cheese for Wilson, cream cheese and jelly for Anna Jane. Though Anna Jane consistently asks for a bagel with jelly and honey. What a sugary mess! Dave is the only one who falls for that one).

We keep our magic in this cute magic shaker. I got it for a wedding present. It had a twin, but it got lost in the last 8 years. Guess it was afraid we were going to fill it with salt. Or pepper. Now it's missing a life full of magic shaking. Poor thing.

I think apples taste better this way (really, I do). So maybe your school-ager will too. And of course they can sprinkle the magic themselves. But not slicing. Please don't let them slice!

*I don't judge you for packing these things. Really I don't.

Custom Orders

2010-08-31T13:12:00.003-04:00

I'm working on a name banner and a few bucket liners for an etsy customer...

Little Hannah is going to have her name hanging from a sweet pink upholstered headboard above her bed. What a lucky girl!

Here are a couple of custom mini bags I've been struggling with.

Not the best pattern, so they've had a bit of tweaking. And a big bit of time stuffed into a box. I don't like running into problems I don't know how to solve.

But I LOVE mixing and matching and coordinating fabrics. That's always the best (and most challenging part).

No real risks here with the fabric arranging. They all pretty much "go" together.

I love making things for other people.

There are a lot of things that I have made that I have not listed in my etsy shop. I need to start loading up with fall colors. That's so hard for me. I love spring. It's hard to know what to put out there, and I don't want to make things that I'm not passionate about.

Do you have any suggestions for me? Things I've shown you on my blog that you think should be in my etsy shop? There are some things that I would prefer to take to craft shows and not put online, for various reasons. But let me know what you think, I would love the input!

Meatless Monday - Vegetarian Burritos

2010-08-30T13:11:00.004-04:00

This recipe totally shocked me. I didn't expect it to be nearly as good as it was. And I still can't believe that the ingredients worked together to taste so good! I was looking for some way to cook the squash and zucchini I had, and I found this.

Really a lot of these recipes that I am sharing are shots in the dark. I find them, try them, and if there is one that is really, really good, then I share it with you. So there have been hits and misses, but I'm starting to compile a pretty good library of what might become my "meatless standards." This recipe definitely fits the requirements for becoming a standard!

Vegetarian Burritos

2 Tbs olive oil
1/2 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 zucchini, quartered lengthwise and thinly sliced
1 large yellow squash, quartered lengthwise and thinly sliced
1/2 red bell pepper, chopped
15 oz can black beans, rinsed and drained
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp cayenne
shredded cheese
sour cream
soft tortillas

Heat the olive oil in a skillet until warm, add garlic and onion. Cook until onion is soft, about 5 minutes. Add zucchini, squash and bell pepper. Cook, stirring often, until vegetables are soft, about 10 minutes. Stir in black beans and spices and cook until heated through, about 5 to 8 minutes.
Put mixture into warm tortillas and top with cheese and sour cream.

Yay!

You could add any taco/burrito/mexico toppings to this to satisfy your tastes. You could also mix green chile salsa in, pre-wrap the filling in the tortillas and bake, covered with cheese, to have vegetarian enchiladas.

Use your imagination, just DON'T USE MEAT!! Just for tonight.

You can have bacon in the morning.

Still Appreciated

2010-08-28T14:26:00.010-04:00

I love to smock.

My grandmother signed me up for smocking lessons the year after I graduated from college.

Just what every 22-year-old wants to do on a Tuesday night. Smock.

Those lessons changed my life.

I had no baby to dress, none of my friends had babies yet. But I became addicted.

Smocking led to sewing lessons, because hey, what are you going to do with a bunch of smocked fabric panels lying around? You are going to learn to sew and stick them in pillows if you don't know any children.

And then when people have children around you, even if you don't know them very well, you are going to make those children smocked clothing. By hand.

You are going to spend your money on high quality fabrics and spend a lot of time at Knit One Smock Too and watch a pregnant colleague's jaw drop when she opens your gift at her baby shower.

And then you're going to be embarrassed that you have just given her a priceless gift that took lots of planning and time and ripped seams and covered up mistakes and squinted at grids and counted pleats, but you are just so grateful that someone had a baby so that you had a reason to smock.

Now really, I knew how to sew with LOTS of guidance from when my mom helped me make a flag for my middle school Spanish class. It was one of those big colorful flags that people hung outside of their house during the 90s (and possibly still today). I totally impressed my teacher with my fabric depiction of a quetzal, a spanish bird. But that was not the right way to start my sewing career. It was very tedious and not a very motivating first project for a young teen.

Anna Jane's beautiful face made the smocked bubbles and dresses and swing tops look like a million bucks, even when the handiwork wasn't perfect (and it never was).

And the boys wore smocked clothes as well, and since this is the south, that's okay.

I wish I had taken photos of all of those dresses and outfits and pillows that I made over the years. They could fill several albums.

But I am thrilled to see that Anna Jane's clothes are making the rounds again...

We Made It...The Now Annual Post!

2010-08-25T19:56:00.004-04:00

A very excited 1st grader!

A very cranky preschooler!

A disappointed sitting-at-homer...

I promise I encouraged him to be in the photograph, he just wasn't up for it. Next year. Sigh. Next year he will join them. Sob.

Meatless....um...Tuesday - Vegetable Soup From Someone Else's Garden

2010-08-24T12:44:00.006-04:00

We have deer. And squirrels. And coyotes.

They eat our gardens. Even the one on the deck.

They eat our tomatoes and strawberries and our herbs and our sunflowers and our jalapenos. Well, I killed the jalapenos. Who knew they needed watering?

As it turns out, other people will grow gardens for you. And if you show up at the Farmer's Market on the weekends, they will show up too! And then you can make vegetable soup from fresh vegetables, which are in a different food group than canned vegetables. TRUST ME.

The only reason to post this recipe is for the secret ingredient, because we all know how to dump veggies in a pot and call it dinner.

Vegetable Soup
Pick your veggies. From the Farmer's Market or your garden or a roadside stand, but just this once, don't use canned veggies. Please. Just try this. You will only be able to buy what is in season at these places. It's hard to tell what season it is when you walk into the grocery store because they have everything all year round. That's not necessarily a good thing, friends!
Here is how I made this week's soup:
I sauteed a 1/2 a leftover red onion in half olive oil and half butter. After a few minutes I added some sliced celery and carrots. I added fresh corn that I cut off the cobb. After you cut it, scrape the back of your knife against the cobb. That juice is so good.
I added that to the pot with chopped up tomatoes and their juice, sliced zucchini and squash, and leftover limas and green peas. I also added a few uncooked, sliced okra.
Let this all heat up in a large pot for 10-15 minutes and then add vegetable stock until it's the right ratio of broth to veggies for your taste. Add salt and pepper and a bit of cayenne. If you like your veggies still crunchy, you can eat it now. If you like them soft, keep-a cookin.
When I serve this soup, I ladle it into bowls and add a dash of light cream. I wish there were words to type on this screen that would allow you to understand how much this adds to the soup. Alas, there are no words that powerful, so you will just have to try it yourself.
And yes, you can afford the calories in the dash of cream. You have eliminated meat for this entire meal, so you have quite a lot of wiggle room. We eat this with some fresh sourdough bread.

When you are at the Farmer's Market, please visit my friend Cary.

She owns Camino Bakery and is such a kind, generous, talented person. Her food is the reason I'm still in a good mood after a long week at work - she delivers our lunches on Fridays!

If you can't find Cary at your Farmer's Market, then poo. That's a real bummer. Look for her bakery/cafe to open downtown this fall. And if your downtown is in a different town than my downtown, then you are really out of luck.

Make yourself some vegetable soup. It will cheer you up.

I'm Not Ready Yet!

2010-08-24T11:02:00.004-04:00

A new school year starts tomorrow, and...

The hallway drywall project isn't finished!

We haven't finished painting the playroom!

I'm not even close to finishing the slipcovers on my living room furniture!

This stack of fabric should be hanging in Anna Jane's closet as a few new back-to-school outfits!

And if you had to guess which of these unfinished projects I am working on in my spare time, which would you choose?

This one?

You know me so well.

More on Bham

2010-08-16T19:14:00.005-04:00

So really, eating at Chez Fonfon wasn't our main reason for driving to Birmingham this past weekend. Contrary to most of the photos and comments on this post, food in general wasn't the main reason for the trip. Though we did start the weekend with this:

Oh My. That little yummy filled plastic container was good reason to keep us there for the rest of the weekend!

We delivered Will's birthday present, a freshly upholstered armchair that is a bit more reflective of his personality than the previous bright floral fabric was.

We spruced up a bit (well, just me) and headed to Chez Fonfon, a swanky little bistro responsible for last night's Fried Green Tomato dish. And yes, I did hit on Frank Stitt at the bar at Highlands, and it was the best 2 1/2 minutes of my culinary career.

The next day we toured Birmingham and had a really relaxing day without video games and diapers and juice boxes and temper tantrums. But we did miss our kisses and snuggles and storytimes and pancakes.

We moved some furniture around to make room for the new focal point of the den:

And while we were moving the living room couch, we found a chocolate filled Easter egg.

Guess we overlooked that on our indoor Easter Egg hunt this past spring!

I spent most of Saturday evening showing Will how to impress his friends with homemade pasta.

Here Will displays one of my gnocchi noodles:

The intense anger and jealousy you see on his face is due to the fact that his noodle came out like this:

And actually, that's only half of his noodle. He only made one and it was twice that long, breaking with embarrassment when it saw how puny it was next to the ones I made.

We left Will and his birthday chair and sped along to retrieve our children who missed us not a bit. Can't wait for our next road trip. And fancy meal!

Meatless Monday - Chef Inspired

2010-08-16T18:36:00.004-04:00

Dave and I returned last night from our first weekend out of town without the kids. We were a whopping seven hours away in Birmingham visiting cousin and fellow foodie, Will.

We arrived at Will's house Friday evening and made a beeline to Chez Fonfon, a French-inspired bistro owned by our good friend, Frank Stitt.

Really, we have admired Frank from afar as one of our favorite cookbook authors and icon chefs, but he wasn't our friend. Until Friday night when I charmed him at the bar. Believe me? Only Frank and I know the truth.

We are saving our pennies to eat at his adjacent restaurant, Highlands Bar and Grill. That will motivate us even more to return to the straight-out-of Southern Living town.

The food at Chez Fonfon is pretty casual, but very chic. My dessert was my favorite part of the meal. It was a chocolate pot de creme that came in a cute little ramekin but should have come in a much larger bucket. My appetite for sweets is insatiable!

My appetizer was a classic fried green tomatoes with a very strong supporting cast of arugula, goat cheese, avocado and tomatoes. I found the recipe in my good buddy's cookbook and will share it with you for Meatless Monday. I made a few changes to the recipe to reflect the way I enjoyed it this weekend.

Fried Green Tomato and Arugula Salad

1 large egg
1 cup buttermilk
3 very firm green tomatoes, cut into 1/3 inch slices
3/4 cup cornmeal
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
salt and pepper
dash of cayenne pepper
2 cups oil for frying (corn, peanut, or canola)
1/2 cup balsamic vinaigrette
12 grape tomatoes, halved or quartered
1 large bunch arugula
1 Tbs extra virgin olive oil
1/2 avocado, cut into bite sized pieces
1/2 log goat cheese

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees. Lightly beat the egg in a shallow bowl and stir in the buttermilk. Place the tomato slices in the buttermilk mixture, turning to coat. In a shallow pan, combine the cornmeal and flour and season with 1tsp salt, the pepper and the cayenne, stirring well.
In a large cast iron or other heavy skillet, heat the peanut oil over high heat to 360 degrees.
Meanwhile, dredge one tomato slice at a time in the cornmeal, turning to coat and gently pressing into the cornmeal so it adheres. Transfer each prepared slice to a rack set over a baking sheet.
Using tongs, carefully ease the breaded tomatoes into the hot oil in batches of about 4 at a time so that the oil does not cool down. Cook for about 2 minutes, then turn and cook on the other side until the coating is a nice even golden brown, about 2 minutes more. Transfer the fried tomatoes to a baking sheet lined with paper towels and put them in the oven to keep warm while to fry the remaining slices.
Ladle or spoon 2Tbs vinaigrette onto each plate. Stack the fried tomato slices on the plate, with a 1/2 Tbs of goat cheese between each slice. Toss the cherry tomatoes, avocado, and arugula with the olive oil and salt and pepper to taste. Arrange the mixture on the plate.

This is definitely satisfying for dinner, especially if you serve it with pot de creme! And if you have a recipe for that, let me know because Frank and I are not close enough yet for him to share those secrets!

Meatless Monday - Coconut Rice and Beans

2010-08-09T12:39:00.008-04:00

Eating less meat does not have to mean eating all carbs and not getting enough protein. There is protein in vegetables, whole wheat pasta, nuts, beans...

And of course we all know (don't we?) that when eaten together, rice and beans make a complete protein. It is a perfect main dish for a family dinner, my kids ate 2 plates of it last night (which is why there are no photos!).

I cook with coconut milk for quite a few of our favorite recipes. I always buy the lite coconut milk in the asian section of our grocery store.

Coconut Rice and Beans

2 cans red kidney beans

1 1/2 cups long grain basmati rice

1 can lite coconut milk

That's it. 3 ingredients. A totally satisfying entree, super cheap and super healthy!

Drain and rinse the kidney beans and place in a medium pot. Turn the heat to medium and add rice and coconut milk to the pot of beans. Simmer with the lid on for 20 minutes. Check the rice. You may have to add water if the milk is absorbed but the rice is not completely cooked. On the other hand, if the rice is soft but there is still milk in the pot, raise the heat and boil uncovered until the rice is creamy but no longer soupy. Season with salt and pepper.

We eat this with corn spoon pudding and some sauteed spinach. It's a filling meatless meal without overloading on the carbs. Easy enough to pull together tonight!

And because posts are no fun without photos, here is what happens when you ask 3 kids of mine and one of my sister's to smile for the camera:

Shattercake and Asian Food

2010-08-08T12:43:00.012-04:00

Last night we joined some very good friends for an incredible night of Asian food. The last time they came to our house for dinner, Elizabeth made the mistake of telling us that James made a pretty mean Moo Shu Pork. We begged them to invite us for dinner and yes, the Moo Shu Pork was mean.

We had pork dumplings that were to die for...

And while James was slaving over a hot wok, Elizabeth, Dave and I rolled some California rolls.

They were big and lumpy and....delicious!

We saw very little of the children, but once Anna Jane realized that the adults had different food than the kids, she had to try everything. She popped dumplings in her mouth until they were all gone.

She tried to eat her third piece of sushi with chopsticks...

Oh, forget it!

We love having friends with adventurous appetites, so I tried out a new dessert. It's from Stirring Performances, the Junior League of Winston-Salem's beautiful book. Everything I've tried out of this book has been super-yummy. Buy one here!

The title of the recipe is Chocolate Torte Caramela, but James renamed it "Shattercake" for a soon-to-be obvious reason.

Shattercake
4 oz semi-sweet chocolate
1/2 c butter, soft
1/2 c powdered sugar
2 egg yokes
1 tsp vanilla
1 loaf pound cake, frozen
1/3 c granulated sugar
1/2 c whipping cream

(Before I start the how-to, let me address a few things before you start. The egg yokes incorporated into the ganache are not cooked. They will be raw in the final product, so do not eat this if you are pregnant or elderly, or in any other population that should not eat uncooked eggs. We never eat uncooked eggs. Dave is over-the-top wary of food-bourne illnesses. However, while I was building the cake, Dave was eating the chocolate mixture with a spoon. Apparently it was worth the risk. We've eaten it and we are still alive.
I used a large pound cake and ended up making another batch of icing to cover it. If you use a small cake, one batch of icing should do.)

Melt chocolate in a double boiler. Let cool to room temperature.
Cream butter until fluffy. Gradually add powdered sugar. Add egg yolks one at a time. Beat until smooth. Beat in vanilla and cooled chocolate.
Slice the top crust from a lightly frozen pound cake and discard (or eat). The pound cake doesn't have to be frozen, it just makes it (a lot) easier to slice.

Slice remaining loaf horizontally into six or seven thin layers. (My biggest obstacle in the kitchen is cutting cakes into layers, yet I continue to make layer cakes. My theory, which has been proven countless times, is that as long as it tastes good and you cover it with enough icing, you can hide any aesthetic mistakes.)

If you saved the top of the cake instead of letting your husband eat it, then you can patch up any mistakes.

Reserve one layer and set aside. Spread chocolate icing between cake layers and restack into a loaf. Reserve 1/2 to 3/4 cup of icing for sides of cake. (It was at this time that I wished I had more icing. I would have put more in between the layers, and I didn't have enough to cover the sides.)

Place reserved cake layer on a piece of aluminum foil. Heat sugar in a heavy saucepan until melted and amber, not too dark. Pour sugar quickly over reserved cake layer to coat evenly. This cools so fast, that you have to spread the sugar as soon as you can. You really need three hands for this. Place this layer on top of the cake.

Ice the sides of the cake with reserved frosting.

Whip cream and use as garnish.

I chose to plop the cream rather than piping. I prefer more of a rustic look because then my messiness doesn't matter. If you have a steady hand, cut your layers evenly and pipe the whipped cream. Very elegant.

The original recipe instructed you to heat a knife on a burner and use it to slice through the caramel on top. Had we stuck with that, we would still be there, 24 hours later, trying to melt through the caramel.

Instead, Elizabeth ~~cracked~~ shattered the top with a spoon, which gave it a pretty look and made it easier to slice.

Beautiful? Yes. Perfect? Nope. Delicious? OHMYGOODNESS.

I may or may not have had some for breakfast this morning, straight out of the fridge. And if I did, I will tell you to serve it cold. It's actually more delicious that way. No joke.

After an evening full of food and fun, I waddled upstairs to Elizabeth's craft room where I snuck something out of her stash.

Really, she gave me this ring and she had a bedspread covered in beautiful jewelry. Please visit her shop and see all of the beautiful things she makes!

Meatless Monday tomorrow!

A Few Pretty Things

2010-08-05T14:52:00.009-04:00

I realize that I've been talking a lot about food lately, and yeah, that's a pretty good representation of most all we think about at this house.

But I thought I might sneak in a couple of pretty things that I've been working on so that you know I've been doing a little more than just eating around here.

I finished up a custom hairband order. They are so much fun to make and give me a chance to do something away from the sewing machine.

I finished a dress with my first invisible zipper. This opens a whole new world of sewing!

And finally, have you seen my blog????? All of a sudden, it's beautiful-er! And it's not finished yet, but after swooning over other blogs with beautiful fonts and colors and graphics, I stomped my feet on my meatless-kitchen's floor and clicked this button:

I filled out a super-thorough form on Carrie's site and rambled on and on about what I like and what I don't like and colors and fonts and organization. I've got lots more organizing to do, but at least I feel like I live in a comfortable, classic, fancy place now.

If only I could find a button to push for someone to turn my home from drab to fab!

Pasta with Herbs

2010-08-02T18:10:00.003-04:00

I know I gave you a simple pasta dish last week, and I was all ready to excite you with some crazy vegetable dish, or at least one that didn't include pasta. And I promise I will really switch gears next week, but this dish was SO YUMMY that I am very excited to share it with you. And it costs pennies. Pennies.

Last night I put the kids to bed and made myself dinner while Dave was being a rockstar with a longtime buddy. I finally rented Twilight and prepared myself for a quiet evening.

(I am so out of the loop. First of all, I hadn't seen the Twilight movie until last night. Second of all, I asked the guy at the video store what the first Twilight movie was called. He looked at me and said, "Uh, Twilight.")

Here is the photo:

And here is the recipe:

Pasta With Fresh Herbs
1/4 c extra virgin olive oil
1 clove minced garlic
1 c fresh herbs (I used about 1/2 cup basil, 1/4 cup dill, 1/4 cup tarragon)
1 T butter
I box linguine
salt and pepper

Cook the linguine in a big pot of salted water. Meanwhile, chop the herbs very finely and dump into a big bowl large enough to hold the pasta. You can use ANY herb you want, whatever is growing in your garden. Other herbs to use (besides the ones I used) include parsley, thyme, chervil, marjoram, small amount of rosemary).
Put the minced garlic and the olive oil in a small pan and heat on medium low. When the garlic starts to brown, remove from the heat (your neighbors will smell this oil from a block away, but don't worry, it's not a harsh garlic taste, I don't even really like garlic but it's totally worth it in this recipe).
Cut the tablespoon of butter into pieces and add to the bowl with the herbs. I usually eat SmartBalance, not butter, but I splurged last night. Again, totally worth it.
When cooked, drain the pasta and put in the bowl with the butter and herbs. Add enough garlic oil to coat and season with salt and pepper. I did not use the entire oil mixture, and my noodles were lightly coated, not greasy.

I tasted the noodles and made a beeline for my camera. This meal was so blogworthy, I couldn't wait to share it. I was so excited about eating it that I stood at my kitchen counter and finished the whole plate. I felt like such a goober eating a fancy delicious meal all by myself, but I loved every bite so I didn't feel lonely at all.

I finally settled in to catch-up with the rest of the human race and their love for vampires and blood. And I didn't like it one bit. Which didn't surprise me based on my lack on interest in all things fantastical and imaginary. But I know some really super-smart, cool, great people who live and breathe for the Twilight life. So I thought hey, I'm super-smart and cool and great, so let me give this obsession a try. Well I guess I'm not as super-smart and cool and great as I thought I was. But I'm SOOOO glad I didn't add the edward-jacob war to the long list of things that occupy my thoughts on a regular basis.

Like fabric, rice noodles, books, crystal light green-tea peach mango, hopes of a dslr camera, monograms, hummus, browsing etsy shops, fabric, down comforters, grocery shopping, the color aqua, knife pleats, portraiture, cookbooks, coconut milk, goodwill, covering breadboxes with scrapbook paper, pretzel m&ms, wearing my bathrobe most of the day, big bang boom, peonies, painting the playroom, flip flops, fabric, mother of pearl, bucket liners, nalgene bottles, suntans, southern living magazine, ocean isle beach, yard sales, slipcovers, fabric...

Meatless Mondays and Camp Food!

2010-08-01T10:17:00.003-04:00

So I've gotten a pretty positive response from some of you about cutting out a day of meat every week. I've spent the last two weeks without meat except for one day. I don't really miss it, but I also have a bookcase full of cookbooks, and quite a few of those are vegetarian cookbooks. I love to cook, so finding new recipes to try is something I enjoy. I realize that not everyone out there feels that way, so I'm going to include meatless recipes that I have tried and like. I've never been one for scheduled posting, but if it works out for me to post a new recipe every Monday, then yay!

Until tomorrow's recipe, here are a couple more thoughts on food that have appeared before me since I last wrote about it:

I bought Dave a book to take to the beach called It Must've Been Something I Ate by Jeffrey Steingarten, the food critic for Vogue Magazine. In the introduction, he presents two statements to the reader:

"I feel awful this morning, my skin is covered in bumps, and I can hardly see straight. It must've been something I ate."

"I feel light as a feather this morning, my mind is clear as a bell, and I've got a smile on my face for the whole human race. It must've been something I ate."

Which statement would you be most likely to use? Maybe not to such an extreme, but try to keep to statement number two!

As I mentioned before, I have a pretty decent cookbook collection. One of my favorite cookbook authors, Mark Bittman, has a book called How to Cook Everything Vegetarian. I have used this cookbook a lot over the last few weeks and one night I pulled up his website to check out more recipes. Well, lo and behold, what did I see?

Lose Weight! Save the Planet! Become a Lessmeatarian!

My good buddy Mark then goes on to say all of the same things I said to you last week! He has a book out called Food Matters, which explains it all in greater detail. But still pretty interesting I imagine. His cookbooks are well written and he's got a good sense of humor throughout. The book is on my Amazon wishlist, but I'm sure I will break down and pay full price at Borders pretty soon. I will let you know what it says!

And the final occurrence that struck me pretty hard was something that a friend of mine was telling me about the treatment of animals. It's pretty groovy, but often I find that groovy is good. She has done a bit of research on "food energy" as in good energy vs bad energy. Basically, how an animal is treated during food production determines the kind of energy it has, and that energy is transferred to you when you eat it. So if your chicken was mistreated, crowded, covered in chemicals, and then you serve it to your children, guess what kind of energy will be transferred to them? How creepy. While most of us (me included) think it's worth cutting up a chicken for some well-seasoned noodle soup, we would also like to think there were some sort of ethical practices in place for the bird before it lost it's neck.

And finally, a few photos of food at the lake....because a post about food doesn't have to be a stick in the mud.

Who needs meat when you can eat foods made of 95% sugar???

Anna Jane's marshmallow caught fire!

Cotton Candy at a Knight's baseball game.

I'll think very hard and come up with a good recipe for tomorrow!

Sidebar Additions

2010-07-27T15:36:00.001-04:00

I've added a couple of additions to the sidebar of my blog. I struggled through my technology-illiteracy and figured out how to include a link to both my etsy shop and my classic campbell facebook page.

The facebook page will mostly be used to update on additions to the shop, new product info, and overall advertising for my etsy shop. Word of mouth, so spread the news!

And the etsy shop link shows a couple of my creations that are for sale right now. A couple of blog readers have contacted me through email about items that are not listed in the shop. If there is anything that you have seen on the blog that is not on etsy, please let me know. We can set up a custom order. Here are a few of the items I have listed right now:

The apple bucket liner

The pastel poppy organizer

Custom fabric banner

The lily bucket liner

The cherry bucket liner

There are also several new items about to pop up in the shop! Thanks for all of your support!

Embroidery to Fit a Frame

2010-07-26T14:05:00.001-04:00

A few weeks ago, we held a rummage sale at work to raise money for a friend in need. I found quite a few things to buy, including a beautiful antique frame that I planned on painting white and hanging in Anna Jane's room.

As it sat in my house, waiting for me to attack it with spray paint, I changed my mind. I picked up some linen for half price (lots of fabrics on sale right now!).

I picked out a favorite verse and printed it in a pretty font:

I cut the phrases out and arranged them on the fabric, using the frame as a guide:

There could be better ways to transfer images onto fabric, but here is how I do it...Using a pencil, cover the back of the text with a layer of pencil lead:

Then turn the paper over and place the scribbled side on the fabric, exactly where you would like the text to appear. Using a sharp pencil, trace the letter, pressing hard so that the pencil scribble underneath will transfer to the fabric.

Tadaaa!

If this strains your eyes, you can go over it again with the pencil directly on the fabric. Then use your favorite embroidery stitch:

I loved spending time embroidering this...it's been a long time since I've embroidered anything. When Anna Jane wore little fancy dresses, I would embroider them with shadow-work, and I used to monogram her little clothes by hand. I also embroidered hankerchiefs for each of the attendants in my wedding. I wish I had taken photographs of each of them. I picked out designs for each attendant based on their personality and style. Forget taking pictures, I wish I had kept them all for myself!

This took a little time, but what is really taking most of my time....?

Pleats for the dining room chairs were a good choice, but I'm pinning from morning until night. It might help a little if I knew what I was doing and not making it all up as I go along. I will be quite ~~tired~~ proud when this project is wrapped up. And will have to invite over many more friends for dinner to make the project worth it!

Thoughts About Food (and a recipe)

2010-07-19T14:18:00.001-04:00

I am not a vegetarian. That is a necessary statement in this pro-vegetarianish post.

Warning: There will be thoughts on the environment and your health in the following post. You absolutely positively do not have to agree with me on any of these thoughts. I'm just sharing.

There are lots of things that people do to try to save energy and save the environment. Recycling, turning off lights and tvs, only running your dishwasher when it is full, etc.

The most effective thing you can do to have a positive effect (or less negative effect) on our environment is to eat a little less meat. I have mentioned that to a few people over the past few months (in conversation, never preachy, never hey-you-shouldn't-eat-meat). They totally didn't believe me.

I have said it without exactly knowing where I heard it. I couldn't give facts and figures. But I've collected a few and would like to share these facts and figures with you. Mostly because I feel like we all want to help out good-ole mother earth when we can, and most of us are not aware of this minor change to our lives that can make a pretty significant difference to our environment.

Behold some environmental impact bullets:

1/5 of man made greenhouse gases that contribute to climate change are generated by the meat industry
eating 20% less meat (one day a week) would cut greenhouse gas emissions as much as if every American switched to an ultra-efficient hybrid vehicle
1/2 of river and stream pollution is a result of meat production methods
2500 gallons of water are used to produce 1lb of beef
220 gallons of water are used to produce 1lb of soy
because of the amount of fossil fuel energy needed to produce beef, 12 billion gallons of gasoline would be saved if everyone in the United States spent one day a week without eating meat
the livestock industry is responsible for the release of two dangerous gases, methane and nitrous oxide. they are considered to be more harmful than CO2 and remain in the atmosphere for up to 114 years
a third of all cereal crops are used for animal feed, not food for humans
it is anticipated that the meat industry will double it's production by 2050

I'm sure that there are facts and figures out there that will contradict each fact and figure I just gave you. But those would not have exactly supported my cause, now would they?

My very awesome doctor told me recently that while the Meatless Monday is quite trendy these days, her motto is more like "Only meat on Mondays." Too extreme for me. When I stopped to pay attention to it, I realized that a lot of my meals are meatless.

Think about your meals. How often do you eat a meal that is meatless? On average, Americans eat 45% more meat per day than the USDA recommends. Can you cut out a day of meat? If you already do, can you cut out one more?

Here is one of my very favorite recipes. And it just so happens to be meatless, but I've loved it far longer than I've known that I'm saving the earth by eating it.

Pasta with Tomatoes, Basil and Mozzarella

1 box whole wheat penne
28oz can and 15oz can of diced tomatoes
2 cloves of garlic
olive oil
pinch of crushed red pepper
handful of shredded basil
parmesan cheese
fresh mozzarella MUST BE FRESH. NO BAG OF SHREDDED RUBBERY CHEESE ALLOWED.

Slice garlic and sautee in oil over med high heat until slightly brown (I use a large skillet). Add tomatoes and crushed red pepper (I like mine quite hot, so I might add two pinches). Let simmer for 10 minutes or so, until it reduces and isn't so juicy.

Meanwhile, boil pasta in salted water. When cooked, add to tomato sauce and bring to a boil. Add cubed mozzarella cheese, a sprinkle of parmesan, and some basil shreds.

This is an inexpensive meal, very filling, very healthy (as long as you don't overdo it on the cheese). I'm not a big fan of tomato sauce, but these diced tomatoes and mozzarella are a perfect match with the sturdy whole wheat pasta.

I would be happy to share my favorite meatless recipes. I plan on serving them more often these days!

My resources include the always-reliable wikipedia and goop

Ruffles or Knife Pleats?

2010-07-18T12:07:00.001-04:00

We returned from almost two weeks of being out of town...photos to follow.

I jumped out of bed this morning and frantically tried to put my to-do list in some sort of order. I never seem to get done what I think I will over the summer, but I have a few weeks left to try.

I have been wanting to overhaul my dining room, so I got started a little on my chairs today. These chairs and my dining room table belonged to my great-grandparents. My mom covered them with a blue and white plaid and I covered them with a pink and yellow stripe when I moved into my first house. They looked adorable in my yellow living room, but they are long overdue for an upgrade.

Because any chair that will be pulled under a table is bound to be spilled upon, I'm going with a slipcover. And because you can bleach anything out of white fabric, I'm going with a white slipcover. And because I love ruffly, fancy things, I'm going with a white, ruffly slipcover.

I used some scrap fabric to make a little practice slipcover. My chair has quite a few rails and a wide back, so I wanted a trial run to make sure it fit just like I wanted. Then I added the ruffle to make sure it was the right length.

Then I thought that maybe it looks like a pillowcase.

I will be using a much heavier white cotton duck fabric, so the resemblance to a pillowcase shouldn't be as strong on the real thing. But just for fun, I made a strip of knife pleats and pinned it in place on top of the ruffle.

What do you think? Do you have a preference? Does it look much different?

Ruffles?

Knife Pleats?

Please dicuss, keeping in mind that the final product will be heavier. And ironed.

4th of July

2010-07-04T11:24:00.001-04:00

Technically, all of these activities took place yesterday, on the 3rd of the July. But with the spirit of the 4th.

We spent most of yesterday at Old Salem. If you live in North Carolina, you probably visited Old Salem with your 4th grade class. It is a beautiful place, but we visited yesterday for the guns, not the beauty.

Years ago, when Dave worked at Old Salem, his very favorite part of his job was his role in the militia. He would return from work on the evening of the 4th of July with the very strong scent of gunpowder and a large, purple, impressive bruise on his shoulder from the kickback of the gun.

We impressed ~~the kids~~ Wilson with these stories and hopped in the car to see the show. Unfortunately museums are hit hard during times of economic struggle, so the once-great militia show has become a demonstration. Still great guys shooting great guns, but without the fanfare that really drew an excited crowd.

Let me preface the following photos by telling you that there was a fire drill demonstration soon after we arrived. This included pumping water from the well on the square (oh, the well memories....salem girls?), filling leather buckets, and emptying the water into some sort of hand-pumped water hose. The interpreters (men in costume) then asked for children to represent the fire and squirted all volunteers with the water hose. This is the reason for Wilson's lack of attire...

The guns were really loud.

But we were so excited!

Cousin Nat, firing on the enemy:

Despite the noise, Wilson and Anna Jane both decided to register themselves as members of the militia.

Anna Jane told the recruiter that her occupation was "designer." He wrote that she was a mantua maker, which is what a clothing maker (seamstress?) was called in the 1700s.

Wilson's occupation as listed on his enlistment form is a transformer. There was no alternate description given for this occupation. Guess the word meant the same 300 years ago.

After a close examination by the town joiner, posing as a doctor, the kids were accepted into the Old Salem militia.

Despite 75 tries at a photo with all 3 kids, this is the only one where all of them are looking at the camera:

Thank goodness for digital.

When we got home we decided to bake some cookies, which would usually not rank high enough on the excitement meter to land in a blog post. The difference this time, however, is that I made them with a recipe from a good friend, and they are the most delicious sugar cookies you will EVER eat. So I snapped some pictures of the process to accompany the recipe. It is too good not to share.

This dough definitely rolls out easier than any other dough I've tried before.

No good reason for lack of clothing in this picture, other than the fact that this is how Wilson presents himself 85% of the time.

This is what happens when you give a 2-year-old a cookie cutter and his own dough:

This is what happens when you give him sprinkles:

Maybe he learned it from his 4-year-old brother:

Sugar Cookies
3 cups flour
1 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup butter (soft)
1 egg (beaten)
3 Tbs cream
1 tsp vanilla

Combine dry ingredients. Combine wet ingredients. Mix dry and wet together. (it really is that easy).

Roll out, cut out, bake at 400 for 5-6 minutes.

That's the recipe as I got it...but as a rule I always cook at a lower temp and at a lesser amount of time than called for. ALWAYS. So my oven was set at 350, and I baked for about 5 minutes. PERFECT!!

My Godchild

2010-06-29T12:22:00.001-04:00

God in heaven hear my prayer,
Keep me in thy loving care.
Be my guide in all I do,
Bless all those who love me too.

My Molly was baptized this Sunday. She is a beautiful child of God!

And almost as exciting as that...my sister and her family are finally home! They have been in Georgia for two long years and we are all so happy to have them back!

Beautiful Bedroom Chair

2010-06-24T08:38:00.003-04:00

What is it they say? Your bedroom should be your sanctuary...?

That's not exactly how I would describe our bedroom. It's more like a laundry processing center. The laundry is all clean, no problem there. It just happens to belong to every member of the family. All in our bedroom. Maybe folded, maybe not.

There has been a great little laundry catch-all in our bedroom for the last year or so. Do you have one of those? Ours is this chair:

(please excuse the phone photos. though it's not like a great camera would have done much to make the chair look better.)

I found this chair at the back of a consignment store. The back rooms are always my favorite. They are often filled with the outdated, maybe broken furniture. This means that they are cheap and that they are ugly. Perfect.

I saw this chair and made a beeline towards it. I have bought lots of chairs with this striped-velvet material. It was during this purchase that my mom diagnosed me with a chair fetish. Not an illness I can deny at this point.

But really, who wouldn't want this chair?

My original thought was to put a really bright, graphic print on it and enjoy the dramatic contrast between the classic shape and the modern fabric (I almost used the word juxtaposition instead of contrast. I just couldn't do it. I'm not an artist, I'm just suffering from a chair fetish.)

I kept choosing other chairs to work on and not this one. This usually means that I'm not 100% sure what to do with the chair. Once I've decided on the right look or fabric, I can't wait to get started. So I kept thinking and browsing online fabric collections. Then I decided that I really did want to keep it in the bedroom. But not as a laundry holder. As a chair.

Problem solved. I knew exactly what I wanted. A white matelasse. But oh, matelasse is so expensive. On my $2 chairs, I refused to pay much for new fabric. This chair I'm willing to splurge on. It was probably built in the 1800s and is really solid. And I had to have the arm repaired by someone who really knew what he was doing. So I spent a chunk of money and decided that since I was going all in for this chair, I would tackle a new skill as well...

Brass Tacks.

I bought a box of 1000 from Genco (the smallest amount they have in one box). I bought one little box from Hancock Fabrics to see if they would cut it, but the first nail I pulled out of the box was too easy to snap into two pieces. So I made the trek to High Point and bought the quality tacks.

It's a tough skill to perfect, and I clearly haven't gotten close.

But it was a great way to finish the chair and I'm very happy with the results.

No better motivation to PUT UP THE LAUNDRY!!

Fancier Folding Chairs

2010-06-23T15:49:00.002-04:00

I found these great non-fancy folding chairs at goodwill a few months ago:

There were four of them, for $2 a piece. I love goodwill and I think it's a great place to pick up furniture and housewares and even clothes. But $2 a piece? That's like giving them away. I would have spent $10 a piece on these very cute, retro folding chairs.

The bottom has the Monroe's family name written with markers in bold, capital letters. I can just picture the Monroes, pulling their sturdy wooden folding chairs with an assortment of plants and fruits and vegetables decoupaged onto the front, out of the trunk of their station wagon, ready for a pot luck at the church.

As I trotted out of the goodwill with my groovy new chairs, a lady commented that she looked at them too while she was shopping. "Yeah, a coat of paint and recovering the seats will really brighten them up!" I said. Then she said, "Oh I love them the way they are."

Slight guilt when I popped the top of my can of red spray paint, but not enough guilt to keep my finger off the trigger.

These pineapples, oranges, and pears fought pretty hard, but several coats covered them. I always spray paint in the grass.

Red wasn't my original choice. My plan was to find a cute oilcloth for the seats and find a paint color to match. I love this Annette Tatum design:

I thought an aqua chair would look nice. But not at $22 a yard. As it turns out, oilcloth (also known as laminated cotton) is very expensive. But there was a plan B...

I picked the bright red to coordinate with my ever-favorite fabric:

Maybe you've seen it before?

Even though I saved money on the chairs, there was no need to turn this into a super-expensive project. Luckily, I'm scrappy. I know how to turn cotton into oilcloth...or vinylcloth...

The directions are of course included with the product, but here are the basics:
1. peel the paper backing off the vinyl.
2. stick the adhesive side of the vinyl to the right side of the fabric.
3. place the paper backing over the vinyl and use medium iron to press.
4. turn fabric over and press with iron on wrong side of fabric.
5. spill, drip, drop, splash.
6. wipe clean.

Before stapling the laminated fabric to the chair, I stapled in a piece of white fabric so that the original, dingy, cream vinyl wouldn't distort the colors of the new fabric.

You can see the metal folding mechanism in the previous photo. These chairs are very well built and I've never seen folding chairs that are so nice. They will be perfectly able to withstand my three rowdy, messy, climby children.

These particular chairs had a little wooden skirt that I had to replace after stapling the fabric. Pay very close attention to the construction of any chair that you take apart. Pictures are very helpful for this. Better safe than stuck with a bunch of wood that you can't figure out how to put back together...

I'm thrilled with the outcome of this project. I'm super-thrilled with the iron-on vinyl. In fact, I have another project coming very soon with iron-on vinyl. And let me add to the suspense by telling you that it will probably be the most useless tutorial you have ever read (no typo, I meant useless). I can't wait!

D is for David

2010-06-23T15:03:00.001-04:00

This was my anniversary gift:

It's the most beautiful anniversary gift I've ever received. It's such a dainty, precious ring and it was made just for me. You can find one here, with your own initial.

My Dave did good.

8th Anniversary

2010-06-21T21:15:00.001-04:00

wrightsville beach 1999

with you here
baby I am strong
no sign of weakness
with you gone
baby I am hanging by a thread
nickel creek

I so much love my dave.

Our First Father's Day Card

2010-06-20T10:10:00.001-04:00

I had lots of free time on my hands and no digital camera. We spent many hours taking photos 6 short years ago. I placed Anna Jane on a white bedsheet and spread out a few refrigerator magnets to spell this new phrase. There were probably two rolls of film developed with variations of this same pose.

It's one of my favorite creations. The girl and the card and the husband who was now a father.

Chalkboard Pots

2010-06-11T13:23:00.001-04:00

My kids were so excited to wake up today. They woke up earlier today than they have any day over the last ten months. They were excited to snuggle with Nana on their first day of summer vacation.

I can't wait to start my own vacation, but that will have to wait until next week. Schools are still full of teachers busy cleaning, filing, scrubbing, grading, meeting, thinking, conferencing, organizing...and maybe even gossiping...

We delivered cute, sweet, easy-peasy little gifts to Anna Jane and Wilson's teachers. And since I got an email from a sweet friend wondering why I hadn't posted a tutorial in so long, I thought I would give a quick demo on how to make these gifts.

I had a can of chalkboard spray paint in my cabinet for another purpose, but couldn't resist using it for the kids' teachers. This stuff is quite popular, and will turn just about anything into a scribble-ready surface.

The first task was picking out what to paint. I decided on terra cotta pots, but passed them up for these pots instead:

They are unfinished, paint-your-own flower pots. I really didn't like the texture of them, so I first decided to paint the inside a fun color. Obviously the pots could hold plants, but since they could also be used as a pencil holder on a teacher's desk, I thought the inside surface needed a little protecting and prettying.

I sprayed them outside. On a flattened diaper box. We do not use brand-name diapers. And not only am I not loyal to a brand name, I'm also not picky about which store the store-brand diapers come from. Maybe we will eliminate diapers this summer...not going to think about it...it's making me dread my summer vacation a little.

After I sprayed the insides a nice bright red, I let that dry (for just a few minutes) and sprayed the outside with chalkboard spray paint (from Home Depot).

I let the pots dry over night and I only used one coat. For a child's scribbling surface, I would have added another coat or two.

Make sure you read the directions on your can of chalkboard paint. It says you have to prep the entire surface with chalk before you can write on it with chalk. Not sure why, but I'm a big rule-follower.

Rub the pot with the side of a piece of chalk until it is mostly covered:

Rub it off with a paper towel:

I didn't really like this look, so then I wiped it down with a wet paper towel. This step might have negated the entire prep process, but it all seemed to work out in the end...

I wrote a note on the outside of the pot with a piece of white chalk. Your kids can do this, but remember that young chubby fingers can smudge and might have a difficult time writing with a small piece of chalk on a rounded surface. For that matter, middle aged chubby fingers might also find this task difficult.

Fill the pot with herbs, flowers, candy, writing pens, brownies...anything that might make your kid's teachers smile.

We were so lucky to have incredible teachers for our kids this year. We will never forget them!

So Much to Say

2010-05-31T20:27:00.001-04:00

My blogging frequency has seriously decreased. There's still a lot going on that is noteworthy...Just not a lot of time to note it.

Hopefully that will change in the next two weeks as this remarkable school year comes to a close.

No more lunch boxes to pack!

A couple of very important things have happened, including our first (and second) visit from the tooth fairy!

Hours before the first tooth lost the fight, I finished up a little tooth pillow:

I used this tutorial minus the skirt.

We went to a baseball game:

We had super exclusive lawn seats, and according to friends, a homerun ball landed right on our picnic blanket. Or at least where the picnic blanket had been for the first 4 innings. We didn't last long.

Last weekend we spent an evening with The Band of Oz and enjoyed our annual picnic on the lawn at Davidson. The kids fought Papa for a chance to dance with Nana, and fought Nana for a chance to dance with Papa.

My Molly joined us for her first beach music extravaganza!

She loved me. I mean, the music.

I have lots of creative ideas in my head for the summer. I actually have lots of half-completed creative projects to share. Once I complete them, of course. And stay tuned for some very exciting upholstery before and afters. I'm in the middle of one now and I'm so in love with what (I think) it will look like when I'm all done.

Can't wait to spend more time with you in the upcoming months!

Abracadabra

2010-05-27T21:38:00.001-04:00

Me - abracadabra
Henry - some sort of abracadabra
Me - abracadabra
Henry - I'll pick that up...referring to all of the fabric he threw on the floor to make room for him to sit in the rubbermaid container

Dave and I watch this over and over. The funniest part about the clip is that Henry is so well spoken and easy to understand. For some reason he has a very difficult time saying this particular word and it is adorable. And 17 syllables.

Garden Party Headband

2010-05-12T20:32:00.001-04:00

I love the way that Anna Jane's birthday party headband turned out and it was very easy. You can make one too!

We had fabric covered headbands left over from making our Halloween costumes.

A few years ago my Aunt Elizabeth gave Anna Jane a beautiful, not-tacky door curtain that was not annoying to walk through every time you entered her room (if I knew html code for "sarcasm," I would have applied it here). It was similar to this:

photo courtesy of hearthsong

But pink and covered in roses and purple flowers.

I embellished the glass tea cups from the party with a few of these pink roses and pulled the rest off to make this headband.

I took the rose apart and discarded the plastic pieces:

It's still amazing to me that these cheap synthetic roses looked so beautiful when taken apart and reassembled.

I tried the headband on Anna Jane to decide on the placement of the flowers. I liked them all to one side, so I glued the largest of the petal layers on with hot glue.

Glue the other layers on, one at a time.

In the middle, I glued on a flower shaped pearl button, left over from my heirloom sewing days.

I planned on two roses, but squeezed another half of one at the bottom after I tried it on Anna Jane's sweet head. I only used the top few layers so that it wouldn't take up quite so much room.

Garden Party Perfect.

If you're not fond of the glue gun, visit my etsy shop and you can buy a garden party headband for yourself or your daughter.

A Very Sweet Birthday Party

2010-05-09T13:29:00.001-04:00

My Anna Jane had her sixth birthday party yesterday. This was the first time we have celebrated a birthday somewhere other than our own house with anyone other than family members and family friends.

Our first "friends" party. It was very exciting. It was also all girls. She wanted to have a fancy little tea party so we decided that the boys in her class just wouldn't have any fun. We did have one tag-along little brother that insisted that he didn't want to go, but then refused to leave every time Dave tried to take him home.

And we had another guest...

Anna Jane and her little girlfriends tried as hard as they could to figure out how Dave's mom got Cinderella's phone number to invite her to the party. She met us at Sweetie's, a fancy candy shop with a birthday party room in the back of the shop, just perfect for a tea party.

Anna Jane's one ~~demand~~ request for the party was that she have real tea cups to drink her punch out of. My plan was to shop a couple of thrift stores and have a tea cup for each little girl. Cut to 1.5 hours before the party and I remembered my promise of real tea cups. The obvious solution with no time to shop was to use my own china tea cups. While I would share my china with no hesitation, my pattern would not have had the right look for 10 fancy little girls. So I used my little glass cups and embellished them with a silk flower.

And instead of sitting down at my sewing machine for the few moments I had left before the party, I scratched my plan of stitching up a new party frock and decided to make a pretty hair accessory for her instead.

After Cinderella captured each little girls' attention for a good 10 minutes with a story, she showed off her beautiful crown. And since the crown is only worn on special occasions, she allowed Anna Jane to wear it on her party day.

I love Anna Jane's look of awe in that picture!

My favorite detail of the party was Anna Jane's tea party cake:

There was a little tea cup cupcake for each little girl and then a teapot cake that we took home to share as a family. While Sweetie's would have provided cupcakes for Anna Jane and her friends, we decided to go with our "cake girl." Allison Green has become a very important part of our celebrations around here. She is so artistic and talented and sweet to work with. She made the dragon cake for Wilson and Henry's party this year:

We found her through my friend, Elizabeth, who had this cake made for her sweet Jamey's birthday party:

I cannot recommend Allison enough. Anna Jane's cupcakes were so yummy and had a strawberry buttercream icing that really set it apart from other too-sweet cakes we have tried before.

Custom cakes, Cinderella, a candy shop, sweet girl friends and a few brand new Barbies were all Anna Jane needed to feel like a special six year old girl.

Well, that and a goofy little brother to put everything into perspective:

I NEED Your Feedback!

2010-05-04T21:19:00.001-04:00

So really, this is all YOUR fault. You are so nice and encouraging and always begging me to sell my wares. But I cannot do this on my own. Please visit my etsy shop and tell it like you see it.

How are the descriptions? How are the photos? (really, I know the answer to that one. if you can give me some advice on how to resize photos to fit without losing every speck of clarity, I need that advice. desperately.)

What did I forget to say? Is there anything that I could have said to make you more likely to buy it?

I am stepping (however lightly) on the gas pedal with this eventual sewing enterprise, and I want to do it as best as I can. I know I can sew, but I can't necessarily market. Or describe. Or photograph. So help me sell. I have only listed two things so far, but wanted a bit of feedback before I spend many more hours on this process. If you are worried about embarrassing me in front of my friends, shoot me an email. I can take it. kaelle78(at)yahoo(dot)com

I dropped off a couple of things at a boutique in Charlotte yesterday and today I got confirmation from the owner that she will let me be a vender!

I'm doing this. Please give me feedback so that I can do it right!

Excuses, Excuses

2010-05-02T21:58:00.001-04:00

You might not have noticed, but I've been mostly gone from the blog for what seems to be a very long time. In fact, if it had not been for my three babies' birthdays, I probably would not have posted at all in the last few months. Super busy, super busy. We all are, I know.

As this weekend comes to an end, I am able to breathe again. The most recent of my commitments has come and gone. The weeks leading up to the Whimsical Women's craft show were full of cutting and stitching and creating and gluing and sealing and tagging and worrying.

I got a lot of good feedback on what I took. Not a lot sold, but according to all of the craft-show-pros, spring markets are not big money makers. The holiday markets are where it's at. Thanks to this opportunity, I have scored a booth at the fall market which is a pretty big deal.

Here are a few shots of my half of the booth:

I took fabric bucket liners, fabric button rings, little neckties, and organizers. I also hung a quilted letter banner, hoping to generate some interest in custom work.

I do think that interest was generated, I gave my etsy address* to quite a few shoppers. Anna Jane also sold some of her artwork:

She took some of her tissue paper flower art. It really is beautiful. She was such a trooper during the 8 hours of very hot weather that we spent at the show. But as a mature six-year-old, she did not waste a minute whining. She very thoughtfully spent her $5 of birthday money and created some recycled art at the kids' craft table.

I was so proud to have space in a booth with my very talented friend Elizabeth. She is incredibly artistic and took a variety of items to sell. Her jewelry is made from mostly recycled materials and absolutely flew out of the booth. My favorites of all of her work are the stunning birdhouses:

Her up-and-coming etsy shop is about to fill with beautiful jewelry, so stop by in the next week or so and see what she has to offer.

We spent the night with my dear friend Lindsey B, who has been one of my very best since we were 14 years old. Anna Jane loves her so much, she convinced Lindsey to share her bed with Anna Jane. I think it was the mountain of strawberries and aerosol whipped topping and sprinkles with a flaming candle that just sent Anna Jane's opinion of Lindsey through the clouds. On the way to the show on Saturday morning, Anna Jane declared her dislike for "Chapel Hills" because she wanted to stay with Lindsey in Raleigh. We hope to change her mind on that before she graduates from high school and heads to college. We can't handle having a Wolfpacker in our family.

I am already looking forward to the show on Thanksgiving weekend. I have plans for more items and greater displays. I will get all of the details as the date gets closer. On the immediate front, I am looking forward to resting in the afternoons and evenings and not sewing every minute of the day. I do love it, but it will be nice to concentrate on other things for a while and just sew when I feel like it.

*if you clicked on my etsy address link, you know that there is nothing listed in the shop! For some reason, I feel very intimidated by the entire process. But because I gave my address to so many people this weekend, I must list a few things. I have one item halfway listed, it's just waiting on photographs. I will be begging for help in the next couple of days. I need feedback on my descriptions as soon as I start listing. And I will need buyers of course, as well! Spread the word!

Dear My Anna Jane

2010-05-01T20:31:00.002-04:00

Be strong in the Lord
And never give up hope
You're going to do great things
I already know
God's got his hand on you
So don't live life in fear
Forgive and forget
But don't forget why you're here
Take your time and pray

And have a beautiful birthday!

lyrics by sidewalk prophets

Easter Buckets

2010-04-11T20:33:00.001-04:00

We had the most fabulous Easter trip. Even the 8 hour car ride went smoothly. I would love to show you lots and lots of photographs of my kids at the zoo, my cousins cooking out, our indoor egg hunt, dinner out at Hot and Hot Fish Club....but my camera is broken. Dead, I think. With no immediate hopes of a replacement.

So I borrowed a few of Emily's facebook photos to show you my latest sewing love:

The Easter Bucket

I made four of these bucket liners to fit 10 quart galvanized pails. And with all of the Easter loot that ~~Dave's mom~~ the Easter bunny delivered on Sunday morning, a little basket certainly would not have held it all.

I even made one for my Molly's first Easter. Can you imagine waking up to an Easter bucket filled with such a cute Cadbury bunny?

The possibilities of fabric combinations and cute trims are endless. That's really my favorite part. And Anna Jane's liner has pockets on the inside to keep her barbies or hairbows or ~~the countless tubes of lipstick and gloss and eyeshadow that she took from Mary and Lia~~ crayons.

You can also keep sewing or knitting supplies or gardening tools or, well, the possibilities are endless here as well. I am taking some to my first craft show in Chapel Hill next month. Actually, I'm tagging along and adding some of my things to my unbelieveably artistic friend, Elizabeth's booth. I'm so nervous and excited. Not sure how many to take, or how much to charge or how to market them. Hopefully I will finally get my etsy shop up and running if there is a good reception at the craft show. If you are around the triangle on May 1st, please come shopping!

What's Going On

2010-03-21T21:35:00.001-04:00

Outside my window… is a rainy deck.

I am thinking…how creativity will not win tonight. but procrastination might.

I am thankful for...my dave. no explanation needed.

In the mail...a highlights magazine

From the kitchen…microwaved s'mores for the playroom campsite. marshmallows puff up to 10 times their size in there. I promise.

I am wearing…a new fabric ring I just made. love them.

I am creating…a lot more work for myself later by playing on this blog here.

I am going…to stay up late and try to get a lot of revising done. in front of the television.

I am reading…les miserables. it's beautiful. and lots and lots of paperwork. it's not so beautiful.

I am hoping…that I pass my National Boards. hoping with all of my mite. all of it.

I am hearing…a dishwasher and a bit of sizzling on the stove.

I am looking forward to...dinner at Hot and Hot Fish Club. the countdown to Bham is on.

I want...to sleep well. to manage my stress. to make beautiful things with fabric and thread...and wood and a staple gun. to need ice cream in order to survive so that I have no choice but to eat it for my own good. for my sister and her family to move back home.

Around the house…my lucy at my feet. lots of daffodils on the counter. a dining room table cluttered with fabric scraps.

For dinner we are having...leftovers

One of my favorite things…my contact lenses. because last week I had to wear my glasses with safety pins holding each side together. hot.

A few plans for the rest of the week…make it through until the end. a couple of runs with Julia (I hope). sitting on the couch after the kids go to bed. my molly coming for a visit.

A picture to share...she claims another victim...

Creativity Wins

2010-03-21T19:56:00.001-04:00

And it usually does, thank goodness.

In this case it was the battle between what I should be doing and what I really wanted to do.

I have quite the deadline coming up at work next week. One that has been on the calendar for an ENTIRE YEAR. Talk about a buildup of stress. No gory details here, but if you really want to know....click here.

So in case you haven't noticed (hey mom and dad), I haven't posted anything creative lately. I've restrained myself from sewing or funituring as my deadline has been screaming at me to GET IT DONE ALREADY.

And my head is swimming. So I decided that I needed to take a little break and work on a few things for Easter. For the first time, I did not make the kid's new smocked Easter outfits.

If I had a photo of a knife through my heart, I would have inserted it here.

But...I planned a coordinating set of outfits, because...well, because it's Easter and if you're going to match your kids' outfits, this is the time to do it.

I ordered a little necktie pattern and made two little neckties for my Wilson and my Henry out of Anna Jane's dress fabric.

loveitloveitloveitloveitloveitloveitloveitloveitloveitloveitloveitloveitloveitloveit

It was so great and so cute and so quick that I made two more for them to wear to church today.

My description of Wilson and his untucked look is not unlike a young frat boy showing up for his volunteer duties after a rough night. Dave preferred a comparison to a Chris Farley character. Either one, loveable in his own way.

And when you consider that they (not me, they) all slept like this last night:

it's a wonder he doesn't look any rougher than he does.

Anna Jane would not ever understand if she wasn't included in our picture making time so here is her "running" pose:

I kid you not. She was standing still and said "Take this picture of me running." I see a career in catalog modeling coming our way.

And what I really wanted to work on, before I got distracted by little guy neckties, I did not get to finish. But here is a sneak peek:

I can't wait until next week so that the sewing will always win. Until something else comes up...

Two Years Ago Today

2010-03-07T19:11:00.001-05:00

After 45 minutes of labor...

He popped out.

Not this big, of course. But this sweet.

One of last night's conversations:
me: Henry?
him: What?
me: I love you.
him: Awww, thank you!

I love you so much my sweet Henry! Happy Birthday!

Procrastination

2010-03-06T19:37:00.002-05:00

Nine times out of ten, a photograph of me putting off what I'm supposed to be doing would look like me, sitting on the couch.

But every now and then we replace what we're supposed to be doing with something worthwhile...

Back to work...

The Best Compliment. Ever.

2010-02-28T10:01:00.000-05:00

This is so much fun.

And I say that at the risk of you seriously questioning my idea of fun. That's okay. The risk is worth it.

I was just visiting the Prudent Baby blog and ran across a post of Jaime's from earlier this week. She revealed that someone had called her a "gem encrusted diamond lobster rainbow" which was the best compliment she could be given.

Huh?

She said those were her favorite things all mushed up to describe her.

What would your compliment be? Think of your three favorite things and toot your own horn.

For example, if I needed a pat on the back for a job well done, I would call myself a fabric ice cream piece of furniture from Goodwill.

So fun. Takes only a few seconds. Let the world know how to really make your day with a very confusing-sounding description. Leave your compliment in the comment section!

You Won!!

2010-02-24T18:06:00.001-05:00

Well, maybe not YOU. But for all of you that didn't win, thanks for playing along. It was a lot of fun to hear from you. And I'm always tickled to add a few more followers. Even if I have to resort to bribery.

And I'm most excited that now I have another reason to make a dish mat.

And my mom will be most excited that MY DAD WON THE DISHMAT!!

No kidding. I cut up all of the names (twice if you are a follower) and Dave pulled one. The best part of it all is that my dad was the first one to comment. Probably 30 seconds after I hit the "post" button.

So, Dad...let me know what fabrics will inspire you most to roll up your sleeves and squirt the dish soap. Happy Washing!

Portrait of a Birthday Boy

2010-02-22T17:15:00.001-05:00

Photos by Birthday Boy himself. Words by his mama.

silly
energetic
cuddly
active
talkative
awesome

goofy
smart
compassionate
pensive
boy
friendly

thoughtful
athletic
bashful
playful
proud
loveable
persistant
humorous

four

Giveaway 101

2010-02-19T19:52:00.001-05:00

I guess technically my milestone post has already passed. I hit 100 posts with my antique spools.

And I'm not really sure who considers 100 posts a milestone except that it just gives you something else to write about.

Some people might hit 100 posts after a couple of months. Depends on how much they have to say.

I'll use post number 101 as an excuse for a giveaway. I loved sewing and giving away the bag dispensers so long ago. I tried to think of something useful and possibly attractive to all readers. But no such thing exists. So I just picked something I like and something that I could give to my mom or my sister if no one else wants to participate!

If you wash dishes you might be interested in this. It's a dishtowel used to catch drips after handwashing or removing items from the dishwasher. It has terrycloth on the underside and is a lot cuter than an old kitchen towel hanging out on your counter.

It's not my design, I got the idea from Darby, and tweaked it a little to fit my needs and my counter.

I've got lots of fabric, here's another look at a few samples:

I'm sure I can come up with something that suits you (or someone you would like to gift this to).

To enter the giveaway, leave a comment. I don't need anything fancy, a "hi" will qualify you. If you are a follower of the blog, I'll enter your name twice. If you become a follower I'll enter you twice as well. Just let me know if you are. Let me know who you are if you are anonymous!!

I'll pick a winner at random on Wednesday night (2/24).

I hope you win!

Spools of...

2010-02-16T12:25:00.002-05:00

...thread, right?

Well, when my grandmother gave me a very large bag of spools, there was no thread to be found. I don't know how old the spools are. For all I know, they could be from the late 1990s. But I prefer to call them antique. Because they are empty and wooden. That is the definition of antique, right?

My plan from the start was to string them and hang them in my sewing space. And then, I actually created a sewing space. So I was ready to hang. Then I got an idea.

This idea came from my love of fabric. My love that is so selfish that I would like to keep all of my fabric because I love it so. This love that makes it so hard for me to give my fabric away, even to make stuff out of it.

Maybe this is the cure!

I took an empty spool and cut a strip of fabric the width of the spool with enough length to wrap all of the way around.

No measuring here, just guestimating. Not many of the spools were exactly alike, but if you did have the same sizes, you could use a rotary cutter and cut away with your measurements.

(something funny happens to the color in the next few photos. I want a new camera!!)

Wrap the fabric around:

There are so many possibilities for securing the fabric around the spool. I used short straight pins:

You could use fabric glue, tape, anything that works because...

When you spin it around, no one will know that it didn't just grow onto the spool!

I had so much fun picking out fabrics for the different spools.

Some spools were big

Some spools were small

Some fabrics were left over from dresses that I made for Anna Jane

And some fabrics were new, modern prints that I haven't used yet

There were a couple of options for display...

On the same cakestand:

On a shelf with some antique milkglass (I know these glasses are not wooden, so they contradict the aforementioned definition of antique, but these are antique):

And the original plan, the spool garland:

I actually think I like this arrangement less than the others.

I need help...where do you like them the best? Or do they need a shelf of their own?

Storage Basket

2010-02-15T19:45:00.001-05:00

I can't think of anything I would rather store!

Ed Emberley Stamp

2010-02-10T19:42:00.001-05:00

I was about 6 or 7 years old when I got this book.

I think we got it at a neighbor's yard sale. I could be way off on that, but I know it's been at least that long since I've had it.

Ed Emberley is AWESOME.

He is so talented and he has published over 80 books. BUY SOME OF HIS BOOKS!

My favorites are like these, which instruct you how to draw in really easy, do-able steps. And I love his "fingerprint books."

He also writes children's books. This one is a favorite of my students.

When Wilson said he wanted a knight birthday party, the wheels in my head started turning. The first step in planning a party is of course, the invitations. Somehow I think and think and think until all of the sudden, I figure it out. This time the figuring out took a little more figuring out than I had planned.

I thought about castles, I thought about dragons, then I thought about this:

I haven't looked at this book in years, but somehow the dragon stuck in my head. I didn't want to draw the dragon on every invitation, because let's face it: as good as the instructions are, I still can't draw.

I thought about cutting out lots and lots of dragons, but there was too much detail to get through one, much less one for every family member.

So I decided I would make a stamp, and stamp the dragon onto each invitation. How I reasoned that this would be any easier than drawing or cutting is not clear to me. And I've never made a stamp before. Oh well, here we go...

I made a photocopy of the dragon and shaded it in with a pencil:

Then I cut it out and rubbed the pencil onto the stamp rubber (found it at AC Moore):

And now the fun part!

I used a linoleum carving knife (AC Moore) to very carefully remove the rubber around the dragon.

I cut the stamp down to size and tried it out a couple of times on scrap paper. It showed me where I needed to cut away more of the rubber so that the dragon was a clean image. I just kept cutting away until the dragon looked just right. It was so much easier than I expected it to be.

I got the effect of Ed Emberley without the effect of my drawing difficulties.

I like these invitations. On to the party!

Some Winter Projects

2010-02-07T21:15:00.001-05:00

I think when I woke up to this yesterday:

I was the only girl in Winston-Salem with a smile on my face. It wasn't much snow, especially compared to what we had the previous week, and what they currently have in Virginia and other states to the north. I love the winter weather and I have stitched up a lot of new things. Here are some of them:

Wilson picked out this camo fabric for a new pair of pajama pants. He calls them his army man pants.

Anna Jane picked out this fabric for a skirt months ago:

I followed this tutorial but had to make a few adjustments. I didn't have as much fabric as the pattern called for, but I actually think this worked out better. I think more fabric would have swallowed her. This fits perfectly.

I made a cute little snail:

Which is actually not a snail, but a fabric cover for Anna Jane's little measuring tape. The yoyo designates the side of the tape with the button used to retract the tape. It took about 15 minutes to make. Can't remember where I found the pattern.

I made these cute little Valentine's leg warmers for ~~Punky Brewster~~ Anna Jane:

At our Superbowl dinner tonight, I snapped a photo of the leg warmers in action:

Somebody needs to teach Miss Priss how to SIT and EAT like a lady. Hmmm. I guess that's my job.

I made this dish mat from this tutorial:

I made one as a house-warming gift for my friend Lindsey, and I liked it so much, I made mine identical to hers!

I made two dresses for Anna Jane. One I haven't taken photos of yet. As you can see from this hodge-podge of a photo mess, I don't really have a great place to photograph the kids or their clothes in this house. I tried getting pics of this blue dress with a bit of sunlight:

I think this is my favorite of all of the things I made since the big snow of 2010 last weekend. And I didn't even start it until last night.

I put the button on today and if I knew anything about drafting patterns, I would make one for myself!

With the clicking of the camera all afternoon, Wilson requested that the following picture be taken:

I will leave you with that.

Here's to the next snowstorm!

Cabin Fever

2010-02-04T21:33:00.001-05:00

No way.

I can't think of anything better than being stuck in my cabin with Dave and the kids and 8 inches of snow. I didn't leave the house for days, and even then it was only to pick up more fabric and another pattern. I sewed my fingers silly during and after this massive snow storm. The best part of snowing in the snow (well, in a house in the snow) is the bright, bright light that is reflected off the snow and under my presser foot.

After all of the time I spent sewing with Anna Jane, I got caught up in some projects of my own.

I'll show them soon, but since we have ANOTHER snow day tomorrow, I hope to add a couple of things to my total for the week.

With all of the time spent with my fabric and thread, I got an itch for an organized sewing space. At this point, I have supplies in bags, drawers, cabinets, and RubberMaid boxes. They are not all in the same room and I'm terrible at putting things back where I found them.

I actually have lots of options for a sewing space: a corner of the playroom, 1/2 of Henry's bedroom, lots of space in the basement...I know enough about myself to situate my sewing supplies in an area of the house that is easily accessible. The basement would be an ideal spot with lots of space and storage. But I wouldn't want to be alone downstairs while the rest of the household continues without me.

There was a pretty obvious spot in the middle of the house, but I had some reservations.

This is kind of our laundry room. Or like a breezeway through our laundry room. There are doors that span the wall behind me (taking the photo) that enclose cabinets, a washer and dryer. Behind that is the playroom. To the left of the "room" is the dining room (which is at the front of the house). To the right of the room is the kitchen, and on the other side of the room is the den (and all bedrooms).

Now that you have a treasure map of my house, you will see that this really is in the middle of the house. It's where we keep the birthday cake during our big family parties. The green buffet serves as a dessert table for other get togethers. When we are not entertaining, we stack up clean (folded or not) laundry. It also showcases one of my favorite wedding gifts: a P.Buckley Moss print, which was a gift from my parents.

Taking photos of this space was really difficult. It's quite cozy, despite what it looks like on my computer screen. I moved the green buffet to the right and added an antique work table.

The green buffet was the first piece of furniture that I painted with my friend, Elizabeth. I bought it from my minister when I bought my first house. We crackled it and I added these drawer pulls that reminded me of my Mema's back-porch screen door:

The work table came from Bocock-Stroud Department Store in downtown Winston-Salem. My great-grandfather Henry S Wilson started this store and most everyone in the family worked there at some point.

I found this photo in some of the city's online archives:

Maybe that's my table!
Here is a photo of the store during a Christmas Parade:

Once I got those two pieces in place, I just started adding things that I found around the house. I did have to run to Michael's to pick up two of the little shelves. I painted them white and hung them, including a little special shelf for my piece-of-art pin cushion:

I added trim to each of the three white shelves:

I had this antique printer's box in the basement:

The tall spools of thread in the middle are ones I have used. The others were given to me in a very large bag of sewing supplies from my grandmother. She also gave me a bag full of empty spools:

I know exactly what I'm going to do with them!

So here is somewhat of an after photo:

I'm sure I will find more around the house to add. The drawers of the buffet hold supplies, as well as the containers on the shelves. The cabinets of the buffet hold fabric scraps. Not enough room for a substantial amount of fabric or batting. Those are still in RubberMaid containers.

I am missing a few things, such as this, and this, and this, and this, and the list goes on...

I've tried to keep the laundry out, and I've got a chair of Henry Wilson's that I am changing the seat on so that it will feel at home in my new space. I think I like how it has turned out so far.

Winter Snowing Is Great For...

2010-01-30T20:54:00.003-05:00

Winter Sewing!

Santa Claus brought Anna Jane a sewing machine for Christmas. I know I'm late announcing that. Christmas Day was spent at her teeny little machine. My mom had given her a little sewing basket with needed supplies the day before, and I had some fabric ready so that we could get started as soon as she wanted to.

I gave her several options to choose from as far as first projects go. A skirt, a drawstring backpack, a Barbie doll sleeping bag, or a stuffed animal. I was certain she would pick the skirt. She didn't. She picked the stuffed animal.

It was actually a last minute brainstorm as I was heading into the playroom with a handful of fabric. I'm so glad I thought of it. Here is her final product:

And the back:

She used Sharpie markers to draw and embelish the cat. Whose name by the way, is Puffy.

Wilson liked the idea so much that he wanted to make one as well. When I asked what kind of stuffed animal he wanted to make, he said "A Daddy."

A Stuffed Daddy. He's even got glasses on. The resemblance is remarkable.

I didn't take photos of our process because I wanted to enjoy the moment and not worry about capturing every step. Since we had 8 inches of snow and a little bit of a bronchitisy cold today, Anna Jane and I made another stuffed animal and photographed like crazy!

She chose to make a seashell. Not a stuffed animal, I guess.

The first step was making a pattern. You could freehand the object like she did with Puffy. We made a paper pattern so that I could introduce the process of pinning a pattern and cutting. She has a nightgown pattern waiting for her to improve her skills, so this pattern was in preparation for bigger things...

The first step was setting up her wrist pin cushion. It was certainly the most important part of the entire afternoon.

Then she pinned the pattern to the selected fabric: a purple quilter's cotton donated by Nana.

She cut two layers of the fabric, following the pattern.

She pinned the two pieces of fabric right-sides together with her sweet little fingers.

She slowly "drove" the fabric through the machine. Only practice and a bossy mom who thinks she knows everything about sewing will help perfect her skills. She's improving rather rapidly I think.

The concentration required is immeasurable.

She left a few inches unsewn so that she could turn the seashell right-side out.

She stuffed it with polyfill that Bobbie Quack sent over the other day.

Behold the seashell:

I stitched up the opening and now it's ready to burst with a mermaid, according to Anna Jane. It was an exhausting day of sewing. The only thing that keep Anna Jane going was a mouthful of carrots.

And the giggle I got when I pointed out her chipmunk cheeks was the highlight of the afternoon!

A Little Math and Science

2010-01-24T22:19:00.001-05:00

Measurement

It's January. Time to measure the kids on the wall. We do this twice a year on the doorway into our kitchen.

Anna Jane has grown 2 inches in the last year. It's all in her legs!

Wilson grew 2 1/2 inches this year. It's his rapidly-expanding smart mouth that concerns us more than his height!

And my sweet Henry grew 4 1/2 inches this year. I couldn't stop laughing at that measurement. That's such a dramatic increase!

Distance and Time

Henry and I drove 5 (yes five) long hours to see baby Mahwee (or Molly, as the rest of the world calls her).

5 hours in the car, and 30 seconds for him to demand "Off" when we put Molly on his little lap.

5 hours in the car, 30 seconds holding Molly, and not a moment spent walking across the floor of Emily and Todd's apartment for fear that the cat might attack. He's not really familiar with cats and he was super-scared.

5 hours in the car, 30 seconds holding Molly, no time spent on the floor of the apartment, but several laps around the hotel balancing on the luggage cart.

Magnets

A Rummage Sale Mini Bar. Henry should be in marketing for the Junior League of Winston-Salem.

Genetics

Now, I know that as far as genetics go, Molly cannot be my daughter. But look at her. Genetics aside...she could totally be mine.

Go To Soup

2010-01-24T21:27:00.001-05:00

Not "Hey, let's get in the car and go to Soup."

But "I'm taking lunch to Linda. Get out the recipe for my go-to soup."

My friend Linda has cancer, dammit. Well she had cancer and they took it out. Now she has chemo, dammit.

I realized as I was picking up the ingredients at the local grocer that I make this everytime I need to take a meal to a friend.

Have a baby? How about soup?
Have cancer? How about soup?
Have a freezer? Let's fill it with soup!

I don't actually like soup. But I like my go-to soup. I love it.

It's out of the Foster's Market Cookbook. I so love Sara Foster and all of her cookbooks. She owns two market/restaurants in Durham and Chapel Hill and she used to work with my Martha. She also has a blog, which I need to look at...I just discovered it as I was linking to her soup recipe.

Another funny thing happened while I was linking to her soup recipe. She didn't have a link to her soup recipe. Ugh, bummer. Pick up a copy of her cookbook(s) or let me know if you want it and I will post. The name of the soup is Succotash Soup with Chicken and Oven Roasted Tomatoes. Mmmmmm.

What I wanted to share with you today is a yummy addition to the soup meal. I delivered the soup to Linda with crackers because crackers and soup make you feel better. Oooey-gooey corn bread makes you feel better too, but not if you are sicky and don't want something so rich.

This recipe is from a cookbook called Potluck at Midnight Farm. What a great title, right? I'm not going to lie to you. I bought this cookbook because the spine was pretty on the bookshelf at Borders. Now, this was many, many years ago. But yes, I judged a book by it's cover. And it worked out pretty well for me and my tummy.

Tamara Weiss is the author and she lives a fabulous life with famous friends on Martha's Vineyard. Mary Steenburgen contributed this recipe to the book. It's called Corn Spoon Pudding, but you can cut it into squares and pick it up like any old cornbread. No spoons necessary.

Corn Spoon Pudding

1 (8 1/2 oz) box corn muffin mix
1 (7 1/2 oz) can whole kernel corn
1 (7 1/2 oz) can creamed corn
1 cup sour cream
2 large eggs, beaten
1/2 cup melted butter
1/2 cup grated Swiss cheese

Heat the oven to 350degrees. Combine all ingredients except the cheese in a large mixing bowl. Pour into a lightly greased 9x13-inch baking dish. Bake for 35 minutes.
Sprinkle grated Swiss on top and bake 10 minutes more. You will know it's done when a toothpick comes out clean.
Serve warm.

I wanted to take Linda something other than food, so I decided to do a little research on what to give patients receiving chemotherapy. How overwhelming. Heating pads. No, cold packs. Give them something to cover their head after they lose their hair. No, don't draw attention to their soon-to-be-shiny head. How insulting. Books. Video Games. Each suggestion contradicted the last. I'm smart enough to know that every patient is different. And I'm smart enough to know that Linda would love what ever I delivered to her because that is Linda. And I'm smart enough to know that if I took fabric and thread and created something for her, whether she needed it or not, she would tell me she loved it.

I used this tutorial to make a Chamomile Rice Heating pad.

This is the heating pad all folded up, ready to be delivered. When you unfold it, it has four sections, all full of rice. I followed the tutorial except I didn't do any measuring. I picked a piece of fabric that looked about the right size. I have no idea what size it actually was. And I didn't measure the rice, I just put in enough for the grains to spread throughout the bag, but not so much that it would be heavy on her lap (or neck, or boobie, or wherever).

What a terrible reason to share soup. Cancer.

Please go here to help us move towards a world where we share soup because it's yummy, and not because of chemo.

Practicing Expressions

2010-01-21T21:10:00.001-05:00

Cameras were clicking all weekend during my visit with Emily and Todd and my Molly. Here are a few of her funny faces. I remember sitting in the hospital room with my three newborns, watching them express every possible emotion on their teeny tiny faces, without actually feeling those emotions.

I'm sure now that I haven't seen her in 4 days, she misses me tremendously. I think that's why she was practicing her I miss you face in so many of the above photos.

Most of Todd and Emily's expressions were of the I miss ~~you~~ sleep variety.

I'm sure my face had an I miss ~~you~~ ~~sleep~~ having babies expression plastered all over it, but if I can get the Duncan fam to move back home, I will be happy.

For now.

I love my Molly.