NYC #3

The top photo is Thomas in front of a photo of Henry Darger’s apartment. So much to look at!

Next up in a place we stopped in for lunch when in Brooklyn…Hana Food Corp. It is a little shop/deli place but they have benches out front, so you can sit and eat. They have an amazing selection of sandwiches, all with really fun names. I forget which sandwich Tom had but it had a tofu cutlet, mustard, lettuce, tomato, avocado, vegan bacon, and he added vegan cheese. I had The Thriller just like it comes which is lettuce, tomato, avocado, vegan tofurkey, jack cheese, pesto, and vegan bacon on 7 grain bread. It was huge and 1/2 a sandwich was a perfect meal. The other halves were saved for food on our train ride home.

We went to Papabubble for souvenirs for the kids and Tom’s parents. They hand make the most beautiful hard candies inside, in a variety of flavors. You can watch them making the candy and even buy leftover ends/blobs of candy. Very cool and worth checking out!

We did a little antique window shopping, and fell in love with a beautiful hanging lamp, and a humungous dollhouse, neither of which could have come back with us on the train. We looked through piles of amazing old black and white photos, and one disturbing color photo of a guy posing with a pile of skinned horse heads.

We visited Alice in Central Park on a beautiful sunny day, and walked all over the whole park. We checked out Alice’s Tea Cup too but didn’t stay for tea since the wait was over 45 mins. We had a really good time though and I’ve got the blisters to prove it :)

NYC #2

We came to NYC mostly to check out the private collections of Henry Darger before the exhibit ended. It was at the American Folk Museum which also houses The Henry Darger Study Center. It was really amazing to see some of his work up close and personal, and to check out the things he collected. If you haven’t seen the documentary In The Realms Of The Unreal yet I highly recommend it. It rained a little the afternoon we spent at the museum so it worked out perfectly to spend a few hours indoors wandering around.

Our hotel was pretty lovely as well. We stayed at the Hotel On Rivington in a king room with soaking tub & steam shower. The tub filled with water which poured from the ceiling, and the whole shower/tub area was closed off so you could turn on the steam and the room became a steam room. It was within walking distance to Babycakes, Moo shoes, Teany and a few other places we decided to stop into. We did pick up some cupcakes (at Babycakes) one evening, and they looked lovely, but sadly were super dry (perhaps because it was in the late evening?) Tom did pick up mini donuts (at Babycakes) another day in the morning and he said those were perfect, so perhaps earlier is key.

We ate at Teany for breakfast one day, super close to the hotel. We had everything bagels with vegan bacon/cheese which were very tasty and shared a blueberry scone. Great selection of teas, the waitress was super, and it is really bright and cheerful inside. It is a small place but there was only one other couple eating there at the time, so it wasn’t crowded.

We walked and rode the subway all over. Saw some great Christmas window displays that look like they have been up for the last 50 years :) We really need to get back to NYC for Christmas some time.

train to new york city…

Thomas and I just returned from a few days in NYC. Tom’s parents took the kid’s in their RV to the beach….so we had a really fun trip just the two of us. I’ll be back later today with more photos from our trip.

Monday Monday

I just love these gnomes which were a antique shop find from when we went to Hershey. They match another set I bought here, and you can find the one I bought here too. I found it for a little bit cheaper then the online price, so I decided to buy it.

I’m happy with a pair of mustard Mary Janes I got at Target for $10 recently. They are perfect for wearing around the house. With hard wood floors it is always nice to have shoes on (like my scrappy jean cut offs? at least they aren’t so short my pockets hang out the bottom haha)

I’ve also been working on lots of new terrariums, this one makes me happy stuffed full of mushrooms. I have the show in Lancaster, and I have applied for Crafty Bastards Washington DC and ICE Atlanta GA, and just yesterday I applied for Bazaar Bizarre San Francisco CA. It is part of the J-Pop festival, so it was too tempting to not apply. :) Happy Monday!

fairy tales + hot butts

There has been some fun thrift shopping this past week. The other day Tom and I took the kids out to Hershey PA for the day. We went to some flea markets, and antique shops. I found the Snow White puzzle above for .50! It didn’t have a price and I was also buying a plate and a piece of fabric so I just watched to see how much she would charge for it. I was really happy that all the puzzle pieces were there. It is a real gamble when you buy a thrift shop puzzle. Now I’d like to frame it and hang it up in the art room.

We then took the kids to Hershey Park. The photos from yesterday are from the water park of the park. It was so hot, so the water park works out well. Thankfully it cooled off as the sun went down and we didn’t end up getting home until midnight since we stayed so late. I love Hershey Park and how when you come in to park they say “have a sweet day” I just love the little touches like that.

Then on Friday my friend Katie came over to spend a few days with us. I took her out to dinner at The Hoover House, a lovely local restaurant in an old house in town. Then on Saturday we spent the morning and afternoon in downtown Chambersburg shopping at thrift shops, iced coffee, and the used bookstore. I found that tiny German version of Little Red Riding Hood for .50 (must have been my magical price), picture dominos for $1 and so worth it since it is not only fun to look at but will be fun to play too.

The last mug/ashtray was $2.50 and I almost didn’t buy it. I am such a cheap thrift shopper some times haha. But Katie and I both agreed it was too funny to leave behind. I gave it to Tom to use at work for holding pencils (since he doesn’t smoke). I’ve never seen an ashtray quite like it, so in the end I am glad I bought it. :)

Last night I took my youngest son on a dinner/movie date. My older son is away for a week visiting his aunt and uncle in Baltimore, so it has been just the two of us most days. We went and saw Ramona and Beezus, and it was so cute. I loved those books growing up and have read Ramona The Pest to B, so it was a fun time for us. We also saw Despicable Me (but the whole family) recently, so so good! With the temperature staying up around 100F the movie theater has been a nice cool retreat.

Now I am off on this fine Sunday to pack orders, finish up a plush for an art show, (thank goodness for Playdoh to keep B entertained) and then we have a special lunch date planned.

hello there Summertime…

A real post with words coming some time soon :)

The Baker’s Helper

Just a quick note or two for you…I made some poster prints that I am kind of excited to share. They measure 11×17 and are made all from paper cuts. I’ll share the actual paper cuts with you later this weekend, but the prints arrived and I’ve added them to the shop.

They are meant to be both functional + fun. Listing helpful baking tips like how many teaspoons are in a tablespoon, etc. I hope you like them!

I also recieved the stamp fabric which I had printed with Spoonflower. I listed a fat quarter in Etsy for now, but you can always find all of my “for sale fabrics” at Spoonflower if you need larger sizes.

You’re my Cuppycake Gumdrop

The boys and I made some ice cream cupcake pops …well…sorta, haha. We used regular sized ice cream cones because we had them on hand. The bad part was when the oversized cake balls were added it made them extremely top heavy and when I tried to move the bunch we lost over half of them (crashed to the floor!)

Bakerella’s book will have the full instructions, so maybe we should of waited for that, but we were eager :)

So the boys carefully dipped and decorated the remaining cakes, they even got some faces so they look like a gang of ruthless ice cream cones. Next time we will try and buy the mini cones and maybe fill the bases with M&Ms for added weight!

containers of one sort or another…

I thought I would gather up some containers to show today. My thermos collection at the top. I can never resist picking up another thermos if it is in good condition (I always check inside), cheap (under $2), and a design I don’t already own (the wood grain is my favorite).

Next up are those sweet Bonne Maman jam jars. These are actually the only kind of jam we buy anymore. We try to stay away from anything with corn syrup, so these are great…but the jars! The jars are just fantastic! They only require one wash through the dishwasher too and then the paper labels just fall right off. No goo, no scrubbing. I use this group to hold some of my cupcake supplies.

Last up in a bread/cake pan that I got at a estate sale awhile ago. It was the one I mentioned here on the blog with loads of baking goods. If it were not for the heat/crowd we would have stayed longer and dug through all the boxes for sure. However this pan with lid makes a nice storage for cupcake toppers. Of course then they can always be removed so the pan can be used too.

Speaking of cupcakes, the kids and I are about to embark on a little cupcake-ish making now.

a fine habit

Sorry the blog has been kind of a ghost town lately. I try and really update each day, but lately I’ve been quite the busy bee. Planning our upcoming trips, cleaning out basement + attic, days out with my sister, having a big group of kids over for a sleepover, and getting ready for fall crafty shows!

I have a show/dinner that is going to be in Lancaster PA in September and I am assembling a mailing list now for the invitations. If you live close enough please email me your address so I can make sure you get an invite!

I have also applied for Crafty Bastards in Washington DC (Oct. 2nd) and Indie Craft Experience in Atlanta GA (Nov 20 + 21st) They will announce the vendors for Crafty Bastards soon, but ICE is still taking applications. I’m still figuring out if I want to do a show in December this year or not. Need to figure that out soon.

So I’ve been busy trying to make sure I have lots of plush, and lots of new stuff too! Above is a paper nun I made as a nice break from sewing this morning. I made her into a pattern for fabric because I love the idea of having a little nun zippered pouch :)

castle making…

Today we made a castle (it is not quite finished yet), but you can make one too! First we gathered up boxes (good thing I save ALL of our boxes) paper towel rolls, cereal boxes, masking tape, and a phone book (I don’t like that we still get phone books dropped off at our house and post office box, we never use them except for paper mache)



Next we cut off all the flaps, and backs so the boxes all looked like this. Then we used the masking tape to hook all three together in a nice stack. The masking tape doesn’t have to look glamourous because it will later be covered up with paper mache.



Next we made the castle’s turrets. We ended up getting out a slightly squished mailing tube and cutting it in half for the bottom turrets (so they would be bigger) and then using paper towel rolls for the second story turrets. Again just masking tape them on, it doesn’t need to be pretty.





Now you’ll want to trace some circles so you can make the tops of your turrets. We used two different sizes since our bottom turrets are larger. Cut a little slit into your circle that goes to the center, then pull the edge of the circle around to form a little peak. Making tape it in place, and then tape it onto the top of your tower.



Then the adult should cut out windows and a draw bridge. The bridge needs to stay connected at the bottom. I used a sharp knife and sawing motion (perhaps a exacto blade would work just as well too, but our bottom box was super thick! Just be careful!)



Then we cut up the phone book and made up a batch of paper mache. We used 3 cups of flour and 2.5 cups of water. This part is super messy, but fun! We covered the whole front and then sat it outside in the sun and hot hot heat to dry. It was so hot that is dried completely in less then an hour! Please ignore the baby stroller, bird cage, and dog carrier in the last photo background. We cleaned our basement out on Thursday and are planning to have a yard sale soon. :)

Then we painted our castle black because that was the color my son wanted. Tomorrow we are going to add some details like flags, and a big skull and cross bones too. I also need to rig up the draw bridge so it can be raised and lowered with string. So expect another post soon with those details. Meanwhile have fun and make a castle maybe a gold painted glittered covered castle? Which would have actually be my pick!

crafty travels…

I have three trips coming up before the Summer ends and two involve travel by train. I’ve been thinking about what kinds of projects I want to bring with me to make the travel time fly by, and I decided to try and design my own cross stitch patterns. Above is snow white and the seven dwarfs (from my paper cut version) and just a trial head to make sure it would look like a dwarf and not a blob. The colors are not correct though because I just used the floss I had on hand. His face will actually be much darker/more in contrast with his beard…but you get the idea.

Thanks for all the comments and suggestions on the bike bag. Tom did end up testing it, and not having any problems with the buckles, so for now I am giving it to Joe as is. If he finds it difficult to use I will move the buckles inside….so I’ll keep ya posted.

possible non functioning bike bag

So let me tell you the story of the bike bag above, the bike bag that I am somewhat now convinced will not be a functional bag. See those buckles up there, buckles to hit or catch on your leg while your riding…yep, that is my worry.

I don’t sew bags usually. I will sew bags for myself and some times little pouches to sell, and sure I recently made a purse….but bags are not really my “thing”. Apparently saying no to people is also not my thing ;) One of Tom’s co-workers asked me to make him a bag for his bike. He drew me a sketch and said he wanted it to have a part that velcro’s around the bar but so the flap and bag can open while it is still connected to the bike. He also asked for pockets inside, and little velcro tabs to attach either side to the other bike bars.

So I went out and bought all the supplies. I picked up buckles to ensure the flap would stay closed, triple stitched all the parts that will get tugged on. Added a handle to the top incase he ever wanted to take the bag off the bike. I felt so proud that I was able to bring it to life without a pattern. So when I finished and hooked it finally onto Tom’s bike to take a photo to send him, it then struck me that the buckles could be a big problem.

I can’t try it out myself because Tom’s bike is too tall for me. But what do you think? I am thinking I can take the top portion of the buckles off the bag and re-sew them on the inner side of the flap. This way the flap will always cover them and keep them out of the way. But do you think even then it will be possible to ride the bike with this bag in the middle? After thinking over the buckles I started to think maybe thats why people don’t make bags for this section of a bike, haha. Maybe it is just not functional. I’m leaving it as is for now till Tom can ride around tonight and test it out….but thought I would post it and see what my bike riding friends thought.

I am left wondering if the only functional type of bag would be a really long skinny bag that sat up real close to the top bar but did not come down very far at all. This bag is about 9 inches tall, but maybe a long 5 inch tall bag would have been wiser. Hmmmmmm

P.S. We found a mechanical music box set at Goodwill today for $2 (Goodwill is right next door to the fabric shop so we had to stop in) My youngest son has been having so much fun with it! It comes with a punch so when crank the paper through the music box you will have composed your own melodies. You could actually sit down and pick out the notes etc, but he has been having fun making up random music with random punches.

eat, drink, and be merry

Just some food photos for you today. I made those pastries earlier in the month after seeing the delicious looking ones Shutterbean made. I didn’t have any marzipan or cream cheese on hand so mine were just raspberry and almond…but they were so good.

Everything else is a mix of breakfasts, lunches, and dinners. We tend to have one big family meal a day and then the others will be less formal more a mix up of leftovers, a hodge podge, sandwiches, etc.

snip-snip

shhh…they are listening

Yesterday we took the kids and headed out to DC. This time we decided not to take the metro (and therefor there was not one bit of headache or throwing up on this trip hooray!) We took the kids to The International Spy Museum. They don’t allow photos inside so you will have to use your imagination. I think our kids were just the right age, any younger might be bored. It is really interesting and they make it fun by having you take on a secret identity with some computer quizzes through out. I would have liked even more interactivity, especially for our youngest son who is a huge spy fan. There is a lot of looking at old spy gear in glass cases, which was interesting but for the entrance fee I expected a bit more.

They did have some other activities you could buy like “spy in the city” where you take a gps outside and find clues, but it was really hot out. Again one of those things that was cool, but I doubt we would need to go back a second time. Where as the Natural History Museum super cool and you’d want to visit many times.

We stopped later at The Lego store and to get some tart frozen yogurt. This time it was at Yogun Fruz which has the cutest little simley mascot on their containers. It was really good but they didn’t have walnuts (I normally get bananas and walnuts yum) so I went with chocolate curls.

Beat the Heat wave

We have been having a record breaking heat wave over here on the East coast. Yesterday at one point it got up to 105F! We took a little trip toward Hershey PA yesterday to get out of the house. Some thrift shopping, ice cream, and then a stop at Hershey’s Chocolate World to do the free factory tour. It is becoming a Summer ritual to ride past the singing cows, smell the “piped in chocolate scent”, and then pick up chocolate twizzlers in the gift shop.

Here are some of the goodies we found thrift shopping. I found a baby for our Moka Pot. We have been using our big one to make lattes every night. Now all I need is a frother for the almond milk. I tried frothing by hand but the foam doesn’t hold. The little pot will be good when we are making coffee for one.

Speaking of coffee I found this beautiful mug for 25 cents. I needed another mug like a hole in the head, but there is no way I could leave it behind. Plus if we buy coffee out this is exactly how Tom normally takes his, black with a tiny bit of sugar.

The train picture was from Discountland (which is a bargain room inside of Jubilee Thrift shop) This is the same thrift shop where you can also buy lebanon bologna (I’ve blogged about it before a few years ago) The picture is actually framed fabric with no glass, the only thing I don’t like about it is the silver frame so I might try and repaint that today.

Last but not least are some nice big jars I found for $1.00 each. I needed some new ones for storing rice, pasta etc. I get a lot of questions about the cupcake jars which are also thrifted, but not from yesterday. I have 7 jars all together of various sizes and colors. I have found them all at thrift stores over the last 5 years or so. I have one really ugly one with mustard colored frosting (and plans to repaint it) They apparently were a big deal to paint them yourself and now you can find them at thrift shops or on Ebay. (you have to scroll down a bit to see the ones like I have) Some sellers even still have the “paint your own” plain kind too.

Today we will be staying home and keeping cool. I’ve got exciting plans of packing orders, cleaning out the kitchen cabinets, and gathering unwanted items for a possible yard sale.

here are some things I have made somewhat recently..

When I do the shop updates I some times forget to post individual photos of all the goodies I’ve been working on. Here are a few for you! The big pink bunny and mushrooms group were actually from the last shop update, but with our trip I never got a chance to post photos of them.

The shop is updated! I have several of most of the items up there, so I will try and re-add goodies as things sell!

Happy 4th!

I hope everyone has a safe + fun 4th of July! We are kind of bummed that our town had the fireworks last night, because Tom has off today. We have plans to play the new Harry Potter lego game, eat some homemade soup, and even joked about sledding down the grassy hills. I’ll sure we will get out the sparklers tonight and go for a walk when it cools down a little, but otherwise we are enjoying a low key lazy 4th at home :) :)

Lately I’ve been working on some gnome terrariums for my next update. I also have smores, donuts, more ice cream and other goodies. I also recovered my little ironing board yesterday with a cute Michael Miller gnome fabric.

tattooed

The fabric arrived the other day for my sailor couple. It was so much bigger then I had imagined, but I think it works well so large. Embroidering the tattoos went really smoothly. I have a very small embroidery hoop that I used and 3 strands of embroidery floss. Even though some of the lines end up slightly thicker then the embroidered lines it blends in perfectly, so I am really happy with how those came out. I ended up tacking down the girls arms so you can see her tattoos a little better.

I had plans to make these into little kits to sell at craft shows, but I think I am just going to sell the fabric through Spoonflower and work on a second design with the same sort of theme. I think I will make it slightly smaller and make the dolls have a very simple shape (no sew on arms and legs) to make it easier for a beginner sewer. I’ll be sure and post what I come up with on the blog. This kind of project is so difficult for me because I hate waiting! :)

Ikea + Thrift

Yesterday was a day for getting things done! In the morning we had an appointment to renew our passports and get new photos taken. We have a few trips in mind and wanted to have our documents in proper order.

Then we headed to check out Unique Thrift in Silver Spring MD. It is actually two thrift shops in one because one half in the Thrift shop and the other half is a Value Village. This place was a bit overwhelming (super crowded even though it was a Thursday afternoon) and so many things to look at. We did find those super cute mugs above for .80 each, but some of the prices were way crazy. The plates were $6.86 each, which is just totally outrageous to me and they had some larger frames marked over $100. So I wouldn’t say it is the best for bargains…but worth checking out just incase. We didn’t check the clothes (which there is a lot of) but the kids found a big bag filled with legos for $10. The big bag of legos were a huge score because it contained older harder to find pieces and lots of mini figures. This helps make up for the fact that we missed out on Lego’s new mystery mini figures. I can’t believe they are sold out :(

Anyhow then we went on to Ikea to pick up the dandelion (PS Maskros) lamp. We have hated the dining room ceiling lamp for a long time and couldn’t wait to change it out. You can see the old lamp in this picture.

Today is for packing and mailing orders, getting one birthday card out, and rearranging and cleaning out my youngest son’s room. He really wants us to build him a teepee in there so first we have to clear out some of this stuff he doesn’t play with anymore.

Pillow winners!

Thanks so much to everyone who left a comment to enter the giveaway! That was a lot of printing and folding!! :) A few people asked where they can get the pillows…they are available at Kidrobot online (you can still get the donut pillows and Yummy Breakfast keychains too) Kidrobot also has retail stores in New York, LA, San Francisco, Miami, and London. You can also usually find them in smaller specialty toy shops too so check with your local shops that carry Dunny, and other vinyl figures.

If you are one of the winners above I’ll be emailing you for your shipping address!

sewing

When my friend Katie came over on Saturday she brought some sewing along with her. She was working on a new purse (she found a free pattern online so I’ll have to get the link from her to post) She didn’t have the actual pattern pieces with her but I wanted to make one too…so I just kind of used her partially sewn pieces as a guide to cut mine out. I used all stuff I had one hand which makes me happy. However I think I might sew another but with pockets on the front half.

Here is also just a super simple laptop sleeve I made before our trip to Portland. I’ve never had a proper case for my laptop and decided it could use some sort of protection before our trip. The fabric is from here, beautiful fabric! Now Tom wants one for his laptop, so I’ve got to find the perfect fabric for his :)

and sort of a “notes to self”, so I don’t forget but here are some films I am excited to see…(sorry if I’ve mentioned any of these before I couldn’t remember haha)

Karigurashi no Arrietty-Studio Ghibli’s new film….The Borrowers but Studio Ghibli style. Should be amazing, now just the wait until we can see it in the states.

Nanny McPhee and The Big Bang- I loved the first Nanny McPhee (so beautiful) so I am looking forward to this one too! I’ve read a lot of good reviews for it as well so it seems very promising.

The Secret Of The Kells- This came out awhile ago, but Netflix still has the release date as unknown. Amazon says Oct…so we shall see. Looks like it will be wonderful, magical, beautiful.

I also heard that a Hunger Games movie is in the works, I think it could work well as a movie, but as with everything read the books first.

Katie’s Christmas in June

My friend Katie came over to my house on Saturday for a visit. On the way she stopped at a yardsale and hit a Christmas jackpot. She was looking at the pile of unopened wrapping paper and the guy asked her “Do you like old Christams stuff”" Of course she said she loved old Christmas stuff and he began loading her car with boxes saying “Good you can have it all for $5″ She insisted on giving him $10 because she is sweet, and since she was on the way to my house she brought the goodies in so we could look through it all together.

There was a lot of old lights, and a few things she didn’t want…but her Dad has a flea market booth so those goodies will still find a good home. Check out just a few of the things she kept in the photos above. Amazing Christmas tissue paper, unopened wrapping paper in some pretty beautiful designs, silver Christmas cones, a couple Easter goodies, some plastic Christmas centerpieces, and napkin and gift tag galore. Whoever owned these goods before loved cute napkins. She also kept 2 big boxes filled with vintage glass balls in both regular size and little tiny ones, 2 sleigh centerpieces with santa and frosty inside, flower twinkle lights (which someone had handwritten on the cardboard “They Twinkle!!”) and I am sure other things I am forgetting about.

It was fun to go through it all and makes me want to get out there to some yard sales!

Summertime…a prize everytime

Summer is in full swing…last night we went to the local carnival and meet up with Sean, Amanda, and E. It was all “ride-all-you-want” wristbands, jumbo bags of cotton candy (as modeled by Amanda), and fireworks to finish it off. We’ve been eating outside, washing the dog, and trying to just enjoy the Summer which seems to be flying by. I cannot believe June is almost over, then we just have July and school begins again at the end of August….it just seems to go by so fast.

By the way the BBQ pictured above was from a recipe called BBQ Pulled Jackfruit. It is made with canned green jackfruit, a fruit native to Southern Asia. The BBQ was interesting and while it didn’t have a bad taste, the texture was a little too mushy for our taste. If you want to try it, just read through some of the comments on the link as they are helpful. While we probably wouldn’t make it again, it was a interesting way to make BBQ :)

book news!

I just found out that my book is now available for pre-order! I didn’t even know :) It comes out this fall, but here is a peek at the cover. To have it available for order just makes it all the more real. It is one part exciting, and one part scary! I’ll keep posting any book news here on the news section, like once it’s released etc.

Kids love making crafts, and no one knows that better than Heidi Kenney, creator of the popular blog My Paper Crane. In this festive how-to book, Heidi shares a year’s worth of classic and not-so-classic projects that the whole family will enjoy, from the National Bird Day embroidered handmade book to the St. Patrick’s Day mini leprechaun pin. Fifty fully photographed projects are geared to all age levels and abilities. Some—like the New Year’s Day newspaper hats—are simple enough for small kids to make themselves with minimum assistance, while more complicated projects require a little extra help from mom or dad. With so many fun projects to bring the family together, Every Day’s a Holiday proves that every day really is a holiday.

pizza, pancakes, & a giveaway

The pillows from Kidrobot arrived just a few minutes ago….I am going to be giving away one of each here on this blog entry. To enter leave one comment here on this blog entry (not on any of the feeds including the LJ feed because I do not get those comments) On Wednesday June 30th I will print out all the comments and draw from those. If you blog/tweet/facebook this giveaway leave a second comment with a link to your post and I’ll count that as an entry too. The winners will each get 1 of the 3 pillows (it will be a surprise though as to which one). I’ll close comments on this blog post on Tuesday sometime in the evening.

collections..

We finally hung the Dairy Queen sign up the other night. It meant taking down and moving all the smaller cuckoo clocks to a new home. Technically speaking we have cuckoo clocks, barometer houses, and a couple of banks.

I thought I would share a few photos with you of our obsessions collections. I love going through plates at thrift shops, dishware is a total weakness of mine. Although it can be quite practical. Tom has a thing for old group photos and has not only filled our living room wall with them but also his room at work. He has lots of local ones….The Waynesboro Knitting company from the 30′s and a Hagerstown Higschool group photo from ’35 to name a few.

Thomas is off today so we have plans to check out a few antique shops, then tonight it is Toy Story! I know it is going to make me cry because I remember watching the first Toy Story with my little guy who is now a teenager, just like Andy!

rinse, repeat

Father’s day, a birthday, and presents

It has been a whirlwind of activity around here since we arrived home from Portland. Sunday was Father’s Day and then Monday was Thomas’s birthday. Since Tom worked both days we did a Father’s Day breakfast and then an evening of fun on his actual birthday. I made a vegan chocolate cheesecake using this recipe. It was good (even better day 2) but the recipe is very time consuming and could probably be improved upon. Still it was cool to make the caramel from the sugar, just be careful because it really does steam incredibly when you add the water!

Tuesday was a getting back to normal sort of day. We made food menus for the week and went grocery shopping (we really had zero groceries) Then I did some super fun stuff like cleaning out the fridge and cabinets. Actually that is total sarcasm..I know some people love cleaning-not me. I love a clean house, I just hate being the one to clean it ;) Then last night we finally took all the cuckoo clocks down and hung the giant dairy queen sign. I’ll post a photo of it soon. Today is sleepover central. One kid is going off to his cousins for a sleepover and we’ve got two kids coming to our house for a sleepover here. I guess Summer has officially begun!

Portland part 4

So..Portland and food…..we had some really tasty stuff! Tom was in vegan heaven. I am sure this is not everywhere we ate in the five days, but it is pretty close. A lot of these photos were taken by B, and Tom took the food cart photos with his phone because I didn’t have my camera with me that day.

Astoria Coffeehouse & Bistro- we were hoping to get lunch here, but at 11am they were still serving breakfast (we had been up since 6) so Tom had a tofu scramble, I had the croissant, and B had a bagel. Yummy Stumptown coffee too. Good food, the tile floors are incredible, but no set lunch time so keep that in mind.

Gravy- Emily & Josiah took us out to brunch after my little talk at The Kennedy School. I had the amazingly too big half order of french toast. All the food here seems to be really large portions. Tom had a tofu scramble (massive), and B wanted grilled cheese (it was after 11) but they told us we would have to wait 15 mins to put in an order of grilled cheese, and that he could NOT have fruit as a side with his sandwich. So kind of strange, so we ordered him a separate side of fruit and biscuit while he waited. He basically ate one bite of biscuit, his fruit, and one bite of his sandwich when it came after the alloted 15 minutes ;). B took this photo and I love the way it looks like Emily is digging into a giant sized bowl of fruit. The fruit bowl was a nice big bowl, but not quite so giant size. Oh and B ordered hot chocolate (which he said was too chocolaty) but I thought was the best hot chocolate I have ever tasted….ever! So if you go here split food, and have the hot chocolate.

Dove Vivi- We stopped in one evening and got a few slices of pizza to go because the place was really busy. Loved the pizza…Tom got one of each of the vegan slices and I had the pesto slice. I really regretted that I only got one slice. B didn’t want any of the pizza (because he must be crazy :) so he had Annies boxed mac n cheese which we not only purchased from the hotel lobby but were able to cook because our room had a stovetop and pots and pans. We didn’t really get to check out the menu long so B might have been happy with one of the types of pizza here. Really yummy though and we will try to dine in next time we are in Portland.

Food Carts by PSU- One of our favorite meals, all of us! B had vegetable fried rice, which he declared amazing, and ate tons of. Tom and I both got meals from Homegrown Smoker which is all vegan BBQ cart. One of the best macaroni & cheeses I’ve ever had. Would go back in a heartbeat, great mix of food so something for everyone. Wish we had time to try more of the food carts in Portland…but still glad we made it out to one of the pods at least.

Vita Cafe- We had breakfast here one day…and dinner another. Corn cakes for breakfast were really tasty with maple syrup, and seitan cheesesteaks for dinner. B really loved their chocolate mint cake. Oh and we had really good coffee here too. Both times our servers were super friendly and nice here too which is always a plus. We would definitely go here again, no crowds either time, and they for kid’s they have a $1 menu everyday between 5-7 pm.


The Hungry Tiger Too- We came in to get food, but ended up having to order it to-go because after 7 (and it was 6:30) minors are not allowed, I am assuming because it has a bar? The food was pretty good, “junk food” wise. Vegan corndogs, vegan mac n cheese, etc. Tom did stop back in after he got tattooed to get their Wed. Happy Hour special of $1.25 vegan corn dogs so that what handy for him. I prefer mac n cheese without breadcrumbs so I liked the Homegrown Smokers Mac N Cheese (food carts) best.

We also ate a few other places I do not have photos of, but I will link them below.

The Berkeley’s & Black Apples met up with us on our last night in Portland at The Blossoming Lotus. They had made reservations for 8pm which was good because it was pretty busy. This is a really nice restaurant, but we had eaten lunch at 3 so I wasn’t as hungry as I should of been for dinner. I did split a peanut butter banana smoothie with Tom + B that was amazing. I had the house salad and four cheese lasagna but could barely eat any of it. I am a freak about getting to the airport early and our dinner arrived at the table a little after 9pm so I started feeling anxious. Thankfully everyone was really understanding about us leaving (although I wish we could have stayed longer) so we headed out around 9:30 and made our way to the airport to fly home. We just never fully relax until we are waiting at the gate. I’d love to stop back in some time when I do not feel rushed :)

Sweet Pea Baking Company- We had coffee here and B had a cupcake. Coffee was lovely, B loved the cupcake.

Stumptown Coffee- We had coffee here at the Ace location, so we could peek into the Ace hotel lobby. B and I got some photos in the photo booth while Tom was waiting for the coffee. It was of course super crowded, but since it was our first time in Portland we had to be the tourists and check it out.

I think that is about it, although I am probably forgetting something. I already talked about VooDoo Doughnuts… Next up will be one more Portland post, then back to things as normal :) I have some stuff I am working on for a show to share with you, some birthday goodness, etc.

Portland part 3

Emily’s Show at Land Gallery- I was pretty excited that Emily’s show would still be up during our trip. The Summit Of Awesome had a little party (on day 2) at Buy Olympia/Land so it was extra convenient. Everything looked extra beautiful in person and the paintings are all so much bigger then I ever imagine (which just adds to the awe) We were lucky enough to spend some time with Emily + Josiah on our trip out to Portland, they are just lovely.

Multnomah Falls- Beautiful 620 foot waterfall. We walked up to that little bridge you see in the photo, pretty breathtaking and you get a fine mist of water from the falls. This is a really beautiful area with a driving view of the Columbian Gorge.

Summit Of Awesome- Held at The Kennedy School (which was pretty amazing) these next two photos are from the fortune cookie making class I did. I wanted to get a photo of the whole class, but didn’t get to. So I instead snapped these photos of three of the sweeties that came to make one :)

My “talk”-The last photo was taken by my son while I gave my little chat about how I started my business. Probably the very last thing I am is a public speaker, so I was pretty nervous. It was in the theater (which is filled with cute love seats and sofas instead of traditional theater seats) and I thought I was going to have to use the microphone, thank goodness I didn’t. Thanks to everyone who came to listen, and ask questions.

I’ll probably have two more posts about our trip…one for the food (goodness Portland, the food!?) and one for the little bit of shopping we did. Today is Tom’s birthday!!! He will be at work much of the day but we hope to squeeze in some celebrating tonight. If you’d like you can stop by his blog and say hi.

Portland part 2

Ape Cave- An amazing lava tube which was formed with lava from Mount St. Helens. We didn’t hike the tube (it said to allow 2.5 hours) because we didn’t bring a light source (and it was pitch black and freezing cold) but it was so amazing to go down into the entrance. Here is a photo I took with flash looking into the cave.

Voodoo Doughnuts- We actually only visited the “Voodoo Too” location the times that we got donuts. Once it was pretty early in the morning and there was a huge selection and only a few other people. Once Tom went alone to pick up some donuts at night and it was pretty crowded then. Still, super fun, tasty donuts, and of course Tom loved all the vegan selections. We did walk past the downtown location once and there was a big line of people out the door.

The Goonies Jail- Recently turned into a small film museum (for the 25th anniversary) Fun for big Goonies fans like us. As soon as we entered Astoria Tom was humming the opening theme song :) The museum is small, and still getting started but we were glad we went.

The Goonies House- You can park on the street and walk up the drive way to The Walsh’s house + Data’s house too. Of course some one does actually live in the house now…so we walked up quick to take a peek and photo of the view and then headed back down :)

Portland part 1

We really had such a good time in Portland. Our oldest son was away at a FBLA leadership conference at the same time, so it was just Tom, B, and I. We flew the “red-eye” flying out of DC Sunday night at 10:30 pm. We then arrived in Portland at 1am. This really worked out well because Tom was still able to work Sunday day, and we were able to mostly avoid jet lag by going to bed when we arrived. Although we did wake up early ever single day, by 6:30am or so. I’m not going to post stuff in any particular order (although you will notice B wearing the same sweatshirt the whole time since it was chilly and it was the only pull over we brought), it will hopefully give someone else some pointers if they plan to make a visit.

In these photos…
Ground Kontrol-Classic Arcade meets bar. We went at noon when they open, and kids are permitted until 5pm. They have over 90 arcade games from the 70′s, 80′s, and 90′s. We played some pinball, Simpsons, Q-bert, Miss Pacman, and a few others.

Mount St. Helens-It is not everyday that you can visit an active volcano, so this was really cool. The drive is very beautiful with a few scary/spectacular views along the way. We were all in awe over the volcano and agreed photos can never show how amazing it is in real life. We had a really beautiful day when we went too.

Alberta Street- We ate a few times on this street, but I think I will save the food stuff for a post of it’s own. My favorite thing was the sheer volume of flyers/posters on all the poles. This one had so many old layers.

Enchanted Forest- Located about an hour south of Portland we could not pass up the opportunity to visit this park which first opened in the 60′s. I love that much of the park remains the same, very much worth the visit even just to walk through Storybook Lane.

Cannon Beach- We loved Cannon Beach + Haystack Rock. It was sunny but chilly and windy (so perfect beach weather in my opinion) We got to check out the tide pools, and we were all amazed by the starfish (you can see them in the photo and a huge pile of them in the right side of the photo)

More on Portland soon :) I hope everyone has a wonderful Father’s Day. Tom is back to work so we had a big Father’s Day breakfast and have some plans for this evening when he gets home.

Back from Portland!

With 5 days worth of photos, it is really hard to pick favorites. I’ll be back over the next couple of days with real posts about what we did, and links to share. For now here are a few photos.

to Portland

See ya when I return!

PA Hot Air Balloon Festival

Maybe you are wondering where all the photos of the amazing hot air balloons are? Well we wondered about that too. I debated driving the hour to York for the Hot Air Balloon Festival because the forecast was calling for a chance of rain in the afternoon. So when the skies looked good we were pretty excited to head out to the fest.

When we arrived at the fair grounds we were confused as we pulled in because there was not one hot air balloon in sight. The lady (who took our $10 admission) assured us that they had just sent the balloons off and that they would be returning shortly. So we piled out of the car and headed to the fair grounds to check things out. We kept watching the skies waiting to see the returning balloons, haha but I guess they were never in the sky at all.

The kids had fun playing on the inflatable slides, eating shaved ice, and playing a water wars game with water balloons…but still no hot air balloons. Then we heard a loud speaker message that because it was too windy the balloons would be delayed until 1pm. I had never even thought about the wind (just proves I am no balloon expert) So we sat for awhile in a small bit of shade and watched sound checks for a singing contest. Some of those kids were so cute. Then when 1 o’clock came they announced that it was still too windy and they would try again at 6pm.

Sadly for us between the heat and lack of things to do…we decided to go ahead and leave. I was so looking forward to seeing the balloons particularly this one, and this one. The kids were not bummed about leaving, it was really just that hot and sunny. We did end up making a stop on the way home at a craft supplies shop I really like. It is family owned and just filled with all kinds of cool goodies.

Now I am off to get things packed, printed, and ready for our trip to Portland. I just saw a photo of someone wearing a coat and scarf, haha. It is in the 90s today here so that sounds good to me!

The Natural History Museum

Yesterday we decided we would take the boys to DC. it has been a few years since we have gone to the History museum and our youngest was looking forward to bones and gemstones. We took the metro for “fun” (its been a few years since we have done that too) We stopped at Adams Morgan before heading home for dinner of burritos and frozen yogurt. I actually didn’t eat my burrito but got it go (which I was glad of later) Stopping in Adams Morgan meant hitting all the metro traffic on the ride home.

I had a little headache that just got worse with the rumblings of the metro. It was standing room only and the longer I stood pressed against strangers the worse I started to feel. I felt like the Seinfield episode where Elaine has the aisle seat on the airplane and goes a bit crazy. I kept thinking “why is it so cold!” and must have looked as bad as I felt. I finally couldn’t take it and asked Tom if we could get off 3 stops before our stop and he said “yes of course” without any questions. Needless to say I was glad the metro stop was empty so I could throw up without an audience :) I was always the car-sick kid growing up, and it looks like some things never change. I ended up sleeping for about 13 hours once we got back home, but felt back to normal today, thankfully! The kids still had a fun night…Tom and then went for a walk to the local park, all while I slept on and on.

So all fun and games until Mom throws up ;)

and Summer vacation begins!

Today is the kid’s first day of Summer vacation. It is pouring, so dark outside, and really cold. Right now it is only 59F. It is cozy sweatshirt weather, and I know it will be super hot before I know it, so I don’t mind. My nephew spent the night last night, so I am not sure yet what we will have going on today. Here are some photos from the last week or two. Flowers all from our yard, cookie cutters I found when I went yardsaling with my sister Heather on Saturday. We went to an estate sale, we have only ever been to two. This one had so many baking items in a cramped garage, and it was so hot. Heather said I missed a bag of vintage cupcake toppers, doh! I did however come away with the cookie cutters above, 2 really great thermos’s (wood grain and blue), and some sewing items. I wish we would find estate sales more often because they often involve digging and rummaging through boxes which is part of the fun.

stamp collecting

I love the idea of stamp collecting, and I have a little collection myself :) I just don’t want to hide them away in a book. I’d rather frame them all, but that could wind up to be quite a lot of stamps. Here is a pattern from cut paper + pen. I plan to make a couple other fabrics before I order any in fabric form…but thought I would share none the less.

shop update

A little shop update, which will be the last update until July. :)

a work in progress…

Finally finished the first part of a project that has taken me awhile. I had this idea to make a doll pattern with Spoonflower…only I wanted it to be even more then just a sewing pattern. So here is how it works, you cut out the pieces and then embroider over the tattoos, then sew together the dolls. Then again you could always skip the embroidery if it is not your thing and leave the tattoos as is. I finally finished the fabric portion and now am just waiting for the fabric to arrive. I heard a rumor that Spoonflower has a broken printer and its delaying printing (I did notice my last order took over 2 weeks) so it might be a little while. Once it arrives I will try it out and see how it goes.

The people are made from cut paper, and then I drew the tattoos (thanks to all of Tom’s vintage flash) and scanned those in. I have a bunch of projects that I am working on at once and it is so hard for me because I just want them all done NOW, haha I am impatient.

I’m doing a shop update today with terrariums since it is the last full day of school for the boys, and then soon I’ll be leaving for Portland OR. This will be the last update until July.

the dairy queen

When your husband says he has a present for you, you never expect it to be the lemon shaped sign from The Dairy Queen, but what a nice surprise indeed. Thomas has a friend who is in the sign removal business and asked him if he would want this one. It is surprisingly light weight, and has a thin wooden frame that will make it easy to hang on the wall. They resell the parts that made it light up, but it is sad to think the sign would have been trashed.

Tonight we are going to move the cuckoo clock collection and two large window panes that we have hanging on our wall (not actual windows ;) and get our new sign hung up.

CSA

This week we picked up our third farm share, and I thought I would make a post :) I’ve been recording a photo of each week over on my flickr, and it has been lots of fun thus far. We won’t be here to pick up our next share (we go every other week) but my sister-in-law is going to grab it for us and share some of the bounty.

So far it has been a lot of greens, which is to be expected. We get salad mix every week, and have gotten things like kale, broccoli rabe, bok choy, spinach, lettuce, green onions, green garlic. Fresh spices like chives, thyme, and parsley. We’ve gotten a little splash of color with radishes, and today we got broccoli for the first time, and garlic scapes which I have been interested to try.

If your interested to see what we end up getting through November you can keep an eye on this flickr set. I’m going to try and take more photos of the food I make from our shares too, I’ve been quite slacking in that department :)

thrifted

Not all of this stuff was thrifted at one time…Just here and there over the last month or so. The pyrex and the tablecloth (vintage flat sheet) were both thrifted. The little embroidery kit is so adorable! I hope to get it finished and maybe sewn into the center of a pillow.

The super find of 2 cuckoo clocks and 1 barometer were at a flea market that Tom and I stumbled across in Frederick. They were all being sold by the same person, and we were more then happy to add them to our collection!

Last is one of the books I mentioned on my previous thrift shopping post. It is a beautiful edition of Mother Goose. I cannot remember the last time I set foot in a mall, that is just not my kind of shopping. But give me a flea market, thrift shop….I cannot resist stopping just to see :) You just never know what treasure you might find.

I lean and loafe at my ease, observing a spear of summer grass

I’ve been working on some more little woodsy scenes. So many little blades of grass cut cut cut. I’m not quite finished the hill piece, I feel like it has taken forever, but I love how all the little blades of grass look together almost like frosting on a cake :)

Memorial Day weekend #2

+ The Lake (super crowded, couldn’t remember why I thought it was a good idea to go to a State Park on a public holiday ;) But the kids had lots of fun so it was worth fighting off giant sized picnic ants, crowds, and the sweltering heat.

+My nephew and son being their lovable goofball selves….teenage super heros.

+ hexes hexes, although both of us forgot to bring paper to cut out new hexes so our sewing time was short. I know you can remove and use them over an over, but I like to only re use the center ones for now to keep my pile stable.

+Spending the afternoon picnic-ing with Miss Katie.

+Stopping off at The Milky Way on the drive home for banana splits that not only have bananas, but pineapple, strawberries, cherries, and mandarin oranges on top.

Memorial Day Weekend #1

+My nephew came to spend the holiday weekend with us. I made dessert fondue (sort of) I have a electric fondue pot my sister bought me that has been in the box and moved from two houses…well it is missing an important part of the cord, so we couldn’t use it. Instead I made the chocolate on the stove and it still worked. Although I will be on the lookout for a non-electric fondue pot at thrift shops.

+Flowers flowers everywhere. I think the poppies look just as pretty without their petals.

+Fountains and other noisy sparkly things picked up at the grocery shop. The kids loved it, Tom lit them all, and we got to play with sparklers too (my favorite).

dinner outside

I love eating outside, but sometimes it is such a pain to carry everything out and then back in…..Until I bought this wonderfully useful tray! Bring on the warm weather…alfresco. I also have a soft spot for vintage flat sheets, they make lovely tablecloths and are so easy to just toss in the wash.