Etsy Favorites Wednesday - kitchen wish list

I will have a glass-fronted cabinet in the new house, and I want to fill that cabinet with all sorts of pretties. I have a wish list:

Friendship bowl set - I have one piece of this Pyrex collection, called Friendship. I want to collect more.

Salt and Pepper Shakers - I love this green milk glass.

Vintage milk bottles - I am keen on using these as flower vases.

Mug - just cuz.

Dessert plates - so dainty!

The house is a house

It used to be that whenever we visited the new house, something else had been done to it. Something new was installed or finished. Now, when we go to visit, really nothing new has been done. Now, we're gettin' down to the wire!  It's almost move-in time!  Now, the house looks like a house!  It's practically finished, apart from a few clean ups and the yard needs to be put in. And when we go visit it makes us too wishful - we'd so like to just be living in there NOW!  We'd gladly live there while they finished installing all of the electric outlets. We wouldn't mind the siding being put on the side of the house while we lived there, no siree!  Alas, we have to wait. Actually, we have less than 20 days to wait. We have a walk-through of the house on September 13. Everything will be finished by then. During our walk-through we'll see if there are any last minute fixes they need to do. Those fixes will be completed that next week and we close on September 20.

The good news is that the correct carpet has been installed!  And it looks wonderful! I only took one picture of the carpet - I think because I was just so overjoyed that it looked EXACTLY how I had pictured it to look, I didn't think to take any more pictures. Yay!

Check out the comparison. Now, I admit that the carpets don't even look THAT much different. Trust me, in person, they are vastly different.

The stone on the fireplace was up!

And the stone on the front of the house was complete!

Come on September 20, get here quickly!!

 

Phone photos

I recently updated phones - I didn't want to lose all of the photos I had on my old phone, so I uploaded them all to my Flickr account. I enjoyed looking through them. Memmmorrreeeeees! 

Care to see them?  I created a slide show:

They're also here on my Flickr account.

{That clown? Love him. He's packed away. Can't wait to get him out for Halloween.!}

How to: puffy felt heart garland

For the Pinterest Challenge I hosted last week, I made this puffy felt heart garland:

I had originally pinned this idea from this web site. Their tutorial was very good. I thought I'd make my own tutorial too, since I had taken some in-progress shots, and I have a couple of tips to share.

Here's what you'll need to make these puffy felt hearts:

* 6 or 8 sheets of felt depending on how many hearts you want to make and how long you want your garland to be. Get at least two sheets of each color. *

{You will be doubling up the felt sheets and cutting out two hearts at a time, a front and a back.}

* White cotton yarn *

* An air-erase tracing pen *

* White DMC floss - get the big roll *

* A stitching needle *

* A plastic needle *

* Fluff to stuff your hearts *

* A heart pattern *

* Scissors*

*

First, make your heart pattern.

{I made my own heart pattern - just draw a heart and cut it out - I cut my pattern out of a file folder. You could trace a heart cookie cutter too.}

*

Then, trace your heart pattern onto one piece of felt. Get as many hearts onto one piece of felt as you can, leaving yourself room to cut them out. My pen disappeared quickly on the felt, so I only traced one sheet at a time.

*

This is important!  Make sure to cut out two hearts at a time, the front and back, by cutting through two sheets of felt at a time. At first I was cutting out all of the hearts individually and then matching them up, but they weren't matching up exactly right due to imperfections in my cutting. It's easiest just to cut out the front and back of the hearts together!

*

I doubled up my floss and used a blanket stitch for the hearts. {for a great blanket stitch tutorial, watch this video} 

*

Hide your starting knot inside the heart and stitch all the way around, until you have about a one-inch gap - which is where you'll stuff the heart.

*

*

Stuff your heart. Stuff it just so that it's a little plump. My hearts were just a little squishy. Stitch up the remaining hole and tie off the floss. I hid the knot inside the heart when I was all finished.

*

*

Stitch and stuff those hearts! 

{I stored mine in a plastic bag}

*

Finished hearts!

Once they are all stitched up, figure out how long you want your garland to be, and cut a piece of the cotton yarn that length.

*

Figure out your pattern if you've made different colored hearts, then thread the cotton yarn through the plastic needle, then poke it through the top of the heart, through the heart, and out the other side. There is no need to tie knots around the hearts, they will stay put on the yarn.

{I ran my yarn through the top of the heart so that they would lay flat and not twist around.}

{Also, the great thing is that you can re-string the hearts if you want to make a new pattern or make the garland longer or shorter.}

*

String up all the hearts, then admire your garland!

*

Another Pinterest Challenge!

We're doing another Pinterest Challenge (see this post for our first Challenge!) 

This time Jill is hosting it. Go on over to her blog to read all about it! 

I'm going to be making these button flower bouquets!

The results will be posted next Friday!

First day of first grade!

I cannot believe that my babies are in first grade. I know that sounds so cliche, but I really do mean it. They're almost seven. What?!  They're in first grade. What?! Not possible!

Yesterday we went to their school to meet their teachers. We loooove their school. {They are able to start their school year in our new district, which is just awesome. We are going to be driving them in to school each morning and picking them up until we move into the new house.} Their school is almost brand new, and it's a building-level school with looping classrooms. Which means the school is for grades one and two, and the girls will be in the same room, with the same kids and the same teachers, for first and second grade. {The girls are in separate classes - we purposefully requested that.} Their teachers are so nice and so eager to get to know the girls. We're happy, happy, happy!

Because the girls are "car riders" for now, they get dropped off in front of the school and they walk to their classroom, which is kinda a far walk down a couple different hallways, making a few turns. I asked them if, on the first day, could I walk them back to their classrooms? They said, "No MOM, we don't need your help!" What?! What?! Sniffle sniffle. I started fake crying and I told them that it upsets me that they're growing up so fast and I got the whole "geez Mom, OK FINE you can walk us the first day!" speel, meaning "FINE mom, if you're gonna cry about it, then FINE!" {teehee} I kinda wasn't faking it though - they don't even need me anymore! Tears!

Today was their first day! Nerves! Excitement! I took off the whole day from work, just in case they needed me. They didn't. They were fine!

Just look at these bright smiling faces. They were so thrilled to start school. They got up early and got ready super fast. They couldn't wait to leave. 

The bright new shoes must be pointed out. How niiiiiice! 

AND, wouldn't you know it, as we were pulling into the school this morning, I was asked, in timid little voices from the back seat, "Can you please walk us in today?"  What? SURE! We started walking and they both slipped their little hands into my hands and I gave them a little squeeze. {Aaaahhh! I had a moment. But I held it together!} Honestly, I was so nervous for them. I was trying to hide it but I was really nervous for them. I wasn't even sure what all to do, but we did it all right. We walked in the right door, stood in the right line, and then we walked down to their classrooms. They knew just what to do - put their backpacks in their cubbies, get out supplies, put on the board if they packed their lunch or they're going to buy, etc., etc., ... they were old pros at it all!

This school year is different for Mommy and I'm trying to just be OK with it. Last year I took them to school every morning, watched them walk in, 'OK they're in, all's good,' and then I went to work. My parents picked them up each day, which worked out perfectly. This year - Grandma is going to be taking them to school each morning because I can't take them and then make it into work in time. I'm sure I'll get used to it, but it's just different. I don't get to see them walk into school. And, I can't pick them up after school because they get out too early for me. So, Daddy is going to pick them up. Which I'm totally OK with, it's just different. I don't get to see them until I get home from work. However, when we move into our house it will be a little easier because I'll be seeing them off on the bus in the morning and they'll get off the bus at our house. 

I'm so proud of them. Just so proud. We've put them through a lot of changes this past year. We moved out of our house, into an apartment, then in with Grandma, and now they're in a brand new school in a brand new area and they will be making brand new friends. But these girls? They just go with the flow. They are such happy go lucky kids. I love the little stinkers so much!

Etsy Favorites Wednesday - bedroom inspiration #2

For last week's Etsy Favorites Wednesday, I picked out some inspirations for Lydia's new bedroom. This week, I've picked out some stuff for Arlene's bedroom. As I had mentioned in my previous post, Arlene's got some rock-solid decorating ideas. And by rock solid I mean that girl knows what she wants, and if I disagree, well, she doesn't really care. She argues her case with me. I've had to say to her, "well, unless you plan on buying it with your own money, I have a say in what goes in your room!" She's 6 years old!  6, going on 7 going on 17!  I do love her flourish of ideas though. And usually, she's ok with my ideas, in the end.

If she had her way, this would totally be her room:

She loves peace signs and zebra print! I don't mind the peace signs, but I detest zebra print. (Image credit)

However, we have come up with a bit of a compromise, her and I. I have agreed (heh hem!) that her room can be pink and black. And we can work with a striped black if she wants, to mock the zebra print. She agreed with that plan.

We could do stipes in vertical or horizontal or a chevron print.

Arlene is very girlie girl. She likes diva-ish types of things. While she would go for a bright pink feather something or other, I'd rather have her go for a more elegant diva-ish look. We both like black chandeliers. We keep seeing them at Hobby Lobby. I plan to create a canopy for over her bed, probably out of fabric. I think it would look cool to incorporate this vinyl sticker as well. I also really like these stickers.

While she digs the diva look, Arlene's also got my type of taste for some dark/ Halloweenie type of stuff. She'd totally be down with this spooky tree in her room, but I don't know if we could make it work with the rest of the decor.

I want to make her a jewelry box very similar to this one.

(And I guess I could let her WEAR zebra print! I'd cave and be OK with her wearing this!)

Because she is so artistic, I'd give her some free range to make her own art to hang on her walls.

The girls have both drawn how they want their rooms to look, complete with their color choices and furniture. Cute! It's going to be a lot of fun working on their rooms. Soon! 

 

The happiest of happy

I got an iphone. My life is complete. 

The end.

Stoned and crying over carpet

The front of our house got most of its stone by the end of last week:

The fireplace got a few rows of stone too.

Speaking of stone, we are starting to think that the people working on our house are stoned. First was the mistake with the un-vauled master bathroom ceiling. That was fixed, thank goodness. Then was the mistake with the wrong appliance in the kitchen; we had ordered a microwave/oven combo and a double oven was installed. Thankfully, the correct appliance is now sitting in our garage, waiting to be installed:

The big doozie happened last week. We went to the house and I was aghast at what I saw. I HATED the carpet. I lost it. I just lost it. The carpet was so much browner than I remembered picking out. I hated hated hated it. 

Now, that carpet isn't horrible, but it was so far off from what I had in my mind. I kept telling myself there was no way I had picked out a color so brown. We took a little sample of the carpet with us and that carpet is tricky stuff! In certain lights, it looked the color I thought it should have been: an oatmealish type of tan. But once up against a white surface, it would turn brown. My mom and my mother-in-law kept telling me it was pretty, and while I agreed with them, the carpet wasn't horrible, I knew in my heart that it was just wrong. 

I hardly slept that night, worrying about it. I seriously didn't think I could live with it. I was double and triple questioning my decision about picking out that color of carpet. It didn't fit in with our scheme at all - how could I have made such a big mistake? I was contemplating having the builders rip it out and replace it. I was willing to pay that price, I hated it so much. 

The next day, I visited the design center, where we had picked out all of our colors to see the original sample of the carpet that I had picked out. Guess what? The wrong carpet was installed. WE GOT OUR NEIGHBOR'S CARPET!

Look at the difference:

(incorrect carpet on top - the thin strip)

CAN YOU BELIEVE IT?!  I was so relieved - I *knew* that carpet was wrong the instant I saw it, but I couldn't imagine the wrong carpet being installed. I mean, that's a pretty big thing - our entire upstairs had been carpeted. The excuse I was told is that there is a house being built right next to us that is the same floor plan, with a different facade. The carpet installers put their carpet in our house by mistake. Who makes that type of mistake?! HELLO!  (they're stoned, I swear!) 

So, we went back out to the house the next day, and guess what?  The carpet was ripped out already!

And it was already installed at the neighbor's house. 

Our hardwood floor was starting to go in; it was the correct color and looked nice.

We found another mistake though!  Our railing up by our loft had been missing a big hunk since it was installed. 

We figured they'd just replace it, or something .... well, we saw this sitting in the parlor room. Yay, a replacement piece.

But, upon closer inspection?  It's the wrong rail. Our railing has these little "knuckles" on the rails.

The replacement railing had these "cages" on the rails.

Figuring the (stoned) workers wouldn't notice such a GLARING detail, we left them a nice little note.

We'll see if that works or not.

For goodness sake! This house-building process has been an adventure, to say the least!  We're glad we keep catching these mistakes while they can still be fixed in time. 

I keep asking myself - there's nothing else they can screw up, right? Time will tell .... I mean, I can laugh about the carpet mistake now, but I was seriously fretting it at the time!

Anyway ... even though the process has been a bit stressful at times, we're so glad that we're building a house and that it's almost FINISHED!  We've got less than 30 days now! Yay!

The gals sitting on the back step.

This is how we have to get in when we visit on weekends when the house is locked up.

Lydia's our door unlocker.

"Mommy, this piece of wood is taller than me!"

This is our back patio. There's a gap between the patio and the house - enough room for a little herb garden.

Written in the concrete on the back patio!