Short and sweet

Don't you love it when one projects spirals into another and another and another? At least we love them when they are short and sweet. This was a quick re-plant of one of my favorite little cactus's into a spiffy cup. From normalness to trendy funness. Fact. Those are both words.

 Hands down this looks better then the generic container it came in 

and I was able to transfer the same dirt. Sweet. 

 Book Shelve Eye Candy

 

Herb Wall- Part One

FINALLY. This has been a project that has been a long time coming! As you know, I love transforming spaces...especially a blank wall.

There were two areas in our kitchen that were starving for attention and functionality and we knew just what we wanted to do with them. The problem is I had way way too many ideas of how I wanted to go about doing it! How about we just skip that boring process for now:

Meet Our Hippy Herb Wall

 The windows provide the perfect lighting and having the herbs we cook with within arms reach just makes sense.

DIY Planters
After searching for the perfect planters (which were either an hour and half away or way too expensive) I scored these buckets at Target's dollar booya section. Wait- that's not what it's called?

Remove the handles from each bucket

Drill a small hole approximately one inch from the rim

File any jagged/sharp edges from the drilled opening

Paint several coats allowing each one to dry in between

 Mount each bucket onto the wall by screwing them in place.  

Next, add your soil and herbs which is the fun part!

Wacky Labels

All it took was a strip of chalkboard paint to label each planter.

But then I discovered that you can make labels out of popsicle sticks just as easily! The owls were actually from a necklace that I purposefully bought with the intention of reusing the cute pendants.

Being the sucker that I am, I used both labels for different herb varieties such as the cinnamon basil.

It's a tad over the top which is why I love it!

A gift idea for all you slackers. Oh wait. That's me!

Motherhood. The most incredible precious indescribable wonderful difficult beautiful mind-blowing love ever known. Realizing this same whirlwind is what your own mother experienced when raising you, brings you that much closer doesn't it? Happy soon to be mother's day!

As much as I have had a vendetta against fake flowers, once I discovered you can make a bouquet/centerpiece noncheesy (unlike the sappy intro to this blog), I've been hooked.

What really makes it unique are the lighted branches which are actually battery operated. To assemble is a synch which is always a perk in my book.

Step 1

Fill the bottom of the vase 1/3 full of moss or choice of filler

Step 2

Take each of your lighted branches and combine them with a few flowers. Securely wrap any excess cord from the branches at the bottom of the flower stems, creating a miniature bouquet. Repeat for each lighted branch you choose to use.

 Step 3

Assemble your flowers

 Step 4

Add the remainder of the moss around all of the sides and middle of the vase until the branches are no longer visible. Shift the battery packs of the branches towards the top of the vase to easily turn them on/off.

Step 5

Add your finishing touches and voila!

The perfect gift for the women in your life.

Let's get messy

With all of this health mumbo jumbo behind us, I've been desperate for some mommy daughter time with the girls and as a fam. We took a week break from tv and electronics during any and all family time and replaced it with craft/creative/art/get messy time. Of course the house reflected such creative endeavors and I had to turn off the "Oh dear God the house is a wreck" a million times and turn on the "it doesn't matter" button. Damn. It got stuck. Oh well.

Need some ideas for activities with the kiddos? Here's a good way to start. Lay out a plethora of supplies and let them go to town methodically (and even at times chaotically) coming up with their own crafts. Pipe cleaners, popscile sticks, plastic eye balls, stickers, little pom poms, styrophoam craft balls, markers, paper...it's endless what they can come up with especially with loads of tape and kid friendly glue (is there really such a thing?). The coolest addition to the art supplies have been foam flower blocks. You can find them anywhere but of course I'm an advocate of the dollar store for crafts because it makes it so very easy to stock up. These blocks came in a pkg of four!

A great sensory toddler activity is letting the littles explore and put different things inside the block because it's soft and pliable enough to do themselves. Miss Ruby was entertained by placing popsicle sticks in her flower block one by one until she couldn't find anymore room left and then taking them out and doing it all over again.

Nevaeh was my kind of girl- she has christmas on her mind all year round and not surprisingly made a snowman from the styrofoam balls and then glued her snowman to a flower block (she is at the age that with supervision has learned to use a glue gun for her projects).

Next, was painting the windows using a window marker- you know the ones you use to graffiti on car windows without getting into trouble? Also a dollar store find. 

If you don't have the craft supplies or simply just don't have the time, you can change it up with crafts/toys you already have and rethink ways to use them. For example, our aquadoodle mats & mat to go, the kids already love but I didn't want them to get bored using. So, instead of using the normal pen (which is just filled with water) we switched it out with different paint brushes that they can dip in water to "paint". 

For family meal time, don't be afraid to make a mess together.  We made little pizzas with kitty and dog faces. Even though they didn't turn out the tastiest, your kids will be happier when they are involved in the process AND are more likely to try new things. 

Macaroni for whiskers? What can I say? Use your imagination! Your kids will enjoy it and so will you =)

MIA

This is a picture of a stent. I had 2 of them. One in each kidney after my 18th surgery involving kidney stones that were too large for my body to pass. Or was it the 19th? All I know is most of the procedures I can't pronounce like lithotripsy or  Percutaneous nephrolithotomy.

 source

So you have to forgive me- the blog was the last thing from my mind, especially after getting both stents removed with equipment that looked like this:

 

Be afraid. Be very afraid. It was rather hilarious that John had actually whipped out his cell to take a pic before the dr came in. I think he was in a state of amusement and shock.  I was neither amused nor shocked. I am however stent and stone free (for now) and ready to get back to life, my family, and my ever evolving projects =)

Rockabilly Easter

Nothing like a little belated Easter fun! Being in the woods is so magical and that's why I looove going out to my mother and father in law's house. The girls get a kick out of walking in various paths around their property along with getting muddy and helping in their vegetable garden. It was the perfect place to celebrate easter with our loved ones and more importantly our Risen King.

What can I say? The kisses along the way didn't hurt either!