HAVE YOU EVER HAD INTENSE HOUSE ENVY BASED ON A DOOR KNOB? Hmmm... Ya, me too.

Several months ago, I walked through a house that was WAY out of our budget (not that we are even looking, BTW) and fell in love instantly. I could picture my family in it as I meandered through the rooms with original built-in cabinets and wood doors. It sold in a flash and was most certainly set up for a bidding war. It was a beautiful house, aching to be a home again. Lots of oohs and aahs were happening in my head as I pictured how to update the kitchen to my liking and arrange our belongings within its space.

The thing about this house that got me right off was the front door knob. It was like a brass peacock feather and perfect in every way. I loved how it prepared the way and described what was to come.

Now that the reality of owning that house is long gone, I still dream about the knob. I know, I may need some therapy, but I kind of think I'm perfectly normal in this instance. It was a knob worthy of desire and even though it gave me intense house envy in the moment, I walked away thinking about how I could recreate that subtlety of character at the entrance of our home.

I had long wanted to update our entry interior and had been working on that bit by bit with a little wallpaper, rug tiles, and a lovely mirror. But extending that update to the other side of the door captures a love of our home from every angle.

One thing we've always done is drive away, or drive home and say to our kids, "bye bye sweet little home." or "we're home to our sweet home, kids" and they always agree. They can feel that we love our home and so they do too. They feel that home is a place that is safe and ours because we reinforce our love for it often.

It may seem a little silly to love a knob so, so much, but it conjured up some good thoughts and feelings that are worth holding onto.

It may take some time to find a knob that is just right.. and it may take double time to convince my husband that this is an item to be added to the house list, but below are a few that I found promising.

SPRING TABLE

This is the table setting I used for Easter, but it's so springy that it's worth a second go for a spring dinner with friends.

ON THE TABLE
I used grey plates, vintage mixed silver and cut glass goblets. I had a centerpiece of pale pink ranunculus in a metal tray and straw. For Easter I blew out a few eggs to add in the mix. The linens are a pale sea-foam with silver trim and vintage white napkins. I like to add a little light to a table so I used a mix of silver candlesticks with blue votives.

Pretty pretty pretty. Enjoy!

SIMPLE EASTER DECORATIONS

Happy Easter Weekend! I hope you're having a lovely time with family and friends.

Take a look at what is happening at our home. We didn't get too carried away with decorations this year since the holiday was so early. I stuck with simple daffodils in milk glass vases. Thank you Trader Joe's for having bunches of 10 stems for 1.50! I found the sweetest bunch of felt flowers at our local craft fair and I love vintage figurines. Our blue glass vintage bottles are a nice addition to spring and I love pussy willows. I got some from my girlfriends yard and they are so pretty against the blue.

Now it's time to make some ham! xoxo

HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY!

MIRROR, MIRROR ... PUFFY MIRROR

I had a little crafternoon with my Activity Days girls the other day. While we decorated mirrors with sparkles and pom poms, we talked about talking to others as well as ourselves positively. Looking in the mirror and saying nice things. I really believe that words are cemented when spoken aloud. As these young girls go to school, play and go about their day, they may get some negative words coming straight for them.

My goal is to buffer the nasty with some positive thoughts that they can carry with them. Hopefully they can start each day uplifting themselves. Anything to help them with the tough years ahead of them.

Now I'm not going to lie, these turned out "kid-cute". They're not pretty. No matter how much I try to organize the supplies by color, they'll plaster the mirrors in a way that gives me a bit of anxiety. But they are having a blast. Plus, everything put before them is from the dollar store so no big deal. I spent about $20 on supplies for 10 girls. Not too bad. It's a fun activity to do with kids... daughters, girlie friends, nieces... anyone that likes to craft.

HOMEMADE LIPGLOSS

There are all kinds of recipes online for making lipgloss at home. I learned a thing or two... might as well pass along some tips because this is pretty experimental stuff.

I was making this for Activity Days so I needed an easy and inexpensive recipe. But I also wanted a firmer lipgloss than what the Vaseline recipes could offer. I found a recipe using Beeswax, Shea Butter, and Coconut Oil.

CONTENTS
The Beeswax is what makes it firmer, but be cautious about what you're buying, some have a musty smell that is tough to mask. I've heard that the pellets are more refined which takes away the sweet honey smell. The bag I bought was 100% natural, yellow and melted really well because they were pellets, but it took a lot of Lemon Essential Oils to cover the smell. I'll still use these pellets but next time I'll try buying a brick of Beeswax to see if that helps.

The Coconut Oil and Shea Butter help to smooth and moisturize the mixture. I've heard of adding Honey, Cocoa Butter, or Olive Oil among other ingredients... I could mess around with various ingredients for a long while... it's pretty fun to play cosmetic chemist. I really want to try coffee balm!

Food coloring (liquid, or paste) doesn't mix well with Beeswax but works great for the Vaseline method. You need cosmetic powders if you want a color with Beeswax. I was ok with the yellow coloring because I used Lemon flavoring. Next time I might try using some powdered pink eyeshadow and berry extract for flavoring.

I got little plastic screw top pots here and they worked perfectly. I just made sticker labels to put on top with the flavor. I also want to try chapstick tubes.

TOOLS
I don't have a double boiler so I used a small saucepan with about 1 1/2 c of water. I boiled it and then turned it down to simmer. Then I put another small metal bowl on top of that. That's as good as a double boiler.

I also had a glass measuring cup handy and a metal spoon. I had several little pots open and ready and was able to pour straight from the metal bowl (using a hot pad).

RECIPE
I started small because it was an experiment.
2 TB of each ingredient (Beeswax, Shea Butter, Coconut Oil)
Stir to melt and add drops of Lemon Oil (you can smell the mixture to see if it's enough) If you do too much, add more Shea Butter or Coconut Oil.
If I didn't have enough to fill the pots then I just added more ingredients. I kept the stove going for about two hours with small batches and filled all 50 pots, used 1/2 a bag of Beeswax and probably about 1 cup of the Coconut Oil and Shea Butter

VALENTINE'S CRAFTS FOR KIDS

Here's another easy Valentine's craft idea for the kids. BUBBLE BLUTTERFLIES!

SUPPLIES
Mini Bubble Wands (Target)
Paper & Heart Punch (or cut hearts out - two per card)
Printer & Cardstock
Hot Glue Gun

PROCESS
1. Print and cut out the Free Printable.
2. Have your child sign their name to each cut card.
3. Hot glue the wing hearts together.
4. Hot glue the center of the two heart points and place the bubble wand*.
5. Hot glue the back of the same spot and place on the card.

* I've found that the bubbles may pop off once the glue is dried.
The good in that is that they're easy for the kids to get off of the card.

xoxo Happy Valentine's Day!

VALENTINE'S FOR KIDS

If you're in need a quickie Valentine's idea for your kids to pass out to friends, neighbors and classmates, here 'tis. This year we made pencil arrows.

SUPPLIES
Card Stock & Printer
Valentine's Pencils (ours came from the Dollar Spot at Target)
Pen
Heart Punch or pre cut Hearts
Felt or Paper Fringe (I used felt and scissors)
Hot Glue Gun & Glue Sticks

PROCESS
1. Print the free printable and cut the strips out.
2. Have your child write their name or personalize them if you'd like.
3. Hot glue a heart to the flat pencil tip end.*
4. Cut the fringe pieces about 1.5"x2"
5. Hot glue around the metal portion of the eraser end.*
6. Wrap the fringe around the glue.
7. Hot glue the pencil to the card.*

*The hot glue should peal off of the pencil easily when it's time to use the pencil.

TEA TIME

I am an Activity Days leader for a group of eleven year old girls in our neighborhood. It's a churchie thing. It's loads of fun to see these girls each month and talk and craft and eat. I'll post a few of these every so often.

One time it was Tea Time. We talked about some fine things that have gotten lost in the hustle through the years. Sipping tea and writing letters and dropping them in the box knowing that it will make someone smile to get something lovely and real in their mail.

We also made wire hearts, wrapped with yarn for our craft. Anytime I can bust out the teacups and craft with these girlies, I call it a success.

COMPLETED COZIES

Oh... it only took me TWO YEARS to complete these chenille lap quilts. But I'm happy now that I spent the time and effort and I can say, I did it!

I wanted something for my two girls that was soft and cozy that would go at the foot of their beds. I had first seen these and fell in love (the original quilt is long since sold and not on this page). I thought it would be so easy to find vintage chenille bedspreads and just cut them up... I was wrong. Etsy offered a variety of shops that sold pieces of chenille. But they weren't cheap. The price to purchase a quilt was actually quite affordable after planning out how much fabric I'd need to buy.

BUT... I wanted it to be a gift that I made instead of purchased so I took some time to plan out the colors and patterns, and ordered the chenille from here. I have to say the owner of this shop helped me quite a bit. She was really sweet to understand my desire to make these myself and helped me pinpoint the colors I wanted. I purchased twelve different patterned chenille pieces in a variety of sizes and colors, then cut them down to 6" squares. There are 6 rows of 9 = 54 squares. I got the fringe from a vintage bedspread I found at an estate sale.

Next I talked to lots of quilting friends and family for advice. The prep, purchasing and planning took me six months... the percrastination took me over a year. The actual sewing time took me a couple of weeks. I just didn't trust myself, but once I started in I quickly learned how to piece together the squares and put it all together. I'm happy to report that the kids were pleased on Christmas morning. All worth it.

PLUSHIE OWLS

I made a couple of plushies for my girls this Christmas. They are on a bit of an owl kick, particularly snowy owls. 

I used felt for the faces, beak, and eyes, and white minkie for the backing and wing backs. And the feathers are a combination of felt and wool. I also used a bit of patterned quilting fabric for the front background and wing fronts. I wanted to make them similar but a bit different so the feathers and patterned dot fabric have slight differences. I also made a little tag coming off the side.

These aren't hard, but they take some time because I hand stitch the feathers. But before I do that, I pin them all in a row and use a machine to stitch them all securely. They turned out pretty cute and the girls sleep with them which is worth all of the effort.