Nesting

 One of the big things on my "to do before Eli arrives" list was to organize all of our art/crafting/sewing supplies in one place. Now when one of the boys needs a pair of scissors for a project I don't have to send him on a 20 minute scavenger hunt around the house.

 What was once our dining room bookshelf (which Daniel made out of old barn siding my Papa had...I love it), is now a neatly organized, Restoration Hardware-inspired, creation station.

 I have a habit of collecting metal bins, old wooden boxes, and vintage train cases any time I'm out at a yard sale or thrifting. They're perfect for storing art supplies. The boys can just grab the bin, box, or case they need, take it to wherever they're working, and put it back when they're done...easy cleanup!

 And our books have a new home in a metal cabinet I also scored from Papa, organized by color of course : )

Next on the list--finish the nursery!

Arian : )

Preparing for Eli

We're hard at work transforming this previously (very!) cluttered closet into a little nursery for Eli. He'll still be just a few feet from our bed but have his own private little space.

Lots and lots of little DIY projects---like these felt and faux fur covered wine boxes I'll be using for Eli's little shirts, pants, pjs, and diapers. They were super easy and cheap. Free wine boxes from a local liquor shop, a few dollars worth of brown felt and fake fur, yarn, metal rimmed labels, and my trusty glue gun to put them all together. Now I'm wondering what else I can use fabric covered wine boxes for! Gotta love cute, cheap storage!

Haha, that painting smock just doesn't cover as much as it used to : ) 3 weeks and counting til Eli's due date! We're almost ready for him!

Arian : )

Family Projects

 I'm finally getting a little better at meal planning which means we've had some pretty fun meals lately. Like our living room picnic with the tents we just made with with the boys.

Jude and Hudson picked out their fabrics and helped us drill holes and sew edges (instructions on super-cute blog here). It was a fun, one afternoon-long family craft project! And already quite a few snack times, dinner times, story times, homework times, and snuggle times have happened under these tents.

 They are going on our go-to list for handmade kids' gifts for sure.

We're pretty deep into quite a few family projects at the moment, actually.

One major one is turning this less-than-homey corner of the basement into a cozy guest room for a college friend of ours who just moved in with us for a little while.

And the other is turning this embarrassingly cluttered closet into a cute, tidy, vintage nursery before Eli's quickly approaching arrival (7-ish more weeks!)

So, yeah, we're quiiiite busy around here. Daily trips to the hardware store and the fabric store...lots of thrifting and re-purposing. Fun but tiring but worth it in the end : )

Arian

The Weekend

 Our week of eating dinners outdoors and celebrating our hybrid version of Sukkot ended with a full day of eating, relaxing, and playing outside with lots of friends and family.

 Dinner was a gourmet hotdog feast! Everyone cooked their own hotdogs over the fire then loaded them up with various combinations of our 20 or so topping choices.

We decorated our back deck as our 2-level Sukkah. Not exactly a "temporary hut" but it worked for us : ) As our boys get older, I'm thinking we'll attempt some pretty epic sukkahs, like the ones they make for the Sukkah City competition in NYC. Or perhaps more like these temporary huts. Either way, it will be fun.

For decorations, we put flameless candles under lots of the vintage insulators I got from my grandpa's house. We covered the tables with paper and crayons and fall flowers.  We made autumn fabric buntings, crochet square buntings, yellow duct tape buntings, and paint chip buntings (yay, buntings!) and we hung lots of these little flameless candle lanterns we made from baby food jars.

It was pretty sweet. When God designs a party, it's a good idea to celebrate it : )

Well, today is my birthday (woohoo!) I think I will eat a cupcake for breakfast and then take it from there : )

Arian

Paint Chip Bunting

I'm working on fall goal #1--decorating our (first) front porch. Plus, Sukkot at our home is coming up next week which, of course, is going to require some festive decorations. And my sister's fall-themed baby shower is right around the corner and, of course, I've happily volunteered to make all the decorations. In short, our dining room table has been overtaken by a mountain of fall-colored fabric, paper, ribbon, and general goodness.

Today I made what will likely be the first of many, many fall-colored buntings. This one I made with paint samples, clear packing tape, masking tape, and nylon string.

I cut the paint samples into triangles which I attached and, at the same time, laminated with clear packing tape so they'll (hopefully) survive rainy days on the front porch.

And between each paint sample flag is a little masking tape flag....folded over the string and cut into a triangle. Super easy!

One bunting down, who knows how many left to go!

Happy fall decorating!
Arian : )

DIY Family Wedding!

One of my amazingly beautiful step-sisters got married this weekend.  Meet newlyweds Josh and Kasey Day! Aren't they ridiculously cute?!

The past week has been filled with wedding prep, wedding crafting, wedding baking, and family gatherings. Goooood times!

My (step)family is scattered all over the U.S.  So times when we can all get together are pretty special.

My little man and his mustache sucker wedding favor.

Hudson has only seen his cousin, Nan, a few times but they're pretty tight : )

This pic of Andrea and Tye cracks me up every time I look at it. Crazy kids.

The beauuuutiful twins.

Fancy homemade strawberry champaign cupcakes!

My little family : )  24 weeks along with boy #3!

The wedding was filled with family-made details. This was my first attempt at a wedding cake topped by the hand-carved cake topper my step-brother-in-law made.

Instead of a traditional guest book I put together this tandem bike + fingerprint balloon poster per Kasey's request. Each guest left their print and initials. Such a cute idea!

And this is the art I made for the front of their wedding invitations-- inspired by one of my vintage floral pillowcases and Josh's love for chess.

My step-mom has quite an arm ; )  

Congrats to Josh and Kasey! We're soooo happy for you! Love you guys!

Arian

Hug print

I just added a new print to the shop. It's the piece I did for the art show at our home last week. The show was such a hit! Our little house was busting at the seams with friends,family, and people we've never met who came to listen to the music and check out the artwork that the 8 of us created. We'll definitely do this again soon as there are lots more musicians we'd love to feature and lots more local artists we'd love to host!

Good music, good food, good art, good people, and good weather made for such a great night!

Arian : )

I'm still here : )

 Hey! How's it goin? It's been a little while!  We've been unpacking and getting settled as quickly as possible. Nothing like hosting a party/house concert to motivate us to get things in order!

 We're loving our new home. I love the way the sun pours in at different parts of the day. The sun rises in the dining room and sets in our bedroom...lovely.

 And there are plenty of pretty details, like the vintage door knobs and the dark, refinished wood floors.

 We're enjoying the spring weather.  Our outdoor spaces are in need of some TLC. I see lots of trips to the hardware store and garden center in our future.  I picked up this patio table set for free on Craigslist and am excited to transform it!

Loving the spring flowers!

 I've got a growing collection of inspiring home images over on pinterest. Is anyone else as addicted to pinterest as I am? It's like my crack.  Must... Pin... Pretty....Pictures.

So many ideas and color schemes swimming in my head. Gotta get crackin!

Arian : )