Friday Five: the spring decor edition

It's probably a little "high-falutin'" to title this the "spring decor edition," but I've had fun tackling a few areas around the house to freshen things up for spring, and couldn't think of a better title.  Last week I showed you my sugaring decorations, which will stay up till sometime in April, but since now I'm starting to get itchy for real spring weather and colors, plus the fact that we're gearing up for a busy April, I decided to change up a few other areas now.

1. Easter hutch: 
I really had fun coming up with this, with a little help and inspiration from Pinterest!

2. Dry erase calendar:

I found this brand new (though slightly warped 😆) dry erase calendar/bulletin board at the dump this week.  I decided to brighten it up with some washi tape and hung it up on our chalkboard wall in the office.  I'm sure April's calendar will look more interesting, but I just wrote the March dates on for now.  I hope to add some pictures and maybe some of Ari's artwork on the bulletin board part.  Certainly it's nothing fancy, but kind of a fun addition to the office area.  I'd been thinking about buying one of these sometime, so it's neat that I can try one out for free.  We can always get a nicer one if we end up using it a lot.

3. Spring chalk wall:
Ever since we painted our office/hall area with black paint and let the kids use it for a chalkboard, we've had this note that Jim scrawled up there for fun (and Sam later added to...it originally just said "kiss the cook"😉):

Around Christmastime I thought about changing it up and having Sam draw a vintage truck with Christmas tree scene there, but we never got around to it.  Today I decided to do something springy, and I totally copied this idea from this link that I found on Pinterest: 

I really like how the darker chalk lines make the wall and the artwork stand out more!  While I'm certainly no chalk lettering artist, I didn't think this was too bad for a first attempt.  Now I'm looking forward to searching out more inspiration for future seasonal designs.

That's all for decor, so moving on to two random things to round things out:


4. Girls are feeling better!  
There's still plenty of coughing and sneezing going on, but fevers are lower and Julia was even able to do a little bit of schoolwork today.  Her appetite is coming back and I'm hopeful that a restful weekend will help them be back to full health again next week.

5. A new book to read:
Actually, I have PLENTY of books to read, but I got this one on sale from CBD last week, and it's kind of messing with me in a really good way.  I'm only a chapter or two in, but I'm finding it's turning some of my preconceived ideas upside down and making me really stop and think about hospitality in a new light. 

I have several other books on hospitality on my wishlist as well, and I'm thinking maybe this will be an area I can dive more deeply into over the next year or so.  It's something that's been on my heart for a long time, but we aren't so good at actually practicing it as I would like!

And that's it for this week's Friday Five...thanks for reading!

Finally!

Okay, I think NOW I have the new look of the blog how I want it.  It took some fiddling to get the header right, but I'm pretty happy with it!  I found this background that I love more than the barn one that I tried yesterday.  It's just right for the look I want at the moment.  I wanted to brighten up the page, and this background is perfect with the picture I chose of the kids!!!  I love how the girls' clothing in the picture coordinates with the banner colors (totally unplanned!) and how the white peeling paint siding of the background matches the white siding of the camp behind the kids.  That camp, which belonged to my grandparents (and was their first home!) is right next door to our house, so it also works perfectly with the theme of my blog. :)  Which makes me happy!

I had to change the blog template to a different one to make a larger header work.  I'm not quite as fond of the page look, but it's not that much different and I think having a bigger header is a good trade-off.

It may sound strange, but messing with my blog design has inspired me to post more.  Maybe having a fresh new look was just the nudge I needed. :)  Now to see if I can attract some of my previous readers (or some new ones)!!

My Happy Planner (and why it makes me happy)

I'll admit that I've been out of the planner loop for quite some time now.  Oh, right after Christmas every year I go in Marshalls and notice a few fun, new planners that catch my eye...but up till this year I hadn't succumbed to buying one.  After all, I've tried quite a few different systems.  The Confident Mom planner is free, and comes complete with a daily chore list (which admittedly I've never stuck with for longer than a month, at most), and I've tried that.  I've tried Flylady's "Control Journal" and that worked for a time.  Mostly what's worked best for me over the past few years is a simple spiral notebook, where I write a daily to-do list (if I remember).  Since Ari arrived, even my notebook use has been very sporadic.

This year I decided to change things up and I started researching planners online.  Apparently planners are all the rage nowadays!  Not only can you find fun printable planners (say that 10 times fast) online, but there is a whole sort of planner culture out there for creative (and organized?) souls to take part in.  In my browsing Pinterest, I found all kinds of neat stuff.  Bullet journals are cool (and popular), but my goodness...no way could I find the time to come up with all THIS on my own.  I don't have the brain power at this point in my life, nor the creativity, nor the time.  I have the utmost admiration for those who do, though!!  Some people adore Erin Condren planners, but hello...pricey!! Then I saw the Happy Planner...ahhh, this is more my speed.  Only they're not exactly cheap, either.  I checked Marshalls in case they happened to have any...maybe they do on occasion, but not when I looked.  I priced them on Amazon, where they were around $18 apiece.  Still a little more than I wanted to spend.  Then I heard somewhere that they were on sale at Michael's for 50% off, the week before New Year's.  We didn't make it down to Michael's (an hour away) till December 31, and lo and behold that weekend they were actually 60% off!!  So, I got the "holiday planner kit" for $13.99, which included the planner plus some stickers and sticky notes, and a magnet.  They had all the Happy Planner accessories for 60% off, too, but I was a bit overwhelmed just looking at all the choices and decided to stick with the basics for now.  By this time next year, I should have a better idea if I want or need any other "extras."

So I've been using my Happy Planner for almost 3 weeks now and I've been having so much fun with it!  Obviously it's early in the year yet, so it remains to be seen if I stick with it for the long haul, but since I am really enjoying it, I can see myself using it consistently.  It comes with basic calendar spreads...one for each month, then a 2 page spread for each week of the month.

 I love the unique disc system that makes pages easy to add or remove.  The only thing I wish I had is a special punch to use when I add free printable pages I've found online...but they are expensive, and I'm going to wait and make sure I really USE this thing over the year, and if I do, maybe I'll invest in one next year or when Michael's has a super sale again.  So far I've added pages like a health/fitness/weight loss tracker, a bills due page, food journaling pages, and I even went so far as to punch and insert these "best of my days" cards that my mom gave me, which I think will help me be much more faithful in actually remembering to record a highlight of each day!

 My kit also came with seasonal stickers, which I've been having fun with, and I found tons of free printable planner stickers on Pinterest, too.  Since I don't have a fancy Cricut machine, I print them onto sticker paper and then cut out by hand...which sounds like a lot of work, but I only do one or two at a time to put here and there on a page, and I find it fun and relaxing.  It's a small, simple way to get creative and personalize the planner, and it scratches that "crafty itch" to just do a little something to pretty things up!

I also really like the size of the planner.  One thing I've never liked too much about the printable planners I've used in past years is the big 3 ring binders I have to put them in...too bulky and it takes up a lot of space to leave them sitting open on the counter or table.  But this size, while not super small, is fairly compact (especially when folded in half), yet with plenty of room for writing a to-do list every day.  (Happy Planners come in other sizes as well--one larger and I think two smaller, so there are options for everyone!)

Last but not least, this planner makes me happy just because it's pretty...there are lots of different fun designs.  And I love the name...how could a HAPPY planner not make you just want to smile?! :)

So these are a few reasons my Happy Planner is making me happy...it might sound weird, but it's been a fun highlight of my month.  And nope, I haven't used it every single day...but I've used it enough days that it's starting to become a habit, I think!  Do any of you use planners or journals? What's your current favorite?

Links, Pictures, and More

I gave myself permission to take some blogging time today. :)  First, I posted in my pregnancy blog for anyone who's interested . . . and now I'm going to chatter here for a little bit!

I'm making homemade yogurt today for the second time ever.  I made 3 quarts a couple weeks ago, and it was so easy, and came out great!  I used Trina Holden's recipe found here.  I'm also trying a new granola recipe.  I tried a molasses granola a few weeks ago which was pretty good (Jim and I both liked it, but the kids didn't), and then a friend shared a chocolate almond granola recipe which is what I'm making today.  It smells really yummy!  I actually didn't have any almonds on hand, so I threw in a bunch of coconut instead.  And I used coconut oil instead of canola, and substituted brown sugar for some of the honey to make it cheaper.  Granola and yogurt is a nice, fairly healthy breakfast or snack, and I used to make granola all the time, but got out of the habit in the past year or so.  I really need to get back to it!

Another thing I need to get back to is menu planning.  Can you believe I haven't menu planned consistently since mid-April?  Oops!  Now that I have more energy again and actually feel like cooking more often, I need to make a plan. :)

We had 3 new baby chicks hatch this week, so that was the big excitement around here!  Our Henny Penny is such a good mama.  This was her third time going broody, and her second successful hatch.  Last fall she hatched 6 chicks (only 5 survived).  This time she hatched 2 on Memorial Day, then the third egg hatched sometime between Tues. night and Weds. morning.  The babies are sooo cute, and we enjoy the fluffiness while it lasts (because it doesn't last long!!).  Here are a few pics.  No names yet, but I'm sure the kids will come up with some soon. :)

These are the first two hatched:

 Then after we moved them all to the little coop for extra protection, this little guy hatched:

Jim is finally done with the work on his truck!!  It's put back together, repainted, and it looks like we might even have a working air conditioner soon (which would be awesome, since we plan to drive it to Ohio later this summer)!  Anyway, Monday was the day he painted it.  Our garage is under our house, so I spent a lot of time outside so I wouldn't breathe in too many of those nasty fumes.  With the way the timing worked out, he was going to need to put the clear coat on around 3 am the next day . . . so we decided that the kids and I would sleep in the camper that night.  The kids slept great, but it was a short night because none of us went to sleep till after 10:30, and Sam woke up (and consequently woke the rest of us up, except Josiah) sometime between 4-5 am.  YAWN . . . But at least we weren't breathing in paint fumes. :)  And after the two older kids got up and out of the camper, I went back to sleep for a while . . . until I was awakened again by Jim and Julia sweetly delivering breakfast in bed!  Meanwhile, Josiah (our champion sleeper) kept snoozing till sometime between 7-8 am, I think.  By afternoon, the rest of us were pretty tired and Julia actually fell asleep on the couch . . . and we got everyone to bed early that night!

Last weekend was a busy one, too, as I was working on sewing reversible aprons for graduation gifts for two sisters, whose party was on Saturday.  Here's how they turned out (some of you long time readers might remember that I made aprons from the same pattern for gifts about 4 years ago, too)!  The only "problem" is that I have always made these for gifts, but so far haven't made any for me!  I think I need to change that this summer, since some of my old faithful aprons are starting to fall apart. :) 

The blue one is my favorite . . . 

 But I also love how bright and cheery the pink is!

Julia will be getting some cute new skirts out of the leftover fabric from these, too! :)

One more link before I go . . . I think I raved in my last post about the Read Aloud Revival podcast, a brand new one that I am loving!  Through that podcast and site, I heard about this summer reading program, Traveling Through the Pages, that I am thinking about having my kids do.  It looks like a lot of fun--I just need to get organized and think of some rewards/incentives I could use. :)  

Well, gotta run and put leftovers in the oven soon for supper . . . so happy I don't have to cook tonight. :)  Hope you are all having a great week!

What I sewed this summer :)

One of my goals for this summer was to do lots of sewing, and I'm happy to say that's one goal that I actually accomplished--for a change! :)  It was really fun, and even kind of therapeutic after a busy school year.  The only thing that makes me sad is that I don't have as much time to sew the rest of the year!  Anyway, between May and August I made 9 skirts and 1 dress, as well as hemmed a pair of dress pants for Jim and made a body pillow cover for myself, because my old store-bought cover was falling apart.  For this post, I'm just showing you the fun stuff--the things I made for Julia and me. :)

I had used my birthday money to buy some jersey fabric to make maxi skirts.  Before I cut into the fabric, I wanted to do a trial run, so I cut up an old maternity jumper and made this skirt.  It came out a little more snug than I wanted, but it's still wearable.  It gave me a basis to work from, to figure out what I wanted to do differently with my new fabric.

 For my next maxi skirt attempt, I went with a tutorial for a gathered version instead of A-line. (I can't actually remember now which tutorial I used!!  But I think it was similar to this one.)   I wasn't totally happy with the way this one fit, but I don't mind it too much, and I still love the fabric.  Best of all, I had enough to make a matching skirt for Julia.  She LOVES it when I make matching things for her and me. :)  (I'm going to enjoy that as long as I can!!)  We wore our matching skirts to my aunt's wedding in June and got a lot of comments on them. :)

 Sorry for the washed-out pic; I forgot to take any of the two of us together until after we got home, when it was mostly dark out!

 I had found this super cute red flowered fabric at Walmart for something like $2/yard.  I got all they had on the bolt, which was enough to make a skirt for me from my very favorite pattern, and then I followed this tutorial to make a matching sundress/jumper for Julia.  She complained that it wasn't very comfortable (the elastic top, I think) and she only wore it once. :(  But I think it'll still be long enough for her to wear next summer; maybe I can find a way to make the top more comfy for her, or find a thinner shirt for her to wear under it.  I was extra happy to find a perfectly-matching necklace for this outfit at Kohl's.  I love it when an outfit comes together like that!

 I did make this top for Julia, but it was last summer. :)  But I made the skirt this summer!  I used an old pair of her jeans which I loved the color and style of, but which were now too short (and had a hole in the knee).  I had seen ideas online for turning jeans into a skirt, so I used those ideas to come up with my own version.

 It's too hard to see here, but I also added a little flower near the bottom hem (off to the right in this pic) out of the cut off material.  It added a fun little touch!

 I loved the flower she wanted in her hair, too--the perfect accessory! :)  The only sad thing is that this little skirt will probably be too short by next summer, but hopefully she can still wear it with tights through the winter.

 I believe these tiered maxi skirts were my very favorite project of the summer, although they were also the most work.  (And that's a LOT of fabric, let me tell you!! :))  I was so, so happy with how they turned out, though.  I've been wanting a cute white skirt like this for a while, and thanks to a fabric-section-closing sale at our Walmart a few years back, I had yards and yards of white muslin to use.  These were not complicated to make, just took a lot of time because of all the layers.  I used this tutorial from Ashley of Make It and Love It.  

 I also had to show you one of my new favorite hairstyles--on both Julia and me. :)  Got this topsy-tail variation off Pinterest, and I am loving it especially for church!  (And can I just say I adore my daughter's hair--it is so easy to make it look nice in pretty much any style!)

 This is the final maxi skirt variation I made.  I used this tutorial for both of Julia's, but for mine I used a pattern from a friend.  I'm not normally a "green" person, but I thought this would be a fun fabric for summer.  As it turns out, it's nice for fall, too!  I wore this outfit to church a couple weeks ago.  I already had a green tee that matched close enough, the jean jacket was a $1 thrift store find, and the scarf was made by me, a couple years ago.  If you look close, you can also see my new cowboy boots that Jim bought me, which I am loving. :)

I am by no means a fashionista ;), but it's been really fun to add a few pieces to my wardrobe and come up with some new outfit variations using clothes I already have.  For example, the blue sweater/plaid shirt combo in the pics above was one I just recently realized would work together, although I've had both pieces in my closet for a year or two!

I plan to do another post soon about some of my summer thrift store finds and how I add to my wardrobe in that way, too.  For now . . . hope you've enjoyed seeing my sewing projects.  It was really good to "scratch the itch" and get some creating done.  Very satisfying!  And I do have a few sewing projects on my list for fall, too--just not quite as many.  Hopefully I can get at least a few of them done. :)

A post a day--Dec. 19: Felt food

Today I spent some time making felt food for gifts!  I've never made anything other than felt cookies before, so this was fun.  My kids have a lot of felt food that my mom has made for them, but now Julia wants duplicates of some of the stuff I made today. :)  I stuck with easy things for now, that didn't need to be stuffed.  

 I forgot to take a picture of this orange slice with the other stuff.  This pic didn't come out that great, but you get the idea. :)

 Fillings for the pita pocket!  Two kinds of cheese, tomato slice, lettuce and ham.

I hear that making felt food can be addictive.  I think I believe this after the fun I had today! :)  My next project will be a felt s'more!

A Homemade Year

Sometime within the first year or two of our marriage, I came across a book at our local library called The Homemade Year, by Mildred Lawrence. It's a kids' book, really (well, probably pre-teen/teen), and I assume it's long out of print, but it is a really neat book. All about a young city girl who goes to stay with her country cousins, and learns how to do everything the "homemade" way. If they want butter, they churn it. If they want dresses, they sew them from flour sacks. And so on. Anyway, I have decided that I'd like to make this a homemade year in many ways. I'd like to make more of our cleaners and such from scratch--today I made my own laundry soap for the first time ever!--as well as continuing to cook mostly from scratch. I want to learn to garden and hopefully can some of our own food. I want to make do with things I have, instead of always going out and buying something new that I think is a "need." And I want to spend a lot more time crafting and making handmade gifts for next Christmas--maybe if I start now I'll be able to get more of them done in time. :) I guess I just feel this need to be much more frugal, but to also have lots of fun doing it--to get creative with it! The internet is a wealth of information for pretty much anything homemade that you could imagine. And every day I'm finding new inspiration at one of my new favorite sites, One Pretty Thing. So, I'll be trying to update with my progress now and then. Here's to a homemade year!! :)