Dani's room.

Remember this? This is the plan Autumn Clemons put together for Dani's room. Asking Autumn for help was the smartest thing I did in this room. (She has helped me with our entire downstairs, too. I'll show you those later. Awesome.)

Well, we're done (almost). I still need to add a few little details that Dani could care less about (like a bigger bookcase and ruffles and pillows and knobs, and pictures in the empty frames - you know...candy).

Autumn made this project really easy for me...she listed everything very clearly - where to get it, how much it cost, and why she chose it. So in case I couldn't get that exact item, I knew what to look for - matching the scale and colors, etc. There are only a few things we had to compromise on because of unavailability (like the awesome stainless steel desk from IKEA, blah). But the compromises still work.

I had her shelves all clean and organized once upon a time, in a far away land, but then she moved her stuff in. I kept sneaking in and rearranging everything, but she kept rearranging it back. So I backed off. It's her room, not mine. It's not my room. This is not my room. Hers. not mine.

let it go.

Dani and I made the headboard. I think it's pretty amazing. I took pictures along the way to show you how we did it, but I'm really not sure how it all came together. It was kind of a miracle. I didn't realize I didn't put the last row of buttons on until it was on the wall, and I'm not taking it down...and don't let that lead you to ask me how it's mounted to the wall (Dani is totally safe, but it's not pretty). There will be no tutorial on that one. I used the power tools before Conan came home and told him not to look closely. I got the "eyebrow". Code: unauthorized power tool usage. bad.

The chalkboard wall has been the biggest hit. It was well seasoned at Dani's birthday party...which deserves the mention: No, she does not love Dmitriy. You're welcome for pointing that out Dani. Because I know all the 6th grade reads my blog.

The peace sign is my favorite (found at Home Goods for $5). And that's Dani's mini apartment she made out of her cardboard stash. Okay, I'll show you around. It's awesome:

Yup, that's a toilet, and a shower curtain. And you can't even see the toilet paper roll.

So, Dani's room is now officially awesome to match the girl. Conan and I like to sit in there and talk all night, it's so nice. Then Dani comes in and kicks us out. Just kidding, she asks for us to leave very nicely. Just kidding, she wants me to stay in her room FOR-EV-ER.

Thank you Autumn!

And thank you, Dani, for being so wonderful. I love you.

Mates of State.

They're my favorite right now.

This song chorus is going on a pillow:

Everything's going to get lighter, even if it never gets better...

{without the visual of the sad bear and the dynamite. Poor, sad, destructive bear. Poor, unfortunate woodland creatures.}

Thank you for sharing, Candace.

Her husband makes us (meaning you and me...us) an awesome mix each month. You didn't even know he was doing that for you, did you? now you know. you're welcome.

Joel Henriques

Laura gave me this link to Joel Henriques' Paper City. I love love it. {thanks, Laura}

His blog, made by joel, is even more awesome. I want to download and make everything. He has a book coming out in the Fall, perfect for a 2011 Christmas gift.

fyi. awesome.

Dani's room.

Dani's awesome, and she turns twelve next month. This combination of coolness means two things...I'm old, and she deserves a monumental celebration! because she's awesome.

Since this is the Year of the House (and the Year of Good Health, and the Year of the Good Read, and the Perfect Sunday Roast, and Cheeescake) we decided to put our generous give-backs from the United States government (aka tax return) towards a new bed room for Dani.

It's needed. She deserves a cool place, to be cool.

I tried to come up with a plan for Dani's room by myself but soon realized I needed help to reach the level of greatness we were trying to achieve, so I asked Autumn, because she is awesome too, and she has been a huge part of our Year of the House so far. I knew she'd make it great. And she so totally did.

Here is what I sent her as our inspiration:

{Premier Prints via fabric.com}

{target.com}

{Beauty Will Save the World by Raceytay

found via Creature Comforts}

Dani loves giraffes, and the owl lamp, and purple - and I loved this color inspiration - and Autumn turned it into pure awesomeness.

Dani is very crafty and has needed TONS more storage space, and Autumn gave her that with all the shelves and bookcases. And all these pieces are grown up enough that Dani can take it all with her when she leaves home {I'm told that happens. they leave. eventually. sniff}.

So we're painting today, and buying a bed tomorrow, and waiting for Uncle Sam to deliver the rest.

I'm super excited. I mean, Dani's excited. It's all for Dani. My addiction to beautiful design and my desire to change everything this year has nothing to do with it. It's not about me. It's about the children.

We're both pretty excited.

Embroidered Gift Tags

I did a guest post for Chris over at Pickup Some Creativity this weekend on how to make Embroidered Gift Tags. She's got sewing tips and projects all month!

Check it out.

i love food.

{graham bars. a busy nest.}

Seriously, I love food. It makes me happy. And I love smart ideas with food. And pretty food. And fresh food. And preserving food. And growing food. And gourmet food. And simple food.

I love it so much I want to marry it.

There's a girl I know, her name is Jennifer Hughes, who has a very envious relationship with food. She is a genius in the kitchen, has a garden I dream about, and enters her own recipes in the Tennessee Valley Fair every year. And wins.

She's a dream.

So last night we had a class on what to do with your garden, and Jennifer shared some pretty awesome stuff. Then told me she had a food blog with her mom and her sister.

Uh...what?

I said.

You mean, all this delicious Jennifer goodness is consolidated into one wonderful place of convenience and public knowledge?

I said.

You mean, I have an official online resource manual to my unspoken personal journey of becoming a real live Jennifer?

No way.

I said.

It's called A Busy Nest. And it's pretty much awesome. I'm sharing it so we can all aspire together to make and eat great food, because they have made it simple for us. And I'm pretty sure sometime soon they'll be inspired to add an official "Tips in the Kitchen" section that will give us that "ah-hah" moment we love so well on a regular basis. maybe. please.

{Peach Raspberry Pie for later. a busy nest.}

This Peach Raspberry Pie idea was my favorite. You freeze everything in the pie plate, then put the whole thing in a freezer bag. Then all you do when you want a pie is slide it into your pie plate, put crust on top, and bake it! really? yes. really.

I had to share, because I'm just assuming some of you have the same ongoing quest I do to make my kitchen a place of delicious, organized, genius yummy goodness.

I'm hungry.

Spice Up Your Kitchen with noodlehead.

Do you read noodlehead? Anna's a cool crafty mom; she taught me everything I need to know about zipper pouches. She puts on a mean tutorial, and grows rhubarb in her garden. Rhubarb?! I love that stuff.

Right now she's hosting a week full of ideas and projects to...

It's good stuff, go check it out. I'll have a tutorial up for Anna on Friday with a cool way to display your favorite recipes.

Right now I'm going to email my mother for her rhubarb crumble recipe. mmmm. I'll share later.

mothers week on sparkle power.

One thing I love about Mother's Day is the positive mom inspiration spread all over blog land. This is the week we get all sentimental about our jobs and our kids, and throw it everywhere. I love it. It's like blasphemy to complain during Mother's week.

One such place I've enjoyed this week has been Candace's blog, sparkle power.

She's invited a handful of mom bloggers to share their feelings about motherhood this week, and it's been great. Candace is very real, which I like. She asked if I could contribute, and I kept waiting for her to send me another email politely retracting her invitation once she realized that I really don't know what I'm talking about. But she didn't, and I'm grateful to be included.

Happy Mother's Day.

diy doily canvas bag by ashley ann photography.

Check out her tutorial for this fantastic and easy teacher gift idea.

I love it.

Her blog is good stuff.

10 points for delicious. The champion.

{almost} Every night, Joey and Andy argue over who gets to be the taste tester for dinner.

The job of the tester entails taking tiny bites, or sips, of each item offered on their plate (even their no-thank you portions) before the actual eating ensues, and gives it a number which they somehow magically mathematically generate into a final score. And there is born the point system.

Here's my formula for a perfect 10.

Rule #1. Keep it simple. Make the making the fun part. Complication is stress and usually results in a low score for a bad attitude.

Rule #2. Put all projects and addicting magazines aside and listen to some inspiring Oh Love on the pod. I'm not a country girl, usually, but for this you mush love the Oh Love. Because you love making dinner.


Rule #3. Make it little. Little is good.

Little Pizzas:
Spread some Arnold Select Multi-Grain Sandwich Thin halves (at Sam's Club) with pizza, spagetti, or alfredo sauce and top with veggies and cheese, a little mozzarella and Lots of freshly grated parmesan cheese (none of this fake chalky cheese in a shaker mumbo jumbo. That's for toddlers), fresh herbs, and a little garlic salt. Yum-o.

Bake at 400 degrees for 12-15 minutes.


Rule #4. Must have yummy drink. Because.

Caramel Milkshakes:
In blender...vanilla ice cream, a little ice, 2 scoops of brown sugar, and some caramel ice cream topping. We're going for a 10-er here, not nutrition. Keep your eye on the prize.

Rule #5. Apple bars.

Thank you Meg Duerksen. Thank you.

Now sing a sweet victory tune, as you clean it all up.

party queen strikes again.

My sister Cassy is the Party Momma of the Milennium.


Jonny Knight (actual middle name, not just a party name. The name came before the party) turned 3 while they were visiting my parents in Canada. And there was born the perfect party for a knight.

They decorated their own swords and shields, and went on a quest to find the treasure, stolen from the black dragon Firetooth. Gettin clues and fighting foes along the way.

After slaying the dragon (daddy), they were each knighted, and given their treasures.

And then they ate cake! Uh, yeah, that's a cake.

The pictures don't do it justice this time folks. You've got to go read it. Seriously. Get inspired.

Her kids will treasure their birthdays for as long as they live.

oil cloth birthday sack.

Remember here, I talked about making oil cloth lunch sacks? Well we did, and I haven't posted any pictures yet because the kids take them to school every day...so they're not here for me to take pictures of.


But I do have a picture of this one. We made one for Dani's friend Jaycee on her birthday.

I tried Martha's instructions for the bag at first, but it was a little wonky, so I used this one from Skip to My Lou. So much easier. I'll post a tutorial with the velcro and "embellishments" when I can get a picture of the other bags. For sure. No worries.

We filled it with easy goodies.
First, a cute little coral top from Marshalls, tied up with string.
Then scrunchies, and a pin to put on her new top or on her school bag.

I tried to find a simple scrunchie tutorial for you, but I couldn't. So I'll try and do that, too.

I'm so excited to show you how to make these bags. They are so easy and they turn out so great! I will try to hurry!

cool birthday banner.

Look at this cool banner Renee made for 7Gypsies. She adapted the magazine mobile idea in such a cute way! So creative; I love it. Go check out her other cool paper creations.

Thanks for sharing Renee!

recycled magazine basket

My dad bought me a new phone (yippee). As a result, I needed a new basket to put by my new phone. I had seen one recently at Marshall's for $8 that I examined carefully; taking it apart in my brain to figure out how they did it. So I decided to save the $8 and the trip back to Marshall's and make my own. It totally worked and I love it.

I didn't take pictures along the way because, frankly, I wasn't sure it would work.

But you can follow this tutorial from HowAboutOrange.
Here and Here.

I used my sewing machine instead of glue or staples like she did. But I think it would be a lot easier her way. duh. I also painted mine with ModPodge since it's in the kitchen and I wanted it to be semi-water resistant.

Check out these other recycled magazine crafts:

bowls.

jewelry.

gift bows.

boxes.

coasters.

and coasters.

flowers.

very cool.

Aunt Katie's sweet.

One time, Aunt Katie sent Jake a postcard from Serendipity in NY.

Jake became obsessed with the place. And more specifically, the frozen hot chocolate.

One time, Jake stayed up way too late, and I yelled...uh...spoke loudly at him to turn off his light and go to bed. Then he handed me an incredibly sweet and witty letter he had been writing to his Aunt Katie about frozen hot chocolates. And the word serendipity. And how he wanted to be a librarian and have a huge library in NY. I kissed him goodnight, and we mailed the letter in the morning.

One time, soon after, Jake got a Serendipity Frozen Hot Chocolate in the mail. And it was the most yummiest happy discovery we've ever made!

Some time, I think I'll write Aunt Katie my own letter. I like Crumbs. And RicePuddnig.

Kitschy Digitals Vinyl Frame Decals

Danielle Thompson of KitschyDigitals has created these beautiful full color vinyl frame decals, and I love them. She is doing a pre-order right now, and you only have 2 more days to get yours! They are very reasonably priced, I think, for vinyl cuts of actual photographs she's taken of vintage frames. You can also get flat cut frames, like the green one in the first photo.

We're going to sell our house soon and build on our land, so I didn't want to buy them now and not be able to take them with me to the new cool house. But I don't want to wait. I'm ordering 3, and keeping them safe in the closet until I have a new wall to put them on.

I'm excited. For the frames, and the house.

Whatever. by Meg Duersken

I came to the computer for bizness purposes, and I was somehow crazily un-biznessly led to this blog. I don't know how I got here. but I can't stop.

I am in love with her house.
I think she's going to invite me over soon.

And her photography.
And check out her 365. Color and life everywhere.

I'd like to live in her blog. Or just her house.

I'm going to pack.

LindsayJane Photography by Andrea.

I've dreamed of this.

Gorgeous photos. Hot husband. Beautiful kids. Trees. Colors. Gorgeous photos.

I couldn't even pick which ones I loved the most to show you! I love every single one. Go look, for real. The black and white one with the kids and the balloons in the field?! Holy moly, I love it. And us on my Grandma's blanket under our tree?! So, so perfect.

Andrea Larsen.
in the Nashville area.

i'm so happy.