Simple Burlap Banner

This morning I was sitting in the living room staring over my cup of coffee into the kitchen- specifically, above the sink. Admid the Monday morning blur of pre-coffee thoughts, a single thought surfaced, ” why do I still have my ‘Spring’ banner up?”

Across the window that is in front of the kitchen sink I have a burlap banner strung that I made around March, it is very simple and says, SPRING.

The shame. It hasn’t been Spring in well, awhile…

For some reason this starting bugging me so I decided to make a new one. I was going to make a “Summer” one, but well, it’s kinda half way through Summer and I want something I can leave up awhile longer.

After wrapping up Caidoc’s Monday morning school and Zelie’s book reading, and a couple diaper changes, squabbles, and three freshly made beds, I sent the kids outside and got to work. I would say this banner could be made in about 30 minutes, but if you’re a mom like me then add another 30 minutes for checking on the kids, getting cups of water, pulling a toddler out of the garbage can, etc. 😄

Got some time freed up? Okay here we go..

Assemble your burlap, scrap fabric,a hot glue gun, iron, baker’s twine, stencil, and a marker.

Fold the burlap into equal squares. This isn’t science, I’m not precise about this part since I don’t mind it looking “rustic” 😜


Like the reused wipes container? Those things make the best craft storage.

  
Then, cut the burlap at all the folds


I folded  enough to get  7 squares


Pick your fabric for the layer on top of the burlap. I picked this hideous green canvas I have because the “back” side of it is lovely! It looks like a white canvas with a hint of green. Repurposing hooyah.

After you’ve picked some fabric, cut smaller squares, as many as you have pieces of burlap. You could also cut different shapes to mix it up! You will have 14 total pieces.

  
 

Once you have all your pieces, grab your iron and iron the scrap fabric over the burlap, so that you end up with 7 pieces total.

  
Once all nice and flat, hot glue the squares onto the burlap. This only takes a tiny amount of glue.

After the glue is dry, grab your stencil and marker. I picked the phrase “Always” it is a quote from Harry Potter and has lots of personal meaning for me. I know what you’re thinking- “always” is only six letters! Well, I wanted a 7th square for a heart shape, which I free handed. I used my stencil to achieve a “typography” look. I used my blue baker’s twine to create the heart, I’m happy with the result! I secured the twine using hot glue. Don’t use the whole gun! Dip a toothpick into the glue, way easier and less messy!

   
 
  
Once you’ve gotten your word, words, or shapes on there, flip the pieces over and arrange BACKWARDS. This is very important, or you will have to hang your sign backwards and that’s just annoying 🙂

Take out a long section of bakers twine and lay flat at the top of the pieces ( leave 3-4 inches on each end). Hot glue them down- just a tiny bit of glue will do the trick.

  
  
Once all the glue is dry, hang up and enjoy!

  
 

 

Azèlie’s Room Reveal! 

It’s finally finished! Yay! This project took a long time, but now it’s finally done! Woot!

It may seem strange that I only finished Zelie’s room a good year after she was born, but there are several reasons for that- we moved into this house when she was three months old and had other parts of the house that took higher priority; she slept in a co sleeper in our room till she just recently out grew it; and, as always, I was planning the perfect room but on a budget. Can’t go willy nilly spending on all the things at once 😜 . I’m grateful for taking the time to really do everything right, it pays off to have things done well rather than a slap dash job. I was also able to really capture Lady Z’s personality since we’ve come to know her in this last year- hopefully that shows here.

Without further ado, TA-DA!

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I painted the room myself in two days. Although it’s a small room, it took that long because I didn’t it all during the day in little bits while the kids were busy. It’s not perfect, but I’m really proud of it. I can’t believe I was brave enough to go purple! I knew I wanted purple but I tend to shy away from anything that’s not white or beige. I’m so glad I did. It’s so utterly femme without being obnoxious. Deciding the paint color took several weeks haha!

This is her window with her sweet pink chair made by her pop-pop. Usually the curtains are semi down, but they let it a fabulous amount of light when full drawn back .

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Best nursing chair ever right there. The purple and mint blanket is handed down from Chris’s family.

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Whhooo’s that?

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Here is a close up of a shelf. The sign is actually gray, it looks off white in this picture but its not. Those figurines were mine growing up. I collected them. The two playing instruments have seen better days but they were my mother’s and my aunt’s. The fairy is one I acquired as a girl and I just loved her. Her name is Twilight. There used to be more, but a certain brother (who shall rename nameless) got mad at me one day and smashed the rest. Sad 🙁

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Here is the other shelf. The picture is one of Zelie’s newborn pictures. The hat is her first Easter hat. The bird is actually her adorable nightlight! And the bear was given to me by my grandpa (the story behind that is on Instagram :). See that tiny gorgeous brooch by the bear? That belonged to my great aunt Elsie. As you can see, I was a very sentimental child and grew into a very sentimental woman, holding onto all these things for my daughter 🙂 They just seem so important to me. I think, growing up as a girl, you see at least one period of your life where cling very tightly to where you came from because you just aren’t sure who you are or where you are going. The “from” is the only thing you know. I hope these things can give my daughter some courage and comfort if she ever feels lost.

 

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The elephant in the left hand corner was my moms. I remember her mentioning she was thinking of getting rid of it when we were at my grandparents house once and I was horrified and immediately asked to keep it. I was about 6. I named her Elizabeth and she’s been with me ever since. I get easily attached…hah!

 

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I wanted Zelie’s room to feel airy and light. Without clutter. I usually nix bedskirts but since I tend to use the space for storage I got this one. It makes me think of ballerinas.

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I was really proud of this change. I popped off the closet doors, moved the dresser/changer into there and put up these curtains which I already had. It provides SO much more space! Then I put the lights behind it because the glow with the lights off is fantastic! So dreamy 🙂

 

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The curtains easily pull back for diaper changes and clothes access. I almost pinned them up all fancy but decided I wanted to keep the option of closing them quickly and easily. Yes, she does have more hats, haha! Those are hand me downs from my sisters- believe it or not I worn the one on the left! I actually made it too, well decorated it 😉

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The  mountain of hair accessories! Her dirty clothes basket and diaper pail are right under the clothes hanging there. It all fits really nicely. Can you spot the repurposed baby food jars?

 

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This is behind the door- Her birth shadow box!

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This room is bitty, which is why I think I am so proud of it. The planning it took to get everything in and not feel cluttered was pretty intense.

IMG_4604.2015-07-22_230653This is what it looks like with the shades closed and the lights on in the closet – it is very cozy and dreamy. Loving those butterflies! Those letters are very similar to Caidoc’s . I got them at the same place but opted to have Zelie’s a little more girly, of course. So glad I did! It’s probably my favorite thing about the room.

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I told Azelie to come in a look at her finished room. This is the look I got:

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I think she likes it 🙂

 

Cheers!

 

Pictures from the week

Ninety degrees  in Seattle? What’s going on? It’s not even August yet and this summer has been so hot. I used to love love love hot weather, but with kids, it’s been pretty miserable. Between sweltering nights nursing, sweaty kids not sleeping, and Caidoc pretty much melting in anything over 75 degrees, I’m ready for cooler temps. 

  
Despite our best efforts to keep him cool, Caidoc cannot handle warm weather. His whole body breaks out in heat rash even if he’s naked in the water. His cheeks flush and his rashes on his cheeks get much worse. The oddest thing is the sweating. He will be dripping with sweat even around 80 degrees, no clothes on in the shade. Zelie could be in the sun at the same time and not shed a drop. We keep him extremely hydrated. I don’t know why he over heats so easily. Between him practically getting heat stroke and Zelie teething, this summer has been trying. 

  
Over the Fourth of July we discovered the hard way that Zelie is allergic to something in hummus. Most likely chickpeas. Can you believe it? I thought we were gonna get lucky on allergies with her. It was a pretty scary experience, much like Caidoc’s reaction to egg, but hers was an even faster reaction. Luckily we had seen this type of thing before so we knew what to do. Of course, once crisis was averted, I dived into researching and discovered that a chickpea allergy is closely related to a peanut allergy. Zelie has been tested for peanuts but has come up negative- she’s also eaten paint butter just fine *whew!* However, last time we got Caidoc tested he actually tested slightly positive for a peanut allergy, despite being able to eat peanut butter and such. Our allergist said that is probably a sensitivity that he’s able to ignore for the most part. So, knowing this I suppose it shouldn’t surprise me that Zelie has a chickpea allergy. 

  
It is too bad though, one of mine and Caidoc’s favorite snacks is hummus. Caidoc in particular loves hummus and always reminds me to get it at Costco. It’s odd to not have any of their allergies over lap- and inconvenient. 

  
Princess has been crabby all week which I chalked up to teething but yesterday morning she woke up with a 102 temp and it’s barely gone down since. She’s sweaty and miserable and I feel so bad for her. Having one kid, or both sick, I find really trying because I feel like I struggle to evenly split my time between them, especially at night. They both seem to want to cling to me and have to be holding on to me to sleep. That’s not so bad when it’s not so hot out. Poor little lady. It’s just heart breaking to see such a tiny body have to put up such a big fight. 

Anyways, this wasn’t meant to be a depressing post, haha, and really this week hasn’t been that bad, I’ve had worse! I guess just my motherly musings are coming out on here- better out than in 😁

I hope you have a wonderful week! Cheers. 

Four years ago…

  …I married the most perfect person on the planet. It might surprise you that I didn’t know that at the time. In retrospect despite three years of dating, and withstanding more trials than most couples face in a decade, I really barely knew that guy. 

  

I mean, I “knew him”, in the sense that I knew he was a great catch, that he was smart, funny, and made me very happy- happier than I ever thought I could be. 

Most people assume the day you get married will be the happiest day of your life and, it probably is, because up to that moment you have experienced the greatest amount of happiest you’ve ever experienced. But today, I’m so much happier than I was the day I got married. 

  

 I remember being so happy the day I got married. Truly. But, I had no idea how.much.better.it was going to get. I wouldn’t trade a hundred fancy/exciting/heart fluttering/ life changing wedding days with Chris for the times I’ve gotten to have with my him since we said ” I do”.  

  

It sounds crazy, I know. Don’t get me wrong, at the time I didn’t think it was “all down hill from here” I knew it was suppose to get even better, if you’re doing it right, because that’s what “they” all say. 

  

The day I married Chris there were things that seriously annoyed me about him (ugh, how awful does that sound??), it’s true, some tiny things he did, like saying “I’ll just fly by the seat of my pants”, actually got under my skin and I would snap at him if he said it. It sounds so shallow, right? ( How embarrassing to admit this!)

  

But, as our four years have passed, any tiny, or big, thing that annoyed me about him all has just started to dwindle away. I can honestly say at this point in my life, I am infinitely more in love and in awe of the man I married than the man I said “I do” to. 
It wasn’t magic or some major event that changed that. What happened was all the little things that annoyed me or made me actually angry about Chris I realized (over a long period of time, trust me) were actually things that I didn’t like in myself (“who cares if likes to “fly by the seat of his pants” ?! He’s so cheerful and willing to be flexible why can’t I be more like that?! Why am I such a Debbie downer?!” ) . 

  

Don’t think I realized these things because they were pointed out to me, not in the slightest. My husband never, ever criticizes me. Never. He doesn’t have to. His own loving example and quiet way of living is enough of a mirror for me to gaze into and say, ” I want to be more like that”. This man that I married, why, after four years, I’m only scrapping the surface of just how amazing he is, and he’s been there all along. 

  

He inspires me to be more loving, more giving, more gracious, more patient. He shows me by example how to have self control, to be cheerful, despite the circumstances, to stand up for myself, to relax sometimes, and how to keep going on- no matter how hard life gets. 

  
I’m not under any illusions. I know Chris isn’t omnipotent or without fault ( I dare you to try and find one though, because I can’t I am his wife! Haha!) . He so rarely falters or stumbles in being my perfect person that I almost am grateful for when he does, because then I get a chance to remind him of all that he’s taught me in these fours years. Unfortunately, I’m usually more vocal and not as graceful 😳 (still working on that!) 

  

Thank God I married this man. I just had no idea how good of a decision that was, and I have a feeling I’m only going to end up being more grateful for it. 

  
If four years has been this amazing with the this most perfect person, how much better is it going to get?!  

  
I can’t wait ❤️ 

Car seats and Brussel Sprouts

This week I really buckled down on finding Caidoc a new car seat (pun not intended, I swear..) utilizing all my mommy groups and all the consumer reports I could find. If you don’t belong to a mommy group, and you’re, well, a mommy, I really hope you’ll consider finding one. 

  
When I was feeling very lonely, when Caidoc was about five months old, I was lucky enough to find an amazing group in my area. These women inspire me, motivate me, encourage me, commiserate with me, but most of all, they don’t judge me. I’ve had a wonderful time meeting these moms and even found some real kindred spirits. 

  
When I got pregnant with Caidoc my sister in law added me to Facebook group of Catholic moms. This group has been a wealth of knowledge and a wonderful source to reach out to for prayers and advice. It is nice to have a resource for answers from like minded Catholic moms, particularly for issues or concerns that fall on the religious spectrum. You wouldn’t believe the different experts in this group! There are LLL leaders to nurses, to car seat experts to moms who have been homeschooling for years! 

  
So, whatever your needs, find a moms group to bring those needs to. I hope you’re as lucky as I was and are welcomed with gusto. 

Whew! I get really excited about my moms groups, can you tell? 😉 anyways, when I turned to my moms group I got such great help finding the perfect car seat for Caidoc. It was a tough one to find since he has a super long torso and we want it to be the last seat he needs, AND be able to pass down to his sister. 

  
Good grief, there are so many different kinds… You can spend hours researching them ( don’t ask me how I know that 😳) We eventually settled on a Britax one. Gotta love Britax.

We plan on getting that one in the next couple weeks once we’ve saved up, and then moving Zelie into Caidocs old one. They have both outgrow the ones they are in, Zelie a bit more than Caidoc. 

On a totally unrelated note, I’ve been really into brussel sprouts lately. They are much more versatile than I originally thought. Here’s a dish I made up for tonight that was yummy and simple. I needed a simple recipe that was quick since we had to go car seat shopping tonight. I also wanted to use some of my zucchini from my garden so that’s thrown in there too 🙂

Brussel Sprouts and Kielbasa  

1 bell pepper, diced 

4 cups of sliced kielbasa ( I use the natural stuff from Open Nature) 

3 cups of quartered brussel sprouts 

2 small zucchini, sliced 

2 table spoons of olive oil 

2 table spoons of diced garlic 

1 cup of baby tomatoes 

Salt and pepper to taste 

Toss all ingredients  on large baking dish and place in the oven at 400 degrees . 

It’s done in about 20 minutes but you can definitely cook it longer if you want things crunchy. Quick and.. Yummy! 

  
Cheers! 

Barley Kale Risotto 

Wow! You guys, we made it through Wednesday! Yippee! Haha, that’s seriously how I feel after today. Zelie is in full raging teething mode and is absolutely miserable. Caidoc has something going on too, maybe he’s just in cahoots with Z , but he’s been particularly crabby, mostly just really easily upset. So, who knows.. ?

  
I think they both get like this when I have a big project going because they sense my distraction. What’s the big project? Oh, Zelie’s room is almost done! I’m so excited to show you. It’s been a lot of work! I’ve been doing some sneak peeks on Instagram and will probably do more… Or not. You’ll just have to see 😁

Anyways, on to the main event.. 

  
I cooked up this yummy vegetarian dish for dinner and wow, it’s amazing. You should try it. Go. Make it now, I’m serious. I was able to use kale from our garden, which Caidoc was excited to harvest and wash for me. He also helped arrange the squash for cooking. He loves to help. 

  
The only thing I’d change, is to add more cheese. Because, um. Cheese. 😜 cant get enough of it. 

I hope you get a chance to have this, it’s so yummy, filling, and healthy. 

Cheers! 

Sausage Broccoli Pasta 

Here is a recipe that I put on the menu for dinner tonight. I altered a bit but it is delicious, and although I didn’t go with our usual gluten free noodles, it was still pretty healthy. 

  
I used chicken sausage instead of pork. We don’t usually eat much pork or beef ’round here. I also threw in some baby tomatoes and onions. You know me, I just can’t leave a pasta dish alone 😜 Other than those additions, I followed the recipe, and it came out great! I might try adding Apple bits or another vegetable, like squash next time. This was a particular hit with hubs 🙂 

  
Yum. Enjoy! 

14 months and counting 

I never thought I’d reach the point where my kids would play together. I mean, I guess I knew I would, but it always seems so far off, and in the mean time I was stuck in this miserable window of lugging around Zelie while Caidoc still needed tons of running around time closely supervised. 

  

At 14 months, I really feel like I’ve gotten to the point that I never thought would come. Zelie is walking as fast as anything, practically running, and she and Caidoc are able to really interact and play together. 

  
She’s able to keep up more, and he’s less wild. It’s like they are two equations that have finally converged on a graph due to the exact right data being inserted. It’s fantastic. 

  
Of course they don’t get along 100 percent of the time. But today was particularly great. They must have played for two hours together, actually together, with minimal interaction with me. I’m thrilled, because this is the whole reason we had them close together.

  
 It did sting a little when I came outside to check on them, “hey Caidoc you guys doing okay?” , “Yes, we pay paint mom, you go home” aka go away. 

*sigh* 

Okay bud. 

It’s a bitter sweet thing these babies growing up. 

Brussels Sprouts Cranberry Quinoa Salad

Had to share this delish recipe from Gimme Some Oven . 

  

 
So light, filling, and yummy. I’ve several recipes to share this week so keep an eye out. The only substitute I made in here was to use a raspberry vinegar instead of the orange one referenced. I just had the raspberry one to use up- waste not! This recipe gave me plenty for all of us and leftovers for lunch tomorrow. 

  
Enjoy! 

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