My first wreath...

Inspired by a blogger mom's b-day party for her daughter, I wanted to make a wreath for baby j's 1 year b-day next month!  (maybe an indoor wreath)   Here's my version.  Her b-day party colors are yellow and aqua, inspired by my sister's photo taken of baby j wearing a yellow jacket I made her, against a aqua blue playground slide backdrop.
I couldn't find a branch wreath color that I liked with the limited supply at the local Michael's store, so decided I wanted to use some burlap fabric I had lying around to cover up the straw base.  I was surprised at how much I love the result.   I think there will be more wreaths in the future...: )

I love how easy it is to make rosettes from felt, and they look so good!  These were made with strips of felt in baby blue, peacock, and cerulean blue, twisted and turned to create the rose petals.   

Floor cushion reveal!

Finally completed this project that I started a couple months ago.  For some reason putting in piping held me back a little b/c I hadn't done it before.   But also, w/baby j around I haven't had time to sew.  Anyway, the whole project was so easy to do, I don't know what took me so long!  Here's my gray/yellow/cream version (seems like these days those are my colors of choice!) : )


Here's my version, based on the blogger living w/punks did.  Thank you for posting this!  super cool!
I put my own spin on it by adding an invisible zipper for easy washing later on.

hello yellow!

Just made this jacket for a friend's niece, who's just a little younger than baby j. My friend and I are trading artwork...she's an amazing artist at Pixar and I don't feel worthy of the trade, but I guess the nature of this is labor-intensive as well. :)  I still want to make her a dress though that could go with the jacket...but looks like I won't be able to do it till after baby j's b-day party, which is in a month!

Here's the jacket before sewing on the placket!

Here's baby J posing for mama!

june-bug & claire-bear: buddies forever!

Our dear friends' daughter Claire turned 1 recently, and also were moving out of the country, so I wanted to make Claire something to remember her play pal, my daughter June, by. Anyway, I didn't know what I was doing until I just started cutting away--doing this was fun and reminded me of what I used to do with a pair of scissors and construction paper--just making art w/o planning.

My friend really liked it, and hopefully Claire-bear too when she's older, can appreciate it. Happy b-day Claire-bear! We miss you already...

making the flight sweeter...

Here are some airplane favors I made too for my friends who have already moved away...hope the passengers on the plane appreciated the gesture! I think they did well though on the long flight! yay!!

my "sack" of joy...

...that's cheesy. hehe.

finally felt compelled to start sewing again, after being on hiatus for so long b/c of work/baby/moving/renovating. So I picked something i've been wanting to do, that's practical and easy to figure out. And I'm so glad i did it! this is one of two that I'm making...the other one's cut out and just needs to be sewn & zippered up! Oh, my happy "sack" of joy!

the house, in progress!

OK, i'm just showing off my baby now. Here she is, being SO super happy in the jacket mommy made her. yes, she finally fits! once I set up my sewing room, I'm making more clothes...someday.

June's nursery was the first we really put the effort into decorating, of course, since she's the princess of this household...: ) we love the "silver sage" color for the walls and the yellow that I've been wanting for her little closet! It still needs shelving built into it, but for now, she's gotta use the closet hanging bar for her little dresses/jackets.
the seating has to be figured out still. we grabbed the old wooden chair from the SF house and our living room ottoman will do for now. got rid of the rocker/glider b/c we didn't really care much for it.

here's her little yellow closet : )

her toys in the corner still. don't worry, june will play with you guys when she's old enough!

And now...
on to the kitchen. After our friend Paul removed the cabinets, he pointed out mold all behind the cabinets in the sink area. The sellers were unethical in just covering up the mold. We're thankful that we decided to gut the kitchen, otherwise who would've known what would've caused us to be sick! So evil...: (

Anyway, before the cabinets were installed, we hired our contractor to completely patch up walls and remove tiles so the kitchen team could work. He did a great job.

This color is Behr's "Gentle Rain", which is a grayed lavender (carried over from our SF living room, but much more muted and desaturated b/c it works better for this house). I picked this over a yellow for the family room and the kitchen because it seems very serene. not too much drama or warmth. Also b/c the kitchen I had always pictured a cool white, I wanted the two rooms to flow into one another, so decided to use the same color. I know yellow and white could've worked for a kitchen scheme too, but in my head i just couldn't see it for our house.



Here's a shot of the stairs near the entry.
I chose a light warm gray (Behr's Sandstone Cliff) for the rest of the house: stairwell & hallways, as it is a very pleasant neutral that I think blends seamlessly between rooms...we also had our painter paint the banisters white for us, which made it look a lot more upscale! what a difference paint makes!