Somehow amid the summer reading, second day of vacation, and preschool storytime chaos at the library this morning, these three managed to carve out their own space for some quiet fun.
clubhouse flags
I think we’re finally going to do it: a clubhouse in the backyard. My husband and daughter marked off the area and checked the grade. Now we just need to see what fits.
I also dusted off my DSLR. I’m making an effort to use that more and my phone camera less.
unofficial start to summer
Cleaning winter off of the deck.
conquering the climbing wall
Climbing up and down the wall is no big deal. Climbing sideways, however, is tricky. You have to stretch really far to get past that middle green post. When did my baby get so big?
how to: my third (and final?) waistband tutorial
It’s that time of year again. Spring. When leggings from last Fall are too short, but it’s not warm enough to pair them with sandals and call them capris.
My daughter is a size 7/8 waist and a 9/10 inseam. It’s so annoying.
To the casual observer, it might seem I’m obsessed with waistbands. I’ve already written two tutorials on the subject: taking in the waist on jeans and adding adjustable elastic. But what about comfy pants and leggings? That, my friends, is super easy.
Materials
elastic
small, sharp pair of scissors
pin, needle and thread
Step 1
If you can find a seam, grab a seam ripper to open up the waist. So far I haven’t been able to do this. A lot of times the elastic is actually sewn to the fabric. Find an inconspicuous spot and snip a hole.
Step 2
Measure your/your child’s waist size and cut an elastic the same length. Thread it through the casing right along with the original elastic.
Step 3
Overlap the ends about an inch and stitch together—by machine if you’re too lazy to sew by hand, by hand if you’re too lazy to get out your machine.
Now would be a good time to try on and make sure all is good.
Step 4
Stitch up the little hole you made in Step 1. I used to just add a few drops of Fray Check on the raw ends, but my daughter says it’s too itchy.
I’ll be assembly lining a bunch of these tonight. Happy Spring!
peeps fondue for dessert (yes, we are insane)
We did a crazy dessert tonight: Peeps fondue. I know, it’s a school night and all that sugar!
My daughter received this Peeps “cookbook” last year and has been talking about the fondue recipe since then. Yes, for an entire year. It’s Peeps season. How could I say no?
We limited her to two and had big bowls of fruit and angel food cake for dipping, but have no idea how she’s going to sleep tonight. She was so excited all day and evening, helping to prep everything, that it was totally worth it.
For the record, we made Michael Chiarello’s recipe and it was really good. I highly recommend it for a non-school night treat.
saturday evening eggs
My daughter was in charge of dyeing the eggs this year. Everything was bare bones, non-pinterest-worthy basics and she had a blast. She used crayons, a paas kit and 99 cent eggs. All I helped with was some oil to do marbling, which turned out pretty cool.
once a refashioner…
After you’ve been taking apart clothing for a few years, you start to deconstruct items before you even buy them. I found this cute dress for my daughter’s First Communion, but it was sleeveless and she’d have to wear a shrug, which covered up the cute flower on the front. I immediately looked at the stitches and tried to figure out how easy it would be to remove. Then I thought, I could buy a simple veil and stitch it on to match the dress. It turned out pretty perfect. I love when that happens.
basketball doodles
Last year I bought the Cosmonaut stylus and I really liked it. Then I sold my iPad and got an iPad mini with retina display and it no longer worked. I was very sad, but gave it to my Dad and he’s pretty happy about it.
Last week I splurged and bought myself a Pencil. I’ve only played around with it a little bit, after my daughter is in bed. I kind of want to keep it to myself for a little while before she takes it over and I never see it again.
I’m trying to doodle more, but that’s for another post. Also, why isn’t March Madness over yet? One. More. Night.
hi. I’ve missed you.
Every once and awhile I need a break. I think it’s important to embrace those times and let myself recharge, but afterward there’s always that awkward period of starting up again.
I just finished reading Show Your Work! by Austin Kleon and it reminded me that sometimes you have to just start doing. If you’re not doing, talk about what you want to be doing or wish you have time to be doing.
(I could probably fill post after post with what my daughter is doing. In fact, I just might do that. She’s a creative machine, that one.)
I highly recommend both of Kleon’s books: Steal Like an Artist and Show Your Work! If you don’t know him, there’s plenty on his website to dig into. It doesn’t matter what your passion is, his message is universal: do good work and share it with others.
