Changes

Last week I bought a kiln! And no, I'm not replacing the oven with it, nor is it going on the back porch. My in-laws graciously offered to house it for me {sorry all you fellow apartment dwellers who dream of kiln ownership}. I also gave notice at my art teaching position for August. After three years of working there, the bittersweetness of leaving is starting to sink in. But, I am going into business as a "real" artist! Already I've gotten a couple of commissions! I am really excited!

Favorite New Bags from Brahmin

{Disclosure: I am a part of Vogue Influencers on Facebook. Sometimes I get products to test and review. I did get a Brahmin bag in the past, but not recently. Its my favorite purse!}

Apron Farbic Choices

 There were four fabrics I found. The colors are pretty accurate except for the bottom one, so I included another photo, below, that better shows the color of the bottom fabric.

Spring Mantel

Welcome Spring!

Finished!

The art project for a friend is finished, and hanging in her husband's office!

The original idea had been to pull apart a pallet, but after trying a crow bar and a rotary saw and then hearing about the health dangers of pallets, I decided to go with a weathered piece of plywood from my in-laws. Friends of Daniel's gladly cut into strips and assembled it for me in return for some cookies {having a pretty girl watch didn't hurt!}. In order to get the weathered look to paint, I mixed gesso with fabric medium. In the shadows, I carefully painted black then wiped it away in order to get the right effect. To get the peely texture, I glopped petroleum jelly in areas before painting; wiping it away after the paint dried.

Progress

The one on the left was made in my first potters wheel class four years ago. The one on the right was made last week.

Book Baby Shower

 Onsie Cake

 Cupcakes with a bookworm

 Instead of a game, we made barrettes for the baby

Tulle skirt on the table

Everyone brought a book to the shower for their gift. We used bookworms and The Very Hungry Caterpillar as our inspiration for the decor.  The mother-to-be is very crafty, so instead of playing games, we all made barrettes for the baby. To make it easier for non-crafty ladies, there were buttons and pre-made flowers and bows to glue onto barrettes.

Sock Cupcakes

Sock cupcakes made for a friends baby shower. Everyone thought they were cupcakes to eat! They were so easy to make. I used a pack of white toddler socks and a pack of assorted color toddler socks.

How to Quiet the Home

Some good advice here at  the Nester on quieting the home. Not audible noise {my home needs a little more noise}, but visual noise {and that is loud here}.

An excerpt:

• Remove every thing smaller than a football and place it on some surface in another room {the breakfast or dining room table will do}
• Remove baskets, magazines, plants, pillows, every thing but furniture, lamps, rugs and big art
• Notice any huge “holes” or areas that are too quiet and cold and fill them in with a purposeful item or 3 if you must

Follow this link for the rest of the post.

Tornado Sirens

What do we do during a tornado? I clean the bathroom and Daniel pulls the piano bench up to the counter to continue writing his paper!

Our Fish has a TARDIS

A TARDIS for our fish tank! It broke before going in the kiln and is missing a few details, so I will be remaking it, but I have the general idea down now.

365 Days of Clean Update

Daniel and I are still enjoying this. I usually ask him what he is going to get rid of for the day when he gets home from work and before we sit down for dinner. It hasn't been a whole month yet, since we started in late February, but I know Daniel and I are starting to wonder if we will run out of things to get rid of. Daniel, perhaps, since he owns less stuff then I and he wouldn't dare get rid of a home decor thing without asking me. But I as I reminded us both, we keep bringing things in so there will always be something to get rid of!

I have found that this exercise has been helpful in getting rid of the hard things or the things we have been dithering about or just never made the decision to get rid of it. And while a rule was trash didn't count, I defined trash as things that were obviously trash, that didn't require any thought. There are things on the list that sound like trash or should have been trash but either were never thrown out or required some letting go.

In February we got rid of:

Batteries {sounds like trash, but they were big and needed to be taken to a place to recycle, so when that was done it could be written down}

An unfinished teapot

Fake Baileys {nasty stuff! Had been sitting around for a year because no one wanted to deal with it}

Pink Cami

A textbook that had no re-sale value
Wine cozy
Half and Half mini cups {sitting on the counter for a week, so Daniel took them to work where he needed them}
Coupon books missing the coupons we would actually use
Blue bowtie {Daniel had tried to get rid of it a while back, but I rescued it to re-purpose it and never liked the way it looked}
Business Chronicle
Headband that hurt
Fake beaded fruit {I did save three pears that were pretty. I put them in my Christmas box}

Dollar Store Crafting

A bowl and a candlestick from the thrift store hot glued together. If I wanted it permanent, then I would have used liquid nails.

Happy Leap Day

In Progress

An in-progress shot of a project for a friend.

Little Blue Pitcher

Mug with Chalkboard Label

My favorite blue glaze with chalkboard glaze label

Knitting Bowl with Chalkboard Label

365 Days of Clean

Starting yesterday, Daniel and I implemented a new strategy for dealing with clutter. We will each get rid of one thing a day for a year. We will still clear out large amounts of clutter a time when needed, this doesn't replace that. The rules are simple: each person chooses one thing a day; it can't be something that was already in the garage sale box, nor trash that just hasn't made it to the dumpster yet {like the pizza box sitting next to the trashcan because it can't fit}.

Yesterday, Daniel recycled a box of batteries and I put in the garage sale box a teapot I'm never going to finish. Today, Daniel choose of some Fake Bailey's that was nasty and I got rid of a pink cami that never fit right {thrift store find}.

I made a chart to hang on the fridge to write them down each day so we wouldn't forget.

Thrift Store Find

Plaster cake topper {perhaps from the Fifties?} with peeling paint. Snagged it for 50 cents!

Nest bowl

Happy Valentine's Day!

Menu:

Strawberry and sugared almond salad

Steamed tilapia

Sweet potato fries

Asparagus

Broccoli

Mango sorbet

Variety of cookies

Fruit platter

Red Apron

The one that got me started on making aprons for Christmas. I made it for one of my bridesmaids who loves red and is really fun and quirky. It matches her perfectly! {And yes, the waist tie is getting switched out}

Vogue Influencers on Facebook

I won the bracelet below and wore it to the Fox. It is so pretty!

<img src="https://vogue.enternewmedia.com/assets/view/ab087a1b4ad56ad260d166d51ca43b73f2e8f5a7" />

Christmas Presents

This year for Christmas, I made most of the ladies an apron. All of them started from thrifted skirts or shirts. I cut them apart at the seams and used the back to create the bib. I had so much fun designing each one and fitting it to each person's personality! I even got commissioned by my husband's boss to make one for her mother-in-law. Even though I had started in August, I ran out of time to finish all of them, so a couple people got an unfinished apron with a promise of getting it back finished later.

Colored Bubbles

I found five bubbly glasses at the thrift store in pink, green, dark blue, and two aquas. The aqua are my favorite, of course; I hope to find enough of each color to make a set of twelve someday. Our friends discovered why they had been donated, though. The foot on the bottom is hollow, and when the glass is set down quickly it can splash a droplet onto the drinker's face! Rather then be annoyed, the glasses have become everyone's new favorites.

Silver Baby Cup

I found this at the thrift store for $1!

Nacho Soup

Daniel's favorite dinner is nachos. He loves to carefully arrange each chip {so it gets the maximum amount of cheese}, carefully dollop refried beans, and spread black beans, olives, and cheese over all. After it comes out of the oven; if there has been a sale; we put sour cream or avocados on top.

Afterwards, there  is usually half a can of everything left over, so last night I threw everything in a pot and made nacho soup.


I started with a box of chicken stock, whisked in refried beans and cheese {coat the cheese in corn starch first or it will not melt into the broth, just sink to the bottom}, and added black beans, olives, and chunked turkey. We had crushed chips and avocado to put on top. Daniel likes chunky soup, but if you want it smoother, you can send it through the blender

Bowls from Anthropologie

 

Bowls from Anthropologie bought with a birthday coupon. The plates I had didn't have bowls, so Daniel was very glad to finally be able to eat cereal out of bowl instead of a mug

New China

{Not pictured: the pasta bowl} I found eight place settings of this china {Mikasa Cameo Platinum}with a platter, serving bowl, and creamer and sugar at the thrift store. We had not gotten any of the china we had registered for, and this pattern happened to be our second choice! We are going to buy the Waterford Ballet Ribbon plates to mix with this set of china.

Daniel fell in love with this Pottery Barn pocket watch clock and was considering saving up his own money for it until I found this clock at T J Maxx with a cool stand, too!