My baby is 5 now

Spent a lovely morning with a mouse named Chuck.

My birthday’s next and I’m super excited about my present. On a snowy day such as today, the thought of a day here really gets me through. Can’t wait!

Belated bday to my girl

Whoa, wordpress got all crazy on me. 

Here’s a today’s dosage of cuteness.  Are you ready?

Hee! Look at that outfit! That attitude! Those eyes! Oh, I’m in love with this child.  Don’t be fooled, she still doesn’t have any hair.
She turned 1 without a proper blog post.  What a crappy mom I am! 

Oh what a year this has been. It is so much fun watching this little one grow up. Girls are so different than boys!

And because everyone enjoys a fun video, here’s her cake. Yes that is the smoke alarm going off.

Link here.

Xmas sewing

Xmas sewing

Originally uploaded by craft.junkie.

Only a month late…

Like a box of crayons

I recently told my husband Kevin that one of my favorite gifts of all time as a child was a giant box of crayons.  It was like 100 different shade of waxy goodness.  I still love color just as much and I think my house reflects that.

Lots of crafty goodness.
1. stairwell. yes some pictures are still empty.
2. new (old) toy in mabel’s room
3. a wall in cale’s room
4. cale’s bathroom. patchwork shower curtain by me. painted shelf also by me
5. cheesy plastic flower thing spray painted orange by me. above my bed
6. painted soap dispenser. from thrift store, sprayed and then hand painted.
7. desk from thrift store painted and decoupaged.
8. my craft room. pretty clean for once. new upholstered desk chair. rick rack fabric from joanns
9. dining room. and mabel trying to stand up.

and one more crafty thing:

I made Mabel a winter jacket from a thrifted wool skirt and some fancy velboa. Ha! Its soft and pretty though. Its too big, but she still looks cute in it. Made from an Ottobre pattern, sized down to fit my petite princess.

PS. She has taken her first steps and her first tooth has arrived.

“stupid” is the new cool

Dear “Angelo,“    (scroll down)

Right back atcha sucka.

You know you’re cool when you get hate mail.  It’s my first.  I’m so excited!!!  Don’t you love elementary school insults.  Constructive criticism is like so last year.  Apparently so is the golden rule.

Hallo-weenies

Hallo-weenies

Originally uploaded by craft.junkie.

Better late than never.
Cale wanted to be Batman this year. So for him it was the typical go to the huge Halloween store and pick out a mass produced costume. For Mabel, nothing struck me. So the more I thought about it, the more I was inspired by blogland. So I decided to make her a matroyska doll. Who cares that everyone thought she was red riding hood (or a super hero)? I know that my little doll was a doll. Even dolly got a costume.

She is keeping us so busy. Almost walking, climbing stairs, into everything! I think my hair will go gray soon! She’s fearless.

See more pretty Mabel and Cale pics on my flickr.

the sound of silence

my excuse
(the blanket taking up most of the picture is cale in his “invisible” cape.)

just like her brother, she enjoys taking close ups.

and being adorable.

I love my kids.

Beautiful room for a beautiful girl

The best room in the house.  The only finished room in the house.  I’m so happy with it.  It’s exactly how I envisioned it.  I still have a few small things to do, like slipcover the Dora couch behind her bed, and make pretty storage pails, and dollies, of course, but for the most part it’s done.  Filled with pretty patterns, loving gifts from special friends and handmade touches, this room makes me beyond happy.

Sources:

curtains: vintage, from thrift store

bedding: bumper: Amy Coe toile circus (given to me from friend), skirt: made by me

decals on dresser: sweet gal decals

paintings: The Black Apple

see my flickr for more details.

swiff it good…

One of the things high on my to-make priority list was a crocheted swiffer cover. The disposable ones fill up too fast and it just seemed like another wasteful product. However, sometimes a floor just needs a quick clean up, a swiffing, I guess. So in comes a crocheted swiffer pad to save the day.

I used the pattern here, only I had to enlarge it because either I crochet smaller or the newer swiffers are larger. It is such a fast project though.  Even for me.

So it would seem like with crafting a cleaning project so high on my list, that I must like clean all the time.  The truth is, I’m struggling to keep up with everything right now.  I’m so glad we don’t know anyone here, because if someone were to stop by unannounced, I would be mortified.  Not in a oh-my-house-is-so-dirty-but-its-not way, but in a oh my god, where do I walk way.  Yeah.  Not something to be proud of.

This 2 kids thing is HARD.  Add to it a new house that needs decorating and painting, a husband who is always gone for work and the fact that one of those kids is 4 and makes messes faster than I can clean up, and well its not pretty.  My life here is still not settled.  Its nothing like it was in Sicily and it has really been getting me down lately.  I miss those simple, relaxing days, sitting outside, looking at the mountain.  I don’t really get much sitting around time lately.  I’m still very much trying to adjust to our new life and so far its just not going very well.

As with anything, I know I will look back at this and laugh.  And wonder what the fuss was all about.  But right now, its all about survival.

My poor blog sits here, much like a houseplant, not forgotten, but neglected anyways.

I have a lot I need to post about.  My thrift/garage sale finds have been awesome lately.  (I shop instead of cleaning, so what!)  And I have managed to make a few things.  Just gotta take some pictures, as well as find a clean place to take pics. 

xoxo

my goodness!

pretty

Originally uploaded by craft.junkie.

Isn’t she pretty! With this much beauty around, who can blame me for not blogging lately???