The Bump Out

That is what I call the room in my house that bumps outside the regular footprint of my house- The Bump Out.  Its pretty much the best room in the house because of the three big windows right next to each other but very awkward because of a weird dividing wall.  And I know you are all wondering, but YES that mirror is attached to the wall! No getting that sucker off!

Of course I have been laboring over what to do with this room (as you can see from my paint samples on the wall).  I will have lived at my house for 3 years in June and the house hardly looks lived in.  I labor over paint color and where to put nails in the wall- BUT! I have finally bought new sconces, a stencil to paint on the wall, two paint colors and some frames.  Here are some "before" pictures above and in two weeks I will hopefully be able to post "after" pictures!!















I have also included my image board and as you can see I have yet to decide on frame arrangement.  I love the haphazard look almost as equally as I love the very order look!  Decisions! Decisions!!
- Megan

Make Your Own Taco Seasoning! mmmmm!

Every Tuesday in our house is "Taco Tuesday" which is really fun and Little Man loves it.  He also is starting to grasp the days of the week a bit so I'll say, "we're having tacos tonight" to which he replies excitedly, "it's Tuesday"!  I also found it easier to feed him dinner if I stick to a schedule of things I know he likes.  One day a week I will try something new that way I know what things I can rotate in or not.  It makes it a lot easier and stress free eating.

In a move to cut a lot of preservatives and the yucky stuff I don't know how to pronounce  from our lives I decided that one way would be to make my own taco seasoning because let's face it this body doesn't handle MSG very well!  I cruised the Internet and settled on this recipe.  It was a little to spicy for Little Man so I modified it a bit and seriously it does taste like a taco should!  If you want all the spice make sure you add more red pepper and add black pepper according to the recipe above.  Did you know it was cumin that made a taco smell like a taco?  I did not know this!

Chicken Taco on whole wheat shell... Little Man refers

to this as a "burrito" because according to him all

soft shelled tacos are burritos.  I have learned to

only serve hard shell tacos on "Taco Tuesday" soft shelled

burritos are for another day :)

This recipe is for a really mild toddler-friendly version.  This is a portion for five different taco nights!  So you can make a bunch and store it in your cabinet.   When you are ready to use, Spoon out 2 tablespoons of your mixture and add it to your 1lb of browned meat(or cooked chicken) and add 2/3 cup of water.  Cook together for about five minutes.  It's delicious!


1/4 C. plus 1 Tbsp. Chili Powder
1 1/4 tsp. Garlic Powder
1 1/4 tsp. Onion Powder
dash of cayenne pepper (add more if you are spicy and you can also use flakes)
1 1/4 tsp. Dried Oregano
2 1/2 tsp. Paprika
2 Tbsp. plus 1 1/2 tsp. Ground Cumin 
1 Tbsp. plus 2 tsp. Sea Salt (any salt would do)2 tsp. of Coriander (because I'm obsessed with it)



-Anna

BTW Little Man does not eat "salad" which is lettuce, or tomatoes!  I didn't want anyone to get the wrong idea!  His taco consists of black beans, meat, and cheese.  I sneak grated carrots into his meat :)


Links:
Fireflies and Jellybeans: Show off your stuff party
House of Hepworths
Delightful Order
Marriage from Scratch

What is this Trickery?

Don't worry, it's not just you, it's been a really long time since we've blogged here.  For awhile I thought I would start a new blog because I was a little embarrassed that it had been so long here.  Whatever!  That's how we roll!  I hope everyone has had a nice year!  We have a total of three babes in our midst now... two from me and one new little man from Megs!
We have a lot of fun stuff to share with you, and I've learned a little more about blogging.  So, please join us and have fun reading along! :)

Impossibility Remains Impossible! An Update

Tuesday, January 24, 2012


Well, for the past few weeks I have been working when I can on my Impossibility Challenge which was to sew a dress.  I decided to challenge myself a bit more and instead of a sleeveless frock I stepped it up and picked a pattern with sleeves.  I found this wonderful english tan corduroy... I was excited.
Here's what I did, it's not pressed and I didn't finish the hem

Front

Back

Looks ok right?  I was feeling pretty good about this.  That is until I tried it on, and I use "try on" here as loosely as I possibly can.  You know what, "loosely" is really the worst word I can use.  In no way would this ever in my wildest dreams fit me.  Not if I lost 15 pounds... maybe if I was Kelly Ripa, not a 5'10" size 10!  I checked again and looked at the pattern to make sure I wasn't out of my mind.  It says size 10!  Maybe it's a junior size 10!  I'm pretty bummed, but know that I tried my best and took my time to follow the instructions.  I even watched a youtube video about making sleeves five times!

I really do wish it fit because it looks exactly like what I wanted.  I'm going to have to pick myself up and try again.  Get right back on the horse.  This pattern will be shelved.

Stuffed Initials and Children's Art

Monday, January 23, 2012
One of my favorite artists of all time is Cy Twombly.  His art has a child-like freedom and abandon that I have always responded to.  It has always made me strive to reach that place in my own work.  So, when I stumbled on this picture of the interior of his home my heart just lit up.  For some reason I completely respond to this image.  I don't actually like Roman heads and pink carpets... do I?  I think what I take away most is living with your artwork and letting your personality surround you in your home.  It's not important for your room to be something others want to live in because YOU have to live in it!  You might as well be happy with you.

"Roman Classic Surprise" Vogue, November 1966
featuring the artist Cy Twombly and his family in their home

I have a shameful admission and it is that after 3 1/2 years I still have not hung anything on the boys' walls.  Well I take that back, I hung one picture above their dresser.  It's really shameful.  When we were initially getting the room ready we painted it this fun yellow/green that resembles a margarita.  It was so bright and light in there that I just found myself lost as to what to do next.  Now that my son is a drawing and painting machine I thought the most logical next step would be to display some of his work.

Little Man's new wall decor

So, I decided, along with some framed artwork, that I would make him some stuffed letters to hang up.  He's learning how to write and he loves to know all the different letters.  He's especially proud of his own initials!  Also, the Little Man's favorite color is purple so I definitely wanted to find some fabric that had some purple in it.  I went to the craft store and stood in front of their little packs of quilting fabric for a LONG time!  Then I saw a kind of tied dyed looking fabric that I knew he would love it!  I thought it would be fun to pair it with some polka dots because he already has those on his valances (and I love polka dots)!  I knew that they didn't quite match but I went back to Cy's room in my mind and said the heck with it and got both!

For the letters I  just got  8.5x11 piece of computer paper and drew and cut them out.  I pinned them to my fabric (after ironing the fabric).  I sewed them together stuffed them and finished them off by hand sewing the opening.  I wanted to kind of solidify that they were meant to go together and hide the edges by hot glueing some ribbon around the outer and inner edges.

He absolutely loves looking at all his work and his initials.  I love how bright and playful it all looks and I am so proud of his cute little drawings of an elephant and a truck with flowers!  I also left a sticker he had stuck to the wall above the "B" because for awhile that's all he had up there and he did it himself!

Link Parties:
Sarahndipities
Sew Can Do
Everything Under the Moon
The Southern Institute: CreativeMeMonday

The Blue Booties

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

My booties have brought a lot of laughs to the house.  My husband gets perplexed when I make things that most people would clearly just buy.  I laugh in my head because I know that I secretly planned to make them blue and orange (like his favorite basketball team, Syracuse) to immediately trigger his mind to like them even though it may have been ridiculous for me to make them (and he did make a comment that he liked the blue and orange)!  I must say I had an extremely enjoyable experience planning and making these and they are pretty cute!

One of the first "prototypes"

 I designed my own little pattern pieces, first out of the felt because it was just easier for me to visualize and cut them while pinning.  I had a few "prototypes" and tried to just cut the pieces down to where they looked good to me.  I wanted a "shell toe" front piece which I'm not sure actually worked out.  Once I had my pieces looking good I took it all apart and traced the pieces on paper and scanned them into my computer just in case I ever wanted to make another pair.

Orange bottom... look out le bouton

Since The Baby is just learning to walk I still needed a soft bottom shoe.  After walking the aisles at the fabric store I settled on burlap for the bottom because I loved the orange color.  There is some non-slip paste I can buy that you get if you want to make your own rug which I think I'll try on the bottom because they do slip a bit on the ceramic floor.  I also added an elastic on the inside of the shoe to try and help it stay on his foot.  He still pulls them off but he would any shoe.

I think these were successful!  I think I'd make a few changes if I wanted to make another pair, but once I got everything down it didn't take me long to make the final pair.  I hope you like them too!

Links:
Not Just a Housewife
The Southern Product Queen
Rae Gun Ramblings
It's Overflowing
Chatty Chics
The Shady Porch
Uncommon Designs Online
Clean & Scentsible

Monday, January 16, 2012
As usual this weekend had me starting a billion different projects with a completion of none!  But I'm ok with that because each activity has a promising end!  I began my Impossibility project of sewing my new dress.  Which I decided to make out of a tan corduroy.  So far so good... I think.  I know a few things that I've done wrong so far but this is a learning process so I'm ok with that.

While in the sewing room I decided I also wanted to try and make the baby some booties.  He's just starting to learn how to walk so he still needs a soft bottom shoe he's not really ready for a sneaker or anything like that.  I haven't seen anything in the stores that I feel like spending $50+ bucks on, so after a suggestion from one of the moms at Little Man's school, I thought I'd take a stab at it.  It's starting to come together.

The bootie pieces out of felt and burlap

Pretty much the only thing I finished was a pom pom for my son's hat.  If you've ever wanted to know how to make a pom pom... here's how:

Tracing a circle out of two cardboard pieces with what else? A sippy cup

With your two pieces of cardboard together you begin winding your yarn
around the circle through the whole in the middle

This is what it looks like when wrapped up

Then you put your scissors in between each cardboard
piece and cut the yarn

Wrap the end of your yarn around the middle and
tie a knot (this holds it all together)

Snip the cardboard and slide it out

fluff it up a bit and now you have a pom pom!

I hope everyone had a nice weekend!