Smitten Stationery

Sneak Peek: Evans Wedding Suite

2011-09-20T14:02:00.000-07:00

send out another set of wedding invitations and info cards recently!

stay tuned for more photos!

Wedding Suite Sneak Peak!

2011-08-20T15:15:00.000-07:00

one of my besties is getting married in just a couple months and i had the privilege of creating her Wedding Invitation Suite. what an honor. i make it a habit to never post the actual invitation on my blog before the big day, because God forbid any random stranger think it's a good idea to show up (also, i always blur the address once i do post it!). i just don't want to ruin the surprise.

but... i also can't contain my excitement when i finish everything and mail it out. it's such a good feeling to complete a project, and know that it's exactly what my client wanted. so here's a little sneak peak until the big reveal!

fresh from the printer, getting ready to be assembled

ready to be shipped!

i just CAN'T wait for this wedding.

thank you so much Leah and Andy for allowing me to be a glimpse of your special day! love you tons!

tara

we're breaking up

2011-08-18T21:05:00.000-07:00

i know i haven't blogged in a while and i don't want you to think it's you. it's me. it's all me. i've been really confused about where this relationship is going and i just have to say that i think it's time we broke up. actually, we're just gonna be friends. maybe with benefits. yeah, definitely with benefits.

you see i have been pondering, for quite a while, what the heck is going on with my blog. i've been super conflicted about it being just a business blog or a personal blog. or how to mix the two. i've seen it done, and i've seen it done well... it's just that it's hard for me to push the publish button every time i'm blogging about my family on a blog called Smitten Stationery. i mean, ice cream dates with my kids have ABSOLUTELY nothing to do with paper. not even a little. (ok, i guess SOME cones come wrapped in paper, but that's pushing it!)

so after putting a lot of thought into it i am going to use this blog mainly for my business. i will be updating it with photos of my work, inspiration, and the occasional giveaway (i told you benefits were better!). so don't unfollow me, just follow two of me!

ha!

for reals.

so head on over to my new blog, Always Underfoot. there i will be blogging about my life as a stay at home mom, crafts i do with and without my kids. probably more crafts without my kids, to be honest. the things i make for dinner, what we wear, and i'll probably do a lot of crying on my blog this year because my firstborn is STARTING HIS FIRST YEAR OF SCHOOL. (i simultaneously want to yelp for joy and vomit.) so, come on and take a gander.

friends forever,

tara

Wisdom

2011-08-06T19:52:00.001-07:00

i feel exactly like this. and have for several years.

so encouraging.

Ira Glass on Storytelling from David Shiyang Liu on Vimeo.

maybe i should start making a new invitation suite every month... just to make it.

Smitten Saturday: little a's room

2011-07-30T20:52:00.000-07:00

whew. this has been a crazy day!

today was my youngest's birthday, and we spent all day making special memories just for her. in honor of her special day i am doing a Smitten Saturday about all the things that are inspiring me for her big girl room make-over. she turned 3 so we want to get her out of her toddler bed and make all her crazy furniture match!

so, here you go!

No. 1} mmm. pretty granny squares.

No. 2} EVERYTHING this girl does for her blog is RIDIC. especially her own daughter's room. i just want to move in.

No. 3} this delicious poster of California is my fav for 2 reasons: 1) i love CA, 2) the colors are tasty.

No. 4} i like the idea of using a string of lights as a night light. it's so enchanting.

No. 5} mmmmore granny squares!!!

No. 6} this makes me want to change my name to Wanty McWanterson.

No. 7} such a sweet little library, don't you think so Leah?

No. 8} i love the wall art, perfect for a little girl's room! and that bed! oh.

No. 9} can you tell i love granny squares? ha!

No. 10} cutest.

No. 11} such a pretty shade of pink for that dresser.

No. 12} if i can't find a good metal headboard for her twin bed i may just go with one made of pallets and a door like this.

No. 13} my girl loves tea, and i love these colors. perf!

No. 14} i'm sure she would love to see her name in ~~lights~~ yarn.

No. 15} (um, what was SUPPOSED to be no. 15... i guess i forgot to number it!) i would love to do a dollhouse make-over for the one from my childhood. maybe someday.

No. 16} ACK! why is it so pretty!? and EASY!??!?!

did you miss Smitten Saturday? i DID! i love putting together inspiration boards and seeing all the pretty things i love in one place. it makes my eyes feel good.

here ~~is a little peek~~ are LOTS of pictures from her day of celebration!

starting out the day right, with ~~a mountain of whipped cream~~ a well rounded meal!

first bike. {stop growing little love, just for a bit.}

dressed up for a proper tea party at The Victoria Rose.

tea, scones, devonshire cream, lemon curd. dang.

then we came home and had a balloon party.

and i made the best strawberry cake there ever was on the face of the earth ever ever.

and of course we had to tap into our mexican side and partake in a little pinata violence. (sidenote: why do they make pinatas out of your favorite character? i don't understand why anyone would think that a little kid who loves Dora is going to want to get all her friends together and beat her with a stick!)

and now she's 3. for some reason this was a hard one for me. i love my children but i think this signified that i no longer have any babies. both my kids are big kids now.

my, how time flies. i hope i am treasuring it as much as i think i am.

what is making you smitten this Saturday?

DIY vintage storage crates

2011-07-25T20:34:00.000-07:00

almost a year ago i was flipping through a Serena & Lily catalog in search for the perfect theme to my little boy's room. i was struck by these super cute vintage crates with a modern twist with the red casters. i have been on the hunt for something that would be easy for me to recreate myself and have finally found it!

while hanging out at Cherish's house, and being inspired by all the cute vintage crates around her house, she mentioned that she purchased them right around the corner and for only $5 each!!! wha? we jumped into the car and swooped some up right away! then we headed off to the supply store and bought some casters. i couldn't find any red ones right then and there, but remembered that i had some red spray paint left over from the school chairs i painted.

and with that, a new project was born.

i covered the wheels with foil, thanks to a little tip from Cherish, to protect them from getting paint on them. then i sprayed the heck out of those bad billies.

future DIYer. be still my heart.

LOVE.

you can't really tell from this pictures, but they look awesome. actually, i'm probably the only one who really cares... but i do! it's all in the details.

xoxo,

tara

p.s. my computer broke on friday! nooooo! i swiped my husband's laptop and am sneakily blogging while he puts the kids to bed. please pray my computer get's fixed soon or send me money so i can buy a new one, cause i've got a lot of great things to share soon!!!

My Instagram San Diego

2011-07-20T15:51:00.000-07:00

so... i'm gonna vomit pictures all over this blog. be prepared. if you follow me on instagram then you've already seen them.

if you've been following this blog for any amount of time then you would know that my family spend 4 weeks in our hometown of San Diego, CA. i kept a picture diary via my instagram app on my iphone. here are all the pictures!

5am in the Grapevine.

first stop, breakfast in San Clemente.

these cups always remind me of the Flinstones. (?) ha!

second stop, haircuts for the kids! we LOVE Judy, their hair stylist. if you live near Otay Ranch then go to Pigtails and Crewcuts and ask for her, you WILL NOT be disappointed.

hair did.

third, and most important stop, Pho Hiep Grill. our fav Vietnamese restaurant. ever. ever.

first beach day! La Jolla Shores. it was freezing.

mmmKristi. how i miss you so deeply.

view from outside our room at Pt. Loma Nazarene University.

here are some pics from my day with one of my best friends in the whole wide world, Heather. we went to the Little Italy Farmer's Market.

after that we went to Seaport Village.

Heather and her husband Aaron are currently making their way via a moving truck to St. Louis. a piece of my heart is going with her.

for Father's Day we attended out previous church that my husband was the worship leader at for almost 2 years. afterwards we enjoyed some froyo and a sweet time with good friends, Matt & Paige. ugh. we miss them.

bros & beards.

Paigalicious.

one of the many fathers in my life.

more of the same, plus my brother.

chicki poops.

my sister and my daughter.

the set for the camp. insane.

a day with my other best friend in the whole world, Bekah. and a surprise visit from her sister Brandi. i wish i was their sister!!!!

Eeek! Bekah just so happened to have a random container of my fav chai mix in her garage (wha!?!?!) and gave it to me! that girl knows how to love me.

sweetest sight for my eyes. my baby girl worshiping.

Zack and Big A hosing down the students at Rec.

my nephew graduated from Kinder and we had the privilege of attending.

proud cousins.

proud Tia.

proud mommy.

VITTORIA! i lovs her. deeply.

a visit from sweet Kahea. my kindred spirit.

and her heart, Hawea.

my husband and i got a couple of dates in too! so nice to have family around. here are some shots of a date day.

laughter is the key to my heart. he's the funniest!

my niece turned 10!!! double digits!!!!

church with the O'Meara's.

kisses for Baby Girl O'Meara.

family beach day!

she never stops singing. never.

my first born was in the Opener, a play to open the first night of camp. heart. melting.

visit with my mentor, Melinda. wish upon a star we could be closer!

playdate at Jackie's house!

little a, Ems, and Big A.

one perfect day with my brother.

some people say they look alike.

some people say we look alike.

our Rainbows.

photo booths with my brother are my fav.

swappin' it up at Koby's swap meet.

Aaron, Heather's husband graduated from nursing school... AND passed the board exams!!! graduation party:

myself, Julie, and Heather. we all worked together prior to children.

the children. minus one.

there he is.

girls night with Nikki, my high school best friend.

getting ready.

drinks at The Pearl in Point Loma.

luh-huv her.

a night with Leah and her fiance Andy (not pictured)!

besties since 6th grade!!!! ( i have a lot of besties... and i love them all so muuuuuuch!)

can't get enough of the beach.

beach living.

last visit with Heather and Aaron before they move. {tear}

first trip to Legoland.

he just found out.

my nieghbor, Stephanie, and he family were there that day too!

all tuckered out.

little a workin' the keys with Holly.

girl night with Holly. such a sweet time.

here are most of our favorite people on staff this summer:

Joanna & Colin

ZACK!

Andy

Trevor and Sean

Shaun

and... the long road home. we JUST missed Carmageddon, but still got crazy traffic. for some reason we decided to deviate from our amazing plan of driving through the night and left at 1pm. not wise. it took us 9 (F.) hours to drive home. 9!!!!!

but i came prepared. a belly full of our fav Pho and a Thai Iced Tea for the road. (actually, if it weren't for the tea i totally would have passed out from the full belly. ha!)

home sweet home.

Favorite Food Friday

2011-07-09T09:56:00.000-07:00

yesterday was a super busy day so i didn't make my Friday blog post in time... but to make it up to you i have a sneak peek and two (!) restaurants to show you today!!!!

hip hooray!

we started off our morning on a breakfast date since my mother-in-law had the kids spend the night the night before! we went to my all time favorite breakfast restaurant, Hash House A Go Go. dang, it was gooooood.

it's located in the heart of Hillcrest.

you have to get there early, there is ALWAYS a long wait. it was a Friday morning and there were tons of people. we had to sit at the bar in order to get seated quickly. not my favorite place to sit, but i was so hungry i could have eaten ~~a waffle bigger than my head~~ a horse.

busy. busy. busy.

i love their drinkware. their cups and mugs are footed. and we all know i love anything footed. wink.

sleepy heads. it was nice to not be woken up by ~~little screaming banshees~~ whispers and angel kisses from our sweet children, but our bed here at the dorm is making our good sleep to be desired.

remember when i almost said a waffle the size of my head. well, that's actually what i got! the vanilla waffle is like eating cake for breakfast. the picture does not justice for the real life scale of how huge this think is. they use plates that could fit a roasted turkey on!

blackberry granola flapjack. nothing like a pancake to promote American obesity. my dad is cringing at this post, i just know it. and somewhere in the world a family of ten could live off this meal and we ate a 1/4 of it and took the rest home.

the next restaurant i'm posting about we actually had on Wednesday. we love Pho, a Vietnamese noodle soup, so we found this restaurant while driving around and thought we try it out.

the service was great and the people were super nice, but we have pretty high standards for Pho. our fav place is in Chula Vista and we compare everything to that one.

eggrolls. wrap them in fresh mint and lettuce and dip in broth.

always always wash it down with a Thai Tea (with no boba) for the adults and young coconut juice for the kids.

my husband gets a large beef ball soup and shares it with the kids.

i always get the grilled chicken with broken rice and share with the kids.

mmmm.

now for the sneak peek!

we got our family pictures taken by Jackie Wonders last night and this is what i wore!

i love my new dress soooooo much!

have a great weekend!

what we wore wednesday

2011-07-06T21:05:00.000-07:00

well, it's Wednesday again. we took more pictures of ourselves. now you can see them. sorry if you came to my blog to see pictures of, let's just say, PAPER!?!?! yeah, you won't see any of that here.

seriously, do you like seeing what we wear? i know i'm not a crazy fashionista so i'm starting to wonder why i'm doing this. hahaha!

i had a picture of all the kids and i so you could see our full body outfits, but it didn't upload onto my computer from my phone and i deleted it before realizing it... boo.

i've got a really cute maxi dress on from TJMaxx with an ikat pattern in fuchsia, black, cream, tan, grey, orange, and coral. sounds crazy but i promise it's cute. and super comfy. i wore it with my tan Rainbow flip flops.

little a has on a striped tank from Target, jeggings (not seen here), and sunglasses and a necklace from the Swap Meet.

big A is wearing a Transformers tshirt that was a gift from my parents and plaid shorts from Target.

and my husband made it in this week, wearing a camp tshirt from several years ago, a sweet beard, and his new RayBan frames. isn't he so handsome?

big hug, little kiss.

tara

UPDATE: 30 days of love making

2011-07-04T20:09:00.000-07:00

i wanted to give you all an honest update about our 30 days of love making. and just to forewarn any male readers... there is some personal "lady stuff" in here so maybe you should skip this one.

my husband read my blog before Father's Day and found out about his gift before i even gave it to him. one of the downsides of putting it out there for all to see. i didn't really mind because i knew he would appreciate it. as you've read in past posts, we are currently in San Diego, away from home, because my husband's band is leading worship for a high school camp. read: crazy hours, living in a dorm, super busy and tired. guess what? the camp started on Father's Day. the challenges awaited us.

there were a couple nights that i waited up for him waayyyyy past my bedtime, and due to the thin walls it was a struggle to engage in the intimacy of it all. we're not trying to freak out the other staff members of the camp! but we were committed and willing to work through the kinks. then, "aunt martha" came for a visit, after just a short 4 days into the challenge. per my husbands request, we decided to take a break until that time passed. because, let's face it... it's not the best time for either of us.

shortly after i was in the clear, he had to fly back up to Fresno for two days to lead worship at our church. so that brings us to today. we haven't really discussed it but i think we're just going to start over. or maybe make a rule that we both have to be ready. i know i wanted it to be 30 days in a row, but i also don't want it to be forced. the whole point of the gift was that i would being giving him my heart, and mind, in preparation of love making. that i wouldn't refuse him, no matter how tired i am, or any other reason i could find to not do it. my goal is to safe guard our marriage by fulfilling that need in him, and in turn i think we will be drawn closer to each other as a result of both our needs being met.

so for now... this is where we are. my heart is ready. and i think that he feels more loved because of that.

i was very encouraged to get several emails from people who were willing to do the challenge with me, and several others from people who weren't willing just yet but were headed in that direction. i would still love to hear from you, any thoughts that you might have about this.

i hope, if nothing else, that you would be encouraged by my honesty in this matter. so many people are walking through their marriage struggling through their intimate relationship and feel so alone. i know i was one of them.

xoxo

tara

Favorite Food Friday

2011-07-01T16:37:00.000-07:00

i know what you're thinking, another reoccurring blog? with a really cliche name? that starts with all F's? you just wanna barf in your mouth a little?

i'm thinking the same things too, truly. but i can't help it. i love cliche's. so you have to deal with it. plus, it's only our favorite food's while we're in San Diego, so you only have to suffer for a little while.

ever since our little family moved away from San Diego back in October i think we realized how good we had it in food-wise. there are just so many great little places to get a wide variety of tasty delicacies. our good friend, Chelsey, had never been to this first restaurant and we felt responsible for teaching her the ways of good italian food.

Chelsey, you're welcome.

both my husband and i have a long history with this restaurant. he went there with his family a lot while growing up and actually lived around the corner for the first 6 years of his life. i was a hostess there in my early adult years, and when we first started dating he brought his friends to "check me out" while i was on working one day.

i guess they approved!

Filippi's Pizza Grotto. the best italian food in San Diego. in my opinion.

there is usually a crazy long line, well worth waiting in. it's kinda crazy, there are italian restaurants surrounding this one and they are always empty with the hostess just standing there bored to death watching all these people wait in a ridiculous line for Filippi's.

view from our table.

antipasto salad.

fettucini alfredo.

the sun started going down in these pics so they're really dark, but this is the lasagna (my fav) and spaghetti with a meatball combo plate.

pepperoni pizza.

and Chels. i love her. i'm so glad she's here. she lives in Fresno and it's crazy because i'm finding myself a little homesick and she's like a little piece of home.

what we wore wednesday

2011-06-30T14:53:00.000-07:00

so i tried to update a post last night but blogger was down. now it's what we wore yesterday.

do you like how i'm posing so studiously on our corporate dorm housing two seater? i thought you would. i'm wearing a white wife beater under a turquoise Old Navy tank. my navy blue skirt is from Gap and it's RIDICULOUSLY comfortable. and my TOMS.

i love my TOMS. blue with yellow anchors. yum.

the kids were cranky after naps and didn't really feel like posing for pictures. so i secretly got them while having some craft time. big A is wearing a cute stripes polo with some cargo shorts, all from Target.

little a is wearing a dress that looks like a t-shirt with ruffles on the bottom from Walmart. it was $5. LOVE.

i like to call this beach/messy hair. i strategically used a mixture of pool water and sunblock to create a textured look, then, while running after her, fixed a cute little clip to get her hair out of her eyes.

and my bangs. they are still so, so messed up. i like to call these mydaughtercameatmewithscissors look. hopefully they will have a serious growth spurt before our family pictures with Jackie Wonders.... next week. yeah, i don't think so either. well, i can just say i did it on purpose. i mean, that look is totally in, right?

What We Wore Wednesday

2011-06-22T21:34:00.000-07:00

well hello there.

i'm so silly, i almost forgot today was Wednesday! for reals. that's what happens when you're a stay at home mom, away from home, at camp, with no calendar. thankfully my husband took some pictures of us on our way to dinner and i'm whipping up a post. thanks honey!

aren't you feeling so loved? i mean, i put absolutely NO effort into this outfit. actually, i was WAYYYY cuter this morning in a pretty floral summer dress and yellow scarf, but i changed before these pictures because the marine layer rolled in and i was cold. (did you hear that Fresnonians??? i said i was COLD! i know, that was mean.)

i pinky swear to be extra cute next week. cross my heart.

Big A is OBSESSED with this Thor helmet. he kinda looks like a little troll creeping around the parking lot here, but actually he is hunting for the best stick to replicate Thor's mallet.

oh good, he found one. see all those leaves on the ground down there? yeah, he tore up that bush. get it Thor, get it. "kid Thor" (as he quickly corrects me if i ever use his real name...) is wearing a super wrinkled orange and plaid button up from Target and some jeans. i also made him put on closed toed shoes because of the chill in the hair. i hate ever thinking that those sweet little toes are cold!

little a chose a pretty pink and white floral tunic from Old Navy, jeggings from Target, a brown cardi and gold sparkle shoes, also from Target. here she is looking for caterpillars and cocoons under the map of the campus.

i've got on a gray t-shirt from Old Navy for $3, navy blue super skinny cords also from Old Navy, and $3 moccasins from a thrift store in Fresno called Neighborhood Thrift. that super cute bag was a gift for my baby shower with little a and it is from Anthro (!).

we like Old Navy. specifically the sale rack where i can find things for $5 or less. i really hate spending money on clothes, but love to shop. i know, i'm crazy.

i'm sooooooo bummed because my mocs recently ripped. see it, over there on the left shoe? ugh. i love them so much. i'm thinking about duct taping them from the inside, but that's totally ghetto. do you have any suggestions?

also, i may or may not have butchered my bangs. and by may or may not, i mean i did. i usually cut my own bangs and do a pretty good job, but something possessed me to go shorter!?!?! what? i know, i think i'm sleep deprived or something. please remove all scissors from our room until camp has commenced so i don't feel tempted to cut them again. bangs are not the portion of hair you should be taking risks with people. they are right at eye level and you can never tell if anyone is looking at your funky bangs or straight into your eyes. it's crazy making.

good night and happy wednesday!

xoxo.

Smitten Saturday?

2011-06-20T21:28:00.000-07:00

oh no, i'm kind of freaking out that i didn't do a Smitten Saturday this past Saturday and am feeling really bad that i haven't posted anything for a while. my little family packed our bags (a months worth) and headed down to San Diego for a month so my husband's band, 330 Plan, could lead worship for Hume SD.

here they are, practicing before the morning chapel in front of the amazing set.

we will be setting up camp for the next month here. it's so nice to be back in our hometown but a little overwhelming to try to be present at the camp and still try to see all our family and friends. i get the feeling these next four weeks will go by fast and i want to treasure every moment! all in all, we are very happy to be here.

little a, singing Hosanna in front of 200+ junior high schoolers

the least i can do is share with you all the amazing pictures i took on Saturday when i went to the Farmer's Market in Little Italy & Seaport Village with one of my besties, Heather.

big A decided he was Thor, all day.

flower inspiration for a friend's upcoming wedding. (Leah, these dahlia's would be so pretty in your centerpieces!)

mmm, golden raspberries.

wow. just, wow.

while driving around Little Italy and Down Town i saw soooo many awesome backgrounds for pictures, i think i'll have to come back and just capture them all one day.

historic carousel.

coronado bridge.

me and the feather.

lola, the parrot, and big A. i mean Thor.

sorry if my posting is a little more random and sporadic, i'll try to keep up with my goings on around San Diego.

love. tara.

p.s. some people have mentioned that they had trouble leaving comments, i think i fixed it so comment away!

What We Wore Wednesday

2011-06-15T14:23:00.000-07:00

today is ridiculously hot, like 100 degrees or something. so my kids pretty much wore these outfits for the photo shoot and to Target, then they came home and stripped down to their chones.

ballerina little a in a dress from Target and flip flops from Old Navy. easy breezy.

she chose to wear her hair in high pig tails and i had to practically wrestle her to the ground to put them in the little twisty buns. with it being so hot i thought i was being a thoughtful mommy by keeping her hair off her neck... but nooooooo, she has specific ideas about how she wants to look and i better not get in the way. sheesh. in the end, as you can see, i won because i'm the mommy. what?

what a comedian. big A said this was his "handsome pose". yes, yes it is. he chose his Shawn White tshirt from target and some hand-me-down shorts from i don't know where. also, navy blue slip ons. he's also holding his pen pal letter from our neighbor down the street. he keeps it near and dear to his heart.

even whilst he does self defense moves. he wanted me to capture him doing a Kung Fu kick for his Papa (my dad is a 6th degree black belt in Kung Fu and taught it for many years). so, here you go Papa.

this is big A's pic of me. i'm wearing a Quiksilver shirt from Marshall's or one of those discounter stores that i love so much. it's silk and i LOVE the pattern. i paired it with my too short shorts from 2003, a $1 belt from Goodwill, and my rainbow flip flops. (do you love my dumpsters in the background? me too. it was trash day. sidenote: my trash guys come at 5:45am!!!!! what? no, that's not ok. can i call the city for that, i feel like they're breaking some letthegoodcitizensoftheworldsleeptilnormalhours code!? what time does your trash guy come?)

little a's pic of me. i had to be close by for this one, she makes me so nervous holding my iphone. she is not trustworthy yet.

mkay, now i feel awkward. not sure how to close this....

i guess, HERE WE ARE!

hahaha

P.S. don't forget to join me in gifting our husbands with some sweet sweet love making for father's day!

Challenge: 30 days of love making!!!

2011-06-14T15:16:00.000-07:00

whoa, what!?!?! that's right people, i didn't stutter. i am going to challenge you to 30 days of love making. because i'm gonna do it and i don't want to do it alone. hhheeeee.....

i'm just like every other girl who doesn't like to do anything alone; like get ready for a party, shop... pee. so why should i want to do this alone? back when i turned 29 i decided to make a list of 30 things i'd like to do before i turned 30. making love to my husband everyday for 30 days was on that list. what better time to accomplish that goal AND give him a GREAT father's day gift ( i love two-fers!) than to lump it all into one.

in all seriousness, i have been hearing a lot of stories about couples that just aren't making love. like, for YEARS. and i am just not ok with that. i mean, how can a marriage survive without intimacy? don't get me wrong, we are NOT perfect. there have been seasons when we were only intimate once a month... and when i was pregnant, if he even looked at me with his side eye i would get nauseous. seriously, i could only do it in the shower, his natural body odor (which i normally LOVE) made my stomach turn. now this might be too much information for you but i think it's important to talk about. and i'm not ashamed to share my struggles because there is probably someone out there who is going through the same thing. but my desire and my heart are to have a long, fulfilling marriage and sex life where neither one of us are settling with just being roommates. don't you want that too?

when thinking of a way to present it in some special package, rather than just blurting it out, i remembered stumbling upon this awesome 19th century packaging suite a while back and knew it would be such a rad way to break the amazing news.

the bottom says, if you can't read it, "the fine print: i promise that, come hail or high water, i will prepare my heart to make love to you every day for 30 days. i promise to give you all of my heart, all of my mind, and all of my body in a loving and appropriate way to create oneness between us. i promise to put our intimacy above all else for the betterment of our marriage."

it truly is so important to prepare your mind, heart, and body for intimacy. a dear friend gave me some great advice about starting early in the morning, tell yourself you will be making love that night. shave your legs, shower, wear your matching underwear set, whatever it takes for you to feel comfortable. you know what they say, "men are like microwaves, woman are like crockpots"... so make the extra effort to start getting hot 8 - 10 hours before!

if you are interested in using this gift certificate you can download it here.

i feel like this is going to blow my husband's mind away, i mean how happy would any man be to get something like this? so i want us wives to band together and die to ourselves so our marriages will gain from it! who's with me? anyone?

i'm going to be posting weekly updates and i would love to hear from anyone who is willing to join me in this challenge. if you don't feel comfortable leaving a comment i would love to hear from you via email at taranuncio@gmail.com.

i hope you will all consider this, it could change your marriage forever!

Smitten Saturday: father's day gift inspiration

2011-06-11T14:41:00.000-07:00

my husband is the best. and by the best, i mean he loves me and our family with a crazy devotion and i would never doubt it. he is so good about being hands on with the kids, and always asks me if i need help or if he can pick anything up from the store for me. he hates being away from our family and hurries home from work to spend more time with the kids before bed. i love him and i can't wait to celebrate him on father's day.

here are a few things i know he needs/wants/probably wouldn't like but i want to get him anyway:

No. 1} a grill. his broke during our last move and i've heard him mention a few times now that the weather is warming up that he would like one. this weber from crate & barrel is classic, practical, and not ugly.

No. 2} my hubby loves shoes as much as i do (he gets it from his mom!) and i think he would look so hot in these adidas samba's. mmmmyes.

No. 3} my husband is a manly man with a lot of facial hair. he currently has a beard, and has for quite sometime, but he is known for switching it up every now and then with a goatee or just being clean shaven. giving him an old fashioned shave kit would be a special treat for his face, i think. plus, it's just cool.

No. 4} another shoe. you can really never have too many, and i love these toms.

No. 5} he needs a new wallet.

No. 6} he has been talking about getting a new wedding band for a while and i saw something similar to this one on another guy and thought it was pretty rad.

No. 7} i don't think he would like this bike, but i do. and i could get the matching one and we could be so cute riding all the bike trails with our kids in tow around fresno. people would puke over how cute we were with our matching bikes. that's always a good goal.

No. 8} my husband plays the guitar and people always get him guitar art for every special occasion because he's REALLY really hard to shop for, and they don't know what else to get him. we could open a store with all the guitar related gifts he's gotten. i always cringe when i see something with a guitar on it that is actually cool because i don't want to add to the collection, but these prints from yee haw are actually pretty awesome and i think they would look great in his office.

also, i'm pretty sure he would appreciate a night of hot, steamy love making... but putting a picture of that on my blog would just take it to a level i'm not willing to go. but i'll probably make him a certificate for that or something.

what are you gonna get your husband/dad/brother whose a dad/father figure/uncle that sort of raised you for father's day?

family movie night

2011-06-11T09:50:00.000-07:00

every friday we do family movie night. we started this about a year ago in the hopes of cultivating a fun family day for our kids to look back on in fondness. we have dreams of one day making our home a safe and fun place for our teenage kids and their friends to hang out on friday nights that they actually think is cool.

i know, i said it was a dream. a girl can try....

we always have popcorn and hot cocoa. several weeks ago i decided to start making my own popcorn. THIS week i got brave and attempted kettle corn.

i look up a recipe and then strayed from it. mistake no.1. here is the recipe:

1/4 cup oil (i decided to channel Paula Deen and used butter)

1/4 cup white sugar

1/2 cup corn kernels

1 tsp. coarse salt

it turned out more like carmel corn, which isn't bad but it wasn't what i was going for. i think i burnt the butter and it turned brown. next week i will follow the rules.

i love snuggling up on the couch with my family.

do you have any weekly traditions?

DIY felt iphone 4 cover tutorial

2011-06-09T15:07:00.000-07:00

ok, i am so excited to share this with you! yesterday i made an iphone cover for my new phone and it has been KILLING me to wait until today to share it with you. for 1} i can't believe i made something so cool. (i'm not trying to brag, i just really can't believe it worked!) and 2} i'm going to share with you how i did it.

i worked really hard on this tutorial of sorts, so i hope you like it!

i got my inspiration for this from etsy. the basic form i tried to recreate i found here. and i loved the hearts on this one.

most of the supplies i had laying around, except the felt. i only had polyester felt and i really wanted wool so i purchased an 1/8th of a yard each of gray and yellow from Joann's. SUPER CHEAP!

if you'd like to print the tutorial, please click here.

i've never written sewing instructions before so i hope you expert seamstresses won't judge me too much. if something doesn't make sense feel free to ask me and i will try my best to explain it better. also, i have a super old version of photoshop so my dotted lines are kinda funky. my computer is ancient but i am blessed to have one and also for the gift of craft!!!

i hope you like it. if you make one i'd love to see pictures!

what we wore wednesday

2011-06-08T15:54:00.000-07:00

i don't really think i'm all too stylish. i love classic, clean outfits without too much fuss. i don't have a ton of accessories, although i should since i do make jewelry. nonetheless, the only reason i thought it would be fun to do "what we wore Wednesday" was because i am a MAJOR control freak. letting my kids pick out their own clothes would force me to exercise losing control, in a non-harmful way.

also, i tend to wear the same thing several times a week. when i worked full time before having kids i had my favorite outfits, but i had to rotate them about every two weeks so people didn't see me in the same thing all the time. well, my kids don't really care what i wear so if i didn't get a stain on it, i'm gonna wear it again. what?

anyway, here's Big A. he chose is vintage inspired Superman shirt from Old Navy; green, blue, and white plaid shorts from Target; and boat shoes. he also chose this pose. he thinks it's what super heroes do when they are resting. ??? that's cool buddy. also, his face is ridiculous. he is always this serious, always. love him.

Little A chose a lovely flower skirt (she will ONLY wear skirts or dresses, i don't even try to get jeans on her anymore) and a pink tank top. she paired it with brown riding boots. not my first choice but she looks great. i'm actually super impressed that my kids didn't totally pick super random patterns today because they usually do if i let them. they must have known something was up...

my daughter wanted her hair down, but it grows straight into her eyes so i always have to keep it out of her face somehow. i'm still learning how to french braid so this is what she got, it looks more like a corn roll! and that huge tulle puff is also her pick.

here i am. Big A took the picture. mexican hair. black cotton dress. gray leggings. faux snake skin sandals that i LOVE. i added the cuff for you, do you like it?

this is what we wore today. exciting, huh?

hearts.

felt toadstools

2011-06-07T16:13:00.000-07:00

i've had these glass cheese domes for a while with nothing permanent in them. i've been wanted to make some felt toadstools for them for a while and i finally got around to it.

the red felt makes me cringe a little because it doesn't match any of the colors in my house, but they look more traditional and i love the pop of color in my bay window so i think i can get over it.

each toadstool is two red circles with white french knots, stuffed and sewn together. i used a rectangular piece of tan felt for the stem and sewed it in a tube shape and stuffed it before attaching it to the bottom of the toadstool. easy enough!

while finishing up this project my son got very interested in sewing. i let him use my leftover scraps of felt and embroidery thread to cut and sew a few pieces together. he was very serious about it, what a cutie! he made a little mobile o sorts and hung it from the top bunk to hang over his head.

what do you think? i think they are adorable!

Smitten Saturday

2011-06-04T15:00:00.000-07:00

two blogs on one day, what? it's getting crazy up in he-ah.

since today is saturday i thought i would share my fav office chairs because writing the last post on the ottoman i'm currently using was KILLING my back. i need something proper to sit on people. and quick!

No. 1} super cute.
No. 2} very mad men-ish. at least that's what i think.
No. 3} classic.
No. 4} love it.
No. 5} mmmmmmmm.
No. 6} fav.
No. 7} i would feel super important and a little grandma-ish in this chair.

ok, my back is about to snap and my son is fighting his nap that he needed to take super bad because he didn't sleep at all at Hume Lake so i gotta go lay the smack down.

hope you are smitten today!

Girl Time

2011-06-04T13:49:00.000-07:00

so after my awesome trip to SD i came home and unpacked my bags. then i packed them again to head up to Hume Lake for a little weekend trip with the family. my husband told me that my daughter had a fever a couple days earlier but it went away so we were all ready to go. we like to leave for long drives during naptime to ensure that the kids sleep in the car. while my girl was sleeping she started coughing and it sounded TERRIBLE. i instantly had a bad gut feeling. missing my family and really wanting to spend the nice weekend away with them we kept driving. half way there and at the base of the mountain her cough started sounding more like a bark and i had to turn around.

so the boys went without us and we had a little girl weekend. friday was shot due to 2 1/2 hours at the doctor and an hour waiting for a prescription for an ear infection. but i decided to make today a fun girlie day.

we woke up, discovered it was raining (what the?!?! i thought fresno was supposed to be like Hades this time of year, not that i'm complaining...), ate some eggs, and right after breakfast we did each other's make up. she chose a lovely shade of blue for my eyes and i chose lavender for hers. she applied my eyeliner and mascara like ~~she was running from a rabid dog~~ a pro. i unfortunately had to wash it off shortly after, but it was fun for pictures.

while i enjoy doing girlie things with her, i also crap my pants a little with this glimpse into the future.

soon to be 3 going on 13. ay.

you couldn't pay me to leave the house like this. what?

later on i decided to use the 3 bananas that ~~made me gag just looking at them~~ were just a tad overripe for my taste to do some fun baking for banana bread.

here she is, patting my left breast. one of her favorite things to do. i think she wants to just make sure they're still there since you can't ever really see them. hahahahahahaha

it's gonna be in there a full hour, sweetie.

don't we look so cute in matching aprons? a while back i made some wedding invitations for a friend whose daughter was getting married and we traded the aprons for the invites. she made them from a vintage table cloth and they are SO SOFT. i love love love them.

the rainy day has been redeemed. what are you doing today? if it's not raining where you are and you are, say, at the beach or something... don't tell me. wink.

happy saturday!

Graduation Announcements for my brother

2011-06-03T14:55:00.000-07:00

this week, my little brother graduated from high school.

i left my kids and husband at home early tuesday morning to make the 6 hour drive down to San Diego so i could be there for this special moment in his life. on the drive down i laughed thinking about all the silly moments we've had together and i cried thinking about how he is all grown up and those silly moments are so few and far between. if you were driving next to me you probably thought i was looney. well, i am. a little.

my brother was born when i was 11 and i was in the labor and delivery room. the moment he came out i vividly remember a wave washing over me and i could not contain the love nor the tears and i knew i was forever changed by this tiny person. over the years we have enjoyed such a special bond and at times i get nervous that that bond will be lost now that he is an adult living his own life. i so desperately want to grasp for it but i also know i need to let him go.

i am so proud of him, he's made such mature choices in his life so far and i trust him to continue making those good choices. i know he will make mistakes somewhere along the line and i will be here if he needs me. i am committed to praying for his future, his education, his love for Jesus, his future wife and family, and his dreams.

i had the privilege to make his graduation announcements and i loved every second of it. my sister chose a folded card with a photo by Jackie Wonders.

my sister also wanted the inside to be a timeline listing his accomplishments during his 4 year in high school. he's been very involved in sports, and also music even though it's not listed. we are very excited for him to have been accepted into UCLA with a partial academic scholarship! woot. woot. so so proud.

myself, the GRADUATE, and my older sister

Mike, i love you and i am so excited for you to start a new season in life. i'll miss picking on you in person but now that i have an iphone i can pick on you on ichat! YES!

you. are. the. best. EVER.

Smitten Saturday: a day late

2011-05-29T16:00:00.000-07:00

on today's post for Smitten ~~Sunday~~ Saturday i'm going to share with you the dining room chairs that inspired a whole new make over for my dining room (in my dreams).

i realize i didn't make a post last Saturday for Smitten Saturday. i had plans to make an inspiration board filled with all things footed, because i seriously love anything that has a little foot or pedestal on it. it just makes it so much more charming and delicate. alas, i could not find enough inspiration for a whole board. the footed bathtub and anthropologie mugs would have been sad and lonely. so i'm combining my love for all things footed with the dining room chairs i recently spotted and loved at World Market.

back to my post:

this is my current dining room, sans the Christmas decor. (i'd totally be nervous that i was a hoarder who couldn't put her Christmas decorations away because i had to see them to know they're still there... if i still had them up....but i don't. i promise. i've been watching a lot of Hoarders lately. heh.) the computer is no longer super ghetto at the kitchen counter with that hideous office chair, cringe. it has a desk now and can be seen here. we purchased our dining room table at the Encinitas Street Fair back in 2007. i love it. it's solid wood and weighs like 4547874367 pounds, but i love it. probably because i never have to move it. i leave that up to my Mr. (thanks honey!) our chairs are from IKEA. the art on the wall is a large piece of black and white damask wrapping paper (that matches my dinnerware) that i framed with an IKEA picture frame. we're renters so the chandelier and floating shelf came with the house and we can't change them. there is nothing about this room that i love, other than the table.

here is my inspiration board:

No. 1} i love the modern update on these traditional serveware pieces.

No. 2} the dining room chair that started it all! i would love to see them surrounding my table. so charming & country.

No. 3} i already have these latte bowls and i love love love them.

No. 4} cutest cake stand, ON THE EARTH.

No. 5} we would need some matching bar stools. obvi.

No. 6} isn't this the sweetest cupcake stand you ever did see? me too.

No. 7} i'm totally making this table runner. totally.

No. 8} and, i die.

ok. so i like blue. what? i'm trying to get away from the animal magnetism that the color robin's egg blue has on me by adding some shades of dark teal, emerald green and cobalt blue around the house. i'm most attracted to deep, rich, jewel tones, but my Mr. is semi-color blind so he's pretty picky and we can both agree on the the robin's egg blue. it's just starting to take over. and i'm a little scared. help.

so what are you smitten about today?

custom bunting

2011-05-18T08:37:00.000-07:00

my first custom bunting order!!! woo hoo! i was contacted shortly after opening my etsy shop to create a custom bunting that said "JOY". the only thing my client requested was that it match the color scheme of black, brown, and dark red like the colors in her home. i had so much fun putting this together and am super thankful she loved it!

i think my favorite details is the medium size black ric rac as a border around each flag.

or the micro-mini pinwheels. i love them both.

if you are interested in custom bunting please contact me for pricing. they are the perfect decoration over a baby crib with your child's name, or even a big kids room that needs that extra little something. i've also made a few for weddings as sweetheart table decorations or just for photos props.

MARRIED: Sarah & Joshua!

2011-05-16T14:58:00.000-07:00

Sarah & Joshua were referred to me by my super good friend, Cherish. i was so excited that they entrusted me with a little piece of their wedding and i'm so in love with the design she picked. Yellow & gray are my favorite color combination right now (it's my bedroom's colors) and i just love how simple she wanted everything. Sarah was truly a no fuss bride and pretty much gave me total control. easy peasy.

(please excuse my terrible photography. it is not my strong suit. hopefully my work shines through the poor pictures!)

invitation suite

invitation

map, directions, and wedding registry information

RSVP postcard

congratulations Sarah & Joshua! it was a joy working with you. may your marriage be blessed!

if you are interested in having me create your wedding invitation suite, birthday party invitations, graduation announcements, baby announcements, or personal stationery, i would be delighted to help you! feel free to email me at taranuncio@gmail.com.

Smitten Saturday: letter signs

2011-05-14T15:34:00.000-07:00

i'm back! did you miss me? i missed you. my little family spent the week up at Hume Lake and enjoyed gorgeous weather, friends, and family time while my Mr. lead worship for a Youth Worker's Conference. Hume is pretty much off the grid so i wasn't able to update any posts, but have several up my sleeve to share this week! now, on to Smitten Saturday.

this week i'm totally smitten over letter signs! i've been inspired to fill every nook and cranny with vintage marquee letters that say meaningful words or big giant letters with my kids initials in their rooms. here is my round up of the ones i love out on the web.

No. 1} everything on this website is too DIE FOR! i think several bottles of glass glitter blew up in their shop and they decided not to clean up and i love it! this LOVE banner would look nice in my bedroom.

No. 2} these ornate house letters are sold out, but i would have loved to snatch them up!

No. 3} this group of 3 N's would look lovely on my mantle.

No. 4} i'm totally making this paper marquee letter, like now. it would be the perfect night light.

No. 5} this lowercase A is super cute and i would love to put it in my son's room.

No. 6} um, can these scallop mesh letters be anymore sweet? i think not. perfect for my daughter's room.

No. 7} this LOVE sign with vintage marquee letters is simply lovely.

No. 8} how perfect would this HELLO sign be in my entryway?

No. 9} gorgeous.

what are you smitten about right now?

Smitten Saturday

2011-05-07T21:03:00.000-07:00

this week i'm totally smitten about couches. the reason being that we just put an offer on a house that i am SUPER in love with (like, i'm trying not to think about how big of a gamble it is to put an offer on a house that you love so much because there's no for sure way you're gonna get it). we've only been looking for 3 weeks and this is our first offer. every time i think about the house and my heart skips a beat i try to convince myself that it probably won't work out just so i don't get my hopes up.

anyway, the house has a formal living room and a family room. we currently have just a living room so that means only one couch. which also means i would have to buy more furniture for the dream house...

shoot.

the only trouble is that i have no idea what stylistic direction i would go if i were ever faced with buying a piece of furniture because i love it, since pretty much everything we have has been given to us. i'm super bi-polar when it comes to style. one day i totally LOVE the vintage/traditional style with shabby sheek touches and the next i'm head over heels for modern, clean lines with more of a retro look. this is a dilemma for me since i have no idea how to mix and match the two.

so here is my round up of modernmeetstraditionalwithatouchofretro couches:

No. 1} this avec sofa looks like it wouldn't be comfortable and is a little more on the modern side than i would like, but is more reasonably priced.

No. 2} i sort of dream of having a more formal living room where i can serve tea or something ritzy like that on this more traditional sofa.

No. 3} this one looks comfy AND edgy with the hammered nails. although there is NO WAY my Mr. would go for a white couch.

No. 4} i love the retro look of this reese sofa from room & board. you could just find me on the chaise for family movie night.

No. 5} this is GRAND.

No. 6} the cielo sectional is big enough to fill up the large family room in the dream house, and those cushions look delightful! thankfully it comes in other colors...

No. 7} i've loved this sofa for several years now. when you just love something you can't explain it.

No. 8} SO. PRETTY.

so basically i love tuffed backs and seats, and my house is gonna look ridiculous. great.

i realize pretty much none of these are in my price range. something that is more in my price range would be, say, something found in a thrift store that i attempt to reupholster myself... or something we buy used off Craigslist.

but for now i'll be dreamin'. you know, like that Selena song, "i'll be dreamin', of you tonight. til tomoooooorrrrrrooow, i'll be holdin' you tight."

i know i just got that song stuck in your head.

you're welcome.

now that my shop is open...

2011-05-05T09:54:00.000-07:00

i would love some honest feedback. i put 3 new bunting in the shop and i'm feeling a little clingy. i think it's because it's scary to put yourself out there and not know what people are thinking! ah! so bare with me as i figure out all this new business stuff.

so what do you honestly think about the bunting i've made? do you like the colors, style, PRICE? (i have no idea how to price these things, what would you pay for one?)

i know i'm totally being the needy high school girlfriend who calls every five minutes and just breathes on your voicemail right now, which can't be good for business... but i figure i want to make a product that people will fall in love with and feel good paying their hard earned money for. everything i've read says you need to be confident and not ask for comments and stuff.... but there aren't very many other people selling these types of things for me to use as an example.

so, will you walk through this process with me as i am the guinea pig?

thanks for understanding. love you all!

Smitten Stationery's Shop!

2011-05-03T09:13:00.000-07:00

i did it! i opened my shop! i'm so excited and i hope you are too. i plan to eventually add options to purchase the pre-designed wedding, birthday, and other event invitations and also a few posters here and there. but for now i have several bunting ready to be purchased and put on your walls.

come by and check it out.

http://www.etsy.com/shop/SmittenStationery

Smitten Saturday

2011-04-30T14:10:00.000-07:00

since Mother's Day is a week away i thought it would be nice to share some things on my wish list.

{hint, hint, Mr.}

most of the items on my list are in a pretty good price range so they won't break the bank. i would be happy with any one of them!

also, i was thinking about starting a weekly post, sharing all the things that make me smitten.

starting...NOW.

No. 1} i have a very bold, black and white damask dinnerware set and would love something white, but still with a touch of pretty. i think these NeoBaroque dishes would do the trick! at $160 for an 8 piece set, it's the most expensive thing on my list. but, oh how i love it!!!

No. 2} silver bangles, classic and timeless.

No. 3} i have been on the hunt for a beautiful teapot to replace the nasty IKEA teapot we've had for way too long. Le Creuset has the most beautiful colors and i know it will last FOREVER. plus, my kitchen could use a little pop of color right around the stovetop area... just saying.

No. 4} my friend Allyson makes the most beautiful double sided silhouette necklaces and i think it would be so sweet to wear each of my babies close to my heart.

No. 5} Seattle's Best coffee. in any shape or form, at any time of the day. it truly is the best.

No. 6} silver hoop earrings. also classic and timeless.

No. 7} i just love this graphic designer. her prints are awesome. i think my walls are crying out for one to be hanging on them. especially this one of California. i would customize it with a little heart over San Diego. cause that's where my heart is. (Fresno is growing on me... don't worry all you Fresnonians? ... Fresnites? ... Fresnoans? ... what are you guys called, anyway???)

No. 8} this mama needs some new jammies, QUICK! the free camp t-shirt and 10 year old flannel pants ARE NOT sexy. therefore, it would be an investment for both my Mr. and i to get me some ultra comfy and super sexy jammies, STAT. i know my man says he doesn't care what i look like, but i'm pretty sure he's lying.

i love presents. sometimes they're hard for me to receive because i instantly think about what else the money could have been used for, but they truly do make me feel special. {sidenote to my honey: if you don't get me any of these things i will still know you love me! no pressure!}

what's on your wish list for Mother's Day? mani/pedi? sleeping in? breakfast in bed? ALONETIME??? haha. if you're a mom i hope it's amazing because being a mom is hard work!

the blog post with many titles

2011-04-28T21:38:00.000-07:00

one title could be: "we drove from Fresno to San Diego, back up to Oxnard, back down to San Diego, and back up to Fresno and called it a vacation".

my Mr. was asked to lead worship for the Hume Lake Staff Retreat in Oxnard, CA and we all decided it would be a good idea to make it into a mini-vacation. we really needed some time alone and the kids had been missing their family. also, since the only people we trust to watch our children for several nights are their grandparents and they all live in San Diego. thus began a road trip totaling 1200 miles driven and 24 hours sitting in the car.

IT. WAS. A. BLAST!

as soon as the kids found out we were going to San Diego for a visit they were chomping at the bit to pack their bags! Big A decided all he would need was pajamas, and Little A thought it best to pack all her beautiful princess gowns. as much fun as all that sounded i did have to repack their bags while they were asleep. don't worry, they didn't even care once they were there.

we like to drive through the middle of the night so the kids sleep in the car and have less requests for potty breaks and food. it also ensures that they don't ~~incessantly~~ lovingly ask a ~~gazillion~~ couple times when we will get there during the 6 hour drive.

we left at 2am and arrived at 7am, just in time for them to wake up and eat breakfast. first stop was Denny's where we filled our tummies. the next stop, since we "happened" to be at the Denny's right down the street from their house, was to our mentor's house. oh how we miss them! it was such a sweet time.

after a short visit we head on over to my bestie's house for an overdue play date. we have been raising our kids together and they all love each other so much and it has been 4 MONTHS since we've seen each other. so not right.

BFF's

we finished off the day with a lovely dinner at my Mr.'s dad's house and the cousins were there! so glad it was spring break and we got to sneak in some much needed time with family.

grandpa trying to "break the eggs" on the trampoline

then we spent the night at my Mr.'s mom's house and hit the road the next morning. another title could be: "how many people can we squeeze into one day".

another title could be: "my new hat", or "we love to take pictures of ourselves"....

two whole days without the bambinos. it was so nice to sleep in and eat out and have uninterrupted conversations. after our little trip was over we were on the road again to pick up our kids that ~~we didn't miss at all~~ totally missed. we also wanted to celebrate my little brother's 18th birthday while we were in town so we went over to my family's house for a little party.

sisters and their mini-me's

i can't believe he's an adult!!!! oh. crap. actually, i'm so proud of him and all he's accomplished. he will be attending UCLA next year! my boy's wicked smart!

one of the favs

after the party we drove home... through the night...trying not to fall asleep...

this trip was totally needed. but man am i tired.

Easter Crafts

2011-04-27T15:23:00.000-07:00

this Easter we had a nice little dinner at home with a few friends and some yummy food. we had a small window during my Mr.'s break from leading worship for all 4 services at our church during lunch time to eat, have great conversation, and squeeze in a mini egg hunt with my two kidlets and our friend's daughter. it was a sweet time and i loved it.

here are all the crafts i made. you can find the links to them all in my previous post.

i made a ham, mashed potatoes, steamed green beans, and this tasty Lemonade Cake. friends brought salad, bread, specialty butters, drinks, and yummy cupcakes.

what a great way to celebrate the sacrifice my Savior made and rejoice that He is risen!

learning, loving, and Easter

2011-04-14T21:33:00.000-07:00

random, i know.

first thing i learned was that if you want people to comment on your blog you should just ask.

second thing i learned is that i don't want to ask for comments.

i realized i got sucked into the checking, checking, checking of my comments whenever i would make a post and i hit an all time low yesterday when i had a pity party about no one commenting on another post. while some of my questions were legitimate, it was not my favorite moment. but you all were gracious and left so many kind and important comments and i thank you. but i don't want to be that person, so you won't hear that from me again. enough said.

onto way better things.

EASTER CRAFTS!

i have been scouring the internet for Easter craft ideas because i have been a lame mom for the past four years and NEVER decorated for the holiday. GASP. i can't believe i know me so well and i would pass up an opportunity to craft for a special reason. or... any reason. who am i? anyway, i'm trying to make up for lost time so here's my compilation of the things i want to make for my home and with my kiddos this year.

the other night i had a couple girls over and we attempted to make these book page birds nests. they look super easy but totally aren't. i completely abandoned the instructions and shoved a bunch of shredded book pages into a latte bowl and threw some glittered eggs into it. it's ok, my kids won't know the difference.

i plan on making these decoupage book page Easter eggs with the extra shredded book pages i have left over.

about two years ago when i discovered blogs i stumbled upon this cute tutorial and i went out and bought everything to make these adorable Easter buckets. do you think i ever got around to making them? NO! and i probably won't this year but i still really want to. i don't know what my problem is. i also love this blog, she always has the best holiday crafts.

i might forgo the buckets and make these Easter egg hunt bags from Purl Bee. but i probably won't. i do love anything with giant ricrac though. ANYTHING.

i would love to start making these secret message Easter eggs a tradition that i do for my kids every year. how sweet would that be?

my Mr.'s side of the family makes cascarones every year. you can usually find me hiding in the bushes so i don't get cracked with one.

someone told me about Resurrection Cookies last year and i didn't make them with my kids. fail. this year, i'm gonna do it. i hope. here's the recipe and instructions:

Resurrection Cookies

1 cup whole pecans
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
3 egg whites
pinch salt
1 cup organic sugar
Plastic baggie
Wooden spoon, rolling pin
Tape
Bible

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. (Do this before doing anything else.)

Place nuts in baggie and beat them with a wooden spoon to break into small pieces. Explain that after Jesus was arrested and He was beaten by the Roman soldiers. Read John 19:1-3

Open the vinegar and let everyone smell it. Put 1 teaspoon into the mixing bowl. Explain that when Jesus was thirsty on the cross, all He was given to drink was vinegar. Read John 19:28-30

Add egg whites to vinegar. Eggs represent life. Explain that Jesus gave His life to give us life.Read John 10:10-11

Sprinkle a little salt into each person’s hand. Let them taste it, then brush the rest into the bowl. Explain that this represents the salty tears shed by Jesus’ followers, and the bitterness of our own sin. Read Luke 23:27

So far the ingredients are not very appetizing. Sprinkle a little sugar into each person’s hand. Let them taste it, then brush the rest into the bowl. Explain that the sweetest part of the story is that Jesus died because He loves us. He wants us to know and belong to Him.Read Psalm 34:8 and John 3:16

Beat with mixer on high speed for 15 minutes until stiff peaks are formed. Explain that the color white represents our purity in God’s eyes because our sins are cleansed by Jesus. Read Isaiah 1:18

Fold in nuts. Drop by teaspoons onto cookie sheets lined with parchment paper. Explain that each mound represents the rocky tomb where Jesus’ body was laid. Read Matthew 27:57-60

Put the cookie sheet in the oven, close the door and TURN THE OVEN OFF. Give each child a piece of tape and seal the oven door shut. Explain that Jesus’ tomb was sealed. Read Matthew 27:65-66

You’re done! Explain that you cannot eat the cookies tonight, but that you have to leave the cookies in the oven overnight. That might not make anyone too happy. Explain that Jesus’ followers were in despair when the tomb was sealed. Read John 16:20 and 22

The next morning, open the oven and give everyone a cookie. Notice the cracked surface and take a bite. The cookies are hollow! On the third day, Jesus followers were amazed to find the tomb open and empty. Read Matthew 28:1-9

so here are all things Eastery that i spotted and loved. i hope you love them too.

Ice Cream Family Date

2011-04-13T14:35:00.000-07:00

i worked so hard on my last blog. did you like it? sometimes i can't tell because a ton of people will look at my blog but no one will comment. i'm still new at this so i guess that's how it goes?

i've been struggling with the purpose of my blog lately. originally it was created to be a resource for the people interested in previewing my wedding invitations without having to meet up with me. then slowly i started adding the little crafts i would make here and there, because those are totally related to my invitation business, right? i thought so, you know... it's all creative... or something. lately i've been wanting to add more personal stuff; pictures of my kids, things my family does around town, stuff that's on my mind. but i'm not sure how true to the original thought i should stick to or just be myself and put what i want. hmmm.

anyway.

when my parents were here a couple weekends ago we stumbled upon the cutest ice cream shop in downtown Clovis and totally fell in love. the inside of the shop is decorated with retro red diner chairs and black and white checkered flooring. i failed to get any pictures of the inside (cause there were other people in it and i didn't want to look like a freak taking pictures of the floor and chairs.) but other than the cute decor it had THE BEST ICE CREAM ever. EVER. it's Fresno State ice cream. and dang it's good.

Fresno State has an agricultural department because there are a ton of farms out here. they have a dairy farm and everything. well, i guess they make their own ice cream and shops around town sell it. it is so good and creamy and their flavors are amazing.

the green one is pistachio (mine), the blue one is bubble gum (big A's), the orange/pink is rainbow sherbet (not Fresno State and it was little a's) and the one in back is a mix of cookie's and cream, coconut, and toasted almond (???) (my Mr.'s). the pistachio was RIDICULOUS!

apparently, big A liked his. when i was little bubble gum used to be my favorite ice cream flavor. i would spit all the gum balls out onto a napkin and save them for the end. my Mr. said he would just chew them up and swallow them with his ice cream. big A is just like his daddy. he saved one for the end and ate the gum with each bite.

we tried to have the kids take pictures of us, it turned pretty good. my Mr. looks like he's about to wipe my daughter's face in her picture. i just look confused.

then we tried to do self portraits. here's how that went:

(TOP)

Mr. silly face

Mrs. trying to be cute

me, "come on honey, let's do a cute one. it's for my blog.

(BOTTOM)

Mr. (even more silly)

me: REALLY?

i love family dates. especially when it involves good ice cream, good weather, and silly pictures.

so to all 33 of my ~~best friends~~ followers, what do you think? do you think i should stick solely to my design stuff for this blog and start a separate personal blog? should i just not include any personal stuff at all? what would you like to see more of?

our house: boy's room

2011-04-11T20:49:00.000-07:00

so, after my last post i realized that i've shown you more of my daughter's room than my son's. we all know how i love evenness, so here is a post full of pictures of my son's room and an inspiration board of ~~his~~ my dream room.

for the first 3.5 years of Big A's life he was totally and completely obsessed with cars. thus began the plan to decorate his room full of all things car related. then BAM, one day someone gave him a set of underwear with Spiderman on them, and he was all, "ooo, who's that!?!?!". and from that moment on he could care less about cars. sad day. (were you like me when you were little and felt sorry for the toys that didn't get played with as much as your favorites so you tried to do a calendar of "playdates" so they would all get an even rotation of playtime with you? oh, good. i'm glad i'm not alone.) anyway, now that he loves superheroes i'm trying to save my pennies to transition him out of the car theme.

before we moved to Fresno, i let him pick his favorite bedroom colors from the Serena & Lily catalog and this is what he picked. not only is it cute, but the bedding collection is his name. double rainbow. check out those awesome red school chairs. i love them.

i was so lucky when a friend of mine had these two beauties left over from a community garage sale that she let me have!!! i ran straight to Home Depot and grabbed a can of red spray paint and finally got around to finishing them this weekend.

only now they make that big empty spot on the wall look even more massive. i'm working on designing and purchasing some posters and getting some of his baby pictures printed to fill it up. stay tuned for that.

free bookshelf that needs to up it's cuteness factor.

the car bedding. i am still SOOOO in love with it and will probably hoard it for the rest of my life, but it doesn't even fit his bed and he's ready to be a big boy...

this used to be my dad's dresser when he was little. then my brother used it. i snatched it up when my dad was letting it rot in the backyard and switched out the knobs. i have plans to strip it and repaint it, but not til its nice and hot this summer.

ok, here's the inspiration board. drumroll please...

1. HOW AWESOME ARE THESE SUPERHERO POSTERS!?!?!?!

2. loving these pendant lamps. if only we weren't renters. and if only it didn't get to like 115 degrees in the summer where a ceiling fan was super necessary.

3. i really want to make 2 of these quilts for his bunkbed. they look easy enough.

4. coolest rug, ever.

5. these storage crates would look AMAZING under his window for toy storage.

6. whipped up this little ditty when i was inspired by another poster that i cannot find to credit for the life of me. if you've seen it let me know!

ok, now it's more even. although, now you've seen way more of my son's room than my daughter's. oh crap. guess i better start working on her room tour.

what do you think?

a hunting we will go...

2011-04-09T21:28:00.000-07:00

for awesome ~~trash~~ treasures that other people don't want anymore.

i've been getting into some antique/thrift store shopping lately. i've gone on several adventures, some with friends, some with my Mr., and some with my family. i realized that i haven't shared any of what i've been purchasing with you, shame on me! i know you're DYING to know what i got. right?

this aluminum pitcher was $2.00. it's totally stained but i think i found a tutorial online about removing stains from aluminum by boiling it in cream of tartar??? what? i know. we'll see how it goes. i still love it. (also, i'm TERRIBLE at flower arrangement. i couldn't do it to save my life. notice how i shoved way to many flowers in that thing and it doesn't even look cute. oh well. i try.)

i also found this cute little wire heart shaped basket thingy for $.25. it looks so cute above my daughter's bed. it's totally throwing my OCD off by making the wall off-centered. but i'm trying to be better at finishing projects and i thought just hanging it would make me feel better. i better get something up on the other side, and quick! i'm thinking of designing a faux cross stitch poster of a bible verse or something. hmmm.

this little gem was $3.00. it's got significant meaning. my Mr. was named after this song. (now you all know his real name. GASP! hehe) i'm not sure what we're going to do with it but i just had to get it for him.

the little milk hobnob glass vase in the front was $2.00. the other two in the back are milk glass given to me by my husband's late grandpa. i loved him dearly and am going to start a collection because i think he would like it. like my bookshelf? me too. i love it even more now that it's color coordinated. (more evidence that i'm really OCD) (i'm sure people who are TRULY ocd hate me. but i really am, a little. i count my steps from the car to the front door, and if one arm gets touched i have to touch the other to make it even. CRAZYTOWN. i know.)

these babies were a gift from the sweetest gift of all, my stepmom. who should really be my real mom. she's like Joseph to Jesus, the mom God chose to raise me. love her with all my heart. she and my dad came up for a weekend visit and we perused an antique store with kids in tow. NOT A GOOD IDEA. my daughter was all, "oooo, a TEA PARTY!" as soon as we walked into a really nice antique store with LOTS of breakables in low places. we were there for all of five minutes when i couldn't handle telling her to put her hands in her pockets anymore, and she wouldn't let me hold her. we made it out unscathed. whew.

but you better bet that as soon as naptime rolled around we made a beeline straight for that same store, sans babies. i scored this precious little plate set for $5. they're so cute and dainty and i just love the little designs on them. i think i'll put them in our bedroom somewhere. now if i can only find the smallest plate hangers IN THE WORLD.

i'm still training my eye for awesome finds. i feel like i miss all the good stuff when i'm out and about... but i guess it's something you have to learn. my stepmom is a PRO. she's been doing it for years and knew all sorts of little facts and things to look out for so you don't get jipped. where has she been all my life?!?! how come, now that i live 6 hours away, i'm just discovering we could have been doing this all along. sad day.

at least i can look forward to more adventures with her to come. do you like to go alone, or with someone special? what do you usually like to get, clothes or home goods? or something totally different?

hope you like my treasures!

Meal Planning

2011-04-03T15:29:00.000-07:00

dudes.

this is going to be a long post.

partly because i'm going to vomit my thoughts all over this blog and partly because it just is.

ok. for one, i love to meal plan. it feeds into my OCD like none other. it allows me to make a chart and cross things off, which makes me feel all warm inside. also it helps me keep to our grocery budget because i am only buying what we need and we are eating what i buy. sparkles and rainbows are flying out of my kitchen on a nightly basis. it couldn't get any better than weekly meal planning right?!?! NO! ever heard of monthly meal planning?? what!

several weeks ago i came across this blog post about monthly grocery shopping. (sorry about the poor link. i tried to give her credit and she has good things to say about monthly shopping but her blog is not functioning right. try again later!) it caught my attention because the idea of shopping only once, preparing all your meals, and freezing them sounded not only like a fun project for this OCD mama, but also because it seemed like you put in all the effort at the start and get the rest of the month off from cooking. VACATION? yes.

now...i LOVE to cook, but there for sure are days when i am not prepared for a certain meal, or just plain old don't feel like cooking. i have a process that goes on in my head and if i don't follow it i get easily overwhelmed. dinner time is not one of those time i should be deviating from a process. i'm also not one of those special people who can look in the cupboards and be all "bippity boppity boo" and come up with something that will blow my family's minds... i need a recipe. like, every time.

so i decided to go on the adventure of attempting to monthly meal plan. only my meal plan will be bimonthly because, joy kill, i don't have a separate deep freezer. our freezer is ridiculously tiny so i just can't fit that much in there. it's ok, it's still awesome.

wow, still with me? it's gonna start getting good now, promise.

last year i stumbled upon this wonderful creation that i use religiously. it's a grocery list that is pretty and allows for me to plan my week like Jesus isn't coming back anytime soon. you should get it and love it like i do. after printing my grocery list i embarked on a hunt for healthy freezer friendly and crockpot ready meals. then i filled out my form for double the amount to make it two weeks worth. AH-MAZE-ING.

now, i will give you all my recipes for the next two weeks and how i altered them to either be freezer or crockpot friendly.

slow cooker asian chicken with snow peas, red peppers and soba noodles

the link calls for pork, but after watching Dirty Jobs with Mike Rowe with my Mr. about pig farming {gag} we decided to take a break from pork for a while. i substituted the pork for chicken thighs. i will have to go back to the store to pick up fresh bell peppers and snow peas next week since i don't expect them to keep for two weeks.

slow cooker white bean soup with sausage and collards

we had this last night. the collards were nasty. i think i will try adding kale next week. also, the link calls for andouille but i just put turkey kielbasa in instead.

chicken tortilla soup

i make this all the time and we all love it. to make this one freezer friendly i just put all the first 6 ingredients, except the oil, in a ziplock. i also substitute zucchini for black beans and omit the jalapenos to make it more kid friendly.

meatloaf

i also make this one pretty regularly. i didn't think i would ever like meatloaf until i had this one. this recipe is for a single serving, so in order to make two family sized batches i had to multiply everything by 8. (who says you never use math!) to make it freezer friendly i put it in foil tins. so easy. i will serve it with freshly steamed green beans and roasted yams.

here is my spaghetti recipe. i forgot to take a picture. it's the best. my son does a little fist pump when he knows it's spaghetti night. i usually add zucchini and substitute the ground beef for mild italian turkey sausage. doubling this recipe was gave me enough for 4 calzones and 3 family size batches for later.

calzones

i purchased some premade pizza dough. i rolled it out and filled it with the spaghetti sauce, mushrooms, olives, and fresh mozzarella slices. to make them freezer friendly i wrapped them in plastic wrap and put them in freezer bags.

first time making calzones.

mmm. can't wait to eat you.

chicken and brown rice

i'm not sure why this is the only picture i took. it doesn't look like all the rest and it's giving me a little twitch. but i guess i'll just have to deal with it. anyway, to make this freezer friendly i browned the chicken and put the first 6 ingredients in, except the oil. once it's thawed i will follow the remaining steps.

chili. i also don't have a picture of this because i'm making it tonight. i usually make cornbread with this. love this recipe.

here's my freezer, minus the meatloaf. the meatloaf tins are in the door. i'll still be able to squeeze the second batch of chili in right up top. nice.

so right around 4:30 when i'm usually sweating over chopped carrots you can just find me playing with my kids in the yard.

utopia.

***UPDATE: in case anyone is wondering, i spend $200, give or take for the few non food related items like deoderant and stuff. we are a family of four so it may be more or less depending on how many are in your family and how far these recipes go for you. i purchased my meat at Costco and did all my other shopping at Fresh & Easy. i heart Fresh & Easy. ***

Paper Bunting

2011-04-02T17:36:00.000-07:00

so... in order to get a shop up and running i need money. i don't have money. you have money. i have bunting. let's trade!

just kidding. not really. in all seriousness, i am trying to sell a couple of these cute little suckers so i can put the money towards my packaging and building up my supply so i can have a nice shiny store when it comes time for the grand opening. so, here are a couple premade paper bunting(s?) that i made recently. if you are interested in one please email me. i also take custom orders.

"smitten" bunting - fifty five dollars

"dwell" bunting - forty five dollars

"tiny" bunting - forty dollars

also, my brother is turning 18 in a couple days and this is his senior year in high school and i really want to get him a camera. the money would also go towards that.

shhh. don't tell him.

repurposed crib bumper

2011-03-21T13:58:00.000-07:00

last night i finished sewing up a decorative "body pillow" type thing for my daughter's bed that i made out of her crib bumper. i loved her nursery bedding so much that i could not bear to part with any piece of it. now that she's in a toddler bed there was really no use for it (i'm not really sure there ever was... with all the books telling you not to use the bumper when they're a newborn because of suffocation risk, and later it becomes a stepping stool for them to climb out of their crib...) i decided to deconstruct it and make use of it in other area's around her room.

bedding from Potter Barn (discontinued) and crib sheet from Garnet Hill

for the pillow part of the repurposing i seam ripped all the binding except the part that i would be using for the pillow. i then took the stuffing from the end i would not need and stuffed the pillow with the access. once it was fluffy enough i stitched up the end with a little piece of the leftover binding. easy as pie. oh, how i love free decorations!

to add a little more of the bedding design around her room i cut up pieces large enough to fit in several different sized embroidery circles. once in place i just trimmed around the edges. not totally free, but practically since the embroidery circles cost a little over $1 each.

all photography by Jackie Wonders.

i also tried my hand at a little chevron quilt patch for one of the circles. that little beast took me all day! partly because i didn't really use a tutorial, i just tried to do it by sight. since i didn't have any professional help i had to re-cut my diamond shapes two extra times. not only did i waste fabric, i wasted A LOT of time. take my advice, ask for help if you don't know what you're doing! i will say, i did learn alot. and it still turned out pretty cute.

the little green fabric circles are from the back of the bumper. it's also on the back of her quilt. i love it so much, it balances out the bright bubble gum pink and adds a nice accent.

i'm gonna be super bummed when she grows out of her toddler bed because that means her quilt will be too small. i could always use it as a wall hanging i guess. it just makes me so happy. can you tell how obsessed i am with this bedding?

Date Night & Pen Pals

2011-03-16T20:24:00.000-07:00

last night was date night. it is one my thirty before thirty goals to work up to at least 2 date nights a month, this was our first one in 4 weeks. since moving to Fresno and away from 6 grandparents to our kids, plus several "honorary grandparents" or older couples who just love our bambinos, we've had a hard time feeling comfortable asking people to babysit the wee ones. on one hand, we don't know very many older couples who don't have any kids of their own living with them, and on the other we just don't know that many people super well yet. so when our church decided to do a "date night" for the parents at the church to drop of their kids for 2 1/2 hours, we jumped on it!

we went out to eat at a local restaurant. while the food was pricey and not that good and the restaurant was noisy, we still enjoyed being together with no interruptions from our kids or having to cut up food into small pieces. after dinner we walked across the street to a lovely little bakery.

i ordered a red velvet cupcake (which was a sparkly fiesta in my mouth) and a bowl of coffee. yep, that's right... a BOWL. look at the size of that thing! no, that is not a mini cupcake... it's standard size. that has got to be the largest coffee i have ever seen. ever.

mmm. cream cheese frosting. by the way, what does red velvet taste like? i tried to figure it out by eating just the cake without the frosting and it really doesn't have a distinct taste. red #40, maybe?

my Mr. had the german chocolate cupcake.

we decided to try our hand at checkers. i had never played. he was black and i was red.

duh, winning.

me + bowl of coffee dominating my upper body. i almost drowned.

happy without the babies for a moment. (super blurry, sorry.)

onto other news... big A got a letter in the mail. SO. CUTE.

our friend and neighbor that lives a few doors down dropped this in the mail.

super good writing for a 5 year old!

big A's return letter.

big A is 4 and we are going through hooked on phonics together. he's doing really well and has completed all the uppercase and is halfway through the lowercase. he was pretty excited to put his writing skills to use. in case you can't quite read it it says:

Dear Noah,

Yes I want to be your pen pals.

Asher

this just kills me.

little a had to make one for our neighbor's little sister. ugh. i just love my kids.

anyway, here is us.

New Blog Design

2011-03-13T09:52:00.000-07:00

i decided to switch things up around here. most of it has to do with THIS amazing blog that i stumbled across and am trying to ~~get a similar look~~ straight up copy. there is no shame. i love it and i want it. seriously, EVERYTHING about this blog inspires me. i get the feeling i will be linking to this blog in almost every post from here on out. don't hate me.

i totally tried to make buttons for my sidebar that were simple but cute and i could not, for the life of me, figure out how to change the HTML. i spent like 4362589 ~~hours~~ minutes trying to get it right. if any of you know how to, please share the goods. pretty please, with sugar on top!!

it also has to do with Spring!!! i'm so excited to see the little flower buds blooming on the trees in our yard and even some new sprouts on my windowsill. i have a ton of ideas for making Easter special for my kiddos this year and reflecting on my magnificent savior. i also wanted my blog to reflect the yummy colors of spring that inspire me and sing to my heart.

hello there. i'm going to love and nurture you, then EAT you. okay, thanks.

these are my pretty little terrariums on my windowsill. i got a few mini pots from the dollar bin at Target and thought it made a cute decoration. it's also helping me fulfill my dream of having a garden. i know, it's not a very good one... but it's a start.

also, time for spring cleaning. my windows!!! ick.

i'm also working on getting an etsy shop open in the next two weeks. i've been mass producing some lovely banners over here. (do you call them banners or bunting?? i've been switching between the two and feel like i need to pick one for consistency.) i've also been collecting inspiration for my packaging. i know it will have some elements of kraft paper and pretty ribbon, but more on that later.

so here it is, what do you think? too bright? too much of a biter?

eh. i love it and it's my blog.

so there.

(sorry if you were all, "i totally love it!", then were offended by my snootiness. its a defense mechanism.)

hearts and sparkles,
tara

Our House: The Entryway

2011-03-07T14:36:00.000-08:00

so, right now i'm about to share 4 photos of the same thing. yep. that's how i roll.

this is entryway. entryway, meet blogisphere.

the entryway is graced with my most favorite piece of furniture in our whole house. its original purpose of use is a changing table, but since my youngest was old enough to seriously damage something by plummeting off of it 2 YEARS AGO (!) it has found new use as our entryway table/office storage system. i inherited her from my late Tia Diana. she passed away when i was 18 and my dad thought i would like it. good looking out dad! i feel like i should name her. not sure what though. any suggestions?

i finally got around to throwing some stuff up on the wall above (insert table name HERE). several weeks ago i hung out with the increds Cherish. i was having an "i-need-to-escape-my-house-and-sick-children" moment and she came to my rescue. we popped out a couple of these gorgeous wreaths. heart her. heart her wreaths.

i'm totally in love with it. that's why i had to post so many pictures.

i also could not stop myself from making a micro-mini banner to strew across the top.

alas, i love entryway all the more. what do you think? have you ever named random objects like furniture or plants? i've had several cars names Ginga over the past couple years... i think the table looks like an Olive, or maybe Sage since she's kind of a sage green color???

confessions

2011-03-03T09:42:00.000-08:00

read at your own risk...

not including one load in the washer + one in the dryer.

i JUST put away 10 loads of laundry, like last night right before bed. now i am doing 10 MORE LOADS OF LAUNDRY. part of the reason this is such a huge feat for me is because i am so O.C.D. about the laundry washing process. this is what goes on in my brain: let the laundry pile up and flow over the basket until i run out of underwear and the kids have no more socks. then, micro-sort. make a pile for whites, lights, brights, darks, linens, big A, & little A. this takes about 30 minutes. i know. THEN, i f~~old it all and put away straight from the dryer~~ let all the clean laundry pile up on the bottom of my closet and get frustrated everytime i can't find something. i am well aware of all my issues and am working on them. i've gotten better at folding them after each load... it's the putting it all away that makes me cringe.
i love the smell of my kids breath and sweaty heads.
when i get a manicure or pedicure i usually file my nails before i go in then come home and touch up the paint. i don't know why i spend the money. i usually only get it done once a year, this is probably why.
my daughter asked who Jesus was last night. oh. crap. i guess we've been reading too many princess stories and comic books. the only book we read before bed after this question was The BIBLE. now, there is no question and i will make sure to even out the playing field better.
i love when my Mr. makes fun of me. it's the most hilarious thing in the world.
laughing is my favorite.

ok, so if you're all like me and love to peek into people's dirty little secrets, then i hope you feel like you know me a little better. hope you aren't scared. can you relate to any of this? do tell....

MARRIED!: Zak & Karey

2011-02-28T14:59:00.000-08:00

more paper? i know.

congratulations, Mr. & Mrs. Shultz! (wow, it's crazy to even say that! woo hoo!)

ok, let me just start by telling you how awesome Karey is. she is REALLY REALLY awesome! not only she is beautiful, talented, and the sweetest person you'll ever meet, she also loves Jesus a whole lot. and it shows. i met Karey at Hume Lake Christian Camps during the summer of 2005 (i think, jeez it was so long ago). she was the intern photographer and i was a band-aid for my Mr.'s band that was leading high school students in worship for 12 weeks. i had an instant girl crush on her and we were fast friends. i am so proud of her. she has since then started her own photography business (that ROCKS!) and faithfully waited for the Lord to bring her the perfect man. and. did. He. ever. i am so happy for these two love birds!! they are PERFECT for eachother.

ok, so onto the paper...

invitation card | front + back

karey asked for modern with a touch of whimsy. these are perfect, no? she sent me a picture and i pretty much did my best to copy it from head to toe. i did use all my own fonts (and by that i mean i found them all and added them, NOT i'm totally a typographer, because that would just be a dream come true.)

map & directions | front + back

i think i finished designing the entire invitation suite in one hour. it was all so stream-lined and karey was awesome about getting all her info to me in a timely manner. she was very thorough and i bet it's because she's in the wedding industry and knows how important it is to be detailed.

rsvp card | front + back

i don't even think there were any changes that needed to be made, maybe one. i think she was my favorite client. and i'm SOOOOO honored that i got to be apart of her wedding because let's be honest... she totally knows tons of awesome wedding vendors because of her job... so THANK YOU for choosing me. i hope you were pleased with your service and product!

invitation suite

i just love karey with all my little heart and am truly excited for these two people to be together. many blessings on your new marriage now and forever. love you guys!
p.s. the results are in for the giveaway!

Link Love

2011-02-26T14:42:00.000-08:00

so, i totally feel like a biter right now. i've seen alot of blogs doing this link love thing and i'm totally joining in. i guess i just feel like it would be a great way for you to see what i love to look at and also the things that keep me awake during naptime because i can't stop thinking about how much i want to make them myself.

so here it goes:

this print makes me want to abandon the whole car theme track i'm on in my son's room and make it a space theme. (see above)

going to be using this as a resource when i start my garden for canning all my fruit and veggies. (*crossing my fingers that i don't kill everything!*)

REALLY want to munch on this today.

if i could plan my wedding all over again it would look like this. i love all the natural colors.

too bad i don't live in SanFran or i could be THISCLOSE to fulfilling one of my Thirty Before Thirty with this.

i guess i'll make my own CAKESTAND!

i'll be printing these so my son will think i'm the best mom in the world when he gets up from rest time.

this book is infuriating, heart-breaking, and gut wrenching. i am on my knees for these kids and their cities. Lord, come quickly.

can i please be bold enough to do this to a wall in my house? and does it come in removable, cause we are renters?

thank you, Melissa, for being honest about your post baby belly. my second baby is 2 1/2 and i'm still struggling. p.s. you look good.

ok, that was fun. hope you like all the things i like.

GIVEAWAY: love banner

2011-02-24T09:31:00.000-08:00

ok people. i need your help. i'm thinking about either opening up an ETSY store or trying to sell some premade banners locally. what i need from you is if there is still a market for these (do you want one?) and if i were to make a custom one for you what would you want it to say?

in exchange for said help i will give you this. made in mind for a baby girl's room, but you could really put it anywhere you'd like.

GIVEAWAY IS CLOSED. all you have to do is become a follower of my blog and leave a comment on this post with your answer and i will randomly pick a winner by monday, february 28th, 2011 at 2:00pm. make sure to leave your email address or someway i can contact you if you end up winning. good luck!

if you want to see some other ones i've made in the past you can click here, here, here, and here.

thanks friends, i REALLY appreciate your help!

and the winner is: LEAH OHLSON!!! congratulations!! please email me your home address so i can mail it out to you.

thirty before thirty

2011-02-22T16:05:00.000-08:00

or 20. depends on if you're a glass half empty/full kind of person. i'm choosing to see it full at the moment because i ~~can't think of anything else to add to the list~~ am such an optimist.

i recently turned 29 in november and there is a strange pressure building up. it could be the other blogs that i've seen with cool countdowns and i feel the pressure to be cool OR the fact that i have 56878356878 things i'd like to change slash do and doing it before 30 seems like a good goal. whatevs.

so here it is:

get out of financial debt. living debt free so we can ~~go on a sweet vacation~~ be better stewards of our money and give more is our numero uno goal this year.
make a habit out of reading the bible, daily.
print and frame 4 years worth of family photos.
find a good school for big A. this needs to happen in two months. eek.
loose my pooch & love handles. shut up.
make good Pho from scratch.
train for and run a 1/2 marathon.
get my business license.
get one more tattoo.
have a date night with my mr. at least twice a month.
plant a garden.
start saving for a real vacation. because joining my mr.'s band when they play at camps with our kids is NOT a vacation.
make love to my husband everyday for 30 days.
be more consistent about being mentored by my mentor.
become a mentor.
make affirming my mr. a natural habit.
give my kids more of my presence, daily.
monthly grocery shopping.
learn calligraphy.
make good tamales from scratch.

finish ongoing projects: (this is where the extra 10 come in)

felt aquarium shower curtain for kids bathroom.
spray paint school chairs for big A's room.
create more "art" for the house
big A's granny square blanket. because what boy doesn't want a granny square blanket at any given point in their lives?
little a's bubble crochet blanket.
little a's dresser.
big a's dresser.
pillows for living room.
little a's name story
curtains for the living room.

not in that order. except #1. i'll make sure to update on my progress on each of these items. this is good accountability.

calligraphy photo found here.

Tea for Three

2011-02-20T20:18:00.000-08:00

my mr. is the director of worship at the well community church. once in a while he has to do what they call the "iron man", which is all 4 services + the midweek service on wednesday nights. on days like this my kids are in rare form; throwing crazy fits, fighting with each other, down right disobeying me... most of it has to do with the fact that we start the day out rushing out the door to church and i'm a drill sergeant because there is no room for dilly-dallying. but i also know they love their daddy and have a hard time understanding why he has to work some nights.

tonight was one of those nights. so to make this night a little more fun i decided to do a tea party for the three of us. i broke out the mini dishes we got from IKEA that i won't let them use because i'm afraid they will break them. so really, its like our fine china. i made chicken salad finger sandwiches, soup, and served tea and strawberry scones for dessert. the kids loved it.

sorry about the terrible quality of the pictures. it was dark out and my lighting was bad. as much as i love photography, it is just not my thing.

cutest mini cream and sugar set on earth.

like my glass domes? i'm totally in love with them. i found 3 (!) of them at Goodwill for $3 each. score.

and those beautiful vintage footed rosette crystal plates were a gift from my amazing ~~step~~mom. she is always finding cute stuff at antique stores for me!

the domes are a perfect fit! i would also love to get some tree trunk slices to use as "everyday" bases and make them into terrariums filled with felt mushrooms. another project to add to the list? YES! the crystal will just be for special occasions. like our tea parties.

cheers!

um, this is just amazing.

superman (who is really spiderman, who is really peter parker), mommy, and the princess/ballerina. duh.

you know you wanna come over and have tea with us. we would love it. any reason to break out the IKEA china.

Jesse & Holly: MARRIED!

2011-02-14T15:31:00.000-08:00

FINALLY, some paper.

i have the privilege of knowing some awesome people. in that lump of awesome people are holly and jesse. i knew holly first, we met 5 years ago when she started singing for my mr.'s band. she has managed to make both of my kids, at separate times and for totally different reasons, fall in love with her. and me, and countless other people. then came Jesse. and he snatched her up! separately these two are some extraordinary people. but together, now that is something special. i can't wait to see what this couple brings to those who love them.

so, i love them. and they love each other. and that love was made forever through some pretty awesome covenant vows that my mr. and i had the privilege of witnessing on saturday. it was a beautiful wedding. and i got to be a part of it in a small way. this is how.

holly and jesse really wanted something vintage and travel related. so i recreated an old telegram for their invitation card.

she didn't really give me much more input other than those two objectives and the wedding details, so i kind of just went for it. i loved the map i made for heather & aaron's wedding so much that i made a similar one for holly. something about vibrant colors on brown paper bag make me swoon.

since they created a wedding website for people to RSVP i whipped up about 10 of these little postcards for the few people she didn't think would have access to internet. i printed them from home, so the quality is not as nice as everything else i outsourced, but i love the design.

ah, the wrap around label. i push for these with almost every client because they are SO. MUCH. FUN. thankfully they went for it and i added some old school air mail stripes and a little dingbat to give them a vintage touch.

i love this wedding invitation suite and i hope you do to!

Refashioned Boy's Pants

2011-02-09T10:01:00.000-08:00

i am so excited about these pants. i feel like such a rockstar. i MADE PANTS. ok, sort of. in a round-about way. i chopped up men's pants and shrunk them down into a size 4 boy's pants.

double rainbows.

i love the internet. it is chalked full of useful tutorials. like this one. and the even greater thing is that if there is a sewing technique i haven't heard of or know how to do, like blind stitching, you can just look up a sweet video on You Tube and learn how to do it. right then and there. lickity split. johnny on the spot.

i must say, these pants were pretty easy to make. the longest part was deconstructing the pants. the tutorial suggests choosing pants that look pretty easy to take apart, but true to i-like-to-make-everything-harder-"because-i-work-better-in-stressful-situations" form, i chose pants according to the color with LOTS of pleats and crazy seams to deconstruct.

after hours of seam ripping i was able to get down to business.

(this is his "serious model" face)

i was right on track and had it all under control, when right at the end as i'm reattaching the waist line (the thickest part of the sewing) my needle breaks, shoots me in the neck, and my sewing machine got all cranky and made a bad sounding noise that i was sure could never be fixed. F. so i panicked, almost cried, then almost shouted some real profanity, then i called my dad. and he walked me through fixing it with his mad sewing machine repair skills. love you dad. big hug. little kiss. (Xo)

the amazing part was that after i finished all the final touches and tried them on my son, with one eye open, THEY FIT! perfectly.

i can't wait to post pictures of him looking so cute, walking down the isle at Holly & Jesse's wedding (which i also made the invitations for and will be post pictures of NEXT WEEK! i love them and i think you will too.) yay.

for now, i am done sewing. i am officially retiring from my sewing career. but like every true rockstar i will probably come out of retirement when i feel like it.

Refashioned Boy's Vest

2011-02-07T14:31:00.000-08:00

dudes.

last week i took my sewing skills from beginner to intermediate. all thanks to my late grandma and the internet.

it all started with our sweet friend, Holly-licious, and her upcoming nuptials. we've known Holly Lolly for-ev-er. she sings in my Mr.'s band, 330 Plan, and is all around awesome and talented. she recently asked if our son Big A would be able to be the ring bearer in her wedding and we were all super thrilled at the thought. thus began the search for a stylish little man vest and slacks for the wedding. off i went to every place on the face of the earth that sold children's clothing and found the perfect outfit the first time was out of luck. (seems they only carry fancy clothes during the holidays.) so i searched the internet and stumbled upon this sweet blog and the tutorial for refashioning men's pants into a boy's vest.

here is attempt #1:

read: this is not my son. in fact, it is my 2 YEAR OLD daughter, little a. i apparently did not measure anything correctly and instead of having a free vest (i used an old work skirt and some shorts that i decided didn't fit my husband right for this vest.) i had to go buy something to cut up since my Mr. didn't want me digging through his old perfectly good clothes.

attempt #2: off to the nearest thrift store for some pants on the cheap. $3 each. nice.

now that i'm such an experienced seamstress, i got it right. here is the only picture of my son i could get with him not being silly.

and here is his true personality. i love it!

i am truly grateful for my Grandma Shirley, who taught me how to sew when i was younger. she took the time and had patience. she showed me how to thread the bobbin, thread the sewing machine, and everything else. i never really used that skill very much, but am glad we had that time together. i can't wait to conquer my OCD with some basic sewing skills for my kids as soon as i'm they're ready. and yes, i will be teaching my son how to sew. whenever i'm in a bind and can't figure something out on my sewing machine, i call my dad. his first job was a sewing machine repair man when he was a teenager and i don't know what i would do without him.

but for reals, how do you mommy bloggers get such cute shots of your kids? i had to bribe him to model for me. i told him it was practice for the wedding and Hols wanted to see him in it before the wedding.

i'm pretty happy with the outcome. (picture me brushing something off my shoulder, with a proud look on my face.) (sidenote: why do we brush stuff off our shoulders when we're proud?? doesn't brushing stuff off our shoulders mean we have dandruff? i don't know about you but i would NOT be proudly brushing dandruff off my shoulders. sorry, back to the point...) i still need to finish the buttons but it fits him nicely and he looks so dapper. thank you endless resource for sewing tips, the internet.

next up: SLIM SLACKS, repurposed from men's pants.

Baby Announcement: Welcome Hawea!

2011-01-25T09:22:00.000-08:00

several months ago i had the pleasure of creating birth announcements for the brand new daughter of someone i love dearly. new mommy, Kahea, and i were instant friends and i miss her tons now that we no longer live near one another. i am also super bummed that i haven't gotten to hold her sweet baby girl yet! soon, very soon.

Kahea asked for a monogram, and right around the time i made these i was super excited to find a free monogram download from the Wedding Chicks blog. you can personalize a monogram for yourself here.

matching wrap-around mailing labels.

welcome sweet Hawea, i can't wait to meet you!

Preschool Co-Op: Letter A

2011-01-24T08:18:00.000-08:00

a couple weeks ago some of the mom's at our new home church invited me to be a part of their small preschool co-op group. i was totally honored and excited to be making such sweet memories with my kids and some truly great woman, while also teaching the kids the alphabet.

we all decided a small group would work best, so it doesn't get out of hand. we had a planning meeting to decide on the structure of our "curriculum" before we got started, which would consist of a letter coloring sheet, craft, activity, and snack that would all correspond with the letter we are on for that week. we will also be taking some field trips. so. fun.

i found these awesome free printable coloring sheets here.

all our students.

ms. andi was the teacher for letter A and planned so many wonderful crafts and activities for the kiddos. after the coloring sheet we all went outside in the beautiful sunshine (!) and did a hunt for envelopes with the letter A on them. each envelope contained items that started with the letter A, like a picture of an acrobat, alligator, each one of my children since their names start with A... so on and so forth.

next we came back inside and decorated paper plates with red tissue paper and streamer. once finished we stapled 2 plates together and added pasta inside to make an "apple shaker". we also had "ants on a log" snack variation, "ants on an apple", which is apple slices with peanut butter and raisins. sorry, no pictures. while the kids were outside playing airplane, i was prepping the mini apple pies. LOVE. it was all andi's idea and i totally took it over!

each kid got a mini pie tin, two rounds of pie crust some apple pie filling, and a decorative "apple" to put on each of their pies. i added a little egg wash and popped them in the oven.

LUNCH TIME! it was so cute seeing all the kids sit together and eat their lunch.

it was pretty bright so my daughter was covering her eyes and another little girls eyes from the sun. sweet moment.

once lunch was over, the apple pies were done. ms. andi had the kids sing "The Ants Go Marching On" while using their apple shakers as instruments.

then we all called it a day. a really good day.

all photography by Jen Bell.

our house: the living room, two ways

2011-01-18T14:49:00.001-08:00

ok people, i need your help. for some reason i am totally struggling to figure out the best way to arrange our furniture for this living room floor plan. i think the issue is that the fireplace is smack dab in the middle of the wall with a window on each side. it forces you to either make it the focal point or ignore it all together. since we don't have a flat screen tv to mount above it, we are choosing to ignore it. so i would love your input, which do you like better?

nice amount of floor space for the kids to play. (please excuse the Christmas decorations. i took the pictures when our decorations were still up. it was the last time our house was this clean and i had to seize the moment.)
with this layout, the tv is SUPER far away. we've had this tv since we got married 7 years ago and it was a hand me down from our brother-in-law. we're not complaining, but at 32" it's more like 12" from across the room. i mean, we're struggling to read subtitles at this point.
also, do you notice that huge empty spot on the wall between the couch and the desk?? yeah, me too. i would really love to get the coordinating Sloan leaning bookshelf to put there, which would also help me get my storage boxes of DVDs out of the garage.

NEXT! ok, i have to admit i like this layout better cause it doesn't make me want to spend $1000 on new furniture. but it has it's own problems. like, the tv is WAY closer, but we're totally on top of it. watching tv for the first time like this was like movie theater action. which is totally an optical illusion because we plainly DO NOT have that status going on.
like our rugs? me too. we got them for free (!) from a friend who was downsizing all his belongings to only 100 items. he wants to own less so he can give more. uh-maze-zing. read all about it here. we probably won't keep them in this spot though, for obvious reasons.
not so much play room for the kids, but that's what there bedrooms are for, right?
still a big blank spot, but less desire to fill it. maybe a plant? for sure.
feeling better about this office area. it's behind the living area. no one wants to see the office, not even in their peripheral. no one.

so anyway. here's a little window into our new home (we've lived here for 4 months). none of our family has seen it yet so i thought it would be nice to give a tour. i'm really hoping my husband's mom will give me her opinion, she's wicked good at decorating and i could really use her help!

if you think something else would look good i'm open, send me a comment!

Christmas Card

2011-01-01T14:52:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Pack it up, pack it in, let it begin!

here is our Christmas card for 2010. i used the free pattern from Lovely Design and altered it a little to match our clothes. the amazing Jackie Wonders shot our family. hope your holiday season was a good one. thank you for reading my blog. if you're not a follower you should totally become one. wink.

now i need to clean out the kid's rooms and make room for stuff. Neighborhood Thrift needs to get ready cause i'm about to unload a bunch of gently used toys and clothes on them!

have any resolutions for this year? i haven't really thought about it. i feel like i should cut out sugar or something that will only last for a millisecond... i just don't get into all that reflecting and making broken promises stuff. one thing i would LOVE to really be serious about (and this is not uncommon to other days of the year) is to really, truly, and whole-heartedly seek a deeper relationship with the Lord. as a stay at home mom of two youngins i find it difficult to be consistent in my quiet time. like, i only read my bible for a couple days in a row, once a month. dude, i'm just being honest. i suck at making my time with God a priority. i'm beginning to find that there are idols in my life that are taking my attention away from the Lord, like looking at blogs, or social networking. i don't think i want to completely stop or anything, but i definitely think i need to "do my homework before i can go out and play", you know?

anyway, does anyone know of any good "bible reading plan/daily devotional/commentary for stay at home moms who only have a 5 minute attention span that won't make my OCD jump into high gear when i miss a day by having dates and stuff in it"? let me know if you do.

ps. here was last year's Christmas card. i also used Lovely Design's free pattern. i REALLY like her patterns. can you tell?

Cinnamon Cutouts

2010-12-16T14:45:00.000-08:00

or otherwise titled, "control freak mom loses it while trying to use glitter with preschoolers".

i was feeling pretty convicted from my last post about not letting my kids help me make ornaments for the tree last year. so i went ahead and started the 3 day craft of cinnamon cutouts. we had to first make the dough, which made my house smell ridiculously good, but also made all of our boogers (we're sick) cinnamon tinged. gross.

it took about 3 days for the cutouts to dry, and 27 sweepings of cinnamon piles from my floors, before we could add glitter.

so let me just start by reiterating how OCD i am:

1) i am not good at delegating. i figure, i can probably do it better, faster, and more perfect so i will just to it myself. not very humble... but i'm being honest. 2) messes really bother me. 3) i like to have "contained" crafts, ie: in one area, where it doesn't get messy. 4) when people don't follow instructions i get really frustrated and say i will do it myself. 5) i don't like cleaning.

so once the cutouts were dry i devised a "plan" on how it should go. each of my children would get a bowl of glue and a paintbrush to "paint" the design on. each color of glitter was separated by individual bowls. they were to apply the glue, shake on glitter, and pour glitter back into specified bowl so as not to mix the colors. sounds good, right? wrong. need i remind you that my children are 2 and 4!!! they totally mixed all the glitter, used the paint brush full of glue to smear glitter-glue all over the table, paper and ornament, and managed to get at least half the glue on their face, in their hair, and all over the floor.

ok, so now that i'm done complaining, i can tell you how much fun my kids had. they hand picked out each shape to compliment each recipient. made precious gifts that they are excited to give away. and i'm sure, they will remember this is a good memory and not my rantings of how they weren't following instructions, i hope.

i love them and i don't care if the person who gets them doesn't love them until their adults and can appreciate the hard work my kids put into them, or ever...

i just don't think i will be allowing my kids to use glitter as a craft until they're teenagers. or maybe we'll just stick to sequins.

anyway. here's a picture of our tree.