Dog days of summer ....

We've been hit with the dog days of summer around these parts! So despite wanting to run around outside, we've been trying to stay in during the hottest part of the day. So today, we pulled out some crafting supplies and made pen holders for the DS (something we've been meaning to do for quite some time!)





And you end up with this:



It was fun and a great way to spend time indoors and hopefully I will do less searching for missing pens! =)

Just in case ...

you were wondering. Even if it's 93 degrees out, laundry will still take some time to dry if there is a lot of humidity in the air.

And also, when it's 93 degrees out, you might feel too tired to do anything but figure out ways to stay cool!

That is all =)

New Art Gallery!

Our house got a new art gallery installed today.

The kids love it as well!

I've been wanting to do this for a while. We've been thinking of ideas on how to display the kids' art work. First I thought about frames, but, those are really expensive and plus, you never know what size art work they will produce! Then we thought about getting some cork board. But most of them were too thin, the pins would have gone right through and made marks on the wall behind it (which dh was opposed to doing because he doesn't want to patch a million holes LOL!) I asked around for ideas - and heard lots of great ones, but none I could make work in our house.

Finally, this morning I told dh, forget it looking "nice." We are not a real gallery. All that is important to me is that we hang up some of the kids stuff because they make so much and I feel like we display so little of it. So go buy 4 eye hooks and some wire and even if it doesn't look "professional" it will be awesome!

So, he did. And we hung it up tonight. And I have to say, I LOVE it. I absolutely love it. I just keep walking by and looking at it. The kids, they love it too. It may not look professional, it may not look like a real gallery, but you know what, it's our gallery. And that makes it wonderful in my eyes! =)

Estate Sale finds ...

I went to an estate sale Friday. I was hoping to come home with tons more (the ad for it was so promising). Instead I came home with very few things.

The little mason jars are salt and pepper shakers. I have the perfect spot to display them. I think they are beyond adorable and with all the mason jars I am quickly collecting, I decided these were a good splurge!
I was also glad to find the pyrex there - I'm going to try to make bread in there next time to see how that goes. I'm trying to find ways to replace my nonstick kitchen items, so I'm crossing my fingers it works!

But my favorite thing is this old blue milk jar. I LOVE it. I am staring at it right now. The clear one is cool too, but seriously, the blue one takes the cake. I will searching for the perfect place to put it - where hopefully the kids can't break it. But seriously, the minute I saw it, I knew it had to come home with me!!

I'm still not sure where to put it, but I will figure something out!

Clutter Challenge!

I hope you'll come over and join us. And I'm also praying and hoping I can round up a few give-aways or something for the people who are a part of the challenge - so if you have something to donate or offer, that would be beyond fabulous! =)

New Things

I received some new toys in the mail today!

I've already "read" them all. So inspired to do lots and lots of sewing now. Too bad my funds to buy fabric and other items aren't unlimited LOL! They are all beautiful books and I have a feeling I will just pull them out and randomly look through the pictures when I need a good dose of inspiration!!

Another item arrived in the mail today:




This goes along with what came in the mail for me last week:



(Which by the way, aside from Christmas, this is the most mail I have received in such a short period of time!)

And clearly, sewing is on my mind these days, along with some pattern drafting. No, I don't want to do anything too fancy, but I figure it would be fun to try to learn, especially for these children who seem to not be the perfect any size on premade patterns (they are too short, too tight, too long, too loose - I can't win LOL!).

So I will be quite busy with that.

In addition to all of that, my reading list is much too high. And for kicks, I started a new cross-stitch project. Since the 10 in progress weren't enough to grab my attention this weekend! =)

Linen Bread Bags

The beauty of making bread at home is I never have to worry about the plastic bags that store bread comes in. Which is a beautiful thing.

However, we have been storing bread at home in plastic zip lock bags, which I dutifully wash and reuse until it just can't be used anymore.

Except, now I have a thing for plastic. As in, I want plastic and my food to touch as little as possible.

So, thanks to Cluck and Tweet, I got the idea to make these linen bread bags. Mine isn't as pretty as the one on their blog (but don't worry, some embroidered one are coming!) but I wanted to whip a couple up ASAP t o start using.

Anyway, I love my new linen bag and plan to make quite a few more! =)

Bread Crumbs!

Over the weekend I made bread crumbs. Surprisingly enough they are super easy to make ... although I guess it isn't that surprising, but seeing as I've never done it before, it was surprising.

I made plain bread crumbs and Italian bread crumbs using this and this recipe.

We had an overload of good bread in the house this week and so I had plenty of bread to pick from.

I love it. I will probably spend the week trying to make as many things with bread crumbs as possible now LOL! And better yet, no packaging to throw away!