craft happy

I had a little assistant helping to model a Christmas gift during crafty afternoon yesterday. This is a $1 hat with an easy felt flower embellishment. Takes just a few minutes to make and looks oh so cute. Wouldn't you agree?

Although I may need to pick up a couple more of these hats from Target for our next crafty day cause they were in high demand from the little Christmas elves.

getting crafty with it, na na na na nana na

Yes, I really did just make you sing that. You're welcome.

I'm really getting tired of all the painting this place requires, so I've mentally taken a break and some time to put a few small Christmas gifts together. I also stamped my own cards this year for a measly 9 dollars. Wahoo. Plus, I got all fancy with them and added little gems to each card. I thought about glitter but then remembered my lifelong hatred for little tiny specs of crap everywhere. If you're sending me a card with glitter on it, I beg you, please reconsider. I open them over the trash can, read them while still in the envelope, and immediately throw them away.

I'm really digging green and blue lately, not sure why but it's sparking a creative twitch in me every time I see the combo. So for Christmas decor I'll be sticking with these muted blues and greens and throwing in a cranberry red. Mmmm, I like it.

I also had some creative inspiration to make more ribbon belts and headbands using these tutorials: felt pom poms, which I don't REALLY love, but might try using upholstery fabric like she suggested, scrunchy rosettes, which I do LOVE and this tutorial which I haven't had time to try yet...can you tell I'm really digging flowers lately? I want them on everything, my shirts, dresses, belts, headbands and necklaces. I'm a bit obsessed. Luckily I haven't had the time to make so many, and most of what I've made is heading out the door as gifts...

Anyway, HAPPY THANKSGIVING if I don't talk to you tomorrow. I'm off to clean, do laundry, grocery shop and just generally prepare for our guests coming in tonight...and maybe make some more belts, but no, I shall resist!

it's all in the details

Hello internetz! I know, I know, I've been busy. To say the least. It's been a crazy whirlwind of a year. I've been working feverishly on the house, and am ashamed to say I can't show you the after pictures due to my severe slacking off on trim work. And really, nothing looks finished without trim. So in the meantime {while i'm waiting for the first apple pies of the year to some out...yum.} i'll show you a few of the details:

updated brushed-nickel hardware, everywhere:

a new stove with the perfect blend of modern conveniences and retro styling:

a beautiful wood mantel, one of the few untouched surfaces in the house:

apples on the new island, complete with two stools for a morning hot spot:

and the fireplace which has hosted one very warm and toasty fire, and promises to give us many more to enjoy this winter. {i've always wanted a fireplace...}

and this is why the renovation will take us FORever.

this is a closet. ONE closet. And it's finally done. Well, minus the outer trim which isn't up anywhere yet...I figured doors were more important.

Anyway, this is the reason this reno will take us so stinking long. And why we're living in a construction zone. I wish I had a better before picture, but this will have to do. It used to have a weird platform on the floor and some nasty linoleum that matched the crazy 70s blue vibe from the bathroom. Then we tore that out and had the flooring guy install hardwoods in there.

I had to paint everything, prime the door and jam, we wainscoted the back wall to hide all those nasty sheetrock issues and left a nice neat opening for future plumbing access. Then I cut primed and painted the baseboards and put it all back together! And let me tell you, that painting was not fun, look at all those shelving nooks and crannies!

Anyway, today will be the completion of the laundry room. That way I can finally make a few loads of laundry disappear from the floor of our bedroom...

while you're waiting

for my great return to the world of blogging and crafting and baking and pretty much anything but what I've been doing, I'll leave you with some leafy love:{these were all taken with my handy dandy fits-in-my-back-pocket Canon PowerShot SD780 IS in the foliage mode.}

{We're moving in tomorrow morning people!! I'm tired just thinking about it. Our second move in just 6 months, but hopefully our last for a few years...and now back to packing.}

it's almost here

The big day. Moving day. And to be honest, i'm NOT ready. I AM however ready to stop all this back and forth between places. It'll be nice to do the work when I'm right there. We're not missing major things, like a bathroom or a kitchen, but we are lacking in minor things, like window trim and doors. Hopefully, by the weekend, we'll be even closer to being presentable. Regardless, this Saturday we'll still be toting our things through that red front door. Which I will be painting mustard yellow. When I get the time. AND speaking of time, once I have more of it, I will be blogging the process and the before and after photos. There's so much we've done and I want to show you all. Like it or not.

So I thought I would just let you all know that I am still here but I'm slowly going insane. I expect to be fully mental in about 6 days...see you then.

Two weeks and counting.

So what was I thinking taking a break on Sunday?? Well, let's just consider it a mental health day. I'm REALLY ready to be done, even though the end isn't nearly in sight. Well, not in my mind anyway. ALthough our move-in date is a week from this saturday. :O I know, crazy. If by some crazy amazing miracle we do have it all done when we move in, it will have been two months of renovations. Which really doesn't feel like enough time. And let me tell you, it's not.

Anyway, who wants to hear about all that stuff? We took a stroll up the mountain again to foliage peek. The fresh air and the exercise and going out in something other than painting clothes was really refreshing. Check it out:

when you plan your trips around photo ops

We just booked a vacation with two of the awesomest people we know. The four of us are headed for a mini-break in the beginning of December, just in time since we are all in desperate need of a break. To say we've all been under extreme stress lately is an understatement. So we'll be heading to KEY WEST for five glorious days. So I have one month after moving in and before going on vacation to get things back in order. Specifically me. I'm a hot mess lately, minus the hot, with an extra side of mess.

But the end is near folks. Today a family signed the lease on our apartment so we are cleared to move out by November first! This is both good news and bad, but mostly good, because we'll be moving into our new home! Ours. OURs. And although the thought of finishing what we need to before moving in is giving me a mini-anxiety attack, I know it will all come together in the end and we'll be loading up that stupid heavy sleeper sofa again.

it's getting away from me...

this thing called fall. I've really missed out on a few things I wanted to do, so I'm making myself a list of to-do's for next fall. I missed the Big E and this local Apple Harvest festival I wanted to go to. Secretly I'm just interested in the fried dough and apple fritters. I haven't been apple picking yet...I haven't even made my awesome apple pie yet. And i've been wanting to get back to Brooklyn to see all the leaves fall over my old street.

But it's ok right? I'll get my sanity back eventually correct? I'll try to have pictures soon, I promise. Things are actually coming together, I think.

it's been a while

dearest Bloggers and for that I apologize. It's been a mad rush to get the house livable for an end-of-month move-in. Needless to say, it's been absolutely nuts. I've been working morning to night with some helpers here and there {which is a great great blessing} but it still feels as if it'll never be ready. I really know that's not the case, but some days I can't imagine completing everything on the to-do list. Or the MANY to-do lists. Things are looking up though. Perhaps we'll have a kitchen this weekend. I know for certain we'll have a bathroom as of Thursday which is a HUGE step forward...because really, one can live without a kitchen for a bit, but a toilet? No ma'am.