Etsy Trade

One of my favorite things about doing craft shows is trading with other vendors. It doesn't really even matter if what I trade for is something I needed or even wanted in the first place. I love trading for something handmade. I think there is something so cool and special (you can tell I have a thesaurus on hand right?) about having something that someone put their time and effort into.

Well on Etsy I have had a few requests for trades, sorry to some that I ignore (oops), and I have not really sought them out myself, but the idea is still the same, I am sending something homemade out to someone and in return get something really cool! Well last week I traded a cocoon for this cool clipboard from the Etsy shop Slim Digm Designs. http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=6032967 She has lots of cool designs, and I really like the idea of the alphabet one for a present for your child's teacher. It comes with a bracket for wall hanging on the back, or a hole with a wooden dowel to prop up.

I have to say that it matches my living room walls beautifully! This is propped up on the mantle with a photo in the clip - but I also love the idea of hanging it in my sewing room to clip new ideas up. (That room is baby blue and brown so it will match there as well.)

Handmade for Cadence

I bought the cute Sandi Henderson (Portabello Pixie) Pattern for the apron dress (featured on the side) and couldn't wait to start working on it. I took Cadence to Pine Needles and let her pick out what fabric she wanted and this is what she chose ; Not exactly what I was pushing for, but the idea is that she will want to wear the dress, because I am sick of making her outfits that I think are cute, only to have her shove them in the back of her closet never to be seen again. I thought this fabric adorable, but a little immature for an 8 year old, but I am not going to hold her to any age standard. It's not like I need her to grow up any more than is necessary!

So of course I had to make a matching hat to go with the dress, and I added a pocket with a little ribbon since Cadence always needs to have pockets. Not sure that she ever uses them, but ever since she was a little squirt she would cry if her dress didn't have a pocket (obviously she does not cry now, but she still looked at the finished product and asked "wheres the pocket?"). I didn't follow the pattern exactly - not brave enough for the shirring yet. I do have to say though, this dress was extremely easy to make.

This is the swing Pete built for her in the front yard, She was thrilled that the dress was long enough that she could play and not need undershorts on to cover her up.

I had to add this photo of miss seriousness. I love it, and no she is not angry with me since I take a bajillion pictures, this is her "serious face" that she has learned thanks to her Aunt Mindy. She cracks me up!

Featured on a Blog...

I get some kind of thrill when I am featured on a blog - I dunno why probably the narcissist in me? Maybe I feel like the notice is an indication that I have made it somewhere, not sure where, but somewhere. Any who I got a notice today that I was featured on this lovely design blog InkSpot Workshop http://inkspotworkshopblog.blogspot.com/2009/08/icandy-51st-edition.html Thanks a lot for the shout out!

New Hair Do-Dad

I have been noticing on Etsy and around town for the last year or so, wild hair things feathers you know the sort. I think that I am guilty of laughing and making fun of some of them (like the 70's hair band around the forehead - I will still laugh at that). My hair usually ends up in a bun or a pony tail, esp. because of work, also because it is stinking hot here and I am lazy. So many a times I have thought something along the lines of "hmm I could really use a red paten leather flower to punch up this bun," I mean haven't we all thought this at some point? To no avail though I can't find a red paten leather flower clip anywhere.

I noticed a seller on Etsy that had some cool ones and original ones - so what do I do? I copy.... First I bought this style of clip - 1$ for two at Walmart. Then I cut the cards into a bow shaped, glued them together and added a ribbon. Admittedly the one I saw on Etsy was much more elaborate and I should give her credit for thinking of it first ( http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=6935827 ). Her's had some velvet thing in the background and was much more dramatic and her's was also 45$.

Here is the end product, I think it turned out fabulous! I am not sure my work appreciated the fabulousness, but oh well. Now I am excited to try some other things and go crazy with the hair clips.

And the Winner is....

For my August hat giveaway, the winner of the cute white cotton beanie with a brim and an orange flower is CurlyGirlD (Diana)! Congratulations please send me an email with the size you would like and the address you would like it sent to. ( lauraford21@hotmail.com ) And for those that didn't win, check back by the end of the first week of September for next month's drawing posting. Thanks for all that looked and tried.

Cold Chicken Satay Noodles

Mmm yummy! This has been our new favorite summer meal. Love the cold pasta option for the hot days - and this is loaded with veggies so I can feel good about it too!
This is a Rachel Ray recipe and I am sorry it does not take me 15 minutes, maybe with a full kitchen staff that preps everything for me first. Anyways hope you like it, I do not really follow the recipe for the sauce, I tend to double up on everything so that it is super coated, and I add extra peanut butter, but try it out see what you think.

1. Bring one pound of whole wheat spaghetti to a boil and cook according to the directions.

2. While that is boiling whisk together - 1/3 Cup smooth or chunky peanut butter
2 Tablespoons honey (at this point I microwave it for about 20 seconds to warm up the honey and peanut butter)
1/4 C. hot water
1/4 C. Tamari (aged soy sauce)
1 garlic clove minced
1 Tablespoon hot sauce (pretty important for the "kick" so if you double up peanut butter, add a little extra hot sauce)
3 Tablespoons vegetable or peanut oil

3. Drain off the pasta and mix with dressing in a large bowl.

4. Add chopped veggies which include;
4 green onions, a carrot shredded, a handful of cilantro, half a bag of spinach (washed). I chopped this all up to the same size and mix in with noodles and dressing

5. Then add shredded chicken meat - from a (store bought) rotisserie chicken - recipe says to top each portion with the chicken, but I just add it all in together since I like the dressing so much. Then top with 1/4 Cup of chopped peanuts. Voila yummy.

First Day of School - Yea!!!

Third grade, holy cow I have an old child! Third grade is the big time, I remember when I was a kid, third grade was the ruler of the lower elementary. I felt like king of the hill (little hill). Cadence's school though does not separate the lower elementary kids from the older like my school did, so I do not know if this is quite as big a deal as I think it is. Her teacher did stress that this is a whole new ball game, that third grade meant taking on more responsibilities and learning cursive.

Cadence did wake up at 6:45 (she does not open her eyelids till well after 9 usually). She hopped out of bed and was so excited to pick out a new outfit (thanks to her Grandma Lucy), and pack her new Kermit the frog bag. She asked me to put her hair in these two buns (we have never done this before) and I can bet what her hair will look like after school! Oh well good intentions.

I hope for the best year for my child, that she will not fight me over homework, that she will try her hardest and push herself harder (she is intolerably lazy and is just fine getting good grades and not trying at all - can't really blame her, sort of a family trait, but I still hope she will overcome it and want to beat her own good grades.) I hope she has good friends and learns to listen to the teacher and won't be too naughty!

Skeleton Family

Yea, you have seen the stick family window decals, maybe you have them on your car... but I went a slightly different route with these cool skeleton window decals from etsian artist So-Cal Baby Clothing. They have tons of fun baby onesies and bibs you can check them out here: http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5792899 These decals represent our family a little bit better!

And yes even Sushi gets a sticker on the car - had to get the dog skeleton, how could I pass that up?

Sale at Pine Needles!

Pine Needles, is my absolute favorite store, addiction and money hole. I can not help but spend money when I walk into this store, I want it all. I don't even quilt, but the fabrics are so yummy and I walk through dreaming of what each bolt could become, a dress, a pillow, etc, you get the idea, I have to set restrictions on myself when I go in there and I think I do all right. Anyways the point? Right now they have all these bolts of Amy Butler, Joel Dewberry and a few other favs on sale for 4$!!! These are the home deco prints so the fabric is 60" wide (which makes the 4$ even more of a sale) and the fabric has a really nice weight to it. I limited myself to these and I think I did pretty good since I saw women with 15-20 bolts of fabric stacked up.

I am just dreaming of all the pretty purses they will make.

Backyard of my Dreams

Ok that is a loaded title, cause I could go on and on, just wanted to share this - If I had unlimited funds, and probably unlimited space, I would put this beauty up in our backyard. Kids of any age would not be able to resist this play space. I asked Pete if he could build one like it, he laughed, I thought there was nothing that man couldn't do.

I had to order the catalogue just to gawk at the amazing playgrounds. Also when you order a catalogue they plant a tree. Check out the site here http://www.cedarworks.com

Mt. Timpanogas Cave

So I am a little ashamed that I have lived in Utah 13 years now and have never done the Mt. Timpanogas Hike before. We planned a day with our brownie troop to earn a ranger badge and become junior rangers. The week of our hike, we had 4 girls cancel on us, really too bad since it was amazing, but we still went with just the other 3 girls.

The hike is only about a mile and a half, but, and here is the big but, it is straight up a mt. You literally climb one thousand feet in elevation in that mile and a half. It took us about one hour to climb to the cave entrance, and Cadence was such a trooper, I couldn't have been more proud of her, no complaints whatsoever, although she did have to point out like 3 times how she was not complaining.

Before the hike, the girls attended a Ranger program where they talked about reptiles and amphibians. Here the girls are making their own cookie dough snakes. They are all bundled up like this because we had a freak cold front blow in this weekend and up the canyon, in the shade, the temps were about 50 degrees. The weather was great for the hike though!

The caves were really amazing, and totally worth the climb (and the pain). I would love to do this again, it was that cool, I don't know how else to elaborate on how cool stalactites are, but I think you get the idea that I was impressed. Going down the hill, Cadence suddenly had all sorts of aches and what not, weird that the down hill would do it to her. Oh well, she is 8.

This hike got me thinking about other places in Utah that I have yet to visit. I feel like I am a real advocate of the outdoors and wild Utah and whatnot, but I think there is so much I have yet to see right here in my own little state, for instance I have not been to Lake Powell or Moab, I know shocking, I hear that all the time. I would really like to make a list of places to see and do right here and make an effort to visit my own city.

Fashions that Come an Go

The other night I was working a party for a recent high school graduate, so there were a lot of 18 year old kids (a lot!). Most of the teenagers were really annoying. Reconfirms no to any time traveling options. So I commented on how some off them looked really obnoxious, which spun off a discussion in the back about which new styles are offensive to the eye. Me, being the oldest is saddened by the fact that I am seeing styles come back that were bad when I was younger. So these girls start talking about some kind of shoe that they hate, to which I respond with "the what kind of shoe? What are you talking about?" They looked at me like I was an alien and asked "where have you been?" To which I reply - "In West Valley being a mother apparently."

Really made me think about how far I have come. Most times I am lucky if I am brushed, cleaned and smelling pretty (sounds like my dog right?). Anywho I wanted to share the latest addition to my closet. This fabulous sweater Pete bought for me, it is reversible and it is from a designer called Nikita, I dunno maybe this is a household name, but I have just found it out and I really like what they have to offer. Here is a hint though; Pete bought this for me from Amazon and it was way, way cheaper then I am finding it now on the website. Pete and I have a thing for hoodies and jackets, we seem to be suckers for them, or maybe I am and he just indulges me, can't wait until it gets cold enough to wear it!

Girl Scouts Pirate Camp

Doesn't This picture say it all? Well if not, here is a brief overview of Cadence's Girl Scout Camp; I am the Co-Leader to Cadence's troop which has 9 little girls. So being the co-leader, I could not just kiss her on the head and send her off for 3 days of bliss. Oh no, I went with 6 of our girls and headed to Ogden's Fort BuenaVentura for a fun filled Pirate themed camp. This was just the West Valley Service Unit Pirate Camp, so there were about 5 troops there, maybe less (not everyone camped).

We filled the girl's time with tons of arts and crafts. We made our own Pirate flag, we made name tags, leather bracelets, camp letters and a nature totem pole to go outside of the tents to show who was sleeping where.

We put fake pirate tatoos on the girls and they had matching tee shirts. The Service Unit had organized crafts and games for all day Friday. The girls were separated into groups with their own P.A. (program assistant) who was like 15, and they were in charge of the girls and Cadence thought it was the coolest thing ever. With their P.A.s they went on a treasure hunt to find a box that was filled with pirate boat kits, which were really complex, but the kids loved them!

They also got to go canoeing with their groups on this pond that was at the campground. After the canoeing they splashed around in the Weber River. The girl scout lifegaurd would not let the girls go farther then their knees in the water, due to the strong current, but the girls thought it was great to catch minnows and (try) to catch crawdads.

Later that night the groups put on skits that they had rehearsed, and I have to say Cadence did awesome with the amount of lines she had - she played a mosquito. They had a little Pirate Party where everyone dressed up, and sang songs, more crafts, and then Smore's! The best part of course.

Cadence was over the moon happy. At one point when she was putting the boats together she turned to me and said "this is so much fun!". She loved hanging out with friends and staying up all night (all night much to our distress- 2 am potty runs are not fun for adults). She loved hanging out with the P.A. since she was an "older girl".

Overall I was really happy that she got to have this experience and I can see why it is important for me to support the girl scouts, we probably would not be this involved if I wasn't the co-leader. Also I was strolling down memory lane for all the fun times I had in Brownies and camping. Ahh good times, but maybe it is some kind of Karma that I am now a leader, since I know I was a horror when I was a kid, although all our girls are great!

Free August Hat Giveaway!!

So...I have decided to start a monthly giveaway. It will most likely be a hat giveaway, but I reserve the right to change it up at a further date, like maybe a trick or treat tote in October...hmm. Anyways here is the August giveaway; White 100% cotton Newsgirl beanie with a bright orange flower (you get to choose the size). The giveaway is completely free and voluntary. One stipulation though - you need to reside in the United States, I will pay for shipping fees.

So what you need to do is leave a comment after this post, just something simple and leave your name. I believe that you have to have a user name or account to leave a comment but I will leave that up to you to figure out. I will leave the contest up for two weeks and then I will randomly pick a winner from the names of people who have left comments. Then on August 21st (the day after two weeks) I will announce the winner here on my blog. The winner will need to send me an email with their address and preferred size enclosed, and then I will make it up and ship it out. It is that easy! So please enjoy, share and comment, you have nothing to loose right?

Birthday Present

Dear Grill,

I am so very pleased that you have decided to become my birthday present this year. I feel that you will find a good home here, despite the fact that I put you out on Sushi's porch, she is a girl so hopefuly she will not pee on you. I promise to take care of you, clean you when it is needed (cause we both know it will not be after every use!) and keep the cover over you to protect your pretty finish. I promise to make yummy things on you and invite people over to admire how pretty you are. In return I ask that you do not burn my food, that the propane does not explode or anything, and here is the big one; please have patience with me as I learn the art and skill of the grill. I have not grilled in my lifetime and I do not brag in my meat making skills. So please have patience while I fill you up with fruit and veggies. I will experiment and try new things I promise since I am sure the rotating spit is not just for my pinneaple basted in brown sugar. mmm.

That is all for now, please enjoy your time in our home, I am excited to "taste the meat not the heat!"

Laura

Look what I Just Found...

So if it has been what...3, 4 months since Easter, I think I can safely say "finders keepers, losers weepers". Our Easter bunny is dang hard. My lucky day though, and yes it was raining this year on Easter, so the bunny came indoors so no worries of meltage!

The Relief from the Heat

Today is 99 degrees and apparently I stop working at about 90 degrees, all I can think about is relief from the heat...Pete says a pool is out of the question. So I saw an add for Sonics cream slush for 99 cents. Thinking what a steal, I veered off the road and into a Sonic. Do you have a Sonic in your neighborhood? I really have not been a fan before, but let me tell you - deliciousness awaits you there. After our initial disappointment to find out that the cream slush was only 99 cents after 8 - we ordered anyways and found out that they have a plentitude of frozen wonderness. You can order any soda with a soft serve vanilla ice cream float - yummy, so Pete ordered the classic Root beer float, Cadence got the cream slush (watermelon) which is a slushie mixed with soft served ice cream, now I am not a fan of Slushies (say it's not so!) but this is awesome! Finally I ordered a cherry limeade chiller (as pictured above) which is their signature Cherry Limeade (and no I do not work for sonic - although they do wear roller skates there...) mixed with soft serve vanilla - heaven on earth! can not say enough about this goodness. They also have strawberry limeade and regular limeade chillers - not as good.
So trust me if you need some relief drive over to Sonic - after 8 is cheaper, believe me it is tasty - I should know I have gone three nights in a row now.