i heart linen

I Heart.....

Mother Nature......*sigh* the Earth is just beautiful isn't it?  The kids and I took a little day trip away from the city.  We had such a good time!  I rented a good ol' Zipcar and packed up the kids and off we went.  I didn't have a plan, I just wanted to get out of Manhattan and drive. I started driving and ended up on the West side highway, which lead me to the George Washington Bridge and over to New Jersey we go!

We ended up in Palisades Interstate Park which is right at the base of the George Washington Bridge.
Once you're inside the park, you follow this quiet, lonely road all the way down to the bottom of the cliffs. 

It's so surreal, I felt like we were in the middle of an enchanted forest or something.

Such a beautiful drive into the park.

The main roads are somewhere up there.

George Washington Bridge and teeny tiny Manhattan before us.

There's a nice playground there.  This was Elijah's first time in a swing.  He looks thrilled doesn't he?

Our next stop was one of the many scenic stops along Palisades Parkway.  You can get some beautiful views of the Henry Hudson River and Westchester County.

Bella loves sticks.

Next we drove up the Palisades Parkway back into New York (it's so funny to me that you have to leave New York and drive through New Jersey to get back to New York!) and drove about 40 minutes up to Bear Mountain State Park and drove up to the top of Bear Mountain.  I've been told that part of the Appalachian Trail is on this mountain.

*sigh* The views there were just breathtaking.  I'm thinking I'd like to make another trip up there during the fall when the leaves are at their peak color.  I can only imagine how beautiful it must be that time of year.

It's funny, when you live in a big city like NYC you sometimes tend to forget that there are all of these beautiful sites to be seen.  Everything in Manhattan is so in your face and I love taking the time to get away and see some earthy eye candy.  And it's so nearby.

The kids really loved it too.  I think they're country folk like their Mommy.

The hills look like you could just lie down and roll over the top of the trees.  Too bad you can't!

Yeah, this trip reconfirmed that I'm ready for us to leave the city.  I want some greeeeeeeeeeen!!!

Try to take some time to enjoy the outdoors this weekend!  Enjoy it!

Yellowing

Happy Monday!  Hope everyone's weekend was divine!  Mine was busy, busy, busy! Ikea run, grocery shopping, spring cleaning, laundry, rearranging some of our rooms, worked on some projects, and the weekend is over.  *sighs*  Weekends should be 3 days long. Maybe I can start a petition to change that.

Huge thank you to you all for your comments on my last post!  Some really great suggestions as well, I took some notes! Thanks! And thanks to the folks at Craftzine for posting about my calendar. If any of you make a calendar I'd love to see it, let me know!

Sssoooooo.  I've fallen for yellow!  I know how can you not when it's all over the place these days.  I guess I'm a little late, but I'm finally hopping on the yellow bandwagon.  We even painted one of our walls yellow.

Some newly acquired 'yeller' stuff. The pot and the plant are from Ikea, I chose a succulent because my thumb is every color in the rainbow but green. Please don't fear for this little plant's life! I'm keeping my fingers and even my Technicolor thumbs crossed that I can keep this plant alive. 

The fabrics are mostly from Sew, Mama, Sew from a few weeks back so I'm not sure if they're all in stock still.

I think I've been so apprehensive with it because it's such a hard color to pull off.  I just can't bring myself to wear yellow clothing just yet, I mean I'm 5' 10". I feel like I'd look like a big ol' giant walking banana or something!! Not cool.  I'm sticking to fabric, accessories, and housewares for now. 

Prairie Girl, Calendar Girl

Hope all you awesome Mom's had an awesome Mother's Day!  Being a mom has to be one of the greatest gifts in the world.  But I think the second greatest gift is being at home by yourself for a couple of hours.  Thanks honey, it was grand! Not exactly what we had planned for the day, but that's how it worked out. The silence was wonderful but almost deafening I must admit.  I spent much of the day watching old movies, finishing a project, and reading this lovely book that my hubby bought for me for Mother's Day.  "The Prairie Girl's Guide To Life" is the title and I absolutely love it!

Right up my alley I must say.  Such a sweet and charming book that I think should be in every crafter's library.  Learn to lay a fire, spin yarn, make candles, make rock candy, knit a shawl, bake a rhubarb pie, braid a rug, and heaps more!  What I love most about this book is that it almost gives me the feeling that I'm getting the chance to chat with my great-great-great grandma and learn all of the wonderful things she knew how to do.  It's a nice little read to say the least, my only problem with it is that there aren't any photos in this book.  I'm guessing the author is trying to stick to the old time charm of the simple pioneer life by doing that, which is wonderful.  But I'm a very visual learner and like to see how things are done.  So if you're like me and like to ooh and aah and pictures, then this book might not be for you.  I still find it so endearing and encourage you to swing by the bookstore and check it out!

So, I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to do some creating this weekend and managed to crank out this little pretty.  It's one of those ideas that's been in my head for a while and I just had to get it out of me before I popped!  It's a calendar! Weeeeeee!

I've had this idea in my head for quite some time now, so I went ahead and got all the supplies that I thought I would need........the stamps, the inkpad, the buttons, the velcro, the glue, etc.  I had everything I needed by Wednesday. 

I actually started making this at 2am Thursday morning!  I was tossing and turning and just couldn't sleep because I had this silly idea dancing in my head, so I got up and started picking fabrics, covering and stamping buttons, pulling the stems off the buttons and gluing velcro coins to the backs like a mad woman.  I finally went back to bed at about 5 am, satisfied that I started something worthwhile.

I finished it all up yesterday and here are the fruits of my crazed and frenzied late night labor!  I know! I'm a nut!  I'm telling you there was steam coming out of my ears from all of the wheels and gears turning in my head! Sometimes you just can't hold yourself back from creating when the notion really hits you!

I made enough buttons for 31 days + 7 blank ones for the "other days" of the calendar and for leap years. 

and then I stamped up some linen ribbon for the months!

I left the back very simple with some waffle fabric and some gentle embellishments.

I like my projects to be things that would be useful and not just sit around a collect dust.  Is this just fun to look at or would you actually use this?  You know I always welcome your feedback!   I love this so much, but I plan to pass it along to someone I know loves red and blue very much.  I hope she finds it useful! I think I'll make one in some colors that are a little more me next round.  I'm off to buy more buttons!! Ciao!

Happy Earth Day!

Am I the only one who is loving green lately?  I wonder what it is about this color that I love so much right now........Spring maybe? ^_^

Our little flower pot from Ikea...my tulips don't seem to want to sprout much more than that this year....a green thumb is something I don't have......

Some of my recent fabric purchases.......the polka dots make me happy! *dances the polka dot polka*

This tote from the Gap.....I bought it online...it's enormous!

These yummy Japanese melon flavored candies.....green candy has the best flavor in my humble opinion

Our five dollar Goodwill chair......can you beat 5 bucks! Come on! Nuts!

My raggedy old flip flops that I can't seem to part with....I love these old "slappers" ..(what my mom calls them)

I'm hooked! Can't get enough of the green! So happy spring is finally here in NY....now if we can just put those jackets away for good I'll be one happy Rashida. What colors are you loving right now?  I'd love to hear or see what everyone's diggin' these days!

Upgrades and the like

I know! two posts in one day! ^_^ *does the runnin' man*

Well, we've been doing a little bit of sprucing up around these parts lately.  We've been painting our living room and I must say it's been quite the adventure.  I actually like painting, it's sorta fun.  Well, when it's your house I guess.....I couldn't imagine doing it as a living.  Ugh.  Anyhoo, we decided to paint each wall in the living room a different color. We're not quite finished but I'll show you the red wall.  It came out so lovely.  I was a little apprehensive at first, red is such a strong color and I just couldn't see painting the whole room this color.  So we did just the one wall. (I'll show you the room as a whole when we're finished.)

As you can see my workstation has had a bit of an upgrade as well! Wooot!  I fell in love with the idea to use the Ikea Asker Series as craft storage.  Where did I see it?  Craftapalooza that's it!

So I made a little Ikea run this weekend and nabbed a couple items to clean up my desk.

Asker series stuff, Rajtan spice jars, some Kassett magazine files and boxes, and  two cutey plants and Billig plant holders for good measure.   

These jars are perfect for holding all those buttons and things that we love so much!

My goal was to make it a little more funtional and have my tools really close to hand.  (Oh and to get rid of my ArtBin toolbox.  It made me feel like I was still at design school.)  Also, my fabric stash has grown so large that I can't store it on the table anymore.  It now resides on three, yes THREE shelves in my linen closet.  The sheets and towels now have a new home. Sorry guys.

Let me also introduce you to my new baby.........

It was time for mama to get a new machine.  My old one has served me well, but it literally was like a no frills sewing machine.  Like it shouldn't have even had "Singer" printed on it......it should have just said..."Sewing Machine".  No cool features or anything, it just did what it was created to do.  Sew. 

But this new machine......*faints*....it's a Janome Memory Craft 4400, computerized, tons of different stitches, drop in bobbin (I had the old fashion bobbin case before...ugh), and it looks super cool when you turn it on in the dark! Tee heeeee!

Can't wait to start cranking out some new projects on this baby. I feel like such a grown up now! ^_^

Happy Valentine's Day!

Gotta love love! ^_^

I STILL know this is a crafting blog but..........

Yes, We Can! 

I'm not going to preach or anything like that.  I'm normally not into politics at all.  But I feel inclined to show my support.  So, if you also feel inclined join us and show your support as well.  If not, then don't.

I just want a change, don't you?

Si, Se Puede!

^_^

I know this is a crafting blog but..........

.....GO GIANTS!!!!!!  WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!   *spikes laptop......does a crazy touchdown dance*......WOOOOHOOHOOOO!!!!!......*throws fabric everywhere*.........YEAH!! GIANTS!  WOOOOOOOOT!!!!!! .......*regains composure*  ....k, going to bed now.....night night. ^_^ 

I Heart......

Gamaguchis!

Gamaguchi means "a frog's mouth" in Japanese, which I guess is just what these little pouches look like. This is my first one and I love them!  I've been putting off making them because the frame always intimidated me.  But it turns out to be super easy!  Well not super easy, but a lot easier than I thought it would be.

Since this was my first try, I tried to keep it a little simple and not go all patchwork crazy on it.  But now that I know how to do it I'll definitely be making more! 

I just might throw a couple into the shop on my next update in a couple of weeks.  Haven't decided yet. (I know.  I'm always so indecisive.) 

Look!  It fits everything a girl would need.  Keys, phone, tunes, Mac Lipglass.......if you don't have Lipglass you're missing out, so go get some! ^_^

I Heart......and I Don't Heart......

....getting cool stuff I bought online in the mail! 

The first cool thing I got today.......

Knit? Knitted? Handmade sushi from my friend Alice!  Yay! So kawaii!  She just opened her shop over at Etsy with super cute sushi, precious children's aprons and lot's of other fun stuff to be had.  Run over and check it out.  She'll be adding a lot more items soon, so stay tuned for more goodies from her.

The second cool thing I got today......

Deco tape that looks like a tape measure!  I looooove this!  You can find it here.  The shop is located in the UK but they do ship overseas.  Shipping isn't that expensive either. 

I'm a little grumpy at my mailman though.  The mailboxes in my building are pretty small, so they always leave one of those pink slips in the box so that you can go pick up your packages.  Well, I got one of those slips in the box yesterday saying that it was a Final Notice and that they would send my package back!  I never got the first two notices!!  My package had been sitting in the post office since December 20th! Jigga what?! *grumbling "wirty dords" under my breath*  I didn't even bother having the tantrum I had planned when I went to pick it up.  I figured why bother. Freaking out on them wasn't going to help me get my package any sooner.  And since the USPS is THE WORST SERVICE ON THE PLANET, they would probably do it again anyway.  *shrugs*  So the what else do I have to say about that? "Boooooo....postoffice.....booooooo....I don't heart you."

These little cuties in my package made up for the delay anyway.  (Yours are coming soon Charlene! ^_^)