More Phun with Photos

The Girls altered with Photoshop actions by Pioneer Girl (colorized):

Versailles Gardens altered with Tilt Shift Maker:

1977 Mopeds shop in Kalamazoo, MI altered with Picnik:

Is It Friday Yet?

Ugh! Only one more day. Yayyyy. So here is what I've been up to this week:

+Reading The Office. It's smutty Edward fanfic. Can't help it-- look at this freaking picture!!! Damn that Happy Hour Sue!!! The books I am supposed to be reading are piling up-- all 4 Sookie Stackhouse books I was loaned and Michael Zadoorian's new one, The Leisure Seekers.


-Dealing with a baby who has 3, count 'em, THREE teeth coming in. Mild mannered Viv has gone from happy-go-lucky butterball to shrieky, whiny, impatient pain in the arse.

+Watching the new So You Think You Can Dance that was on tonight! Whoot!

+Entering The Crafty Crow's fabric giveaway from This and That from Japan. How can I pick my fave????

+Jazzercising my brains out. Three times per week, baybeeee. Who knew I would EVER like EVER love exercising???? Although I was disappointed to hear Black Eyed Peas' "Let's Get It Started"-- I much prefer the un-P.C. version, "Let's Get Retarded".

+Weighing in. Down 14.6 lbs now on Nutrisystem, 20.4 from when I started WW last fall. Yay me! I'm keeping my graph on the left sidebar updated to keep my motivation.

+Reading the Decor8 Blog incessantly. AHHHHHHHH! I have recently decided I may be part Swedish or Danish or something because I love everything I see that is from either of the two places. I love the vintage look mixed with modern pieces. I want to live in this nursery. May I?


+Lu-huving these pictures on Deanna's The Baby Gardner Blog. This is Rhys' wall o' perfect baby lovelies. I even love the way the photos are colored, don't you???


Hope you all have lovely lonnnnnng weekends planned! My friend is in Michigan from San Diego and we're having a sleepover with Quinn tomorrow night and planning on tea at the Townsend Saturday afternoon (oh la la). Sunday, my bro, SIL, and niece are visiting. Monday, we're going to the Memorial Day parade downtown! Good stuff. Xo to all.

Pink & Yellow

My friend just bought this little custom set to give to some friends who just had a baby. I'm so into the bright and sunny pink & yellow color combo (reminds me of lemonade)! So my friend decided to go with a lil' book tote and custom bookplates, and she'll add some books to the mix.

Hope Baby Katie and her mommies love it as much as I do!

Hope you all had a lovely weekend. I'm just coming off my Martha high! xo

My Martha Moment

Ok, so pretty standard day yesterday. Got up, dropped the girls off, went to work. The municipality for which I work is a member of the Eight Mile Boulevard Association, and I have helped with their annual luncheon since its inception. So I was off to the Detroit Renaissance Center to help set up and help run the raffle/silent auction table.

I was told parking would be sparse due to another event at the Ren Cen. Imagine my surprise when my boss said, "Yeah, because of Martha Stewart (eye roll)". I was like, "Excuse me????" She was going to be there as keynote speaker as part of some professinal women's group. She was signing copies of her new books.


So after my volunteering stint, I made my way up to the event. I purchased a copy of her Craft Encyclopedia to be signed. As I started progressing in the line, I suddenly realized I was in the V.I.P. line, by accident of course (no one stopped me and I was actually directed to the line in the first place-- I musta looked "professional" heh).

I started getting REALLY nervous as I passed a whole gaggle of women in a separate line from the general public who may very well have been waiting for hours. Then someone outed the woman behind me-- she had actually gotten into the V.I.P. knowingly, and women started heckling her. I just kept thinking, "Crap, this lady better not bring me down with her....I'm too close now!!!"

Sooooo I got to meet her for like a millisecond. I wanted to say something about Handmade Detroit. About the craft movement. About Etsy. Should have said something about my grandmother, who passed away couple years ago, who was a florist and would have loved to have known I got to meet Martha, one of her idols. About how I used scads of ideas from her Weddings magazine for my own wedding. But I didn't have the chance. I said thank you-- mentioned something random. Moved on (there's my orange arm on the right side of the pic below).


Had I known earlier, I would have tried to put something together for her-- a basket of Detroit crafter crafts or something. I would have at least given her my CARD, for Chrissake!!! Still kinda pissed I didn't have any forewarning. By the way, she is way more beautiful in real life. Her hair, makeup, and nails were FLAWLESS. But then again, she's Martha, right?

I didn't get a picture with her either, but I did get some (albeit blurry) close-ups of her alone on my phone. And I did get her autograph. And I got to see her in person!!! It was a good thing. :)

Love to Mother

Every year, I forget to add these to my Etsy shop. I have a bunch of them in different colors, and they are in mint condition. I love 'em.



So Happy Mother's Day to you all you Mudders out there! Hope you did something fun. I have been sans hubby basically since last Wednesday. He came home Friday night late and had to leave again for work early this AM 'til Tuesday (ohhhh, shush, even downtown voices carry... Sorry, 80s flashback). But my parents came into town, and we went to brunch at The Emory. GOOOOOOOD food!!! We had no rezzies because they don't take them, but we had no prob. I had the tomato & artichoke omelet. TDF!!!

T'was a very handmade Mother's Day for my mom. She's in a bookclub, so that became the unofficial theme. First, this book bag with a quote I found that I love. It reminded me of my mom because I feel like she gets so much out of nature.



With these book pockets for when she loans her bookies out:

And the girls made this bookmark:


Also not photographed were THE BEST lemon cream-filled milk chocolates (her fave!) from Sweet Essentials in Berkley. And some wine tags, of course, because what's a book club without wine, right?

The girls and Ryan got me these loverly flowers-- lavender mums, alstromeria, and hyacinth. I added some lilacs from my garden after I took the pic, and the house smelled divine!


Now I'm off to make an appliqued shirt for Q. She said she wanted a mushroom. What a novel concept. :)

Hope the rest of your weekend was wonderful! xo

Pinwheels & Party Hats!

Actually, no party hats. I just thought that sounded cute. Here are some images from today's birthday soiree for Viv:

Streamers and last minute sign made by yours truly

Delish cake from Louie's Bakery in Marshall (yes, even with the neon icing) and cake topper made by me and inspired by Sarah's post. Definitely came out more foldy, less ruffly.

Viburnum and Forget Me Nots from the yard

Hand pinwheel by Shana at Crossroads Cottage! I stuck them into a few hunks of oasis I had laying around and covered the bases with paper shreds to make them look like bouquets. Would have used styrofoam if I'd had any handy.

Of course you need favors...

These are glassine bags sealed with Shana's pinwheel clips and stuffed with these super easy Turtles! I added a magnet on the back of each clip so they could go on the fridge and hold stuff.

Rachel from Golden Shop made Viv's custom bib! So perfect!

Here's Miss V modeling. If we didn't already know she was my kid, her love of frosting certainly proves it!

All in all, a fun time was had by all!!! :) Hope you are all enjoying your weekends as well!

Happy Birthday, Miss Viv

I can't believe you're one today!!!

Here is just a tiny list of things you do now, and they make me smile:

1. When you eat something you like, you nod your head.

2. You can say "hi" and "kitty" which is actually "kee".

3. You like to put your face into Owen's fur. You giggle when he rubs his head on your head, and you are very gentle with him.

4. You point your tiny little finger at everything especially the birdies outside. You like the birdies vury vury much.

5. You pretend to drink tea with your sister out of her Hello Kitty teacups. Q and I can't stop laughing because we think it's so cute.

6. You try to copy whatever your big sis does like putting puzzles together or drawing and then you look at me for approval.

7. Every morning when you wake up and every evening when I pick you up from daycare, you are so happy to see me.

8. You like to pet my and daddy's hair when we feed you your bottle before bedtime. You think it's hilarious to stick your finger up my nose.

9. When you hear a song, you sway back and forth with a serious look on your face.

Happy first birthday, Vivian Jane. We sure are glad to have such a wonderful dollop of pudgy baby goodness in our lives. We love you so much!!! xo