Tea Time

We had a fun and somewhat busy summer. Elle has been in various camps and we've done several "family fun" activities on the weekends.  However, I think this summer will go down in history... well at least in my mind... as the summer of the gym and the tea.  Two major new developements have occured over the course of the last couple months 1) I started going to the gym every week day and methodically tracking the number of calories I consume and 2) my nanny introduced me to her addiction... tea.

#1 is not much fun at all, in fact, I wouldn't have even mentioned it if it weren't related to #2.  I have a pretty serious sweet tooth and it doesn't play nice with counting calories!  Enter, the nanny, her love for tea, and a really interesting site to buy tea from, adagio.  On adagio, users can buy tea but they can also make their own custom blends (some of them get pretty creative and make blends inspired by movie characters... like the Harry Potter ones you see above), design their own artwork for their blends label, and make their creation available to be purchased by other users.  With teas like chocolate mint cream, I feel like I'm cheating the system somehow by getting my sweets fix in tea every afternoon for virtually no calories.

I didn't post about this just to tell you how much I love the site and my new found sweet fix though... I wanted to share this fun project for "stained glass" jars that my nanny did with my girls. 

You'll need:

mason jars - one for each type of tea you have

Tissue paper in various colors

white glue

foam brush

First, they came up with a color scheme for each flavor of tea (like peach and white for a peaches and cream tea) then they tore bits of tissue paper in those colors, dipped them in water, applied them to the outside of the mason jar, and smoothed them down.  Repeat, overlapping the tissue paper just a little until the entire surface of the jar is covered.  Then paint white glue over the whole thing and let dry.  Lastly, once the tea you tracked online through the entire shipping process and waited for with bated breathe (that's what happens when these things get to addiction level) arrives, pour it into the jar, peel the artisan's label off the bag of tea, and adhere it to the outside of the jar.  Store your jars in a cool dry place.

School Supply Printable

We took advantage of the tax-free weekend here in Florida and bought school supplies.  My soon-to-be 7 year old is going into 1st grade so it's the "real deal" this year, evidenced by the staggering number of school supplies we had to hunt down!

Elle had fun picking out her favorite notebooks and colors for her folders but I saw an opportunity for creativity and promised her "something fun" if she would pick some solid color binders.  I'm pleased to say Elle thinks I delivered on the "fun" and you can get in on it too because I made you a printable! 

I designed a "this belongs to" coversheet with chevron background.  You can insert it into binders that have the clear pockets on the cover for an easy and cute way to label them with your kiddos name.  I made a pink and a blue version for you.  Click blue or pink to download them for free.

Yea for free printables!  But, if you're like me, and gently coax your kid into selecting coordinating color combinations for their folders, scour Etsy to find just the right design for name labels to apply to your kid's supplies, and wonder to yourself if the shade of pink she picked for her notebooks will match her backpack... or even if you're less crazy than I am and just like cute stuff, you can order a custom version of this file in my Etsy shop.

You'll choose pink or blue and get 2 files with your order.  The first will be your kid's name in the center of the cover design and the second will be just the chevron print.  I printed two sheets of the chevron by itself for Elle's binders, cut 1 for the spine and inserted the other in the back of the binder.

Now I just have to figure out how my 7 year old is going to carry all of this into school with her on her first day!

A tutorial you never knew you wanted

Can you guess what this tutorial is for based on that first photo? 

Sometimes I start out attempting to perform a seemingly simple task (like buy a new pillow because I'm waking up with neck aches and think my *ahem old ahem* pillow is to blame) and end up complicating things far more than I ever anticipated.  My search for a new pillow is the perfect example. 

I started looking into foam pillows thinking the better support would resolve my neck aches.  Hours of research later I decided 1) foam wasn't the way to go 2) I should instead, join the many people in Asian countries who sleep on buckwheat pillows every night 3) figure out a way to address the problem of buckwheat pillows being unusually hard compared to the goose down and/or poly pillows I'm acustom to and 4) not spend a ton of money on a pillow I'm not 100% sure I'm going to love.  Another 30 minutes or so of research and I found all the materials I needed.  If you're looking for a healthy, supportive, relatively cost effective alternative to the pillow you're acustom to, you'll need:

- One half pound eco wool (I found mine at the Bungalow Bear & Friends shop on Etsy)
- Approximately 4lbs buckwheat hulls (source - Serenity Pillows)
- 3/4 yard ticking (you'll have to ask JoAnn's for the "real thing" (not the looks like ticking but isn't stuff) it's not pretty but it does the job of holding all the buckwheat hull bits in)

We're going to make a simple box shaped pillow from the ticking and add a separate chamber on top to stuff with the wool to make it softer.  Here's how:

Cut two 25"x21" rectangles from the ticking
Cut one 20"x16" rectangle from the ticking

Sew the 20"x16" rectangle into the center of one of the larger rectangles (there's no right or wrong side of ticking, so it doesn't matter which side you sew it to), leaving a hole to stuff through.

Stuff the small rectangle with the wool and sew the hole closed.

Lay the rectangle with the chamber of wool with the raw sides of the chamber down.  Place the other rectangle on top and sew all around, leaving a hole to stuff through.

At each corner, line up the side seams and sew perpendicular to the seams to make a boxed corner (like how I made the bottom of the library tote bag)

Turn the pillow right sides out.

Fill with desired amount of buckwheat hulls & sew the opening closed

Lay your head on it and sleep

Okay so here's the low down... for me at least. If I'm perfectly honest, I have to tell you two things.  Firstly, my neck aches are completely gone since the first night I used this pillow but also, I'm not super in love with it.  I apparently move around quite a bit in my sleep and this pillow holds its shape extremely well, so I wake myself up having to re-adjust it when I change positions in the middle of the night. But it's easy to re-adjust and an inconvenience I have thus far (almost 4 months into sleeping with this pillow) been willing to endure in exchange for no neck pain... I am however, thankful my Doug gets out of bed before me so I can steal his flimsy goose down pillow every morning.  

 

Sidewalk Chalkboard Tutorial

For the Shoffice's grand opening, I needed a way to direct guests to the backyard and thought a sidewalk chalkboard would fit the Happy Hour theme perfectly.  I saw one at Home Goods for $80 but knew I could make one for much cheaper. 

Supplies:
Large framed chalkboard - since you'll be drilling into it, the frame needs to be wood
1"x2" board in a 12' length
2 one foot lengths of small link chain
a set of small hinges
4 screws
black paint
drill & drill bit
screwdriver

Cut the 1"x2" into three lengths - 2 pieces that are the same height as your chalkboard, and 1 piece the width of your chalkboard

Paint the boards black

Nail the stand/legs together - Lay the short board on the ground, place the long boards perpendicular to and at either end of the short board. Nail in place.

Attach the stand/legs to the chalkboard frame with the hinges - Pre-drill pilot holes for your screws (if you don't use a large enough bit for your pilot holes you'll strip the screws to your hinges and have to get your husband to muscle the last screw in for you)

Attach the chains - stand the chalkboard up leaning against the legs.  Mark the chalkboard frame at the point where the chalkboard and the legs are approximately 10" apart. Measure the distance from the mark to the bottom of the chalkboard and mark the legs & the other side of the chalkboard frame at the same point.  Pre-drill pilot holes then screw the chains into place.

I have a feeling this chalkboard is going to make an appearance at more of my parties in the future!


 

Happy Hour at The Shoffice - You're Invited!

After all that hard work and the many hours we put into designing and building The Shoffice, a happy hour celebration was in order!

Guests were greeted at the front walkway with this chalkboard sign I made (tutorial here).

Outside the Shoffice was a drink station and a giant platter of wings I baked that afternoon and kept hot in crockpots (you'll have to trust me... the wings & condiments and the beer & wine came out after the party started but I did my picture taking duties ahead of time).

But the real treat was in the Shoffice!  My very fun, but typically very office orriented, storage piece became the bar.  For the transformation, I made a runner for the top from chalkcloth, lined the drawers with leftover wallpaper, and opened 2 drawers for the plates, napkins, and the glasses.  The spread included:

homemade guacamole (I posted my delicious recipe including the secret ingredient here), salsa and chips.

Caprese shooters I made with balsamic glaze in the bottom, fresh milk motzerella balls, a basil leaf and grape tomato speared with a cocktail sword

Mojito jellies served in asian spoons on platters lined in the wallpaper scraps.  I made the jellies from the super fun Jelly Shot Test Kitchen book... sophisticated jello shots who knew?!

Hurricane jellies displayed in these stands I made by gluing the domes to chunky white candlesticks and lining the bottoms with more wallpaper scraps cut into circles and laminated (do you recognize them from the 1 year old in a flash party?).

Spiked Limonata with the recipe written on the runner.  2 oz spirit (I served Belvedere vodka and Malibu Black rum) and 11 oz Limonata (not only is the Pellegrino limonata delicious but the cans with the foil tops are so pretty!).  Oh and the glasses for the spiked limonata had little lemon zest knots in the bottom (thank you Martha!).

Birthdays aren't the only milestones that deserve to be celebrated.  Any excuse will do when there's great friends, delicious food, and fun drinks!

 

The Shoffice You Tube Video

The site I purchased the plans for my "modern shed" from, icreatables.com, made a You Tube video about the shoffice that includes a few additional photos from what I've posted here... Cool huh!? You can check out all their videos, mine is the last one on the page, here http://www.icreatables.com/sheds/shed-building-videos.html

My Happy Place (a.k.a. The Shoffice, my modern shed, my home office)

In my job, I get to make things better, be creative, focus on complex systems/processes, and solve problems.  So I designed my work space with those things in mind.  It has all the function and equipment I need and the uncluttered, fun design aesthetic inspires me, helps me focus, and just feels good.  I love working and being in the space, The Shoffice really is my happy place.  Come on in!

doormat custom made for me by Jessica Renee Designs

Everything in the room is my favorite, but it all started with the Julia Rothman wallpaper, it became the inspiration for the design, so we'll start there.  It has a hand drawn feel that I loved as soon as I saw it.  The hardest part was picking my favorite color way.

The colors of the Daydream print were perfect.  I had the blue from the clouds color matched at Sherwin Williams for the wall color for the rest of the room.  It keeps the space light, airy, and calming.  The yellow birds liven the space up and that pop of color is fun to incorporate into accessories.  Even the black worked well because, inevitably office equipment is black.

The mid-century modern dresser I refurbished found its home against the accent wall.  I really couldn't be happier with how much storage this very functional piece provides! My printer, iPad, and phone are on top, office supplies and reference materials below.  And, how can you not love the shiny blue color!?

Above the storage piece, I hung the 14" Fillsta pendant light from Ikea.  It's on a separate switch and gives off a nice diffused light in the evening... ya know in case there's ever a need for mood lighting in the shoffice.

The rug continues the nature/organic elements in the room and perhaps most importantly, Martha Stewart loves faux bois so it gets my vote on that premise alone.

I sit for work... all day... every day.  So a comfy chair is a must.  No one does office chairs better than the famous Herman Miller!    After doing some research I decided on the SAYL chair and was so excited when I found an "open box" SAYL in just the right color combination at the Office Designs Outlet site.  As a side note, I just saw on 30 Rock the other day that Liz Lemon sits in a SAYL chair too :)

Have you ever seen something you wanted but knew you couldn't have so you just wish you had never seen it in the first place?  That happened to me with my desk.  I saw THE desk I wanted at a small local boutique furniture store.  It looked almost identical to the desk you see in my space here, and it even had a really similar design where the cords are hidden in a compartment in the back of the desk.  The desk I saw was $1300, my desk came from Ikea and was $69.  So yeah, the $1300 desk is sturdier, and will last longer than my $69 Ikea desk but I could re-buy my desk almost 19 times before I would've spent as much... I'm learning to live with my "almost the exact same thing, but not" desk.

In the photo above you can also see the cuckoo clock I showed you in a previous post and a fun mouse pad Studio Elle made for me with "She believed she could so she did" printed on it.

The last big piece in the space is my chair and ottoman.  I wanted a place I could lounge in when I need to review tedious requirements or read through boring procedures.  I watched Craig's List forever when I finally found it, it had the clean simple lines and the "comfort factor" I was looking for.  The weird somewhere between green and brown color velvet-ish upholstery wasn't gonna work though.  I couldn't believe my luck when I found a fabric on spoon flower by an artist whose print work I had admired (and pinned) months prior.  With some white leather, black vinyl piping, and my spoonflower find, the upholsterer turned this funky piece:

into this funky (but in a good way) piece.

Next up, the Shoffice goes cocktail party for its grand opening!

Teachers Gifts... ugh!

So it's the end of the school year and for the 2nd time I'm faced with the decision about giving teacher gifts.  I realize that this is probably not a decision that everyone feels "faced with"... it's a strange topic for me.

I think it takes a special kind of person to be a teacher.  I am quite positive that I don't have what it takes to manage and care for 18 five year olds on a daily basis.  But I also think it takes a special kind of person to be a nurse, a mail carrier, a call center rep, a salesman, or even a business analyst.  

We all get to choose our professions and yes some professions are more "personal" than others (my girls' teachers have taken care of 2 of the most preciouse people in my life after all) but that doesn't make the less personal jobs... well less.  We all have the same opportunity to find satisfaction and fullfillment in doing our jobs well.  For a teacher, maybe it's conveying a lesson in just the right way so that it makes sense to a 5 year old and not showing how frustrated they feel about telling the same child 35 times to raise their hand before they talk.  For me, a business anaylst, it's writing air tight requirements, building rapport with my team, and staying on task so that my projects finish on time. 

All of that to say, I don't feel obligated to give teacher gifts.  However, I appreciate the fact that my girls' teachers take their job seriously and I hope they find some personal fullfillment in it as well.  I'm glad that they chose to be teachers, for whatever reason that may be.  I am happy to take an opportunity to encourage/recognize someone who is good at their job especially when my family is better because of it.    I don't think a bottle of wine or a gift card to the mall really conveys that... 

I've finally figured out a gift that I am happy (not obligated) to give... a gift that is a good fit for a person who has chosen a profession in which they give to others, the most helpless of all of us in fact, children.  TisBest.org is a website where you can give a charity gift card in virtually any denomination.  The recipient can choose from over 250 charities to allocate the funds to.  You can even upload a picture or scanned image (like I did with Liv's lovely artwork below) to be printed on the gift card.  Or, if you're like me and struggled with just the right gift until the last possible minute, you can print the gift card yourself instead of having a plastic one made.  This gift card + a heartfelt note = no more "issues" with teacher gifts for me!

  

 

Car caddy take 2!

I'm finally revisiting the car caddy I made for the roadtrip series I did.  At my initial attempt, I used a tutorial I found online and had fun making it, but it really didn't serve the purpose I had intended.  So I completely revamped it and am much happier with the results!  I put together this tutorial so you can give it a try for yourself.

You're gonna need:

1 yard of non-directional decor weight fabric (note: if you want to use quilting cotton you'll just need to back it with a fusible web so that it's more ridgid)
1 package of double fold bias tape
49" of elastic
1/2 yard belt strap
and a buckle

Cut 

2 13''x23" rectangles for the front and back of the caddy. 
3 pieces for the pockets - 13"x8", 13"x16", and 17"x10" 
3 lengths of double fold bias tape - 2 13" pieces and 1 17" piece
1 13" piece of elastic and 1 36" piece of elastic
1 5" piece of belt strap and 1 13" piece of belt strap

Fold

Make the pockets by folding and pressing the 3 pocket pieces in half so that you have 2 13" wide rectangles (one is 4" tall and the other is 8" tall) and 1 17" wide by 5" tall rectangle.

Sew

Encase the long raw edges of each pocket piece in the double fold bias tape and sew. 

Feed the 13" piece of elastic through the pocket made by attaching the bias tape to the 17" x 5" pocket piece, sewing the ends of the elastic to the ends of the pocket piece. 

Next we'll make a pleat in the 17" wide pocket piece by marking the center with a pin, then measuring 2" out from the center, pinching and bringing that into the center, pin & repeat with the other side of the fabric from center.  Baste the pleat together & remove your pins.

Pin

Place the 13"x23" front rectangle face up.  Pin the 8" tall pocket piece at the bottom - bottom of the pocket piece even with the bottom of the rectangle.

Pin the 5" tall pocket piece (the one you added the elastic and pleat to) 2" above the top of the 8" tall pocket.

Pin the 4" tall pocket piece 2" above the top of the 5" tall pocket piece (you should have approximately 2" left at the top of the rectangle).

Sew

Place the items that you want to store in the caddy on top of the pockets and leaving about a half an inch on each side of the item, mark where the pocket seems should be. 

If you like the placement of mine, you can mark the seems as follows:

For the 4" pocket at the top make 3 pockets approximately 4 1/4" apart.
Leave the 5" pocket open without any additional seems
Make a 9 1/2" pocket in the bottom section

Sew along the bottom of the top two pockets and along your marked lines to create the division in the pockets.

Feed one end of the 5" piece of belt strap through one side of the buckle and sew it closed.  Feed the other end of the 5" piece of the belt strap through the other adjustable side of the buckle, fold the end over on itself and sew to finish the end.

Pin

Align the raw edges of the 36" piece of elastic with the raw edges of the bottom of the front rectangle and pin approximately 1/2" above the bottom of the rectangle. 

Align the raw edges of each of the belt straps (opposite the buckle ends) 2" from the top corners of the front rectangle and pin.

Place the other 13"x23" back rectangle right side down on top of the front rectangle and pin, ensuring the top of each side of each pocket is pinned in place.  You may also want to pin the elastic and the buckle pieces into the center of the rectangle so you don't accidently catch them as you sew.

Sew

With a 1/2" seem allowance, sew all around the rectangle, leaving room at the bottom to turn through.

remove the pins and turn the pieces right side out.

Press all around and sew the opening you turned through shut.

Enjoy

Slide the elastic down over the car seat, buckle the top strap around the head rest and pull tight.  Fill with roadtrip goodies!

 

Cuckoo Clock

My office is one easy breezy weekend away from finished and I couldn't be happier! Check out this super fun idea I had for the wall...

Mellow Yellow Decor made this vinyl wall decal for me in just the right size to fit the $1.99 Rusch clock I picked up at Ikea. I used a level to mark the wall, carefully applied the decal, and hung the clock. Waaalaaa could it be any cuter!?