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Happy Monday! Today I have a layout to share that was created for my monthly Pinspired Challenge at Gossamer Blue! This layout uses teeny tiny index prints and lots of little paper snippets. I used only a scissors to create this layout, which was a big challenge for me! I am really happy with the final result...
For more information about the layout, including the original Pinterest inspiration, check out the post on the GB blog! Have a great day! :)
1. Right after I posted my question about books to read, I was invited to join a book club! The June book was Sea Creatures
2. I have some seriously creative friends. My friend Katie Licht is doing this amazing summer project with her kids in which each week they "visit" another country. It's genius! I cant wait to see all of the places they go! Check it out!!
3. Last weekend we went to the Dane County Farmer's Market (my favorite!!!) and picked up some fresh asparagus and some really fantastic bread from Madison Sourdough. I made roasted asparagus with eggs and parmesan and paired the bread with some super tasty cream Havarti. It was really, really good.
4. After all the hype over Orange is the New Black, I started watching it last week...and I'm HOOKED. I have lost a lot of hours the last week binge watching (14 to be exact yikes!). I just finished the first episode of Season 2 and I can't wait to watch more!!
5. I can't believe the first week of summer is over already. I still didn't make a summer to-do list - it's been so dreary and stormy this week that we didn't do much of anything!! Next week I vow to start the fun. ;) Have a great weekend!
Today I have a few photos of our (totally in-progress) nursery! It's kind of a joke around our house because we actually co-sleep, so the baby is pretty much never in this room. We have literally done NOTHING in this room, save trying (unsuccessfully) to rip down the wallpaper boarder and tossing a few pictures on the wall. I have big plans for this room...someday... ;)
This room is a little odd because one of the windows actually looks out onto the sun porch rather than outside. Here is the listing photo of this bedroom:
And here are a few photos of it now...first looking into the room from the door. This is the furniture we've used with both of the big kids and used to be in their bedroom at the old house. It is all from IKEA (no longer available) with the exception of the rocking chair, which is an antique that I got from my dad, who got it from his mom who got it from an auction. She has some sort of connection to it, but I can't remember what it is at this moment. The green IKEA rug is also recycled from the kids' old bedroom. (Disclaimer: crappy iPhone photos ahead...)
The monogram print is from one of my favorite Etsy shops - Almost Sunday Designs, and the elephant canvas is from The Land of Nod.
The O pillow is from The Land of Nod, and the raccoon was from Santa, but a little elf told me that he got it from blabla kids. All three Spahn children have a blabla doll or two. ;)
Full Disclosure: I totally filled that shelf with toys to make it look better for this photo. ;) It had been empty! Notice the wallpaper still on that secton of wall, boo!!
Shelf highlights: Sandra Magsamen sign, Sara Midda Baby Book
The quilt is the same on that was used for both other kids and it is a Denyse Schmidt quilt that came from The Land of Nod over five years ago. I loved it then...and I love it now! The crib sheet is from Target, and the two bins (one for dirty cloth diapers and one for garbage) are both from IKEA. You can't see it, but we also have a green pail liner from Planet Wise, whom I feel compelled to endorse because they are a WI company!
My "vision" for this room includes some gray paint, new shades, some curtains (of course, I'm obsessed with curtains!), a different fan or light fixture, and a few more "over the crib" decorations - safe ones, I promise! In the last house we had white paper lanterns hanging from the ceiling in the kids' room. I'd love to do that again if I can convince my husband! ;) Someday when it's perfect (oh, who am I kidding, it will never be perfect!!) I will share some more photos! For now, here's the official to-do list for this room. We have one for every space in the house, which is a bit daunting when you look at it all!! Not much has been crossed off this one!
Have a great night, and thanks for stopping by!
Lots of food and lots of flowers. ;)
Summer is officially in full swing! I will be back with a "real" post soon! :)
Good morning! I have another Gossamer Blue June layout to share today! This was made with a mix of kits and includes my #1 favorite piece of paper in all of the June kits - this piece of green dotted paper by Jillibean Soup! LOVE it!!! I also used the Jillibean die cut card as my title! And can we talk for a second about those Chic Tags wood sequins?! So perfect!!
This is a photo of my girl the day of her Kindergarten Orientation. She was really nervous but ended up having a great time! Today is her last day of 4K, and she's officially a Kindergartner!! How is this even possible?! The June kit is one of my favorites - though I have July in my hands...and it's even better. ;) Have a great Thursday!!
Hello! Happy Monday night. ;) We are enjoying our last week of school...finally!! I am looking forward to all kinds of fun summer activities...like this one:
I can't believe these photos were taken almost a year ago! The past year has really flown by with all the big changes in our life! We actually discovered that we have strawberries growing in our front yard!! You know...a totally normal place for them to grow. ;) I made this for my guest stint at Simple Stories - those woodgrain letters were perfect for a long title, which you know I love! The Good Day Sunshine collection is so cute and fun!!! I had a great time working with it!
1. Last Friday my husband and I went on a date...okay, not really, because my brother-in law was along, but close enough. ;) We had dinner at The Free House Pub in Middleton. If you are local and never been, definitely check it out! We got to eat on the patio and enjoy the music of No Name String Band. It made me yearn for more kid-free evenings!! My food was very good...especially Wisconsin's greatest appetizer... ;)
2. Speaking of cheesecurds...we had a case of mistaken lyrics at our house this week. Have you heard this new Ingrid song "Girls Chase Boys?" Miri was singing, "Girls Chase Boys' Cheesecurds." Perfect.
3. We made one of our all time favorite summertime meals this week: Artichoke Pizza (with roasted red peppers, almon ds, and oregano). We basically follow this recipe, but instead of pitas, we use garlic naan (usually from Whole Foods) and it's soooo delicious - and easy to make!
4. Have you joined Pippit yet?? I signed up...mostly because it usually takes me like a year to catch up on the newest hip social media. Pinterest? Instagram? I joined all those like WAY after everybody else. I'm always late to the party, so I thought maybe I should get a headstart this time. My username is "justemspahn" like it is most places. I'm totally not sure yet...thoughts??
5. Next week is the last week of school! Yahoo! This means I need to get my summer to-do list ready...look for it sometime next week. Any suggestions for things we should add to it? :)
Have a great weekend!!
Happy Thursday! Today I have my Gossamer Blue June Main Kit Only layout to share with you! I love the fun primary colors in this kit, mixed with the black, white and gold. I have to be honest - this is one of those layouts that just did NOT come together well. I am going to blame it on my overall lack of sleep the past month (teething baby = no fun). I started out with an idea in mind, and it didn't look the way I'd envisioned. So, I added a bit here and a bit there and changed this and that until it was finally finished:
Scrabooking mojo is a funny thing. I honestly LOVED every single element in this main kit, so it's funny that it was so difficult for me to put this together. I've had the opposite, too...were there are colors or items that wouldn't have been my first choice, and it just falls together quickly and I love the result. For the record, I'm totally in the "It's okay to NOT love everything you make" camp. I don't love this. I just like it. It's definitely not going to make the 2014 favorite layouts list, and even though it looks pretty much nothing like I'd originally planned, it's fine. ;)
**Note - the gallery at Gossamer Blue is undergoing some maintenance right now. Be sure to check back later to see the work of the rest of the fabulous design team.
I posted this photo on Instagram earlier this morning:
If you follow me, you know that every once in awhile I post little peeks into our house. This particular shot of the top fo the piano was sharing my new Katie Daisy print, and the $2 estate sale find pedestal that I plan to spray paint yellow. An acquaintance of mine commented on the photo, "Your house must be the cutest place in the universe!!!" And, while I would like to think she was making a genuine statement about the house photos I have posted, I have a feeling that her comment was actually written with a bit more sarcasm than the average person might realize. I don't know that for sure...just speculating. ;)
And so, like any self-respecting internet junkie...I felt compelled to write a blog post about it. Why is it that I only share little bits and pieces of my home? You might notice that I rarely post an entire room. Just select scenes. Well, because the rest of it looks like a bomb went off - not a joke - imagine a grenade that spewed forth toys as it exploded - or laundry - or crumbs...that would be my house. (Seriously, how many times can one sweep the floor in a day!!!) I don't mean to say it's dirty and nasty. Well sometimes it is...it's just a far cry from perfection. This morning when I posted the photo of the little vignette (Is that even the right word? I am so not hip to the home decor terminology), my kitchen looked something like this. Okay not something...it looked exactly like this:
Yup. That's last night's dinner dishes + this morning's breakfast dishes all waiting to be put into the dishwasher, which I hadn't unloaded yet. And what you can't see is that on the floor there was a sock, a muddy shoe, a pair of sunglasses, a stack of legos, and a Weinermobile Christmas ornament. What that? You don't believe me?? Proof... ;)
Yesterday I posted a photo of my laundry for the Madison Mom's Blog photo challenge. It looked this:
Cute, right? Look at all that perfectly folded laundry and that adorable chunky baby! Well, the rest of the room, the part that is next to and behind me??? Not nearly as adorable...
And finally, that photo I posted this morning...I totally moved all the junk from one side of the piano out of the way to take the photo. The other side looked something like this:
Yes that's a Viking helmet in a basket of egg decorations that I still haven't put away from Easter. So. what is the point of this all? Well, did you like looking at the photos of my messy house? I know I didn't. In fact, I'm willing to bet a lot of money (like 5 whole dollars) ;) that if I took a poll, every single person reading this would choose the first photo as their favorite...or maybe the one with the baby, because who doesn't like babies. But it's not reality. It's a snippet of reality. I don't live in a perfectly decorated always clean home. I don't make gourmet dinners ever night. My kids aren't always clean and perfectly dressed. And sometimes I like to look up from the mass chaos that is my everyday life and see the little bits of beauty here and there...like my Katie Daisy wildflowers or my yellow chevron curtains or my newest fun Craigslist find, which is why I choose to share those things on Instagram. I really, really hope I am not propagating an unrealistic image of myself out there...because dudes...I am like the realest real person you are ever going to meet. And like all real people - I like to hide the crap and focus on the good. My house is definitely not "the cutest place in the universe" - it's probably not even the cutest house on the block. But it's filled with a lot of love and a lot of happiness, which on most days makes up entirely for the mess. ;)
Every summer we challenge ourselves to make as many homemade popsicles as possbile! The kids love trying different flavors and varieties. One summer we made almost 12. One summer we only made like four. Even though there is still another week of school left, we thought we'd get started on the popsicles - this was mostly precipitated by the container of strawberries in my refrigerator that was close to going bad. ;) I didn't use a recipe, but here are the basics of it:
Cut up strawberries into small pieces (I actually used less than a full container).
Boll with water and 1/2 cup of sugar for awhile (yes, this is a very detailed recipe!).
Strain out the syrup with a mesh strainer.
Add 1-2 tablespoons of lime juice and a bit of water if the flavor is too strong.
Freeze.
They weren't the best popsicles ever - I think I probably should have also added a little lemon juice to give them a bit more bite, but overall they were decent...and they kids liked them! ;) For those who are curious, we have two sets of popsicle molds, both by Tovolo. The ones in the picture are these Star Ice Pop Molds. We also have the Groovy Ice Pop Molds, but honestly, I like the stars better because they fit better into little mouthes!
I'm pretty excited to try out some of our old favorites, as well as some new recipes this summer! If you have a favorite popsicle recipe, I'd love to hear it!!
