Winner! - Murano Glass Ring

Sorry about the delay, foster mom duties for Ace and a feverish kindergartener left me wiped and distracted yesterday and I forgot to post our winner! (oops!)

Random.org chose and.... CHRISTINA from Alaska... you won!
email me your mailing information...

=)
congratulations!

Belt it

I've been meaning to do this tutorial that I learned about from Dollar store crafts
for a while. Last night I finally got around to it... I love these new belts. Each one took only about 1/2 hour to make. Now I just need to find a way to make the buckles look a little less Dollar Store-ish.

Last day for the giveaway!

This was me a few days ago, enjoying some time to journal, spend a part of my Anthroplogie gift certificate, relish in my time without kids and have a cup of coffee at one of my favorite spots, The LA Farmers Market...
...come on, you know you want one of those rings... It's got your name on it!
Write your comment at the original post and be the winner! I'll pick tonight at midnight, if I'm up, or tomorrow morning.

Ps. I picked today to end the giveaway in honor of my pal Tori, who is 4 days younger than me. For many years now, we have taken each other to lunch for our birthdays, but she moved to Mississippi this year, so a phone call had to do. (love you,Tori!)

LA Modern Quilt Guild meeting

DSC_0177.JPG
Originally uploaded by seventeen and em

So fun! I went to the Modern Quilt Guild again this week and showed them the three tops I sewed after coming home all inspired to quilt with my first meeting!

Great pics taken by one of our members - the colors look great!

Ze Artiste paints

I save all of Ace's formula cans for days like today when Ze Artiste wants to paint. Pinecones are another favorite canvas around here. I love his aesthetic, it's very color oriented and intense on the coverage. When he uses crayons, he uses every crayon, when he paints, all the colors mix together.

ps - Don't forget the giveaway! Tomorrow is the deadline!

Sewing resumes when the baby sleeps

Ah... Sleep training... Oh vey, it's hard work. Now that Ace is doing a good 5-7 hour stretch in the front half of the night (still up 2-3 times though, later) - I have my nights to myself again. J is out of town on a shoot so I had a pal over to sew last night... We made more pouches, playing with zippers and some Anna Maria Horner laminate fabric. J will be stoked to see these projects...

The owls adorable presence mean that a certain Nick and Nora nightshirt has bitten the dust at hubby's long awaited request. (he said he hated seeing me covered head to toe in owls with big eyes... I can't imagine why) There are many owls to use now, so we will be seeing them surface in
many cute projects, I'm sure. (happy now, J?)
Now... What to put in these?

Beautiful old church

This church is in my neighborhood, I love it, even without a fresh coat of paint.

Journal/sketchbook covers

1

Today was a little more of a Libby Dibby style day than I've had in a while, I don't think the boys knew they should take it easy on momma because it's my birthday and all... But they actually let me sew (by hand, I don't use the machine much during the day) a cushion for our
bench at the dining room table, and then they went to bed early enough so I could leave them and The Design Director with a sitter and go off to another meeting of the LA Modern Quilt Guild. (yay!)
I came home tonight all inspired to do just a teensy little project, so I opted to make a long-desired fabric pouch for my calendar (a custom Erin Condren one that Tif got me for Christmas) from some Amy Butler laminate that Tif also gave me for my birthday this weekend. I used a vintage tea towel (gifted by Tori years ago!) to line it and closed it with a button from a huge stash Kellie and I split from a shopping day downtown. Friends are great. It's fun to have 3 represented in this tiny littly pouch.
While I'm at it, I though I'd show you my other pouch I use to cart around my latest (Libby Dibby) handmade sketchbook. This one was handmade and custom ordered on etsy from ZJayne, who rocks... You can give her your specifics... I told her my name and favorite colors and she made this from old tshirts. Isn't it great?

And stay tuned for more t-shirt ideas. In my exhausting this past few weeks, I was sadly too tired to sew any big projects, but tried my hand at some fun (EASY) t-shirt projects that I'll share with you soon.

The birthday giveaway I almost forgot to give away

hi BLOG!
when I'm not blogging, you KNOW something's up. This past month has been a new level in exhaustion for me... wow! So much so that I haven't had more than a few minutes at a time to sit down at the computer over the course of even a week. SO. That said, I nearly forgot about my promised giveaway. This morning, as a birthday gift, J took all 3 kids to a cousin's basketball game so I could have some mommy time to myself. (trying NOT to clean for tonight's little mini-party)
This is one that I have been excited to give for a while. I've been saving it and hope that you will like it. Remember when I went to Italy last summer? Well, the one day that J and I went to the island of Murano and toured the glass factories, we had the best time. One of the highlights was walking up and down the little canals of the island, peeking into stores to find the perfect Murano glass rings for myself and one for my sister's upcoming birthday. (That day we also started a fun art project where we walked around colorful Burano, Murano and Venice collecting pictures of house numbers that had signifigance to us personally for different reasons)
Well, I recently stumbled upon - in the most peculiar (secret) place - a treasure trove of Murano glass rings. And as you can see... I've been wearing them a LOT. So I have one to give away!These rings tend to be a little bit big (close to a size 8 or 8.5). If you have small fingers, you'll want to wear them on your bigger fingers... or win it to give to someone else and keep sharing the love. Enter to win by sharing a favorite birthday memory. (don't forget to check back here by March 4 to see if you won... I'll post it, but I can't promise I can hunt you down with all the insanity going on around here lately!)

Subtle beauty of a silohuette

It's been a tough few weeks. It's lovely when life gives you a little glimpse of beauty when you don't even ask for it. I've always been more inspired by trees and branches than anything else. Today, I had the opportunity to take 2 hours to myself and as I walked, this caughty my eye.
Today, I am grateful for eyes to see and recognize beauty... Even the kind that lies underfoot.

Ps. It's my birthday this weekend. When I get a minute, I will post a celebratory giveaway, so check back this evening!