For my fantastic flower girl.

... And the flower girl dress transformation is complete! 

Remember the before.  Green ribbon, and way overdone pink Easter flowers on the front:

And here's the after.  Wider white ribbon and oh-so-vintage-meets rocker chic accent!

   

Been Making Some Things....

Dad turned 50 on May 20th.  He never seems truly happy with any gift I give him (always tells me not to spend money on him), so this year, my goal was to top all cards I'd ever given him.  I took a blank card, sewed some coordinating fabric on the front, sewed another swatch of cream colored paper over that and gave it a stamped greeting.  I wasn't there to see him open it since I had to send it through the mail, but mom tells me he was pleased.  Goal accomplished :-)  And new hobby found!

Last weekend, Matt was out of town and I took the day to be productive in the garden.  My first task was to dress up our mailbox with a small flower bed made of recycled brick.  I made it using the lasagna method - so much easier than I anticipated it would be!  Petunias aren't my favorite, but they grow like WEEDS so for something so front and center, I'll take 'em!  It still needs a bit of mulch, but so far I'm pleased.  

And finally, my dreams of becoming a published author take on their newest form - cook books!  How cool would it be to develop, design, create, write, and publish a book of your very own recipes?!  I've got ideas swirling!   Here's my newest creation.  I took it to a Memorial Day bbq and it was  HIT.  I had the opportunity to make it again for another event just a few days later and this time I actually measured the ingredients as I made it.  Normally, I have a hard time recreating my concoctions, but this one wasn't too hard to get right a second time.  This morning, it earned itself a name when my 1st and 2nd hour block students gave it this dandy.  From now on I will refer to it as my "Mosaic Garden Bake."  

Mosaic Garden Bake

4 cups diced sweet potatoes

2 cups peeled and chopped parsnips

2 cups asparagus chopped into 1-inch pieces

1 chopped yellow bell pepper

5 chopped green onions

1/2 cup chopped parsley

3/4 cup shredded Parmesan 

2 tbsp olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

Roast the potatoes, parsnips and olive oil at 400 degrees until vegetables are tender.  Wait until potatoes are almost finished before roasting asparagus and peppers on a baking sheet.  When asparagus is just barely tender, take out and combine.  Add parsley, green onion, salt, pepper and Parmesan cheese.  

I don't mean to brag but I could eat this every day!  If you're not cooking with fresh parsley, you are so missing out.   I think it can improve the flavor of just about anything.  Just about ;-)

Teamwork

When I started this blog, I wanted it to document our house hunting experience.  Then it turned into a smattering of various home improvement projects and is now a full blown scrapbook.  Through it all, my intent was to make it reflect our real lives - the good and the ugly.  Looking back at my posts, I see that the majority are celebratory in nature.  Well...here's a bit of real life action from this past weekend.  

We went to Saint Louis for the day.  No need to bring the dogs since we'd be back in 8 hours.  We took my car to save gas money and ended up buying four new tires for the old 1997 Honda Civic.  Thankfully, Matt tolerates my desire to document all things with much grace.

Interstate 70 - Mile 161

My hero changing the tire in his "church"  clothes.  

After both of us took turns kicking and pulling off the rusted on wheel.  

The auto repair shop that was obviously no help.

  

When we got back in the car and drove to the gas station to fill our flat donut tire (seriously, what else could go wrong?) I looked at Matt and said, "Can you believe we're not mad at one another?!"  That's love.  :-)  

Buy your dresses after Easter.

I bought a little girl's Easter dress on super sale for $15 at JC Penney a few weeks after Easter passed.  I intend to make it into the cheapest and most killer 'vintage' flower girl dress ever.  I tried it on Olivia this weekend and the little boat neck and the simple lines are just divine.   

Today I began the steps to change this dress from "Easter Delight" to "Vintage Wedding."  

Before: 

After:  

Now that those way overdone flowers are gone, all that's left to do is to give it a cream sash to match my ivory wedding gown and we've got a totally repurposed gem.  

There was a birthday. I made a bird.

My friend Gwennie turned one whole year old a few weekends ago.  In celebration, her mom and dad had a fun and festive birthday bbq.  To commemorate her first year, and to have an excuse to break out my new sewing machine, I made a bird.  It looks more like a penguin, but it doesn't really matter.  He is so ugly he's cute and I'm quite proud to say it took me one morning, three bobbins of thread and not too much cursing :-)  I shall continue.  Beware of stuffed toys from me on YOUR next birthday!