Custom & Handmade Christmas Gifts

If anyone is looking for something handmade for Christmas gifts, I've got a couple little things for you. I've already been given an order for a couple scarves (in Oregon Ducks/West Linn colors, no less!), and I have a handful of Christmas cards and pillows out with a friend to sell at Christmas Bazaars. So I just thought I'd post a couple items here in case you are interested. If anything strikes your fancy, give me a holler and I'll put it together for you! I don't have my etsy store up and running yet, maybe by next year you can go directly there. For now, you've got this. Happy shopping!

**Everything starred is already made but not sold yet, so holler quick and I'll pull it out before it hits the table at a craft bazaar!

Cards: I hand carved the stamp for the cards and envelopes, and the stripe is Washi tape. I also have some Beet cards that I carved out of a woodblock; will try to get pics up soon.

$5/6cards or $1/card (+envelope)

Choose your color! I also have a couple blue and green ones

The envelopes; I also have cards with this tree stamp

25x25 pillow** $18

25x25 pillow** $18

12/12 pillow** $15

Cotton banner**, $12; Customizable for color and length

Personalized Burlap banner, $12

Think "Merry Christmas" or "NOEL"

Tshirt scarf, customizable up to 3 colors $15

If you have any questions do feel free to shoot me an email! Let me know by the end of November if you would like anything so I can get going on it right away and get it to you. It will obviously be easier to get things to my PDX friends, but I don't mind shipping if I can get it out soon enough!

Sara's Wedding

SO glad I didn't ever get around to blogging about Sara's wedding, because this post does it way more justice than I would have. This is my cousin-in-law whom I helped with some of the decorations, like cutting yard after yard of burlap for runners. The cranes were such a sweet idea and added so much personality to the decor. I was honored to be able to help out with such a beautiful event!

The Dress again! Courtesy Anna Jaye Photography

Courtesy Anna Jaye Photography

Courtesy Anna Jaye Photography

Courtesy Anna Jaye Photography

Check out the rest of the photos here or here for some beautiful shots and some great decor ideas.

Welp, here it is.

Dear Blog: I've come to a few realizations. One: I can't keep up with you. Two: I'm just not meant to be a blogger, a regular post a lot blogger like I tried to do for awhile. Three: That's ok.

I've been spending more *time* (or less time) pinning things on Pinterest (follow me!). I find something or make something and can just pin it to come back to it later. Like when I have 8 windows open and Graham wants to check his email; I can now just pin the page I was on and come back to it later. Voila!

BUT I'm not abandoning you, dear blog. I will still be around now and then. Because I'm still making things, and those things are real-life here in my home, not online to "pin" (or I suppose I could actually start pinning things, but there may be some risk for being poked if I did that.) For example: I've been a homesteading mama like crazy lately! Look at all I've made! Some of it we grew, some of it we picked, and some of it was just from our CSA. Oh and I'm not done yet!

Marion Berry jam: berries hand picked at The Pumpkin Patch, jam made following this recipe, with help from here.

Jam birthday-gift style

a little party banner too (see below)

Pickles: GREAT recipe here for one-jar at a time (though I obviously did 6). I used big cukes, which apparently turn mushy (instead of pickling cukes). But it's what I had and they needed preserving!

Also carrots, beets (with help from the Ball book) and green beans (following the recipe in jam it, pickle it, cure it)! All stored a sturdy shelf I found for free driving home from brunch yesterday. Gotta love that!

A few other snippets of the summer, of posts that I had meant to put more effort into, but am choosing not to. I hope you faithful readers have not been disappointed :)

I made this dress! From scratch! To be honest I don't even remember exactly what I copied...another dress? And used the super easy t-shirt into tanktop idea (which you can find on my pinterest boards, hint hint) for the straps, with a piece of pretty ribbon. I would do it again in prettier fabric...this is what I had a LOT of (thanks Stephanie!) on hand and I though it was kind of retro-summery. So fun!

This has been my craft of choice lately: paper banners. This was at a family wedding this summer (I didn't actually make the banner, but helped her with the idea. The pennant shape is too time consuming for this girl!). I made a bunch for another friend's wedding and of course didn't take any pictures. I also made her a burlap banner for over the guest book that turned out super cute. I'll post pics when she sends me some after the wedding. Super easy and fun to pick out great papers!

So, there it is. A little summer wrap up. I'm not giving up, but I'm not putting out any goals for myself. I'll keep you posted.

Wordless Wednesday

Rivers and Oceans: the Oregon Coast to the Deschutes River. A snippet of the miles travelled in the past 2 weeks.

It started with an unexpected trip to Seattle. It has been a LONG time since I've taken to the highway solo. I love it. It felt good. And there was family on the other side.

Graham's cousin had a beautiful wedding on Sunday. It seriously deserves it's own post. Also there will be a post about my dress...

This is how my parents roll. Badass.

Pickled beets from our garden

The Oregon Coast Aquarium

Sisters Quilt Show with my Mama!

#6

delicious smelling hops on the Deschutes Brewery Tour

We ended with a gorgeous thunder storm over the Deschutes gorge. One of my favorite places on earth. I wish I could bottle up the smell of sage and heat and dust and earth. I'll settle for the smell of basil and rain and sun when it comes around. It doesn't smell so bad here at home.

Linking up with The Paper Mama

Re-Entry

July 16

Today was a post-vacation recovery day. Yesterday was chaos inside me. A week's vacation left me feeling anxious and unwanting to come home. Not the typical "aw man, do I have to start setting an alarm again?" but a deep, dark and uncomfortable feeling of not wanting to go back to real life. Not wanting to return to work. To the house. To normal. My dear friend Abby named it for me--she called it re-entry. When you are edgy and quick to be angry for no reason. When you're mad at your partner for reasons that have nothing to do with your partner. When you get in a fight in front of your parents then don't talk or look at each other during a whole meal, then realize the fight isn't at all what the fight was about (after a 40 minute walk to "water the garden").

So, today I recovered. Our re-entry was cushioned by a warm meal on a friend's back porch, then a warm fire and good conversation. Today I woke early (yes, to an alarm) for a walk with a friend and some catching up. Then time at Open Space watching Graham barista for the masses (or the few regulars who he knows by name), while catching up on email and blogs. A walk along Hawthorne, to Cool Cottons then stocking the fridge and buying stakes to support our tomatos which grew 3 feet (I swear) while we were gone. A bike ride downtown, where I may or may not have thumbed through 5 crafty books at Powell's while enjoying an iced coffee and a pretzel. Topped the night off with yoga, and now I'll bottle some beer with my husband. Re-entry is complete.

And I still get another day before re-entering the workspace. I can't complain. I really can't complain.

Health Food

I feel awesomely healthy tonight. I came home after work to an empty house, and a full bag of produce from our CSA on the counter. I'm talking gorgeous kale, yummy chard, a perfect sphere of cabbage, and beautiful carrots. Surely my dinner is in front of me, right? Nope. Who wants to cook for yourself after the first day back to work after vacation? Not this girl. After eating half the piece of pie that G left me (our friend Tom is the most amazing kitchen guru), I decided instead to make a Peanut Butter and Basil sandwich. My friend Dana is a little crazy. But she takes great photos and has some creative ideas in the kitchen. A couple slices of Dave's Killer Bread (G always brings home the ends of bread from work), some PB, and a handful of basil from my little Bonsai Basil out back and dinner was served.

Now I'm finishing the pie. :)

Sunday Catch

What a month. I don't even know what all has happened in the past few weeks, but it hasn't been the most fun. Actually some of it has just plain sucked. And I've been grumpy. So I haven't posted because I'm pretty transparent--you'd know I was in a bad mood even if I didn't say it. So, here I am. On the upswing (again). I know there's always an upswing--and there will probably be another downhill, but it always gets better again. I started running again today--that always helps. I've been out due to a bum ankle and thus have not had my primary coping mechanism, which of course has contributed to the sucky mood. So. I'm taking care of myself. And my spouse has been great--isn't it funny (and a blessing) that when I'm down he's solid; I guess it's designed to be like that huh?

We've been playing a lot of catch lately. He found our mitts downstairs somewhere (mine definitely smells like mildew; also I've had it since the fourth grade and it still looks almost new!) so we've taken over the street and the park to play. And besides my continued fear of it hitting me in the face, it's been pretty fun. We had a good Sunday date last week. Here's how it went:

We started at our local video shop. CJ doesn't always have the best recommendations, but it's nice to know your video guy by name (and to have a video guy, period). We got When Harry Met Sally.

 We biked. This is my new bike! She's pretty. I kind of hoped that a new bike would instantly make biking more fun and easy and make me love it...it wasn't so magic. I do love my bike, and it's a lot quieter than my mountain beast (thanks mom! I've been riding your bike since I left the house!) and prettier, but it still takes work. Sigh.

 We found an actual ball park to play in. Only problem is that the ball rolls a lot more on the dirt than on grass...

 My handsome spouse.

 I was certainly dressed for the sport. Yes, it was cool enough to wear boots even though it was late June.

 Back home to make dinner--starting with some Montana beer.

Mexican Sweet Corn (adapted from Runner's World) and Black Bean chipotle tacos.

Grill corn on the grill (or roast in the oven).
Combine in bowl:
2 T butter (soft or melted)
2 T olive oil
2 tsp chili powder
grated zest and juice of 1 lime
salt and pepper as you like

Rub the buttery yumminess on the grilled corn, then roll in a crumble of cotija cheese and tortilla chips (crumbled in the food processor--we didn't have cilantro but they recommend it and I would too!)

The tacos were just Gardenburger's Black Bean Chipotle burgers crumbled up and sauteed with onion (from our garden, yo!), shallot, and garlic, then topped with avocado and a healthy dose of sour cream.

A delicious and easy sunny front porch dinner. Sun and easy dinner make me happy. Hoping for more of both to come. I am on the upswing, you know.

Lillian Gail

I got to greet a baby girl and welcome her into the world last week. I started this post and wanted to tell the whole story, but have been sitting on it. Because, well, it's not my story to tell. My story is that I got to rub mama's back, keep her and her family company between contractions, and experience the amazing miracle of birth firsthand (well, not really firsthand). It was beautiful. Lilly is beautiful. And her mama too. These are from a couple days after she arrived when they were back home. And some of the photos were taken by her big brother Jacob. I hope you can tell which ones...

 

And what's a blog post without something I made? Nothing says "welcome to the world" like baked goods, right? Smitten's Perfect Blueberry Muffins hit the spot. 

Welcome to the world, sweet child.