• DIY,  Photography,  Uncategorized

    More Adventuring with Flower Crowns

    Spring and Summer are the perfect seasons for flower crown creation. Truth is, I make flower crowns year round whenever I can. I remember the first time someone taught me how to braid a flower crown as a child, what a liberating feeling. That is what creating does for me, it is freeing. For this DIY I needed to get some photos of myself wearing the flower crown so I set up my camera with a Joby Pod on a chair and had my five year old focus and take the photos. He did a great job considering he has not used my camera before. The small photo shoot of…

  • DIY,  Uncategorized

    Re-Potting

    Creativity sometimes bursts forth in an unexpected outpouring, often because I feel overwhelmed. Somehow being creative allows me to feel a sense of control. When the laundry is overflowing every hamper and my children are wild and unruly I turn to seemingly unimportant tasks, such as re-potting plants. Sometimes they need the extra space and sometimes I just need a change of pace. Regardless, I frequently find myself moving plants from one location to another. Most recently I re-potted my crassula dubia (thank you Google!) using one of my milk-glass bowls and adding a rock and some ceramic mushrooms that I purchased on Etsy. Succulents always do so well in…

  • Design,  Photography,  Uncategorized

    Logan Forrest McLaughlin

    I have not posted in a while because I recently had my fourth child. Logan Forest McLaughlin was born on February 5, 2013. Also I was sick for the last part of my pregnancy so it has been hard to find a time to sit and create let alone write about what I am creating. In anticipation of Logan’s birth, however, I did have some time to try my hand at some design. Here is the birth announcement I designed (I still need to print it). Front. Back. I so enjoyed designing this piece and I hope to have it printed eventually. It seems my life is a list of…

  • Photography,  Uncategorized

    Re-purposed Bridesmaid Bouquet

    I had the enormous pleasure and honor of being in the wedding of two close friends this weekend. It was such an overwhelmingly beautiful ceremony. It was filled with so many personal touches. Not only did Karley (the groom) and Lauri (the bride) build a house but they also planned a wedding (with the help of their wonderful family). Both Karley and Lauri are so creative. The result was a wedding that left me inspired. I took some photos of the reception decorations and some of the bridesmaids and flowers. Enjoy the inspiration! I was in the wedding and helped with flowers and decorations so I didn’t get to take…

  • Uncategorized

    Hello Kitty Makeup

    I am not the most experienced at Halloween costumes, believe it or not. My daughter wanted to be Hello Kitty for Halloween. Because I like to be able to reuse items from the costume, and also because my daughter already dresses like Hello Kitty. I thought I would use what we had on hand mixed with a few things I found at the store. If you need a last minute idea this face paint is easy. She loved the look so much I had to dress her up several times. The makeup has also been repeated several times as well. Hello Kitty is as simple as three whiskers on either…

  • Uncategorized

    Shower Ideas

    I took some photographs of a friends shower a week or so ago and I just LOVED the little touches. Another friend of mine did the decorations and setup. For centerpieces she picked wild flowers and put them in canning jars. She had her husband cut rounds from a tree trunk they had and placed those under the canning jars. If you haven’t figured it out yet I love wild flowers. I had so much fun getting pictures of them. They also had a crepe bar. It was fabulous and such a great idea. Katie made the crepes the night before and there was a griddle on the table. All…

  • Uncategorized

    Headband Love

    I finally dusted off my sewing machine and brought it into my workspace. I have had several projects on my mind that I am finally getting to sew. Simple little things. This week I am going to do a series of DIY posts on headbands. Here is a peek at a few of them. Also I made a flower headband for myself. Fiona promptly stole it and looked so adorable I decided to let her keep it. I will be posting a tutorial for this headband also later this week. If you want to pick up supplies here are a few things you will need. Braided elastic 3/8 of an…

  • Uncategorized

    The Girl With Blue Hair

    Since I was a child I have always wanted to throw caution to the wind bleach out my hair and dye it some amazing color. Fortunately, I know myself well enough to be aware that what I want is constantly changing. Were I to make the dramatic change I would probably enjoy it for a day and then be angry with myself the next. My sister solves this problem by having an impressive collection of amazing wigs. Here is a photo shoot we did with one of them. I love that she paired the smurf blue wig with a preschool craft crown. Enjoy!

  • Uncategorized

    Pattern Preview

    My newest pattern is almost finished. It will be for both handspun yarn and regular worsted weight yarn. I used Malabrigo and can I just say it is the most fantastic yarn ever! It is incredibly soft and the colors are wonderful! I made both a light salmon-ish colored one and a gray one. This hat is incredibly comfortable I would wear it every day if it weren’t 85 degrees outside. However when winter rolls around I will be wearing it lots. Here is the hand spun version. This was my first knit of the pattern so the next few will look different. It is in the test knitting process…

  • Uncategorized

    6 Year Anniversary

    So I rarely do personal posts but I have been married for six years today and I feel that warrants some attention. I have the most wonderful husband I could ever have asked for. When people ask how I survive with a three year old and two year old twins I usually reply, “I survive because of Chester.” I fall more in love with him every year and I cannot wait to tackle year seven with him. Here are a few pics of our wedding day June 18, 2005. I have been trying to finally get them edited so I thought I would share a couple. We were married before…