fabric flower pots

Mom and I got crafty on Wednesday at put together these little bouquets. I had a vision in my head ever since I made the fabric flower wall art. I had no idea what sort of container I would put them in until I found the red pepper shakers (like the ones they have on pizzeria tables...) at Michaels in the dollar aisle. It's perfect...the holes in the shaker keep the flowers in place!

I found some wire in the jewelry section and the buttons were from my grandma harrington. I love everything about this project. I could see making a bouquet to go by each place setting for easter or a special brunch...super fun stuff.

And the possibilities of colors and candy are endless! I am eager to try Pinks and Red fabric with heart candy at Valentines or fall fabric with colored corn for harvest....

And! I forgot to mention that my sister, Annika, posted pictures of the headbands I made for her girls using the same fabric flowers... Check it out here.

the frenchy bag

My mom came to visit! We were talking on Sunday afternoon, asking each other what our plans were for the week ahead. I told her Rory was going skiing this week in Colorado for a much needed break from his business. And we both realized we each had a pretty open week ahead of us...and so she hopped in the car on Monday and was in Omaha by the time I got off of work!

We actually met at the fabric store right when she got into town and I picked out my fabric for this bag she wanted to sew for her three Harrington girls. Annika had found the pattern and picked out fabric for herself and Stephanie. I picked fabric by moda and I adore the bag. It is an Amy Butler design called The Frenchy Bag.

When I left for work on Tuesday morning the fabric was laying by her sewing machine, and when I came home nine hours later the fabric had magically turned into this bag. It was amazing!

We went to the Olive Garden Tuesday night for salad and breadsticks, went for a walk yesterday afternoon to the post office to send packages to all of the grandkids and last night worked on fabric flower bouquets while watching Pride and Prejudice. Followed by a late Thai dinner.

A girl like me could never have enough mama time. Today she's driving home and I miss her already.

why i blog

I've been thinking about the whole wonder of blogging lately. I love it a lot. I love getting thoughts out there and I like reading what other people are excited about on their own blogs. I often describe a blog as a personal magazine column...like we each have our own daily column and the editor doesn't really care what we write about. "Just express yourself," this kind editor says.

I have taken these words to heart and I write about whatever is on my mind. Often at the end of a week I'll look back on my posts and laugh about the different topics I have covered. Last week I ranged from tropical fruit to American Girl books to an inaccurate tutorial on RSS feeds. Laughing out loud as I type.

But I keep writing, because scattered or not, I like this medium of communication. And the motivation to keep writing comes from the moments of PURE JOY I experience when I find out about a new reader, like I did just a moment ago.

I just received a comment from a friend of mine from back in the day. We knew each other from church and school. She just wrote about how she reads this thing. I had no idea. But I LOVE that she is here! I remember going to camp with this friend one summer, and laughing hard. I mean, hard. Our humor was so crazy-similar. And because of college and life and time we haven't kept in touch, but here she is. And I'm so glad we're connected like this!

Connection. This is why I blog.

I got a similar email recently from a friend I worked with at camp. She reads daily. I didn't have a clue. But I love that she's reading, and if we lived closer I know we'd be living room friends, talking for hours on each other's couches. But we don't live closer, so I tell my stories from my own couch with my laptop on my lap and she can read them on her couch.

I'm going to keep blogging. (No, I never really was considering otherwise). But it's going to be scattered. Because I am scattered.

The interesting thing is that I think my Umbrella Topic is emerging. Like my, catch-all-this-is-what-I-blog-about topic. And it only became visible after getting so many of these super-fun-make-my-day emails and comments from friends and strangers alike. My catch all topic is this: I like community. I like people. I like life. And I want the world to be less of a lonesome place. I want people to appreciate life and family and friends. For me, I appreciate life most when I am with people, when I am listening to and telling stories, when I am creating something fun and new, when I am spending my time in faithful, meaningful ways. And I guess, those are the things I blog about. Scattered, but so good.

So thanks for reading. I know there are lots of you out there and I am so excited to keep connecting and sharing with you in this way.

Here's to community.

reunion album complete!

I had posted the first two pages of this album here, explaining Grandma's birthday party and how amazing this family reunion was. And, since posting those pictures, Grandma has been talking seriously about planning her next birthday party. I can't wait!

This is a completely different way to scrapbook. It is more art than story. The pictures are stunning and I loved decorating them. But the wordy girl in me was dying not to journal on each page. With the pages so skinny, a lot of text quickly ate up the layout. So I gave up trying and finally settled into just playing with ribbon and flowers and buttons. It was so different and it was so fun to experiment and play.

I think it is really good to challenge myself creatively like this. I have a pretty standard way that I scrapbook, with lots of layered paper, borders and a few embellishments. But this was totally new...to use ribbon and make everything three dimensional..to use some sequence and fabric and glue was just good and helped me get out of my creative box.

I still wanted to get the story of the week told within the album, so in the end I wrote out one long journal post and printed it out for the last page.

I love how this album turned out and now I have lots of ideas for how to incorporate these new techniques into other projects and handmade albums. I tell you what. That Donna Downey is pretty amazing and I am so grateful for her style and example while playing with ribbon, flowers, fabric and ink. So stinkin fun.

olympic party

I am so sad the Olympics are over! For me, the Olympics are basically a two-week joyful holiday that I anticipate with as much enthusiasm and excitement as my birthday. This time around, I was shocked by how many people didn't realize they were going on. The way I see it, this would be like being unaware that it is Christmastime.

Naturally, we celebrated big. We have friends who love and appreciate the Olympics like I do, and so we had them over for a closing ceremonies party. The moment this party got on the calendar my head was spinning with Olympic-themed ideas. Like a Doritoes Torch. And Olympic Ring cupcakes.

Our friends are Adam and Jordan.

The menu was diverse and delicious. We feasted and then we sat and watched the closing ceremonies. The closing ceremonies were a bit off the wall, sort of goofy and in the words of the announcer guy, "campy." Campy! I'm not sure what that means, but I think I agreed...

The first item on our Olympic menu represented France. Brie cheese with raspberry jam wrapped in crescent roll dough. Baked for 20 minutes at 350, this was delicious and easy. Serve it with crackers and you've got a crowd pleaser on your hands.

Jordan and Adam brought Cuban sandwiches. Wowza. Pork tenderloin on wheat buns with mayo, mustard, swiss cheese, ham and pickles. All baked together to perfection. I had two.

Chex mix for the Czech Republic. I kill myself.

Store bought egg rolls and sweet and sour sauce.

I went with meatballs, though it was pointed out to me that I could have added Sweden to the smorgasbord if I had really thought through this menu item. They weren't really all that Italian either. I used equal parts grape jelly and chili sauce, and even though you can see the pool of grease on the spoon, they were yummy.

Hungary was my catch all country. This flag could have gone on anything, but we chose these fabulous bars Jordan brought. Could have made a Switzerland flag for Swiss chocolate too, though...

Mexico was represented with this carne chip dip I got from taste of home. It wasn't the favorite on the table, so there is not need to post the recipe :)

And finally, the United States came through with this football of goodness filled with velveeta, beef and hormel chili (no bean) sauce. I do believe it was this American cuisine that cemented us to the couch for the next few hours as we discussed the competitive events we had brewing in our tummies.

I had two weeks to plan for this party, and will be planning for my Summer Olympic Opening Ceremonies party for the next 2 1/2 years. Bring it on London!!!