two straight lines

I just love it when I find an unexpected use for something I already own.  A few years ago I bought these hot chocolate cups in two sizes because I am a sucker for "real" dishes that look like a takeout containers.  I use the tall ones fairly often for coffee, but these tiny ones sat unused because apparently I'm a mean Mommy and don't give my kids hot chocolate too often.  Recently I spied them in the cabinet when I was serving up some yogurt to my kiddos, and it wasn't until I was actually spooning the yogurt in that I realized that they are the exact size of individual disposable yogurt containers.  Love that.

I buy or make plain full fat yogurt and sweeten it myself-- 4T of real maple syrup and 1t of vanilla per quart.  We avoid processed sugars as much as possible, so this gives me some control over the amount of sweeteners in our yogurt.  These cute little cups are also available in lovely colors (I'd like to put an official order in for 8 aqua ones for my upcoming April 1st birthday, Friends and Family), and I saw them on this new-to-me cooking blog being used as custard cups.  So cute!

One more discovery-- after searching high and low for tiny spoons for Lucie, I stumbled upon appetizer spoons in my local hardware store (this was when we were still near in Ann Arbor, so for any locals, it was the amazing Ace Barnes Hardware). They were close to a perfect match for our flatware, cost a couple of bucks each, and have lasted much longer than the plastic ones I have used before these.  These are Norpro brand and so far I have been unable to find them on the internet, but I would imagine many nice cooking stores would carry something similar.

Lucie seems to approve.

(Apparently stain removal is not my strong suit)

It must be a Friday afternoon thing, peeling wallpaper.  The kids were home all day just like last time.  One thing lead to another and the next thing we knew, we were ripping off the kitchen wallpaper gleefully.  Even Lucie got in on the action.  Can't say I like this blue much better, but at least I'm one step closer to the bright kitchen I imagine.

PS- Thanks for the house love.  I'm quite smitten too.  There's a lot of work to be done (just surface treatment thankfully), but I feel like I'm "home."  I also wanted to say that I by no means mean to make fun of the previous owners decorating choices, and don't want anyone to feel bad if you like the stuff I'm removing.  The previous owners created themselves a lovely home here, and it was through their loving care of this old house that I saw her potential.  It's just that our things don't go at all with the current style.  So, we're stripping her down to the more spare quality that we love.

Side Entrance to Basement

One of my favorite things about our new (old) house is this little side entrance to our basement.  We've turned it into a craft lab, and hopefully some day soon I can share it too.  As I've said before, we're on a big hill, so what would usually be a dark windowless space instead has windows on most sides.  Besides the main space, there is a laundry room with a giant (concrete, I think) laundry sink with three compartments.  My guess is that it's original to the house, and that it will always be here.  I can't imagine how you could remove it.  There is also a root cellar (they call them Michigan cellars here), a small workshop, and a bathroom.  The side entrance is especially convenient for unloading groceries and for putting out the recycling (as evidenced by the box remains in the photo).

A larger shot for context.  Again, this is the side view.

I volunteered to do the goody bags for Elliot's class this year, and wanted to share a really simple idea I came up with to include with all of the store bought goodies.  Target had some super cute little items in bulk bags (16-20/bag), so I started there.  The little smiley heart notebook had a certain Japanese cute thing going on, so I used that as my inspiration for the lacing cards that I made. 

I am normally sort of a snob when it comes to materials for crafting, but since I've been doing a lot of kids crafts, I've noticed that some sort of cheesy materials actually can be useful in certain situations.  The nice thing about stiff felt (I believe it is called Easy Felt) is that is cuts really cleanly (is that a word?) and is also easy for kids to cut because it isn't floppy.  Make sense?

So, I think it is pretty self-explanatory, but I cut a nice plump heart out of stiff felt and punched holes with a hole punch around the perimeter.  I then painted on a wide smile with puff paint and hot glued on large googly eyes.  I cut about an arms length of thin satin ribbon in a contrasting color and tied it to a thick tapestry needle, and put that in a little glassine envelope.  I wanted to put a "You're Sew Sweet" message on the envelope, but instead wrote "For felt heart lacing card," since the parents would be left to figure out why the heck there was a needle and thread in their kids bag when they got home.

I also included the printable coloring cards from Little Brown Pen, in case you need a last minute gift idea.  They have adorable printable valentines if you still need some.  The cards are in the little heart cello bag, and I bundled them with colored pencils held by a colorful rubber band.  I've been eyeing craft supplies all over, and although I am no fan of Walmart, I found Rose Art colored pencils there for 97 cents.  The next closest price was Crayola at Target for almost $2.  When you're making goody bags, this adds up to a big price savings.

I'm not going to share Elliot's "fancy animals" valentines this year, because as I revamp my blog I am going to start offering free tutorials with .pdf's and may show how to make those next year. 

If I don't make it back to this space, I hope you all have a lovely Valentine's Day filled with construction paper hearts.  What could be better?

XO- Courtney

Although the charm of all this snow is starting to wear a bit thin- a friend aptly described Kalamazoo as living in a snowglobe- I never tire of the image of a cheerful snowman.  I've mentioned before that my Mom was very (very very very very very) into seasonal decorating and this time of year at our house was filled with snowmen and hearts, cool reds, cobalt blues and deep purples- all against a stark white background- with some buffalo check pajamas thrown in.  She was a stylist before any of us knew they existed.

She'd make long lists of the months paired with their colors, which to her was just so obvious, "don't you know months have colors?"  I have to agree, growing up this way, months very obviously have colors to me.  When I inherited all of her decorating books ten years ago, I was positively thrilled to find one such list tucked in the front of one of them-- an item I will treasure much more than things that are more valuable in dollars.

So this snowman is an idea that has percolated in my head for a while, something to make with Elliot, something to pitch to Wondertime, which I did just before their demise.  My editor liked it and replied- "oh, and look at this cute one by Betz White."  Oops, I guess no ideas are original, are they? 

But mine is made with cotton batting scraps and colorful buttons glued on by an eager 5 year old.  The hat and carrot are made of that newish stiff craft felt, the orange is the self adhesive kind, the black is just glued on.  I think the background would also be cute with wool felt or a tiny cotton print, a la swatch portraits from the Purl Bee.

So, if you have a snow day soon, or mid-winter break, or even just a sunny afternoon (oh Michigan, what has gotten into you, sunny in the winter?) throw one of these guys together.  Then put on your flannel pj's (Mom would've insisted) and admire this cheerful little guy.  Then dream of the colors of spring.  Aaaaaahhh, the colors of spring.