Gettin' By

Remembering.

Yesterday, March 29, would have been my grandmother's 90th birthday.  Remembering her on this day, I was prompted to write this post and share a recent page I created about my Oma.

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My Oma was the type of lady who expected a thank you note when she gave you a gift.  Even in the recent years of email (which she did, eventually, learn to use) and phone calls, she preferred a handwritten note acknowledging your thanks.  During my years at college and for almost a decade after that when we lived in different states, these notes were one of the few contacts I had with her. I often thought she sent me little packages just so I'd be obligated to write back, because like most twenty-somethings, I was preoccupied with my plans for an independent life, and presumably guilty of taking for granted family ties in this season of self-centeredness.

When we moved back to Colorado in 2004 and were living a mere 30 minutes from her house, I kind of assumed that Oma's expectations of thank-you cards might lessen.  After all, I was often in her company when receiving these gifts, and wasn't an in-person thank-you the best kind of all? And she did relent a bit in the note department, but that reprieve was countered by her all too often reminding me that I did, in fact, live only 30 minutes away, and didn't I want to come visit? Often? And so I did.  We'd meet at JoAnn's and she'd have me pick out fabric for a dress she wanted to sew for Riely. We'd plan lunch at Chipotle, where she'd insist that Opa split a burrito with her because they were too large, but she'd eat most of it and he'd let her, so I'd sneak him a brownie for the ride home. We'd plan a shopping outing to the OshKosh outlet store because Hayden needed new jeans and on Tuesdays, Oma could get a 20% senior citizen discount. (She was famous for her stash of coupons and extensive knowledge on exactly which stores had senior citizen discounts!)

Those visits (and countless others) make up my many memories of her.  And looking back now, I can see that what Oma really wanted from me was not the thank-you note.  It was to be remembered.  A few months before her death, I was sitting with her in her sewing room and she told me the story behind a painting hanging in there.  It was a portrait of a woman leaning on a wagon filled with wheat. After obviously spending a long day working in the field, she is reclined and laying her head on her arm, looking fatigued, but with the glimmer of a smile on her face.  The painting was given to Oma by her aunt, who told her that this woman is a reminder that life will be hard work, but through that work, you can find immense happiness. It is image that truly captures the spirit of my grandmother - through work and discipline, life brought her amazing blessings and happiness.

That painting is now in my kitchen and I am reminded of Oma each time I see it. There are rarely days that I don't think of her - of her words, her actions, her love for me. I can no longer write her thank you notes for the things she has given me.  But it's my thoughts of her, those memories that are recalled every day, that will be a lasting thank-you note to Oma:  You're in my heart...you are not forgotten.

Five on Friday.

• Wondering how to handle the fact that Riely is so concerned that my tattoo (unlike her most recent one) is not fading or washing off. She actually accused me of using Sharpies on my skin (a stunt she's been punished for previously.)  This is so NOT a conversation I want to have with um, A FOUR YEAR-OLD.
• Feeling especially lucky to be working for two manufacturers who send me wonderful goodies like these to work with:
  
  
  
  {New releases from KI Memories and the April JBS kit + add on}
  
• Absolutely loving my new obnoxiously sequined Chucks.  And realizing that apparently not everyone has the same feelings of adoration toward them.  Mike proclaimed them to be the ugliest things he's ever seen.  And Hayden told me they looked like "something the Jonas Brothers would wear."  Despite the opinions of the critics, they still make me happy.

• Looking forward to a long-overdue date with Eddie, my fabulous hair stylist, on Saturday.  Thinking about bangs.  And dark chestnut with violet lowlights.
• Giving thanks that, every day, this guy makes it easy to fall in love with him all over again:
  
  And that he lets me have the last piece of coconut cream pie. :)

Happy Friday!!

Recycled T-Shirt Flowers Tutorial

Hey friends!  It's officially a snow day here so the kids and I are hanging out in jammies and planning a lazy day of movies, cupcake baking, and maybe a quick romp in the springtime snow!  But first I wanted to take care of the business of posting my promised how-to for making this flower-adorned tee. This is a great use for those old tees that are ready for the rag bin and the bonus is t-shirt material doesn't require hemming.  It will fray slightly with washing and make a perfectly lovely flower!  Here's the step-by-step:

Supplies:

old cotton Ts in various colors
scissors
pinking shears
sewing machine
needle & thread
plain t-shirt to adorn

1.  Cut several strips of fabric from the old tees.  I used a variety of widths (approx. 1" to 1.5") and lengths (10" to 14").  I cut some of the strips with plain scissors and others with pinking shears. Notice that neatness in cutting is not super critical here. :)

 

2.  Set your sewing machine for a gathering stitch (the longest straight stitch with a very loose tension) and stitch along the long side of each strip, about 1/8" from the edge:

 

There is a pretty good video tutorial on gathering stitches right here - check it out if you're new to sewing!

3.  Gently pull the bobbin thread to gather the length of the fabric:

4.  After gathering, your strip should want to form a circle like this.  I kept the gathering on one end a bit tighter (this will be the center of the flower.)

 

5.  Get your needle and thread ready.  Then roll up the fabric in a spiral (not too tight) and while holding the bundle, stitch across the bottom (gathered) side several times to hold the flower together:

6.  After you've stitched the bottom of each flower together, turn them over and you should have something that looks like this: (the left flower was not pinked, the right one was!)

 

7.  Repeat steps 1-6 to make as many flowers as you want to adorn your shirt.  Then arrange the flowers on the shirt and pin them in place:

8.  You might want to try on the shirt (or put it on a dress form) before stitching the flowers in place to see if there are any obvious gaps.  (The flowers will droop down a bit when the shirt is vertical!) Using a needle & thread, hand tack each of the flowers to the shirt. Once the flowers are stitched in place, you can trim off all the extra gathering threads.

You don't have to make as many flowers as I did - a corsage of just three flowers would look super cute.  Or you could use smaller strips to make petite flowers to adorn the neckline.  And of course, the flowers would work for headbands, along the hem of jeans, or as a pin.  Lots of options!

Let me know if you have questions and I'll try to help out!  Have fun! 

Fresh Starts (and spring flowers, too!)

Alright, that last post has been up here long enough.  I probably don't need to have written proof of my sometimes precarious mental state published front-and-center on the internet, so let's bump it down with a more positive post, um kay?!  (Though I do want to thank those of you who left me supportive comments - I totally appreciate them!  Makes me want to whip up a big batch of margaritas and invite you all over for a girls' night. Unfortunately, margaritas are not the type of carbs I should be loading right now.  But do know that you made me feel better and I love you all for it.  :)

So it's Monday and I'm ready to tackle this week!  Trying to keep busy with various projects and not think about the 22-mile run I have coming up this weekend.  I'm learning that it's more the anticipation of a long run than the actual run itself that freaks me out. So let's ignore the giant hot pink running shoe lurking in the room, and not talk about miles. (It's not denial, it's self-preservation!) Instead, I'll share this recent page I did for KI Memories:

It features the gorgeous Heirloom line. Oh how I love the rich, saturated colors.  And the orange and teal combo makes me particularly happy.

Also making me happy?  Finding uses for the piles of old t-shirts Mike has recently discarded.  Our rag bin is overflowing, and my spring fever is at an all-time high, so I did a bit of "indoor gardening" and created this:

Pretty cute, huh?  I'll post a tutorial on how I made the flowers later this week  - it's really simple even for marginally-skilled seamstresses like myself.

Off to find more things to distract me...have a great Monday, my friends!

The Terrible, Horrible, No Good,Very Bad Training Week.

With the Boston Marathon being less than a month away, our training has stepped up a notch and has suddenly gone from exciting and challenging to downright hard. Even the hot pink running shoes did nothing to counter my feelings of dread toward running last week.  So lest you start to think this training regimen is nothing but happy, delightful, tip-toeing-through-the-tulips-in-cute-shoes every day, I though I should share the low points.  Which was last week. To borrow a phrase from dooce:  It sucked.  And then I cried.

It all began with our speed workout. Due to inclement weather over the past month, we'd been running these workouts on a treadmill.  But since it was a warm spring day, we headed to the junior high track to get in our miles.  And I quickly realized that that my trusty treadmill has been deceiving me all these months.  It led me to believe that I could pound out an 8-minute mile with ease, and that I could maintain that pace over, say, 8 miles.  But it lied.  That cunning, evil machine has been misleading for me months now.  Because out on that track, with my lungs burning and my legs screaming, I was pretty sure an 8-minute mile was gonna kill me.  And I started to think that maybe I didn't like running so much anymore.

Later that week, with Alison out of town for a wedding, I was forced to do my tempo run alone.  I grabbed my iPod and headed out for a run, fueled with caffeine and a determination to run fast, despite the betrayal of the treadmill.  One mile in and my iPod battery died.  Two miles in and my hamstring started to hurt.  Three miles in and the wind picked up.  Damn Mother Nature and her godforsaken wind.  And damn these stupid people who let their dogs poop on the running path and don't clean it up. And OH MY GOD MAKE THIS WIND STOP.  I cannot be expected to run in these conditions.  Damn wind.  Damn running.  Damn dog poop.  And damn, damn, damn this stupid marathon.

Yeah.  It went that well.

Then the weekend came and the long run loomed ahead of me.  I headed out and spent the next 10 miles alternately berating myself and whoever invented running. When I got home and Mike asked me how the run went, I don't think he was prepared for the emotional, somewhat psychotic response I gave: Are you copping an attitude with me?  You think I can't do this?  Well you're probably right!  Not only do I HATE running, I suck at it! Trying to run full marathon is a stupid, stupid idea! It's too damn hard and I'm a big weenie.  And a horrible person who yells at pooping dogs. Running is turning me into an awful, hateful person! I HATE RUNNING, DO YOU HEAR ME?  I HATE IT!!!

Later that day, Aunt Flo arrived and after the consumption of large glass of wine, too many Hershey kisses to count, and a few doses of Midol, my mental state was once again returned to normal.  Or what passes for normal around here, anyway.

At least this week, while the training is still hard, it's not making me scream random obscenities to dog walkers (or the wind). And for that, I'm sure the neighborhood is grateful.

Tattered Flower Tutorial

I've gotten several requests for instructions on how I made the flowers on this layout:

So here's a step by step tutorial on these shabby flowers.  First off, gather these supplies:

• Strip of patterned paper cut to 10" x 1.5"  (makes a 3" flower)
• Scissors
• Two large glue dots (I used Zots 1/2" Singles)
• Rub-on button (I used Studio Calico)
• Scrap of cardstock
• brown baker's twine

1.  Fold strip of paper in an accordian fold (I didn't measure exactly, but the folds are approx. 3/4")

 

2.  To make a petal shape, use scissors and round one end of folded paper by snipping off the corners.  Slightly the taper the other end so you end up with a shape like this:

 

3.  Remove the liner from one side of glue dot (leave the other side on so you can press the flower against a hard surface as you are forming the petals and it won't stick)  Start to adhere the strip of paper to the dot, scrunching and bending the paper as necessary:

4.  Continue all the way around glue dot until flower shape is formed. Adjust the shape of the petals to your liking by bending and smooshing the paper (very technical papercrafting terms here!)  Remember that these won't be perfect, symmetrical flowers. They are a bit tattered and distressed and that's OK. :)

5.  Once the petals are arranged how you like them, use the second glue dot on the top side of the flower:

6.  Apply the rub-on button to scrap piece of cardstock and trim it out.  Punch button holes and add a bit of baker's twine.  Adhere to the glue dot on top of the flower:

And that's it!  For smaller flowers, use a thinner strip of paper (the green flower on my layout used a strip approx. 9" x 1.25")  Let me know if you have any questions and have a great Monday!

Thinking of Spring.

Hey friends!  Popping in super quick on this dreary gray day to post a quick page I did for the KI Memories blog.  I'm soooo ready for the arrival of spring and since it's not making an appearance outside my window, I'm channeling it on a scrapbook page instead:

patterned paper + chipboard + metal accent + letters + die cuts (KI Memories) + pen (American Crafts) + punch (Fiskars) + misc. buttons & stitching

You can also see another of my recent pages on the Studio Calico blog.  It features more spring goodness in the form of flowers, so go check it out!  ETA:  I am working on a tutorial on how I made the flowers - look for it here in the very near future!

And have a great Thursday, ok?!

Monday Marathon Update.

Yes, I know it's Tuesday.  I had planned to do this post yesterday, but when I got back from my morning run I had a message from Hayden's school nurse telling me he was running a 101º fever and needed to be picked up.  He'd been feverish all weekend, but seemed to perk up with doses of ibuprofen and had wanted to go to school that morning. But when I picked him up, we was complaining his neck hurt, so I called our pediatrician and spoke with the nurse who told me that he needed to be seen immediately and to go to Urgent Care, because the sore neck + fever were both symptoms of possible meningitis.

And that was my cue to FREAK THE HELL OUT.  I loaded up H and we headed over to the Children's Hospital near our house.  We got to see a doctor fairly quickly, who told me that yes, his symptoms could be meningitis, but we should rule out anything else first. (Probably because he knew that if he had to a spinal tap with this mama in the room, he'd have more than just a sick kiddo on his hands.) So they did a strep swab and while we waited on the results, I tried calling Mike, got his voice mail, and then proceeded to unsuccessfully not cry and scare Hayden, who, thoroughly disgusted with my dramatics, responded to my waterworks with "Geez Mom, I'm not gonna DIE or anything." 

Of course, being the consummate drama queen, I am picturing my child having a spinal tap, while I wait alone, berating myself for my marginal parenting skills, because who sends their kid to school with menin-flipping-gitis??  Why do they even let people like me have children? I should totally call CPS and turn myself in for masquerading as a responsible adult. And WHERE THE HELL IS MY HUSBAND AND WHY HE IS NOT CALLING ME BACK?!?  (In my defense, it is Oscar season, right?  Nothing like a little emotional cameo of the neurotic mother who may or may not be PMS-ing.)

At any rate, the strep test came back positive, and while this is not normally good news, I was positively ecstatic to hear these results.  Not only because it means Hayden just needs antibiotics, but also because it means I AM STILL AN AWESOME PARENT.  (A fact I really never doubted.  Ahem.) Needless to day, yesterday afternoon Hayden and I both took power naps on the couch to recover from the whole ordeal.

And that is why I didn't post yesterday.  But since I've been getting lots of questions about my marathon training, I thought I'd post a few links for anyone who's interested.  (And as a side note, I did not come up with the program on my own.  It is the work of my much more athletically-gifted friend and training partner, Alison.) Generally, we are following the schedule from Run Less, Run Faster, which incorporates three weekly runs: a speed workout, a tempo run, and a long run.  We've also got a speed workout schedule that a friend of a friend's brother (who has another brother, Larry) developed and we've been throwing in a few of those as speed runs. 

In addition to the three weekly runs, the book suggests two days of cross-training.  Alison has been doing things like swimming, biking, and elliptical.  I've preferred surfing (the internet), lifting (food to my mouth), and the strenuous Hulu Program, which requires I watch re-runs of Modern Family while seated on my ass in front of the computer.  Are you beginning to see why I am not an Olympic-caliber athlete?  In all fairness, Alison has a goal to run Boston next month in 3:45.  My goal is to be the runner with the cutest outfit at the Denver Rock & Roll Marathon in October.  

Helping me reach my goal is the recent purchase of these babies:

Yes I did a 20-mile run, and this was my reward.  These are the Newton Universal Racers, and they are designed to help your foot mimic barefoot (chi) running.  I'm not so into the mechanics; all I know is my feet don't hurt and my toenails have stopped turning black.  And damn I look cool. :)

Heres' hoping your Tuesday is fantastic and free from spinal taps, feverish kids, and ugly running shoes. Bye now!

Help Wanted.

I think it fairly obvious from the past few posts that I've been doing a heck of a lot of scrapping lately.  Besides my regular gigs at Jenni Bowlin Studio, KI Memories, and Write.Click.Scrapbook, I was also thrilled to be guest designer for Studio Calico this month. I'm also very, very excited to be working on a new project for Ella Publishing - a design-based book will help you incorporate graphic design principles into your scrapbook pages.  (It is scheduled to debut on May 18, so I will be in a creative whirlwind for the next few weeks!)

Add to my scrapping duties a fair share of freelance graphic design projects, volunteering at Hayden's school, chauffering kiddos to and from various extra-curricular activities, schlepping up to the mountains on any free weekend to get in some ski time, and oh yeah, that little thing called training for a marathon, and frankly, I'm wishing for more hours in every day.

Notice I've conveniently omitted any mention of housekeeping duties above.  Technically, all that falls under the scope of my responsibilities, but lately those damn chores like laundry, dusting, and preparing healthy meals (If only my family could subsist on a diet of die-cut green cardstock topped with glue dots. Now that's fiber!) have fallen by the wayside. Which makes my OCD tendencies flare up and my left eye start twitching. I'll admit it:  I really am an anal, obsessed neat freak who, paradoxically enough, hates the actual act of cleaning.  Yet my metal stability seems to be directly proportional to the amount of clutter and dirt around me. See the conundrum here?? And the current state of our abode, with colonies of dust bunnies multiplying at an alarming rate, toilets growing colorful mold samples, and mountains (oh my lord, THE MOUNTAINS!) of laundry and ironing threatening to bury us all in stinky clothing any day now is stressing me the hell out.

So I'm doing what any on-the-brink-of-sanity clean freak would do: pleading for help. I'm smart enough to know when I've been beaten.  (And frankly, I was never that good at this whole domestic thing, anyway.) Surely someone out there will take pity on me and offer to come clean my mess, allowing me to focus on what I do best: being creative in my immaculately clean house, while remaining completely oblivious to how it actually got clean. That's not too much to ask, right?  And remember, my metal stability is compromised right now.

Any interested candidates can send me their resumes immediately. I will pay you handsomely with all the Dunkin' Donuts coffee you want in the morning, and equally abundant amounts of margaritas at happy hour.  Plus, once my house is clean, I'm actually a pretty entertaining and likeable person (even more so at happy hour!)  Bonus for you!  So yeah, the interview process will begin just as soon as I can unstick my feet from the kitchen floor. This is just gross.  Help me!! Someone...anyone?!?

Homespun Goodness.

This month's Jenni Bowlin Mercantile kit is full of her latest release, Homespun, and it's a beautiful breath of spring with lots of pink, green, yellow and flowers.  What's not to love?? So naturally, the layouts I created are predominately girly, though I am going to challenge myself to create a boy page with the supplies this week. (Will keep you posted on that!)  Here's my creations (you can click on them to enlarge), and be sure and check out the rest of the design team gallery as well!

I made my own little cupcake here, embellishing it with a button & some ric rac, and cut the butterflies from patterned paper as well (using the butterfly stickers from the kit as a template!)

This page uses several of the vintage pieces in the add-on kit, including the brown paper bag with the cornmeal logo, which I cut out and used it behind the gorgeous orange butterfly rub-on (also applied to the bag before cutting it out).  The chipboard flower was covered in pieces of an old check and topped with the milk cap for the center. The scallop-punched borders are also from the paper bag.

Love this photo of my sister-in-law, Ali and my niece Ava.  Used a piece of old sheet music and a cluster of the embellishments + the white chipboard frame.

This last page isn't in my gallery yet because I just finished it. :)  I covered the chipboard frame with the pink glitter and cut the word "sun" from the font Rockwell.  The pink flower was made from the crepe paper ribbon & a button.  I added the small brown alphas (not in the kit) to the pennant banners, which I stuck down over a piece of baker's twine.

I also wanted to mention that I've added a question/answer forum you can access by clicking the Formspring.me button in the left sidebar. I've gotten a lot of questions about my photos/what printer I use, etc. so thought I would provide a place for FAQs  If you have a scrapping question for me (Or any question for that matter!) just send it via Formspring and I'll answer them there!

Hope you have a fabulous Tuesday - LOST is on tonight - woo hoo!