school’s out

Yesterday was Henry’s last day of school and today was his school picnic. So now begins our summer break. We like to leave our summer days kind of open ended, without filling them up with too many weekly activities. Both boys are signed up for swimming lessons at the local pool, but other than that we are going to play it by ear. We have some fun places to visit around here that we don’t go to often during the school year, such as here and here. There will be lots of time spent at the lake also – fishing, swimming, kayaking and just general lazing about. Then there will also be the list of things tackle around the house – mainly painting, indoors and out. And there will be a few long weekend trips to visit people here and there. Happy days!

inspiration

I found this great little German (I think) wooden candle holder at the flea market recently and have been looking at it a lot, as it’s been in my living room since bringing it home. I love those red and white mushrooms and have a lot of them stashed around my house, mainly with my Christmas decorations.

I think the correct term for this type of mushroom is Amanita, which I learned in this helpful guide I picked up a while ago:

Anyway, after rummaging through my fabric stash last night, I came up with this skirt for my shop using some linen I had on hand and one of a set of vintage napkins I unburied at the thrift store a while ago. I love the all of the little pictures on the fabric – mushrooms, bugs, snails, nuts, leaves. I still have four of the napkins left and hope to make something for myself sometime. It all reminds me of the walks we took in the woods near our cabin in Northern Michigan when I was growing up. I always came home with a handful of treasures I’d picked up along the way, many of which are right on those napkins.

afterschool project

Henry and I tackled a (relatively) quick project last week after school. After seeing it done in several different places online, we decided to try it ourselves. It was very simple, really: Mod Podge, paper, Mod Podge again. I let Henry go through a couple of falling-apart old books I had with interesting animal plates in them. After choosing a few, I cut them to size. Henry painted the front of each drawer with the Mod Podge, I stuck the paper on, then he put a second coat over the top. I think it maybe took an hour and he was very happy with the result. They hold all of his “homework” supplies, which he has carefully chosen: pens and paper, an old anatomy coloring book of mine from college, Peterson Field Guide to Birds, a penmanship dry-erase notebook, and various trading cards. I’m not sure where he’s come up with the concept of homework (he’s five), but he’s very excited about it.

flea market finds

On Mother’s Day morning, after a delicious breakfast prepared by my husband, the whole lot of us took a short trip to the local flea market. I wasn’t terribly enthusiastic about it at first, until my husband volunteered to commandeer both boys while I shopped. The thought of taking a fast and wreckless three year old and a begging five year old through narrow, glassware-stacked aisles does not appeal to me. Daddy did a great job of visiting all of the non-breakable-type booths with them (they tried out many riding things and helped him sort through records). It was pouring down rain and we didn’t stay long, but here were a few things I picked up:

The woman I bought this from said it is Marimekko fabric that her mother had sewn into a log holder (it had two wooden dowel handles before I disassembled it). While I can always use a good log holder, I thought I could make it into a bag instead. I can’t find another example of this fabric anywhere on line…it looks like Marimekko to me…but if anyone knows for sure, please let me know. I’d love to know of a resource for finding out about out-of-print vintage textiles, especially Scandinavian.

I also bought this cute owl linoleum block print from her. It was in a crazy blue-stained oak frame which I’ve since removed. I’m going to re-frame it and hang it in our bedroom.

Lastly, I picked up this sweet little silhouette of a braided girl to add to my ever growing collection of silhouettes. She was hidden behind another silhouette I bought that was framed, and I ended up liking this one much more than the one on top.

first birthday

I am a firm believer in first birthday’s being just as much for the parents as the child…it’s also a milestone for the parents, who have just survived the first year. My dear little niece, Avery, and her parents just celebrated her first birthday with a much anticipated trip to Michigan and a big party filled with family and friends and lots of little ones running around. We all enjoyed every little bit of it, from the time my mom, sister, and I spent together getting ready for it, with Avery watching, to the gloppy first fistfuls of chocolate cake, to the grass-stained knees and juice-stained faces at the end of the day, collapsing into car seats for the ride home.  Here are some tidbits from the big day:

Birthday banner made using small paper plates, printed cardstock and string.

Birthday dress made for Avery.

Paper dot garland made with these cute circles from Elfrida, assembled by me and my very patient father. I was inspired by a garland made with self-adhesive dots from an old Martha Stewart Living issue (December/January 1996).