pinned it, did it #1

a while back a friend of mine gave me a bunch of old crates.  i was excited because i had pinned this picture and fell in love with it!!

pinterest version:

                                                                  Source: retropolitanhip.blogspot.com via Tiffany on Pinterest

she paid $9 each and then stained them.  if mine were sturdier, i could stack them that high {i have enough} but, they are old!  so, they aren't going to hold that much weight.  so far, i've cleaned 'em up and found a place for them, but i still don't know what i'm going to put in them! i don't want it to look cluttered, so they may just sit empty for a while.

my version:

i'm linking up with alicia today for  her happy day challenge.  this weeks challenge was a good one; make something you've pinned.  i have so many wonderful pins and i'd like to make a commitment to myself to make at least one project a week from my pinterest boards.  by the end of summer, i think i could have a house full of cute stuff!

fluffing up my nest...

how was your long weekend?  we spent our weekend working out in the garden pulling thistles, weeding, mowing the yard, playing pickleball, hitting up some garage sales, playing sequence with the in-laws and enjoying the weather here in the pacific northwest.

since my bedroom had a makeover recently {i'm still not quite ready to show it all off} my bed needed some cute pillows.  so far, i've managed only one, but i really like it! 

the single heart looks a bit lonely....what do you think?  it might need another to really balance it all out.  

should i add another heart?  leave it alone?  

help!

have a great tuesday girls!

portabellopixie straight market bag pattern review

                                                                   Source: sandihendersondesign.com via Tiffany on Pinterest

a few weeks back i ordered the portobello pixie straight market bag pattern.  i had loosely been following raechel meyers sewing 101 class and at the end of the 4 weeks raechel made the straight market bag as the ending to the class.  since i'm not a "new" sewer, i decided to make the gathered market bag instead which had a little more interest to it.  both bags are fully reversible which is an added bonus!

one thing about the gathered bag pattern is i'm pretty sure there's an error!  this particular bag is lined with canvas and after it directs you to cut the 2 pieces of canvas for the main body it never tells you when to sew it in.  i gathered the front/back pieces first, then sewed the canvas to those pieces and sewed the rest of the bag together.  i read the directions over and over, but if any of you have made this bag and i just missed that part somehow {which i couldn't believe is true} i'd love for you to let me know!

aside from this one error {i didn't see an error in the straight market bag} the directions are clear and simple.  there are lots of photos to help you along the way and i think it's a great pattern for a beginner!

overall, i thought this was a great patter and it happens to be on sale for $5 right now which is an awesome price for a designer pattern!

linking up to alicia's happy day project!!

it's going to be a maxi summer for me.

linking here today



let's talk maxi skirts okay?  have you seen them all over the place like i have?  

                                                                        Source: pretty-ditty.blogspot.com via Tiffany on Pinterest

i pinned this tutorial on pinterest a while back and have been scouring the internet for some fabric that would work.  you wouldn't believe how hard it was to find anything that i liked much less anything more than just a couple of ugly options!  finally, i found some fabric i liked and now i'm ready to dive in.  there were only 2 yards available so if i mess up, then i'm gonna be super upset!

i'm as grateful as all heck that she posted a little diagram tutorial, but i'd really like a "meatier" tutorial, you know, the kind with all the math finished!!   i shouldn't complain, but  i may however give y'all my measurements just in case you are the same size as me!

a white tank and  jean jacket would look so cute!  the only problem is this fabric is slightly see through.  i didn't expect that from a knit fabric.

wouldn't a lined maxi skirt just be ridiculous?

wish me luck!

spring has sprung

spring is my favorite time of the year.  i love the weather when it hovers between 60 and 70 and it's sunny all day long.  hot weather makes me wilt and i've wished i lived in a place that was always 70!  i'm not sure if such a place exists, but i'm pretty sure i could be supremely happy there.  

right now in the yard the golden chains are in bloom, our hot pink rhodies are radiant and everything is starting to bloom.  all of my favorite flowers are starting to open and it all seems so magical.  the summer is fun too but not like spring.  the spring is a new start; a time to renew ourselves.  

today we spent the day working in the yard, garage sale-ing, and we even played a few games of pickleball with my in-laws.  

right as we were gearing up for bed, the kids found a robins nest in the climbing hydrangeas on our deck.  all you have to do it look down to see their nest.  i remember reading a blog a while back and the gal showed the babies all hatching one by one and then dying one by one.  it was pretty sad, but it didn't even occur to me when reading it that she might have been to blame for them dying!  i'm sure mama robin didn't like her taking pictures at the nest and she may have abandoned the babies.  i'd love to capture their entry into this world, but i think i'll just let them be.  we'll just hope they'll make into adult hood.  

in my initial excitement however, i did run for the camera to snap these two photos.  

aren't they lovely?

$14.25

garage sale season is upon us so the kids and i hopped into the car and headed out to see what we could find...

i must say, i'm crazy over my new boots!!

aren't they too cute?  i realize i'll have to wait until winter to wear them, but what a score at $10!  i got her down from $15.  even that would have been a good price considering i just found them online here for $79.99 which is 50% off the regular retail price of $159.98.

nuff said about those, hmm?

for $3.25 i scored two and a half yards of fabric.  not sure what to do with them yet, but don't they remind you of some vintage-y looking curtains?  

a book about pioneers for 25 cents which i might normally have passed up, but i just bought this  unit study on pioneers, so it worked out perfectly!  

 thi

finally, this cute little blue water bottle was just begging to be taken home, and for 50 cents, i couldn't leave it behind. 

that's it for today!  do you guys garage sale?  do you remember this post about my favorite ever garage sale find?  tell me, what have you found that was a great deal?

happy saturday!!  

meet mr. peacock

about a week ago, i  happened to look out the window toward the orchard and you'll just not believe what i saw.  

a peacock.  yes, really, there was peacock in our yard.  we've had some unusual creatures out here before, but never a peacock.  

the kids went crazy!  they zipped out the front door and were yelling they were going to catch him.  ha, as if i want a pet peacock!  

i ran out too and snapped a bunch of up close pictures, but somehow my camera was set to some weird setting so none of them turned out.  once i realized all of my pictures were bad, i tried to get some more, except i couldn't get as close as i had been the first time.  i had hoped he would spread out his tail but he never did.  isn't he gorgeous?

did you know peacocks can fly?  and not just a little bit like a chicken, but really, really fly? i had no idea, but i suppose he had gotten a little too much attention so he flew into a tree where he stayed all day long.  sometime after we all went to bed he left.  although, he did return the next day and he's been hanging around ever since; not in our yard, but i can hear him.  

this, by the way, is the view from my deck.  

beautiful, no?

great friends and good drinks....

i'm so lucky to have a {sort of new} good friend.  

meet jen.  she's a newbie blogger so go say hi!

she's married to my husband's best friend.  in the beginning i was just hoping we'd get along because my husband can be extremely picky about the people he wants to hang with.  imagine how happy i was that we got along right from the start.  

she's kind, generous, silly, funny, athletic, and i'm so happy to call her my friend!  she's always up for working out or doing a project we've been talking about from pinterest or trying to find something we can sew while trying to watch her two little ones.   she'd love to play pickleball with me (if we could find someone to wrangle the kids) or even play croquet with my kids.

yesterday it was one of those rare sunny, clear, 70 degree days so we took full advantage.  she didn't have to work, so we got to spend some time together.

and of course we had to make some summery drinks to go with our summery day.  

it was perfect.

happy thursday girlies~i'm linking up here:

jumping on the birchbox bandwagon

so, after hearing about birchbox over and over again, i had to spend $10 and try it out!

i ended up with a pretty little package in my mailbox and it had a couple fantastic products i now feel as if i couldn't live without...  

i'm in heaven.  

the lip tint is amazing.  my new favorite.  how did i ever get along without it the last 31 years?  

you should sign up.  it's like christmas in the mail....every month!

go here to sign up:

birchbox signup

home goods envy

a while back i saw this picture on alicia's blog.  she posted here about making their temporary home a "home."  she has great style. it's beautiful! 

{photo shamelessly stolen from alicia's blog}

do you see those lamps?  i instantly fell in love and i asked alicia where she got them.  

home goods

it's something i don't have here in western washington.  i can't tell you how bummed i was.  especially since i had seen some great stuff from there on other blogs.  

imagine my surprise when two days ago we were picking up my beloved mac desktop that we finally got fixed,  when i saw a sign for home goods.  we didn't have time to stop but when i got home i had to find out if it was open yet.  

june 24th.  

i am so excited!