 This design idea came about as a result of The Blizzard of 2010. I was trapped at home for several days– nothing was open and there was no way to get anywhere even if the stores were up and running. I had been needing a baby gift for Justus and hadn’t found anything I really liked, so with nothing but time on my hands, I decided to makehim something. I don’t keep much sewing/crafting stuff around, but I do have one small bag of odds and ends to draw from. I also knew Tim had been wanting to get rid of some sweaters, so I had him go through his shelf and pull down what he didn’t need anymore– and Voila! the Baby Owl Sweater was born.
I used a blue crew-neck sweater with a small knit that was too large for Tim and started cutting down the middle of the front.
Then I cut the rest of the sweater down to size.
I wanted the inside seams to be finished looking so I first sewed the edges of the sweater with wrong sides together, flipped that inside out, and sewed with right sides together, creating a finished seam and making sure to leave space at the top as armholes.
Next I needed some finished looking “arms” so I cannibalized one of the original arms of the sweater, cutting off a length that looked about right for a baby’s arm….
….and then cutting that down the center, right in half, to form two “baby arms” out of one “adult arm.”
To get the arms ready to be sewn onto the body of the sweater, I cut their tops off in a half-moon shape so that they would hang from the body at an angle.
Using the same “finished edge” technique as I used to sew the body of the sweater together, I sewed the arm up the middle to create a tube.
I attached the arm tube to the sweater this way.
And here’s a closer look at how to do that.
Then the same thing on the other side.
To finish off the seams running up the center of the sweater, I sewed a piece of ribbon to the edge and turned it under (in other words, the ribbon is now on the inside of the sweater and doesn’t show on the outside.)
To finish the bottom edge, I first machine stitched a hem and then hand-sewed the base for looks.
The rest was the fun part– all the decorative work– making button holes and sewing on leather buttons, machine-stitching around an owl and branch for a whimsical touch, and hand-sewing the owls eyes.
Finished! This sweater was my first attempt and I kept it for Peabody. I made another one out of a yellow sweater of Tim’s (the more professional version) once I’d worked out the kinks in my original design, and that one went to Peabody’s cousin Justus.
terri, February 19th, 2010
Taite turned 13! A teenager! Who’da thought she’d grow up this fast!!? So what do you get a thirteen year old for her birthday?
 
Taite wanted to design her own sweatshirt for her birthday present, so working with the owner of the copyrighted flag and dancer and many emails later, a sweatshirt was born. It is now available in the designer’s shop at cafepress.com. We have ordered a number of items from cafepress and have designed some of our own.
I also discovered a sometimes commenter on our blog had a shop at cafepress too. I saw this clever design, “Don’t get mad, get imprecatory,” and thought it was very clever.
If you go to cafepress, it is a lot of fun to create your own design.
meghan, February 2nd, 2010
 Here are our Valentine's decorations. Valentine’s Day is a simply delightful holiday for a month when one is wanting some cheering up, chocolates, and a dinner out. So here is a project you can do to brighten your very February windows.
All you need is an iron, wax paper, and some crayons. Take two sheets of wax paper and sandwich crayon shavings between them, whatever colors you would like, and iron it. To protect my iron I put paper over and under the wax paper. Now you have a lovely, large piece of “stained glass” from which to cut your hearts. String them together with a needle and thread and hang them in your windows. Happy Valentine’s Day.
 Some of the hearts we hang singly.
meghan, January 19th, 2010
 Anwyn at work. The kids love doing projects and sometimes it sounds like too much mess to bother with but once in a while I let them do something besides coloring in a coloring book. So the other day I let them cut up magazines and glue the pieces on paper. For Anwyn, I made a house that she had to decorate. She cut out lights and beds to put in the rooms and wallpapered the the upstairs in pink. It was just the kind of house Anwyn would love to live in complete with a glittery chandelier in the foyer. The boys had ponds they had to fill with fish but did not stick with the project quite as long as Anwyn.
 Here is the front door and some lovely landscaping.  Here is the house but as you can see not all the rooms are filled. It is a work in progress.  This is the upstairs bedroom wallpapered in pink.
caitlin, January 14th, 2010
 Maybe some day I'll turn my whole fridge into a list like this cute chalkboard one. . . I hate cleaning out my fridge so much that I do it every week.
No, this isn’t some form of self-inflicted sanctifying punishment. It’s just that I’ve learned this makes it easier in the long run. Face your fears often and you become fearless. Actually, it more had to do with the fact that I got tired of finding half used heads of lettuce, now turned brown, or yogurt that was growing things.
So I made a rule for myself:
Clean out the fridge BEFORE you go grocery shopping. Every time.
Ok, maybe I do it every other time, just to be honest, but it’s amazing how pleasant it is to come home with bags of fresh groceries when you know you have a clean fridge to put them in. And once you are in the swing of it, it will take you 15 minute. max.
So here’s what I like to do.
1)Get a pen and piece of paper for writing your shopping list.
2) Open the fridge and start on the top shelf and work your way down. Take note of what you are out of and put it on your list, open up tupperware to see if leftovers are still good, check expiration dates. Toss whatever is bad and add it to your list if you need more. Put thing that you know you won’t use this week into the freezer. Empty each shelf, one by one , wipe it clean, and put the food back in an organized system.
3) Designate a place for each food type. Drinks, Dairy, Produce, Condiments, etc– just do it in a way that makes sense to you and fits in your fridge.
One other unexpected boon is that this helped me save money by planning my menu around things that should be used up. “Hmmmm, I’ve got some mushrooms and sour cream that need to be eaten- I’ll get some meat and egg noodles to make Beef Stroganoff.”
Another couple of nerdy things that I love:
1) A freezer list.
Who wants to get frostbite digging around, wondering if you have any frozen green peas left? Keep a list of everything that’s in there so there’s no guessing. Tape it to the front of your freezer in an inconspicuous place and cross things off as you use them up. Use a pretty piece of stationary and a cute magnet if aesthetics are a must in your kitchen.
2) A pantry list.
This was only necessary once I started shopping at Costco and had to convert a storage closet into a place to keep the army-tank-sized jugs of olive oil and other such things. It was much nicer to glance at a list on my cork-board than to go through the whole closet before a trip to Costco. “Nope, still haven’t run out of the 60 pounds of baking powder…”
Over the years I’ve received a lot of beautiful mail. I have a folder in my file cabinet devoted to correspondence and it’s bursting with my favorite ones. There are letters from when Tim and I were writing the distance away from across the United States and then from there to Europe. I have the first letter I ever received from him– made from an old record album cover– and all the ones after that. My sisters are all very creative, so I have cards made from vogue magazine clippings, type-writer typed with little messages “Erin, to my cool sister: if you were any cooler….” flip to the inside “you would be me”, hand-made envelopes, birthday wishes, thank you notes…. They are beautiful and so much more lovely to me than a card picked up from Cranes.
The War on Spending is still in full battle array at our house, so I don’t even tempt myself when I get Anthropologie or any other nifty-looking catalog. I immediately stow them in my desk drawer where I keep cardstock, gluesticks and other supplies so I can later on pull them out and use clippings from their beautiful pages.
One particularly useful idea I got from Meghan was using these clippings for presenting vintage jewelry or other little trinkets in gifts. Antique pieces can make great presents but often the method of displaying them is a little disappointing since they don’t come with pretty backings or boxes. Poked through a hand-made card and wrapped nicely though, a pair of rhinestone earrings doesn’t scream “look at the used item I got you!”. When I have time I prefer to piece together the message on the card using individual letters clipped from varying types in magazines rather than writing it.
meghan, January 5th, 2010
 Milk glass candles. I also sprinkled some white feathers around them. The Christmas decorations are down and I could almost cry because the house seems so empty. I love seasonal decorations, especially in the winter.
I don’t know if you have ever seen milk glass in the antique stores. Vases, cups, plates and all of it for a dime a dozen. If you should come across some vases, buy them and fill your fireplace mantle with them. You won’t regret it. Put little votives in them and you will have the most lovely wintry mantle ever.
caitlin, December 24th, 2009
 Zac's masterpiece. Here I stand, proven wrong once again by some some previously unknown skill of Zac’s. I never thought this gingerbread mansion would stand. After we under-baked the supporting right wall, nearly destroyed our friend’s counter-tops with pouring the melted sugar windows, almost caved in the roof, and then just wanted to give up– the structure came together in all it’s lit up glory. Total construction time from blueprints to finished product was over a month. If you are one of the few people that think this project is not an act of insanity, here are the instructions for your benefit.
We realized it was stronger than we thought when Freyja saw it the next morning, uttered ”ohhhhhhh!” and started delightedly drumming on the roof and licking the icicles.
Zac says next years blueprints include multiple dormers and out buildings. . . .
 THe contruction took place at our friend's gingerbread house party, but we still had all the decorating to do.  I iced one of the windows and totally botched it.  Some snow drifts on top add the finishing touches.
meghan, December 22nd, 2009
 This chalk definitely fulfills my need for color, and on black it's just amazing. I have always loved those kitchen chalkboards, messy though they are, and I finally made one for myself. Heaven only knows what I’ll find to write on it but it sure does look cool. That’s all that really matters, right?
I finished putting on the last coat of paint last night. I’m an impatient person and wanted it on my wall today. Fox was asleep so I quickly drilled holes in the board, slammed a nail in the wall and got it hanging. Unfortunately it is now 11:30 and I’m still in my pajamas. I just hope someone doesn’t knock at the door. They wouldn’t understand. Though I’m still in my bathrobe, I got a lot accomplished.
I really do have to get dressed, though, as you can see from the board I have a children’s craft party here at 1:00. My dining room will soon be filled with small children sprinkling glitter and glue all over the room. What fun!
meghan, December 15th, 2009
 Here are some of the creations. I bring to you the humble snowflake. I forgot how fun these can be to make. The kids and I had a blast doing them. I discovered the key to making a good snowflake is in the fold. YouTube had some good and easy how-to videos.
These are some of the flakes I made and it you look carefully they are actually animals. But lest you think I was clever enough to come up with this idea, here is the site.
 This is the giraffe and you can see a bit of the ram.
meghan, December 8th, 2009
 So here are some of the kids' stockings.  I got this one done so Fox would have a stocking for Christmas. Because I don’t knit but wish I did, I have to cheat. I had this lovely throw for the living room that finally got a hole in it. Not wanting to just throw it away, I chopped it up to make a stocking for Fox.
caitlin, December 2nd, 2009
My mother in law had the great idea to make old fashioned silhouettes for Thanksgiving. It was a fun thing to do while the turkey cooked and everyone got pretty creative with the action shots. There’s still time to get this fun project together for your Christmas celebration!
She got the idea from Time Out New York Magazine. You can see the “how to” and follow along with the pictures here.
My mom has an adorable collection of framed silhouettes that her mom had made of the four children in the family. They used to hang in our living room, all lined up and looking adorable.
 The four little Jarretts So I thought I would try to re-create the same sort of thing with photo of Zac, Freyja and myself.
 I took some profile shots of us, got them printed, and then cut them out. Then I traced them onto good, DARK BLACK paper. You need it to look crisp, not like that grey-black construction paper you often find. 
Ta Da! Now I just have to find some cute, matching frames and the perfect nook to hang them all up together.
caitlin, November 19th, 2009
 Does this picture give you the eebie-jeebies? Me too, but read on, there is hope for those of you who don't fancy yourself a "scrap-booker"... I’m still not sure how she managed to do it, but somehow, my mom created hand-made photo albums for every one of her seven children and a couple for herself to keep. I’m feeling like a slouch since I can’t even manage to to get any photos printed , let alone into a book with little cut-outs, stickers, and captions!
But, wait. I have a solution now. And really no good excuses to NOT make family albums since the new digital options mean there’s no need to designate a craft table that will get attacked by my toddler, no need to go buy stickers and paper, and acid-free pens, and glue and plastic sleeves or even get prints made!!
I give you iphoto.
If you were smart enought to buy a Mac, you are all set. All you have to do is click the “make a book” button in your photo gallery and you are on your way to a clean, beautiful, professional, hard or soft covered book full of your photos that will show up on your doorstep in a week and a half. See it here, and watch the tutorial video.
If, however, your husband said he’d rather be shot in the head than own a Mac (as mine did) …. then you’ll need to use one of these or some other program designed for a PC:
Snapfish by HP
Shutterfly
My Kolo Album
My Publisher (My friend recently used this program and was really pleased with the quality, paper, printing etc. Also, she mentioned that they offered some online coupons that cut the price down a bit too.)
I used Aileen’s Mac since iphoto seemed to have some of the best prices out there and I just think Mac is awesome with all of its artsy-fartsy stuff. I ended up with 40 some pages, and it cost just over $60 with shipping and handling. It does sound like a lot, but I never paid for film/printing/supplies/a blank album etc. so I really think it was worth it. Also, if you buy multiple copies of the book, you get a reduced price.
This is how I went about making a family photo album in a painless and really fun way:
1) Decide what you will include in the album (one special event or a vacation, or a collection from your family’s life between certain dates)
2) Edit all your photos (crop, enhance, boost the color or contrast, turn them black and white etc. You can fix almost ANY photo, even ones that look like they are no good)
3) Write in some dates and captions that are worthwhile, but don’t feel the need to create a novel.
4) Don’t get carried away (I had to finally decide August 2009 was the cut off date because I could have just kept adding pages until I turned grey working on this thing! I’m warning you, it’s addictive.
5) Finally, be brave. Just click the “buy now” button and wait patiently for it to show up in the mail.
When my book did arrive, I was overjoyed. The pictures all came through bright and crisp (even the ones that the computer had told me may have too low a pixel count). The book’s dimensions were a bit smaller than I anticipated but other than that, I loved it.
These photos don’t quite do the book justice since I took photos of photos, but this gives you an idea of how it can look:
 You even get to give your book a title and subtitle!  My hand here gives you an idea of size-- I chose the 12" by 12" option, hardcover, in black.  The best part is that you can create a spread with a variety of photo sizes, rather than being stuck with your typcial 4 x 6 photo prints.  The smallest photos on this page came out to 2 1/2 " x 2", which is about as small as you'd want to go, and the large on on the left is 8" x 5". The possibilities are endless! And I loved closing up the clean, little, white laptop as soon as I had had enough for the day. No mess, no stress, and, no, you don’t have to get a bumper sticker that says “I live to scrap book”
caitlin, November 4th, 2009
If someone had stopped by my house Friday afternoon, they would have found me, hovering over a pot of sudsy water, with a huge wooden spoon while vapours of fresh soap steamed up all the windows.
“Come on in,” I would have said, pushing my long braids out of my face, ”I’m just making up a big batch of laundry soap fer the washing. Set yourself down and I’ll go out to the pump and get some water to make coffee. Do you mind keeping your eye on the fire for a minute?”
Let’s be honest: making your own laundry soap sounds a bit too ”Little House on the Prairie” for most of us to attempt. But it’s actually a fast, and really fun science project, done in 1/2 an hour thanks to modern conveniences. Of course the real point of making it is not to play chemist in the kitchen, but to save big bucks. Here’s the break down:
I buy tide because I’m brand loyal. I just like it. It costs me $34.96 for a 96-load jug
This Laura Ingles soap costs me exactly a tenth of the price: $3.45 for 96 loads. And I’m suddenly not so brand loyal.
This recipe is adapted from one I got from my almost-sister-in-law Michelle Young. (Meghan’s real-sister-in-law)
I found everything I needed at Fred Meyer for a total of $13. I’d imagine Wal-mart, Target or any big chain store will have the ingredients.
 Total investment was $13 Here’s what you need:
- 1 bar of soap (whatever kind you like; I used a white bar of Ivory soap because I had it around, and I liked the smell)
- 1 box of washing soda (look for it in the laundry detergent aisle – it comes in an Arm & Hammer box and will contain enough for six batches of this stuff)
- 1 box of borax (this is not necessary, but I’ve found it really kicks the cleaning up a notch – one box of borax will contain more than enough for tons of batches of this homemade detergent)
- A five gallon bucket with a lid (this is the most expensive part, but of course you’ll only buy it once)
- Three gallons of tap water
- A big spoon to stir the mixture with
- A measuring cup
- A knife
 - This soap (the pile on the cutting board) isn’t chopped finely enough– I went back and turned it almost into a powder.
Step One:Put about four cups of water into a pan on your stove and turn the heat up on high until it’s almost boiling. While you’re waiting, whip out a knife and chop up your bar of soap as finely as you can. The finer the pieces, the less time you will be waiting for it to disolve in the water. Add the soap gradually, stirring into the hot water until the soap is dissolved and you have some highly soapy water.
 - Disolving the soap…
Step Two: Put three gallons of hot water (11 liters or so) into the five gallon bucket – the easiest way is to fill up three gallon milk jugs worth of it. Then mix in the hot soapy water from step one, stir it for a while, then add a cup of the washing soda. Keep stirring it for another minute or two, then add a half cup of borax if you are using borax. Stir for another couple of minutes, then let the stuff sit overnight to cool.
 - Make sure there are no little lumps of undisolved soap.
 - Adding the washing soda.
And you’re done. When you wake up in the morning, you’ll have a bucket of gelatinous slime that’s a paler shade of the soap that you used (in my case it was just clear, since I used white soap). One measuring cup full of this slime will be roughly what you need to do a load of laundry. I used this much for a large load and was happy with the results.
So go braid your hair and get to work! This economy might just turn any one of us into Laura Ingllas.
caitlin, October 20th, 2009
Aileen has always been the one to take on the yearly gingerbread house construction, my wedding cake, or any other project that requires the patience of Job and will just get eaten in the end.(Actually the gingerbread houses usuallyget blown up sometime in January by Jarrett and Matt’s collection of small explosives, but anyways…)
So it was a little more up her alley when we decided to create mini chocolate cupcakes, topped with a cream cheese butter-cream frosting, decorated with hand-painted, hand-cut fondant flowers and sprinkled with shimmery rock sugar. But it sounded fun to me and I thought it would make a pretty dessert for my friend Becky’s baby shower.
We found everything we needed at, where else? A store completely devoted to cake decorating (gotta love a big city for that) Home Cake Decorating Supply Co. located in Maple Leaf. The store is quite a little mess of a place, but the gruff, nice lady in there has everything you could ever need and there’s something charming about not being able to find a thing you are looking for while she knows the exact location of every Bambi cake topper or clover leaf shaped baking pan in the store.
When I asked about fondant and said I needed just a little bit, she said, “Oh you know, this stuff keeps forever.”
“Oh, that’s good to know,” I said.
“Oh yeah, just throw it in the back of your baking cabinet and you can pull it out any time you’re bored and just turn on the TV and make things out of fondant.”
Sometimes, people you’ve known for all of 2 minutes say something that gives you a ridiculously vivid peak into their life. But anyways, back to the mini cupcakes…
So with our supplies assembled we began.
 sugar, dyes, paint brushes, fondant, and flower shape cutters galore. We found this super yum recipe for the frosting, and used the Hershey chocolate cake recipe.
I got kind of grumpy when the paper started getting a little soggy and peeled away from the little cakes. But Aileen kept with it.
 We flipped for these retro looking green cupcake papers. In the end the pink and purple dyes weren’t the subtle, pretty shades we’d hoped and we went for an all white color scheme. The end product was really pertty cute looking. And most importantly they tasted tasty.
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