I came across the old manual to our dearly departed Frigidaire Flair recently. Before shipping it off to the new owner of our stove I scanned the manual, thinking it could be a resource for all of the Flair enthusiasts out there. Click here to download. Enjoy!
The tradition continues. Introducing the EasterKiwis of 2011 . . .
The JFK mini-series:
Will and Kate:
Black Swan:
Charlie Sheen:
and a Vampire:
Not our best year, but we were happy to get any done at all this crazy year.
A baby gift that I made a while back based on the Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle.
Here is another crafty wedding project from my brother’s wedding. Made these as favors for the rehearsal dinner and at my brother’s wedding. I’m a big fan of this project because it reuses one of my favorite things, wine corks! I found the instructions on the Craft website.
If anyone is interested in ordering a set you can find them in my etsy store, which I officially launched yesterday.
For all my wedding related crafts click here.
This project turned out to be good for a wedding and baby gifts. My brother and his wife had a love bird theme for their wedding way back when they got married in 2009. It was cool then, but now I can’t help but laugh when I think about the Put a Bird on It sketch on Portlandia. I helped make a bunch of birds to be included as their centerpieces and a take home item for guests. The birds were featured on Apartment Therapy and the pattern can be downloaded here via Spool Sewing. I found the instructions easy to follow and the project really forced me to become more confident with my sewing machine. I added some lavender to the stuffing, because I figured they might end up in someone’s drawer so it may as well make it smell good.
Here are some pictures of the birds at my house before they traveled to Burlington, VT for the wedding. Somehow I managed to forget to take a picture of them when they were on the tables at the wedding. Each table had a nest with two birds in it and there were more than enough birds for all guests to take one home.
After making so many birds I felt like I could make them with my eyes closed so I decided to actually make a few mobiles when a few babies were on their way in the family recently. I wasn’t a fan of using branches in my house so I bought a pair of wooden circles at a craft store that were intended for purse handles and @lbjay drilled some holes in them for me with a fine drill bit. I also decided to use black and white fabric combined with bright colors since infants are drawn to those color combinations. I strung the mobile together with black crochet string and some large colorful beads.
Here is one that we gave to our cousins:
and here is our baby gazing at his. I added a bird to the center of this one. He really likes to look at it. The mobile has never made its way to his crib. We have kept it over our dining room table, which keeps him occupied while we are eating.
For all my wedding related crafts click here.
A while back I was totally inspired by Scott and Cheryl’s Paint by Number Wall mural and was determined to find a wall in my house to do the same. When I was 8 months pregnant and it was time to decorate our nursery I decided to move ahead with this plan. First I scoured the internet to find a paint by number image that I liked. I found the image that we ended up using on a paint by number website called New stories for Paint by Numbers. We weren’t looking for anything that screamed baby, instead wanting it to seem more like a view or window.
Next I borrowed a projector from work and we got to work tracing the image on the wall. Since the projector didn’t cover the entire wall we split the image up into 4 sections and did once quarter at a time.
Of course we had to put the numbers on so we would know what color to paint.
and have a color cheat sheet
Here are some pics of the progress. Wish I took more while we were painting the colors.
Done!
Here it is with furniture. Unfortunately the rest of the room isn’t quite finished, but I hope to soon.
The baby really seems to like looking at it while we feed him.
Extra bonus: I accomplished #46 on my life list. Paint a wall mural! Check!
We spent last Christmas in Arkansas and realized that we didn’t have a Santa hat of any kind when it came time to open presents. We turned to the internet and figured out how to make a paper hat. We used two layers of tissue paper, one layer was red and the other white and added a small white pom pom to the top using the Martha Stewart instructions. The two layers of tissue paper allowed us to flip the inner layer out for the white portion of Santa’s hat. I made a collage with all the solo pics that I took using Picasa, similar to the Sombrero Collage that I made for my Grandfather’s Bday. I’m actually writing this post in March and scheduling this post for December, since it doesn’t make much sense to do an Xmas post in March!
We watched episode 1 of the Amazing Race 17 last night and the race started in the exact spot where we got married.
Click here and watch the first 10 minutes of episode 1 if you would like to see for yourself.
Here is a shot from the same angle at our wedding:
Here is a sketch that I did near Place de Neuve in Geneva while waiting for the bus.
Most of the architecture in Geneva was pretty traditional, but there are a few modern examples that can be found.
The Schtrumpfs Buildings: Location: 23-29 Rue Louis-Favre, Geneva, CH
Named for the Smurfs this is an apartment complex that was designed by 3 architects with the goal of creating the most unusual cluster of buildings possible.
There was also a Le Corbusier building very close to our apartment. The Maison Clarté is located on rue Adrien Lachenal, Geneva, CH. Although it doesn’t look remarkable by today’s standards, when it was built in the thirties it was considered a revolutionary project. The exterior is built with steel and glass, allowing a lot of light in and eliminating the need for interior load bearing walls. Unfortunately this building is not open to the public.
On a non-architecture related note I loved these bicycle contraptions:
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