Children's Tee Pee: Can I Have One?

Well hello there! It seems that when I am pregnant I have a hard time keeping up with my blog. We have number two on the way and I am pretty excited, nervous and clueless as to what to expect. I think I am getting in to my nesting mode again, but since we don't know if we are having a boy or girl yet, Viv is still reaping the rewards.

I got inspired by a little birdie to make a tee pee for Vivienne and No. 2. After seeing a few online, I what was blown away by the prices. I was not so blown away however, by the designs. I thought it would be fun to design one that was a little rustic and authentic, but with a modern sensibility. So here is my take on a children's tee pee. I used natural cotton canvas, jute twine, bamboo poles and cotton rope for the ties.I was going to wait until Christmas to give it to Viv, but I was the little kid in the scenario and couldn't wait to get in it myself. So we now have a tee pee in our house and I quite love it.

Remember making forts as a child and wanting to have your own private space? Well I think I still want that as an adult and climb in with Viv to read stories. She let's me in for now, but give her 6 months or so and I may be banned from her private abode.

I am thinking of putting them on Etsy, so if you are interested in your own custom tee pee, let me know!

Wedding Shower & Tears

What a week it was! Not only did I have a shower to host for my good friend, but I came down with a cold/flu (not sure which it was) during the week. Having a cold didn't help me pick away at my to-do list by any means. After dragging my feet around all week, I did manage to get most of my tasks accomplished. And the shower turned out to be a wonderful success.

I was mostly worried about making it as special as I could for Andrea. She is a dear friend and I wanted her to know how much she deserved a special day in her honor. I didn't get as many photos taken as I would have liked, but I did take a few. I tried my best at tying all the elements of the party together, from the invitations (see post here) all the way to the end with the parting gifts. I used the flowers from the invitations where I could and thought it made a nice touch on the notepad gift tags reading "Mahalo". She is getting married in Hawaii so I introduced a slight Hawaiin theme without going overboard.


To keep with the Hint-O Hawaiin idea, for the food we served (this was brunch) strata, garlic roasted potatoes, baby green salad, strawberries with lime curd or oh-so-yummy and easy chocolate sauce, vegan coconut cupcakes and vegan mini chocolate donuts from Seattle's Mighty-O. To clear up the vegan bit, my friend is allergic to dairy and soy so I had to at least try to serve most of the food for her to eat. To side step the strata part, my mom graciously made her an omlette sans cheese. And for drinks, we served mimosas tropic style with champagne and tropical juice accompanied with the drink umbrellas I made a while back (see picture here) which were a big hit!


The flowers Andrea's mom brought were just gorgeous and made the table sing! She put them in silver vases that were her grandmother's which made it all the more sentimental. And if that doesn't pull your heart strings, her long time friend Devon put together the sweetest slideshow of the cute couple that had us all teared up at the end! All in all I think it was a success and I just hope that Andrea enjoyed herself and knows how much I and all the wonderful ladies who came love her to bits.

PS - I made her an embroidered pillow which I will share in a few days or early next week. It was way more work I had intended, but in the end I am pleased how it came out.

Outdoors vs. Indoors

Finally we have some sun and heat here in the Northwest!!! We are starting to use our outside patio again and it seems like summer is half over already! In my longing to be outside, I have been looking at outdoor furniture and decorations online. What I have been noticing is there has been a dramatic style step in the outdoor decor department. Many of the items being sold as outdoor, I would gladly have inside my home to offer a rustic approach. One of my birthday gifts that I adore is technically to be dawned outside, but it has found it's home on my living room coffee table. The rustic finial and large scale is just the ticket to offset the more formal lines of my sofa and chairs.


I have even seen furniture pieces I wouldn't mind having in my home. Restoration Hardware recently revamped their outdoor and garden wears and some of their pieces are stunning. My friend actually got this side table for her living room and I absolutely love it! The bonus of finding outdoor decor is that it's usually priced less than indoor decor...it makes as much sense as men's dry cleaning costing less than women's. Don't get me started!!!


Here is another finial from Wisteria that is deserving of the indoors.

Shower Invites. Check.

Here is a follow up on my progress for my friends shower. I finally got the invitations in the mail yesterday - phew! I feel better that that checked off my list. I think they turned out pretty well and have a slight nod to Hawaii without it being in your face Hawaii overload. My new favorite paper to print homemade invitations on is Paper Source's Luxe cover stock. It has a slight texture which adds a little extra professional touch and masks some of the home printer inabilities. But I must say, if you can choose to print between a laser vs. an ink jet, go ink jet!! The ink lays soooo much better and is closer to offset printing.

I also found these sweet beige labels in a random drawer of our laundry room at the last second. They worked perfectly with my invites and added an extra touch to the envelopes. What a find! And in my own home no less. The next step to my party planning is to make labels/tags for the food and then some garland. You can't have a party without garland!

Rainy Day Projects: Rain, Rain Go Away!

I don't know how the weather is for the rest of the country, but here in the NW it has been down right gross! So to pass the time of not being able to enjoy the outdoors and sunshine (I am still wearing long pants and sweaters on a regular basis!), I have been busy with some projects around the house.





I mentioned in my last pot that I got a new sewing machine for my birthday and it has been both fun and frustrating! That's another story. I said I would take some pictures of a few of my frustrations, I mean projects. Soooo...I doctored these curtains I found at Ikea for $15 a pair for our guest room. Yeah, you heard right! $15 for both of them!! They are a bit on the plain side so I found some cream ruffle trim and sewed it along the edges to give it just a hint of interest. I thought about doing a colorful or patterned border, but my commitment issues kicked in and I had to go on the neutral train...again. This room won't be a guest room forever, so I haven't wanted to invest much of anything to it. That said, I still want it to be a comfortable place for guests. Mainly my parents :) Also, in the picture, I made some shams to redo euro pillows I have had for ages. I don't love the tone of green with the green of the front pillow, but for now, it will do. I am trying to find a berry colored throw blanket for the edge of the bed, but it is proving to be a hard color to locate. Is someone trying to tell me something?


Also, I have been planning my dear friends wedding shower next month and am trying to start on making some of the little details that I can do ahead of time. She is getting married in Hawaii so I thought it would be fun to incorporate a little bit of the tropical theme. It forces me out of my neutral world - this is good! We are going to serve mimosas tropical style with tropical fruit juice instead of the typical orange juice. To make them even more festive I found the idea of making my own cocktail umbrellas on Martha Stewart's site. They were super easy and I they will be cute perched in our champagne glasses! The possibilities are endless with these! I'll try and post some of my other treats I intend to make as I go along...I hope my friend will be reading this!?

Gilty As Charged: Gilt Group

Hello there strangers! I have been on hiatus this last month. I have been busy planning for a dear friends bridal shower. It's not for another month, but I want the pots on our deck to look nice since I haven't given any attention to them in the last several years. I think I have them almost up to par. Just one more to consider ;) Also, demanding my time over the last several weeks, has been an early birthday gift from my husband. I got a new sewing machine and so I have been getting to all of those little projects I had on the back burner, ie hemming pants here and there, pillows, and curtain modification. It has been fun, but it takes up "sew" (sorry, couldn't help the lame pun) much time!

Also, throughout the week I have been checking out a new (to me) online designer duds discount site along with all the others I now subscribe too. Gilt Group carries a broader scope of wears that includes women, children, the home, men AND vacation sites. I haven't paid too much attention to the women's section, but the children and home sites have had some wonderful items so far. I am hooked!

I'll try and remember to take some pictures of my recent, but feeble sewing projects. I have also been busy planning for a br

OXO Tot: Smart yet Again

I went to the spring Seattle Home and Gift show this weekend. It was my first time attending something like this and it was sort of a bizarre world. It was made up of all these small showrooms with various products like any other store would be, but the prices were wholesale (yay!). The catch being that you had to order crazy amounts, however I still had fun taking it all in. There really wasn't much there to drool over, but there was one merchant who carried some great children and baby products that was a little more up my alley.

We are all familiar with the OXO brand and the smart designs they bring to the table. They have been continually expanding their wares and I have to say they may have done it again. OXO is coming out with a new line of foodwares for babies and toddlers called OXO Tot. It's not available to the consumer yet, nor is it available for viewing on their website, but I was able to get a glimpse in person and the designs and functionality look very promising. Their bottles transition from baby to toddler (fantastic!) and they have a super cool high chair that I wish were out when I bought ours, which I really don't like...let's just say hate. I don't have any pictures to show you, but you can sign up with their website to be notified when the line is released.

One other cool product that could have proven gimmicky, but actually has merit is the Tiny Tongs. A woman from the Seattle area designed it for her youngster. They are meant to help ease tots in to using actual utensils which can be a tricky transition. To a one year old, a spoon is more like a toy than a tool. I was lucky enough to snag a pair and my daughter has used hers a few times and she actually can pick up a piece of food here and there. She will get better with time of course, but for now she is loving feeling like a "big girl". Pretty clever design I say.

Peacoat from Oliver + S

It took me a while to remember to put Viv's coat on and take a picture and now I remember why I procrastinated. It is so hard to get her to sit still! At any rate, here is the winter coat my mother-in-law made for her and she wore it ALL winter long. She did an amazing job and Viv got comments on it where ever we went. The pattern is from Oliver + S. The only modifications my MIL made were adding a little length to the body, shortening the sleeves (oddly long) and then adding a soft flannel paisley lining.

It is so hard to find classically tailored clothing for little people these days. Sometimes I wish I lived in Europe...just one of many reasons ;) She now has a spring version in camel with a sweet cotton lining of little birds in trees and shell colored buttons and wears it all the time. That is the one thing about patterns - you can just make the next size up when your child grows out of the last.