Flea Market Find

Our latest (or first, ever) flea market find.

A nice little pair of Mexican paintings.

Five dollars each, with frame. The woman we bought them from wasn't sure where the paintings came from or who painted them, she bought them from a woman and was reselling them, obviously trying to make a dolla, but she did her best to convince us we needed these two in our lives. How did she know?


Here they are all trimmed up and reframed (in new frames).

Perfectly gender neutral (which is totally my thing now), wonderfully colorful, and the perfect scenes to spark a kids imagination.

I found Nyah staring into the paintings the other day and that is when we found the pinata. So appropriate since the pinata is the highlight of all our celebrations.

Can't wait to place them in their new home- the hallway leading into the kids rooms. Gotta love cheap art.

Fabric Bowls

All of the sudden, out of the blue, for no rhyme or reason, all of the kids in the house have decided to sleep through the night. In their own beds. Its some sort of miracle and I keep finding myself waking up in the night, expecting a shout out of some sort to come my way but silence is all I am finding. And the silence sounds wonderful. Everyone seems have finally adjusted to their new surroundings, just in time to move. Again.


So yesterday, after indulging in a full nights rest I was feeling pretty good and ambitious. So we decided to get crafty with it. 


With the left over fabric from this applique t-shirt project, I decided to make no sew cloth baskets for each of the kids. The full inspiration and tutorial can be found by clicking here.

I originally made these baskets when I was young with one of my aunts in some dated peach and blue navajo fabric so I was excited to give it another go in fabric of my choosing. I am always looking for baskets for the kids stuff to keep them organized so this was a perfect project. 

Nyah hasn't quite got the hang of the weaving process yet but she was really into tearing the on inch strips of fabric. Oh, and she chose her own fabric for her basket. All shades of pink, obviously.

Love the pops of color these baskets will add to the kid's rooms or bathroom in the new casa.


Overall, after getting the hang of weaving the baskets again, I think basket making went well. None of the basket shapes were intentional. Each seemed to take on a life of its own as I got going, resulting in baskets that are as unique in size, shape, color and character as their owners. 

And you better believe that if we were still living on island time I would have definitely attempted this project with palm fronds.






(For the record: I used 6 yards of 12/32" piping for the large green basket and 5 yards of 6/32" piping for the Nyah's baskets and less of the 6/32" piping for the smaller basket. All materials found at JoAnn Fabrics.)

Crafty Kids

Creating things with Nyah always puts a smile on my face.


I love her innocence and imagination when it comes to color. No one has robbed her of her creativity by informing her what colors things should be. She still lives by the whim of her paintbrush of what her hand grabs from in the Crayola box, her mind free. 

Salt and flour dough project.

And on this particular day this how we kept Elsa occupied since she wasn't interest in the dough, except to eat it, of course. Bowls of split peas and a spoon equals hours (more like 30 minutes) of fun for Elsa spent transferring the peas from bowl to bowl. 

Love to see these girls hard at work.

Compulsive Dresser Redo

Remember my crazy, nesting, obsessed with the need to make things compulsive behavior I wrote about the other day? Well, I am happy to report that storm has calmed a bit. Thank goodness, I think George was beginning to get a little scared. I wanted to share the finished flea market dresser we bought for the girls' room from the sweetest hillbilly ever. I am not kidding, I just wanted to hug him.

before

after

After numerous rolls of masking tape, I finally finished painting the dresser, but my inner calm only came after I was able to find these handles. 

I had some sort of feminine glass handles pictured in my mind and I just had to find them. Had to. So George, aka, the sweetest guy ever, drove me around to a million hardware stores (I felt like I was shopping in St. Croix again, trying to find a needle in a haystack) until I finally found these little beauts at, of all places, (I am embarrassed to say) Target. I am sure a quaint little antique store would have had way better ones but I am not familiar with the area and also just didn't have that kind of time because, hello, I was posessed. 


So thats it, I think I am finished being obsessively crafty. So I guess this is an official goodbye to my crafty side, not sure what this means, but its been real. Baby soon? Who know, I am finished trying to predict.

Crazy Lady

What have I been up to? Oh nothing, you know, just going obsessive compulsive on a few projects I have going around here. I am not the extremely crafty type, besides the little projects Nyah and I do, but lately I have been a fanatic. Over the top, gotta accomplish things. Now.

I have been working on painting this little flea market dresser for the girls, photos to come. Why isn't white good enough? Good question, possibly because I'm posessed.

I whipped up these applique shirts up yesterday. Hunched over, snipping the little letters out seemed to give me piece of mind, for some strange reason. My fingers still hurt.

This morning, I woke up and randomly went crazy organizing my mom's kitchen. It was time. The space just had to be organized and cleaned, right then and there. But of course, not without a little help from old school friend Jay Z bumpin' in the background.


I remember when I was prego with Nyah, I decided I needed to make a quilt and I did. I painted animal pictures for her room. Elsa was born in December so I got to get all of my mad woman craziness out on the Christmas decor and baking. The neighbors must have seriously had a sugar high for most of December.


I am learning a few things about my self and am realizing (since this my gajillionth baby) that this might just be my odd little way of nesting. I would do normal things like wash baby clothes and stuff but I am still waiting for the Postal Service to toss my boxes around a little more so they arrive to us in a nice ball shape. I am sure they have a few more weeks to go to achieve this shape. Thats okay, just happy our possessions are making the long journey here, as a few have trickled in. I have my fingers crossed baby boy's things arrive before delivery, which if my craftiness is indeed my unique version of nesting, could be sooner than later.

So Life Goes

I get so frustrated with myself because I can be such a predictable person at times. Inevitably, the moment my life get the least bit busy, all my creativity goes out the door. I first noticed this trait in myself after I started Nursing School and when I graduated from college and started working in a stressful hospital, all creativity was lost. Hard to believe I used to enjoy doing art, seems like another life. I know it will come back to me someday but for now this blog has been a nice creative outlet for me. But as expected, with work and other upcoming events (incase you forgot, can't wait to see you all)

Etsy TwoYellowShoes

...my mind has been occupied and that has left me with nothing to write about and I don't want to post crap on here just for the sake of filling up space. 


Working two day a week, big deal you say. Yeah, I know, but just trying to find my groove. 


On another note, Elsa seems to really be enjoying her time with George's Aunt while we are at work. Here is what she looked like when George picked her up the other day.  I have mentioned this happening to Nyah in the past but here are some photos just so you all know what I am talking about.

I guess she couldn't stand the rubber bands either because she started walking around with this bucket on her head. I could be wrong but I think this girl might have a sense of humor.

I came home to a pile of rubber bands on the counter and we are still trying to get the grease out. Hilarious. Auntie Cline is also pretty adamant that get girls ears pierced, an issue that George and I couldn't care less about.


Despite the hairdos and talk of earrings, we are beyond thankful Elsa has a loving home to play in while we are away where she is loved to pieces. What more could we ask for?