In an attempt to get rid of stuff I don't need, when I came across a random box of crayons recently, I decided it was a great opportunity to turn then into recycled crayons for my twin neices. This was incredibly easy, although peeling all of the paper off of the crayons did prove to be tedious. I melted them into mini muffin tins, hoping that they will be easy for chubby little hands to use. I used this tutorial from Prudent Baby. 
For some reason, have not been doing much crafting as of late. A summer hiatus, perhaps? At any rate, was inspired when I saw these .79 cent mini tote bags at Michael's over the weekend. In about a month, I'll be heading to St Louis to visit my sister and her family, for my nephew's 4th birthday. While I already have a gift planned for the birthday boy, can't show up empty handed for his little twin sisters, who are about 20 months old. They are already girls who enjoy being girls, so I appliqued their initials on each bag. Instant "purses"! My applique work is less than perfect (maybe I can pass it off as being "decorative"). In fact, if I were the QA auditing my work, probably would reject it. All of those curves were hard! But these are for children, so I decided that it wasn't so important. Will pick up a few other thing to fill them with before I go. I returned to Michael's (twice in one weekend) to pick up more of these little bags. They're less expensive than paper gift bags and can be reused....
I can't seem to remember where I first saw {q.a.}Design's artwork, but when I did, I knew I had to have it! They do very adorable prints of your favorite state, in many, many fun colors, and can include a heart over your favorite city or hometown! I naturally bought a print of Missouri with a heart over my hometown, Kansas City. I plan on displaying it lovingly in my bathroom where I can see it each morning. I bought the near perfect matching frame for next to nothing at Target. I love to having somewhat quirky and very personal things around the house. Really makes it feel like home.
I went "antiquing" today, in Ellicott City, MD. A very, very charming little historic city only about a 1/2 hour from Baltimore. Lots of stores had stuff sort of set on the sidewalk and as I was walking up the street, I came across a little cute and kitchy straw bag. Last summer, my straw purse, that I was completely in love with (and had been purchased for next to nothing at a sample sale), broke and was irreparable (I tried), so I've been on the hunt for a replacement this summer. The bag wasn't marked with a price, so I put it back down and went on my merry way. I happened back on it on the way back to my car and decided to go in the store and see how much it was. After haggling the store keeper down to $10 (an amazing deal, since it was in pristine condition and had a vinyl lining that I knew I could easily give a good cleaning to), turns out she only took cash. And I only had $3. So, I figured it wasn't meant to be and left to run some errands at the nearby Target. But while at Target, convinced myself that since I was going back home that way anyhow, to get some cash and see if it was still there. And what do you know, it was!! The store owner told me that two other people had been interested in it as well, but no one had cash on hand. I'm so happy I decided to go back and get it!! Life lesson #532: When antiquing, always bring cash.
Nephew Jack, plays outside in the water.
My sister Ashlie, with her twins, Caroline and Brooke, outside the St Louis Art Museum.
Baby Brooke suns herself.
The water lovers admire a fountain in the Central West End.
Caroline (yellow) and Brooke (purple) try out their new toothbrushes!
When I was little, I once had a school picture, taken in a yellow dress. It was quite possibly, one of the worst pictures taken of me. I looked so jaundiced and pale. Eeek! (If only I had that picture to scan in...but then again, wouldn't want subject you to that.) From that day, my mother declared that I looked terrible in yellow. And so for 30 some years, I didn't. Then last year, I went out on a limb and bought a yellow cardigan. And realized that I actually look nice in yellow. My love affair with yellow had begun. It's a hot color this summer. So, when I can across the yellow oilcloth in my stash, I knew I had to put it to use. I decided to make a large tote. Thought it would be useful for my upcoming travels, I'm told that there will be some pool visits! And in the very least, can be used for toting produce at the farmer's market. I also decided to make a couple of more little zipper pouches. You can never have too many of those!
