Category: Uncategorized

baby’s first crayons // baby’s first time trying to eat crayons // stomping around // salmonberry blossoms // I found 5 billion leaf skeletons in the backyard // quince buds // the yard is a gross mud pit but dogs don’t mind // sunlit ponies // morning snack // afternoon nap // flowering plum // she woke up like this // borrowed woodland friends // Dougal

When Gwen and her baby friends want more snack they smack the table, like tiny blackjack players asking me to hit them, except for instead of cards it’s little cheese crackers. It’s pretty much the cutest thing.

What ISN’T the cutest thing is Gwen’s new scream. The other weekend when she had a fever she invented all kinds of new ways to scream and cry and she kept her favourite. Now whenever she is hungry or mad or tired or frustrated or hurt she screams this horrible, horrible scream at me. NOT COOL, GWEN.

I kind of have a lot of stuff going on right now, I’m slowly figuring out how I’m going to photograph all my new little things for my shop and the branding and the pricing. Here’s a test set up I threw together the other night:

Cute, right? Maybe this week I’ll finally get the real pictures done, haha.

very interested in my skirt // she has a sassy lil walk // the face of a fever // sunbeamin’ // purple crocus // Sinful Colors in Pinky Glitter + Sally Hansen in Disco Ball + Deborah Lippmann in Stairway To Heaven // in the fresh air // blue sky // halo // I get a lot of compliments on this wolf pin from Sketch.Inc // plum tree & evening sky // moon // city over park

How was your weekend? Did you have a nice weekend? I did not, because this weekend my baby was sick. She developed a fever on Friday and was a toasty little hot pocket of a human all weekend long. Happily she was better by Monday morning, although she is still quite emotionally fragile. Here are three thoughts on my baby when she is sick:

1. What is it about kids when they are sick that makes them seem so very small? Gwen is a very tall toddler but give her a fever and it’s like she’s a teeny tiny baby again. How. How???? Is this weird size perception some kind of evolutionary instinct to make you want to look after babies even though they are gross and diseased?

2. Another thing about kids when they are sick is OH MY GOD BABY ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND???? You are sad and sweaty and your whole body aches and you feel yucky, so why don’t you come lay down in this comfy blanket with your cup of nice cool water- oh what’s that? You’d rather stumble around the house whining and tripping over things (or nothing…) so you fall and and start howling? Wow, great plan! Let’s do that for the next two days!

3. While she’s been sick we’ve let her have her soother whenever she likes, all day even. Usually we just give her a pacifier in her crib (and sometimes her stroller), and her having it all day made me think of that Vanity Fair article on RIE Parenting. The part I was reminded of:

“No pacifiers. ‘The pacifier is a plug,’ Gerber once wrote. ‘It does stop a child from crying, but the question is, Does an infant have a right to cry?'”

I invite anyone who actually believes that a pacifier necessarily stops a child from crying to come over and witness the miracle of my kid screaming and crying her face of with one in her mouth. Truly, she must be some kind of crying savant to have achieved such skill.

Of course I can’t have a post like this without a silver lining, and it’s this: if I could pick any weekend when it would be best for Gwen to be sick, up in the middle of the night, having short naps, second naps, sleep schedule all over the place, it would have been this weekend, spring ahead daylight saving weekend. The time change always messes up babies and kids, but with Gwen already being messed up we didn’t even really notice.

blood oranges, cara cara oranges, pink grapefruit // grinnin’ // Sally Hansen in Mint Sorbet // super cool pins from The Disaster Life // lemonade, peach & strawberry smoothie // clouds & clouds // signs of spring // lil ginger // these are all gonna be bluebells // snackin’

A great snack for babies is Cheerios*. I mean everyone knows that, babies & toddlers are given Cheerios all the time. Just plain ol’ Cheerios can get a little boring so I like to mix them with lil cereal puffs and crackers, like goldfish or bunnies or whatever is cheap.

This snack mix (which I keep in a fancy pink ice bucket on my counter) is great because it is actually a double snack: babies will eat it sitting in their high chairs, but they’ll also throw it everywhere and after you get them out they’ll eat it off the floor (before you get all judgey like EW YOU LET YOUR BABY EAT OFF THE FLOOR I want you to remember for a second that babies will pick up everything they find on the floor and put it in their mouth so why not make some of that everything food? and I’m pretty sure it helps to build a healthy immune system). This also functions as a snack for dogs.

*or a giant club pack of store-brand toasted oaty-os

things I want to accomplish this weekend…

• put the tv up on the bedroom wall! I bought a bracket for it ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND YEARS AGO, I really need to get this done
• get my nails filled
• retouch my hair
• finish the tree/mountain/cloud sewing projects I’m working on so I can photograph them properly and get them up on etsy!

just woke up // toesies // the former changing table is now her toy shelf // lil blueberry muffin loaf // what Gwen wore: top, Joe Fresh (I undid the knot); leggings, Old Navy; boots made by me // the aforementioned boots, all finished with snaps and everything // latest project // baby was here // choco-nose // blue mood // Quo by Orly in Night Sky // mountains-cloud-trees // helping

This morning Gwen threw up for the first time in her life. Like not just baby spit up, actual semi-digested food barf. In spite of the grossness, here are some blessings:

– she was wearing leggings with really stained knees that when I put them on her I thought “I should really soak these in some OxyClean”
– even though she was wearing her lil baby friend’s cardigan she didn’t get any throw up on it
– she was standing on the linoleum NOT the carpet when it happened
– there were also no toys or books nearby so nothihng got splattered with puke
– she doesn’t actually seem to be sick, I think she just had too much bouncy fun
– Taylor was still awake to clean up the floor while I cleaned up the baby

See? #barfblessed

The last of the month, a time to update on my new year’s goals! My last update was January 31st.

1. Putting my laundry away: still doing this. I also rearranged some of my drawers so things fit better, and started going through my tank tops (90% of what I wear is tank tops) and tossing the raggedy ones. Maybe next I’ll get rid of all my leggings with holes in the crotch? LOL YA RITE.

2. Growing out my hair: STILL GROWING. I think that once it gets a bit longer (like in six months or so) it’ll be long enough to have bangs again. If I have bangs then I won’t have to grow out the front of my hair, and I’ll be able to tie the rest back earlier, without having to use a thousand bobby pins and clips to capture all the short front pieces. I figure six months from now, the end of the summer is the perfect time to cut bangs. It’s still so short that if I cut them now I’d probably look like a disheveled Romulan or something. No one needs that.

When I was trying to decide between bangs-or-no bangs I found these two pictures from just before I cut bangs and just after.


I found it very inspiring because these are from just 3 years ago (the bangs pic was actually taken February 28th, 2011), and look at how short Taylor’s hair was then! And mine is longer now than his was then, so in just 2 1/2 years I’ll have hair as stupidly long as his is now. Seriously, he’s like a Disney princess with his long perfect hair. I keep checking it for split ends so I can force him to cut it but it’s just too healthy! UGH, MEN.

3. Stop eating potato chips during the week: I had potato chips once on a weekend, and idk, they weren’t that great. I haven’t craved them since. I’M FINALLY FREE YOU GUYS. I kind of feel like I should quit some other kind of unhealthy food now but idk what.

4. Be consistent with wearing sunscreen (especially on my feet): still pretty irrelevant, I’ve been wearing my little slip-on shoes sometimes but not for any extended periods of time. ACtually I had to throw away my fave little slip-ons because they finally had too many holes, and switch to the back-up pair, which are black and I don’t like them as much. RIP, favourite little shoes.

to continue the flashback Friday-ness of this post, here’s Georgie & her lil friend Lucy the Pug as tween dogs:

Have a good weekend, everyone!

the snow on Saturday // new boots (see below for details) // dressing up in my shirt // Sadie’s disguise // little monster // bundled up (this may seem like overkill but she fell over in horrible mud & slush 1000+ times) // speckled dog // a snowy walk // crocus babies // the path // Wingdust in I Ain’t No Angel (see below for details) // the faces of dinner, 1 2 3 // a patient scavenger // tiny toes // the lion returns

idk about you, but this month has been d r a g g i n g for me. It’s weird because I had two 4-day weeks (when I took a day off sick & the week of Family Day) and somehow those seemed to make the month longer. It makes no sense! I am so ready for February to be over, once my birthday and Valentine’s Day have past it’s like what is even the point of this month???

It’s Monday morning as I type this and it’s been snowing for the past 48 hours AT LEAST. It was snowing when I woke up on Saturday and it’s still snowing now. The weird thing is there’s barely any snow on the ground; it started sticking a little yesterday but there isn’t really any more snow on the ground now than there was then? Who knows; maybe today it’ll REALLY start sticking. Good thing I didn’t throw away my handy DO NOT SALT THE STAIRS sign (I wonder if anyone will actually read it though).

If you follow me on instagram you might have seen the genesis of Gwen’s new boots. I got this gorgeous, buttery-soft dark brown leather in a bag of scraps a few months ago and as soon as I saw it I knew it had to be made into boots. On Wednesday night I started drafting a pattern and made a wearable fleece (like a wearable muslin in dressmaking but out of fleece and also it’s a boot, so it functions as a slipper or bootliner, although I only made one so to really be wearable I’d need to make a second). On Thursday I scanned and enlarged the pattern (it was a little small, like it worked as a fleece but leather is less forgiving), and worked out how to make the boots able to open on one side and accommodate some sort of fastening apparatus to make them easier to get on and off. In the afternoon I cut out all the pieces and in the evening I started sewing; I got everything done except attaching the soles, which I did on Friday.

After considering using velcro, elastic and/or some sort of buttons I decided the best way to fasten the boots would be with snaps. I figured they would be the most durable and also I wouldn’t have to sew any more leather because by the time I finished the boots my hands were MURDERED. On Saturday morning I picked up a little snaps & snap setter kit at Michaels, but when I got it home I realized the leather of the boots was too thin to use those snaps. It was pretty disappointing because I really wanted to finish the boots, but the too-big snaps were a nickel finish and I actually wanted an antique brass so I guess it’s for the best? I found snaps online and ordered two different smaller sizes, as well as some that are shaped like cute teddy bear faces because WHY NOT. Oh and a bag of fifty neon pink dome rivets because DOUBLE WHY NOT I mean it was $3.50 + $1 shipping. I was also very tempted to buy some sides of metallic leather in pink and green and turquoise but I didn’t and tbh I think I should be commended for my self control here.

The pattern I came up with is pretty simple- I re-used the sole & vamp pieces from my scallop moccasins (without the scallop) and made a two-piece pattern for the shaft (that is the part of the boot that goes up the leg fyi). It was pretty easy to make although DEFINITELY more sewing than the moccs, although I did enlarge the pattern significantly so that also contributed. It was kind of a learning experience as there are a few things I would change if I were to make another pair (the way I sewed the vamp to the front of the shaft and the seam up the back of the shaft) but for a first attempt I’d saw they are a huge success (or will be, if I ever get THOSE DAMN SNAPS). Gwen has been very happy to wear them around the house without the snaps, plus put them on her hands and chew them.

If I do perfect the pattern I might put up a diy for these, and I’m also planning on making a video (FUN) showing my handsewing leather technique, since one of the most common questions I get about my moccs diy is “DO YOU SERIOUSLY SEW THESE BY HAND LIKE OMG HOW??????

I’ve now had these fake nails for a month and I’m really happy with them. I barely even remember what it was like to have sad, weak, brittle, peel-y nails that disintegrated if you looked at them funny. I had them filled again on Saturday and the white tips redone, although I painted them that day so I could have skipped that part. I came up with a plan in January to turn all my polishes backwards in the shelf and anything that was still backwards in six months would get the ol’ heave-ho, so I’m determined to use all my faves at least once. This week I tried the second of my Wingdust polishes, I Ain’t No Angel and I seriously can’t recommend this indie brand enough. Again, the polish is gorgeous, with tons of multi-size glitters that are easy to get out of the bottle and onto your nail- no weird digging around in the bottle & dabbing glitters on technique required. The polish dries quickly and is opaque after two coats.

a couple links for this cruddy Monday:

Sara M Lyons did some AMAZING Beyonce nail decals for Emerging Thoughts, you can preorder them here.

The Disaster Life collaborated with Stay Home Club to make t-shirts, prints, totes and patches, and she’s also doing a giveaway on instagram if you like to win things.

I finally listed my black & white gem sticker set, you can see all my stickers here.

Finally, check out this SERIOUSLY amazing Palentine’s Day party, featuring a custom banner by yours truly.

beautiful sky // always running somewhere // a tiny smile// Elke, abandoned // good ol’ Honey Paws // my funny-haired Valentine // Gwen’s Valentine outfit, top from Joe Fresh & leggings from Old Navy // I sort of went overboard on the heart-shaped food for Valentine’s Day // am I a lion? // out for a walk in her green Newt Suit // new stickers that I haven’t put up for sale yet (although the full-colour version is available) // hello, kitty // baby eats: cereal& crackers for snack // it’s cold outside but it’s cozy in here // Quo by Orly in Twinkle Twinkle + Essie in A Cut Above // seriously, help me put my lion suit!

Gwen is really in to dress-up recently. She is obsessed (OBSESSED) with the lion costume and insists on wearing it pretty much all the time. She’ll take any clothing item she finds lying around (or plucks from the laundry hamper) and drape it around her shoulders like a shawl, and she’s very good at putting hats (or hat-like objects, baskets, etc) on her head.

She has some baby friends that she plays with now, and it’s so rewarding seeing her interact with them. When she first met another baby she actually thought she was a dog and would pat her on the head and put toys in her mouth. Now they actually PLAY, either with toys or, more often than not, chasing each other around the house and screaming with laughter. It’s one of my favourite things to watch, they just have so much fun.

I’m finally finally finally starting to get better after over a month and a half of this terrible cold. My sinuses have cleared up enough to allow me to be able to tell when the baby has a dirty diaper. Perhaps a mixed blessing? Anyway now I just need to be rid of this STUPID ENDLESS COUGH. Gwen is also improving. Her nose is much less runny and I assume her ear infection has cleared up. I really hope so because getting antibiotics in her 3 times a day was worse than giving medication to a cat.

trying to get over the gate // I bought these little powdered donuts for a Flowers in the Attic viewing with some friends but I was too sick so I had to cancel, I guess I’ll have to eat them all myself // Georgie & Harley trying to convince my neighbor to let Harley off the leash so they could wrassle // my other neighbor’s cat watched from the roof, disapprovingly // cool baby at lunch // baby eats: rotini carbonara // always always always making “What Is The Point” banners, I think these are my 3rd-best sellers // always nice to see that I’ve managed to keep my pathetic hydrangea alive // after years of my trying & failing to cultivate it, the moss is finally coming back in my “””garden””” (more like garbage-den tbh)

I think a witch has put a hex on me. No, really. I just keep stupidly injuring myself/being injured in the stupidest ways through no fault of my own. First I leaned my arm on that little plastic toy bowl while it was supporting all my weight PLUS the baby, then I dropped that huge block of wood on my foot. The whole slipping in mud & crash-landing on gravel while pranking incident happened, and then this weekend my cat jumped into my lap while I was wearing a short dress and jammed all her claws into my thigh and I screamed and woke Taylor up. PLUS I’ve had this shitty cold for SIX WEEKS and everyone else who had it already got better but I have a sinus infection still!

WHAT THE HELL, UNIVERSE. CUT THE SHIT.

Ever since I watched the Evgeni Plushenko “Pony” video last night I’ve had that stuck in my head, and I’m reminded of the time I made some reference to it to Taylor and he was like “I’m not familiar.” It was literally this, except he was Ann & I was Tom. Some other funny things about Taylor:

Once we were watching one of the Harry Potter movies and he called Voldemort “That Ralph Fiennes-lookin’ motherfucker.” THAT IS RALPH FIENNES OMG.

When we watched Magic Mike (HIS PICK, BTW) afterwards he was like “That was like some…. Steven Soderbergh movie!” Guess what, IT IS A STEVEN SODERBERGH MOVIE.

He also claims to have never heard Ignition (Remix) OR know the words to Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. Idk about him, you guys.

I want to take a minute to thank everyone who bought a pack of the Symmichi stickers Sym designed. I told her she could have 100% of the money and as predicted, she’s spending it on lip gloss and sour gummi candies. On Friday she bought herself a bag of sour gummi worms and saved all the red & blue striped ones for me. For about 1 minute I was all mushy about it because they are my favourites but then she told me she doesn’t like that colour. TWEENS. No but really, she’s just about the coolest kid in the world, and so funnyyyyyyyy omg. Hanging out with her is great.

morning light // perched on the pouffe // blue sky & alders // digging through the dress-up box // the scene of last weeks prank: the compost bin I was hiding behind is just to the left of the picnic table, and when I finally fell I was almost at the bench on the right, so you can imagine how far I flailed // out for a stroll // walk-in clinic exam room mirror selfie // ginger ale & lozenges forever and ever amen

I was finally able to go to the doctor this morning and YAY I have a sinus & ear infection, which is exactly what I thought. I actually felt a bit better when I woke up but I guess all the otc meds I took last night must not have worn off yet because I felt steadily worse as the morning wore on. Since I had to take Gwen with me anyway I decided to have her checked out as well and she also has an ear infection which is GREAT JUST GREAT. Her second in six months, I guess she’s going to be as ear infection-prone as Sym was as a small child. Did you know that if an ear infection is bad enough it can rupture the eardrum and all the pus that was locked away will come streaming and/or oozing out over the course of several days? I do, because it happened to Sym, MULTIPLE TIMES. Ugh, I hope it doesn’t happen to Gwen, it’s so horrible :/

Anyway now that I’ve talked about pus let’s end this post with some positivity…
– a very sweet & generous friend sent me the money it would have cost me to take today off
– it’s gorgeous out, cold but sunny
– all the bras I ordered came in the mail today and actually fit
– even with an ear infection, Gwen is sweet and fun to be around
– it’s my birthday 🙂

blue sky // when she carries her toy in her mouth like this Taylor & I are always reminded of The Cremaster Cycle, which is weird & disturbing // so grown up // playing doggie games with Georgie // tippy-toes // little snacks // flying // I finally finished rehanging the globe lights in my dining room, reserving judgement until I can see how they look lit up at night // my old bear Floppy + a ghost kitty + a Nara Yoshitomo postcard // yellow & green // sniffin’ around // singing to me the song of her people

Well now that the dust (and scabs, ugh) have settled from my pranking adventure I am OVER IT. Like yesterday morning if you asked me if given the chance, would I do that prank again I would have said yes, but today? HELL NO. Everything hurrrrrrrrrrts you guys, and it sucks. My hands are so stiff and sore that I couldn’t even peel a mandarin orange for Gwen’s breakfast this morning, and you know how easy those are to peel! I have also developed this weird pain in the side of my abdomen which I’m not sure is from crashing down on that side or if I just coughed so hard I pulled a muscle, which is totally plausible because I’m still sick as hell. Good grief what a disaster.

Seeing as how it’s the last day of the month I thought I’d do a little update on how I’m doing with my goals, and the answer is GREAT. I’m doing awesome, and I’m not even being sarcastic.

1. Putting my laundry away: I have totally been doing this, and I’ve been making Taylor do it too so our bedroom is like, 75% less piles of clothes now. As a weird bonus, being so ~on top~ of laundry has somehow also extended to being ~on top~ of the dishes, amazing.

2. Growing out my hair: well I haven’t cut it all off yet. I actually have a hair appointment tomorrow but I’m only getting the back cut where it is looking shaggy & mullet-y and bad and keeping all my hard-won length in the front. I conceivably COULD cut it all short since my natural colour roots are long enough but then it’d take the next six months to get back to the point I’m at now, so NOPE.

3. Stop eating potato chips during the week: I HAVEN’T HAD ANY POTATO CHIPS AT ALL. NOT ONE. FOR A WHOLE MONTH.

4. Be consistent with wearing sunscreen (especially on my feet): still totally irrelevant since I basically haven’t gone outside during daylight hours and when I have I’ve worn boots & a parka (but when I have gone out my regular facial moisturizer is SPF30).

Sooooo basically so far I AM THE BEST AT GOALS. At least for January, I’m reserving judgement on my prospects for February.