Being Productive.

This has been a very productive weekend over here:)

I have been crocheting granny squares like a fool.  This is such a peaceful task and it's also really fulfilling too when you see the outcome of them all laying out like this.

I still have two more colors to make granny squares with and then I can start crocheting all of these squares together to make an afghan like this one!!

I have also made some progress on my cross-stitched blanket for A.  I don't have a photo of everything that I have done but I have specifically been working on this little teddy bear this weekend.  Again, a tedious project but relaxing and rewarding :)

Today, my sister (who is sooo adorably pregnant these days) came over to make burp cloths for her little soon-to-be Jack!!
I LOVE the ones that I had made for Amelia.  They are seriously the best burp cloths that we have, better than any of the store bought ones.
Nicole loved them too and wanted to learn to make some for Jack before he gets here (NEXT month!!!)

Seriously didn't she bring the cutest fabrics?  I especially love the Thor one :)  Her dog's name is Thor so it's even more perfect. I  can't wait for my little nephew to get here!

And speaking of how cute my sister is, check out her "Hospital Checklist" that she made.  

I totally wish that I had something like this when I was getting ready to go the hospital for Amelia's birth.  I was soooo unprepared.  Like, I had my purse and my phone and then a ton of stuff for the baby.  I had nothing for myself or Adam.  This list is not only helpful and serves a purpose, but it's super cute.  love it.

Like I said, I was able to get a lot done this weekend.  Plus, tomorrow is the LAST day of school for this school year and I will have two whole months to get my craft on.  I can't wait!!

xo

janel

P.S. Don't forget to vote :) All it takes it two little clicks.

cake batter

As I have mentioned before, we are listing our condo in a couple of weeks.  The Realtor loved our house and said it would "show" really well.  The only thing that she was leery about was the turquoise walls in my studio.  Repainting the studio led to us repainting the hallway to hide some scuffs from moving in our couch.  Then we thought we should do some touch up on the ceiling in the bathroom from our remodel last summer which led to drips which means that tonight, I am repainting the bathroom.

I used to love painting :) Now, not so much.

Anyway, back to the studio...

After 9 hours of painting (with tiny breaks here and there) and FIVE coats of paint later, we have the newly neutral studio space:

and in case you need a little reminder of what the walls looked like before, here are two little "Before" shots:

Crazy huh?  We didn't hang anything back up after painting the hallways but I couldn't be without all of my art supplies and pretty decor in my studio so I had to hang most of it back up.  I did store a lot of stuff though and I limited the amount of things that went back on the wall so that it looked "de-cluttered" for the showing.

I am telling you what..."Cake batter" is my absolute favorite neutral paint color.  It is now officially the color of our hallways, the kitchen, living room, and studio space.  It will also be the nursery color when we get a house.

I am so happy that the bathroom is the last of the painting here.  I have been painting for 6 days straight and it has consumed my entire spring break.  I do love the feeling of accomplishment when it's done though and if it's going to help us sell our condo, I am happy to do it.

What do you think?

xo

janel

three little things

Good Morning and a happy Tuesday to all of you :)  I'm back to work today after being off with Adam for his surgery.  It  is a very very lovely day here in St. Louis. Here are three little things that I wanted to share with you all today:

1.  I don't think I ever posted my October Goals! I am usually so good with my goal posts and I totally forgot this month!  I did however document it for myself, in my journal, as always.  Here they are, via my journal :)

2.  I am in love with this amazing online magazine, Covet Garden, that I found this morning via Claire (who is also amazing herself) :)

You should really check it out, and subscribe. It has amazing home decor ideas and tours.  Here are some of my favorites from this month's issue.

3.  My progress on the adorable granny square blanket that I am making for Pita :)  I love love love the pink that is holding the squares together!! I have run out of the mustard colored yarn so I decided to start crocheting all of my squares together since I had the pink yarn still.  Tonight I am going to attempt crocheting my rows together too! eek!!  I have to keep my fingers busy while Im waiting get more mustard yarn.

One of these days, I will take a picture of the afghan outside, in natural lighting so  you can get the full effect of the colors :)

Ok, that's it for today!

xo

janel

Sale Sale Sale!!

For those of you who don't know, tomorrow is National Kick Butt day!!  

Seriously, it is :)  

Anyway there are so many things that I want to kick butt at tomorrow:

I want to kick butt at:

*  being an awesome wife to the man I have to drive all over town for tomorrow

*  cleaning my studio

* crocheting granny squares

*  being a good friend

* eating healthier.

All of that :)

So, I figured that I want to kick butt at making my friends happy too so I decided to have one crazy 24 hour "National Kick Butt Day" sale in my etsy shop! 

 Starting tonight at Midnight CST, everything in my etsy shop will be HALF OFF!!  For reals!!
Prices are already adjusted to half off for any early birds :)

Get it while it's hot :)

Sale ends tomorrow night at 11:59 CST.

Have fun!!!

xo

janel

one, two, three...

Here are three things that I am in love with right this second:

1.  My Kindle :)  I have started the Stephanie Plum series by Janet Evanovich and am now on Two for the Dough.

2.  This adorable pen that Lindsay made me from a tutorial she found!! I love it so so much Linds!!

3.  How great the pink looks crocheted between my granny squares!  I had to find out if it looked good so I went ahead and crocheted to rows together and I love it!  This is the tutorial I used for the joining!

Tell me, what are three things that you are in love with right this second?

xo

janel

what's on my desk?

Here is my little rendition of the "What's in my bag?" feature.

My desk is way more exciting then my bag and seriously I feel like I have four different bags going at one time (purse, teacher bag, crochet bag, laptop bag, etc.)

I love my little creative space, even when it's messy. It's fun for me to see all of the little aspects of my life at this moment, scattered across this space.

Ok, here we go...

(you may have to click on it to see it all better)

1.  My sweet little fawn collection!  They live on my desk and watch over me as I create :)  I love them a lot.  In the Pyrex bowl above them, i have a bazillion tubes of acrylic paint.

2.  That is four different pencil/pen holders.  I'm a tad bit obsessed.  We had a German exchange student for a couple of weeks and she called them "rolies" and I have loved rolies ever since.  One is filled with journaling pens, one is filled with mechanical pencils, one is sharpies, and one is fountain pens.

3.  I scored an entire bag of littlest pet shops at a garage sale for $1.50.  I have a huge collection of these in my art classroom and these have yet to make it there...maybe tomorrow :)

4.  12 gorgeous granny squares finished for Pita's afghan!! loving it.

5.  My instax wide...loving it too!

6.  That is my new laptop and my skype conversation with my BFF Lindsay :)

7.  Bernie- my lovely sewing machine.  She is sooo ready to get cracking on some fall sewing projects.

8.  My new pack of stationary from Paper Source via Borders.

9.  My "I heart fall" journal

10.  Adam and I received this adorable ceramic jack-o-lantern as a wedding gift.  The mouth is cut out to say MacLean.  I love it so much!!

11.  Letters from my dad.  We write letters back and forth to each other at least two times a week.  Checking my mail for one of his letters is the highlight of my week.  I love you dad!!!!

12.  My little tool chest with all of my journaling supplies!  I got it from an estate sale because I loved the color and the rusty texture. It's perfect!!!

Ok, that is it!! That my friends, is what is on my desk!!!  You should play along and show us all what is on your desk at the moment :)  If you decided to do it, please leave me a comment here on this post and link me so I can check it out!!

love you.

xo

janel

crochet city

This time last year, I was having a seriously granny square breakdown.  Hooks were thrown, yarn bowls squeezed...it was bad :)  Eventually I got it though and loved it :)   I decided that since it is fall again (to me that is the month of yarn crafts)  I would start picking up the art of crochet again.

Last night, I started making a granny square afghan for little Miss Pita :)  The colors are a mustard and cream and Im going to be binding them all together with a pink.

So far, I love it <3

(The colors are off a bit because of the lighting)

And do you want to see something really, really, REALLY cute...

crocheted can cozies!!  Super classy :)  I am also using them on some cylindrical vases that I had left over from my wedding :)  They really make everything look so beautiful.

What do you think??

xo

janel

a great mail week

I don't know about you but I have become a tad bit obsessed with checking the mail :)  Actually, I have always been kind of obsessed with it really.  When I was little my mom had enrolled me in a couple of international pen pal programs, plus I would write weekly letters to my grandparents (grandparents that I probably saw on a weekly basis too).  I have always loved sending and receiving mail.  It's my thing.  I even had a stamp collection when I was little!  Ha!  Yes, the nerdy stamp collector...that would be me.
Anyway, now that I blog, and have become friends with so many people around the world, and have found amazing groups like Happy Mail, Postcrossing, and The Pen Pal Project, my mail box is a much happier place to visit :)
This week, has been an exceptionally great week for mail.  How about a little peek into my mailbox eh?
1.  After professing my love for Canada here on my blog, my sweet Canadian friend Jules sent me an envelop jam packed with Canadian surprises!!!

I love everything so much Jules!!  Thank you!! xo

2.  After this post all about scissors, my friend Katherine sent me a link to these amazing fair trade scissors from Greenheart in Chicago.

They were so beautiful online and they are even more beautiful in person.  I love them.

3.  Meet Toots!  This cute fawn was handmade by my amazingly talented friend Lindsay.

She is currently living near my buttons :)  You can get one too, right here in Lindsay's shop.

4.  My other amazingly talented friend, Carol, made me this gorgeous granny square pillow.  In love.

She also threw in this adorable little crocheted whale...made me melt :)

Carol is a professional at crochet and has a great shop as well that you should probably check out :)

5.  And finally, loads and loads of pen pal letters have been coming in.

It is so fun to get to know people through letters. I am having a great time with this project :)
Dear Mail,
I love you. Keep it coming.
Love, Janel
Tomorrow is Monday!  Which for me means, the start of VBS :)  I am the crafts teacher this year, and Im pretty excited!!  Have a great week friends.
xo
janel

oh you pretty little things...

happy thursday to all of you!
Summer break is so rad because I literally had to go and look at a calendar this morning to see what day it was :)
Are you ready for some pretty?
1. I am hearting everything that is floral patterned. love love love. I even made this cute little montage of floral loveliness on polyvore today :)

2. My friend Jenny :) She did the cuuute hairstyle that I blogged about yesterday (via Chelsea). It looks amazing.

Jenny is one of my most very very very best friends in the whole world. She means more to me than I can express. If you aren't following her blog already, you really should!!
like right now :)
3. And speaking of Jenny, I found out that she collects these super cute Momiji dolls.



They are all sooo pretty! I think I may need one of these cuties in my house asap.
4. Ok, so Im not sure if these pajama pants qualify as pretty BUT they are oh so ridiculously cute right?

granny square print!! love times a thousand.
5. Jules

Everyday when I read her blog I find myself say Man, she is sooo pretty!! I think her awesome personality makes her even more pretty than she already is. I want to be friends with this girl :) You should also go follow her blog too :)
Ok, I am spent :)
Time for snuggling with my puppy, reading, and then making :)
love you oh so much!
xo
janel