Don't get your hopes up

Ok, I don't want you to think this is the home makeover I've been telling you about. That is still coming, but it hasn't happened yet. I was home with the kids on a Saturday while Chris went to sing at a wedding in La Conner. Thanks to a Pinterest link (here) I had an idea to keep us busy for the day. It didn't take much time, I had all the materials on hand, and it kept the kids busy for days. Just so you know, I didn't let the perfection of the inspiration keep me from creating my own version.

Decorative Boxes

I've been having an exciting couple of weeks for my shop. I am learning a lot along the way about marketing, photography, shipping prices, etc. It turns out my shipping prices were extremely low. I had no idea it would cost so much to send a box in a box.

I had my first sale. Hooray! My first sale is going to a famous couple who are getting married, but I don't want to type their names online in case somehow it got back to them and spoiled the surprise. Ask me about it if you are interested. Just a couple of days later I sold 4 more boxes so I really feel on a roll. There has been a lot of happy dancing around here lately.

I am working on my first commission order. Fun to see what other people would like to be in the shop. I have to stick with the fabrics that make me happy, but it would be nice to have more input on what else people would like to see.

It will be fun to see what my boxes end up being used for in the future; decorative boxes, gift boxes, baby nursery storage, etc.

My Etsy Shop

Well, I finally created an Etsy shop for my boxes. I've been a little nervous about all the little details that are involved, but so far everything is falling into place.

The garden

I have been stressing about our yard for about 1 year now. I've been slaving away trying to remove most of the rocks from the soil, but it seems like a never-ending job. About a month ago I cleared a space for 2 garden boxes. We built the boxes and then tried unsuccessfully to borrow a truck to haul some garden soil for our boxes. Finally, Chris rented a truck and purchased a truckload of nice 50/50 soil and compost. Of course, me being who I am the 2 nights after we filled one of the boxes I was thinking about where I wanted to move them. I ended up waking up the next morning (yesterday) and preparing a new location for 1 box, moved the box with Chris's help, and moved all the soil out of the box we had filled 2 days before. We now have a garden box with soil, I purchased plants yesterday, and last night we planted the plants as a family. I now have to figure out what to do with the other garden box. I have included a picture of the location I would like to put it, but right now that location is covered with kind of a lot of rocks and my back is screaming at me to not even think about it.

My current projects

For the last couple of months I have become a little obsessed with covering boxes in fabric. First, I recovered 2 of the blue boxes I bought at Ikea a while back. Next, I bought 10 really cheap boxes from Ikea to cover. Most recently I started buying boxes online, I received a shipment of 50 boxes that I then had to send back and take a huge financial hit to pay the return shipping. Finally, I bought some (18) nesting boxes on Ebay that have a nice incandescent cellophane on them which doesn't allow glue to stick quite as well. I have been ripping the cellophane off to get the box down to the nice white finish and then gluing fabric on. I fully intend on buying more boxes in the near future. I have about 6 boxes left of the 18 to finish and next I plan on working on some smaller sizes. I would like to skip the Ebay seller and the box importing company and go straight to the Chinese company who makes them. Wish me luck. I have found this to be a wonderful hobby to work on while my husband and I watch TV at night.



You may be able to see in the picture, the cheap boxes I bought from Ikea have a print that shows through some of the fabric. These boxes are the ones on the bottom of each shelf. Stacked on top are the boxes from Ebay that have white underneath so that allows the brightness of the colors of the fabric to show rather than be muddled by a brown and black box underneath.

Ok, last one for tonight

Just had to share the deviled eggs I made for Easter. Have you ever seen such beautiful eggs? I had no idea this was possible, but it was on a blog so I gave it a try. Cool, huh? The colors did seem to make it a little more difficult to entice people to eat them, but they were fun.

More projects

In March I took Fiona with me to visit friends and family in Texas. While we were there I stocked up on costumes for Fiona thanks to Grandma Hathaway's excellent garage sale skills. Of course I needed somewhere to store them.
In April, my dad and I built this costume rack for the kids to store their disguises, dresses, and costumes. It has definitely helped them remember to dress up more.

A Project!

I made something. It is a little bench for the kids to sit on while they read books upstairs. The legs still need to be painted, but otherwise I am happy with it. It is impossible to get 2 kids to sit still for a picture when you really want them to.

Skip to February

I entered this picture in a living room makeover contest and I actually won. As of today no work has been done, but I am assured it will probably be done in July.

November

Homemade mozzarella sticks are harder to make than you would think. This was my best attempt. They weren't as tasty as I was hoping either. Maybe next time.

October

We lost our camera in October. I believe that is the month Erin came to visit and we painted my kitchen and dining room a beautiful blue. Keep your eyes open and you might get a glimpse of it in future pictures.

Blueberries

In September we were introduced to the Blueberry Park in Tacoma. Acres of blueberry bushes taken care of by volunteers. We took several trips and enjoyed making blueberry muffins, pancakes, smoothies, the kuchen pictured, and just eating lots of fresh blueberries. We are looking forward to going back next year.

August

In August we moved into our new home! Hurray! We started hosting weekly Sunday dinners with as much family as possible. In addition to regular Sunday meals we have hosted Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter and many birthday celebrations. We are now branching out to invite friends over for dinners, but so far we have only done that once.
I enjoy trying new and old recipes out on such a large audience.

Long time no see

Thanks Erin for reminding me there are people who come to my blog even if I'm not always one of them. I guess I'll just start uploading pictures that I have and let you know what I've been up to this past year.

Banh Mi

This sandwich is one of my new favorites. I had these for lunch 3 days in a row while I had the ingredients. I didn't make the meat shown here. Perhaps I will do that the next time around. It is just such a delicious blend of flavors. I highly encourage you to find one of these to try. Just watch out, they can be a little on the spicy side if you aren't careful.



The recipe for the pickled carrots and daikon can be found here.

For the rest of the ingredients I used the following:

A hoagie bun (not crusty enough)
Teriyaki chicken (not homemade)
English cucumber
Cilantro
Serrano chile (no seeds or membranes)
Hoisin sauce
Sriracha hot sauce (teensy bit)