ladies and gentlemen! i have an ANNOUNCEMENT

no i'm not pregnant, sheesh, quit asking! jk
but really, people keep asking when we are gonna have another kid. and i'm all like "um, can't you see i ALREADY have my hands full" plus where would be put another kid? our house is full up!


but now to my announcement, my real announcement (other than that rabbit trail).

my esty shop is OPEN!

[insert a double round of applause (one round for each child i have)]

you may have seen some of my bunting in previous posts and my bunting diy, way way back when. but now you can purchase it from me.

oh, and notebooks too.

here's the best part about my shop: everything is made from vintage materials. this is my passion, finding new and interesting ways to use vintage stuff that would normally get thrown out. so go check it out, take a look around, buy out the whole shop, we both know you want to.

what we've been up to

instagram pics are the best. are you on there? you should join the other millions (literally) of people on there.

buying chicks

hanging out together

 repotting plants

date weekend

taking baths, in our swimsuits, of course

puppy time

having treats

saturday morning

kiddos

these are kinda old, but i thought i'd share them.

what's up with kids wanting to play in their parents' bedroom? my kids are always getting in there messing up my made bed and getting into stuff. i remember playing in my parents bed as a kid and it was so much fun! especially when they had a water bed ha!

trending

recently, a reader asked me how i know what to buy when i am thrifting (thank you for your feedback, Theresa). i have a yakima thrifting guide in the works (and by that i mean, in my head), but i think the first step to know what to buy is knowing what's in. so i made two pinterest "then and now" boards to share with you.

board #1

board #2


ok. did you look at those? you should, cuz they kinda took alot of time :)

also i found this that i thought was pretty and relevant.

you have to work a little harder to remain on trend in a small city. when i lived on capitol hill i would see trends on the street and think "oh man that's so cute" i'd wear it and not even realize that everyone was doing the same thing. i was accidentally trendy, "accendy" or "trendentally." (ha!) i personally think that it's important to stay true to yourself and not be swayed by trends. most trends, though, are just recycled ideas from past generations, (as you can see on my boards). i don't usually buy something trendy unless it is trendy and vintage. that way i know when it isn't trendy i will still love it because it is vintage.

how do i know what is trending?  i read alot of blogs. and by alot i mean, like a million. actually it takes up too much of my time, i should probably cut back.

rethinking: vintage shelf liner

i'm a sucker for ephemera. ephemera is any transitory written or printed matter not meant to be retained or preserved. for example cards, packaging, paper, playing cards, twine. i don't know why but i almost always buy these things when i find them. i'm worried they will be thrown out unappreciated. vintage packaging or playing cards are so much cooler than what is around today. i have found myself with a small collection (ahem, hoard) of shelf liner. some of it i used as shelf liner, but some of it (the stuff i love) i've used in art projects.


here's the deal:

you'll need scissors/x-acto knife, shelf liner, fabric (for backing), and an embroidery hoop. i had all these things on hand because i buy fabric and embroidery rings like no one's business.

cut out the pattern you like. i knew i wanted mine to kinda grow up from one side so i had that in mind when cutting.

place fabric in embroidery hoop, peel shelf liner and adhere to fabric. i actually had to add glue because my liner fell off after a bit.

 

 

 

what we've been up to

are you on instagram? if not, you should be. it's fun and way way addicting. why wouldn't everyone want to see pictures of my life every minute of the day? it's funny that the most popular apps are slightly narcissistic. but it is a fun way to document every day life and prinstagram is pretty awesome (i did a diy using my prints).

are you following me? my username is melissamlee

honesty hour

i let my kids jump on the furniture.

 

honesty hour

i hate it when people go to things when they are sick. like really sick. ya know, with the flu...... or something really contagious. i know that people have lives and don't wanna stay home. but i dont want to get sick. and i feel it is common courtesy to not spread your nasty germs everywhere. who's got a judgy judge judy in her head? this girl!

with that said, i was that person on sunday.

last weekend was crazy. we had a church leadership thing friday and saturday, a birthday party (saturday), baby shower, and church on sunday. we kinda overbooked ourselves (eye roll). in my defense, this has not happened in a long time, and i learned my lesson this time. really.

our kids were already under the weather, stuffy noses and coughs, by the time sunday morning came, i could tell poor miss effi was not feeling herself. the thought entered my mind, "maybe we should just stay home today." i quickly brushed it aside because..... well honestly, i was looking forward to snacks at the baby shower. this is honesty hour right?

we left church early, got to the baby shower, deposited presents, ate a cookie. and IT happened. Effi threw up. ON ME. we gathered our things as quickly and gracefully as we could, i apologized profusely (who brings a sick kid to a baby shower?!) and we ran out the door.

then we did this all day:

so far no one else is sick. we watched three movies yesterday and relaxed. effi slept almost all day. we wished we had more days like this, minus effi throwing up of course.

resolutioning: make more meals together

this was a couple weeks ago. this week we were sick (boo). i really enjoy cooking with the husby, even if i am only the sous chef. from this resolution i'm hoping to: have more pictures of us together, challenge myself to photograph food, think outside the box with my pictures and have quality time with aaron. check, check and check.

family walk

these pictures are from thanksgiving. thanksgiving! i know. but they are too cute to not share. :)

the other day, when the kiddos were entertaining themselves (!), i had a moment where i thought "what should i do." pause. breathe. "i dont have anything to do right now." i dont think that has happened for a year, literally. having two kids is alot of work, well having kids is alot of work. so i have been crafting and reading and playing guitar. the product of this is, i have some new posts in the works. i have lots of diys coming and i have an etsy shop that will be opening the first weekend of march! i'm more than a mom again! i have hopes and dreams and time, oh beautiful time!

ps i know that i have always been more than a mom, its just easy to forget sometimes.

pps. thank you all for your feedback concerning my blog, it was appreciated.

vintage diy

ever since christmas my poor shelves in the dining room have been empty. we had company over last saturday and what is better motivation to get your house together than guests? nothing. its a priority for me to have pictures in my house, so.... that's what i put there. unfortunately i didnt have any more frames or time to go get some. so i made something instead. i'm always the most creative out of necessity.

all you need is a piece of wood that will sit on its own (we have lots of stuff like this lying around), washi tape, and pictures (mine are from prinstagram). this is easy enough. i spaced my pictures evenly and hung them with washi tape. i thought it was feeling a little too rustic so later i added some gold leafing. which i love.

supplies

zula and polar

zula loves polar bear. she sleeps with him, eats with him, watches shows with him, and loves him. here they are having a snack together. nbd

vintage beauties

i've been trying to challenge myself in photography. i found some of this black paper (that i'm gonna make notebooks out of) and it inspired me. i am really liking how these turned out. i also used the "pretend" macro setting on my camera, which i had never used before.

also, i use this string for everything: bunting, wrapping, tassel-making. if you ever run across vintage thread/string grab it! it always comes in handy and then you can say "i wrapped everything with vintage stuff" this makes me really happy. i love reusing things that would ordinarily get thrown out.

also, i recently went to a church estate sale that had piles and piles of sheet music and old sunday school books. i wanted to take them all home with me. and do what with them? just look at them i suppose. obviously i didnt buy all of it but am sad to think that most of it will probably be thrown out. i did buy some old attendance forms that i cut up and will soon be notebooks that i'm really excited about. i will do a post about them when they are finished. the will be in my new etsy shop this spring! don't know what etsy is? you have to check it out

also, just kidding, that's all i got.