Spring Cleaning Challenge

This post is a little late… I’ve missed the harvest moon. October is one of my favorite months. Autumn, I love the changes it brings (not the changes that follow). Crisp cool air, crunchy leaves, smoky bonfires and tasty caramel apples… A season where everything feels so zesty…

The changing of the leaves…

Vibrant Oak

Holly berries turn red…

Weaving Webs

Spiders appear everywhere. This little designer has created many masterpieces this month.

Hubster’s fav’? Besides hunting season starting… it’s Oktoberfest!

Oktoberfest 2011

Oh, and did I mention my Uggs come out of hiding?… What do you love about October?

Better Late Than Never

27 Wednesday Apr 2011

Posted by Young Wifey in Landscaping

≈ 10 Comments

Tags

flower photo, flower photography, flowering trees, gardening, landscape, landscaping, photography, photos, postaday2011, seasonal, Spring

Spring is finally here!!!

My favorite two weeks of the year is when the flowering trees are in bloom and bright green wispy leaves appear on the remaining tress.

Familiar View From Back Home

❤ ❤ ❤

Flirty Flower Headband 2

23 Saturday Apr 2011

Posted by Young Wifey in Creating, Kids, Sewing

≈ 8 Comments

Tags

accessory, button, button accessory, craft, crafting, Easter, Easter basket, Easter flower, felt, felt craft, flirty, flower, gift, hair, hair accessory, hair band, headband, kids craft, party favor, postaday2011, present, seasonal, Spring

Pattern 2 test run… Three small flowers minus the buttons, my Easter flowers. Hubster recently revealed how much he likes purple on me… It’s not my favorite color, but it is one of my favorite to wear. 10 years ago I owned one purple sweater, 6 years ago I bought purple glasses and since then have incorporated more into my wardrobe. I have a few students who told me they like when I wear purple, because I look like Daphne from Scooby Doo… I think that’s a compliment.

Flirty Flower Headband 2

Happy Easter everyone!

Earth Day 2011

22 Friday Apr 2011

Posted by Young Wifey in Being Green, Creating, Frugality, Gardening, Landscaping

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

craft, Earth Day, garden, kitchen, postaday2011, recycle, reduce, repurposing, reuse, seasonal, Spring, upcycled

Spring. As the earth awakens and rejuvenates, mother nature reminds us of all the life teeming around us. What better season to celebrate Earth Day (that is, if you’re in the same hemisphere as me)?

Beside the obvious “plant a tree” or “pick up litter”, how do you honor our planet on Earth Day? Thankfully many people have already been making changes like switching to low-flow faucets or giving away old items on Freecycle. Last year, I shared a few ideas for green crafts (from reusable shopping bags to wine bottle torches) that were on my to-do list.. Yesterday Hubster and I took a long walk to enjoy the cool spring air, as I pondered what ideas to share this year… I decided to touch upon my three personalities, the outdoors woman/gardener, the crafter/clothing girl and the chef/homemaker…

Blue Butterfly Bliss

For the garden:
First of all, go organic, no pesticides or fertilizers, especially if it’s an edible garden. Do not make raised beds out of treated wood, the chemicals will leach out into the soil. If you don’t already own one, build a compost tumbler for quicker and easier compost. Create & attach a rain barrel to a downspout to help with water conservation. If you haven’t already, start your seedlings by nesting them in newspaper cups.

For clothing or scrap fabrics:
Preused or preloved clothing boutiques are becoming more popular. Many will resell your clothing, offering you a certain percentage towards store credit. Of course you could also donate it to Salvation Army, Purple Heart or another other charity shop. Only donate clothing if it’s in good condition. If not, refashion it into something new, cut t-shirts into cleaning rags, or get creative and make something with your new fabric scraps. I like ow; softie, bean bags, dog chew toys, ruffle hedgehog softie… Possibilities are endless.

For the kitchen:
Reuse large mason jars to organize kitchen utensils and smaller ones to organize the dry pasta, rice, beans in the pantry. Use wine corks to make the trivet I mentioned in last year’s post. You can make recycled napkin rings out of scrap fabric, yarn, paper towel tubes and any embellishments you’d choose. Use old scraps of ribbon to weave placemats or sew scrap placemats. Or refashion a dress into an apron.

These are just as few ideas, but possibilities are endless. I hope you feel inspired in some way to go a little greener… Happy Earth Day everyone!

What is your favorite repurposing project?

Flirty Flower Headband

20 Wednesday Apr 2011

Posted by Young Wifey in Creating, Sewing

≈ 17 Comments

Tags

Flirty? Felt? Flower? Must be time for spring…
I’m working on a gift for a friend who liked my flirty fleece ear warmers (get tutorial here). I wanted to update the style for spring and summer wear. I did a test run for myself, before creating one for her… I’m still playing with the balance of it. I like the five layers I used on the flowers for the ear warmers, but the band was larger. With a simple headband elastic, fewer layers seem more balanced… or may that’s just me playing it safe. Maybe I’ll add another layer next time. These shades of blue and green are some of my favorite colors to wear (maybe because they brighten my reddish hair and make my green eyes pop).