Modern Day Hippie Mama

Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Work In Progress Wednesday - Big Changes

Some more big changes this week to our house. When we bought the house there were several missing doors... it's been quite interesting keeping our little explorer out of the pantry and out of the kitchen cabinets since we moved here and he was mobile. Also, there were big holes & rotten wood in the front of the house behind some bushes. We knew that we would have to replace all of the cedar and stucco so we decided to change it to low maintenance vinyl siding. We interviewed several siding companies and finally found one we were very comfortable with and wasn't charging an arm & a leg.


Over the weekend Mark was going to put the handles on the kitchen cabinets to find out that the screws weren't long enough and Home Depot didn't have anything longer so instead he babyproofed all of the lower cabinets. Home Depot had a sale on bi-fold doors so he bought enough to replace all the missing doors and installed 2 of them. YAY, my pantry isn't an eyesore in the kitchen anymore and Isaac can't get in. Also, the front entry closet was installed so that isn't an eyesore in our living room anymore. Now we just need to figure out what color to paint them as they are only primed doors.

Yesterday the siding supplies were delivered and the crew came to work all afternoon and evening on it. The finished the big part in front of our bedroom last night and this morning they finished the patio and side of the garage. I still can't believe how fast that was. The also install our new front door lanterns. We're excited to get the new windows installed and get some shutters and our house will look totally new, not to mention much more energy efficient.
BEFORE


BETWEEN

AFTER



We have many more major projects on our list but we can finally see some progress and feel like we're making it through our list. It's amazing what new siding can do to a house.

Looking forward to updating you on some more big projects next week.

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Tuesday's Two - a couple online stores


"little painted polka dots, hand painted, hand painted art, hand painted plaques, personalized plaques, hand painted letter plaques, hand painted name plaques, kids room decor, kids room art, little bunny tutu, toddler tutus, pink tutus, custom made tutus, custom made name plaques, whimsical art, personalized art, commemorative plates, birthday plates, 1st birthday plates, specail occassion plates, unique gift ideas, whimsical wall art, chunky wall letters, monogram wall plaques, baby gifts, unique baby gifts, new baby gifts, baby shower gifts, 1st birthday gifts, first birthday gifts, hand painted birth plaques, handpainted crosses, bulldog plaque, daisy plaque, airplane wall plaque, surfboard wall art, ladybug personalized wall plaque, hand painted picture frames, funky picture frames, polka dot picture frames, personalized picture frames, handpainted photo stands, funky photo stands, signature platter, hand painted platter, wedding platter, wedding reception gift ideas, family tree plate, whimsical hand painted plates, hand painted art, retro art, modern art, canvas paintings, painted rugs, poppy rug"


This store has quickly become a favorite. My friend Lisa is so talented and I'm so excited to feature her store today. It's my birthday in a couple weeks and I really wanted another necklace. She came out with a new one that I knew instantly was what I wanted for my birthday. Her communication is go great and she really will work with you to make a custom piece exactly how you want it. The necklace is based off one of Moriah's favorite books and it also has a couple little tags along with it that has each of the kid's names on them. She has so many great styles of jewelry from scrabble and domino pieces to silver or copper pieces. In addition to the mama gifts she also creates for the little ones and is such a great artist. Check out her store, I promise you won't be disappointed.

The particular necklace I have is not currently available as I'm a tester for it... but I'm pretty sure she'll be carrying it after I'm done testing it. :)



Sweet Shoppe Designs Scrapbooking Shop

OK, so I've received some questions about the digital scrapbook pages that I posted yesterday. Both pages were made with kits that I bought from Sweet Shoppe Designs in their Going, Going Gone sale. These are kits that are being retired and 50% off... I thought I would share this with you since you have until Saturday to purchase any of them before they are gone for good. Normally, I download freebie kits but I just couldn't resist these kits at 50% off. Yes, I'm cheap and proud of it, lol. There are 57 pages of kits that are being retired and it was really hard to narrow it down to within my budget. The three kits that were used in those pages were My Paper Garden, Tomboy Princess & Garage Grunge. I can't wait to use the other kits that I bought. From what I understand this is a biannual sale so I'll be sure to be prepared next time, saving my pennies, lol.

Monday, September 28, 2009

Make It Monday - a new addiction?

I've recently gotten in to digital scrapbooking. I just love it and there are so many free kits you can download and free templates and so I've been downloading cute kits like crazy, lol. I work in Photoshop Elements 6 and follow several designer's blogs including some that just post all the freebies from the day. There are literally tons of new freebie kits every day. Well, then a friend of mine told me about a forum for digital scrapbooking and it has daily challenges. This was perfect for me because it meant that I could join in the challenges and force myself to do my scrapbooks that I never finish. So, I joined this weekend and jumped right in with the challenges. These are the two pages I made over the weekend. Saturday was "cookie decorating" challenge and you receive a template and make a page from that. It was so much fun and I love the page that I created. Sunday was "Spin and Lift"... they pick a gallery and you choose one of the pages to spin 45 degrees, 90 degrees, flip horizontally or vertically or whatever you decide and then lift it (kinda like shoplifting) in other words, copy or be inspired by the layout. Below are the two pages I completed.

This is the cookie template


and here is my creation


Yummy is the page that I used for Spin and Lift


So, if anyone wants to join in some challenges, but don't want to do a daily one like on the forum I joined... join us at My Great Retreat for a weekly scrapbooking challenge or for help on how to do digital scrapbooking, along with regular chit chat, blogging chat, photography chat and other DIY project chat.


Sunday, September 27, 2009

And the winner is....

Katie said...

I'd love to win that beautiful sling!

Congratulations Katie!

Saturday, September 26, 2009

Saturday Social

What's for dinner?

My very first blog giveaway in honor of International Babywearing Week



This week is a celebration for something that has become an important parenting tool for me. When Moriah was a baby I had such a hard time parenting her because she had such horrible reflux. I found that holding her upright in my arms was the only thing that calmed her down. Well, I couldn't just hold her all day like that in my arms, I needed to find something to help. That's when I realized that I did have a tool that would help. I was given a woven wrap at one of my baby showers. It was something I was really excited to receive but really didn't know how to use it. I ended up buying an instructional video called Tummy 2 Tummy and my love for babywearing blossomed. Then I found www.thebabywearer.com (TBW) and my addiction for carriers grew. I call it an addtiction but really I had a need for all of them... sometimes I needed a ring sling for the quick up and down all day... sometimes I needed the unending support and versatility of a wrap... sometimes I just wanted something really fast and easy like a mei tai or a buckle carrier (soft structured carrier. Then of course because of my kid's reflux I needed two of each type, one for the wash and one to be worn. Yes, I found many excuses for my "stash" LOL. I also love to try different brands and found that what worked for one person doesn't always work for everyone... it's just like finding the perfect pair of jeans. TBW ended up being a place I learned so much about babywearing and then I ended up learning so much more and meeting so many friends all over the world.

So for a couple shout outs before getting to the good stuff - the giveaway.

First, I want to share an online store that has a little bit of everything and is also local to me. I love "Slings I Love". I met Giselle on TBW and then when she moved to the Western Suburbs of Chicago I got to meet her in person. When she had started her store, I was just so excited for her. I was also excited that there was a local store I could send my local friends to and know that they would get the help they need in finding the perfect carrier for them and that she would be so helpful in giving the hands on instructions that I never received when I first started.


Second, I want to share TBW with you if you haven't been there. It's a great community of women who love babywearing and really want to help moms and dads learn the art and benefits of babywearing.

Comfy Joey/Sleeping Baby Productions ringsling giveaway.
OK, now for the exciting part - the giveaway. I want to spread my love of babywearing by giving away a ring sling. This sling is really really comfortable and it's wide which is perfect for nursing discreetly and perfect for toddlerwearing. The SBP shoulder is a pleated shoulder which gives some nice padding and I find it very comfortable on my shoulder. Click on the picture below for a better description and another picture. The sling pictured being modeled by me, is the actual sling being given away. It is a size small and is brand new other than being worn for the photoshoot.



OK, so here's how you can win...
1) post a comment here saying that you want to win
2) share this giveaway on Facebook, Twitter, etc. and let me know in the comments here
3) post about this giveaway on your blog and post the permalink in the comments here
4) subscribe to my blog and post that you did in the comments here
(post each of these in seperate comments)
The giveaway will go through this Saturday, September 26th. On Sunday morning I will use random.org to pick a number and post the winner and that person will need to contact me with their mailing address. So be sure to check back on Sunday to see who wins this beautiful sling.

Friday, September 25, 2009

Foto Friday





Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Work In Progress Wednesday

The kitchen cabinets are done!
Well, mostly done. I'm so excited and I love the color. I'm so glad we took the extra time to let them dry too. It looks really nice and I can't wait to finish them. All we have left to do is put the new hardware on. I love the hardware I got from IKEA... well, I just LOVE IKEA, period. I've been spending lots of time there lately, not to mention some money too, lol.


The back side of our house gets a ton of sunlight so we decided we needed to put some curtains up to help keep the sun from heating up the place so much. It was so hard for me to pick out the curtains because I just love so many of the prints and colors they have. I love that you just buy them and they come unhemmed so you can decide on the length you want. They provide hemming tape so it's super easy to hem them. They are truly no sew curtains.


Speaking of curtains, I've bought some curtain rods for the bedroom and spray painted them brown. I think my next painting project will be to start painting the master bedroom furniture. We plan on painting them the same espresso brown of the kitchen cabinets. After painting them I'll finally get to put together our anniversary gift which is a canopy bed. I love this bed, it's so simple and perfect for our bedroom. It's from IKEA too, lol.

For this week our current project is to dedicate our house to the Lord. One of the things we will be doing this week and weekend is to grab some sharpies and a Bible and start writing scriptures on the walls. I'm really excited about doing this.

What color?
I want to paint the barstools, and would love to hear what color you think I should paint them. The walls will be a beige color when finished and the countertops are cream and the cabinets are espresso brown. The house is completely open so you can see all the rooms from the kitchen but I haven't really done any decorating either so all decorating and color schemes are totally open... if you have a fabric you love that would go with the color you're suggesting I would love to see a link to a picture of the fabric. Thanks!

Saturday, September 19, 2009

Saturday Social

What's your favorite day of the week?

Mine would be Sunday

Friday, September 18, 2009

Foto Friday







Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Tuesday's Two - a couple giveaways

No, I'm not giving away anything right now... although, I'd like to eventually add giveaways to this blog but I wanted to feature a couple giveaways that I like for Tuesday's Two.

The first one is from Cutest Little Baby Face and it's a Rebecca Lily Lightroom Presets giveaway! I love Lightroom and do most of my photo editing in Lightroom. I recently got into using presets with Lightroom to add a little flare to my pictures. These presets are really nice and I probably won't win the giveaway but am thinking of maybe purchasing a few of the presets I like them so much. Anyways, take a look and if you have Lightroom then enter the giveaway! Enjoy!

The second one I thought was cute for Halloween! It's from one of the blogs that I follow, "Seriously? Ridiculous!". This is my first year with a fireplace mantel and I thought even if I don't win this one I'll definitely be making something like this for Christmas and maybe some other holidays... What a great idea and fun thing to do with an assortment of fabric.

Friday, September 11, 2009

Foto Friday




Thursday, September 10, 2009

Three Rs Thursday

I'm just amazed how much kids learn when they are young. I'm watching Isaac go from just a floppy newborn to sitting up to crawling and now standing and climbing up stairs. So, amazing to me the natural instinct to learn and explore.

Yesterday, we were driving home from Target and Moriah starts counting, I haven't really worked with her on counting but we hear her counting in her twenties. I hadn't heard her do that before. "...twenty seven, twenty eight, twenty nine, twenty ten, twenty eleven, twenty twelve..." so cute how her mind thinks. I was amazed that she even figured that out on her own... I mean, it totally makes sense to me although she got stuck at twenty nineteen. ADORABLE!

Today we went to our new library. It's not a new library but it's out new library since we moved to a new town. I was so excited to find out they still had some room for her age group storytime, so we signed her up. She's so excited, she LOVES reading. She would read all day if she could. She's really into dancing and especially ballet so she wanted to bring home all the Angelina Ballerina books. I just love how excited she is about reading and about going to the library. I'm looking forward to watching her grow into learning how to read for herself.

Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Work In Progress Wednesday

Well, this holiday weekend we decided to work on a huge project. We definitely need to work on painting the kitchen cabinets so that we can get the doors back on and keep the little ones out of the cabinets. We found some really great instructions on the Young House Love blog, although we added one extra step. After we were done sanding the cabinets we washed them with TSP. We were planning all along to paint them white but then at the last moment decided espresso brown. This weekend we'll do the rest of the painting so that the following weekend they will be all dry and ready to hang. It's really looking nice already. I also spray painted the hinges to match the brushed nickel light fixtures and the new hardware. The hardware is from IKEA and is so simple and classic. I can't wait for them to be done and feel like the kitchen is finally functional.

Here's a few pics.






Besides, the kitchen we just did some upkeep things, nothing exciting to report on that end.

Monday, September 7, 2009

Make It Monday - Family Rules

I've finally been able to hang something up in our house... It's a project I wasn't planning on doing, lol. I have a friend who is a designer and she had designed a poster for herself of "Family Rules". I loved it so much I ended up having her make one for me. I decided to have it printed on canvas and then I bought a really nice frame that I was going to use to frame it. I ordered the canvas and it came back to me a little funky so it didn't frame very well... it was a little crooked which I guess is what I get for going with a print company I had never heard of before. So, yesterday I went to Joanns and bought a 16"x20" stretched canvas and some paint. I painted the stretched canvas and took a scissors to the printed canvas. Today I adhered it to the stretch canvas and added a little artistic flare. I painted the edge of the print to blend it in with the canvas and then dry brushed the whole thing. I'm really excited about it and so excited to have something on the walls. This house is starting to look more and more like home.

My friend Kristin is an awesome designer and here is the link to her Etsy store - Small Moments She doesn't have it listed in her store but you can email her through the store if you are interested.



It says:
Family Rules
always tell the truth
never leave angry
obey your parents
forgiveness is mandatory
pray without stopping
Jesus first Others second Yourself last
Kindness Matters
say please and thanksyou, I'm proud of you, You're the best
Husband: love her Wife: respect him
Everything is a gift from God, Take care of your things
keep your promises
too much tv is bad too much reading is good
be silly, hug often, smile a lot, say I love you
Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul and mind
The Greenwoods Est. 2001

trying to get back into the routine of things

I apologize that this blog has been quite slim and I haven't been posting every day like I originally wanted. We're working out a routine and trying to get back to a routine. This week I will work to get back to posting every day. I'm really excited about Make It Monday's post which I'll post this evening... I need wait for the camera battery to charge so I can take pictures, lol. I'm also really excited about Work In Progress Wednesday as we spent the long weekend working hard on the kitchen cabinets.

I'm also really missing my photography hobby, so to get back into taking pictures most days, I've started another blog for my photography things. I encourage my friends to join in on the challenges and post links in the comments to your challenge pictures. http://heathergreenwoodphotography.blogspot.com/