special edition

Moop, my favorite bag-maker in the universe has just released a new bag: The Backpack. You can get it in three colors, including this fantastic Special Edition Yellow. 

And here are more Special Editions from Moop! I'm sort of freaking out over the Messenger no.4 in Red waxed canvas. Check them out. Super durable, water-proof, indestructible and cool. Perfect for back-to-school, perfect for fall.

diy: skateboard deck birdhouse

When you're married to a skater, you get accustomed to having a few scraped-up skateboard decks lying around. And over the weekend, Lo was suddenly obsessed with making a birdhouse. So my brilliant husband decided to chop up one of those decks, and together, he and Lo designed this rad birdhouse!

If you want to make your own birdhouse, you'll need: a saw, a skateboard deck (cut into pieces in the measurements shown here), hammer and nails or a nail gun, a large drill bit or hole saw, nontoxic waterproof wood sealer, and rope or twine for hanging.

Here's the general idea of how to assemble the pieces. You'll need to drill a decent-sized hole through your 'front' piece. We put the larger curved piece on the bottom for the 'ledge' and used the smaller one for the roof, but it would work either way.

Nail the pieces together.

  Seal the whole thing with nontoxic waterproof wood sealer.

After the sealer has dried, you can decide how you want to hang your birdhouse. You can string thin rope or twine through the existing holes in the back, or attach a metal hanger or screw hook/eye to the back or through the top of the roof.

Without a doubt, your lucky birds will have the coolest house on the block. Later, skater.

5 months

This baby is already five (almost six) months old. Just thought you should know, because I personally can't wrap my brain around it. Each month, I take a bit of time to add notes to a document that I keep in my email 'drafts' folder, for easy access. I write about anything I can think of. Things I'll add to his baby book, which I've semi-prepared to make things easy and to ensure that I won't put it off forever. This month, he started eating baby food. He dipped his toes in the ocean. I nursed him while we watched the Olympics. Time goes so fast, new mommas. I know that you might not feel like you have a spare minute to work on that baby book right now, but trust me ... someday you will. Take a second to write down the little things you want to remember right now and keep it somewhere that will be easy to find. Or email yourself, like I do. You'll be so happy you did.

new pattern: super bulky newborn hat

You may remember a set of four tiny little newborn hats I knitted for Bowie last winter, right after he was born. I used super-bulky yarn leftovers and they were so easy and quick to make. Not to mention tiny and cute. It took me a few months, but I finally wrote out the pattern. You can check it out on Ravelry, right here.

If you're looking for a super basic newborn hat pattern to knit up for someone tiny and new in your life, this is it. I'm pretty sure that each of these took me about 15 minutes to knit. Included are instructions for the top-knot, but you can also leave your hat plain or add a pom-pom. These are perfect baby shower or new baby gifts, and they'd also be great for newborn portrait sessions. Make one ... or make a bunch!

the bento drawer

After the recent remodel of our kitchen, I decided that I wanted to designate an entire drawer to the bento stash. Because the bento stash had grown a little out of control. But I wanted to use this stuff more. I needed to keep it all in one place to keep all of the tiny pieces together. Easy access. I wasn't about to store all of this stuff in random plastic containers high up in my cupboards, where they had been stashed before. I'm sure there's nothing more entertaining than watching me teeter on a chair, reaching to the top shelf just to have an avalanche of six plastic Glad-lock containers bounce off my head. But yeah.

Everything is in a messy, unorganized state at the moment but this has been so nice. Even when it's messy, it's so much more convenient. It's become the kid catch-all drawer. To break it down, in case you're interested, here are my most-used must-have bento supplies.

1. Rabbit hard-boiled egg shaper and rice shapers. Small silicone cups and containers. Silicone baran (food separators.)

2. Another hard-boiled egg shaper (bear) and tiny sauce containers, which are great for ketchup or soy sauce or what-have-you. Food picks. I love food picks and use them a ton.

3. Baby spoons for Bowie. Two enclosed lunchbox utensil sets that hold a fork and spoon. And the rounded oval things are hotdog shapers. They are crazy. You can find them here.

4. More baran sheets and a small nautical deco cutter set.

5. Spoons. A plastic dog. A weird straw. But it's supposed to be just spoons.

6. Forks. Usually, just forks. I think someone helped me unload the dishwasher and the spoons and forks got all mixed together.  :)

7. Silicone pancake molds. Three small sandwich shapers. And a couple of bread imprint stamp things. (That yellow one says 'smile!')

8. Metal cookie/food cutters.

I love seeing other people's bento collections and how they organize everything. How do you do it?

hey hey, Market Day!

If you live in Des Moines, you have most likely heard about a little craft fair called Market Day. It's anything but little, really. And if you've never been, it's one of those things that you really need to see for yourself. There's handmade and vintage of all kinds, always changing and evolving. I've been taking a little break from working the craft fair circuit this year, but Market Day will be the one exception to my 'little break.' Fall is coming and I'm getting all of my yarn lined up to knit some new nifty things to sell in September and October.

I was looking through some old photos (like the one above) and realized that this fall will mark the fourth year I've been selling goods at Market Day. Four years! I know this because I signed up to vend at the very first show. And excuse the cheese, but what a ride it's been. I started out with a tiny 36" card table full of brightly colored hand-knit baby shoes. From there, I sold other knitted things. Some paintings. T-shirts. And I'm not even sure what else. (Photo cred: Anna Jones.)

It was the first time I had ever vended solo, without sharing a booth with my friend Erin. We had each grown. (And we needed our own booths!) It was experimental and fun. It helped me find my 'thing.' And gain enough confidence to do Renegade in Chicago. I've made so many crafty friends and shared many a Saturday morning and afternoon chatting with Market Day makers and shoppers. It's a very cool thing to be a part of. So if you haven't been ... you should go. You're going to like what you see. The next event will be held on Saturday, August 4th, from 8am-1pm at 400 Walnut Street in downtown Des Moines. Check out all the info here.

pinned it + made it: teacher gift

Wow, it feels so nice to finish up a quick project! If anything is going to get done around here, it has to be quick. And I found some cute tiny succulents on sale at Walgreens of all places. Perfect.

Neon-dipped succulent pots. See the complete how-to at Armelle. (Although we skipped the masking tape step and just free-handed it.) This little guy is going to be a first-day-of-school gift for Lo's kindergarten teacher. Quick! Dip yourself some clay pots. So simple and your kids can help.

the bento drawer

kid made modern: tape + book project

I just about flipped when I first saw all of the Kid Made Modern kits and art supplies at Target. (Did you, too?) I'm a big Todd Oldham fan. Also a huge fan of this book. And I couldn't wait to get my hands on some of this stuff.

Lo was super excited about the Diary Kit in particular, and I was stoked about the colorful paper tape. Amongst other things.

The diary kit is fantastic, by the way. It includes these great stamps and stamp pad, sticker sheets, markers, classic diary-style multi-colored pen, and of course, the diary itself. (That pen. I totally had one in junior high. Wrote all of my most important notes with it!) The solid tape set comes with 9 different colors. And we decided to cover the diary with the tape! This was tons of fun. Kids love tape. (Umm, I love tape.)

Word. It turned out so cool. This was such a great activity for us to work on when we were stuck indoors during the endless heat advisory we experienced last week. And I definitely want to do more crafts like this during our last days of summer vacation. Go pick up some of these great sets at Target! We're already working on something new with the Charlie Harper wooden bird set. So. Cool.

kid made modern: tape + book project

I just about flipped when I first saw all of the Kid Made Modern kits and art supplies at Target. (Did you, too?) I'm a big Todd Oldham fan. Also a huge fan of this book. And I couldn't wait to get my hands on some of this stuff.

Lo was super excited about the Diary Kit in particular, and I was stoked about the colorful paper tape. Amongst other things.

The diary kit is fantastic, by the way. It includes these great stamps and stamp pad, sticker sheets, markers, classic diary-style multi-colored pen, and of course, the diary itself. (That pen. I totally had one in junior high. Wrote all of my most important notes with it!) The solid tape set comes with 9 different colors. And we decided to cover the diary with the tape! This was tons of fun. Kids love tape. (Umm, I love tape.)

Word. It turned out so cool. This was such a great activity for us to work on when we were stuck indoors during the endless heat advisory we experienced last week. And I definitely want to do more crafts like this during our last days of summer vacation. Go pick up some of these great sets at Target! We're already working on something new with the Charlie Harper wooden bird set. So. Cool.