"40 bags in 40 days" update

While I'm continually spring-cleaning my house, the tally of my "40 bags in 40 days" challenge reached between 30-35 bags.  It felt good to purge, reorganize and repurpose a lot of things.  Here are a few before/after photos:

I received a great comment from a reader suggesting I get a shelf to replace the stand.  What a difference that made!  We've also moved a bulk of the toys to the finished basement where it's easier to shut the door and hide the kids' daily tornado of toys.

In the kids' room, there is a little step up area we call their "library" which includes a ton of shelves my dad built.  The shelving for the room is great...but only when in use:

Of course, no matter how much you pick up the house to make it nice, there's a kid who'll still insist on resting in the dog's bed.

Three little birds, outside my doorstep

Late last summer, a sweet little cartoon video for Bob Marley's "Three Little Birds" played on Noggin (aka Nick Jr.) quite often and the Gravy Kids really got into it. 

The song became our little family anthem and so when I saw this original multimedia artwork by Lindsay at Paint Me A Picture, I knew it would be a perfect addition to the kids' room. 

Wavey even recognized the reference the moment I showed it to her!

Singing don't worry about a thing cause every little thing's gonna be alright...

Pillowcase dress of shame

I'm normally a rule-follower in life, but when it comes to sewing, file this project under: Never again.

I got a little high-horsey when it came to my pretty little dish towel last week that I thought I'd try my hand at a pillowcase dress for Wavey...without a pattern.  "How hard could it be?" I asked myself.  Oh, I was so mistaken to think I could whip it up AND have it look good. 

It's whipped up alright.  But I'd say, it's now more of an "I don't care if this gets paint on it because it's sewn so poorly" art smock than "let's show our friends" kind of pillowcase dress.

When it comes to sewing, I'm not striving to be a perfectionist by any means, but it's little things like how the thread kept jamming that made me insane. 

Besides, Wavey later said, "I don't like yellow."  I don't like yellow anymore either.

Sale on new designs!

I'm excited to announce new arrivals in the Good Gravy! shop.  And, for a limited time these select note cards are on sale at 15% off! Check it out:

fun time flags note cards

tailored square

polka dots pink and gray note cards

polka dots pink and blue note cards

art deco note cards

circle bursts note cards

Happy shopping!

Smooching my dish towel

Remember the snazz'ed up tea towel I mentioned last week?  Well, I made one!  Complete with ruffle! 
I don't think you understand how monumentous this is for me to dress up a dish towel.  I even broke the sewing needle into three (three!!) parts while doing it - that's how normally awful I am when it comes to fabric textiles.

Is it possible love something as benign as a ruffly dish towel? 

Yes, yes it is.

 

Handcuffs and calendars

Earlier this week, my husband and I checked out a fixer-upper in the area.  We're not looking to move out of our own home, but the price on the listed house seemed remarkably low so we were interested in getting some details in case there was an opportunity to explore.

Let's just say that I'm still trying to literally wash my hands clean of that place.

The property is currently rented and hasn't been owner-occupied for nearly three years.  Aside from the massive amount of structural work needed, here are the highlights of what we experienced: 

• We walked into the house and instantly discovered that every room was transformed into squatter-esque dormitory living, sheets were used for doors and makeshift beds were everywhere.
• The smell of mildew and gym socks permeated the house.
• A pair of handcuffs hung above an unmade bed set in the dining room.
• A pair of underwear greeted us hanging on another wall.
• The agent pleaded with us not to take a look in the bathroom because the toilet was broken but it was grossly apparent that the tenants did not mind.
• Calendars of women peppered each room with handwritten notes scrawled across them that read, "I love you," and "I think you're hot."

And then there was this calendar which was so clearly out of place and the agent totally caught me trying to take a picture.  After everything that seared our innocent little house hunting eyes, this was our moment of funny:

We felt bad for the listing agent; he seemed defeated from the get-go.  Maybe the baby calendar can cheer him up.

On being grateful

Real Simple magazine recently featured an article about things that are truly worth your time and thank you notes were on the list. I'll be the first to admit that I personally could be 100 times better at writing and sending them more and quicker than I have.

The feature was short, but I found these to be particularly good bits of advice with a twist of humor:

And to my own mortification, I've been on the receiving end of these kind of calls:

So whether it's on a Good Gravy! note card or just a small piece of paper expressing gratitude, consider taking a moment to share with others how thankful you are for their kindness.

I will, too.

The Easter Bunny wears sneakers

On Saturday, Wavey and her best friend Abby attended an egg hunt where they took their picture with the Easter Bunny (taken with a Polaroid - talk about old school).

Wavey: Is the Easter Bunny real?

Me: I'm pretty sure.  Why do you ask?

Wavey: I think you're wrong because I saw that he had sneakers under his paws.

Me: Um, that's how he likes to get around.

She looked like she wanted to believe but always the skeptic, she just wasn't buying it.

Mother's Day gift idea: personalized pendants

I mentioned recently (with great excitment) about JULIAN and Co. now offering select Good Gravy! stationery in their shop.  What I didn't know was how much I would be head-over-heels with shop owner Tania's very personal, handcrafted-with-love jewelry, like the pendants seen here.

Despite my business relationship with the shop, I can honestly say that I love, love, loooove this mini pendant set and would recommend it as a great Mother's Day gift...which by the way is just a little over a month away on May 9, so don't let it sneak up on you like Easter did for me!

Get your craft on: great tutorial finds

As a friend of mine says when something is neat, surprising, and/or worthy of a wow: Oh my head!  

So many great blogs I visit have recently posted tutorials right up my crafty little alley this past week.

1.  Snazz'ed up tea towels.  I believe Katie at Paisley and Polka Dots had me at the ruffles when she featured this ridiculously easy tutorial.  This project can easily replace my awful towels shamefully hanging on the oven door in a jiff.

2.  Fabric flowers.  It was always a mystery to me as to how those cute fabric flowers were made, until Amy at Little Bunny Feet threw the door wide open on that little secret.  Holly at Into Ablivia jumped right on it, too.

3.  Little mouse pad.  Most of us have optical mice these days, nearly rendering the esteemed mouse pad useless.  But maybe it's because of those "ancient" rollerball days that I still like having a mouse pad underneath my mouse.  Enter a new fav blog of mine: More Misadventures who entertains me not only with her craft skills but also with photos of real, live chicks on her ironing board. 

4.  Lollipop flowers.  Having small kids of my own, crafts don't have to be complicated and I was reminded of that with Emily's post about these lollipop flowers she created with her classroom little ones.

Have a wonderful Easter weekend!

The furry Gravy Kid

Meet Jack.  Also known as Mr. Smishy. 

Jack came to us as a rescue dog in 2004. A mastiff/boxer mix, Jack is the most docile, sad-faced 85-pound dog you'll ever meet.

Jack's original name was Frasier.  But he looked like a Snacks to me, even though my husband scoffed.  When we were at the pet store, I darted over to the tag engraving machine and quickly made up a Snacks tag with our information on it. 

"It's engraved!" I pleaded.  "So, now Snacks has to be the dog's name!"

My husband continued to disagree up and down, and after two days of owning the dog, he finally described why he just didn't want to name the dog Snacks: 

He said, "The last thing I need is for the dog to escape the yard and I'll look like a completely looney screaming, "Snacks!  Snacks!" around the neighborhood."

I conceded and so Snacks became Jack.

Fast forward two years later >> I never got around to changing the tag, the dog escapes the yard and a neighbor comes by our house confused saying, "I found this dog Snacks but he looks a lot like Jack."

We've changed his tag since.

Twin baby shower invitation: a perfect pair!

Posting pictures of my not-so-baby Griffin yesterday made me all fuzzy and nostalgic for little ones.  I have plenty of friends and family around me who have children under one year or buns in the oven that I can get my "fix" of newborns without any of the actual parental fuss.  Those sleepless nights and cranky days?  Not so fuzzy and nostalgic.

But, it was with great pleasure to recently design a special baby shower invitation for an expectant mother of twins. And the neat part: she's chosen not to find out the gender of the babies! I'm all for surprises, but when it comes two-fold with diapers, I don't know if I could have that information withheld. Kudos to her family for waiting it out.  :)

Personal information has been modified for privacy.

Two years old

This past weekend, we celebrated Griffin's second birthday but it didn't go exactly according to plan because he wasn't feeling well, however we managed to go outside and play for a bit when he perked up.  Too bad it felt more like winter than spring around here, but have-jackets-will-play.

It feels like forever ago that we brought him home, and as the first few months went by, we were falsly lulled into thinking he was destined to be mild-mannered...

...however despite his strong will, endless energy and an opinion all his own, he remains immensely loveable just the same.

Happy two years, Buddy-Boy.