It's all in the family

Just take a look at these lovely parties my sisters threw for my nieces and nephews.

This party is one my sister D-lyn put together. The fish are so totally awesome, right?! I love the fabric choices. I am a lover of new spins on the flag banner or bunting; a party must! And just look at that spread! The cupcakes aren't your normal cupcakes either; they are key lime and pink velvet, YUMM!

And this party is one my sister Mer threw. I love the idea of a cereal bar! This spread is so sophisticated but add cereal, pj's, and cartoons and it becomes so relaxed. I love the challenge of planning a designer party around the kids' random requests and Mer did a great job!

Vintage needlecraft magazine

 I have had this Needlecraft magazine for a while and thought it would be fun to share a few of my favorite pages with you. It has a lot of great knit and crochet patterns, and I look through it all the time for inspiration. Maybe someday I will finally get to work on some of the projects I have been swooning at for so long.

 The blue granny square girls dress is so adorable, I really want to make it!  I also love the cardigan and striped pants. OK the pants are a little much be the cardigan is perfect! It even has the right initial for my daughter.  

Get a hold of that super awesome play mat! I want one! Just look and the fat little houses! Adorable! :)  And check out that knitted doll, she is just so gorgeous and timeless. Lovely.

 

The magazine is full of great cardigans and sweaters. (It also has a few scary ones but I left those out. :) )

These tunic patterns are super cute. I really like the one with the southwestern pattern. It looks like something Gretchen Jones would design, except maybe not in those colors. Thanks for stopping in!

Spreading the word

My sister Merrilee in having a sale on these lovely prints to benefit this amazing family! Their daughter Davy was born with a cleft lip and palate, congenital heart defects and several other conditions.
 All Lovely Love print proceeds are going to benefit the family! Merrilee posts more about it here. Check it out is really is a lovely post!
If you buy one this week you get another print of your choice free!! That deal is only going on this week so hurry and get one! I know I want one I just can't decide on a color. Go to her shop here and get yours! 

from the library: Patchwork Style by Suzuko Koseki

Trent and I almost always have both our library cards maxed out. Patchwork Style is one of my recent favorites. I am loving quilts and quilted things right now.  I just started a quilt inspiration photo file in pintrest and hope to fill it with all my favorite quilts! If you haven't tried Pintrest yet go and do it! It's free and it saves the site info of where you found the picture. I had been saving my inspirational photos on my hard drive but was having to type all the urls into the file names and use up my storage. Pintrest is so much easier for me!

These bags are so pretty!

The photography is really pretty to!

Thanks for stopping by! Oh and I have been working on something for Celebrate the boy so keep coming back. :)

Crafting with Delia from Delia Creates : Valentine chocolate box

On Tuesday I got together with Delia from Delia Creates and did valentine crafts! We first met through blogging. I found her blog about a year ago and after recognizing a location in her photos I learned she lived in Logan too! We exchanged emails and I eventually invited her to my Halloween party. It was really fun finally meeting her in person. This is only the third time we have gotten together (If you count her coming over to pick up a dish she left at my house).  :)  I am sometimes intimidated by her complete and total awesomeness! Not because she herself is intimidating, quite the contrary, she is so nice, sweet, and sincere!  She is super creative and fun to be around! :) Thanks Delia for a really fun afternoon! :)

When I arrived at Delia's house she invited me in and on the table was a lovely collection of lace and fabric all ready for us to use.  The photo above is actually of some lace at my house because I was not thinking and forgot to bring my camera. :(  It was so fun looking around her house and seeing a few of her lovely creations in person.
Like her neat magnetic Family Home Evening board.   Such a fun way to organize family night.

....and her vintage book paper wreath!  It looks so pretty hanging in her living room. I want one too now!

For our craft Delia showed us how to re-cover chocolate boxes with fabric. We then embellished them with lace and other findings. I brought my youngest and oldest with me. My baby played blocks on the floor (sometimes) and my daughter decorated her own box, check it out here,  When she finished her own we finished mine together. We decided to give it to dad. He loved that.
Here's how ours turned out.
 
Delia's boxes turned out so lovely. One had red lace on top of pink fabric, another had purple fabric and ruffled lace. I wish I had brought my camera!
Delia, I'll have to have you over to my house soon, and maybe I could bake us a treat! Ooh ooh what if we have craft night every month, and maybe invite a few friends? Wouldn't that be fun?! Just an idea.
Thanks again Delia for having us! We had so much fun!

vintage crochet and knitting patterns

 A while back I bought some vintage craft books and have been swooning over all the knitting and crochet projects.  I love that even though these are dated they are still in style.

The yellow little boy sweater is my most favorite. I love that anchor! I love the boots too! :)  And don't you adore the little boy in blue with the gingham shirt collar? I love gingham right now!

Isn't this top so pretty? I love the lacy look and the belt too! This is a complicated pattern and I am not to this level but I still wanted to share it with you.

This red jacket is something I want to make for my husband. He would love this.  If i am secretive enough I can make it for him for Christmas. :)

I love this scarf it is so full and soft looking.  It's all garter stitch too, super easy!

Hope you enjoyed looking into the past for inspiration with me. :)

Lovely

click images to view sources

A great idea

Kathleen Frances over at Grosgrain is embellishing knits everyday this month.

 Hey, that's my recycled rosette cardigan!

What a neat and flattering surprise it was to see my photo in her post. :)  

Click the button below to see my tutorial.

Sounds fun right?! I might have to participate too. :) Transforming cardigans was something of an obsession of mine. You know about the rosette cardigan, and this girls hooded jacket, but somehow I kept most of the others to myself & forgot to post them.  I will for sure be checking Kathleen's blog a lot this month. Keep checking back here for more of my embellished knits. :)

Free Halloween challenge {fave tutorials from the web}

Today for the Free Halloween Challenge I am posting a few of the great tutorials from others on the web.  These are the posts I keep going back to again and again. Enjoy. :)

1}The best fabric pumpkin I have seen by Daniell Thompson. (Love her blog, seriously)

2} Lovely twigg wreath by Delia Creates. (really lovely blogger who also happens to be from Logan...Lets get together sometime Delia!)

3}Super cute and affordable wreath from katydid (so awesome and so cheap!)

4}Super cute fall bunting by jdavis. (I love felt it is so cheap!)

5}A super cute fall rosette wreath by Along for the ride. (love those rosettes, they look a lot like mine made from old t-shirts)

6}A paper pumpkin from Two peas in a bucket. (I have seen this type of thing done with those free paint strips too)

7}Another awesome wreath from Nancy. (Love these crepe paper wreaths they are so cute! And the silhouette detail is lovely.)

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Aren't these so inspiring?!

Keep coming back because I still haven't posted all my printables. This Friday I am going to have a link party at the end of it all allowing you all to to link to your stuff.

Do you want to participate?

 Here is what to do:

1. Post a Halloween tutorial or, free printable on your blog.
2. Place a button on your blog to let people know about it, 
3. Link it up Friday Oct 8th!!

I will leave the link list open all month long so you can add your stuff later too.
Well, I'm off to make some fabric pumpkins and a wreath or two. :)

grab a button and share the wealth

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Free Halloween challenge {a round up of my fave freebies}

Today for the Free Halloween Challenge I am sharing some stuff from around the web. Over the years these great printable goodies have been marked in my bookmarks and now it is time to share them.

1} Lovely printable iron on bag decals from Love, Obsess, Inspire.

 2}Awesome free Halloween downloads from Mathew Mead  (There is seriously tons of great stuff on this page!)

3} More lovely printable Halloween crafts from Mathew Mead - found via armelle blog

4}Cute little printable tags from Love, Obsess, Inspire.

5}More great printable tags from She's kinda crafty.

6}A super awesome printable Halloween garland from allsorts. I love her blog! (Been flowing it since I knew what a blog was.)

7}A great printable owl invitation from Martha Stewart. Love the vintage look they have, and the movable wings, how awesome!:)

8}A lovely printable halloween card from The Black Apple.  Love her little drawings and dollies.

Keep checking back for more great Free Halloween stuff later this week, I am going to post your tutorials and free printable stuff!

Do you want to participate?  Post a Halloween tutorial or free printable and just let me know so I can link to your post.  Also if you would place a button on your blog to let people know about it that would be great! :)

grab a button and share the wealth

<a href="http://lorajeansmagazine.blogspot.com/2010/09/free-halloween-challenge.html"><img alt="button blog" height="216" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4128/5036814581_aa04d36895_m.jpg" width="216" /></a><br />

Alice on Etsy {party inspiration collage}

1 peach pom pom here, 2 glass bottle here, 3 lace fingerless gloves here,
4 hair bow here, 5 bunnies print here, 6 pocket watch here,
7 tea cup here, 8 antique key here, 9 eat me tags here,

Independence Day Luau

Every year my family gets together for the 4th of July. Our mother chooses a theme and creates a party to remember! Last year we had a tea party theme and the year before that was a cowboy theme, and the list goes on. The photo above shows a plate full of what we call Hawaiian Haystacks. It is made by topping pineapple, green onions, tomatoes, coconut, chow mien noodles, cheese, chicken, and creme of chicken gravy on white rice. YUM! We are always impressed at how well our mother can throw a good party. There are always fun activity's and great food. Now you know where my sisters and I get our passion for party planing! Here, here, here, here, and here are just a few party's my sisters have planed.

My mother handmade the surf boards and attached grass skirts onto handmade tables to create this beautiful scene. We took photos in front of the surf boards and when we were done she put them on top of straw bales for extra seating. Genius!

Another fun thing my mom did was make solar ovens to cook s'mores! The tinfoil reflects the suns heat into the box lined with black paper. Apparently she has cooked cookies this way as well! Below is a tutorial for how to make a solar oven from a pizza box. I found it on Youtube for you.:)

What a fun party! Can't wait till next year! (I hear it is a pirate theme! ARR!)

talk

card generator here
fun give away here
new fave blog here
I love this

Mikkel Vang {photographer}

I love these images by Mikkel Vang. They are so sweet and serene. Now I want to have a tea party in an apple orchard, anyone with me on that one?

Love this {Crayon storage}

(source)

I just love this idea of storing and sorting your crayons by color! My kids are always ripping off the papers too. This mini loaf pan is so cute too! One of my favorite things to do is to use something for some purpose other that what it was invented for. Like in my living room on my coffee table I have a vintage baking pan I use as a tray for books and magazines.

Love this {boys birthday from mer mag}

My sister Merrilee (of mer mag) just threw the cutest party for her son. I loved it so much I had to share! Don't you just love the red feathers she put on the favors with a clothes pin? And speaking of clothes pins, aren't those cupcakes just awesome? I love the table spread it is so simple and perfectly arranged. It is just the thing I have been wishing to do for my parties but have never really achieved. And that pirate ship cake! Wow what a cool party, I wish I could have been there. Thanks for posting these Sis! You're a super woman!

the primary colors are 123...

red, yellow & blue

I just love these! I want all of them for my home! Too bad I can't afford any of them.
(All via urban outfitters)

what I'm currently loving

A white kitchen with one or two color pops.

ready for a change

Today I'm going to be a little bit of a wicked blogger and post these above photos without giving source links because frankly I don't know where they came from. When I saved them I didn't think I would be posting them here. But aren't they so lovely? I want to redo my bed room and dining room! What a silly thing to say nearing the end of this remodel, but it's true, I am so ready for a change! Trent and I have noticed that for the first part of our marriage we moved every six months, then after we bought this house we did a major remodel every six months. Its been a while--probably a year--since we have done any major changes. I did go through a phase where I was sad about selling this house, but honestly I am ready for another project--another creative challenge! Isn't that weird? Are we the only people who make a crappy house into the ideal home only to be hungry for another crappy house? OK probably. :) We get so much gratification out of creating; and now that we're nearing the end, we are ready for more! Bring it on, old ugly houses! We are ready! Here are some photos of homes we are looking at... I know they are a bit on the ugly side, but they're a dream come true for me and my husband.

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Have a great day! Mine was filled with home tours! Yippee. (Now we just need one of them to make a good offer!)