Paper Pie

Kelci's Birthday

Do you remember a while back when I told you about my adorable and lovable nieces? Well, little Kelci is really growing up quick and she is going to be nine years old in a few weeks. So, I've been thinking about a gift for her birthday. This post talks about what I got for her last year. Whenever I think about my nieces and their birthdays I get a little sad because I am never there to celebrate with them. They are both far away in Michigan. So this year I decided to make Kelci a little something to remind her that her Aunt Liz, Uncle Ryan and cat cousin Zipper love her from many many miles away. I followed the pattern from the Stitch N Bitch DIY Tote to make this silly-cute bag for her. She can use it to carry her books around or whatever else she fancies and she will have our smiling mugs right along with her.

I wrapped it up in some Anthropologie tissue and a scrap of Mod Trees fabric and it is all ready to bring to the PO tomorrow. I hope she loves it and doesn't groan at her dear Aunt's overt sentimentality too much.

Pom Pom Trim

Here is a little peek at what I have been working on lately. I am sewing up 4 collections of table runners, dishcloths, place mats and napkins to put in the WonderFluff shop. This is one of the first table runners to be finished. I love the fun patchwork feel. I like to see all of the fabrics side by side. I am having a bit of a hard time finding pom pom trim for the rest of the pieces.

I bought this turquoise trim last year at a great big trim, notion, fabric, craft supply place in Long Beach. When I went back down there yesterday to find more, they had a much smaller selection and the colors just weren't right. Also, they were only selling it in 20 yard rolls, which is way more than I need. I found this listing on Ebay for the exact same trim, but the listing is for 18 yards. I may ask if the seller would cut a 4 yard piece and sell it to me. I also found this great shop on Etsy that has trim galore! She is going to send me some samples, so that might work. Does anyone have a great online resource or local shop that sells all manner of pom pom trim? An odd request, I know, but I would love to find just what I need.

Happy Weekend!

Liz & Kalli #44 Dreamy

Oh me, oh my! It is a Tuesday and I am posting the Liz and Kalli Tuesday art project. I am going to be very diligent about getting back on our normal schedule with these posts. This week's word is dreamy. Liz's piece is on the top and Kalli's piece is on the bottom.

*Liz

I thought about the most dreamy way that I could spend the day and baking came to mind. I love it, and I rarely do it. It seems hard to justify spending a whole lot of time on pastry from scratch when there are so many other things to do. However, it is time well spent and I should treat myself this good from now on. I picked up my copy of Jamie At Home, which is a very dreamy cook book by a very dreamy British chef, and flipped to the section all about winter foods. This recipe for Blackberry and Apple Pie was there and it sounded, well, dreamy! I found the recipe online for you here. I highly recommend enjoying this pie with a spot of tea, some window gazing, and dreaming about the future and beautiful things and plans, etc. I love dreaming about plans, it is the actual executing of plans that gets tricky for me.

*Kalli

I saw these blush pink gerbera daisies at Whole Foods and had to buy them to photograph and enjoy the color in my apartment. The color just felt dreamy and romantic to me, without being too artificially bright like some gerberas.

What a truly gorgeous and romantic image, Kalli! That color does feel dreamy. I'm glad that we were both thinking along the same lines on this one; simple pleasures are the most dreamy things in life.

In The Oven

18 weeks

Yes, there is a bun in there and it is starting to show! It really does depend on what I am wearing these days, but I can tell that I am definitely expanding. Just yesterday I bought my first pair of maternity jeans. I was hesitant, but when I tried them on I realized how much more comfortable I will be.

One thing that I read and hear all the time is the importance of sleeping on my left side. There is a big artery that the uterus puts extra weight on if I sleep or lay on my back, which in turn limits blood flow to me and the little one. I have been ok with the left-side-sleeping for a while now, but my left arm is really starting to protest. I wake up in the night with my arm feeling sore and crampy. I can imagine this is probably not going to improve so I think I need to start making myself a nest of pillows to sleep in or invest in a body pillow or something.

So, that is my pregnancy ramble for today. Things have been going great and I feel really fortunate to have moved this far along, without much queasiness or morning sickness. Ryan and I are both so excited and thrilled and the reality of the pregnancy and our future roles as new parents is really starting to sink in. I can't wait to feel that first kick! Ah, it's so fun!

Liz & Kalli #43 House

Hello and Happy Valentine's Day! This week's word is house. Liz's piece is on the top and Kalli's piece is on the bottom.

*Liz

Today is a magnificent and beautiful day; it's 80 degrees on February 14! So, I decided to get out of the house and take a look around at the blue sky and to enjoy the sunshine.This tree is in my front yard and has the most interesting leaves. I'm not sure what kind it is but it has yellow flowers in the spring and summer.

*Kalli

I used paper to cut out a little house, tree and dog house, then I played with my new iPhone app, "Hipstamatic," to create the toy camera-style photo for a childhood memory kind of feeling.

It does have that toy camera feeling, Kalli! Oh iPhone, is there anything that you can not do?

Big Bear Fun

This past week we had the opportunity to spend a little time in Big Bear Lake for our friends, Mr. and little Woollen's, birthdays. As you can tell from the photo above, it felt a lot like Christmas all over again. In Big Bear, the tree stays up all winter. It seemed right though, with all of the snow. See my belly there, too? It is a growing, let me tell you! I'll show you more of that very soon, I promise. 

Being from Michigan and now living in LA, I sometimes really miss looking out the window to see snowflakes falling. So, a quick trip to the mountains to get my snow fix was definitely a welcome change of pace. We drank hot cocoa, played board games, ate a lot of food, and got very competitive in the game room. Yogi Bear's Den was so much fun! Happy Birthday Josh and Javin!

Liz & Kalli #42 Spicy

Hello! Sorry I've been away from this spot for so long. I miss it around here. I've been busy busy with work type stuff. I'm also paying close attention to what I'm eating and I'm exercising regularly, so that takes more time than not doing those things. Cooking healthy suppers every night does not happen quickly. So eating has been eating my time. Har dee Har. Ok, let's get to it, shall we. This week's word is spicy. Liz's piece is on the top and Kalli's piece is on the bottom.

*Liz

See how that works? I really do have food on the brain. I want to make it very clear that the patterns that I used in this piece are from the Repro Depot Flora book. They are not my own and I did not create them. However, I did put them all together in this little composed bowl of spicy soup. By the way, the Repro Depot book is really wonderful. My dear friend Audrey gave me a copy a while back. Second By the way, I need a bowl of spicy soup right now because it has been raining all day long!

*Kalli

I was tempted to do something with food, but didn't have the right ingredients to cook, so here's a different version of "spice." When I was in design school, one of my professors loved to use the term "spice element" to describe one thing in a minimal layout that decisively draws your attention because of its punchy color or unusual shape. You shouldn't need to overuse the "spice element" to be effective, just use it with confidence.

Well done, Kalli!