framed spring mantel

Oh dear, what a wonky, bit-by-bit way this post has come together today!  (I started with one picture at 7ish, then added several, and am just now adding these words at 3:00 ;)  I had just got the first picture put on this post at 7ish this morning, when I got a call asking to schedule a house showing at 11:30 and then another and another - four showings scheduled in total!  We just put our house on the market yesterday, and I was not expecting so much interest so soon.  Neither was my house.   So, we dropped everything and began dashing about like mad for the next four hours.  It was mad.

So anyway, my Spring Mantel.  If you've been with me awhile you know I first put up these frames last Fall, and it has been fun to redecorate them for every season since.   

{See Fall Framed; Christmas Framed; Valentine's Framed Mantel}

I replaced the felted, magnolia-looking wreath I did earlier this month, with this little mossy number {will share the completely simple mossy-wreath-how-to later this week.}  

And added a little bird from Hobby Lobby.

Also covered my little "m" with moss, much like I covered the big "M" last year.

 

I really put together the whole mantel around wanting to feature this lovely orchid my sweetheart gave me for my birthday.

 

It's a month old and is as beautiful as ever.  Best part is that I only have to put a couple ice cubes on it a week to keep it happy - perfect for my spacey watering habits.

 

Oh dear, I do love spring...and a clean house.

Now to keep it that way. ha. ; )

{Linking to The Spring Fling at The Lettered Cottage
& Bowl Full of Lemons}

birthday brunch & gifts for girlies

This weekend Sister threw such a lovely party for her twin girls.  One girl loves doggies, the other bunnies.  One girl adores princesses, the other aspires to piracy.  It's amazing (and adorable) how adamantly different they are, yet I love how Sister blended the themes and absolutely thrilled each little girl's heart.  She's such a thoughtful Momma.  I just snapped a few pics, so go over to Meg + Andy for more pretty details. 

A "Princess Bunny" cake (there was also a "Pirate Doggie" cake :)

For gifts, I put together little writing boxes for each girl.  Four may be a tad early for something like this, but they're already really sweet about composing "letters" that Sister transcribes for them, and I fancied it would be a start to encourage cousinly communication when we move. 

I was so happy to find these little boxes at Target.

And I just filled them with a couple choices of stationary, stickers, an envelope of stamps, and these crayons.  {Have you seen these themed crayons at Target?  There are all sorts of adorable-fun sets}  The whole "box" cost under $10.   An address book would be a natural addition - I suppose I'll get them one when they're just a bit older.

Here's one for the girlie who likes pink and princesses. 

So that was our weekend fun!  We also finally got our house on the market, which means I completely cleaned and took pictures of our Entire House.  It was a definite first and felt like quite the accomplishment.  Looking at all the pictures, I was surprised how much of our home I've never posted about here...some areas I just never got to.  So anyway, I suppose I'll show you the whole thing - bathrooms and all - later this week. ; )  Also finally going to celebrate my boy's birthday on Wednesday.  Ahhh, good times.

Hope you had some weekend fun, too.

love, cailan

a time to write

I do so love finding a friendly note in my mailbox {like the cute one above!}.  It always completely makes my day.   Recently the women of our church started a little note-writing project.  Every two months we each get a name or two of another lady in the church and were assigned to write to them at least once over the course of the next few weeks.

It's been a sweet way to connect more with other women in the church - often with ladies I don't know as well or chat with much.  I love it.

While I've always loved writing letters and for many years collected a nice little bit of stationery , in this busy season of life my faithfulness in writing ebbs and flows.  However, this little project has led me back to my writing desk and suddenly I find that it would really be so easy to drop a quick line to so-and-so...and a nice little thank you note would be just the thing for that thoughtful girl.

So out come the thank you notes. Love these birdy ones from Cavallini.

And aren't these Bonsai stamps from the Post Office so lovely?

And I have to share these with you. ; ) I had spied these sweet little mini-notes at Target months ago, but decided against them for $7.  This week I found them on clearance for $2!  Aren't they darling?  So perfect for a bitty note or gift card.

 Love the bicycle best.

Cute, obliging bird clip from here  ; )

So perhaps you will be prompted to crack open your own box of cards.  Wouldn't it be lovely if we could all be on our note-writing lists?   Happy weekend, friends!

love, cailan

Birthdays, Birds, and Budding Habits

Mondays often seem to take me by surprise, this Monday especially so.  My first born little baby turned five.

Absolutely amazing.

Spent the day together doing simple, happy things.   Couple presents in the morning, looking at old baby pictures, play at the park and stop at the Donut Shoppe.

I also did streamers and balloons from his bedroom doorway and filled the hallway with balloons.  It made for a very happy start to the day, but I didn't get a picture....so much lately I'm torn between picture and video-taking.  I love to capture their voices on tape....so I video taped the whole thing.

I still have a little party to throw once his cousins get over some sickness.  Trying to gear myself up for a certain kind of BIRD party theme that might also (very unfortunately) include the word "Angry."  I don't know how these birds got into our home, but somehow they have completely infiltrated.  What can't they be "happy birds" or even "silly birds" or "ridiculous birds" - why angry?  Anyway though he hasn't insisted upon it, I know that nothing will give this little 5-year-old more joy than an Angry Bird party.... So I'm trying to get motivated to make these. ha.

In other news, we're about the sign a contract on this Iowan home!  However, the contract is contingent on the sale of our home. I know this is a fairly normal arrangement, but yikes, feeling just a little pressure to get ours sold quick-quick.

Soooo, I've been trying to clean, and clean, and clean, and seriously it has been freakishly alarming at how much there is be cleaned. When you know that potential buyers are going to be looking at and inspecting every inch of your home, it's as though the dirt blinders come off and suddenly you see crud everywhere (if you're me that is).   So I realized I've been a pretty sad deep cleaner over the past couple years.  I feel like if the dishes are done and the toys picked up, I'm good - never mind the cobwebs or the grease grime. yuck.  So like I said, it's been a very alarming, eye-opening couple days.

I'm hoping to change my cleaning habits a bit - or more accurately start some cleaning habits. Happened upon this comprehensive cleaning schedule from Little Green Notebook. 

I have to admit being this motivated and this intentional about house-cleaning is pretty mystifying to me.  The night schedule is daunting - esp. when I usually just want some couchtime ; )  But I know that night is prime time to do a little cleaning and if I stayed on top if it it wouldn't take long, and it would feel so good (and make the husband happy) to have a better maintained, tidy home.  So, I'm determined to be inspired and overcome what I'm sure is nothing other than laziness.  yuck.  Anyway, I'll let you know how it works out ; )  Happy Tuesday!

love, cailan

Time for a St. Patty's Day Party

Seeing as it's about a week before St. Patty's Day, I thought it might be a good time for a little party inspiration.  If you have been wanting to throw a little dinner party for awhile, St. Patrick's is a perfect excuse to go ahead and do it.   Just cook up some corn beef and cabbage and add a little green to your table!

Here are pictures from the party my mum threw last year (granted, she does things a little grandly, but take a couple ideas from it - like green ribbon around the napkins and make it simple and your own)



She used a few yards of burlap for a wide runner, and then went to town layering.  A gold (plastic) charger, under a rattan charger, under a white dinner plate, followed by a napkin tied up with green ribbon from Hobby Lobby.

For a centerpiece she got a little clover plant from the grocery store and used moss rocks and candle votives from Wal-Mart for extra decoration.

For dinner you can serve corned beef of course, just get the slightly more expensive cut of pre-corned beef at your store (can't remember what it's called but there's always two different cuts and the more expensive is generally worth it - the cheaper one is tough and fatty) and boil it up according to package directions with your cabbage or use this recipe from Ms. Martha to make your own.

 

 http://www.marthastewart.com

Then I would roast or steam some vegetables and maybe make some soda bread if I'm feeling ambitious. ; ) It's really pretty easy  - no kneading or rising involved.  Below is a sweetened version from Ms. Martha.  Traditional versions are also on her site.

http://www.marthastewart.com

For dessert, of course you will want to make this Guinness Chocolate Cake.  I made it last year and oh, it was so good.  Recipe {HERE}.

To top it off, you'll want to make a little Irish Coffee.  Very simple, very special, very yummy.  If by some reason you convince yourself to skip the cake, Irish Coffee could certainly suffice as dessert, served with little shortbread cookies or shamrock sugar cookies you made with your left-over dough from Valentines. : )

http://www.marthastewart.com

So, on the Menu for a St. Patty's Day Party:

Corned Beef & Cabbage

Roasted, Broiled or Steamed Vegetables

Soda Bread

Guinness Chocolate Cake

Irish Coffee

Let me know if you go for it, and a happy weekend to you!

love, cailan

My Mantel Today

Albeit reluctantly, I did take down my Valentine's Mantel on the last day of February.  It was time to clean up the glitter. :)   So this is what my mantel looks like today.   No theme going on here - mostly just a little assortment of things I like. 

 Really I just wanted to figure out some arrangement that featured this amazingly lovely orchid my sweetheart gave me on my b-day.   It warrants some attention.

 I did make this little felt wreath that I thought would be my "spring wreath" but as I got about 3/4 the way through making it, it struck me as looking rather Christmas-y???  I don't know.  My vision of it seemed so spring in my head!   Obstinate, I still hung it up, but it probably will come down in the next couple weeks and show up again next December...

Realistically the orchid will fade, and the whole arrangement will come down in a couple weeks.



But it's something different and fresh for today.

For the Things They Say

As anyone knows, talking little people tend to say the sweetest and funniest things.  Well, we have three talking little people in our home, and it was high time I did something about safe-keeping all the dear things they say.  This is me, almost always very behind.

Anyway, I finally did get my act together, and  I made this little memory box with index card filing.

(please pardon the pictures, I took half of them at night, so my lighting is all over the place)

With this system it's easy to add new sayings, even ones that happened awhile back and keep them in order.   I also love that you can grab out all of just one little person's sayings at a time and go through them now and them, such as on a birthday.

The project was inspired by this old recipe box my mum had.  She kindly passed it down to me the other week.  I love the antique, loved look of it, and it makes it pretty and appropriate looking out on the kitchen counter.   These sort of boxes are plentiful on ebay.

However, I found it impossible to track down index card filers.  The only ones I found had the alphabet on them, so I made my own, using regular file folders, and cutting them to size (you'll want to make the tab part smaller too.)

Of course, they needed to be pretty-fied a bit.  The paper pickings were rather slim at our Michael's, but this one struck me as rather Anthropologie inspired. ;)

Out came the Modge Podge.

And covered them all up. 

Then I got out my typewriter stamps.

 And cut out a little name label from the file folder.

 

And glued it on like so. 

Finally, I recorded some of the sweet things they've said lately, putting the date, name, and age of the kiddo just in case they ever got mixed up. 

And there you have it.  Hopefully this will inspire you as a nice, easy way to treasure all the sweet things they say.
They are just too precious to forget.

Happy Monday : )

love, cailan

{linking to Bowl Full of Lemons & Tatertots & Jello}