new things

Last Christmas my mother-in-law, Eve, gave me this beautiful Bosch mixer:

She gave it with the intent that I could make bread since I've been saying I want to learn.  I was so excited about it, but.... terrified.  It sat there staring at me for MONTHS without so much as cookiedough ingredients breaking it in!  I just felt like it was too much machine for me.  So Eve was kind enough to take a Saturday afternoon to give me bread making lessons (on top of those my mom has already given me) and it finally stuck!  I went home and made some of my own while the instructions were still fresh in my brain.

Here's me with mine:

I know they are all random sizes.  Apparently I'm terrible at eyeballing the size of the loaves.  Eve uses a scale... she's smart.  But the convection oven helped them bake beautifully and evenly and the bread tastes delicious! 
I used freshly ground whole wheat, thanks to Eve's wheat grinder. (and her wheat)

new art

I finally finished this little trio:

They are tiny.  The canvas size for each is 2.5x2.5 inches and the tiny easels measure approximately  4.5 inches tall and 2.75 inches wide.  I've decided to sell them as a set.  You almost can't have one without the other two, so there you go!

You can purchase them in the shop now.

daddy and noah fun

Noah and daddy got to have lots of bonding time this past week.  Abe took Noah swimming for the first time this season!  Noah LOVED his new swim diapers and swimsuit. 

This is what happens when you put Noah in a swim diaper:

He didn't mind.

Then you apply the required "plastic pants".

Then the bright orange swimsuit with picture of "monkey pirate":

He loved every minute of it!  The swimming part was fun too.

father/son campout

Noah and Abe also got to travel with friends from church to the father/son's campout.

They went two hours north to freezing cold Idaho and still had lot's of fun.

Noah particularly loved the giant slide

(which in summer is a giant WATER slide).

Here he is going down it with his friend Davis.

There was a zipline and some other fun activities.

 Abe and Noah slept in the car to keep warm.

Breakfast the next morning:

Look at his cold little hands!

Needless to say, Noah had a blast with daddy and I really missed them both very much!

And just to end on a "cheery" note....

look what happened this morning!!

YES, that is snow!  On MAY 24th!!!  That's the kind of crap stuff that happens when you live in Utah.

Hopefully my cute little garden makes it through!

one more day

The BOGO Sale ends tomorrow night! 

So if you haven't taken advantage yet, go here! 

I'll accept any BOGO purchases that come in until 11:59pm MST tomorrow May 21st. 

Thank you SOOO much to all those who participated in our Spring Sale!  It's been loads of fun!

Photo by Sara Boulter 

Have a WONDERFUL weekend!

quiet time at home and shop news

Everyday after I put Noah down for his nap, my niece Della and I do school activities.  These include letters, numbers and little workbook activities.  After that we have "Katie's quiet time".  This is my time to have some peace and quiet, paint, draw, craft, blog, package orders, etc.  During my quiet time, Della often creates little masterpieces. 

Here's one from a few weeks ago:

She loves to paint.  I thought this one was extra special.  I love it!

I sent this one home with her.  Hopefully it got a frame! 
Or at least a spot on the fridge.

Other quiet times...

Sometime I get quiet time when Noah is awake! 

We often find Noah like this:

and like this:

He loves to sit in his room and "read".  I love seeing it.

He is at such a cute age right now, it's so fun.  Of course, I'm pretty sure I've said that at every stage of his life.  And I'm happy that I've savored every one of them.  It goes too fast!

And in shop news,

we are ending the BOGO Sale on Friday this week.  That's May 21st!  So if you haven't taken advantage yet, you have until Friday night.  I'll start taking the info off each listing after we put Noah to bed.  So hurry!

And happy Monday!

snail mail and home fun

We got sod last year since our lovely lawn was completely destroyed due to the everlasting renovation.  So mowing the lawn this year is quite a joy, no matter how cold it is outside!  Noah has fun!  So does Abe.

Snail mail fun!

I ordered some rubber stamps for my packaging from Olga of cupcaketree on Etsy.  Check out her shop!  She's amazing!  I drew up some sketches of what I wanted, she sized them and then carved them out of rubber! 

What the?? 

Such tiny detail in these things and I love them so!  Look how cute my packaging looks now...

I had Abe mount them onto some beefier grips for me, which took him all of 3 minutes.

And I stamped away while we watched Avatar.  (pretty entertaining, both the movie and stamping)

I couldn't love these rubber stamps more!  Thank you so much!

And then...

My sweet friend Gail of GDRDesigns on Etsy was SOOOOO kind  and thoughtful to send me this in the mail...

 

She said she noticed my "pitter patter of little feet" category on this here blog and thought I might like it!

And I DO!!!!  I LOVE it!  And I'm quite sure she had no idea my favorite color is green too! (note the nail polish)

Anyway, I'm not the best photographer, but the front says "sweet" in white on white (which I love).  The inside is two tiny footprints and says "the pitter patter of little feet" on lovely vellum.  Seriously, this was just an out of the blue gift from Gail and I thank her kindly.  I love it!  Go see her shop!  She told me she's stocked up on some super cute new paper with lots of ideas rolling around in her head!  Can't wait to see! 

Thanks again!

And speaking of little feet, the "thud, thud" of Noah's feet were trying to escape last night.  He dragged this big backpack around with him all over the house and kept trying to get out the front door.  I bet he'd be cold outside if he actually escaped.

Silly Noah.

the fabulous Sara has done it again

Sara Boulter

is probably the only person that can get Noah to pose and then hold it long enough for her to get the shot.  Really!  You should see the way she is with kids, they fall instantly IN LOVE with her.

Even adults!  I mean, I'm in love with her too! ;)  I do love Sara, she is so funny and full of energy.  She's magnetic and sucks you into her world, which happily, is a very fun place to be.

Here's a peek of Noah's recent photo shoot:

And click here to see her blog post for a few more shots.

Thank you, Sara!  We love you!

 

two NEW prints

Just a quick post to show you two new prints I have in the shop!

Here is Lloyd the Lion:

He doesn't like to be referred to as "king" of the jungle. But he does want to be your friend. He is soft and loveable, but he'll be ferocious if he sees his friends being picked on. He's a good friend to have on your side.

And Mildred Monkey:

She is sister to Milton. Her friends call her Millie. She is fun and playful and loves to wear flowers in her hair. She loves to laugh and be silly.

Both new prints are available in the shop.

And REMEMBER....

the BOGO SALE is still on!

Click HERE to visit the shop.