Spring Playlist

I know it isn't Spring everywhere right now, but I thought I'd share a springy little playlist.  These are some of the bands I've been really enjoying lately!  Leave me some of your current favorites in the comments here if you wanna!  xo. Katie

Snapshots

*I've starting picking the guitar up again.  It's been years and years since I've played, but the bug has hit me lately.  It's so nice to be able to grab your instrument and take it where you want.  Piano is not quite as portable.  ;)

*I love that my girls are so into Powerpuff girls.  I was SO into them when I was younger and it makes me happy to see the love continuing.

*Poesy is almost too big for me to toss her in the air these days.  I'll be so sad when I just can't get her above my head anymore.  Better work on those muscles!

*I took the girls plant shopping for earth day and each picked something to put in the ground.  Hope chose a raspberry bush and Poesy chose a "flower bush".

*I've been working at redecorating our dining room over the past month or so.  I had this photo from our garden last year printed up as a blue print copy (for $12!) with some simple words ("eat a rainbow") to help remind us to eat our veggies... and Poe's scarfing a donut in this photo, so... perfect.  ;)

I hope you all had a nice weekend.  It's time for me to get that "beginning of the week steam" going to dive into various projects.  Happy Monday!

Giveaway with ever+mi.crush

ever+mi.crush is here today to offer all you lovely folks a $75 gift card to their shop!  The dress from my Weekly Wears post yesterday is from their shop and I love how sweet and springy it is!  If you'd like to enter to win, simply visit the ever+mi.crush site and leave a comment here sharing what piece you'd like to style for Spring.  Super easy!

If you'd like some bonus entries you can:

Like ever+mi.crush on Facebook

Follow on Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest

That's five ways to enter!  Please make sure and leave a separate comment for each entry.  The winner for this giveaway will be drawn on May 2nd and announced shortly after.  Good luck, friends!!  xo. Katie

Weekly Wears: Treasure Hunt

I spent several hours combing over flea markets yesterday and ended coming home with some good stuff.  I don't really get to flea markets like I used to and it was really nice to steal some hours in the day to do just that.  I found a really great plant stand (with pink shelves!) that I've already painted and set up in the living room to replace the giant one that was in there before.  There were some other goodies that I snatched up as well, but more than just shopping for whatever, it was nice to just zone out for a while.  Sometimes you need a bit of that.

Dress: c/o Ever+Mi.Crush;  Shirt: American Apparel;  Bag: ABM for Kelly Moore;  Boots (similar): ModCloth;  Sunglasses: Urban Outfitters (last year)

I wanted to mention that the American Blogger documentary I was interviewed for last spring is out now, and I'm really grateful for the clips of our family that Chris captured.  I know someday when I'm a grey haired woman and my kids are grown, seeing what our little family was like at this stage will be so precious to me.  You can more info here.   xo. Katie

Record Store Day

We ended up being in St. Louis for Record Store Day this year, so I was pretty pumped leading up to it.  We made our way over to Vintage Vinyl once I was up and going on Saturday morning.  It was all pretty hoppin'-- they had live music outside, free beer inside, and a two hour wait in line to see any of the record store day exclusive merch.  I'm a person who can go either way in those crazy crowded situations-- sometimes it's way too much and sometimes it's totally fine, depending on how I prepare myself.  Unfortunately I wasn't really in the mood that day, so I grabbed a Bryan Adams album I don't have (he's my guilty pleasure love), Johnny snagged a Pearl Jam album he didn't have, and we came home to our good ol' faithful record store here in Springfield to snag the Mazzy Star RSD 7".  I'm pretty happy with our loot, but who really needs a special day to buy records?  You know me, any day is a good day for music!

Did you snag anything great for Record Store Day this year?  You can see our purchases from last year right here.  xo.  Katie

Our Easter

Easter was pretty great this year, and it was nice to break out of some of our normal routine.
I decided to skip out on buying new Easter dresses-- a tradition I was ready to put down.  Each year we slap some cash on the counter for dresses the girls will wear once or twice, just because it's what we've always done.  I'm definitely not taking a hard stance against it, but this year I was really just feeling like it was unnecessary.  Plus, those kids could wear paper sacks and still be darn adorable.

Anyyyyywayyyyy... let me back up a little.

Our band played out of town on Friday night.  I ended up coming down with a fever and flu-like symptoms in the wee Saturday morning hours, so Saturday was weird.  I can't even remember the last time I was miserable with a fever.  (Are grown-ups even supposed to get fevers?  That's rhetorical, but I still thought the fact that I had a fever was pretty dumb.)  We picked up the girls and decided to stay in a hotel Saturday night so we could be closer to our Sunday morning destination (for church, family gatherings, etc.) since we live an hour & 1/2 away and we'd basically been traveling the whole weekend.  So, the girls opened their baskets in our funny hotel room, and though for a second I looked around the room feeling like a bad mom, Hope swears it was the best Easter ever.  Kids are easy to please-- give them a swimming pool and a vending machine and they're in heaven.

Over the course of the day we had four different egg hunts, the girls got Easter baskets three times, and I ate my weight in Cadbury mini eggs.  I justified that last thing by telling myself it was okay because I felt crummy.  I can be so kind to me sometimes.  ;)

It was a wonderful day spent celebrating with the ones I love.  I'm not sure how Johnny weaseled his way out of photographs... he can be pretty stealthy when he wants to be...

Oh, yeah-- and just because I can't stop cracking up over it:

Poesy telling us to "fly" our dresses.  I love that kid.
I hope whether you celebrated Easter or not on Sunday, your day was absolutely lovely!  xo. Katie

**My dreamy dress is from Family Affairs and my shoes are from Bali ELF.
**You can peek at our Easter from 2013 and 2012 if you'd like.  It's pretty much the same, but the girls are leeeeettle.

Easter Traditions

Our Easter weekend was a little untraditional this year.  Yes, we did make time for dyeing eggs and Easter baskets and all that, but we ended up traveling for almost the whole weekend.  More importantly, the Easter bunny had to come and find us in a hotel in a different town.  Good thing he's good at tracking.  ;)

Poesy was a really fun age this year for just about everything.  The egg dyeing was magic for her.  She's very much into painting right now, so when she discovered the painting set, it was all over... in a good way.  She sat and meticulously painted one entire egg after another with a tiny paint brush, until all the eggs were colored.  Three is one of my very favorite ages.

Hope's an old pro (of course) so her main concern was dyeing all the eggs and then finding the least lovely ones to eat.  It was a good evening for egg coloring and it gave me a good excuse to keep the egg dye away from my new dining room chairs.  Hooray for outside.  ;)

I was feeling a little under the weather on Thursday when all this was going down, but really didn't know what was in store for the weekend until the next day.  I'll share more about that and photos of our Easter very soon!  xo. Katie

New Look!

As you may have noticed, the blog has had a little update.  I had the pleasure of working with Savannah from Maiedae, and she was an absolute peach.  Hopefully things will be a little easier to find around here with the "Features" tabs, and also a having WORKING SEARCH BAR again.  (Hehehe)  I really am so pleased with the new look of the blog.  It still feels very much like home, but with a fresh coat of paint.  :)  I'll be updating all of the tabs at the top over the next few weeks, so be sure to check in and see what's new!
I hope you are all having a wonderful weekend!  xo. Katie

DIY Lacing Cards

If you have seen any of my DIYs in the past, you've probably figured out that A) I'm a handmade gift nut, and B) I love to make playable toys for my own kids.  I say playable because there are so many beautiful DIYs out there for kiddos (and I've made many myself) that just don't stand up to the wear and tear of play time.  My focus over the last year or so has been to make sure all of my kid toy DIYs are actually usable and not just for show. 

With that being said, today I'm teaming up with Canon USA today to bring you a fun DIY you can do with your own kiddos, or make as a personalized gift for friends or family!  

Here's what you will need for this project:
Photos of whoever/whatever will make these the most fun!
Cardboard
Glue, Scissors, and a pen
Cropadile or long reaching hole punch
ModPodge
Yarn

Now, let's get started!

First, get your photos in order.  I took waaaaaaay too long choosing the perfect photos.  It's so easy to get lost in the archives, am I right?  ALSO.  My girls are getting so darn big.  Anyway, if you are printing photos at home, now is the time to do so.  I made my photos into a collage in Photoshop before I sent them to print, just to use as few pieces of photo paper as possible.  I used a Canon PIXMA MG7120 for printing this project and it made it SO easy.  That's saying a lot because I seem to be the kind of person who attracts printer issues!  It's a hidden talent, apparently.

Next, cut out your photos.

After your photos are all cut out, trace around them onto your cardboard pieces.  Cut the cardboard down to the exact size of the photos (mine were 4x6).

Now that all the cardboard is cut, glue the photos onto the cardboard.  I used a paintbrush to make sure the glue went all the way to the edges.

After the glue has dried, plan out your designs and mark them on your photos.  Use your Cropadile or hole punch (or scissors if that's what you have on hand) to punch holes in the cards.  Make sure they are big enough for the yarn you will be using!

After you've made it through all the cards, spread a thin layer of ModPodge over the photos.  This protects the photos from getting smeared and protects little hands from potential ink smudges.
Also, feel free to paint the backs of the cards with fun colors- just make sure to seal them with ModPodge so the paint doesn't chip or flake!

Now you're all done and it's time to play!  You can use a plastic yarn needle, or simply wrap some tape around the end of the yarn before little ones start lacing.

(This is great for fine motor development!)

(I love their little concentration faces.)

The girls thought these were equal parts fun and hilarious!  Poe's favorite was the photo with the glasses and Hope loved Poesy with a mustache!  I truly love projects that are customizable!  I think I just figured out what all of my friends' kids are getting for their birthdays this year.  Just request some photos of pets and family members and make cards to fit that family!  Happy crafting!  xo. Katie