Best Soup ever!!!

I am madly in love with this soup!!! I have made it twice in the past week and would willingly have it again for dinner tonight, okay lunch, why not.
I found this recipe in my Blendtec recipe book, and while I was not intrigued by the name, thankfully I tried it anyway.

Beans and Greens Soup
1 medium onion
1 clove garlic
2 cups broth (or more)
4 cups kale, ribs removed and roughly chopped
2 (15 oz.) cans white beans, drained, rinsed and divided
1/2 tsp. crushed red pepper
1/4 tsp. ground cumin

Heat some oil over medium-high heat. Add onion and garlic, cook 5 minutes or until tender. Add 1 cup broth and kale and cover. Cook until kale is wilted, about 5 minutes. While kale is cooking, add half the beans, remaining broth, and spices to a blender and puree. Pour bean mixture into the pan with the kale, add remaining beans. Simmer for 5 minutes and serve.

You will notice in the picture there are little orange jewels floating around. We had some roasted sweet potatoes that we added in, the first time. The second time we made it we added in some roasted rosemary cauliflower. While certainly not necessary it was fabulous!!!

Make your own fresh evergreen wreath

After cutting the lower branches off our Christmas tree, as always, I decided to make a wreath.
This time I am going to attempt a tutorial. Please excuse the terrible lighting in the pictures.
I started with some old dry cleaning hangers. I used two twisted together at the ends and formed into a crude circle. Don't worry too much about this, it is pretty forgiving.

 Next, cut your branches into little pieces of greenery, like this. Again, they don't need to be perfect, because it is easy to disguise.

 Next, I laid a bunch of these sprigs over the hanger going in the same direction laying the green part over the stick part of the last one. Just to hide as much of the wood as you can.
Next, I got some green florist wire at the dollar store. Start wrapping the wire around the branches, attaching them to the hanger wire. Just keep wrapping around and around. It is okay if the greenery is getting held down. We will make it fluffier later.

 Here, in this terrible picture you can see how it looks skinnier after the wire is wrapped around. After you have gone around the circle once, do it again. Lay more branches on top, overlapping as you go, going the same direction each time.

 After going around the wreath, adding sprigs, three times the wreath should be looking pretty thick. Then, take some sprigs and (in the same direction) start shoving them under the wire. This makes it look fuller and more natural. The above picture shows what it looks like after this step.

 Then, I decided to add a different kind of green to give the wreath some depth and added interest. I cut some sprigs off of a Juniper bush in our yard and added those. I really like the two different kinds of greens in the wreath.

 I really like the natural look, but my girls really wanted some shine in it. So I wired some little plastic red balls (dollar store) and wired them right to the wreath.

 Then I hung it up above my beloved mantle.

Some Christmas Decor

 Made a wreath from the discarded branches of the Christmas tree. I like the way it turned out this time. I also added some juniper from one of our bushes outside. I made a little one for the front door as well. I took pictures to do a tutorial, so we will see if that happens.

 Topped with the felt circles banner. Instant color and festivity.

I decided to display Christmas cards a little differently this year. I took some old frames (that I pulled out of someone's garbage can), tied some string around them and clothes pinned some cards to it. I like how it turned out. Add another felt banner for color.

2011 Ornaments

I get the kids an ornament every year. I started making them a few years ago, because my favorite part of Christmas (the decor, at least) was getting out the little wood toys that my Dad would make us every year. Here are the ones I made for 2010.
Last year I packed up the ornaments I made before I could take pictures.
Zoe got an orange Converse shoe. She loves orange and Converse shoes.
Liam got a white dove to represent the year he was baptized.
Lydia started school this year so she got an apple.
Felix was obsessed with the alphabet last year, so got a chalkboard with the alphabet letters. He also started pre-school, so that counts for that, too.

infant circle skirt

Okay, so I am modeling this skirt on my leg. I wish I had a picture of it on my little niece, for whom it was made. I used this tutorial. Super easy, super cute!

Robot costume

 After last years viking costume, which was discarded 30 minutes after starting Trick-or-treating, Liam wanted something more accessable this year. Epic fail! This one didn't make it ten minutes. But it looks pretty cool.
I had him completely design it. Okay, I showed him some examples, but he chose which elements he wanted to use.

 I got some silver spray paint, boxes, silver (shiny) duct tape, and some stuff at the dollar store.

Turned out pretty cool. The light on his belly glows (can you tell?). The orange part on his forhead was a strobe light.

striped knit cowl

Okay, so I am a little obsessed about cowls and scarves. I love keeping my neck warm! I decided I wanted a super soft knit one. Actually, my inspiration is a funny story, so I will share it. Last year my husband sent me to Hawaii for ten days because I was so miserable to live with he knew I needed a break. It was the most perfect, inpiring, life-changing, soul searching, rejuvinating trip ever! On the way home (it is February, by the way) I was freezing. I hadn't packed many warm clothes, but all the ones I had packed were on my body. I needed a scarf! During a layover I grabbed my pajama pants out of my suitcase and I tied them around my neck for a super comfy scarf!
So, inspired by how comfy my PJ pants were as a scarf, I went to go get some soft fabric to make one. I made 3 in a matter of 10 min (there is really nothing to it...one straight stitch). The other two I gave as gifts to ladies I HOPE enjoy them as much as I do. Also, when I bought the fabric the lady that sold it to me said that she had never seen uglier fabric in the 6 years she had been working there. I consider that a success!

Downstairs bathroom redo/ chevron painting

 Decided I wanted some color in the bathroom so I painted it purple. I am not even sure I like it. I like the way the oval white mirror (that I snagged from Zoe's room) looks next to the purple. I still need to put up some quarterround or something to help transition from purple to white.

 I wanted something hanging on the wall, so I made this chevron stripes painting. It is a fun burst on color, but after Travis said it looked a bit 80's I don't like it quite as much, because I see what he was saying.

I did find this little iron bird hook for the towel that I was excited about for $3 at Hobby Lobby.
The bathroom is better than it was, but not finished yet. It still needs some stuff. I just don't know what yet.

Halloween Felt Circles Banner

Nothing like some felt circles to make any spot in the house festive and popping with color!

Halloween Decor

 LOVE my mantle and being able to change the decorations depending on the seasons. Also, happy that I have a bunch of artwork to be able to switch out. Travis had this painting up in his office for awhile, but too many of his clients thought it was creepy, so he switched it out. Perfect for Halloween Decor, if it is too creepy for an office.

 Did the entryway much like last year, only added more bats (which fell down, again).

Also, added more crows.
I love Halloween!

Little boys cloth tie

 I am utterly horrified that I haven't posted since August. I guess there have been some projects being made, though not as many as I would have liked. I thought that once the kids (all 4!) were in school I would have oodles of time. Turns out, it is filled before I can blink.
Here is a little boys tie that I made out of some fun fabric that I had. Love how it turned out. Of course, it would be cuter on a model but my little guy was not coopertive.

Denim ruffle skirt

 I have had the fabric to make this skirt FOREVER. It seems like I haven't done any projects this summer at all. I guess it is much harder with little ones around. The strange difference is that I haven't even had time to think about projects. Usually I get quite consummed with an idea until I can see it to fruition.
Anyway, I found this pattern via Pinterest from From an Igloo blog. The tutorial was great. Travis took the kids swimming one night (I put Felix in bed) and I sewed the whole thing. It was lovely.

 Super pleased with how the skirt turned out. Not so much with the pictures.

Painted rocks

We had fun gathering rocks then painting them. Zoe and her friend, Alexis, then took the rocks and annonomously left them on people's porches. My kids are always wanting to paint, so this was a great project.

Science Experiments (or Killing Time and Making a Mess)

The other day I realized that everyone was super bored and starting to get on each others nerves. It was early afternoon and I refused to let them turn on the T.V. I started my "I feel like I am cheating you out of your childhoods when I let you watch T.V. on a beautiful summer day" lecture, then decided to actually temp them outside.
We did the standby cornstarch and water experiment. Always a good one. Heck, I could play with it for hours. "It's a liquid, it's a solid, liquid, solid" etc.

We also made "slime", using up all of our Elmers glue we had bought for school supplies.

Lydia "sneezing" out green slime. Also, last year we found out the slime makes awesomely awful noises when sqeezed into a cup. Zoe has quite a knack for it.
We also did some vinegar and baking soda eruptions.
We did this little color wheel experiment where we started out with only the primary colors in water then placed paper towels going from the cup into the secondary cups that were empty. This one did take awhile. The kids were not excited about sitting around watching the colored water get sucked up into the paper towels.
We had some neighborhood friends stop by. They chose the right day to visit. Where we were having lots of fun keeping busy instead of the normal day where I am yelling for them to "go outside and enjoy your childhood!"

Melted crayon art

I had seen this project awhile ago and loved the look of it. While going through the art drawer, I looked at all the old broken crayons and remembered this project. Since it has been dreadfully hot lately I knew it would work well.
I hot glued the crayons to the top of a piece of paper, but they kept falling off, so I used good ole Elmers to reapply them. I used very heavy white paper and put a sheet of very heavy black paper underneath. If you try this project make sure to cover all your surfaces! It can be messy!
The kids were really excited about the process and we all kept rushing outside to see how it had changed. I love the way the colors mixed and moved. I think it would be fun framed, or just propped up somewhere. I do think I will cut off the crayon wrappers at the top, though.

beautiful growing things

 For Mothers Day I go to the nursery and buy some garden starts and a bunch of flowers. It makes me so happy for months and months to watch my plants grow.
I was going to get an overall picture of my back patio covered with flowers and delicious herbs and vegetables, but these triple digit temperatures are making everything look a little parched.

 Tomatillos for the first time. Looking good! Something I found out is that the husk grows first to the size of a billiard ball (maybe a bit smaller, what kind of ball would that be?), then the tomatillo grows inside. By feeling the husk, it seems that the tomatillos are about the size of grape tomatoes inside. What a little treasure. If you have never had a tomatillo, they taste like limey tomatoes to me. They are great in salsa!

 Look at these Tigerella tomatoes. I got a start from my brother who bought heirloom seeds a few years ago, then keeps the seeds and grows starts each year. That is dedication. I just bum the starts off of him.

This is a lovely flower that I found this year that is called Ice plant. It flourished squished into a large pot with Snapdragons, Violas, and Veronica. The greenery is succulent and the leaves feel like cow tongues. Kindof textured and squishy. I LOVE this plant.
I will have to remember to look at these pictures during the long dreary wintertime.

Pool/Swim Bag

I love this project so much. It was meant to be. I have needed a giant swim bag for a long time. When we go to the pool we have so much stuff: goggles, towels, sunscreen, water, snacks, swim diapers, clothes, keys, phone, money/wallet, etc. I have been using a huge Ikea bag where everything just goes to the bottom where I have to search forever to find it. So, I needed a big bag (to fit at least 5 towels + other stuff). I LOVE pockets, so I want t pocket for everything.

I got this fabric (2 yards) for $4.00 and used every bit of it, plus some scraps from other projects.

 I put in small handles and long straps for multiple ways to carry the bag. There are side pockets on both sides on the outside (they are huge). I also put in some boning (okay, they were old metal hangers) in the bias I sewed to each corner for some stability.

 Have you seen the infomercial for the Kangaroo Keeper? It is so brilliant. The lady stuffs a whole pile of stuff into a tiny purse using this implement to organize everything into pockets. This is what I wanted. I put loops on one side for water bottles, sunscreen, etc. One side has little pockets for keys, cell, sunglasses. Then there are still two other smallish pockets for goggles, snacks, wallet, etc.

 Then still plenty of room for towels and whatever else we might need. I reinforced the bottom with some heavy cardboard wrapped in duct tape (for waterproofing). It is super sturdy. Maybe a little too structured? Not sure yet.

It really is huge, but I think it turned out okay. I guess by the end of the summer I will have figured out what changes I should've made.
What bag do you take to the pool? Do you have the same frustrations as I do? Do you have a bag that you love?