a buncha stuff

Just a grab-bag of things to share….

• Thank you for your input on the kid photos last week!  I appreciate that 3rd party perspective.
I’ve already purchased the canvases from Paper Coterie (they were having a huge sale so I bought two canvases)…and they’re here!
I chose one photo I haven’t shared yet: me and the kids at the lake, maybe to hang above the chair? (info on the china cabinet and chair here. And the rollie pollie here)

As for the kid picture, I went with photo #1.  It was my favorite.
I may hang it in the studio where you can still see it from the front room but not sure yet.  Decisions….

• Update on my poor camera Well.  I put it in the rice for a week.  I turned it on.  And screamed with joy!….it worked!  But, only 90% worked.  The aperture settings were wonky and the lens wouldn’t talk to the camera.  Error messages.  So it’s currently at the Canon warehouse, awaiting repair evaluations.  The future is potentially bright. But let me say this:
I. Miss. My. Camera!
Badly.

iPhone has been a good fill-in.  In fact, I did the entire Red Dress photos yesterday with my phone!  So we’re having make-it-work kind of moments.  And friends have let me borrow their cameras here and there (book signing night, etc).  Yay!

But on too less boring conversations.  Here’s what we’ve been up to….

• I bought these tangerine lamps last month.  And a friend gifted me a cute tote.  I’m loving both.• Then look what I scored at Forever 21!  Color-blocked tote with a pleather bottom.  I may have to try that.• And I definitely needed more colorful skinnies while I was there too.

• The kids have gone nutso with Perler Beads…..like obsessed.  This is only 1/4 of their collection.  The self-portrait of Owen and “Stewie Darth Vader” are my favs.

• Our little garden pretty much died when we traveled this summer.  But cute chairs make it all better, right?• Bought this thrifted pillowcase for a project and Lucy snatched it up saying it was the prettiest thing she’d ever seen.  Reminds me of tulip fields in Holland.• Little piglet continues to melt our hearts.  She’s such a doll (update soon!)• Been sewing tons of garlandsfor friends with birthdays, babies, and family losses. My favorite fast project• Owen’s favorite Texas shirt is so short it needs to retire. But he just can’t resist.  It’s his soft woobie.• Been doing some fall baking (in 90 degree weather). Pumpkin cookies with cream cheese frosting?• And of course I’m always instagramming up a storm.  Follow me at danamadeit.
Hope you’re having a good Tuesday!
See you tomorrow.

  1. Crossing my fingers that your camera makes it!

  2. 2) Sally P

    I’ve been mulling over an idea for taking those short boy’s tees and lengthening them by attaching the body to a new neck/sleeve section. I don’t know what that style is called. My husband has a tee done this way. Maybe you can do that for Owen.

  3. 3) Ellen

    When my daughter outgrew a favourite t-shirt (she wore it WAY too long!), I sewed the sleeves inside, sewed the neck hole closed, stuffed it, and sewed the bottom shut. Now it’s her favourite snuggly throw-pillow. I still have my son’s well-loved Batman shirt waiting in the to-do pile 🙂

    • 4) Dana

      what a darling idea! Might have to try that 🙂

    • 5) Alissa

      Or, you could cut the design from the front and sew it on another shirt as a ‘patch’ so it can live on. 🙂

  4. 6) Heather K

    Thanks for sharing a glimpse into your life! 🙂

  5. 7) Jackie

    Love it all.

  6. 8) Kerrie

    Out of curiosity, what kinds of garlands do you make for family losses, colors/uses? Thanks for all the ideas and updates —
    Kerrie

  7. I love your pumpkin cookie recipe and have made it for the past few years and have been wanting to get a batch made! You beat me! Hope the camera pulls through! 🙂

  8. 10) kalley

    Oh my! I want one (or a couple) of those pillowcases too! How cheery is that to wake up to??

  9. 11) katie chaffee

    Love all the pictures! I keep wishing you were doing the book signing in Dallas when I’m going to be there in November! But mostly, I NEED those lamps. My husband just got me a huge print of this for over our fireplace… http://www.reproduction-gallery.com/oil_painting/details/copy_artist/1206626340/masterpiece/Commissions_Gallery/museum_quality/Josef_Albers_Homage_to_the_Square_Orange_1964.xhtml
    and since we can’t have an orange couch…
    Also, I want to ask you a million decorating questions. Love your style.

    • 12) Amy F.

      I agree! Would love to know where the lamps are from.

  10. 14) Connie

    I took some of our super soft favorite T-shirts and made them into T-pants. I originally made them b/c I didn’t want to send a pair of expensive pants to pre-school for extra pants. It turns out that the T-pants are his favorite things in the world! Super soft and comfy. Just and idea for the shirt 🙂

  11. 15) justjayma

    What if you cut out the design on Owen’s t shirt, and then applique or reverse applique it onto a larger size shirt? Love the update, your kids are so cute, and your baby is darling.

  12. 16) Tammy

    lots of cute stuff here!!! LOVIN those lampa, I love orange, would look great in my “creative” room

  13. 17) Lisa Dawn

    I just made those pumpkin cookies again last week, too! They are scrumptious! I made them with dark chocolate chips. Mmmmm!

  14. 18) Madeline

    Hi Dana,

    I’ve discovered your blog not long ago and love your updates:) You’re a fresh breath on the web among all the impersonal posts and have created a place where everyone feels like pulling up a chair to have a chat!

  15. What a fun little update! I especially love your instagram snapshots. Clara’s face at the bottom is the best! It just made me laugh out loud!

  16. I have been following you on Instagram for a little while now (I’m @flavorpink) and I love your posts. I don’t always have time to check blogs, but your Instagram feed is always so creatively inspiring! And I so need some bright colored skinnies!! I only have a gray pair and I wear them way too often haha

  17. 21) kitty

    From time to time I like to let you know how much I appreciate your posts. Your pictures (whether by iPhone or camera-poor thing!- are the best!
    Your choice of pic 1 out of the Kids Photos would have been mine too. It,s such an absolutely happy picture! And then there is little Clara at the end, priceless!!!

  18. 22) lux

    I bought some of that fabric from the pillowcase on etsy a few weeks ago!! So wonderful in person too-

  19. Keep watering the garden. Ours is awesome in the beginning of summer….dies off in the middle and then comes back in the fall! EVERY. SINGLE. YEAR!

  20. The red dress iphone photo op worked because I thought they were such great pic. I love that you’re finally putting up photos up in your house! haha and the picture you picked out was the winner. I might have to get my two kiddos and some white sheets (we have green) 🙂 ahaha. Anwayys, love your IG acct.

  21. 25) Laura * Suman

    yeah! you found that bag from f21. so cute! love my coral one and used it in hawaii and then for the pool which, up until school started, was every day! i hope all works out with your camera! so sad.

  22. 26) db

    My daughter had one of those “favorite T-Shirts”. I sewed the sleeves and neckline closed, stuffed it and sewed the bottom shut. Became her “favorite pillow” for her bed 🙂

  23. That pillow case! My parent’s had those sheets when I was little. I haven’t seen them (or thought about them) in probably 20 years! If only my mom was a hoarder and not a neat-as-a-pin organizer 🙂 I’d love to have them now. Thanks for the great little trip down memory lane.

  24. Family losses. 🙁 Sorry to hear it. My sympathies.

    My little girl was just pretending to eat the fruit off of my vintage pillowcase! They’re the best!

    …and this post reminds me…I need to get my rear in the basement and finish painting my buffet!

  25. my kids love those beads too! What to you do with them after they are done? Still working on that one….

  26. 30) Katie C

    A funny-ish story about perler beads (or a cautionary tale). My daughter was obsessed when my older son was around crawling stage. Well we apparently had a rouge bead and he found it. He didn’t choke but he did bite it. And it slipped right over his tooth. I thought he was playing happily when all the sudden he began screaming like someone was trying to kill him. It took me forever to find the black bead in his mouth and I couldn’t get it off, it was a slippery little sucker. So I had to call the doctor. Trying to explain to the nurse that he had a bead on his tooth was insane. She kept saying “so it’s like soft and he bit through it?” And I kept saying ” no he just slipped it straight down over his tooth”, she just couldn’t fathom. Finally she said come in and we’ll take a look. We did and the doctor got it slipped off pretty quickly. But half the nursing staff had gathered to see what exactly the crazy lady on the phone had meant when she said “my son has a bead stuck on his tooth.”

  27. 31) aprilshowers

    Both my kids are obsessed with the Perler beads too. The 3yo just fills in the boards, dumps them out and starts over. But my 6yo is extremely productive and we have the finished pieces all over the house (I even kept my old iron when I got a new one so that we have “mama’s sewing iron” and a “melty bead iron”). I am at a complete loss as to what to do with the finished pieces. She sets up displays on the mantel every once in a while but otherwise they just go in a bag and get ignored. What do your kids do with them?

  28. Ohhhhh…I LOVE that pillowcase! That’s awesome! I would steal that too!

    Such awesome pics as usual m’dear. I hope the camera fairy is good to you and that it comes back safe and working 100%.

    We’re finally getting a Target here next spring and rumour is a Forever 21, H&M, JOE Fresh and Anthropologie are all coming to the city where I love next year!!! Can you say hell yeah baby!!! Finally! Now when I see all the awesome things you post about I can go check them out in person!

  29. 33) Coleen

    Have you seen the halloween peeler designs? Apparently they have glow in the dark beads to make skeletons with! So cute!

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