Homemade ornaments, and other Holiday craftiness and happenings...

           Every year since I can remember my parents presented my brother and I with a new ornament when we put up our Christmas tree. It's something I have continued with my boys since their first Christmas, carefully selecting ornaments that celebrate their past year. For 2012 we decided to commemorate the boy's introductions to either Harry Potter, Star Wars, or Star Trek, (Yes, my future daughter in laws are going to loooooove me, I know.) and usually Hallmark has exactly what I want... but this time... they let me down. Actually, after talking to my boys, I discovered Hallmark had made exactly what they wanted, a few seasons ago...  and I started stalking Golden Snitch and Star Trek Tribble ornaments on Ebay. I wasted a lot of time being out bid before I spotted this Golden Snitch Ornament on Pinterest. (Smacks head, of course I'll just make my own.)
             My version uses air dry clay, wire wings wrapped in mod-podged vellum, and gold leaf. I still need to go over it with a gold pen, as my son is a stickler for details and would like it to be perfect. I'll do that later though... after more cookies.
              My youngest changed his mind about the tribble, deciding he'd rather have an Angry Bird ornament instead. He convinced me he has had such a magical time playing Angry Birds, he certainly deserved an ornament celebrating his Piggy-smashing achievements. This is how his turned out.

                   And here is a little more of what I've been up to this month so far...

       We adopted a kitten! B and I often visit the cats at PetSmart and last week this little guy was there.... the spitting image of B's lovey, "Big Grey Cat". He even had the same green collar, it was was meant to be! (I'm still telling myself this after cleaning the litter box for a week, and finding my curtains and couch ripped.) Really Comet is great with the boys, and an adorable, snugly, naughty cat. His most favorite activities are to rip down my holiday garland, race our little dog, and sleep on my back.         

             We also made some Christmas gifts, sugar cookies for our neighbors and teachers,wreaths for the Aunties, and my boys made a ton of clay figurines.... which I accidentally, and promptly smashed. I felt awful, but R and B took it fairly well. A clay time do over is on the agenda for this week.

          My oldest has really been in the spirit this holiday season. He made "Holiday Thankful" cards for everyone who waited on us at dinner the other night, donated from his piggy banks to every salvation army bin we've passed, and collected lots of goods for his school's giving tree. I'm pretty proud of his generosity.

          And of course  our shelf elf, Fred Carrot Treeskirt, has been busy spying on our boys in creatively exhausting ways.

           There is still lots of fun to be had this month, gingerbread houses, hot coco and holiday movies, sleeping in, I can't wait for winter break to start!

           I hope you've got lots of fun to look forward to as well! -Kendra

Happy Turkey Day!

Romyn's Turkey.

GOBBLE GOBBLE GOBBLE!

                We're all off to spend the day stuffing our face's at my parents house. We'll play some cards and Nintendo , jiggle some rainbow jello and act fat and lazy. Hope all of you have an amazing day with the ones you love!

                 <3- Kendra

I promise to talk some more about rainbow jello after the holiday.



Graffiti Fun with Crayola Window Crayons. (A review.)

           Once upon a time it was gloomy outside, so Daddy bought some Crayola Window Crayons. Then Mommy hid them away because she thought "I am NOT going to clean up that mess!" and she forgot all about them.
           Once upon a different time it was gloomy again, and the boys were crazy, and Mommy was trying to keep calm when she came across the Crayola Window Crayons... she cursed her husband and her own weakness as she gave them to her boys and steered them to the windows. Amazingly, she then enjoyed an entire cuppa coffee before she realized her happy boys were spreading rainbow colored finger prints all over the house. (Messy.)
            The next day it was sunny... but the boys were thrilled to be back at the windows again anyway.

 

               Years ago I used Crayola's Window Markers for a project and was not thrilled with the results. The colors weren't bright, and passersby could not see my adorable snowflakes from the street. (Sad.) These crayon versions are LOUD bright, and went on very smoothly. The downside is that the boys managed to get color all over their hands, which traveled onto the windowsills and walls. A Mr. Clean Magic Eraser was the only way to get everything tidy again. Cleaning the window was not easy either, you can see a portion that was "cleaned" around the top of the door in the purple framed picture, it took me three tries with Windex, elbow grease, and paper towels to scrub it all off. (In fact the paned windows are still colored, because I dread the detail work I know is going to be involved. First the glass, then the trim...I shudder.)

               The truth though... I expect art to be messy. Glitter, glue, snipping paper, and what-not, it's always a disaster afterwards. The day and a half of peace I had, finding letters written to me on the windows, stick figure kitty shadows dancing around on the floor, and little boys who can't stop bragging about their creations is worth half a bottle of window cleaner any day.

              We give window crayons two smudgy rainbow thumbs up. I hope your day is arty too! -Kendra

Tribbles and Red Shirts...Halloween 2012

          What do you know? Star Trek won out over Mario this year. HURRAY! The boys were very pleased with their costumes, thrilled that Gramps surprised them with shinny "real" badges and communicators, and extra happy with the Tribbles  I ordered from Think Geek. These little guys vibrate around the floor and make "tribblie" noises when you pat them... or throw them at your brother. (Oh... I'm sorry... "Fluffball" was just trying to get away from the Klingons I'm told.)
          The best part of having Tribbles in the family is watching Romyn geek out when people ask him about his ".....uh, what have you got there?" and that totally awkward moment when he informs them that "...it's so crazy because they are borned pregnant!"
          Mommy just waves her hand dismissively and says "Eh... you know...Trekkie stuff." I love my little nerds!
          Hope you're all having a great weekend! Today the boys and I finished the 2nd Harry Potter book, and saw Wreck it Ralph, which was good, but I especially loved the intro short "Paperman". (LOVED.) We think you should all check it out. -Kendra

Painted Rocks. Fall's new tradition.

   This year my family is so busy with this and that we've had to skip a few of our normal Fall traditions. I was stressing about this, until I realized it's a perfect excuse to create a few new mini traditions to add to our normal mix. One we worked on this week was inspired by Color Me Katie, a blog with lots of great rainbow-ie ideas, like this one.
   We thought, as it's almost Halloween, some of the rocks and shells kicking around our backyard might like to dress up. Maybe even take a trip to the local park. So we got to work. Baelin made a few "green-eyed-ghosts" while Romyn created a fortune-teller and Harry Potter. We had a lot of fun stacking them around the dinning room table before introducing them to their new home.



    While hiding them along a busy path, the boys imagined all sorts of things passersby might say when their little friends were spotted. Things like, "Ooooh, what a cute little face. It makes me happy!" and "Oh no, it's a chopped off head... someone call the police!!" (Yikes.)
    Baelin had the hardest time finding the perfect spot for his favorite piece, the big clam shell "ghostie". It was left and run back to so many times I thought we were going to have to take it home, but eventually, after almost jumping off a bridge and into the stream, it found a very satisfactory spot in a tree, and B was happy to leave it.


(Romyn loves his "I'm a fan of Dogs" tee I made him.)

       We had so much fun with this little project we may not be able to wait a whole year to do it again. Snowmen rocks would be really cute after all.

        One of the best bits of our day was discovering one of Daddy's hidden talents! Can anyone else whistle into an acorn cap? (Really I might have been more impressed then the boys.)



       We didn't make it out to the pumpkin patch this year, but on our way home from this adventure we did swing by a local church to pick some up for our porch. (A pumpkin on the porch is one tradition I cannot skip!) Yummy seeds will be coming out of the oven shortly.
        Have you created any new traditions this season? Wishing you fun in all you do!  -Kendra

The Summer Fort.

          We made an awesome fort this summer. I miss it. It was so big, and so awesome, Romyn had to make a map to find his way around!
          It's a good thing forts are fun no matter the season, because I am thinking that an end-of-October-hello-fall-we're-so-happy-you're-here fort is a good idea. And I am pretty sure I could make an even bigger, even more awesome fort with a little extra planning. Then we could all snuggle up inside with candy corn and donuts and watch the first Harry Potter movie. (Romyn and I are almost done with the book!)

 

         Maybe candy corn and donuts don't really mesh, but today I am in the mood for both. Have a great weekend! -Kendra

Halloween Costume Countdown.

               I like to make my boy's Halloween costumes. It's a good thing too, because their costume requests are usually so outlandish that I wouldn't be able to find them down a store isle. Last year, after much back and forth, Romyn decided he wanted to be a grilled cheese sandwich. Yummy!

                 Baelin on the other hand, dressed up as his favorite lovie, Big Grey Cat. "Except with green eyes.... and a jet pack!"

                  We had to explain to more than a few people that our cat WANTED to be strapped to a rocket.... honest.
                  I've set a deadline for Halloween costume decisions this year, because, like last year, there is much fickleness. The boys started with this....

                    ....a Mario mystery block! Very creative, and no sewing for Mommy! I was thrilled, but of course, my boys are predictably unpredictable. The mystery block transformed into Toad from Mario, then Yoshi, Pikachu, a dachshund, then a sea turtle, which became a flying turtle shell, a star, a coin, and then seemed to settle on none other than Mario and Luigi. I was a little frazzled by this.... I mean, I really do not want to have to make overalls, and I don't want to buy something the boys will only wear once. Mario and Luigi are kinda bumming me out. Might as well just pick those up from Target.
                  With two days left before their Halloween costume deadline (Whatever you pick on Friday is what you're stuck with!) I had an epiphany. We've started Star Trek with the boys this month, and of course they are obsessed with Tribbles.
                  "Hey boys? Wanna join Star Fleet for Halloween this year? Maybe we could cover you in...."
                   "TRIBBLES!??"
                  Yes... those. Red shirts, black pants, and puff balls? Sounds like I win. At least that is what I was thinking before this morning when Baelin let me know over breakfast that he has been thinking about his Halloween costume, and he'd really like to be a Tribble. A giant, pink, Tribble. Oh dear. T-minus two days and counting. Maybe there's still time to sway him back to a red shirt.
                 What was your most creative Halloween costume growing up? The very last year I trick or treated I was a lunch lady... inspired of course by the Adam Sandler song. :-) Kendra

Icebreaker T-shirts (A lined paper tee with a twist.)

        Perhaps you've spotted the tutorials for these lined paper tee shirts around the net. I have, and just love how sharp and clean the design is. However, I am not really one to leave well enough alone.... I've also never met a piece of paper I've not scribbled all over. So, to celebrate the first day of school my boys and I created this icebreaker tee; to help start up conversation and hopefully make them a few new friends!
       On our shirts I used a tape and paint method to make the design. Once it was dry I asked Romyn and Baelin how they would introduce themselves to a new friend, and jotted that down with a sharpie! (Later Romyn decided he wanted to add a peace sign.)


(Grammie photobombs!)

Here is Baelins. (It's his last year of Preschool this year!)

               After I shared this idea on Happy Words and Thing's Facebook  page my friend Crysta was inspired to make one for her little Liam. A few minutes, some paint pens and a sharpie later Mr. Liam was ready for school. (Thank you for sharing Crysta, he is too cute.)

(As you can tell, Liam likes Thomas the Tank Engine, anything red, and chocolate! I like chocolate too Liam.)

           What would your icebreaker tee shirt say? Mine would probably read....

"Hey, I'm Kendra! I drink a lot of Starbucks and I loooooove purple with loads of glitter. Let's craft something!"

            Hope you all had a great Summer! (We were pretty busy, but that's not a bad thing!) - Kendra







May the 4th be with you!

          Back in March the husband and I decided the boys were finally old enough to enjoy their very first Star Wars movie. Truthfully once they got a taste of it from the Lego version they were begging for more Droids and Jedi almost daily. Eric and I did have a minor squabble about which movie to start with... The Phantom Menace or A New Hope... but not to worry I set him straight and we started off right with Episode 4. At the end of the movie, and after Romyn asked why everyone was getting married, I congratulated him and Baelin on officially becoming big boys. (It certainly seemed like a major life event at the time.) Since then we have slowly worked our way to Revenge of the Sith, which we plan on watching on May the 4th...Star Wars Day!
       For the grand conclusion of our epic Star Wars journey I promised the boys popcorn, light-up lightsaber lollipops, Star Wars library books, and new Star Wars t-shirts. Of course, Baelin made it hard on me and begged for a R2D2 one. 
        ".....or C3P0, because they are my favorites.... if they don't have those we can get the silver C3P0, or the red Droid, or the black Droid. I love them all. I love Droids."
         Awww. Except, none of the Star Wars shirts at Target had ANY Droids on them. While mentally making a list of other stores I could search in, and moaning about  just how long that would take me, I spotted the multi packs of white Fruit of the Loom tees and decided painting my own would be a better waste of my evening. (I am gonna crack these out at warp speed!)
        Well two nights, some blue dye, leaky freezer paper, silver paint, the Force, and a Sharpie later the boys are thrilled to have exactly what they wanted. Mostly, Romyn was a little critical I did not fit all of R2 on the shirt. "I can't see any of his gadgets!" (Grumble.) At least they haven't watched the films enough  to lecture me about every detail I got wrong... yet.

                    May the 4th be with you and Happy Star Wars Day! -Kendra

Saw and tried... frozen water balloons.

             Hot summer days are coming and the boys and I are always in the market for new front yard adventures. When I spotted this frozen water balloon activity on Pinterest I thought it could be the perfect way to celebrate the first day of sprinkler weather! It's very easy, all you have to do is pop a few tiny toys into a balloon, fill with water and tuck it into the freezer for a perfect sunny day.
             I handed the boys some buckets and told them they could try and melt free the GoGo's inside. (I originally thought of freezing dinosaurs and handing them little hammers, but decided against it.)  "Oh no! Mr. Freeze is causing havoc with his freeze ray again! He's frozen all these tiny critters!"
(Murrrmmmffffpphhhttt!) "Can you hear them? They're asking you to heeeeeeelp them!"

               Smarty pants Romyn figured he would just smash his on the sidewalk. "NOW THEY'RE FREEEEE!" He did still enjoyed melting away all his new "mini icebergs", which was good because I only had room in my freezer for two balloons that day.
              We did suffer one little mishap. Or at least I suffered it. I made the mistake of handing Baelin his balloon before I had cut the ice free. For some reason he seemed to think it was just a very cold water balloon (despite my warnings it was frozen.) and tried to burst it against a tree which sent it bouncing onto my foot. (Pretty painful.) Luckily I grabbed it up before he could chuck it at his brother! I will be sure to only hand him balloons filled with air or water in the future. He made it up to me however by blissfully playing with chunks of ice for hours while I read in the sunshine. Frozen balloons are a winner! Next time I'll be making more, and probably adding some food coloring. I'm thinking a pool full of dangerous icebergs will make an excellent front yard summer adventure don't you?

Happy May Day everyone!- Kendra

Aztec inspired painted combat boots.

             This weekend was wet and chilly. It was nice to open up our windows, listen to the rain and snack on soup and crackers all day. It also would have been a good time to get caught up on some house work, and I had every intention of doing that! I put some play dough in front of the boys, reminded my husband he has to add water to that can of Campbell's tomato soup (honestly!) and started rearranging a closet. Except... then I found hubby's combat boot stash. (Belleville brand.) He's got a lot of them, and I thought to myself ... I'd wear a pair of these on a wet day like today. Maybe ... if they were polka dotted... or... tribal! Maybe I could commander a pair.
             I dangled a pair in front of his nose. "Hey... can I have these?"
             "Are you going to glitter them?"
             "Nooooo."
             "Then yes."
             Cleaning aborted!!!

                I offered to paint his work pair too... but he declined. Something about "regs" and all that. 
                It's rainy again today, the windows are open, and Baelin and I are enjoying the chilly weather  with hot coco while Romyn's stuck at school. Now I am going to attempt to finish the closet I started... you know... unless otherwise inspired.
                Happy Monday! -Kendra

Crazy easy necklace to headband DIY- (and B.A.I.T. footwear's contest entry.)

          So.... do you have a favorite beaded necklace and ever dream that you could wear it in your hair? I do. I have a few actually, and yesterday I was messing around with them, wishing I could adjust their lengths and playing at wearing them as bohemian crowns. They didn't really stay put, and I didn't want to cut them up or hold them down with bobby pins, so I put them aside. BUT... last night, as I was falling asleep I had a genius idea, if I flipped them around a hair tie, I could wear them as a headband, or a shorter necklace, without any alterations to the necklace! Thank you lucid dreamer Kendra!
          This morning I searched the Internet high and low, thinking perhaps I'd seen this little trick before and just couldn't remember where in my dozy state. I didn't find anything like it. Really, it's so easy it's almost silly to show it off... but.... I am going to anyway! Summer is on the way.... we all need hippie beaded headbands.... and I am thinking this has got to be the easiest way to do it.

             WOW right!? It's so easy. Just grab a few different size rubber hair bands to see which might work best with the length of your necklace. Thread your necklace through the band until it's in the middle and then fold the necklace over. Then you'll be able to spread out your necklace into a circle, hopefully the perfect size to wear as a headband! Try mixing it up with more than one necklace, or if you're feeling fancy, use a ribbon instead of the hair band (or just add one) and you'll be able to tie a pretty bow as well.

           I'll say though, I am most looking forward to using this easy little trick as a quick way to shorten my longer beaded necklaces. Usually I just tie knots in them, or criss-cross it, but they always either come lose or slide around and choke me. (I am always readjusting them.) I'll get more wear out of them now I think.
           If I had figured this out yesterday I probably would've played around more with my entries this month in t B.A.I.T. footwear's "I Wear Pretty Shoes" style challenge. This month's shoe is the Ellie in teal (which are just so cute) and my beaded head band would have been really great with one of the outfits I sent in.... this one....

Ellie photo taken from B.A.I.T.'s facebook page.

                The rest of my entries were mostly shorts and tee's. I had to be honest, I would wear these little shoes with my everyday frumpy playground mom clothes. (Because they are cute and I love them, not because they are frumpy!) There's nothing like a cute shoe to dress up a Jem t-shirt right? Well I hope you all entered this month... if not, do it next month! If you haven't checked out the rules yet take a peek at B.A.I.T.'s blog now! It's lots of fun and a good excuse to dig in your closet.
                 Have a great weekend! - Kendra
                

Sea glass charms....

            I promised a peek at the sea glass charms I made and here they are! I only had enough wire in my craft stash  to make two. One for a necklace and the other for my charm bracelet. (The last bit of wire I just wrapped decoratively around a shard and threw back into my collection jar.)

               

            I pretty much just wrapped them up the way I have seen it done on the beach. However, my mother does has some stained glass tools, and I may be brave and try soldering a piece properly one day. For now I think these turned out great, and I do have another plain silver linked bracelet I might cover with sea glass charms as soon as I get some more wire. (And a ring... I think I'd also like to try and make a ring!) Romyn has his heart set on finding a piece this year to make into a key chain. He really wants a black one.
            "Well, since black is your favorite color today, and black sea glass is really hard to find, you could always find a smooth black sea stone. That would make a really great key chain, you know, until you find that special black glass." He thinks this is  a good idea and I'm glad.... no one wants to leave the beach sad. I'm pretty sure we can at least find a black stone. (Fingers crossed!)


<3- Kendra

A collection of sea glass.

               I love the beach. So...very....much. I love the smell, the wildlife, getting my toes wet, people watching, digging out huge sand forts with the boys, and I love hunting for sea glass. I think searching for sea glass first thing in the morning is probably my favorite thing to do at the beach. (And I am not a morning person... but for the beach, I make an exception and enjoy the sunrise.) Next month my parents have invited us to spend a week with them in the Outer Banks and I am counting down the days... my bags are packed....now I am just waiting....and waiting.... waaaaaiiiiiting....
               While I am waiting, I decided to go through my sea glass collection. I thought I would let Romyn study it closely. Last year he wanted to find a piece so badly, but just kept holding up shinny rocks. (No luck.) Baelin stuck with his Daddy, who found a little green shard and placed it strategically in B's path so he would find it. (I am the bad parent who does not share sea glass. O.K... this year if Romyn doesn't find one I might throw him a bone. But I hope not to have to... the boy is in training!)
              Part of Romyn's sea glass training includes, telling the difference between wet rocks and frosted glass, (Can you hold it up to the sun and light passes through it?) picking out a shard from a pile of shells, and knowing not to pick up the sharp stuff. We visit the local, and tiny, Yorktown Beach often, but as it is a calmer more inland beach and the glass you find there is often in a rawer "gona cut your foot open" sort of state. Not the best training ground for a 5 year old. When I hunt for glass there, it is mostly so I can throw it in the trash before it ends up hurting someone. Anyway... we'll see if his coaching pays off!
               (P.S.- Did you know that the glass you find on these gentler inland beaches is called "beach glass"? The more heavily frosted and worn pieces you would find from the open ocean are called "sea glass".)

 

                   Another thing I look forward to in OBX is the shopping! There are a lot of great thrift, antique and kitschy souvenir shops we love to visit. Something you'll  see a lot of there is pretty sea glass jewelry. I have been close to buying a piece or two, but each time I ended up passing, it just didn't feel right if it was a piece of glass I hadn't found. During Romyn's training I picked out a few bits I liked, grabbed some wire, and set to work making sea glass charms. I'll show those off to you next time, for now I will just show off my collection. The two blue pieces are my favorite. I found them after two frustrating days of nothing, right next to each other in a rock pile that the tide pushed in and pulled out very quickly. I was very lucky!  But I also have a white one that looks like a sneaker I am pretty fond of, it was one of the first pieces I ever found.  

                  Does anyone else collect sea glass? I'd love to hear about your favorite piece or the strangest thing you ever found on the beach. You can bet I will show off any new pieces I find this year. My mother has both a yellow and red piece in her collection, but my fingers are crossed I'll end up with a bit of  purple!

Wish me luck!- Kendra

The bag of badges.... a thrifted find.

        My mother spotted this bag full of old badges at Goodwill and hunted me down in the shoe isle to show off the Popples button she had seen in the mix. The bag was all taped up, so we couldn't go through it, but I saw enough unicorn goodness inside that I decided it was worth fighting her for. (MINE!)
        My thrift shop negotiation techniques are a little below the belt I will admit... "Aw Mom, aren't you a little old for a Popples button? I'll just take this bag off your hands."
        "You're right Kendra, that 'Thirtyish' pin suites you more, you could wear them together!"
        "Ouch." (It's all in good fun, honest.)

               I am pretty proud of my instant unicorn button collection, I have loads of pins but these are my first magical unicorns! I love finds like this, wondering what sort of amazing unicorn loving person all these pins once belonged to is part of the fun! Another is redistributing the pins among friends. The Garfield pin has been added to hubby's birthday pile, the saxophone is for my brother, Popples and unicorns are greedily squirreled away for myself, Caddyshack goes to Gramps, the "Yes! I am pregnant." button gets passed on to my newly knocked up bestie, Romyn's already called dibs on the soccer ball and sheriffs badge, I will sheepishly hand over the "Amazing Mom" pin to the one I stole the bag from, and the rest will go back to Goodwill. Well.... I forgot someone, perhaps you noticed there are doubles of a certain magical Unicorn? I will be adding the spare to my next Happy Prize Pack giveaway! (I've also got a newly purchased China Glaze purple Prism glitter nail polish in there! it's so sparkly!) I will post the details on my Facebook page soon so keep an eye out.

             

And now a peek into the future…

                My boys love to play video games. They don’t get much time in on any one system, they can’t quite keep up with Mommy in Mario yet… oh, I mean they are too young for video games. Anyway, Angry Birds Space had just come out and we made an exception to our limited game time rule to let them just veg out on Grammies couch with her Ipad. They spent most that play date just swapping the Ipad and Kindle fire between them, racing cars and playing Angry Birds. (Little boy heaven.) Eric and I went off to see a movie and once we returned Grammie picked B up to kiss him goodbye, then quickly put him back down.

               “B! Did you pee your pants?!”

               “Yyyyyyah.”

               “On the couch?”

                “Yah.”

Mom looks at me…. great. My 4 year old has not had an accident in months; obviously B hadn’t wanted to stop playing. (Or at least he didn’t want to leave the birds unattended around his brother, and tried to hold it too long.) Mom said it was “creepy.” We had a talk with B about his bad choice, and moved past it. At least until the next day when Baelin got his hands on Angry Birds again…. and wet himself…. again. OK, that is creepy B. (Angry Birds are in a timeout.)

I can see myself 12 years in the future, and in his room I find a receipt for the newest World of Warcraft game and a pack of adult diapers. I am not snooping in there! I was just wondering what the heck that smell is! Already a hardcore gamer at age 4, I think his uncle and Gramps are secretly proud. I on the other hand, would rather be trying to beat his score, than steam cleaning my mother’s couch.

All the best- Kendra



New B.A.I.T shoes and purple hair!

           So I got the new shoes I won from B.A.I.T footwear's "I wear pretty shoes" March style challenge, and I looooooove them! I wore them all Saturday while shopping in Richmond and they were very comfy and fit true to size. Here I am showing off my new kicks aaaaaaand.... my new hair! I was tired of growing out last summer's blond highlights, so I figured I'd just cover them up with my most favorite hair color of all, PURPLE! I dyed my hair purple all through high school, so I told my husband it truly makes me look at least ten years younger. (Disclaimer, I will be turning 30 next month, and I am totally comfortable admitting that celebrating by dying my hair my all time favorite color and claiming it makes me look ten years younger does seem a little pre-midlife-crisis-ish. I am O.K. with this... my purple hair makes me deliriously happy.) You know what else makes me look younger? Photos of me channeling angsty teenage Kendra, looking terribly annoyed, and rolling my eyes at my camera challenged husband. Awful. Sometimes I think he spends extra time messing with the settings just so he can get more shots of me looking catty. (Maybe one day I will surprise him with a scrapbook full of these! :-p)



         Is anyone else contemplating a crazy hair color for summer? Even temporally? I've been surfing Pinterest and crushing hard on all the rainbow hair I've seen there lately. I realized there wasn't a reason I couldn't dye my hair purple! I had stopped coloring my hair rainbow when I got my first "grownup" job, and then I stopped dying my hair Dr. Pepper red during my pregnancies and nursing years. Well, I am no longer pregnant, and at least until Baelin starts school I am still a SAHM, so really my 30th year might be the last that I can get away with purple hair! I am running with it.

           Today at the playground I had a little gaggle of elementary aged girls gather behind the bench I occupied.

            "Shhhh-shhhh-shhh... see? It's all purple and pink like a fairy's!"

            "So many colors!" A brave preschooler mumbles as she pops around the front of the bench, "You have colorful hair."

              "Why yes I do."

              "It's pretty."

              "Thank you so much!"

               "I see pink and purple and grey."

               "Eh? Oh no....I think you mean brown!"

               (Gasps are heard from the slightly older girls in the group.) "You don't tell a lady she has grey hair!"

               "Well if I am being honest there are a few greys up there, but I just pretend they are sparkles."

                "I don't see them at all!"

                 (I stifle the urge to tell this older child that she is my favorite.)

                 Here's what I used, Paint Box by Fudge . It's actually the same brand I used way back in high school, though I normally used Blueberry Hill instead of Purple Haze. (Purple Haze fades a whole lot faster.)

                 Alright, I am done showing off for now. Don't forget to like B.A.I.T. shoes on Facebook if you're interested in entering this months style challenge!

                 Until next time- Kendra

Silk Tie Dyed Eggs- I saw it, and tried it.

            I first spotted this amazing trick on Our Best Bites and it seemed too magical to be true! Can you really dye amazing Easter eggs with a handful of old silk ties!? Like....really? After Martha Stewart confirmed it I was off and running to the thrifts, clamouring for unique silk ties! (Martha said I could use silk boxers too, but that wasn't anything I was interested in buying second hand.... let alone wrapping food in! Ew!)

         So here's how you do it....

-You need some 100% printed silk fabric. Get it from an old blouse, or a thrifted men's tie. Chop your fabric up into "egg wrapable size" squares.
-Wrap and tie the fabric around the uncooked egg with the printed side down.
-Double wrap and tie the egg in another cotton fabric square. All the online tutorials said to use a light colored fabric but I only had an old blue tee. Luckily I didn't notice any ill effects from it.
-Put the bundles into a pot and cover with water. I boiled mine about 17 minutes and they turned out perfect.... but you should go with what your heart tells you! We all have our own ways to boil eggs don't we?
-Drain the pot and wait till the eggs are cool to unwrap. (Can't wait till they are cool? Then cover them in ice!)
-Be amazed by your newest egg dying trick!

                    Since the boys were only able to help minimally with the crafting of these Easter eggs I thought I would involve them more by asking them to add temporary tattoos to the eggs. (Another little trick I spotted on Pinterest.) Unfortunately the tattoos I had in the house were leftovers from Romyn's potty training days and really were not in the usable condition any more. (Ops!) A few smashed eggs and grumpy boys later we gave up and decided to eat them instead.
                     I'm gonna say over all this project was a win. The boys were amazed, I was amazed, and I think we'll have have fun hunting for neat ties and matching tattoos for next years eggs. It's always nice to have something to look forward to isn't it?
Happy Easter!- Kendra