Babies and Puppies....

Dave took the bigs to the "land" to explore and dig and get dirty. That left me home alone with Miss Harps- of whom I took a zillion pictures to try to fully capture her 9-month-old-ness. She is trouble - into everything. She (along with all other babies, I know) seems to instinctually know what things she should not touch (electric cords and outlets, phones, computers, remotes, etc) and gravitate towards them. I'm sure it has much to do with the fact that Dave and I use these items (er... too frequently?) and she'd like to see what the draw is. I played around with some photoshop actions (very fun - from here) on her pics - here are the results.

What made the weekend more challenging than just chasing a 9 month old was the addition of Jasper Fox Thom. Rowan got the best 9th birthday gift ever last weekend - a 7 week old German Shepherd pup. He is adorable - but like Harper - very interested in items he should not be. Like baby toys, nuks, yarn, books, blankets, my ankles, etc. Here is Jasper (yes - I doctored this pic too). He is adorable. Puppy and baby - seriously too sick.

While I was kept very busy with these 2 this weekend, I was also kept up late letting dogs outside and rocking unsleeping babies. Mixed into this time (now I can't remember when it actually occured, it is all a fog), I did some minor projects. Mostly things I could do without going into my craft room and using my sewing machine. All the projects were either Pinterest or Blog inspired - so many great ideas out there, so little time!

First up, I added doilies and buttons to some pillows I've had in my entry way forever. The pillows are straw/raffia like and can't really be washed. I tacked on some doilies made by my step-grandma and thrifted buttons. Before, they were just "eh". Now I love them....

Next up, I nailed a big old window frame from our cabin remodel to the wall. With the addition of some dry erase markers - voila, a white board. I'm trying hard to get organized- including planning and remembering things on or before they actually occur. Hopefully this helps. It is also a message center of sorts for the mornings that Dave gets the kids out the door. I can write notes to them in one central location and hope that at least the literate children will find them :)

Last, I saw a cute idea on Pinterest of adding script to a lamp shade. All it takes is a sharpie and something to say. I used a book Dave gave me on our first Christmas together - it is a "poem a day" book. I found poems from each of our dates of birth and wrote lines from them on the shade. The lamp and shade were originally thrifted - love the green, jade-like glass on the lamp. I like it better now - though I am constantly finding flaws in my handwriting. I think some black trim may need to be added to the top and bottom of the shade to really finish it - but I'll live with it a bit for now as is.

As an "apple doesn't fall far..." kind of story, my mom did the sharpie lamp tutorial first. I had saw it in Pinterest but with so many thoughts and ideas bombarding me in that minute, I scrolled right past it Hours later, I was face-timing her so she could see Harps and she showed me her lamp. Hers is quite cute, so it is really she that I copied/flattered with my own version.

I'm exhausted after our weekend - even after a decent nap today with Harps. You know that there must be a master plan when you see how much trouble puppies and babies can get in - but all you can focus on is how damn cute they are...