The Perfect Alium

Our backyard is starting to resemble something tragic from Grey Gardens. I love the backyard for it's potential; it's tiered with a deck in the back and has a raised bed or two for planting, but I'm sad to report that we haven't been keeping up with it. With the baby around, it's hard to make the time to work outside. Plus, we're renters which is unfortunately a deterrent (...I wonder if my landlord reads this?). I wish I had tons of time to devote to it... maybe someday. It was beautiful a few months ago- roses & blooming weeds. And there are really nice trees (lemon, plums, pears, and some unidentifiable fruits). Right now, though, it's pretty sad.

The next door neighbor has a yellow plum tree and our walkway has become splat central. Something had to be done... there were so many, we couldn't walk around them or ignore them any longer. It was clear that our dog wasn't going to eat them, either. I finally cleaned them all up and put them in a box. The box was so heavy I couldn't carry it up to the compost... hubs gets to do that tomorrow.

As I was cleaning up the 8,254 + tiny yellow plums, I noticed a perfect flower- the only bloom in the entire yard. I decided it was lonely amongst the dead weeds so I cut it and brought it inside where it could be loved and appreciated. Here are a few photos of this incredible alium. It feels like my reward for cleaning up the disgusting mess of plums.

 

Armoire, Before & After

I finally finished the armoire! I purchased it almost 2 and half years ago from an estate sale for $50. It was the first project that Chris and I worked on together and it's turned out sooo lovely. When I bought it, I had ideas of just sanding it down and throwing some paint on it. I learned quickly that Chris likes to really do things right, and this armoire was going to be one of them.

We did paint-stripping and used an electric sander to get all previous coats of varnish and paint off it. Then he let me use a white stain on it... he probably wouldn't okay that decision today because he's not a fan of anything that looks remotely "shabby chic." But we had only recently started dating and I think he was just being nice. So we stained it white and called it a day. I had always wanted to redo the front door with fabric, but could never find the time.

A few weeks ago I realized that I'd never find the time unless I made the time. So I measured the opening (measure twice, cut once) and the little one and I went to the big box store and got a piece of really cheap wood. They cut it to size and we were on our way. I had a piece of fabric from Ikea that I decided would look nice. That weekend, I adhered the fabric to the wood with Yes Paste (too lazy to get something proper, but the Paste worked well!!) and tacked it up on the door! We use the drawers for the baby's clothes and wanted to use the closet side for additional baby stuff. I had a few extra bins from Ikea and used those for shelves. Yay!! I'm so glad this project is done and I'm really happy that Chris and I did it right!

(The two kitty portraits were painted by my friend, Rizzie Gallego.)

Deer Party Invitations

It's a Party! I just made some new fill-in-the-blank invitations for your next get-together. These can be used for a kid party or a nice summer dinner party. I created a nice feminine pattern inside the masculine elk (buck?).

They are printed on 100% recycled paper (Yay! No new trees). Sold in sets of 8, these invitations are 6.5 inches square and paired with light turquoise envelopes. They are currently available in the JetKat Etsy Shop.