• Around home - Blog

    T Tuesday: meet Marvin edition

    April 4, 2016 - By 

    Welcome to another edition of T stands for Tuesday. Today I wanted to introduce you to a new member of our family.

    Marvin

    After having to make the tough decision to put Miss Gracie down mid- February (no I never mentioned it here) we had a hole in our lives.

    We had talked about getting a kitten…or two and had been actively seeking them. Then we met Marvin at a local rescue.

    IMG_0963

    He’s a curious guy. He literally stops to smell the flowers each time he walks through the living room. He is also a very big boy.

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    This is the loveseat…easily seats two adults. We believe he has either Norwegian Forest Cat or Maine Coon in his background. He can put his front paws and face up on the kitchen table if that helps reference his size. Hmmm…so we went from wanting a kitten to getting pretty much the biggest cat we could find.

    He is such a lover though. Especially to us girls.

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    I was curious how he’d be with the kids headed back to school. He loved all the early morning activity such as lunch making. 

    Another busy Tuesday ahead…

    What are you doing today?

  • Around home - Blog - Outdoors

    Late start for plants

    April 4, 2016 - By 

    seed starting | Halle's Hobbies

    I can’t believe how late I am this year starting my seeds. I usually start them around St Patrick’s Day. Somehow it slipped my mind that week then the next was a disaster of monstrous proportions when Murphey stopped by and overstayed his welcome.

    seed starting | Halle's Hobbies

    I settled on two kinds of tomatoes and green onions this year. At least for now.  I’m not ruling out starting a couple more things. Last year my small starter plants didn’t fair well once transplanted so I’m not sure if it’s worth the time and effort,

    seed starting | Halle's Hobbies

    I decided to try planting my green onion seeds in egg shells this year. For one…they are so cute! And secondly, I can just slightly crush the shell when planting the sprouts in a bigger container instead of trying to move those spindly little onions one by one. Experimentation is always fun.

    seed starting | Halle's Hobbies

    I’ve been saving my larger plastic containers for transplanting the tomatoes out of the disposable cups (which BTW I’ve had on hand for ages!! Not terribly “green” but they are a necessary evil when hosting a large crowd. ) I decided to cut up a lid and use it as plant markers. This works so much better than wooden popsicle sticks!!

    Hopefully next time I share photos the containers will be sporting little tiny green seedlings.

  • Art - Blog - Crafts

    A second look: Upcycling Projects

    April 2, 2016 - By 

    Secondlook

    Since it’s April and this month is Earth Month I thought I’d share a second look at a bit of upcycling from a few years ago.

    eyes

    Oct 6, 2013

    Upcycling Projects

     

    We all know how to recycle and I’m sure most do it daily. Newspapers, cardboard, glass and plastic are all readily recyclable in most cities, at least across the USA.

    This is wonderful! But I’ve been really focused on upcycling lately.  Finding a new use for something that would ordinarily be tossed out.  Wine corks, bottle caps, worn out clothing, stained linens, broken plates…you get the idea.treesI showed a sneak peek of these a while ago. I made a wine cork tree last year but this time I decided to change things a bit. I used a Champagne cork cut in half for the trunk.  I think they turned out really cute.

    sewing

    I’ve also been using some scraps from previous projects such as the denim remaining after completing a quilt or two.  As well as the remainder of the dress shirts that I made wine bottle gift bags from.

    cards

    In addition I’ve been making a bunch more cards. I’ll show more of these last two projects at a later date. The cards have much less upcycling in it’s truest sense but I am still attempting to include elements that might otherwise be considered unusable such as tiny scraps of fabric and yarn. As well as photo trimmings. I have a cigar box full of photo trimmings…they have such vibrant colors that it’s a shame to toss them out.

    It doesn’t have to be Earth Day to be a little “green”. Do a little more every day to be kind to our planet. Last time I checked…it’s the only one we have. 🙂

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    If you’d like to see more recycling and upcycling projects please use the tag cloud on my sidebar.