I’ve been meaning to post this week, but there is a little baby who has decided otherwise. No more naps in the morning for him. Damn. I knew this day was coming, but still, damn. Well now the picture of the box up there looks a little foreboding–like I’m going to ship the baby off somewhere because he won’t nap.  Don’t worry he’s right here. I’ve built a few castles and had multiple picnics on the rugs with the stinker as I try to write these few sentences.

The case is some treasure trash picked by my fantabulous friend who gave it to me (thank you, lil!).  I can’t imagine why she didn’t want it, but I didn’t ask. It is a little gnarly on the inside and not in a good way, but it is so rock and roll I can’t even handle it. It will have a decidedly un-rock and roll new life though–as the dress up box. I’m going to line it with some fabric and put it under my daughter’s bed.  We rearranged the kids room a while back and the big dress up suitcase just didn’t fit any more and we’ve been without ridiculous outfits for too long. Maybe I’ll even put the mirrors back up.

I’m having a little obsession with himmeli lately. Yeah, I didn’t know what they were either. I only found out what they were after I made one. Well sort of made one. Remember my geometric straw ornament? A himmeli is made out of those basic shapes, but some are big, some are small and it is strung together as a mobile.  I fell in love with them after I saw this picture:

The photo comes from the home of Momo Suzuki a Japanese designer who has more style in her little finger…

These are various himmeli from around flickr (click on the photo for sources). The red one is made from coffee stirrers! Elizabeth Abernathy has a tutorial for making them out of handmade paper straws.  There is an amazing thrifted traditional straw one on puhti. Himmeli are so perfectly airy and light–just right for the new year, though mine might not get done until the next new year.

If you’d like to know more about things I like (and hate) you can head over to Smile and Wave. Rachel so kindly asked me to do an interview for her Handmade for Kids month. And who says no to an interview? Be warned though, I am verbose.

The house is always so depressing after taking the christmas tree down. It just looks so sad and naked. But this year is different. We finished some spiffy new curtains right before christmas (I’ll show you later, because damn curtains are hard to photograph and really they aren’t incredibly interesting) and because I got this print right before christmas. I’ve been itching to get it up ever since it came. The print is called “Noodles Over Salzburg” and it was made by an old family friend. I think my sister has the same one (right, Katie?). Anyway, I love it. It’s ridiculous and awesome.

Thank you, everyone, for all the nice things you said about the new site. A couple of you asked who designed it and hey! it was me! My husband did all the actual making of it, while I just said, “here, put it here, or maybe here, no move it over!”

If you have any more questions you can ask them in the comment section and I can answer them there too! I know I’m late to the threaded comments party, but I finally made it. And it’s awesome. So we can reply to one another and have real discussions there.  It’s like you came over, except you have to bring your own coffee.

Welcome to the new blog! I’m super excited about the new design for this little blog. Much thanks to the  handsome genius  I married to that made it all happen. And made it happen on 1/1/11 to boot. My old blog was pretty minimal, bare minimal really, and it needed to be redone.  I think the new design is still clean, but it is  more interesting.  There is a fancy categories page you can see above and a tutorials page too and I’ve even got my own library.  So look around and feel free to tell me what you think! Be sure to check out my fabulous sponsors on the right–they make the magic happen. Happy New Year!

Having been gone for a week or so, I’m feeling a little overwhelmed by the internet. I am actually afraid of looking at my rss reader it’s so large. So I thought I’d go through my bookmarks instead. And hey there are some cool things on these internets that I forgot about. Check it out.

I think my new year’s resolution this year will be to see more art. I mean really get off my butt and go see the art not click the art. I wish I could have seen this amazing piece that combins a piano piece by Satie and origami which lasted an entire night. You can read about it on the upon a fold blog–a fantastic blog and shop too.  The resolution begins tomorrow by going to the exhibition called Handmade Meaning: The Value of Craft in Victorian and Contemporary Culture. It runs Dec. 17 through Feb. 6th at the James Watrous Gallery here in Madison and a friend of mine has some crocheted hair pieces in it that I am eager to see.  For those of you not local you can see more photos of the exhibition here.

I’m sure I wont be able to see the work of Victor Dubrovsky in person anytime soon, but you can almost feel it just by looking at the pictures.  I am quite taken with this wolf, but all of his work is pretty amazing. He even has some needle felting tips (this is for you, Helen!)–via well-crafted

It may not neccessarily be art, but it’s still awesome and afforable: Abbey from Aethetic Outburst has an etsy shop called The Eight Dollar Holler, where she sells all the good vintage bits she can find for 8bucks. Nice, right?

I would pay a lot more than eight bucks for someone to bring me buttermilk chicken in a waffle right now or even smoked salmon in a waffle or really anything in a waffle. Oh my god this sandwich looks good.

but that’s not going to happen, so might just make this. or maybe waffles.