winner winner!

 i have a giveaway winner! 

i wrote each name on a slip of paper, folded and folded it into a star

 and put them all in my lovely tomato jar {fitting, right?} 

and pulled out a name!

congrats michelle!

i enjoyed this. let's do it again soon.

{and lets just focus on how cute the stars are and not think about how ridiculous it is that i spent all this time making them just so i could draw a name. i'm not crazy! i'm going to use the leftovers to pad my nephew's birthday package. see? it's clever! not weird, ok?}

last chance!

my giveaway ends tonight! 

 

the head and the heart

occasionally i'll come home to find husband reading on the couch, cuddling with his kitty, listening to good music. i love coming home to find him relaxed and stress-free. i love it even more when he's listening to an amazing new band like the head and the heart. 

and being a sucker for good harmony, this is my favorite track:

don't you love them?! hubs found them through npr of course, where you can hear more. or better yet, just go buy the whole album! we did. and then spent the rest of the night relaxed and stress-free together. 

 music is such a good thing, isn't it?

who are you loving right now?
ps- don't forget about the giveaway!

post-birthday breaky

after partying all night long {read: staying up way past bedtime and talking} we headed to breakfast at the chef, one of my favorite manhattan restaurants.

{husband and caitlin. she came in from boston}

{hubs and i. lets not talk about how tired we all look}

the food was great, but the highlight was really caitlin's gift for josh:

some assembly required:

fresh-squeezed orange juice success!

{how i convinced my ultra camera-shy husband to take this....}

and you might not know it, but caitlin is adorable and she made these for me:

 told you, adorable!

my handsome husband has a happy birthday

today is husband's birthday.

 he's pretty adorable.

always has been, actually.

 

and even though we're not doing much to celebrate, we get to be together. 

the added bonus being that a bestie from boston is coming today and we all get to eat at the birthday boy's favorite little thai place.

so, if you're reading this, maybe you can send some good vibes his way today!

{ps- will it annoy you if i mention my giveaway every day until it's over?? i'm just excited!}

handmade giveaway!

i've been stocking up on giveaway goodies and i thought reaching 200 followers would be the perfect excuse to send someone some love!  plus, i like to make things. and i really like to make things for people i like! so here's what's up for grabs:

this {completely handmade} journal:

{filled with handmade paper i upcycled}

 and this little cutie {as promised}:

and last, but not least, a paper bunting banner, like this one.

so, down to the nitty-gritty, to be included in the giveaway you must:

1- be a follower!

2- comment on this post with an interesting fact about yourself {be sure to include your email address and/or blog link!} and that's it!

simple is good, right?!

make sure you enter by sunday night, and i'll announce the winner next monday. good luck and thanks for following along with me :)

forest friends

i've been whipping up a whole batch of owly key chains. or maybe i should call them key cozies? regardless, i dropped them off at t.la.re to find new homes.

i just love digging through my wool tub {yep, i have a tub full of wool fabric. bonus: it's all upcycled!} and picking out new patterns and creating their little faces.

and then i decided to branch out and try some other woodland creatures. 

like hedgehogs:

and foxes. i do love foxes: 

cute sidenote: a few girls at school/work saw my owl last week and fawned over it. one girl said, "i wish i had keys..." it was adorable.

anyway, i've made about 20 now and think i'll be taking a break from my wool tub.

so if you live in manhappanin' ks you can go snag one for yourself! otherwise you'll have to wait until monday, when i surprise you all and give one away! {along with a bunch of other goodies!}

sound good? 

memories

i love this time of year- watching the season change each day. its getting warmer, the birds are starting to sing and the days are getting longer.  but as much as i love it, it also makes me miss "home".

 {get the print here}

they say that smell is the strongest memory trigger, but for me it has always been music. {plus, because of my crazy bad allergies, my sense of smell is horrible} music has the power to instantly take me back to a moment in time. these songs have always been favorites and i love turning my ipod on and feeling like i'm "home", even if it's just for two minutes:

does music hold the same power over you? 

what songs are tied to your favorite memories?

a little more love

i love my bestie. so i used the holiday as an excuse to send her a package, all wrapped up in red and pink.

it included {among other things} this most ridiculous-but-yet-perfect card:

{it makes sounds, too}

and this little owly keychain. i made one for myself a couple weeks ago and i just knew sarah would love one too. 

{here's mine}

yep, even our keychains are besties!

it's valentine's day!

oh valentine's day. what a controversial holiday. and not one that i have ever particularly liked or celebrated- hubby and i rarely acknowledge the day, except maybe for a small love note or two. i do love making things and telling people i love them, so i made some cards for friends, and then i made some more for all my kiddos at school.

i found these over at mer mag and thought they were perfect. 

i made a few changes and personalized them a little so that each kid wouldn't get exactly the same thing.

i think pirates arrrr adorable!

{groan....sorry, i couldn't help it....}

well, whether you celebrate it or not, i hope you're all having a beautiful day!

indulging the obession

i found this big herringbone cowl on the purl bee a little while ago and i wanted it.

i needed it. 

i had to have it!

so i spent a vast majority of my down-time knitting a new cowl.

theirs {of course} looks better, but i do really like mine.  i stuck with the cream color, but used cotton yarn so it's dreamysoft {yup, it's a word}

and i think with this project i may finally have kicked this knitting habit. not that it's a bad thing, but i have so many other projects i've been neglecting because i just can't seem to put the knitting needles down. 

just step away from the needles lady!

stuff on my cat...

ok, not to be too whinny, but those snow days really threw me off my schedule. 

and then i got sick.

{i know, whine whine whine...}

anyway, you thought i was bored? husband resorted to piling stuff on the cat:

but don't worry, i've spent my time curled up on the couch and away from the computer well, as evidenced by my crafting/scrap/trash jar. it's crafty strata!

i promise to start sharing the projects tomorrow when i'm fully recovered from all my time off {yes, it's true. like when you need a vacation from a vacation...}
 also, i'm putting together something special for next week!

snow daze

we don't really know how to handle snow here in kansas. and by that i mean that when news of an impending snowstorm reaches the school district offices they close school preemptively. this is my only explanation as to why we've had 3 snow days in a row, when it didn't start snowing until the afternoon of our first day off....

not that i didn't enjoy it! 

day 1: use the day off to be extra productive and get lots of stuff done. the roads really weren't that bad so i ran a lot of errands but had my afternoon-at-the-library plans ruined because they closed due to the weather, too.

day 2: knit and watch grey's anatomy {which i started watching from the beginning a couple weeks ago} both activities were done from the couch, in pj's, continuously all day, with only an occasional bathroom break.

day 3: boredom. too many days without structure is disastrous for me. i had to find new ways to entertain myself.

so did you get snow, too??