making—painted bead necklace

inspired by this pin on pinterest, i picked up some wood beads and bright springy paints and had a go at painting beads. i painted a lot (and am wishing i'd gotten a few more colors), but am now having fun mixing and matching my beads on the chain depending on my outfit. sam helped choose today's combination.

there's a tutorial here, if you need one, but it's not exactly rocket science—buy wood beads, buy some acrylic paints, paint the beads, string them on a chain (or cord of some kind), and you're all set with a fun new accessory.

summer accessories

i'll admit it. i bought one of those straw hats/fedoras i've been seeing on other bloggers' "must have summer fashion" posts (well, a cheaper version, anyway). i still haven't had the courage to wear it outside the house, but i have been admiring it sitting in a corner of my bedroom (and occasionally on my head in front of the mirror). i've been mostly relying on my extensive (some might say "excessive") collection of scarves and homemade bead necklaces for a bit of summer accessorization (if it wasn't a word, it is now).

do you read those "must have" posts? if so, what have you been coveting? if not, what is your "go to" accessory that gets pulled out every summer?

beading frenzy

after looking through the statement necklaces in the new anthropologie catalog, i decided that some of the old necklaces i've made could use a funky, new update. so i armed myself with some new beads and such, and started cannibalizing and restringing. a few hours later (and for a fraction of the price) i've got some fun new neckware.

here are a few photos of what i've made so far:

and i've still got quite a few beads and findings left to play with.

at the very least, i'll be enjoying some homemade style this spring (when it finally decides to arrive, that is).

what to wear: my little valentine

in his pre-valentine's day church outfit.

shirt: old navy (christmas gift two christmases ago)

pants: old navy (birthday gift from aunt angie, uncle chris, and cousins abby and gavin)

red suspenders: ulite inc. (via amazon.com)

socks: hand-me-down

ball: birthday gift (from aunt tiffany, uncle eric, and cousins carter and annie)

happy halloween

a quick shot of our pumpkin (carved by yours truly)

we had a good halloween weekend. we started of on friday with a trip to mike's office. every year they have a halloween party for all the employees and their families. this was the first time we've attended, and it was a lot of fun. sam was rather impressed and did a lot of commenting on the monkey (person in a gorilla costume) and the rabbit (person in a bugs bunny costume).

sam running around super fast in his "supersam" costume.

sam had a really good time with trick-or-treating this year, or at least much more so than last year. he seemed to enjoy running around being supersam, but was mostly interested in all the kids that were showing up at our doorstep and walking around the neighborhood in their fancy outfits.

as far as actual trick-or-treating was concerned, he walked himself to all the houses on our street (i guess that turned out to be about five—mike took him while i manned the door). he was pretty interested in his loot (when it was chocolate), and was pretty certain that his tootsie pop was "daddy's candy". in fact, he didn't really get many things he is allowed to eat, but we swapped some of his contraband for a small bag of m&ms and a roll of smarties that he ate with two-fisted gusto.

the details of sam's superhero costume—side and back view

in general, i was pretty proud of sam's costume. we had the long-john pants and sweatshirt which came as hand-me-downs ($0), i bought the red shorts on sale at target ($1) and two yards of red fabric ($4.50) from the fabric store, the felt was from my stash, and the biggest purchase was the pair of red converse one-star sneakers ($18) from target (which i had planned on buying anyway, because i just adored the pair his cousin oscar had).

we got several compliments on how cute the costume was, and i have to admit, sam makes a pretty adorable superhero (he's been practicing being super cute for quite a while now).

C is for cap

i've been advocating for sam to get a new buckeye hat now that he'll actually wear hats (well, baseball caps anyway—i think that cute winter hat i bought for him is going to take some convincing. we won't mention the matching mittens that cause squeals of terror.) mike and i picked up this red model for sammy when we were in columbus over the weekend. i think he looks rather smashing in it, and he seems to be warming up to it as well—he seemed a little skeptical about something that wasn't his beloved train hat. however, anything buckeyes tends to sell well.

finished!

after several, um, mishaps (don't ask) we're a go with the t-shirts! woot!

i have to say, i love a project with a quick turn-around (and those seem to be precious few these days!)

think spring

i'm loving these tops from anthropologie. they make me think of spring and short sleeves. as much as i luuuurve my warm, cozy sweaters, i'm looking forward to feeling warm sun and yummy breezes (not arctic blasts) on my arms again.

progress

huzzah! one thing to cross off my project list. the scarf that has been in-progress for the majority of 2009 is finally done. it's sorta short, but it does the job and keeps my neck nice and cozy. of course, it looks about a million times cuter on my little model.

little vintage boy

i couldn't resist a photo of sammy in these overalls from grandma h. makes me wonder who the last little person to wear them was.

california dreamin'

the forecast for today was supposed to be warm (high 70's) and sunny. so far it's been slightly chilly and cloudy. but that hasn't kept me from thinking about warm weather and the vacation days to come. most specifically, our annual trip to oglebay in west virginia, and how sam is going to be in need of a bathing suit for all that playing in the pool. yay!

i really like this one at baby gap. i can never resist monkeys, and we still have a gift card to use…if only i knew what size to get…sam is growing like such a weed (wearing 3-6 month old pants already)!

sambob tallpants

yesterday sam got changed into one of his pairs of feety pants, and they couldn't be pulled up to his waist anymore. the same thing happened with his other pair today. so i pulled this pair of pants out of the drawer of 3-6 month clothes. they're still a bit too big, but i thought he looked so cute in his go bucks outfit that i took a few pictures. luckily, this was before a multitude of incidents which resulted in a complete outfit change.

pants: handed down from cousin carter, sweatshirt: sent from mississippi by aunt missy, booties: from grandma and grandpa henderson, silly expression: all sam

a long time coming

this t-shirt showed up at our house the day after sam was born, and i've been meaning to take a picture of him in it, but he kept having incidents before i could get around to it. until today. thanks for the cute shirt aunt missy! it definitely speaks the truth.

my little hat boy

many thanks to aunt missy, who sent this cute hat (and matching feety things) for sammy. he's got quite a hat wardrobe at this point, and i love going in and picking them out for him to wear. i'm not sure what he thinks about it, but he always looks so cute in them. he's made for hats.

another purchase when i win the lottery

how cool is this necklace? i wish i understood how it was made, because there's no way i could afford to buy it (unless i win the lottery, that is.)

found via here.

golden boy

i couldn't resist a photo of sam in his yellow outfit. this little hat (brought by grandma henderson) is probably the only one that has stayed on his head more than 60 seconds, thanks to the chin strap. i'm wondering if i need to rig up something similar for his other hats.

$1.50 well spent

we had a $5 off coupon for old navy that needed using before the end of january. so this morning we hopped in the car and went to take a look. after looking at all the tiny, cute little clothes, we ended up finding this shirt on sale for $1.50 and thought it was perfect for ninja. we got it and a couple other 6-12M things. this was by far the best find, though.

oh so tempted

i had already bought a front/back carrier, and then i inherited karen's baby bjorn carrier, but i was still so very tempted by this sling. it's like a functional fancy scarf - and i'm all about a good scarf.

hats

i purchased this pattern ages ago with the intention of trying to make a hat or two out of some of the fabric inhabiting the third floor. i still have yet to get beyond looking longingly at the photos and taking out the pieces for a cursory examination. one of these hats would've been lovely on the wet walk from the train this evening. i should probably finish off a few other projects (like painting that room) before i start on something else.

pattern envy

i'm really loving the looks from the marimekko A/W 08 collection—especially that center dress. the prints are fantastic and the shapes are super cute.
found via oh joy.