Sharpie Mug Pinterest Win!

A little bit of searching on pinterest will stumble you across ceramic mugs (some of them "from the dollar store!") having been decorated with sharpies. The ink is sealed to the mug in the oven, and everyone has adorable mugs.

A bit more searching - for detailed instructions - will inform you that this is BUBKUS. The general instructions: color, bake at 350, wash. The result: washed off sharpie.

I forged ahead.

Well, Baz did.

Then I lined a cookie sheet with parchment.

Here's what I did that's key: I put the mugs in the oven and THEN I  turned it on. I baked them at 400 for 30 minutes and then I turned it down to 325 for 15 more and then I turned the oven off and let them cool in the oven.

The colors faded, but they're still there.

So there you go. Go forth and sharpie your mugs!

Oh, and these are the mugs I used. They are awesome.

Put A Bat on It

We wanted an easy Halloween craft...and my mantel was feeling a little out of step with the season. And then I was inspired by Portlandia* and Pinterest and decided to put a bat on it.

But tracing a template and cutting out bats is a Mommy job and Baz wanted in on the action. So I cut out pumpkins (construction paper, freehand, glue stick) and some black eyes, noses, and mouths, and let him go.


Oct 12 2012 from Emily Bartnikowski on Vimeo.

Finished product:

*I did not enjoy that show as much as I felt I should. In fact, I enjoyed exactly one segment. This one. (Because it speaks to the part of me that wants to go live at the Pit in PCU.)

Re-doing the mantle...again

My mantle has gotten more over-hauls than I can count. I wish I could paint it, but that's out of the question for now, maybe in the spring I'll revisit painting the room...

Anyway, I saw a cute tutorial on Pinterest (of course) for these crazy rosette things. They were using them as party decor, but I thought they'd be a fun project and then they could go over the mantel.

So I got my sidekick and some paper and paint and went to town:

 Real Kipper wouldn't sit still and observe, so fake Kipper stood in. 

 Our art dries.

 I didn't take pictures of the process - you  can find the tutorial here. 

(For those who like to know these things, the painting is by Emily Seeman and this picture does not do it justice. Stupid brown wall.)

I may spread them out, or we may make more...I have mantel-decor ADD, obviously ;)

Baz loves that his art wound up over the mantel, and he can point to the ones he painted and the ones I painted -- part of the awesomeness of the Reggio approach is that you get to see your art transform -- it's not always as literal as this, but when you're part of the under-3 set, literal is sometimes the absolute best way to go.

We're getting down to the wire with baby prep - I'm working my way through a list that includes fun things like lanolizing wool and buying lunch boxes (preschool starts soon!) 

This was last night - 37 weeks. Full term, baby!

Some Light Nesting

A while ago, on Pinterest, I ran across this image: 

(source)

(also - I totally have that orange-striped travel mug. Love it.)

It's been in the back of my brain ever since. We have an odd little cabinet that's a jumble of to-go mugs and bottles. And we've had our coffee maker and grinder shoved into another awkward corner, where it often gets trapped behind drying dishes or gets in the way of meal prep.

Our kitchen was added on to our house in 1969, the still on the up-curve of convenience food and less kitchen activity. Our landlord moved in directly afterwards and didn't touch it. I know you couldn't tell...

So before:

 Cramped award corner.

I cleaned out the cabinet before I thought to take a picture. I'd even removed one of the shelves. I was on a roll.

So notice that the fancy cabinet up there has a pot filler and, one can assume, a plug. Our house is not that fancy, but there is a plug directly beneath, so we just have to lower the maker and grinder and go to town.

The downside is that coffee (and beer and wine) taste like blue cheese and dirt to me these days. Gotta love pregnancy hormones!

Anyway, after:

 Not a total Betty, but a vast improvement.

Woot!

Not pictured - I stood on Baz's Learning Tower to reach the shelves. That thing is amazing. It's like indoor scaffolding. Two thumbs up.

We'll see how this bears out in actual practice. But I'm already quite pleased with it.

That Green Onion in a Glass in the Window Thing...

It works.

Does it count as nesting...

if all I've done is make a new pinterest board? I feel like it should.

Also, I won't post a picture of it, but the detail scan on Monday showed that I am incubating a very healthy little boy. Hooray for brothers!

Ok, I'll post a picture of something...

Clean Sheet Day!

Also, there's a new video here.

Creating an Advent Calendar the Doesn't Suck

inspired, of course, by a Pinterest find.

Supplies:

24x30 canvas (but you could use any kind of backing you wanted)

wrapping paper (to cover the canvas - I had just enough of this paper from Paper Source, so I used it.)

Hot glue (for adhering the pockets to the backing)

library card pockets

3x5 cards

scrapbook paper and embellishments (or paint, if you're so inclined)

any graphic your heart desires (I cannot for the life of me remember where I printed mine from...anyone?)

A fun font. (I used this one.)

A list of advent activities (I used this one from the original post, slightly altered to better fit our current family)

Also helpful, a friend who's a rockin' paper crafter with a bunch of old paper she's willing to trade for pockets, canvas, and cards. 

Happy Adventing!

Thank you, Pinterest

(here)