mini mei-tai top.jpg
avatar by on May 8, 2013   •   19 Comments DIY Your Home

DIY mini mei-tai baby doll carrier

There’s just something so sweet about a toddler and her baby doll (or his, for that matter; my son loves his doll and animals, too).

When we were first preparing to bring home baby number two, I decided to make a baby carrier for my daughter who was just over two at the time. I had loved wearing her in my handmade mei-tai, a gift from my sister-in-law, and decided to draft a simpler version for her to use with her favorite doll, Molly the Dolly.

Now my third baby is almost two, and just approaching that perfect age for baby-doll-wearing. She loves going in the Ergo with mommy and thus was sweetly excited to put on this mini mei-tai and carry her own baby around.

This is a simple project– easily completed in two naptimes for me.
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sm_crepeflowers_featurephoto copy
avatar by on May 3, 2013   •   17 Comments DIY Your Home

Crepe Paper Flowers for Mother’s Day

Since I was a child, Mother’s Day and handmade gifts went hand in hand. There’s something extra special about giving a gift that’s been created with love. As a mom myself now, I realize what a treasure these handmade gifts are. I may be grown, but I still love to make things for my Mom. No one gushes over or appreciates my gifts quite like she does.

Flowers for Mother’s Day always seem fitting, so this year why not give mom a bouquet that she could enjoy all year round? Using this inexpensive list of supplies, you can make some darling crepe paper flowers. Just follow along – it’s easier than you think!
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Simple Mom Photography Series | Angie Warren
avatar by on May 1, 2013   •   15 Comments Art + Photography Your Home

Capturing your kids: the basics

Welcome to the first official post in our photography series, Capturing Your Kids. (We introduced the series last month, you may find that post here.)

Today I’d like to start out with the basics of shooting in manual mode: aperture, ISO, and shutter speed. The trifecta. Keep in mind this subject can be extensive, and for the sake of keeping it simple, I’ll be touching on each briefly.
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growing seeds indoors (1 of 1)-2
avatar by on April 26, 2013   •   18 Comments Gardening Your Home

What gardening is teaching me about raising kids, patience, and faith

This spring when it was still snowing in our little mountain town and the flower blooms were just beginning to show, I began to save egg cartons and comb seed catalogs for veggies we might grow this year.

Because our growing season is short and it’s less expensive than buying starter plants, we grow seeds indoors and enjoy a little green despite the cold weather for several weeks.We’ve been a bit nomadic for the last two years so most of our recent gardening has been in containers. It’s nice to know that we don’t have to leave our cucumbers behind when we move again.

On an uncommonly warm day, my 3-year old son and I searched the garage for my worn garden gloves and tools, in hiding since last fall. He proudly pulled out his red wheelbarrow and we filled it with rich soil. I longed for my compost bin, a casualty of our last move.

In the warmth of the sun, we poked small holes in the egg cartons and added water to the soil. There’s something about putting your hands in soft, warm dirt that is therapeutic. After a tough month, I believe it was just the kind of therapy I needed.
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mudroom
avatar by on April 23, 2013   •   25 Comments Organizing Your Home

Project Simplify: piles

This past week has been a push and pull of moving things around the house, feeling productive as the spring air peeks through the still-wintery clouds—and having to stop and rest my knee even though the rest of me is eager to move forward. I’ve been looking forward to this week’s hot spot with Project Simplify all month, but my body just wasn’t as cooperative as I liked.

(In case you didn’t know, I tore my ACL a few months ago, had surgery a little over a month ago, and am in full-on recovery mode, with physical therapy twice a week.)

But I did what I could, because our biggest clutter culprit since moving to our fixer-upper last summer is piles. Piles of cardboard, piles of linens on top of the dryer until we build a linen closet, piles of clothes lining the hallway to sort through, piles of old house parts from our remodeling work… You name it, there’s been piles of stuff in almost every part of our home.

Just keeping it real here.

I know it takes at least a year to fully move in somewhere new; even longer when that “somewhere new” is a partially-done remodel that still requires your elbow grease. So I wasn’t feeling like we were behind—I’ve just been ready to have it done.

I’m all about less being more and having plenty of space. Most of you well know one of my favorite quotes from 19th century architect William Morris: “Have nothing in your home that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful.” Well, it was time to purge some of the non-useful and non-beautiful.

So here’s what we accomplished this weekend in the piles department.

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