Sesame Street Throw Pillows

According to his mom, my husband has always loved Sesame Street, and Bert is his favorite character. We were cleaning out our closet recently and he was bemoaning the fact that he ought to get rid of his too-large yet beloved Bert t-shirt since he never wears it.  I suggested that I make it into a throw pillow for his new, eclectic office.

Before: t-shirts

He was so excited when he found a 2nd t-shirt at a thrift store with Oscar's face! I sewed them up as a late Father's Day present, and they look great in his new office!  I put a zipper at the bottom so they're washable (and I decided that I need a zipper foot for my sewing machine... it would make things a lot simpler.).

 After: throw pillows

Fun!  They fit in perfectly!  This may start a trend for us... making t-shirts into pillows.  My husband has quite  a t-shirt collection.

Front Yard Rescue

When we bought our little house back in 2009, one of the top things on my to-do list, after a full-blown renovation of the inside, was adding some curb appeal.  I adore our little bungalow, but the front yard is... well... lacking.  I did manage a front porch mini-makeover, but I also had big plans for a fresh coat of paint, new shutters, and some sort of landscaping that I hadn't yet sorted out in my head. However, life happened.  It has a way of doing that, doesn't it?  And after mountains of medical bills, plumbing disasters, job changes - not to mention two active little boys to chase - the front yard still looks about the same... maybe with a few more flowers, and a little more wear.  But, as I told my husband a couple days ago, after making some initial plans with my mom (who is an amazing gardener), I have a bee in my bonnet, and I'm ready to tackle the front yard!

This is what we're working with - this picture was taken when we bought the house, in the summer of 2009:

A little dilapidated and outdated, but good bones, right?  My mom is coming to visit next week, so we're trying to get some of the non-creative work done so she can help us brainstorm.  First phase was the much-needed pruning (you sort of couldn't see the window on the left side of the house... those bushes had gotten a bit out of control.  I'm too embarrassed to show you a before picture!), and killing the grass/weed mix in the parking strip.  We have a couple of spots on our backyard lawn in which we simply haven't been successful growing grass, so I decided to attempt transplanting some of the grass from the parking strip.  It should work like laying sod, right?

I would dig up a chunk of grass, and then my littler helper would pull it down the driveway in this tiny wagon and dump it in the back yard, where I would transplant it.  Hope that our record temperatures this week don't kill off my tender grass!

(I like how I'm transplanting dandelions too, don't you?!)

Also, I think I may have discovered why we have been unsuccessful growing grass in that spot previously.  When I was digging up the weeds and preparing for the 'sod', I found large bricks and ancient metal landscape edging several inches down, under the dirt and existing lawn.  It made me wonder if there is an entire landscape under the lawn, circa 1911, when the house was built.  And over time, it got covered up with dirt and ignored, rather than dug up?  We are aware of the fact that our back lawn has sunk down over time and created a belly in the pipes underneath.  Who knows?!  I dug up a bunch of the bricks, and left a few that do have grass growing over them.  

I'll report back soon with inspiration pictures, and hopefully more progress to show you!

Turquoise DIY Cake Stands

There are DIY cake stands all over blog land these days, and I finally made my own. This was an extremely easy, quick project. And I loved the height/interest it added to my table of yummy food for M's birthday. Yay! I think I'll be using them often.

Supplies:
plate
candlestick
adhesive
spray paint

I picked up plates and candlesticks at a thrift store for a few pennies, Krylon spray paint in Blue Ocean Breeze, and I used E-600 adhesive I found in the junk drawer. However, have you ever read the info on the back of E-600? Yikes. I think I'm going to throw it out and find something hopefully less toxic for my next project. I waited until the boys were out for the afternoon, and then I took my project to the back of the yard to make sure none of the fumes sneaked into our house!

Put the plate face down. Glue the candlestick onto the bottom of the plate, and let it dry with something heavy sitting on top. Then with the plate still face down, spray paint the candle stick and bottom of the plate. This ensures that the top of the cake stand is still food safe. Easy!


I started out with two candlesticks the same height, but one of them ended up being crooked. And I'm glad, because I like the variety that two the different heights bring. Fun!

Old Light Bulbs + Twine = Pears!

We're getting ready for Baby M's first birthday here on Lincoln Street. I can't quite believe it's already been a year since we met him. I'll report back about his birthday party next week - prepare for lots of owls!

Anyway, as I was writing a birthday message to him on a little chalkboard in the bathroom, I realized I'd never shared my twine pears with you.


I can't seem to find where the image originated from, but after seeing a picture of a trio of light bulbs wrapped in twine, I started saving my supplies right away: old light bulbs, twine from the garage, twigs & a glue gun. Free projects are my favorite kind! It was a bit time-consuming to wrap the twine around and around, but easy enough that I could just turn my brain off (it's usually fried after I get the kids to bed every evening anyway!), catch up on my favorite TV show and glue away. I'd like to make a few more, to fill a whole bowl. But for now, I'm enjoying them in this little shelf.

Dining Room Curtains

When I saw these fabulous Anthropologie-inspired curtains on Pinterest a few weeks ago from a really fun blog called Besserina, I knew they would be perfect for my dining room. Bess, the author, offers a great tutorial, which I followed to a T -- be sure to go check it out! These curtain made such a splash, she is even offering them for sale on Etsy now. The only adjustment I made to her tutorial was using 70-inch wide fabric to accommodate my large window. I considered adding another ruffle to each panel, but decided to stick with just two, and I love them!

I had been looking for curtains with a slightly vintage feel, but also elegant. I've got a lot of color in my house, so I liked the idea of neutral yet dramatic drapes. Here they are, hanging in my dining room!







And I have to add that osnaburg is my new favorite fabric. It has a wonderful natural color and texture, frays beautifully, and it's quite inexpensive! I found it at fabric.com for under $5/yard. I used about 10 yards for my project, so the curtains cost me less than $50. At that price, they can't be beat, even if this project was a bit time-consuming with all the pleats. They're worth it!

Back in the Saddle

I find it slightly ironic that as soon as I moved Lincoln Street Lovely over to Blogger, got everything set up and publicly declared my intention to post a minimum of once per week, I disappeared from the blogosphere for 5 months. I could chalk it up to the steeper-than-anticipated learning curve of becoming a family of 4, a case of baby blues, severe sleep deprivation and the resulting brain-fog, or maybe just plain busyness, but I give my apologies! Things are, however, looking up in my little world. We've gotten our family groove back in many ways, Baby M is turning 1 this month, I've implemented some better self-care techniques, and although we're still not sleeping as much as we would like, I'm hoping for some good 7 hour nights in the near future. I've missed being here, and I'm eager to be back. There are so many things I want to share!

Today I want to make sure you know about this fabulous website that a friend showed me. Leave it to her to find beauty everywhere she looks. She inspires me! And so does this site dedicated to color, color and more color: Design Seeds: for all who love color

Here are a two palettes that are speaking to me today:




I could post a bunch more, but I won't. You must go explore this site for yourself. It is ever-changing and ever-inspiring! Doesn't it just make you want to start a project?

Crockpot Yogurt

Yep, you read that right: I made yogurt in my crockpot this week. And it was super easy and super yummy!

I read about it on this website, which totally cracks me up: A Year of Slow Cooking. Where did I learn about this website? On Pinterest. Where else? I have a little obsession with Pinterest. Anyway, this woman decided to use her crockpot every day for a year... a bit extreme. As a result, she has some pretty crazy recipes on her site. I used her tutorial, and it was so easy, it's laughable.

I decided to try it because we eat a lot of yogurt... and not the cheap stuff. Justin and I love these little DanActive yogurt drinks:


And I feed organic YoBaby to the kids. Well, to one at least... and baby Emerson will be eating them pretty soon:

This is what I started with:

-half gallon whole milk
-1/2 cup of yogurt for starter

And here's the result! So yummy. It mentions this on "A Year of Slow Cooking," but this yogurt isn't as thick as storebought yogurt. It's more like the texture of plain yogurt. But that's ok with me, since I like to drink it anyway! I've actually been diluting it a bit more, adding vanilla & a little honey. Voila! Or I eat it with granola. Next time I'm going to puree fruit to mix in as well. I honestly think I won't be buying any more yogurt. I'll just save 1/2 a cup of this as a starter for my next batch of crock-pot yogurt. Let me know if you decide to try this, and how it goes!