My blog has moved!

You should be automatically redirected in 6 seconds. If not, visit
http://noelleodesigns.com
and update your bookmarks. Thanks!

28 February 2008

an almost finished room


Ta-da.... here is the very close to finished room of my little gal. Just the curtains need to be sewn, but I need a few more yards of the fabric shown. (Alexander Henry 'Hollywood" in teal and brown, draped over the curtain rod) I bought this piece at Joanns's just about a month ago but they are all out- even the warehouse. I could only find it again for top dollar on ebay. I guess I should be glad I could find any at all. It should be here next week, and I can finish the curtains then. The walls are Martha's foxglove pink. I swear by Martha Stewart paint colors- there really are no bad colors. I have never been disappointed, or had to repaint with a Martha color. The prints hung on the wall are recycled from the toy room, I just repainted the frames brown (and a glitter clear coat over the top- just for fun) I got them at Hip and Humble a few years back. They are Seasons on the Farm by Eeboo.

The toy room has been dismantled and taken over by my oldest daughter, so the kitchen is back in M's room. I built this kitchen set for the kids in 2002 I think, for Christmas. (based on a Land of Nod kitchen) It has been used as a restaurant, doctors office, vet's office, you-name-it kind of store, and kitchen- of course. Behind the kitchen is the backside of the shoe quilt, just turned around to mix it up for awhile.

This little Frida painting is by Ann Gardner, a local gal. We traded a few years ago at a art and craft fair where we were both vendors. I think she got one of my skeleton dollys.

I thought this bit of crafty decor up the other morning, with found objects from around the house. OK- I admit I did have to purchase the giant embroidery hoop, but the rest I gathered up from here and there. Lit up or not M. thinks this is the best part of her new room.

Materials:
1 giant enbroidery hoop
1 strand of Christmas lights with various colored ribbons tied in between each light.
1 garland of felt beads
1 garland of felt flowers
Wrap everything around the hoop then hang it on the wall. Mix in any strand of anything you have laying around.

27 February 2008

tagged


I got tagged by Colett and then by Suzy. (I'm sure- come on people like I don't already have enough to do.) Now I guess I have to try and say something somewhat interesting about myself.
Here are the rules:
1. Link to your tagger and post these rules on your blog.
2. Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.
3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.
4. Let them know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.
I am going to follow 2 of these rules. I shan't pass it on because I dislike the pressure of chain letters and then passing the responsibility onto your equally busy friends. (there is one crazy thing about me right there)
OK... so, when I ran this morning- 5 miles, by myself, without an ipod (I don't even have one) this is what I came up with.

Things about myself:
1. I am the second oldest of 8 kids.
2. I grew up in New Hampshire and Rhode Island running wild in the forest- ice skating, skiing, building forts and hauling off my Dad's tools (sorry Dad I now feel your pain- my kids do the same thing), we moved to Southern California when I was a freshman in high school- I quickly and easily fell in love with the beach and being tan.
3. I have always been interested in sewing. My Mom taught me to sew when I was 8 or so after relentless begging (I recall) I started to make my own clothes in jr. high, then was too shy to wear them. (someone might know they were handmade) In high school I made more of my own clothes and cared a lot less about what people though, but I still sometimes answered "no" when people asked if I had made my outfit. I guess I never knew if this was a positive or negative question, if I should be ashamed or proud. Oh the drama and insecurity of youth. But, I did design, sew and proudly wear my senior prom dress, then went onto make my wedding dress a few years later, pictured above. Go ahead and laugh folks, it was the early 90's and we look like babies.
4. I graduated from BYU in 1994 with a degree in Elementary Education (cliche!) It was the safe bet, although I do love to teach and I'm sure it has helped me as a mother. But, I look back and wish I had pursued fashion design, I looked into it and even went to some of the fashion show designers meetings. I backed out of the show and decided it was more of a hobby than a career AND the BYU fashion design department was pretty goofy at the time. (now it's gone)
5. I have ridden almost the entire coast of the U.S. by bicycle. I have ridden with my bike panniers full of gear from Astoria, Oregon to Huntington Beach, California with my husband (the original bicycle tourist) and then from Vancouver, British Columbia to Astoria, Oregon with my brother Adam and sister Precia a year or so later. Great memories, I can't wait until my kids are big enough to go bike touring.
6. When I was pregnant- the first and fourth of my children were breech at 39 weeks. Luckily, the kind midwives and their doctors took a chance on me and tried a version (turning the baby by pushing from the outside- extremely painful as you can imagine) Both versions were successful and I was able to avoid C-sections and have regular deliveries-natural child births in 3 of the 4 cases. (On my fourth baby, second breech- when the version was successful, mentally and physically spent, I opted for an epidural.) As it turned out my two smaller babies, (8.7 lbs. and 9.7 lbs.) were the breech ones, the bigger ones were head down (9.8 lbs. and 10.4 lbs.- what's up with that?)
7. I have really big calves. They are a real bummer when I am boot shopping, but I've heard they look great in heels.

And now that you've seen Steve O. (pictured above) in all his marital bliss and the glory of youth- here are the answers to the husband tagged questions:
1. Husband's name: Steve O.
2. How long have you been married: 16 years
3. How long did you date: 3 months, but let me say we had admired each other from afar for about 6 months before a mutual friend introduced us, then we were engaged for 5 months. (I was in Israel for 2 of these months)
4. Who eats more sweets? A tie I think...
5. Who is taller? He is, by 4 inches- allowing me to wear heels whenever possible.
6. Who can sing better? He can make up better lyrics-this make me laugh hysterically and the kids roll their eyes.
7. Who is smarter? I don't know, but even better... who is savvier? we like to play that game when we travel, even though he has the advantage of traveling all the time, I can usually pretend being super savvy. He makes me laugh by constantly saying, "Well, savvy travelers usually..."
8. Who does the laundry? Both of us, he likes to do laundry, but he picks out his own clothes first and leaves the rest.
9. Who pays bills? I do, I should probably have earned an honorary accounting degree.
10. Who sleep on the right side of the bed? I somehow, instinctively sleep the furthest from the door wherever I am.
11. Who cooks dinner? I do, unless I'm out and he's forced to.
12. Who drives? Usually he does, when we happen to be in the same car. On long trips we both fight over the passenger seat, where you can nap, read and relax. I drive better in the middle of the night, give me a book on tape and a bag of sunflower seeds and I can drive all night.
13. Who is more stubborn? I don't really know, but I am way more bossy.
14. Who kissed who first? He kissed me first, and it took him 2 weeks!
15. Who asked who out first? After I knew from my friend that he wanted to meet me- it took him 2 long weeks to finally call, during which I could do nothing but think of him and wait for him to call.
16. Who proposed? He did. On the top of a mountain where we had ridden our bikes. I had no idea he was going to propose, I don't remember a word of what he said but that it was beautiful and poetic.
17. Who wears the pants? Me, the bossy one.

25 February 2008

a great upheaval


This weekend a simple cleaning up of kid bedrooms turned into a enormous reorganization of furniture and toys. I've had this notion in the back of my mind, the idea of re-doing the kids bedrooms- but I haven't been willing to put forth the effort to make it happen. (I'm still hibernating) Well, this weekend I finally got moving. Now the ball is rolling, there is no stopping until I'm finished. I think there is a bit of spring fever involved, but mostly I attribute it to: we've-got-too-much-stuff and not-enough-room for-it-all syndrome. I've got a giant pile of crap to go to goodwill. I can't wait to say goodbye to every last random toy and nick-knack in the stack. The bulk of the work- scrubbing, painting, assembling and moving furniture is finished I still have curtains and pillows to make, a few pictures to hang and then I'll do a before and after photo shoot.

P.S. I really like this fabric, maybe I need to make some curtains for my kitchen with it.

22 February 2008

a little project


I think I'll make this skirt out of this fabric. Hopefully in the next few days.

20 February 2008

a calender page...old school


Let me introduce you to my new scanner. I am so happy- I've wanted one since my boy took the other one to the office a few years back. I am acquiring all sorts of new tools (scanner and computer) and skills (photoshop) this year, and I can't wait to use them.
I made this page for the O family calender last year (from or Europe trip last summer in case you can't guess). I did it the old fashioned way, print the pictures- cut and paste with scissors and glue. That could perhaps be the last time I ever do that...sigh. With my new scanner I can probably even scan all of my kids pictures from before the days of digital pictures and scrapbook entirely on the computer...WOW. No, wait- the WOW comes in when I actually get around to scrapbooking at all. A sorry confession I agree, but I'm on the right track now right?

19 February 2008

party time


My little fella turned 10 yesterday. Wow. We had his party at the local tumbling gym, equipt with all that kids love- foam pit, trampolines, rope swing, various assorted giant blow-up kid climbing or launching devices. Here is what the silly cake ended up looking like. Steve O's and my collaborative efforts of trying to design the right image on paper left me with too little time to really give it 110% as far as shaping and frosting- so and it turned out a little wacky. But, come on it's just a cake. It's all good...I mean really- it tasted delicious and all gobbled up.


The inspiration behind the cake. I have been taking a photoshop class over the last few weeks and this is the fruit of my education so far, my first real- not just playing around project. You don't even want to know how long it took me to complete the full invitation (with all the text). But, there is no stopping me now...

18 February 2008

Saturday

Saturday was a super-fun party day. First we went skiing...

This was the view from the chairlift, beautiful. It was cold/hot/cold/hot all day. Because of sun/clouds/sun/clouds.


Sundance just put in a little terrain park. Here is M giving it a try.


Steve O rode his schnowlerblades all day (what is this 1999?, oh they were a gift, well then I guess it's OK then)... and practiced some snow dancing.


Self portrait on the chairlift.

THEN... F had a indoor soccer game, scored three goals, won the game (7-3) (sorry no pictures)

THEN...Later in the evening...

we got cleaned up and took the whole family to see the 5 Browns at Kingsbury Hall. I had heard them interviewed on Friday on Radio West, and was totally moved. They are are a group of 5 brothers and sisters in their twenties who play classical piano all together, and have since they were little.
We got last minute tickets- kind of nose bleed, but... so glad we went. They were so amazing live. I was very happy to see lots of other kids and families there. Everything about the show was fabulous, motivating, and left you with a wonderful message of succeeding in anything you put your mind too, and treat your sibling lovingly along the way. I think the kids had a good time, then again how can you not enjoy any bit of live entertainment?
Check out the 5 Browns performing here.

14 February 2008

happy valentine's day



Reprise by Ogden Nash

Geniuses of countless nations
Have told their love for generations
Till all their memorable phrases
Are common as goldenrod or daisies.
Their girls have glimmered like the moon,
Or shimmered like a summer noon,
Stood like lily, fled like fawn,
Now the sunset, now the dawn,
Here the princess in the tower
There the sweet forbidden flower.
Darling when I look at you
Ever aged phrase is new,
And there are moments when it seems
I've married one of Shakespeare's dreams.

and on the lighter side...

The Perfect Husband by Ogden Nash

He tells you when you've got on
too much lipstick,
And he helps you with your girdle
when your hips stick.

12 February 2008

mousepad makeover



I am not kidding when I say this project took five minutes, and it makes me so happy. Both mouse pads in this house needed an extreme makeover. My desk, and the kids- look so much better now.

11 February 2008

footprints in the snow


I just noticed this by the garage... it make me chuckle.
Here is the wintertime/personalized version of the famous poem: there were only one set of footprints because there was only one child crazy (or stupid) enough to walk across the snowy yard barefoot in the dead of winter.

That's not a very clever caption for this picture, got a better one?

08 February 2008

delicioso


This may not look like a delicious snack... but it is. I would have never thought to combine cheese (havarti) and jam on bread- in this case wheat, and the heel of the loaf- because I'm the Mom and that's my motherly duty. I tried this snack in Denmark and now I'm hooked. Any kind of jam will do fine, this was raspberry. Yum

07 February 2008

aprons on etsy



I finally got some aprons and a few tiny quilts up on etsy, once again- another thing I've been meaning to get to. (I am sensing a running theme here...) Anyway, the five listed on etsy are all the aprons I have available right now, after the Beehive Bazaar and a bunch of special 'personal delivery' shoppers cleaned me out. (thanks!) But, don't fret- I have lots of new ideas, and some great fabric stashed away for the next batch, to be sewn up hopefully sooner than later!

06 February 2008

a long time coming


I have been wanting to make a jeweled Christmas tree for years now. My mother-in-law has one she made back in the day... that even has lights on it. I have been haphazardly collecting costume jewelry in pursuit of someday getting around to it for years too. I finally got my crap together in January- got a frame, some fancy fabric, made a few final ebay costume jewelry lot purchases and as February approached.... decided to make a heart instead. I still plan on making a Christmas tree, I mean really- who can have too many of this type of fancy decor in their house? (maybe I need to make an Easter egg and a pumpkin too) Just kidding and I'll tell you why, this crazy heart, when all the numbers are in- was not cheap. Myself and then my posterity better cherish this little baby forever, I'm talking specific mention in the will, custody battles and so on.

05 February 2008

ski day


Skied today with my ladies, Becky and Jo. It was crystal clear blue skies, sparkles in the air, tons of snow, smiles all around. The tree branches were all coated with these giant fluffy snow crystals.
I haven't skied fast and furious -without kids- all year and it's just what this lady needed. Fabulous, beautiful day- I think I need to do that more often.

04 February 2008

my personal favorite


Will Ferrell Bud Light Commercial - Watch more free videosWill Ferrell Bud Light commercial from the superbowl, so funny.
The top five commericals from the game including the Justin Timberlake Pepsi commercial, kind of funny.
Second funniest- Planters cashew commercial.

LinkWithin

Related Posts with Thumbnails