If you remember this post, then you know how much we love having an indoor hammock. It really is one of our favorite spots in the house. For the kids, it’s like having an indoor swing, so you can imagine all the fun they have in it. I am convinced everyone should have an indoor hammock.
We love hammocks so much we got this beautiful Nicaraguan hammock. I love our colorful one, and I love big punches of color with our white-washed floors and white walls, but the fringe on our colorful hammock drove me crazy. Every time the girls swing on it, they step on the fringe and it comes off. So once or twice a week, I would have to crochet (because I am annoyingly anal like that) all the fringe back on. This hammock has the beautiful detailing, but will save me some extra time a week.
I know some of you have commented (and emailed) me about where to purchase my colorful hammock, but I couldn’t really lead you anywhere because it was from Anthro two years ago and it just isn’t around anymore. The weave on this one is actually thicker than our colorful one and it is bigger that even Ben can get in with both the two big girls cuddling beside him with more room to spare! This new one lacks the spread bar, which I thought would make it harder for the kids to get in, but it is no problem.
Um… I wonder how many indoor hammocks are allowed in a house?!
***UPDATE*** I’ve edited the post to remove the name of the store this hammock came from because I’ve heard from a couple of you that that particular shop hasn’t been reliable of late, so I would suggest googling “Nicaraguan hammocks” if you want one similar in style to mine. Hopefully you can find another shop who has good customer service to back up their products. See comments of other readers below of the bad experience they had with that shop, so I no longer recommend ordering from Almanza Hammock.
I am sure you know by now I am a big fan of all types of plants (see here and here). I have them everywhere in the house and I have a list of plants that I have been wanting to add under my care. I always thought I would have a brown thumb because my mom has a really brown thumb, but to my surprise, I am not so bad. In my search for more plants, we went to a local nursery Sunday afternoon and I came home with a new and very cool plant baby! It’s an Aralia Balfour and it is supposed to be low maintenance, so that always works well with this mama of four.
I have already put it in its special place and I keep going to that room to look at it. It’s so pretty and has so much personality. I really love the clean, simple lines of it. Plants are like sculptures to me. They really are! They add a lot of punch and personality to a space. I already put a special order for another house plant and I can’t wait to get that one in.
What’s your favorite indoor plant? Or do you have a brown thumb?
Saturday was scorching and we were all stuck in a warehouse, but being amidst suchgreatcompanyofsellers (and friends) and everyone else who stopped by to support us made it all worth it. I do it again in a heartbeat for sure! And a little birdie told me that this might be happening again in November, so some of you who missed out better come!
I was really good and kept my restraint and resisted from trading or taking out my wallet, but oh there were so many goodies! I had a babysitter there after all. Ben was there to make sure we came home with an empty car and not a full one. Though, I did come away with two goodies from this lovely gal… something for the girls’ Christmas present and a dress for Soulie. Most smaller items sold, but at the end of the day after talking with Jeni and Danni, we have concluded that people come for smaller items and not really big pieces of furniture, so I still have my vintage industrial yellow factory cart, vintage french metal table, and old farm coffee table. If any of you are from socal and are still interested in any of these… just send me an email. Otherwise, I will try my hand on craigslist and if that doesn’t work, it’s going back to the sale in November.
Despite not coming home with an empty car (I did lighten the load significantly), the sale turned out great and I had so much fun meeting some of you!!! It honestly feels like meeting an old friend. Let’s skip the handshakes and go for the hug! I love blogging and have been blessed with all the great friendships I have made through it. Many thanks to those of you who gave your support in person, in purchase, or via the web! I so appreciate each of you. xoxo
One of the things we have been loving this summer is our indoor hammock. I actually bought this hammock over two years ago and have been patiently waiting to put it up, and at the beginning of Summer, Ben finally got it up. I debated putting it up outside, but an indoor one just sounded kind of dreamy and so inside it went!
The girls absolutely love it! Most afternoons you will find one (or two) of them swinging back and forth. Sometimes it’s with a book in hand and sometimes not. When evenings come and the girls are in bed, I like to have my turn in the hammock and just relax. There is a couch across from it, so sometimes Ben will sit there and we’ll chat. One night, our power went out for a few hours, so I just opened up the windows, lit some candles, and quietly read while lying in the hammock. It was such a peaceful evening. Those types of evenings need to happen here more often.
It hangs from a very sturdy clasp and chain that are hooked onto some really sturdy eye bolts. Ben found the stud in the wall and that’s where the eye bolts went in. It is very secure and as long as it is being used properly, there are no problems. My only qualm is that the hanging fringe comes off easily, so I am always having to crochet it back on. Other than that, it’s a pretty dreamy place to relax and it’s one of our new favorite spots in the house.
Our indoor hammock is a spot in our house that definitely makes us smile. What spot in your home makes you smile?
When we moved into our regular, suburban, tract home it was bare and standard. It’s not quite as character filled as an older home, but we are injecting it slowly and that works for us. We moved in and there were no window coverings and we lived like that for a few months, until we put up paper all over the place. Then we lived with paper for a long while, until we figured out how we wanted to cover our windows. Now, my first option would be to have the windows uncovered, but let’s face it, our neighbors are pretty much right up in our grill and it just wouldn’t work. Most people have the really nice, wood shutters, but 1) It wasn’t in the budget and 2) I am not entirely sold on it for us. I wanted something raw and natural and not quite so permanent until we figure what it is we really really want to have on our windows. For now, we decided on this… burlap and cheesecloth.
I just bought yards and yards of burlap from our local fabric shop and then ordered large rolls of the thickest weave of cheesecloth I could find online (like this). I cut the burlap to the exact measurements of the window and sewed a panel at the top to put the tension rod through. There is one long piece of twine hung over the burlap, hanging from both sides, and tied, and when I want to roll up the burlap I just roll it and slip it into the twine. Make sense?
There is also a simple rod on top of the windows and on there I just drape the cheesecloth over and cut it to the length I want. The edges are raw on both the burlap and cheesecloth, but I don’t mind it and actually really like it. We first did this 3 years ago and we still love it and just changed out all the cheesecloth again. Burlap does also come in other colors, so you have options there. We have this brown and ivory burlap hanging in the house. We still don’t have know what type of window covering we would love more than this, so this combination continues to stay up for now. I will say though, if you ever want to sleep in and need a dark room to do so, this won’t work for you. We do have rolls of black paper to tape up just for this purpose, but we only use it about twice a year.
The other windows in the house that don’t have burlap just have white linen curtains hanging. I am all about simple when it comes to covering windows. Please do share, what do you have? It might just spark an idea on other options for me. I get pretty scared of commitment when it comes to window coverings.
*another note about using burlap… it is full of little, loose fibers, so you will have to dust your window sill frequently. it doesn’t bother me and just vacuum it up from time to time.
Welcome. Cakies has a new home! Well, a web home to be clear. We are currently going through our home home and streamlining and changing, so it was time to do that to my blog too. Change was needed. I think it was a mighty good one in fact. The person responsible for this design is Joy Laforme via Sage and Berries (my friend Alice did the cakies logotype) and I think she did a splendidly good job with everything! Especially for putting up with the wanna-be graphic designer in me. I tell you, I am neurotic. And just to be sure I was using that word correctly, I just googled it, and yep, that’s me. With all my crazy requests, Joy got everything exactly right. She’s good people (look at her blog and shop, and aren’t these iphone cases pretty?!!).
This new layout is so simple and so clear. You want some categories? Well, it is over there on your right! If you want to pin something… then just scroll over the image and a “pin it” button will come up. Have some questions for me? I may just answer some of them here. Need to facebook or tweet or share something? Well, see that little minty dot at the bottom of the post, scroll over it, and you can share! I love the simplicity and the functionality of it all. Oh and if that wasn’t enough, you can even follow the Cakies facebook page here and the other little pretty social icons on the right can lead you to other social media places you will find me.
You may have noticed that I have also partnered with Federated Media and will on occasion work with brands in this space. I did the Levi’s thing, which was fun, and I am sure strange for you to hear my voice (it’s strange for me too) and my most recent one with Dreyer’s here. Just like that most recent one, the content is still me and was still cohesive with this space and my life. I love blogging and am grateful for the opportunities that have come as a result of it. Yes, I am a mom, who blogs, and sometimes it’s about my kids, sometimes it’s about food, sometimes it’s about how to make something, it’s pretty much random little slices of my life. Remember though, these bits are just snapshots and never the whole.
I am not going to lie, I think the blog world is a very deceiving place. It is dangerously deceiving. You can come here (or any other blog space) and admire what you see, but please don’t let me deceive you. If you see a clean and clearly styled room (like above) it probably looked like a tornado ripped through it right after the picture was taken (see bottom pictures) and most other times. It’s the reality with four kids. I have hideous messes (proof here and here), I sit on the potty and do my business, and, on occasion, pass stinky gas too. Just on occasion though, most times it comes out like roses! Bloggers aren’t aren’t anything special or the shizzle (no offense), they are just random normal people who decided to let you peek in, but they go through everything you do too. Think about that next time you are sitting on the potty. So as you read blogs (mine or anyone else), read with appreciation (love how my friend Frances phrased it), and not with envy because envy is not good for anyone.
Last blog tip… only read blogs you like. There was a blog that I liked, then I didn’t like, but would still check in to see the train wreck that was occurring in that space, but that would just fuel negativity in me and well, I didn’t like it, so I just stopped reading it. Sometimes it’s hard to look away from a wreck isn’t it?!! You don’t have to love every blog out there, there are tons of people sharing and I am sure you can find one that really just resonates positively with you and some that won’t. Don’t read the ones that don’t. I don’t think I am for everyone and please if you don’t care for what you see here, don’t waste your time. You really have better things to do with it.
Okay, I don’t know how a “Welcome to my site” turned into that, but I think those are important things that need to be said. Well, to all of you who take the time to pop in here, thank you and I hope you continue to stick around! There may be a few kinks with the new site, so if you see any, just let me know in the comments or if you like it (or don’t like it) feel free to say so too! Thanks friends!!!
*In the move, some formatting was lost, so if the old posts have long paragraphs, forgive the mistake, but I just don’t have time to fix every post. My neurotic self wants to, but there is just only so many hours in a day.
I have a large growing pile of fabric scraps. I refuse to throw them away because I am sure they can be used for something. I have been seeing different types of interesting necklaces made of buttons, beads, and fabric. Then, I figured why not make one out of my scraps...
I think it made my white shirt a little less boring. This was so quick and easy to make.
How to make a recycled scraps necklace (which is very similar to the straps on my braided tablecloth bag):
1. Take your scrap fabric, I cut a .5''-1'' snip and tear the rest of the fabric down for a nice frayed edge. Used 3 different fabrics for each strand.
2. Take 3 of the torn pieces and tie the ends together with a rubber band.
3. Braid the 3 pieces together and tie ends together with rubber band when done.
4. Repeat steps 2 & 3 for more strands. Remember you can make the strands any length you want, if run out of fabric, just weave more into the braid.
5. Once all the strands you want are braided, gather one end of each strand together and straight stitch together with sewing machine. Repeat for the other ends of the strands. Snip off any excess.
6. Gather ends of the necklace and sew together (snip excess) or a ribbon can be sewn at the ends to be able to tie the necklace closed, but I just sewed both ends together.
7. Voila! A nice way to make use of all your lovely scraps.
Sorry if the directions get you a little lost, but it really is easy. I promise. Maybe I should put some in the shop. Please share any other good ideas you may have of things that can be made with scraps. I would love to hear (read) them!
If you remember this post, then you know how much we love having an indoor hammock. It really is one of our favorite spots in the house. For the kids, it’s like having an indoor swing, so you can imagine all the fun they have in it. I am convinced everyone should have an indoor hammock.
