via anthropologie
via hannah caldwell photography
via millay
I’ve been pinning a lot of pretty pictures of glassware and it has me wanting to start a collection. Love the growing collection over at Vessels & Wares, as well as the items that pop into Millay, if you’re looking out for gorgeous tableware too.
I did not have anything ready for the long awaited solar eclipse, so the night before, I was scrambling to make 4 pinhole projectors. Thankfully, it was pretty easy, and we happened to have 4 boxes of Os in our pantry. I do wish I was on the ball and got the girls glasses, but the experience was magical nonetheless. I think their favorite part of the experience was testing out various household items that would create the crescent shadows on the ground.
We were counting down until totality, which was 10:21am for us, and while 3 of the girls loved what we saw, there was one who was having a hard time (see photo above) that we weren’t in the line of totality. We had been talking about it getting dark, and well, it wasn’t dark enough for her. Thankfully, it led to conversations on gratefulness, idolatry, and being thankful no matter what. I know I sure do have a hard time with that too.
The eclipse was pretty spectacular, even with our 60% totality. It certainly pointed me to praise the greatness of my God and remember what was said in Genesis 1:14-16, “And God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night. And let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and years, and let them be lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth.” And it was so.”
School will be back in session soon and some may have already started, but there is still time to make the littles ones this Crepe Paper Pencil Surprise filled with cool back-to-school supplies or sweet treats. Get the full tutorial right here on Babiekins Magazine.
This week’s learned, links, and thankfulness…
Thankful for to-do lists that help me stay on track. I don’t function too well without them.
One more week of summer vacation left. Gotta make sure all our school stuff is ready. Eek!
Tried out this no artificial dye food coloring. It’s pretty good and affordable.
Ben and I are so thankful and blessed to have my parents nearby. They took the girls out for a day off fun and shopping. It’s special to see my girls so close to my parents (and his mom too).
Got a pair of vintage military pants from Rawson Chicago. They are my exact inseam, so couldn’t turn it down. I’m so short that I almost always have to alter something.
Loaded some vintage denim dresses on to the WOVENFOLK etsy shop.
Made 3 batches of macarons this week. They are such tough cookies to get right. Batch 1 tasted good, but came out too dense. Batch 2 and 3 taste good too, and was closer to what the shells are supposed to be, but they stuck to the mat. Will keep trying until I get it right. My goal is to make macaron ice cream sandwiches!
If you’ve been wanting Everlane wide leg crop pants, they’ve been restocked in some pretty colors. The day heel is back in stock too!
Made a lightened up version of this pizza twice this week. I didn’t like it too much the first time, but did the second.
I love discovering new vintage shops to follow and Pieceology Vintage is one you will definitely like too!
Tomorrow is the flea market. I hope we find some treasures! Enjoy the rest of your weekend, friends!
Rug to Clutch
from my book, Let’s Sew Together
Supplies:
Bath rug cut into 2- 11 1/2″ x 9” exterior fabric pieces
2- 11 1/2″ x 9” lining fabric pieces
12” zipper (Mine was 20″ and I cut it down to size)
Scissors
Coordinating thread
Sewing machine
Seam Allowance: ½”
Directions:
1. Cut your bath rug to the clutch size. Place the exterior piece right side up, lay the zipper on the edge of the long side of the fabric with the teeth side down on top (make sure zipper pull is on the left), and place the lining fabric right side down on top of the zipper. Making sure that the fabric and zipper edges are lined up, pin in place. Start 1” away from zipper pull and sew ¼” from edge of fabric. Pull the zipper down to avoid it getting caught and sew the remaining 1” edge. Flip the fabrics so that the wrong sides are facing, and press.
2. Place the remaining exterior fabric right side up; lay zipper (with the fabrics attached) on top, with the teeth side faced down and the zipper pull on the right. Place the lining fabric on top with right side faced down. Pin in place. Sew ¼” from edge of fabric, stopping short 1” from zipper pull. Pull the zipper away from the edge to prevent it from getting caught and continue to stitch along the remaining edge. Place wrong sides together and press.
3. Open up fabrics so that the exterior pieces are right sides together and the lining pieces are right sides together. Pin in place. The zipper will be in the middle.
4. Sew around all the edges using a ½” seam allowance, but leave a 3” opening at the bottom of the lining fabric. Clip your corners to reduce bulk, but being careful not to cut the seam.
Found this cool bath rug at the 99¢ store and brought it home to make a clutch. It was made in India and it reminded me of Moroccan boucherouite rugs. This is pretty much exactly the same as this tapestry clutch, except slightly larger. I wanted something colorful like this to throw all my purse junk in, and then throw the clutch into one of my baskets. I bought another rug and plan to make another clutch with it, or a purse for the girls. Sometimes, the 99¢ store has some pretty good finds.
Ben and I are donate people and haven’t really tried out hosting our own garage sale, but one of our neighbors/friends was having one, and she thought it would be a great idea if everyone joined in, so we did! There were 3 of us in our cul-de-sac that set up shop on our driveway. Funnily enough, Ben had some company pick up all our donations the day before, but they turned down baskets (not the WOVENFOLK type) and books, so that’s all we had to sell (and a rack of his suits). The girls and I baked chocolate chip cookies the day before, so that was really the bread and butter of our garage sale.
They were so excited about the garage sale that they hurriedly ate breakfast, so they could set up shop. They divided up the responsibilities, so Soul and Brave handled the cookies (with food safe gloves), True did the money, and Glow she was in charge of marketing by yelling, “COOKIES!” as people passed. Well, I think she’s not a marketing girl because she called it quits pretty quickly and just sat on the ground while the sisters did the grunt work. Business was a little slow at first, but then it picked up, and the girls were so excited about their customers. We sold a couple books and most of the baskets, one suit, and most of the cookies. We talked about capital, Ben and I gave it to them as their first investors, and they had to take care of giving change and figuring it all out. None of us Bratcher girls are quite fond of math, but I think they saw how important of a skill it is when it comes to running a business. In the end, they came out with 17 and change, and they told me and Ben that we could keep it to get our computers fixed. *heart swell* Well, we ended up letting them keep it and divide it amongst themselves, and I think the girls have been bitten with the entrepreneurial bug. Next up, lemonade stand!
