Our Vacation to The Sunny State

As a Christmas present from the in-laws our family of four got to go to Florida this past January to visit them in their new home. It was exciting not only because it was a two week vacation, but also because it was a new experience for my husband and the boys. None of them had been to the ocean before and I just had to take them to my old stomping grounds in Sarasota.  Our first trip to the beach was to Siesta Key Beach. That was the beach I went to the most often and the sand is by far the finest sand I have yet to experience. We also made trips to Lido Key and Clearwater Beach. The closest beach for us to visit during the trip was Clearwater Beach and it was also the best one we went to for beach-combing with the family. 

These are my favorite finds from Lido Key

This little vial contains miniature shells and fragments of a starfish skeleton. It also has the little "doves" from a very small sand dollar that my husband found but it didn't last the trip home. :( 

From left to right the broken sand dollar my husband found, Lido Beach sand, Siesta Key Beach sand and the little fragments I mentioned earlier. It fascinates me how different the sand can be between Lido and Siesta but they are right next to each other.

My littlest turned one year old during our trip! We just had a cute quiet party at Grandmomma and Granddad's house with a homemade birthday cake. He wasn't too aware of the fact that it was his birthday, but we had fun celebrating anyway. 

My favorite photo from the whole trip.

Crazy spanish moss on most of the trees down there. I'm not sure whether I like it or not.

Grandmomma was looking forward to this moment. Taking her grandson on the merry-go-round at Disney's Magic Kingdom. Tobiah had a great time there. He got to meet Buzz Lightyear, Woody and Jessie. He loved the Buzz Lightyear and Little Mermaid ride the best.

We did a great deal of thrifting during our trip. Grandmomma picked up this small motorcycle bike for my son as a surprise. He fell in love with it. Once we put some training wheels on it we had a hard time keeping him off of it. Luckily the places where my in-laws live they mostly drive golf carts around so the roads are pretty clear and safe.

I worked on two projects while I was down there. My Mother-inlaw just happened to have   a yellow that was perfect for finishing off my cheese embroidery. The color was just a little off, but it is only noticeable to me. I actually liked the contrast it added since one of the cheeses was marbled already (The swiss cheese was the one I ran out of thread for). Since I was in the summer spirit in the winter I also worked on a beach ball. Simple and free hand with some french knots for some fun texture. I love the simplicity of some of the designs I've been working on. These are both available on our Mumre Etsy shop right now too!

The lighthearted designs of single objects somehow help me reminisce on the better things in life. I tend to think back on my childhood when I played with my sister outside everyday, or hanging out with all the cousins at our family get togethers. I also get excited about our little family's future. Raising our kids on this beautiful campground, growing up with their cousins, and all of our own special memories we will create. 



It's been a busy couple of months for my family and I hope to post about everything soon! Sorry it's been a while!

- Hannah

Joyful January

Happy New Year Friends!  Wow!  I've realized, the holidays are even crazier when your family is larger!  It feels good to be home and relaxing after all the traveling, and gift making.  Have you made any New Years Resolutions this year?  I felt very influenced by an article by Apartment Therapy called 10 Simple Things to Make You Happier at Home when it came to making my "resolutions".  

One thing that stuck out to me, from the list of things, was "Make your bed".  I know that sounds simple, but for me, it's not.  I rarely make my bed, and when I do, it's usually right before I get into it at night.  I love having a neat bedroom, and having my bed made makes my life feel less cluttered and more clean.  When my bed is made, it makes me want to keep the rest of my room clean.  

Not only is my goal to make my bed everyday, but also to get out of my pajamas.  I started to realize that when I wear my PJs all day, I feel less productive, so I become less productive.  Which floods my mind with negative thinking about myself.  It's crazy how something so small, can make such a difference to me!  So far, it has been going very well!  I hope it's something that will become a habit for me.

Cypress in her Birthday Suit, playing on my made bed. :)

This past month has been a month of gift making for myself and my family.  I finally finished a quilt that I started over a.year.ago.  It is made of scarves that I have collected throughout the years.  Most of them were found at thrift stores or antique stores.  The backing is dark green flannel and I sewed vintage buttons between the scarf squares and in the center of them. It feels really good to have it finished and its so nice and cozy!  

Scarf Quilt!

Close up of the quilt and one of the vintage buttons.

In other news, Cypress is growing up.  She eats a lot to say the least.  And for Cypress, with age comes less breast feeding and more playing and eating solid food.  I am really going to miss it when she stops.  Hannah and I are big advocates of the breast.  We love caring for our babies in such a beautiful, nurturing way!  Hannah has been a huge influence in my bravery to nurse in public, and my breast feeding journey in general.  She is such a strong and amazing mother!  I am so thankful for her and her encouragement, especially during these early stages of motherhood.  

My favorite picture of me and Cypress.  She's taking a break from eating to smile for the camera.

Some New Additions to the Shop!

It's only Monday and so far we have already had a busy week! There is so much thats gonna go on this week and we are getting pumped to send out some Christmas cheer to our customers! We've got some great deals planned from this week to NewYears and some of the exclusive to our Facebook and Blog followers. Here are some newcomers to the shop. So make sure to stop in and get some handmade gifts for your loved ones!

First, there are two lovely fox drawings in colored pencil by Rachel placed in vintage circular frames. The frames have charming hints of metallic gold on them. Second, we have my first snowman paper bead ornament! This was my first attempt and it went great! The beads are made from recycled sheet music and are strung on very vibrant red wire.

I love how most of Rachel's items are in sets. She has a great way with telling a cute little story in her illustrations whether they are goofy or love stories I adore them all. Turtle love is colored pencil in a vintage frame. The bear on a unicycle is ink and watercolor. I love how chubby the bear is and his little hat!

My son got to be a model for five minutes today sporting Rachel's colorful cowl. He loves getting dressed and trying new clothes so this was right up his alley. This cowl is perfect for keeping out the cold for both kids and adults. Rachel is also taking custom orders for cowls in most any color combination requested so be sure to request one on our shop home page if you are interested!
Another adorable fox illustration is up too! The frame was carefully hand painted and shows hints of pink. Perfect for a wedding or anniversary gift!

Lastly, we have a couple sets of crocheted snowflakes. I LOVE SNOWFLAKES! I enjoy making these so much I make them all year round. I have a basic pattern I use as the root for all my patterns but I make them up randomly as I get further along the snowflake to make them all just slightly different from on another. Stiffening them also adds to their little differences too. These sets are just the colors of the threads used. Coming later this week are more of my hand dipped snowflakes. I dip them in bright colored paints for an almost tie-dyed look.

More crochet and paper bead items will be up within the next couple days. I'll also be working on a ton more paper bows for the shop and for our Holiday Bazaar coming up at Wawasee Middle School. Be sure to check in for an exclusive deal for this busy holiday weekend!

- Hannah

A Few Things That Make Me Smile

My son's first self portrait.

Just thought I would share a couple things from this past week. A little parenting, thrifting, and some things that make me smile.

This week has gone by pretty quickly for me. I'm pretty sure I've spent the entire time trying to clean my house. And I mean trying. I still haven't remotely caught up with it. I saw a status this earlier this week on facebook that said "Cleaning your house with a toddler is like brushing you teeth with an Oreo". This is especially true since most of the time my son is trying to help. While I think it's great my son wants to constantly move around and DO something, my house is really paying the price. If it's not him pulling out new activities, it's me getting out projects and not finishing them and then along comes the 10 month old who lets you know just how sloppy you are when you find the most random items hanging from his mouth. 

I really am enjoying this time in my life though. They say these days when you children are young go fast. So I'm soaking it up. I'll take my most of the time semi clean house and enjoy these moments.

I found these three tea cups and saucers at the thrift stores the other day. They say Deruta Italy on the bottoms of them with some other symbols. From what I've researched they are for real, but in the meantime I find them beautiful and will enjoy them no matter where they are from. My husband wants to open up a Etsy account with me to sell some vintage items e've collected. Maybe these will go up on the site when it opens. We came up with a pretty great name that's fun and personal too! That'll be a whole other blog post though. 

I've been in the Christmas spirit these days. Well, I kind of am all the time, but much more so lately while making items for our Mumre shop. I love getting to use these papers while wrapping orders. I mainly use either brown packaging paper or this lovely embossed creme wallpaper. They are so elegant and simple. 

A pointillism snowflake doodle in my sketch book. 

Someone's gotta eat it.

Along with a bunch of other items we have new items in our shop, I listed this particular tree.
These are so fun for me to make and for some reason every time I see this particular one I smile and feel so much joy.
Perhaps it's because it reminds me of a child's drawing of a Christmas tree with all the zigzags, simple shapes and doodle look to the whole thing, but I'll take the joy, soak it up and use it to make more. Gotta spread the good feeling! Take a look on Etsy for this one and more like it.

Keep a look out for our up coming exclusive sales for our blog readers and facebook followers!

- Hannah

New Family Addition

Welcome to the earth precious Tanner True Streasick!

Today I got to meet my first ever niece! These last nine months couldn’t have come sooner. I am sure my sister, Tess, agrees too! We have been so excited to meet this new addition to the family ever since seeing the positive sign on the pregnancy test. We wondered what type of personality she would have. Who's traits would she pick up from the family, heck we didn't even know the gender until today! Now she has finally made her debut. A swift one too! My sister was a complete powerhouse through her pregnancy and the birthing of her daughter was no exception.  From what I’ve heard everything went perfectly as far as the birthing experience and everyone's health. I'm so happy for them!

I admire Tess' bravery and passion that has grown in her since knowing she would become a mother.  She and her husband have done a great job teaching and preparing themselves to the best of their ability for this new journey in their lives. I’m glad that my family can live next door to such wonderful people. It seems too good to be true that I have my sister next door raising her daughter and we still get to hangout together nearly every day. What a great life I live!

- Hannah

Baby Book for Cypress. Love Laura.

Yesterday, one of my greatest friends ever, Laura, came over and surprised me with a gift for Cypress.  It's a photo album that Laura put together with the maternity photos and newborn photos that she took of our family.  The photo book is beautiful.  She did such an amazing job!

Laura chose the perfect color for the cover!

She added beautiful poetry throughout the whole book.  Laura didn't even know this, but Joan Miro happens to be one of my favorite artists!

She did an amazing job designing the layout and placing the photos.

The photo of Cypress on the top left corner cracks me up!!!

I can't stop looking at this photo book!  It reminds me how much I loved being pregnant, what life was like before our Lovey came into the world, the euphoric feeling I had the first couple weeks after Cypress was born, and how often newborn babies sleep!  

To admire more of her wedding, engagement, family, newborn, maternity, senior, AND everyday life photography, check out her growing photography biz at her lovely website, and "like" Laura Leigh Photography on Facebook.  

-Rachel

Clouds & Raindrops

I've been looking for a good mobile for Cypress since she is sleeping in her crib, in her own room these days.  I'm not crazy about the ones that most stores sell, they are too ordinary for my style, so I decided to make one myself!  It was pretty easy to make.  

The clouds are cut out of thin cardboard.  You could use a cereal box or something similar to that.  I just drew two simple cloud shapes and cut them out, painted them white with acrylic paint and added glitter so it glistens in the sunlight.  I made a cut on the top center of one of the clouds and the bottom center of the other so that they fit together.  When they're connected it sort of looks 3-D!  

After that, I cut out raindrops from colorful scraps of paper, strung them up to the clouds with thread, added beads for more sparkle and "Ta-da!"  It's finished!   

Here's how it looks above Cypress's crib.  She likes it!

While I'm at it, here are the other corners of her room.  I like to collect a lot of vintage things.  All of Cypress's books are in an old wooden case that I turned into a shelf. The rocker was what my mom used for me and my siblings.

This area is pretty much the art/inspiration corner of Cypress's room.  A lot of art and sewing supplies, books, fabric and yarn are stored here.  We have collected a few old style toys for Cypress, like a Fisher Price record player, and an antique children's typewriter.

-Rachel

Finished Skateboard Project

We have had a lot going on in our household recently, but one thing that did not leave my sons mind was his skateboard.  My husband and I started this project a couple weeks ago. You can read more about it in my first skateboard project post. So we bought what was needed to finish it and let him play on it again.  Since he isn't old enough to do crazy tricks on it or anything, we didn't put too much money into it, but just enough to get it rolling safely.

First, we had to replace the ball bearings and the wheels.  I thought the original wheels were pretty sweet.  They are old ceramic ones, but they have been pretty beat up and we decided to get some blue ones to match the board.  I'm hoping to find something to do with all the old materials from this skateboard.

I'd say it's time for some new bearings.

We didn't replace all the hardware on the skateboard so we have some older metal still on it.  I love the look of the old with the new.  It matches the old comics that were put on the board and the texture adds something of it's own too.

My husband and I found grip off of amazon that was made from recycled glass with different thickness levels to choose from.  We chose the one that provided the most grip for our little toddler.  A huge plus for us was that it is also clear so it is perfect for my decoupage art underneath the grip!  It went on easy but after I was done applying the grip I decided to put a clear coat of varnish on top both to get rid of the slight sugar crystal look and to dull some of the little sharp edges until there is natural wear on the skateboard.  I couldn't be any more satisfied with this finished project.

My son is already getting better at pushing off on the skateboard by himself (that is more than I can do).  Of course he is also learning that falling down comes with the territory.  He is a trooper and is better for it.  Next task is to find a helmet small enough for his head.

- Hannah

We've recently put new creations up in the shop. Check it out! www.mumre.etsy.com