A little glimpse. . .

Practice run for a little something I'm working on.



I fell in love with the new pillows that DwellStudio for Target did when I first saw them on the cover of Country Living magazine.



I knew at once I'd have to figure out how they were made. **And I did!!** Which works out doubly well because in real life, those pillows are not that bright, sun-shiny yellow. They're much more green. Not bad, but not what I would want in my house. Someone over there at Country Living likes their Photoshop!! (Even the Target website makes them look more yellow)

Plus now that I've mastered the rosette I have all sorts of ideas for various applications and have already started making more. So exciting!! Now I just need to keep from stabbing my finger with a needle like I did when I made this one. . . Ouch!!

xoxo—Lori

************************************************************************************************

I must also point out the dog on the cover of the magazine. It's the same breed of dog that I have, only my dog NEVER looks that good. Oh, well. He's pretty cute when he's all scruffy, too.

crossing things off the list!

I was looking back over my archives a couple days ago and found an old to do list! What excites me is that I can cross most things off of it!!! Makes me feel that even though I've felt like a crazy person, things ARE getting done!

Finish painting big sister's dresser>
Sand and paint little sister's dresser
Make curtains for the girls' room
Finish the apron overlay to the skirt I made months ago
Tailor the skirt I made months ago
Help tear up old wood flooring in bedroom
Help tear up carpet in girls' room
Make/Design little sister's bday invites
Plan little sister's bday party
Crop & order photos to fill the empty frames floating around my house
Design pallet headboard/bed (not sure how far I'm taking the idea yet)
Make pallet headboard/bed
Pick out paint for bathroom
Sand kitchen cabinets
Paint kitchen cabinets
Paint kitchen
Figure out window treatments for my bedroom
Make magnetic board thing for photos over sofa (but only because I did something entirely different)
Order photos
Edit & order photos from the last 2.5 years (minus lake house vacation!!!! I did that!!! HUGE FEAT on my part) and put into albums
Make Tinkerbell/Fairy Halloween costumes for the girls (inspiration came early this year!)
Reupholster & refinish the antique love seat we picked up on the side of the road 3 years ago & has been sitting in the basement since (I think I've finally picked out fabric)

Only three things are left from that list—one of which I am currently working on (kitchen)! Impressed? And I'm not even sure I want to reupholster that antique love seat now. We took family pictures with it last October and I LOVE how they looked with it just the way it is.



So part of me would love to keep it just like this, carry it around with me and take photos on it forever. Nate says no. We'll see.

Now, if only I didn't have a new list to follow that old list, I'd be doing pretty good!! Silly never ending lists!!!

xoxo—Lori

Take time to read with a friend

Find a comfortable spot, a good book & a friend and take some time to read.










xoxo—Lori

Old Friends & New Babies!!

Yesterday was a crazy, whirlwind day!!

It started with a visit from my very best friend in the whole world, Katie, for lunch.

(Please take note of our amazing, time perfected skills at taking a picture of ourselves. I'm not even cropping it, so you can fully appreciate our incredible talent. :) Someday I'll have to do a post of all our self-taken photos over the years.)


Last April, she had her first little one, so I had packed up all my baby gear for her to use. A few weeks ago I realized that my Sister-in-law, Cara was nearing her due date, so Katie & I made plans to get all that gear back to me from Memphis. Only, we had a horrible snow storm that kept her from coming.

No big deal, we'll just do it the next week. . .Katie got strep throat.

OK, OK. We still have time. Big snow storm AGAIN the next week.

Which brings us to this weekend. I learned that due to some slight complications, Cara was going to be induced on Monday morning. Well, Friday was Katie's anniversary, so the best we could do was Monday for lunch.

It was a quick visit, but we got the stuff to Cara and it was so great to have a chance to visit with Katie, even if only for a few hours!

Katie and I met at school when we were 11 back in Kansas. Almost instantaneously we were best friends. Since, even through college, we've never lived more than 3 hours apart. When we moved to Tennessee, we were both in the state within a month, totally independently of each other.

However, now we both have careers & families, making it very difficult to get together often. In fact, the last time I saw her was last April to welcome her new little one.

What's so amazing about our friendship, and I'd like to think all best friends, is that it really doesn't matter how much time has actually passed. When we get together, it's like no time has passed at all. There might be a little catch up in the conversation, but no awkwardness or not knowing what to say or talk about.


And, in some very exciting news, we got to welcome a new little girl into our family!!!
Mekenzie Elise (and I'm realizing just now I'm not sure how they're spelling that. . .oops!) is 6 pounds 1 ounce (Oh so tiny!!!!) and 19 and 3/4 inches long. So precious!!. The sisters are elated to have a baby around and a girl cousin. They want to go back to the hospital again tonight.

I'm planning on taking some photos next weekend of her for Cara, so hopefully I'll have you oohing and aahing very soon!

Hope you have a great day today! I'm still on cloud 9 from getting to hold such a precious little bundle!!

xoxo—Lori

Making Progress

I got the cabinets painted and poly-ed this weekend!!!

(Please keep in mind that these are definitely NOT finished product shots! So please, ignore the mess. Ha!)





All that is left are the drawers and fixing some spacing things on the bottom cabinets as well as the over the fridge unit.



SO CLOSE!!! :)

I'm really loving the white as well! I was really nervous about it. I've NEVER done white. This weekend I was perusing a magazine at my Mother-in-law's and came across an article titled "Easing into Color" and had to laugh. THAT is definitely NOT my problem. My house is bright, bold and saturated. In the past 8 years I've had red & orange, magenta, burnt orange, green, and chocolate brown bedrooms — not to mention the other colors around my house.

White scares me.

But lately, I've really been craving it. I want to lighten up my walls and let my stuff add the color. So, since this IS my practice house, I'm trying it out to see how I like it before I find myself in a more permanent place.

So far, so good!! Can't wait until I have the whole thing complete!!!

xoxo—Lori

***** Oh! And I'm going to be an Aunt again today!! My Sister-in-law is at the hospital right now! Can't wait to hold the little one! Perhaps that will subside my baby cravings for awhile! :) *****

Still shivering!

Shipped the girls and Nate off to his Mom's house to stay warm. Meanwhile, I'm still here, shivering and trying to finish painting the kitchen cabinets.

Wait—

. . .can paint freeze??

. . .can frozen paint dry??

. . .does it take longer to dry??

Hmm. . .this might not work out so well.

I'll try rearranging the location of the space heaters. Maybe that will work.

(crossing my fingers that the part for the heater comes today, as well!!)

xoxo—Lori

***** 10:30 AM — Yay for the mailman!!! The part came!!!*****

If it can go wrong, it will

Last night, my husband & I were discussing how very glad we are that we had no money when we purchased our current house.

At that time, we were very naive & ambitious and wanted to take on a fixer-upper. Because we had no money, we had to buy a house that could use some work, but didn't require a major overhaul & repairs that we could not afford to make. And thus we ended up with our house, which I now lovingly (sort of) call our "Practice House."

This house has been a major pain in our butts!! But we are grateful because if we had had more money at the time, we probably would have purchased something that needed a whole lot more work & thus would most likely cost a whole lot more in repairs than we EVER dreamed. :)

So now, the remodeling streak in us has been put in check & if ever we DO decide to tackle another fixer-upper, we'll have a MUCH better idea of what's in store for us!!

You see, the trouble with doing work on an older house is that NOTHING ever goes as you planned.

For example. Our current project is the kitchen. . .that we started gutting not quite 3 years ago. . .. I'm in the process of refinishing the cabinets. (YUCK!) This required replacing one that we tried to make work from the previous existing floor to ceiling unit, by cutting it off and turning it into just a wall unit. Unfortunately, it didn't work so well. So off to Lowe's we went to pick up a 2 new cabinets to replace it as we have had to do one other time.

So we're sailing along the cabinets are going up great and then we put up the last one.

It sticks out more than a half inch more than the others!!!

Good Grief!

After much problem solving (and a few choice words) we realize that one of the studs behind the cabinet is bowing and pushing the wall out and thus the cabinet!!!!

Nate pulls out the hammer and we end up with this:





Not how I would have solved the problem maybe, but it did prove to be effective. :)

So, crisis averted, cabinets hung, we're good to go.

So I start sanding down the new doors.

UH-OH!!!

Lowe's has changed doors on us!!!!!



Now, instead of just a rounded outer edge, it's a routered outer edge!!!!!

We just can't win, can we????

***** I should mention that currently, while all this crazy kitchen stuff is going on, we've also had our garbage disposal go out, the toilet isn't working properly, and our heater died. It is 55 degrees in here right now! I've got on 3 layers, gloves, and am curled up under blankets on my couch watching the olympics. Thank God for portable heaters in the bedrooms!!!! (the part to fix it should be here in a day or two.) *****

xoxo—Lori

(I really won't be sad when we finally move.)

Things Big Sister says:

"M&Ms don't taste like chicken"

Peeking out the window

We woke up to a fresh blanket of snow yesterday morning. Both girls climbed up on the dresser by the window and peered out to catch a glimpse. I was standing there thinking how cute the moment was and how I was going to miss moments like this when they get bigger.

Then I realized I could take a picture. :)







What you can't see in the picture is that in order for me to take a picture, I had to run back down stairs and grab my camera. Being a good Mom, I put Little Sister back in her crib so she wouldn't fall from her perch. (Big Sister crawls all over and out of anything, so she was on her own; there's no container her.) I came back upstairs to find find Big in the crib with Little, sitting on her head!!!!????

I really would like to know what runs through a near 3-year-old's head to think that that was a good idea or something that was necessary.

So while these pictures aren't quite as angelic as the first peer-out-the-window moment, I still think they're pretty sweet — but not too sweet, just like my little monsters. ;)

xoxo—Lori

I owe you some pictures

I realized this weekend that I have never given you the pictures of Little Sister's quilt. So, sorry for the delay, but here they are for your viewing pleasure!







I don't see why the back of a quilt has to be just a solid piece of fabric, so I had fun with the other side as well. Now, I'm not sure which side I like best and should call the "front"!



I love the way it turned out and how it goes with Big Sister's quilt, but isn't matchy-matchy.



The girls share a room now, but probably won't in our next house, (No, no current plans on that :) ) so it's nice that they look good together, but if they are ever put in separate rooms, it won't feel or look like we broke up a set.


xoxo—Lori

A little change

If you visit my blog, you'll notice a little change.

Inksomnia is gone.

Hello Lori Danelle: maker of things.

I started this blog not quite a year ago not really knowing where it would go. I knew I'd mostly touch on my creativity and a bit on my family, but I didn't know what that would look like. I've always loved the title Inksomnia, so that's what I named my blog.

Now that I've been at it a little while and taken a look at everything I do, I realized that Inksomnia wasn't really a good name for my blog.

I've noticed that I don't really "specialize" in any one area. Instead, if I see it or think of it, I make it. Clothes, stationery, logos, furniture, accessories, decorating. . .whatever.

I am a maker of things. A wide variety of things. :)

Hope you like the new name and new look!!

xoxo—Lori

An arrow in my heart

Loved the way the bracelets looked all together on their cards. So before they all were dispersed I thought I'd grab a photo of them. Too Cute!!

xoxo—Lori

No sleep for the crazy

Not sure why I do this to myself. I mean, I love doing it, but why can't I do it within a normal time frame and at a normal hour??

Since last year when I saw these, I knew just what I'd be doing for the girls' valentine's exchange. But I didn't fully realize how long it would take nor factor in the fact that I'm too busy with kitchen cabinets.

Regardless, last night I was up very, very late making these.



Big Sister helped for awhile before going to bed, but that mostly consisted of me telling her not to turn off my sewing machine, not to cut anything, and not to stab herself with pins. In the end, she "helped" by taking the pins out of the hearts that I had already pinned together and putting one pin into each separate heart.
Cute.
Not helpful, but cute.







I showed them to the girls this morning and they LOVED them. Big Sister was so excited to give them to her friends and Little cried when I put them back in the bag. Sort of makes the whole thing worth it, don't you think?

xoxo—Lori

Why can't I just use stickers??

Last week, Little Sister's teacher sent home little paper bags and instructions to decorate it for Valentine's Day and bring it back to be used to collect Valentines.

In my head, I sort of cringed and wondered if she realized what she was doing to me — while at the same time my wheels were already turning as I began to brainstorm as to what I would do.

Almost immediately, I knew.

I had to make a Valentine's Day monster.


{photo by Bradly Spitzer}

Pretty cute for something that will most likely get torn up tomorrow by a 1 year old and will most definitely be in the trash by next week, don't you think?

xoxo—Lori

Officially a Mother

In case my Motherdom (that's a word, right?) was in question, I believe it is now fully official.



I have a cupcake carrier.

I'm a Mom.

xoxo—Lori

It happened!

So that thing I've been fearing would happen. . .Well, it happened. (If you are clueless, go here and here.)

And on top of it all, Little Sis was sick today. Messy & Sick. Great combination. Plus, it broke her heart when I was taking the sheet off her bed to wash. . .?? Poor sensitive little thing!

Tonight, instead of her normal sleeper pajamas, Little Sister is sporting a snap close onesie and leggings. She might be able to manage a zipper, but I'm crossing my fingers that she's not strong enough for snaps.



I was going to try putting her diaper on backwards, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized that she's too smart and coordinated for that. If this doesn't work, I promise, I'm pulling out the duct tape!! I'm not just saying it this time!! :)

Unless of course, anyone has any better ideas for me. . .

xoxo—Lori

Little Sis taking matters into her own hands???

You know how I told you about Big Sis taking on diaper duty?

Well, this morning I went upstairs to get the girls ready only to find Little Sister completely naked—only this time, Big Sis was still snoozing with her quilt pulled up to her ears. Didn't seem too likely that she was responsible this time.

Which indicates that Little Sis took a cue from her Big Sister and tried to change her own diaper. Well. . . she got the thing off, but didn't get much further.

I might have to start duct taping that thing on her!!

xoxo—Lori

Snow Day

This past weekend was a snowy one for us here in Tennessee (apparently, along with half the country!). So of course we had to take the Sisters out to play in it. However, as this is the first playable snow we've had in either of their lifetime, so we were not equipped. Nate ran to several stores looking for a sled before the girls woke up, but came home empty handed. Ingenuity is strong at our house so, we improvised. Rubbermaid bin lid? Looks like a sled to me!

We live in the city and roads were not such that we could drive anywhere, so along with a handful of other neighborhood kids, we took to the streets!











Cold hands? Warm them up on the vent. :)



Hope you saw some snow this weekend and enjoyed it as much as we did!

xoxo—Lori