Kett Files: Mowers Make a Home

In case you didn't know...I have a deep love of Pinterest. ;) I use it as a search engine, a vision board, an organizational tool, a planning space, and on collaboration projects. It's one of my online BFF's. 

After moving into our current house at the beginning of June, I wasn't too worried about decorating as we'd be gone most of the summer. I knew though that when I got back that I wanted to hit it hard and really get the place put together. This time though, I told myself that I didn't have to put things up on the wall just because we have them. I want to choose what will look best, what represents us the most, and what fits the style we like. 

And then I froze. 

What style do I like? What do I put up? What do I make? How do I do this without spending a fortune?! 

I just wasn't sure how to go forward. The place felt meh. Not bad, but not anything special or truly us. 

And then the other night I was scrolling through kitchens on Pinterest and found this picture: 

And suddenly the heavens parted and ideas started coming!


My kitchen won't look like this (being in a rental I'm thinking maybe we shouldn't go in and repaint everything they just remodeled, nor do we need to as it's all well done), but I can take aspects of it and integrate it in. Did you see our big crazy bed that got us through our one bedroom wonder this past year? We designed it so that we could take all the components apart and use it as regular furniture some day. Well, that day is just around the corner. We're getting a bed frame again, leaving the dresser in the room, and then moving the other pieces into the dining area as a hutch and the mudroom as shelves. And I get to paint them!! Guess what color?! No, not orange. I still can't figure out how to make it not so garish in decor. I'm going sage green with touches of copper and orange. It's perfect!

I've never painted furniture before, but I'm excited to give it a try! As I jump more into this adventure of decorating intentionally, I'll share more of the journey. I know there will be successes and Pinstrosities with it all. But that's part of it!

I was a little hesitant at first at the idea of sharing this part of my life. While I love our little single wide trailer rental, it's not glamorous. It's not something most people would aspire to live in. But, we are happy here. We are thankful for it. And really it's not about curb appeal or being fancy for guests. Building a home is all about building a haven for my family, a place where we can be together and feel safe, loved, and comfortable. And that is what I'm setting out to do! I hope you'll join in along the way as I try to figure this all out!

Simple DIY Luau Decorations

Not too long ago I was helping come up with the decorations for another youth stake dance (this seems to be a reoccurring theme in my life, but I sure love it!). This time, the theme was a summer luau. Pulling ideas from Pinterst, past dances, the store, and the closet of old decorations that was passed down from previous youth leaders, we had more decorations than we had time to put up. 

Time. Now there was an interesting part to all of this. 

I was excited for this and headed into town to do my errands, pick up final supplies, and head to the church cultural hall to start decorating. I got all the way to Walmart (because that's our choice around here), 20ish miles away, and discovered that I didn't have a cent on me. My wallet was back at home. 

I couldn't really do anything without it, so back home I went and got the wallet. That was nearly an hour wasted. 

But finally I got the last supplies, got to the church and began unloading my car and searching the closet for any luau supplies (which there were buckets full...literally buckets). About half an hour after I got to the church, our President arrived and I went out to help unload her car, only to discover that I'd let the door close behind us, locking us out. See, being the only one at the church for just a little bit I'd only unlocked the one door long enough to get in and then closed it behind me. We were locked outside with no keys to get back in. Along with the church keys were our car keys and our cell phones. There was no way to get in touch with anyone who could help! 

So I went to a nearby house where I knew a church member lived hoping they'd have keys. And they were gone. We were getting ready to start canvasing the neighborhood when out of the corner of my eye I saw the missionaries leaving a back door of the church. We'd had no idea they were even in there! We dashed over there like crazy ladies (which we might have been getting close to at that point), and they let us in the door so we could get back in and decorate. More time lost. 

So in the end I didn't end up making the palm tree, or the palm leafy backdrop, or a few other things. But you know what...the kids had a great time, they ate almost all the refreshments, and it was a positive activity, so it's okay! 

I did get a few decorations made though! I want to share two of them with you because they are super easy and super cute! 

The first was our tiki pole.

I found this idea on Pinterest, linking back to the Design Sprinkles blog. Not wanting to ruin the paper bags, I used masking tape in a loop on the back of each face part to attach them to the bag. Beign in a hurry, I didn't make all the cool different shapes you see on the original bags, but these did the job well!

I had the idea to drop battery operated lights in them to make it a glowing tiki pole. Great idea, but it didn't work. The bags were too thick. I think next time instead of doing a tiki pole, I'll do tiki heads, luminary style with lunch bags so that they can glow all around the room. How cool would that look?!

We also found that if you stacked more than 4 of these up, it fell. So we ended up with 2 small stacks rather than one large one.

The other quick decoration I want to show you are our mini tiki torch lanterns.

These were a mini version of the lanterns found on the Design Sprinkles blog. I had a stack of 5" squares of scrapbook paper that I used for this. I followed the original instructions (folding in half to get a crease, and then cutting strips evenly around the paper, leaving a margin on top and bottom). Next I wrapped one margin end of the paper around a battery operated tea light and taped it in place. I couldn't find our scotch tape and didn't want a chunk of masking tape visible, so I stapled the tops closed. Not the smoothest look, but it sure did the job fast to use the stapler. These looked really cool out on the tables and glowed nicely!

After the dance we threw away the face parts of the tiki pole, but were able to keep all 6 of the bags for future gift giving, and the paper from all the tiki lanterns. It was all easy to put together and quick clean up!

A Desert Lovers Dream!

Hello!

So I tempted our Facebook followers with news that I would posting a video...and then it totally didn't turn out the way I was expecting. It was still a blast to make and I'm glad I did it, but it wasn't quite the internet fodder I thought it would be. Maybe it will grace the pages of Pinstrosity some day, but that day is not today.

What I do have for you today is my newest love/obsession! My dear friend Manny recently gifted me with two precious and ridiculously amazing lamps that belonged to her Grandmother. To say that I feel honored and loved to now have these items in my possession would be an understatement. They are magnificent. While going through some of Grandma's things they saw the lamps and were reminded of my desert inspired home. While I live in Utah, New Mexico will always be home. When we went to Arizona over Spring break I was giddy with the sight of desert mountains, brown everything and saguaro cactus #truelove. Manny and sweet Mama Kay thought that the lamps would look great in my space and offered them to me. There I was staring at the pictures on my phone with tears of love welling up in my eyes. I am tickled that these ladies love me enough to share these treasures with me.

I received the lamps yesterday and they are SO much better in person than in picture.

The first lamp is by a native New Mexican artist whose signature is GH, any ideas?? I've done some research and can't find exactly who made the piece but would love to know more about it.

The second lamp was made by Grandma Nanneman (she was so multi-talented! Her rhubarb jam is divine by the way). I love them! They are PERFECT for my space! Now I have to pick/make some lampshades!

I have pinned a few ideas, but I would love your help Pinstrositeers!

Here are a few of my ideas, but I am open to anything! I know you all have swoon worthy pin boards and I would love for you to share them with me! I can't wait to see what you have in mind!

I will definitely keep you updated on #projectlamp. To leave things off today here are a few of the pins I took inspiration from when thinking about this project.

http://gypsyville.com/

I would love to try to make this with watercolors and some thin paper to really make the colors and light pop!

http://www.anthropologie.com/anthro/product/home-lighting/25512377.jsp#/

I would love to try this with teal colored beads or even real turquoise beading!

http://knoettehuset.blogspot.com/2011/11/i-det-kreative-hjrnet.html

I like the hidden design on this, and since it's underneath you could really do something crazy and get away with it!

http://www.domesticimperfection.com/2015/05/diy-lampshade-with-a-hidden-design/

I love the feel of this lamp, while I have no intentions of replicating it, because there is some serious artistry happening here I love the idea behind it, there is a very subtle power in the inlaid turquoise.

http://www.wkohlerlampco.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=75

I think it would be fun to do an Aztec-y design with something like this.

http://www.prettydesigns.com/lampshade-tutorials/

Happy Thursday all!

How My Dream Decorating Style is Like a Pie

If you ever asked my Grandpa what his favorite kind of pie was, he'd tell you "Round!" Pies are one of the few baked goods I feel like I'm good at. Pie crusts specifically. I can make a mean flaky crust! Learning to make the edges pretty is still a work in progress however.

Recently I joined a group for photographers to connect, do weekly exercises, and to help build each other up and grow. This past week's exercise was to "describe the type of photographic style you aspire to by comparing it to food."

As I thought about that I realized that I not only could I describe my photography with a specific food, but that I could describe my dream decorating and home style to the same food with the same key words.

Inviting. Classy. Comfortable. Authentic. Homey. Subtle. Light (but not too airy). That is what I want my photography to be and what I want my home to be. My dream style is 1920's American Cottage Homestead. NOT Art Deco or Art Nouveau, but more classic and homey. Like these:

So when it came to food, I knew that it had to be something homemade, subtle, and comfortable. I first thought of biscuits and gravy. Comforting, subtle, homey. But not light, and needing a little more class. Suddenly, I knew the perfect food.

Pie.

Specifically Buttermilk Pie!

A good Buttermilk Pie starts with authentic ingredients. Real butter. Fresh lemons. Buttermilk. Mmmm!

Then you need a well prepared crust to hold it all together.

And when combined and cooked just right you end up with a classy dessert that's comforting, subtly sweet, inviting, homey, and light!

It is fabulous plain, or with some simple garnishes.  Real whipped cream and raspberries...MMMmmm!!

When it comes to my home (current home and dream home), I want to keep it simple and classy. I want people to feel comfortable here. I want it to be a place where people feel like they can just relax, enjoy life, and be themselves. I want it to be inviting and light. I want little splashes of color on top of light neutrals (as with the raspberries on top of the whipped cream and pie) As with pie, I want people to come away from our home with a sweet taste in their mouth. And the garnish on top? Relationships and friendship. I want our home to be a place where we feel safe and connected as a family. Where friends feel they can come and be loved on. Because really, friends and family are the whipped cream of life!

What food would you compare your decorating style to?!

Buttermilk Pie Recipe:

Ingredients:

1 1/2 c sugar
3 TBS flour
3 eggs
1 c buttermilk
1/2 c melted butter
1 1/2 tsp loosely packed lemon zest
2 TBS fresh lemon juice
1 tsp vanilla extract

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Whisk the sugar and flour together in a large bowl. 
2. Whisk in remaining ingredients. 
3. Pour into prepared crust. 
4. Line edges of crust with strips of tin foil to shield them from burning. Remove tin foil (I find it is easier to mold the tin foil at this point when the pan is cool rather than later when it is hot). 
5. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes. 
6. Replace foil lining on edges. 
7. Bake for another 20-30 minutes, until the top begins to turn golden. 
8. Transfer to a wire rack and cool for 1 hour to let the pie finish setting up. 

No Fail Pie Crust Recipe

Ingredients:

1 c flour

1/2 tsp salt

1/3 c. + 1 TBS shortening (I like using the butter flavored shortening)
2-4 TBS water

Instructions:

1. Mix flour and salt together.
2. Cut in the shortening (don't over mix here, there will be shortening clumps and chunks, that's normal and needed)
3. Sprinkle in water 1 TBS at a time, mixing between each TBS. I use my hands to mix the dough, and I mix it by folding the dough in half rather than stirring or smashing). You want the dough to hold together and not be sticky.
4. Sprinkle counter with flour and roll out dough to desired thickness.
5. Place in pan, and poke 2-3 holes in bottom of crust (to prevent bubbles)
6. Bake at 475 degrees for 8 minutes.

Iron Craft 2016: Flowers, Hearts, and PIGS!

It's Reveal day for Challenge #2 of Iron Craft 2016! The theme for this challenge was "Hearts and Flowers".

I'm not a big hearts and flowers kind of girl...so at first I was stumped (as I usually am the first day or two of each new challenge). After a few days I still kept coming up blank, until I decided to integrate the challenge theme into my decorations for the Baby's Corner (with Darrow I got to decorate his own room, but now that we're all in one room, I'm just decorating the corner where the baby bassinet lives). I turned to my Pinterest boards and found two adorable pins that suddenly gave me an idea!

The pig mobile Created by Eleni and the wedding photo is via The Amy and Jordan Blog, from a fabulous workshop wedding! 

I LOVE the hanging embroidery hoops with flowers and knew that could be the flowers part of the challenge. And while I wasn't making a mobile, I wanted pigs and flying pigs incorporated into the theme, so I set off to look for ideas and printables and found some great ones (and one that incorporated the heart part of the theme!)

This color scheme is my obsession right now, so I decided to run with it for the colors for the corner as much as I could (these are hard colors to find in the crafting supply world!). 

My inspiration for incorporating the hearts into the whole project was this find on etsy:

I'd already had a similar free pattern pinned (I'm guessing this is what the creator of the above photo used too, but who knows).

by mausimom

I got this adorable free Pride and Prejudice movie quote printable from Kendra (a long time Pinstrosipeep!). It's so cute and it makes me giggle. At some point in March I will be producing a "piglet" and we'll have to chase it.

Get the full size printable on Kendra's Blog. 

And then through Pinterest I found this adorable pattern on Etsy, but was sad to find that the shop is on break and I couldn't order it. But I still used it as inspiration.

http://thelittlefrenchbullblog.tumblr.com/post/22300535484

This quote was all over Hobby Lobby when I went for supplies and I knew it had to go up in the mix. I couldn't find a design I liked online to order (or one that I thought was a reasonable price), so I made my own.

And then I found this adorable cutie by Elizabeth Rose Stanton on The Whatsits. .

by Elizabeth Rose Stanton

So I spent a furious few days cross-stitching, flower arranging, and trying out different printing methods. But finally it all came together and I LOVE it! 

Putting it together was the part I was nervous about. I wanted to be able to arrange it first and then hang it up exactly in position without having to move things around and poke new holes in the wall. So I got freezer paper out, laid it on the floor, and then arranged the items on the papers. Once I had two arrangements I liked (for the two walls), I traced the circles onto the paper, took pictures with my phone and then took everything into the bedroom to hang.

I taped the freezer paper up onto the wall, and then tapped the nails in through the paper exactly where I would need them.

The paper pulled off the wall easy and left the nails intact and in place. All I had to do then was just hang the items on their nails!

For the flower hoops I had 6 bundles of florals (hooray for 50% off days at Hobby Lobby!) and I cut the flowers and greenery off and mixed and matched until I got what I liked, using the Amy & Jordan photo as my general guide and inspiration for arranging.

I did two cross-stitch pig designs, one in a 4" hoop (the hello pigs) and one in a 6" hoop (the print pig).

I planned on doing the rest of the designs printed on muslin fabric and stuck in the hoops, but I had a hard time getting everything to work just right. I found a great tutorial for printing on fabric that I decided to try, and it works!  The polka dot dress pig was printed using that tutorial.


After that though I kept fighting with my computer to print them the way I wanted to and by the time I figured it out I'd used all my muslin. So, I just decided to print the rest on cardstock and glue it to the hoop. It worked!

Finally at the end I had left over florals that I just couldn't throw away, so I tied them in a bundle and included them in the decor!

I'm pretty tickled with how it all came together. I wasn't sure if it would or if it would look weird, but I like it! And, I got flowers and hearts into the project in a way that I LOVE and that fits me. Hooray!

And, since I worked on this all day Monday (I did the cross stitches earlier, but everything else was Monday)...NOTHING else got done. Nothing. Darrow's toys were everywhere. We ate just Mac and Cheese for lunch and snack. I stayed in sweats until 4pm. So the corner was cute by the end of the day...but that was the only space in the house that looked good! But, it's done and today I can hit the house. 

To see Challenge #1 of the 2016 Iron Craft Challenge click here.