Pencil Vases

Had a great time today helping put on the "welcome back" lunch for our school's teachers. I'm so thankful for how much they give to my kids. Looking forward to next Tuesday's drop off! 

These were the centerpieces I did for the tables and thought I'd share a little DIY. Fun for a teacher gift any time of the year. 

Supplies |

1 family-sized soup can (tall can)

40 Colored Pencils 

Hot glue gun

Wood skewer

Scrapbooking paper or notecards

Flowers of your choice

Instructions |

1. Clean your soup can and remove the outer wrapper. Dry completely

2. Use one colored pencil, point side up, to create a baseline along seam of can. Needs to be very straight for the rest of the pencils to line up. Glue on. 

3. Continue around the can gluing your pencils on, pushing them tightly together. If they are tight with no space between you'll be able to fit 40 pencils. 

4. Cut two same sized pieces of paper/notecard to make your sign. Write your message on one or both of the pieces. 

5. Thoroughly cover the back side of one of your papers with hot glue. Quickly put the top 1-2 inches of your skewer in the middle. Put the back side of the other paper on top of the glue covered paper and skewer. 

6. Put water in your can and arrange flowers. Push sign into your flower arrangement. 

7. Bring to school on the first day for big teacher points. You can cash them in later :) 

So Close

Look at my boy go! Get ready to party when Benners takes off on his own...

Monster Party

We celebrated our friend Henry's 7th birthday in Monster style. The boys had a great time and I loved all of the creative things you can make "monster". 

Monster glasses

Monster melon 

Monster mapping

Monster cake 

Monster toss 

Monster making 

Monster t-shirts 

Vintage Find

Vintage stand with brass finials and wheels. Yard sale goodness. 

Back to School Etsy Finds

Idea Pad 

Birchwood Pencil Holder 

Brooklyn Bridge Lunch Bag

Backpack Tags

Lunch Box Notes

Looking forward to my school shopping date with Lincoln next week...until then, here's some fun things I'm looking at on Etsy. 11 days and counting!

Jaws + Painting?

Tonight's agenda: Lincoln's first viewing of Jaws and painting my dining room this gorgeous shade of blue. (Palladian Blue by Benjamin Moore) 

"This shark...swallow you whole". Yikes. 

DIY | Map Art

I love old windows. But I get tired of looking at the same old thing. This window has been backed with fabric, pictures and now this vintage style map. This is a super quick and easy project. 

Here's what you'll need... 

- Black or white foam board (Joann's or Michael's)

- Spray adhesive. I use 3M's Super 77 multi-purpose adhesive. 

- Map or poster for display (same size or bigger than window opening)

- Box cutter or rotary blade

Here's how to do it...

- Clean the back side of your window/window panes

- Measure the inside width and height of your window opening. 

- Measure your map and decide how much you'll need to cut off to fit the window opening. 

- Spray adhesive on the back of your map and adhere to foam board. Start in one corner and work your way across using a credit card to smooth out bubbles. 

- Mark the spots where you'll need to cut on your foam board. Use your box cutter on a flat surface to score and then cut off the excess foam board to fit your window opening. You'll want a snug fit in the window. 

- Push your foam board into the opening in the back. If your window doesn't have extra space in the back, use mailing tape or another temporary adhesive to hold the map in place. 

- Clean the front of your window panes & hang

Beach Camping

We survived! Four nights and five days in the "wild". We camped in the sycamores, yet were so close to the beach we could hear the waves crashing at night. Did all the classic camping stuff....games, Beiber songs around the campfire, s'mores (highly recommend the french version!), hiking, etc. We hit the beach every day to add a little sand to the dirt covering our bodies. 

Camping is great. Coming home is even better. :) 

Odds & Ends

Image via StephModo

Northwest Berry Pie. Yum.


Love my big, open windows and views from each room. More rooms with a view.


Plan on sticking these new stamps to every letter.


Sailing in Greece. Yes, please.


The cutest wedding favor ever.


I'm obsessed with giants letters. These comic book letters are adorable for boys.


Pretty vacation book. Doesn't hurt that the vacation was in England!


What are you up to this weekend? We'll be packing up the cars and heading out for our Malibu camping trip. I'm a classic over-packer for things like this, so I'm trying to weed out the non-essentials. Big shopping trip tomorrow for all of the delicious camp food we'll be eating! Have a great week and I'll be back with tales of our time at the beach. Yippee!

Year in Pictures

Our family art wall has turn into a photo gallery. Printed the year's best pictures out in black & white, different sizes  and mounted on black foam core. My favorites are the square 12 x 12's.  Added in a few quotes from the Queen Bee Market. John pointed out that I didn't include any pictures of myself. Oops. I guess I'll be doing a little more printing...

Del Mar

We went to the horse races this weekend and I think we're hooked. Despite being our first time, and not having a clue what we were doing, we won! John bet on a long-shot horse and when he won we celebrated like we were the horse's owners. Thanks for joining us Pitkins. I'm sure you'll be the big winners next time :) 

Creative Camping

We're heading out to the "wilderness" next weekend for what could become our annual camping trip. (Beach camping in Malibu...is that camping?) John and I have different opinions about what you can classify as "camping". I'd like to pitch one of these spring bar tents & he'd like to rent the teardrop trailer to sleep in. I'm thinking we'll probably end up in our big family tent as usual! 

I'll definitely be trying these french style s'mores, and a top priority is a  campsite with trees large enough to hang a hammock.  

Have you done any camping this summer? Any equipment you can't live without? 

Spring bar tent + quilts via Martawrites  

French style s'mores with Petit Ecolier Cookies via Steph Modo 

Teardrop trailer kitchen + bed for two 

Hammock Camping via Soule Mama

Queen Bee Market in SD

I've heard the Queen Bee is the coolest market around for all things handmade so I have to see for myself. I'm excited to pick up a few treasures and collect some new DIY ideas. Tomorrow morning...join me! 

Images via The Pleated Poppy 

The Perfect Rug

Of all the decisions to be made when designing a room, choosing the right rug is the most difficult in my opinion. A rug that compliments the room, but doesn't overtake it. One that is comfortable, long-wearing and affordable. A tall order to fill. 


After months of looking, today was the day.  West Elm's new "Tangled" wool rug. Chunky, plush, hand-looped wool in grey and ivory. Built for wrestling boys in the day and lounging on to watch the Bachelor at night. Perfect 

Hooray!

Bear's mixed reaction to hugging "Dr. Evil", the camp villain 

A new logo! I'm so excited about it. What do you think? 

We're headed home from Oakbridge tomorrow. It's been a great month, but we're ready to settle back into the Giant Peach and kick back a bit. The kids are all water-logged, tan and a little bit sassy for my taste. It'll be a bit of Byard boot camp this week. I'm sure it's been a little bit quiet around the neighborhood with our boys gone, but it's about to get a whole lot noisier...