Picture this: a beautiful farmhouse built in 1900 set on a large grassy hill overlooking vast expanses of farm fields with a perfect sunset view. Then picture that someone took that farmhouse and remodeled the kitchen in the 70's. Recently, my brother bought the farmhouse I just described! While he was out of town for a weekend I decided to surprise him by overhauling the kitchen to a more charming, farmhouse feel. Here's the thing about my brother though, he's wasn't exactly thrilled. In fact, I would describe it more as upset. Here are the before pictures, take a look at the oven installed i ..read more

The number one question I get is "What is an unpaper towel?" and the number two question is, "What can I do with it?" Here's a quick YouTube Video (My first!!) and a list of many other uses! - sticky baby hands - sticky baby faces - muddy puppy feet - replacement for dinner napkins - wiping high chairs, the table after dinner, anything! - dusting - cleaning off the stovetop - cleaning the oven - wiping down the fridge, inside and out - washing off make up - dusting electronics the list goes on and on! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=niz94fFpUbs ..read more

This week on the gram I posted a video tutorial of how to make a quick fitted crib sheet - you can check out my posts on my Insta Story Highlights: DIY Crib Sheet for some video references! Here are all the steps if you want to make your own. You can adjust this tutorial for any type of fitted-sheet-like project - like changing pad covers, pack and play mattress sheet, fitted tablecloth, anything with an elastic edge.  First thing you’ll need is fabric. A standard crib sheet will need 2 yards of non-stretch cotton fabric. This is in most fabric stores under “quilting cotton”.  Some o ..read more

After a few months (a year?) away, I'm back and ready to get started with some major projects. My son was born in December of 2019, and we all know what happened in the world a few months after. Add to that moving from Virginia to Alaska by way of driving across Canada in the middle of a global pandemic, finding a property lot, a builder, and starting construction on our new home in Anchorage - things have been quite busy! I've been fortunate to have a steady stream of PNC business to keep me busy, and have been making swag for military units around the globe. Recently I've been shipping to J ..read more

For awhile now I've been searching for a solution to my tool problem. My tool cabinet drawers were a disorganized mess, where I couldn't find anything, and they'd get tossed around every time the drawers were opened and closed. In my mind I kept going back to my past life as an Air Force Maintenance Officer, and the way our toolboxes were shadowed. Tool shadowing is basically cutting the tool shape out of black foam, and putting a bright liner underneath to clearly show when a tool is missing, like this: Finding the proper supplies for tool shadowing turned out to be easier said than done. At ..read more

I have the best mom. Seriously. Here she is: And one of the reasons why is because she keeps stuff. Lots of stuff. Some stuff I'd rather forget, but mostly good stuff (hello old high school notes about ex boyfriends!). One of the best things she held onto was the play kitchen my brother and I had as kids. Lucky for me, I had her first grandchild so "Dibs!" (sorry, not sorry Marty). Included was a sink, a stove/oven, fridge, and cabinet/cupboard combo. Also a few flies and lots of dust, an unexpected bonus. That said, I was a child of the 80s... and this play kitchen is a child of... the wors ..read more

I am the luckiest woman alive. Truly. For the past week or so my mother and grandmother have been at my house visiting while the hubby is away. Many people may groan at the thought of having that much supervision at 29, but not me! They are the best houseguests a girl could ask for. Given that my "9-5" is a work from home job, they had no expectations for me during my work hours. They walk in the door, drop their luggage and ask for a honey do list - and when the list runs out they make things up. Keep in mind, my grandma is 83 - she's crushing it. And she finishes a hard day with a vodka and ..read more

When you think about vacationing in Alaska, most people immediately jump to the summer months when the salmon are running and the fireweed is blooming, but there is so much more to enjoy! I'm not sure if we're technically in "shoulder" season yet, but the shoulder seasons are the late spring and early fall months when there are fewer tourists but still plenty to do. One amazing adventure, only available in the spring shoulder season, is the migration of the gray whales to Alaska. We took a little family getaway to Seward to take a Kenai Fjords Tour during the few short weeks the gray whales a ..read more

Woo! I am back and in sewing action - a lot has happened since my last post! In November of 2015 we were living in what we'll call "The Golf Course House" when I last posted. Since then we moved out of the Golf Course house, my husband left for six months and I temporarily moved home to Wisconsin, hubby came back and we moved into the "Beach House" in summer of '16, I got pregnant, had a sweet baby girl in April of 2017, and we also moved from the Beach House to the current house the same month! As a military family we had been renting previous to this move, and now we own this one, so we'll ..read more

Thinking of building a new custom home? Here are the top 6 things everyone considering building a new custom home should consider. 1. Hiring or Be Your Own General Contractor While the savings of the General Contractor's (GC) overhead may look appealing on paper, it's important to consider the full picture of what a GC can offer you. For us, moving to a new state, we did not know any of the local businesses that we would hire for work. We had no idea which subs are trustworthy, reliable, do good work, are up to code, charge fair prices - the list goes on and on. Even if you're well established ..read more