fiona's boho indian room

Welcome to my favorite room in the house!

Fiona's nursery is basically all of my favorite things in one room. India! Saris! Pillows! Wicker! Elephants! It's all about the textiles in here, and I love how lush it feels. The paint color is peach/salmon/pink - depending on the light - and is inspired by Hawa Mahal or the "Pink Palace" in Jaipur, western India. I visited Jaipur with my dad during my junior year of high school, and it was my favorite place in India.

Take a tour with me!

Jaina helped me color in these elephants before Fiona was born.

And she gladly donated her wooden animals for her baby sister's room.

Crocheted wall hanging and pom-pom garland by me. 

Photograph by my sister, Faith! Gorgeous, no?

Kind of obsessed with my new pom-pom maker.

I could make these things all day. They're a ton of fun. 

Possible future Etsy business. ;)

Fiona's first Christmas gift. Jaina also has a print by this artist.

The good old Rockasan got a new cover.

Both the lamp and the shade were from a local thrift store, though bought at different times. 

I added the pom-pom trim.

The sari over the crib is mine that I wore a few times. 

It's hung on three hanging plant hooks from Lowes. 

I sewed a few ties onto the fabric to secure it to the side of the crib. 

That way she can't pull it all in on herself.

I made the crib skirt from fabric that was on clearance at Joann's for around $2 a yard!

Stuffed elephant from Pier 1. Pillow and matching quilt brought back from India by Mom.

The mobile is from Thailand, brought back by Aunt Grace & Aunt Faith.

The curtains were from Pier 1 a long time ago. 

I've had them in this room since it was the guest room.

Cute little elephant hamper from good old Wehrly's Auction!

The fruit crates were my dad's. 

He used them to keep his records in while he was in college, and so did I. 

The painting is by my sister, Rebekah. 

The clothing pieces were either mine or the girls' from India, China, and Thailand.

I bought this clock at Wehrly's years ago. 

Beka stole it for a while, but I got it back and finally get to enjoy it. 

The Salwar is mine and is what I wore to see the Taj Mahal!

These pictures were taken over two months ago. Little Missy has grown up quite a bit since then!

Headband, bloomers, and stuffed elephant from Aunt Natalie brought back from Russia and Thailand.

"I don't do stuff on my head, Mom. You know this."

I've gotten to spend a looooot of time in this room, and I'm so glad I took the time to make it pretty. Sweety-Peety can't concentrate to eat unless she's in a darkened room, so a couple times a day I get to curl up and spend some quiet time in here.

Because we already had all of the furniture and most of the fabrics and pillows, I hardly bought anything for this room. I think the hamper, changing pad cover, and papasan cushion are about it. Someday we hope to move the girls into a room together, and I hope I can convince them to keep the boho-Indian theme cause it makes me very happy. ;)

halloween '15

I loooooove dressing up. And dressing up my kiddos is one of my favorite "selfish perks" of having children (along with baby showers and knowing you can always leave uncomfortable social gatherings "because of the kids" - I mean, just kidding...).

And even though I couldn't get out the sewing machine to whip up anything fancy this year (Fiona's Pack 'n Play is taking up residence where my sewing table used to be) we dove into dress up season hard. The first was for a little photo shoot for my sister's birthday.

 Little Harry!

 Little Hermione!

James and Lily Potter in the Mirror of Erised!

This was super fun and took me just a few minutes to pull together. The only thing I made was the Gryffindor tie for Hermione that I also draped over Fiona's neck to be Harry's scarf. The robe for both Harry and Hermione is just my black turtleneck draped over their shoulders, but it looks pretty good! Happy Birthday, Aunt Beka!

Next was Hanover's official trick-or-treat night which is almost always way before Halloween. We were a Lumberjack and his woodland creatures. ;)

I made crochet fox and bear hats for Jaina and Fiona (the pattern is no longer available online). And I made fox and raccoon tails for Jaina and me. Did you know you can make these realistic tails with just regular yarn and a wire pet brush? Pretty nifty. I have nasty scars down my arm from the brush slipping out of my hands and scratching me, though.

Just these few pieces were totally doable - even with a colicky baby and a precocious 3-year-old underfoot. The nice thing about crochet is that if the conditions are just right you can actually work on it with a baby sleeping on you.

Look at that cute little bear cub. Last minute I realized I needed mittens for her, so I stuffed her little fists into socks. Her hat fit really well, Daddy just didn't have it pushed down all the way. ;)

Lastly, we did a daytime trick-or-treat at a local shopping center. Just for fun, I dug out last year's Red Riding Hood and wolf costumes and made Fiona the little old granny. Too cute!

I have my hair up, hence the cone head.

Jaina is having the time of her life organizing and rearranging all of her candy. Not even eating it, just putting it in piles, telling me how many of each kind she has, and explaining which 10 are her "favorite". She really doesn't grasp the concept of favorite meaning one right now, and it weirdly (and irrationally) drives me crazy. ;) So all hope of "sharing" some of her candy after she goes to bed or throwing out the really yucky stuff has gone out the window since she's taken a very careful inventory. She's one smart cookie.

If you want to see our other family costumes you can check out The Flintstones and the original Red Riding Hood crew.

Trick-or-Treat!

jaina's thought for the day

gifts for hire

So everyone's been telling me I should start an Etsy shop and sell stuff that I make. I would definitely like to, but it's gonna take a bit of time. First, I have to make enough merchandise to open a shop. Then I have to price out shipping so that I can price items accurately. I also need to do some research to see what other people charge so that I don't under or over-sell things.

Anyway, late last night I had A BRILLIANT IDEA. While I'm waiting to start my online shop I can make things for friends around here! This way I can save up some money to buy supplies for the "real stuff" I'll make to sell on Etsy. So, feel free to browse. My email is at the bottom. Let me know if you'd like me to make you any of these items in time for Christmas.

Fuzzy Cowls $15

Chunky Cabled Cowl $25

Lattice Cowl $15 (It's smaller, but it looks good with a coat on. Might work for a guy. I wouldn't know cause Zach refuses to wear scarves. If it's for a guy you can call it "The Chain Mail Cowl".)

Crazy Scarf $20 (This guy looks insane, but it's really easy. If I make it again I wanna do it in a heavier yarn.)

T-shirt necklaces $10 + shirt cost (You can bring me old shirts you wanna use. That's not weird.)

So that's my Friends & Family 2012 Christmas Shop. Unfortunately, I won't be shipping anything before Christmas, so you'll have to live around here. That's part of my "easing into it" plan. If you would like anything on here you can:

A. Leave a comment, or

B. Facebook message me, or

C. Call me, or

D. Email me at kara(dot)elizabeth24(at)gmail(dot)com*, or

E. All of the above  (Don't you dare.)

Merry Christmas!!!

*Why do people write their emails like that in blogs? Do you get spammed if you put your email address out there? I don't normally do things without knowing why, but I guess I'll go along with it.