Category Archives: etc.

Triangles

February 27, 2012

I’m really digging all the triangle patterns out there. I love how Oh Hello Friend is using triangles in her blog design and they keep popping up all over the place. I want to use this graphic design element somewhere. I’m sure it will show up in my Monthly Memory Verses, but I kind of want to go big with it somewhere in my home. Here’s some images that are inspiring me.

Etsy canvas via Ann Hoglund on Pinterest. (no longer available)

Mosaic Wallpaper via

HappyDappyBits cards

Triangles Cards Set of 4 - Geometric Patterns, Greeting

AlicePotter Illustration

Winter Stripe Chevron and Triangle Illustration 8x11 Print

Black and White Triangles in the Kitchen

I found these great geometric triangle pattern downloads last year, and still haven’t used them.

How do you feel about triangles? Are they just way too out there for you or are you ready to step out of the Potterybarn Catalogue and try something fresh and new?

DGGK3TNFVUNN

etc.

Chevron Quilt Pattern

February 25, 2012

Click here to see the finished quilt.

I’m pretty excited about getting a niece or nephew here in town pretty soon. My brother and his wife are adopting a baby very soon. They are going to be awesome parents. We are all really excited to meet this very special little person.

I made my other nephew’s quilt for him, and had so much fun doing it. I wanted to be able to make something special for the this baby, so I asked to make the baby quilt. I knew I wanted to do something funky, so I thought a chevron patterned quilt would be fun to try. Since we are not sure if it’s a boy or a girl, my sister in law went with fun gender neutral colors. The room is painted a bright sunny yellow and the quilt is going to be mostly a fun aqua/teal blue and kelly green. I threw in a splash of red and I’m considering doing the border in navy blue. I still need to find one more fabric in the green color (a hard color to find because it’s not lime green or sage green). I’ll post the fabrics I’ve found soon. It might not turn out to have exactly the same number of squares as my pattern, but I feel like this a good start.

I better get a move on with this quilt and my Dad’s quilt as well. Feel free to use or share this pattern.

etc.

Home Tour: Master Bathroom

February 23, 2012

When we remodeled our house a couple years ago, we added one of my most favorite rooms in the house – our Master Bathroom. For 6+ years we had happily shared one bathroom, but now with the convenience of two I wonder how I could go back. I had so much fun picking out the fixtures and finishes for this room.

The highlight of this room is by far the walk-in shower. I have my wonderfully talented Dad to thank for that. He installed and tiled the whole thing. The 18 inch grey tiles make for easy cleaning. There’s no door or curtain to collect mold and mildew. Just every month or so, I take a big brush and scrub down the walls and floor.

The two vanities are made to by the same manufactures of these Potterybarn ones. Except mine cost $300 each and I got them at Costco. They have great storage under the sink and in the baskets below. We store towels, blow dryers, toilet paper and more in them. And they have beautiful marble tops that are easy to clean. The mirrors above the sinks are handmade embossed tin, they are from a home interiors store (Mango) that I owned a few years back.

It’s a really spacious bathroom. Above the toilet I hung an antique beduin rug that I bought in the souq in Sanaa, Yemen. It adds a nice burst of color and softens the room a bit. I made the roman shades, you can see my step by step instructions on how to make them here.

The L and J are from Anthropology (but are an older version that are no longer available), the three wooden pieces are automotive part molds, and the towels are Potterybarn (no longer available).

etc.

Crying Over Spilt Milk

February 21, 2012

Last week I shared that I was going to try writing some posts that share more of me personally. Here’s more of who I am and my parenting journey (it’s far from perfect).

Breast feeding is definitely one of the most heated topics when it comes to having babies and raising them. Olivia is my third and last child. Denali is 10 and Dylan 8, when we got pregnant with Olivia, everyone asked if the pregnancy was planned. And yes she was planned. I had known for about five years that I wanted another baby. I couldn’t explain it but, I just knew I wasn’t done. It took five years to convince my husband, but that’s another story for another day. Olivia was my baby to enjoy every last moment with knowing I would never get to experience these things again. I had nursed my other two babies until they were a year, so there was no doubt in my mind that I was going to nurse Olivia as well. I’m not saying it was easy to nurse my other two children, but the hard work was totally worth it.

I am going to attempt to share my emotional journey of wanting to nurse my baby and not being able to. After Olivia was sent to the NICU at birth, I tried everything possible, and I mean everything, for more then seven weeks to successfully breast feed. I finally decided that this was not going to happen for Olivia and I. It had become a full time job: pumping, nursing, bottle feeding and then pumping again. I wasn’t getting to enjoy this time with my precious baby. I couldn’t hold her while I pumped. I had cried every day over this struggle. I cried that awful cry that dehydrates you because you shed so many tears. The kind of cry that just wells up and your body shakes and you can’t hold it in. Not just the misty eyes, much uglier then that.

I had wanted this so badly and never dreamt that I wouldn’t be able to nurse my baby. I was frustrated that no one could help me. I was angry that I had failed. This was supposed to be the most natural thing. I should be able to give my baby what she needs. What kind of a mother was I, if I couldn’t perform the simple task of nourishing my baby. This just wasn’t my plan. I hadn’t made the decision not to nurse my baby. I felt like someone else had unfairly decided this for me. I wanted someone to blame. The NICU nurses, even if they were just doing their job, were mainly to blame. But, blaming didn’t help, it didn’t fix the problem.

I wanted to be the one to feed my baby. I didn’t even want anyone else giving her a bottle. I selfishly felt like that was something that only I should get to do. I was her mother. I felt like if someone else could give her a bottle, then did she really need me?

For seven weeks I tried everything humanly possible. I talked to LLL, visited lactation consultants, tried every tool, trick, milkmaker cookie, and nipple shield out there. I finally decided that this was out of my hands. The pain of this loss was not over then though. I continued to cry for another seven weeks everyday. I remember standing in the bathroom, the usual crocodile tears dripping from my face, and me telling my husband that I just really wanted to be done with the sadness and tears. I wanted to be over crying. I had been grieving this loss for 3 months. I’m not saying I wasn’t enjoying my precious baby. I was loving every moment with her, but I was just feeling robbed of the special time that you can only have with your baby. I was grieving a loss.

For the most part I put on a happy face when people asked about the nursing. But, my husband and my mom knew how sad I was and how emotional I was. People tried to console me with comments like, “Well, she’s healthy”, and “I didn’t nurse my babies and they are perfectly fine”. These words didn’t help. I saw strangers at the mall nursing their babies and I would lose it. I feared that Christmas would be miserable because we were going to visit my husband’s family and my sister in law had a baby three days after me. I thought I was going to burst into tears every time she nursed her baby. I wanted that to be me.

Olivia is a healthy four months old now. Even writing this now has brought back the tears. A couple of weeks ago I found some breast milk in the freezer. After feeding the last of it to her, I cried again. I know in my head that we are bonded to each other and she loves me no different then my other kids did, but my heart still kind of hurts. It’s one thing to mentally understand something and a totally different thing to emotionally get a grip.

I feel like I must not be the only one out there that has wanted to nurse and can’t? Can you relate to my pain? Why is breast feeding so emotional?

etc.

DIY Spring Wreath

February 18, 2012

Instruction now available on youtube, click here.

How about some flowers that don’t wither or die? I made this wreath yesterday in no time at all. I didn’t even make a trip to the fabric or craft store. I just used scraps of fabric, burlap and felt that I had around the house. I’m pretty happy with how it turned out.

I mentioned on facebook last week that I wanted to host a crafting/DIY workshop. The idea is that I would have all or most of the supplies ready, and you could just come and make something fun, cute, or useful. Maybe I can help teach you a new skill or technique. So, how about we make this Spring Wreath. In an hour or so, depends on how much chatting and eating we do, you could leave with a cute wreath like this one (or in any color or season you wish).

So, if you live locally (Bakersfield, CA), are you interested? Is this something you would like to make? Leave me a comment. I want you input. Would a Saturday morning be good, or would you prefer an weekday evening? I want to host this first event this coming week. So tell your friends and “Like” my facebook page to find out the time and day.

And if you don’t live near by, don’t worry, I’ll post instructions after the diy workshop on the blog.
BE A FRIEND! Leave a comment, follow Oleander and Palm by email, Pinterest, Facebook, or Twitter.

Would you like a youtube video with instructions? Or are photos what you prefer? Leave me a comment, I want your input.

Instruction now available on youtube, click here. Or if you would rather just buy one, check out my etsy shop.

etc.

Manly Quilts

February 17, 2012

So, my dad’s birthday is rapidly approaching and really don’t know what to get him. Dad’s are hard to buy for, actually men in general are difficult buy gifts for. Girls like things that are just cute. You can’t give I guy something and say, “I just thought it was so cute, so I got it for you”. Especially if you have a manly dad like I do.

So, I’ve made a quilt for all three of my brothers. Joash’s quilt has retro fabric, Joel’s is modern and clean, and Josh’s is a masculine grey log cabin. So, I think it’s time I made my dad a quilt (shhhhh, don’t tell him). I’m becoming an expert at making quilts for men. It’s a lot harder to find fabrics that appeal to men. A lot of quilting cottons have flowers, and I don’t think that screams manly.

So, here’s the fabrics I’ve picked out so far for Dad’s quilt. I’m loving navy blue lately and how can you not love it with green. Now for a quilt design or pattern. Any ideas friends? I’m open for suggestions. I’m also working on a quilt for my new nephew/niece, It’s going to be a chevron pattern. Maybe something in stripes?

etc.

Mexican Mocha Chocolate Pudding

February 15, 2012

Here’s a quick and easy Valentine’s dessert that tastes totally decadent and unique. I’ve made this dessert quite a few times this winter for my family. It’s one of the desserts that you can whip up late at night when you have a serious chocolate craving.

Mexican Mocha Chocolate Pudding
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup cocoa
1/4 cup corn starch
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
a pinch of salt
2 1/2 cups milk
1 tsp. vanilla
1/3 cup Kahlua
3 Tbsp. butter

In a sauce pan, whisk together the sugar, cocoa, corn starch, cinnamon, and salt. Add the cold milk and whisk well. Add the vanilla and Kahlua. Turn the heat to med-high, stir continually with the whisk. Bring to a boil, making sure to continue to stir, cook until the pudding thickens (it should coat the back of a spoon. Whisk in the butter until it is totally melted.

Transfer to serving dishes while it is still hot. Serve warm or chill and serve with whipped cream. Because this is a cooked pudding, the alcohol in the Kahlua cooks off, so I serve this to my kids. It still has the yummy warm Kahlua flavor though.

etc.

Personalized Hearts

February 13, 2012

One evening this week, my kids had I had fun with some clay. We played with Crayola’s Air Dry Clay. I made these five hearts for all the members of my family. What are they for, you might be wondering? They are for cute. Simply for something cute to sit on a side table in a little bowl. Just some Valentine’s decor for our little family.

These hearts are about 2 inches wide. I used letters from a cookie press to write everyone’s names on the hearts.

After the hearts had dried for 3 days, I painted them with acrylic paint. All I needed was red and white painted. I started with the red heart and then added a little more white each time to the paint when I painted the next heart.

Last year I made these shirts, this meal, these lunches, these marshmallows and these cookies. It was fun to look back at my posts, but I do have to say that my photographs were not so great – I think I’ve made some improvements in the quality of my post photos.

If you like what you see, BE A FRIEND! Follow Oleander and Palm by email, Pinterest, Facebook, or Twitter.

etc.

Home Tour: The Bathroom

February 10, 2012

One of the best parts of our home is the original claw foot tub in our bathroom. Until 2009, this was our only bathroom. When we first moved in we retiled the floors, installed a new shower door, painted the outside of the tub and resurfaced the inside of the tub.

Opposite the toilet is a glass corner shower (not shown in the pictures).

This room is now in need of a fresh coat of paint, and I’m afraid it will probably go a shade of grey (I just can’t get enough of that color). My dream is to put a curtain surround around the tub and add the fixtures for a shower over the tub (something like this one). Then we could take out the corner shower and have a double vanity with more storage. This is one of my New Years Resolutions for 2012.

I’ve decorated the room with shells we collected while living in Papua New Guinea. The jars of shells where shells I just picked off the beach. Hanging above the tub, I have three shells that were painted on bark (I bought those in Fiji).

For an update, here’s some of the work I’ve done. And this is the inspiration for the bathroom re-do. And here’s the finished product.

etc.

Vintage Valentine: Party Day!

February 9, 2012

We’re ready for some fun. The girls are excited to decorate cookies, eat snacks, and just have fun together.

Beware: lots of pictures!