diy backsplash

Posted: July 6, 2011 | Author: | Filed under: Crafts, Family, Us Sorenson's | Tags: | 2 Comments

Here’s how it went:

House Hunting.  See a kitchen with a glass tile backsplash.  It was bright and bold and beautiful and I wanted to buy the house for that reason alone. Obsess about it.  End up buying a different house.  It doesn’t have a backsplash.  Love the new house, especially the kitchen. Still obsessed about backsplashes.  Decide to save up some money and have one put in.

Many months later:

Happy hour with our friends the Sloans.  Backsplash talk. Early morning Lowe’s run to buy some odds and ends.  See this:

Buy it.  Spend Sunday DIY-ing our tile backsplash.  Realize we are not handy. Grouting is hard. Learn that they write the directions the way they write them for a reason. Decide, “Oh well it looks fine” on countless occasions throughout the day.  Step back.  Kind of far.  LOVE.

We have decided that we wouldn’t do it again. It was pretty messy and a little tricky. We are so happy that we did it.

i keep forgetting, sewing is really hard.

Posted: June 23, 2011 | Author: | Filed under: Crafts, Us Sorenson's | Tags: | 3 Comments
I love DIY blogs.  Love just scrolling back and back and back through previous posts on a newly stumbled upon (clicked on from Rochelle’s ‘Blogs We Love’ section) ‘craft blog’. I especially love the ones about sewing.  This is weird because I don’t know how to sew.   It is also weird because I KNOW how sewing makes me nutty.  I get frustrated and sweaty and agitated as I sit at the sewing machine and just can’t seem to get it to do the beautiful things that the blogs promise.  So, knowing that about myself, with my mom’s birthday approaching I thought I’d attempt a ‘ bookmarked sewing project’ for her?  This one seemed easy enough and like something JoJo would totally like and appreciate, so I tried it.  About 15 minutes in I realized it was NOT going to be gift-worthy.  Being as crazy as I am I decided that the craziness of not finishing the project would drive me more crazy than actually finishing it (both pretty high levels of crazy).  So I did.  At some point I just stopped trying to make it look like the blog and just tried to make sure it looked apron-ish and wouldn’t fall apart.  Though not up to quality standards for gifting my Ma, it is definitely worthy of me sporting while I bake!  I’ve never owned an apron and kinda like the look… But next time I have an apron urge I think I’ll just head out to Anthropologie 😉

things i like today pt.1

Posted: April 22, 2011 | Author: | Filed under: Beauty, Crafts, Nails, Us Sorenson's | Tags: | 1 Comment

Talking about nails folks… I decided I needed a short break from my favorite color and from my go-to color.  Thought I’d get bored, but I’m loving the fresh, clean, simplicity of the nude hue!

Our recent trip to Colorado Springs provided us more than quality great-grandma time, road-trip fun and more fast food than I think we’ve ever eaten in 48 hours… We were given this awesome end table! For the past 50+ years it has lived in Grandma Sorenson’s house and now it lives in ours!  I forgot the before picture, but subtract the funky new glass knob, and the ‘almond’ paint and you get the idea… I loved it before and I LOVE IT now!  Seriously friends, take a second look at some of those old furniture pieces that someone thinks are so ‘out’, you’d be amazed what a little face-lift will do for the piece and your home!

Any day that has coffee, cookies, crafts, my best girl and my little beauties is LIKE the best day ever!

This song on this precious day:

“The fullness of Your grace is here with me
The richness of Your beauty’s all I see
The brightness of Your glory has arrived
In Your presence God, I’m completely satisfied

For You I sing I dance
Rejoice in this divine romance
Lift my heart and my hands
To show my love, to show my love

A deep deep flood, an Ocean flows from You
Of deep deep love, yeah it’s filling up the room
Your innocent blood, has washed my guilty life
In Your presence God I’m completely satisfied”

“…he surrendered himself to death
and was counted among the wicked;
and he shall take away the sins of many,
and win pardon for their offenses.”

-Isaiah 53.12

just in time

Posted: April 13, 2011 | Author: | Filed under: Ava Rae, Crafts, Noelle, Us Sorenson's | Tags: | 2 Comments

The weather is actually warm… we can justify t-shirts for the park… it’s sunscreen time… just when it’s time for THIS↓ kind of hat…

I finished up my first crochet bonnet for Elle.  I saw this hat for sale on Etsy and couldn’t stop thinking about it.  After looking at the picture many times I decided, ‘I can do that’.  It’s a stretch…and it very well might fall apart after one wear.  But I am very proud of my no-pattern hat.  I just really wish it was the kind of weather for me to tie it on my little elf at every opportunity.

Please don’t misunderstand me.  I AM THRILLED FOR SPRING.  I just wish my hat didn’t take me all of winter to complete! At the rate of baby growth in the house, this sweet little hat will not be worn (besides this mini-photo shoot) and will instead be hung on a hook for baby #3.  Or it will just hang on that hook forevermore.

Freezing Fun

Posted: February 4, 2011 | Author: | Filed under: Ava Rae, Crafts, Family, Us Sorenson's | Tags: , , , | 1 Comment

Even Ava knew that when you have a snow day you HAVE to build a snowman!  I am not so much the cold-weather type but I do love to think of ways to create… so while we waited for dad to get home from work Ava and I ransacked our home for some great snowman supplies!  We ended up with a carrot, 2 Hershey kisses, dried peas, a bandanna, a hat, pipe cleaners and 2 blue M&M’s…

After some scooping,

and patting,

look at what they made! (Can’t you almost feel how cold it is?)

Ava was so proud of her Snow- Girl 🙂
After warming up with some hot chocolate by the fire Ava agreed to model my first 2 knitting projects!  A (Dani) headband/ear-warmer and one for little Daisy! I finished them just in time for the freezing days we’ve had this week– I have been wearing mine even in the house 🙂

Snowboardanas and Baby Headwraps!

Posted: January 28, 2011 | Author: | Filed under: Ava Rae, Crafts, Noelle, Other Family | Tags: , | 1 Comment

What talent our loved ones have!

Here are a few creative ways we will be keeping warm for the remainder of the wintertime!

Mitch made us these Awesome ‘Snowboardanas’ (named by me- so if that is a super lame name don’t hold it against the talented designer)!  They are the perfect way to keep your face warm while boarding (or in our case walking around our cul-de-sac).

They can also be used to warm up your neck… AND they look cool 🙂

I heard that Mr. Mitch is taking orders… so let me know if you’re interested!



The girls are ready for some cold weather too!  Thanks Roche for these super cute ear-warming headbands!

Everytime we leave the house Ava runs around like a crazy person trying to find their matching ‘outside headbands’!