Just a short post with some pretty summer photos to let you know that I’m putting The Green Wife on pause.  I’ve already been a little MIA lately, so I thought I’d just put it officially on pause for a bit.  Right now I don’t know if it will be a week, a month or a year, but I’ll return with more fun and tutorials at some point.

In the meantime, dig around the site, maybe catch an occasional update on Facebook or Twitter, and keep an eye on Flickr for photos.

You’ll still be able to reach me at abbie(at)thegreenwife.com if you have any questions or fun things to share.

In the meantime, I wish you many happy days, peaceful nights and lots of laughter.  Enjoy the rest of your summer!

My super-clever friend Valerie mentioned yesterday that she was buying a set of commercially available topic cards for and upcoming occasion in her life.  I started pricing them and decided to make some myself instead.  I’m sure the boxed sets are great, but we’ve got so many upcoming trips that I’m trying to pinch pennies, stay green and keep our travel budget under control.

So here’s the deal.  I grabbed a bunch of empty boxes from the recycle bin.

The kids and I busted them apart at the seams and cut them into sections.

I cut one at roughly 4″ x 1/5″.  This isn’t an exact science and in my book, who cares if they’re perfect?  It’s all about quick, fun and easy!

Then instead of using my ruler that you see above that I’ve had since 3rd grade (Yes, really.  It was a consolation prize from my small hometown’s Mayfest and has stuck around all these years.), I just roughly used one as a template and cut around them until I had 40 approximately-the-same-size cards.

After that, I dug around on the internet and in my brain for some questions to use.  I typed them up, printed them out and cut them into strips using some old scrapbook zig-zaggy scissors.

Then I borrowed a glue stick from the kiddos and pasted the paper onto the cards.

Voila!  Nothing fancy, but they should definitely help us while away the hours on the road.  But wait!  What’s that image flashing before my eyes??  Oh yes….conversation cards in the floorboards, wedged between seats and smudged with Cheeto fingerprints??  Ack!

Much better.  A drawstring bag to fit in Mommy’s purse. (See bag tutorial here.)

I hope that if you make these cards, they bring you hours of peace in the car and bring you and your kids a little closer.  You never know what’s going on in those brilliant little minds until you ask them a bunch of random questions.

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Joy sells Amy Butler and Heather Bailey fabric, you see.

This is Joy.  This is Joy in her roomful of gorgeousness.  This is Joy in her room full of gorgeousness in her own home.

A) See that face?  Now you can see the joy in Joy.  The joy in A Joyful Soul Fabrics.  She radiates love, warmth and….joy.

B) Can you even imagine having that fabric stash in your house??  You should see the projects she can crank out.  She’s a sewing…..um…machine?  You know what I mean.  I think.

I need this quilt.  I’ll make one soon.  I think.

So…because she’s just about to leave me, you guys get the hookup.  See, it will save her lots of time, effort and moolah if she can unload some of this fabric on us rather than having to pack it up and ship it across Texas.  Poor, poor us, huh?

Details: Joy has given me a discount code to share with you guys!  Now through June 6, use the code TGW20 to get 20% off of any order over $25!!

She’s more than just fabrics, too!  She has fantastic quilt kits, really fun patterns, and…well, just good stuff.   Go shop her site, use your code, unload her stash and start sewing.  I would love to see pictures of anything you guys make with your Joyful Soul fabrics!

Side note:  If you live near me, you live near her.  She would love for you to set up an appointment to stop by her house, take a look around and grab some fabric!

Another side note:  If you are in the San Antonio area, she would love for you to set up an appointment to stop by her house, take a look around and grab some fabric….once she lives there, you know.

To Joy:  It has been wonderful getting to know you.  Every visit to your home leaves me inspired, smiling and joyful.  I will miss you….but don’t think you’re rid of me!   Best of luck with your move!

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So…here are my photos from Alcatraz/Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco from 2 weeks ago. Enjoy!

[View with PicLens]

I need TOMS.  I need some now.   We’re headed to San Francisco and Chicago in a couple of weeks and TOMS would be great for all the walking, airporting and such.

Conveniently, they have a Mother’s Day code for $5 off of any item and I’m totally taking advantage of that.  Code = MOTHERS and expires 5/16/10.

Problem is….I’m seriously one of the most indecisive people I’ve ever met.  Can you meet yourself?  I don’t know, but I’ll ponder on that later.

Back to the shoes.

I’m torn between the fun-and-funky side of me and the I-only-wear-black-shirts-and-jeans-and-black-shoes side of me.

Won’t you help me choose?

I’ve been eyeballing the Seaport Vegan Classics for awhile and I’m strongly leaning toward them.  I think they’ll go with just about anything, right?

And these!  Oh, how I love these Baobab Sunset Classics!  Two issues, though:  They’re out of stock until May.  And they wouldn’t match as many things.

And then, of course, the Black Canvas Classics.  Practical. Black. Practical.  Classic.  Practical.

So.  Whatcha think?  Which ones and why? Vote via comment and make this decision for me.  Pleasey cheesey?

And..out of curiosity…have you met yourself?

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Today, dear readers, I am bloggin’ for the boobies!  Because they’re pretty cool, those boobies.  And because my friend Jackie Reitz– photographer, blogger of The Fabric Floozie fame and crafter extraordinaire–has an amazing project going on today.  See, she is a passionate participant in the Susan G Komen 3-Day race for the Cure and has already raised her minimum of $2300.  She’s not stopping there, though!  She has reached out to 300 bloggers and asked them to donate a single blog post today, April 14, to her cause.  See, the idea is that if at least one reader from each of these blog posts donates $10, she will have raised an additional 3000 bucks in just one day!  This girl is seriously dedicated to the breast cancer cause and there’s no telling what she can do with our support!

So, she and I would both be so grateful if you would go here and donate to her cause.  Let’s try to help her not just meet her goal, but blow it out of the water!  I can’t wait to see how much she’s raised at the end of the day!  I will update as soon as I hear.

So, please join in this HUGE event and help Jackie make a huge impact in a 24 hour period on this horrible disease.  Donate and then spread the word.  Tweet it, Facebook it, share it on a forum or even join in and write a blog post!
Thank you so much!

But wait!  There’s more!  I was just rereading this post and realized that it needs something.

Hmm…

What could it need?

What about a….

pink knife??

Yes!  So…I want each of you that decides to donate** to leave a comment telling me that you have donated to Jackie.  Feel free to share a personal breast cancer story or name who you’re donating in honor of.  Then, I’ll verify each donation with Jackie and select a random winner!  Donate and comment by midnight Pacific time tonight to be eligible for the knife drawing.

To learn more about these knives, click here.   Coolest. Knives. Ever.

**Because I’m only halfway through my coffee, I forgot to say that each $10 earns one entry.  So the more you donate, the better your chances.

At the bottom of each post, you’ll find this:

Simply click that, then open or save it.  Print and stash for crafty days!

I’ll include some links to my more popular tutorials for you guys to bookmark and save as PDFs.

Owl Party Favor Tutorial

Hair Clip Tutorial

Felt Board Tutorial

Halter Top Tutorial

And while I’m in halter-top-making mode, I thought I’d share some fabric combos from Fabric.com that are so cute and fun!

I love these two from Michael Miller’s Lagoon collection.

These prints from Alicia Place Frost are just gorgeous!

Who can resist Heather Bailey’s Pop Garden collection?

This fun set is from Michael Miller’s Gray Citron & Black collection and I just love it!

You can never go wrong with Amy Butler.  These two are from her August Fields collection.  Beautiful!

So, I hope the PDF feature makes crafting a bit easier for you!  Be sure to let me know if there is anything I can do to make things on The Green Wife easier for you guys to use and enjoy.

And I want to know:

Who has started on their spring sewing?  What fabrics are you loving for this season?  I would love to see some links!

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I get approached frequently with questions about how to start a blog or how to make a blog more personalized, more professional and more aesthetically pleasing overall. While I’ve been able to kind of get people aimed in the right direction, I usually have to direct them to my personal IT support person and web designer….aka, my husband. I’m pitifully dependent on his brilliance since his desk is approximately 2.74 feet from mine, but I realize that most new bloggers or soon-to-be bloggers don’t have that luxury.

That’s where page.ly comes in.

Page.ly is a brilliant service that provides the fastest, easiest way to set up a very professional-looking site with a personalized domain.  It takes care of the hosting, setup and steps that confuse those of us that aren’t as gifted in the ways of the web.  Page.ly gives you the ease and convenience of wordpress.com with the freedom and options that come along with wordpress.org.  They offer a large selection of premium WordPress themes for you to choose from so that you get just the looking you’re wanting.  With a page.ly account, you can achieve professional quality and functionality on your site without spending a big chunk of change on hiring a pro.

Page.ly takes care of you.  Period.  And it’s cheap!  Starting at around $15 a month, you get your domain (or use one you already have), hosting and setup.  Right there, you’re saving money and not wasting your valuable time digging through confusing files, figuring out FTP, etc.  They do all the work for you…in seriously a matter of minutes. Seriously.  Take a minute of your life to watch this video.

See how easy and fast?  You can literally set up an account, build your site and make you first blog post before you even finish your morning coffee.

To that, I say:  Word.

So, for those of you who have been considering starting a blog but are too intimidated…..here’s your ticket to ride.  Page.ly, baby.  Page.ly.  And for those of you that have a blog, but don’t love it…Page.ly.

Oh, and one more thing.  The people behind page.ly are just outright awesome.  They provide excellent support and will take care of you down to the last detail.  Good people, I tell ya.

If you set up a site using page.ly, leave the link in a comment below. I would love to see it!

We took off walking from our hotel in Cambridge on the MIT campus and soon found this interesting sculpture.  I can’t find any information about it, so if any of you know anything about it I would love to hear from you! **

I really enjoyed all the unique architecture that you just don’t find in North Texas.

Unfortunately, we only had a few hours to explore the city, so we just saw what we could of Freedom Trail.

Our main goal was finding Paul Revere’s house.  I have to admit that when we arrived there, I got a little choked up as the hugeness of its history hit me.  Wow.  Paul.  Revere’s.  House.

Paul Revere.  He lived.  He lived in this house.  He had eight children with his first wife who died at the age of 37.  He remarried and had eight more children.

And I think I’m stressed out trying to type this blog post while my three-year-old daughter runs around on hardwoods in clackity princess shoes.

Sheesh.

Here’s what was originally the back door, but is now the main entrance.  Imagine Paul Revere coming home exhausted from a long day, walking in and being greeted by his wife and many children.  It really brings history to life.  I regret, but respect, the fact that photography is not allowed inside the home.  If you ever have the chance, please go. It’s definitely worth seeing.

This is the street that runs in front of the home.  Old school, for sure and still in use!

We followed Freedom trail a bit and ran into Paul himself.

He didn’t have much to say, so we moved on toward the Old North Church and along the way we saw this:

A dog tag memorial for the troops that we have lost in Afghanistan and Iraq.  When the cold breeze blew, the tags made a very solemn wind chime.

We visited St. Francis.

We arrived at the Old North Church, where Paul Revere hung lanterns to warn that the British were coming.  I closed my eyes and could almost hear his horse’s hooves as he made his famous ride.

I stepped inside briefly and snapped a picture of this incredible organ.

The sun began to hide behind the clouds, the cold breeze picked up and we were far from our hotel.  We began our walk back and I snapped a few pictures along the way.

The Custom House Tower…

The Flat Iron building.

The iced-over Charles River.

Back at the hotel, I snapped this picture of an incredible sunset from the window of our room.

That evening we enjoyed a speakers’ dinner at Middlesex Lounge for WordCamp Boston speakers and enjoyed meeting so many incredible minds and interesting people.  It got us warmed up for the actual event the next day.  I didn’t lug my camera along to the lounge and I only took a handful of pictures at WordCamp.

One of Shayne’s presentations underway…

And a surprise event in the afternoon that involved Shayne in a Sumo suit…

And a very comical throwdown between Shayne and Jonathan Davis, the creator of the Shopp plugin for WordPress.  Because Shayne was representing the WP E-Commerce plugin, and because there is a wonderfully friendly rivalry between the two plugins, the WordCamp organizers thought it would be fun to let them hash it out in a Sumo match.

Fun, it was.

Fun, indeed.

Okay, so it was hysterical!

Things got a little crazy!

And down they both went.

So, to sum up:

Boston was incredibly interesting and wonderful and we’ll be going back.

You need to go to Boston if you never have.

WordCamp Boston was incredibly well organized and wonderful.

You need to attend a WordCamp near you if you never have.

I want more clam chowder.

And a question for you guys:  If you are from the Boston area or are just familiar with it, what would you suggest we do as a family when we go back for a longer visit?

**I was given information on the sculpture in the first picture.  James Tyler created it in 1986 and named it Tower of East Cambridge Faces.  In an effort to capture the cultural diversity in East Cambridge, he took photos of 50 random people around town and then sculpted them in bronze.  Very interesting.  Thank you, Sadie!

I think at one point or another all of us has had a piece of clothing lying around that we couldn’t bear to toss, but really didn’t have a use for anymore, either.  We glance at it from the corner of our eye, feel a pang of guilt and then just go on with our day.  From a dusty closet shelf, it cries out to us to take it down, wear it, love it.

And who hasn’t passed a skirt in a thrift store or garage sale and thought to themselves, “Hmm…I love that fabric but that skirt would never look right on me.”

Well, The Fabric Floozie knows how to handle these situations.  She’s the master of spotting a random piece of clothing and reconstructing it to work for her family.

For instance, she found these capris and didn’t adore them as they were, but the fabric caught her eye.

Armed with a great sense of fashion, the urge to be green and a good pair of scissors, TFF went to work.  In no time, she whipped up this gorgeous little dress for her lovely little daughter.

And this maternity top?

Another toddler dress!

But this one?  This is magic.  She was given this coat with a recon in mind.

Would you look at this??  This todder version of it is absolutely, 100% gorgeous.

So, are you feeling inspired yet?

Good!  Because The Fabric Floozie has a challenge for us all!  She’s hosting the 2010 Recon-A-Thon!!  She wants us to dig out that big dress from the early 90s with the horrid sleeves and give it new life!  Or recon that old prom dress into a magical plaything for you daughter?  What about that old sweater you just had to have from Goodwill??

Let’s do it!  I double-dog dare you to join me in the Recon-A-Thon. Reduce, reuse, upcycle, baby!  I’m on this like white on rice.  Like a duck on a June bug.  Like a 16 year old on Twilight.

We can each enter up to 3 items.  We simply put the Recon-A-Thon badge in our sidebars and post before & after pics on our blogs.

OH!  And!  The winner will receive at least 2 yards of fabric that they design themselves from Spoonflower.com!  Who hasn’t gone fabric shopping with a very specific mental picture of the fabric they need only to come home disappointed and empty handed.  How cool is it to design your own high-quality, eco-friendly fabric?? Whoa.

Now, I’m no recon-girl for the most part, so this will definitely be a challenge for me.  I think, though, that this is a great way to upcycle old items in a fun, competitive way.  It’s going to be a blast to see what everyone comes up with!

I’ve got ideas flowing like crazy!  And the cool part?  It doesn’t have to be a clothing item.  It could be anything that reuses fabric from an existing item.

Don’t know how to sew?  Get out the glue gun!

So…who’s with me??  Who’s up to the challenge?