enJOY it

simple grilled corn.

July 6, 2015

Sometimes we make something and I think "I should blog this." Then I think "nah, too simple." But then, occasionally, it tastes good enough that I decide it's worth a post anyway.

And so, I bring you, grilled corn: so easy your toddler can watch you make it. So good your toddler just might eat it.

Basically, it's just prep work – peel back the corn husks (leaving them on the cob) and remove all the "strings." Rinse the corn and pull the husks back into place.

Run them under water a tiny bit (so everything is mildly damp).

Throw directly on the grill (ideally heated to about 400*F) for 25 minutes total. (Flipping three times – about every 8 minutes.)

Remove from the grill and enjoy! We like to cut ours off the cob for Ellerie's ease and mix with a bit of pepper and season salt. We find that the mid-summer sweet corn generally doesn't need butter, but of course you could top with anything.
weekend links / 71.

July 3, 2015

hey! It's Independence Day weekend in the US and Paul has today off so I'm headed out early as well – a three day weekend SPENT AT HOME?!!! Pretty sure that's the dream. Below are some fun links from this week as well as the two giveaway winners. See you Monday!

how to get cool sparkler photos.

"I’m trying to learn in the open. I’m letting others look over my shoulder while I figure things out." …love this.

a cool art resume.

can I be better about practicing slow parenting this weekend?

a sisters banner!

simple ways big Internet companies celebrated the Gay Marriage ruling last Friday.

of course The Onion uses it's redesign to mock web redesigns.

the compliment club.

and maybe the most exciting : ginger peach mocktails.

the poster winner is Andi G who said "as Californians transplanted to Michigan I can see that print brightening up our winters." and the rainbow necklace winner is Lucia who said "yay! entered." Congrats, ladies! Email me ASAP. 🙂

Lucia said…

yay! entered
MAKE&GIVE30 : rainbow necklace!

July 2, 2015

I'll be honest, I don't even know what number M&G30 project I'm on right now. My "hmmm, 2015 might be a slow year" turned into a "just kidding it's 100x a crazy year" when I found out there would be a baby coming in November and a business to keep rolling at the same time. It's all good though. Worst case scenario I'll be making and giving something everyday of next February to hit my birthday deadline.

But this necklace!

I was dreaming about a painted wood bead necklace since I came up with Ellerie's rainbow birthday party. But as of two weeks ago, I hadn't yet made it to the craft store for beads and chord, so I was pretty thrilled to stumble on this necklace kit. I'm not usually a "craft kit person" but after this experience, I might become one. It was just too easy.

There were also TWO sets of necklaces in the kit! One for me and one for me to make for you! So two rainbow necklaces were made. The original is most likely on Ellerie's neck right now and the other I'll ship anywhere in the world.

Leave a comment below to enter. I'll draw a random giveaway winner tomorrow. (Yes, that's two giveaways this week. Not planned but I feel like my brain is upside down so it's happening.)

ps : love rainbows? you might want to download this FREE thank you card.

COMMENTS CLOSED, winner announced tomorrow. 🙂 thanks!
a few things for your wednesday.

July 1, 2015

I recently ordered a California print from 3 Fish Studios for the girls' bedroom (no, saying that might not get old). By accident, I was shipped two prints. I offered to ship one back or give the extra away here on the blog and the folks at 3 Fish Studios said I was good to give it away. So here we are! It's 16×20 and just gorgeous in person. This time around, giveaway is only open to US residents. Please leave a comment if you'd like to be considered.

My friend, Kayla Aimee, is a published author! Her book, Anchored releases today. I had the pleasure of reading an advanced copy and I cried my way through the whole thing (and laughed a bit too). I vividly remember following Kayla's story on her blog in the fall of 2010. She delivered her daughter at just 25 weeks gestation and the intensity of what she was going through reached me then and still effects me now. Knowing how hard Scarlette (and other babies around the world) fight to grow is THE reason why I will never ask my own babies to "#stopgrowing" or "#nevergrowup". Congratulations Kayla, on the launch. Your writing and story inspire me.

These past few days Kal was in town! Four years ago I visited her in Canada! And then she was here! So much has changed. And also, nothing. So that's always fun. Thank you so much if you came out to see us at the pop-up custom script shop! It was so great to meet some local folks and, of course, see some cool art get made. My number one dream for a future studio space (aside from not having to ship GTWB from my garage) is the ability to host more fun events where people get together in celebration of small business, friendship and art. I just need Craig and his list to come through with a perfect, affordable space in a great location with terrific lighting. Is that too much to ask?

And hooray! ELISE GETS CRAFTY returns this week with new episodes. Today I am chatting with Sam Shepard from Studio Calico about…Marketing 101. It's a fun one. Subscribe or stream here.

Happy Wednesday! Happy new month! Enter the giveaway! Tell me what you're looking forward to this July!

COMMENTS CLOSED, winner announced tomorrow. 🙂 thanks!
s’mores rice krispie treats.

June 29, 2015
You guys. There are so many s'mores rice krispie treats recipes on Pinterest. It could easily be a category. You know like, "Women's Fashion" "Absurd 5 Minute Work Outs" "Inspiring Quote Layered Over a Photo of the Ocean" & "S'mores Rice Krispie Treat Variations".

But I figured I'd throw my own into the ring.

I can't claim it's the best or the easiest, but I can claim it's delicious and that I manipulated it right off the Rice Krispie box recipe.

For one 13×9 inch pan you'll need :
- 1 bag of marshmallows
- 3 T butter
- 4 C rice krispies
- 1 package (9 crackers) of Graham Crackers
- 1 C mini chocolate chips
Melt the butter and marshmallows together. You can totally do this on a stove, I cheated and used a microwave and a glass bowl.

Mix well. Add in the Rice Krispies. Break up the Graham Crackers (just using your fingers to crumble into small pieces) and add those in. Stir the four ingredients together to mix well.

Add in the mini chocolate chips.

Use your fingers to press mixture into a well-buttered pan. Allow to set in the fridge for about 30 minutes.

Cut into squares and enjoy! (If possible, share with a toddler.)
weekend links / 70.

June 27, 2015

some cool stuff from around the web…

my friend Julie launched her self-hosted shop and it looks awesome!

I love when a DIY looks this legit.

how baby boy names have evolved. (we've got our baby boy name set and I LOVE it. I also promise you've heard it before.)

"The paradox of work is that many people hate their jobs, but they are considerably more miserable doing nothing." – a world without work.

beautiful.

I saw this years ago and I'm (finally) executing my own version.

the color green for the win. (business idea: an app that just pulls up a green screen)

this is how I hope my parenting experience goes.

but also : lies I told myself about the second baby.

the last thing I need are sandals but I tried on a pair of these and loved them.

and from me… a short interview with hey mama about work, life & setting goals.
around here.

June 25, 2015

MY GIRL IS TWO. We're almost week in and I love two. Of course there will be tears and tough days. But there will also be language and creative play and (requested by her "fam-lee hug!" …it's where we all three hug and she pats our backs and my heart falls on the ground and rolls under the bed). Her personality shines. Most of the time it's so much bigger than an iPhone screen but sometimes (like above) I get lucky and I capture "IT." I told Paul "THIS – this one photo right here – is why I take 1000 photos a month." I take them for the tiny chance that I'll get THIS. And 1/1000 odds are not bad.

Today, I finish shipping out GET TO WORK BOOK™. Since May 18th I have been packing books (almost non-stop) and nearly 2000 have headed out the door. (That is more bubble wrap, boxes, stickers, tape, labels, printer ink and postage than I can wrap my head around.) But I sold out. They're GONE. I'll take a quick break to regroup and then I'll be back at it… improving the construction for the 2016 version and developing more companion products. As always, please email me at elise@gettoworkbook.com if you have any issues with your book or questions about the product. THIS IS MY BRAND and I care so much about making it stronger. This is the business I have been searching for since college and finally it found me. It's amazing and exciting. I told my mom the other day "I have never worked harder in my life, but I have never been more satisfied."

And so, in honor of a sell out, I'm signing off early. Tomorrow, while Ellerie plays with her buddies at daycare, I'm going to do something awesome like take a nap, get a pedicure and go see Pitch Perfect 2 by myself. Tomorrow night, we head up to Sacramento! One of my best friends is having a baby shower on Saturday that we can't wait to attend. Then Sunday morning is Ellerie's birthday party that somehow 60 people are coming to celebrate (if you're curious, YES, our tribe lives in Northern California and YES, we plan to get back up there eventually). I hear the rainbow balloons are going to be out in full force. I can't wait to see what Ellerie thinks of it…my guess is her focus will be on the staircase.

Last, but not least…Sunday we find out if our second little one is a boy or a girl. We figured while we had many of our friends and family gathered we'd learn and share the news. No one (except an ultrasound tech in San Diego and a baker in Sacramento) know the gender. It's going to be fun. (Final guesses? I still think girl…)

Have a good one. See you Saturday for weekend links and then (obviously) Sunday on Instagram.
rainbow birthday crown.

June 24, 2015

Kid crafting is my favorite crafting.

Especially projects like this, that come together in 30 minutes with supplies I already own. I really wanted to make some sort of a birthday crown for Ellerie to wear at her rainbow party this coming weekend. Originally I thought I would go with felt (but since that involved driving to the store to buy felt) I went with fabric and poster board.

The “process” was simple. I wrapped poster board around Ellerie’s head to see how long of a piece I would need to use and then cut it down so it was about 7 inches tall. This gave me a rectangle of poster board that was 19×7 inches.

And then I used my machine to stitch on stripes of fabric. (I folded them in half lengthwise to get that clean edge.) I went with simple patterns from my stash and just attached them right to the poster board (I used a regular needle, but you could use a denim needle if you’re worried about the thickness).

I started at the bottom with the blue and worked my way up to the red. The “2” I added last, not sure if it would add or take away from the crown. I’m glad I went with it. It’s just freehand cut and them machine stitched into place.

To make the all important “points” up top, I machine stitched “triangles” through the fabric and the poster board and then just cut along the line, leaving a small hem (seen in the photo above). It worked out great.

I used a zig-zag stitch on the edges to finish it off and then stapled it into place to hold it into a crown shape.

Seriously, if you can work you sewing machine, you can do this project and the results are too fun. When I first stuck it on Ellerie her response was “no, no, no.” but it’s been a week and now she asks for her “bir-day crown?” I’m cautiously optimistic that we might get her to wear it for a few minutes next Sunday.
new favorite.

June 23, 2015

Stop me if I’ve said this before (just kidding, I have said it 600 times) but I’ve got a new favorite family keepsake.

Remember the E&e photo project?!

Somehow a year has passed since I started that.

Somehow twelve months have gone by and each one is captured in five side-by-side photos of mama & toddler favorites.

This was a fun and easy project and something I never worried too much about. Usually, I was in need of a blog post and glad to see that I hadn’t yet documented E&e. I usually ran a quick mental checklist of what we’d been doing the past week and that was what made the photos.

I took the photos on white poster board. And when Ellerie colored on my poster board, I used white cardboard.

It was far from scientific, but it was simple.

I had planned all along to make a book of the images and so each month, I was sure to save high-res, edited images. (I even got fancy and had a whole file devoted to this on my computer.) I am so grateful that I had this bit of foresight. If not, amidst all my “real work” projects right now this never would have made the top of the to-do list.

I decided to print with Artifact Uprising because they were running a 10% off Father’s Day sale (Happy Father’s Day, Paul!) and because I have loved them in the past. I went with their vertical hardcover photobook in goldenrod yellow. I wasn’t concerned at all with the cover and so I picked the half wrap which (let’s be honest) most likely will get discarded in the decades that follow.

Whenever I share a photobook project like this I get questions about why I go with one brand over the other and the answer is … it doesn’t matter to me. I don’t worry about it, I don’t compare and contrast, I just pick one based on the book size I am looking for and get to work. 100% of the time, no matter what the brand, I am pleased.

AND MAN AM I PLEASED.

This book exceeded my expectations. To keep things simple, I left out all words, aside from a few at the beginning. (Which in classic Elise fashion I screwed up and wrote the wrong dates. To fix this error, I crossed out and hand wrote and then added “The E&e Project” to make it look deliberate.) I included every single “item” photo but I left out the photos of Ellerie and I because those were not really the point.

The result is a super visual, time capsule of our lives. This is the sort of thing I will page through decades from now. This is the sort of thing I hope Ellerie will page through decades from now. This is the sort of thing that I really hope my grand babies will page through a century from now.

Like I said, I’ve got a new favorite.

this post is not sponsored (either in cash or product), but links throughout are affiliate which means if you order something through Artifact Uprising after clicking through this post I will receive a small commission.
june book report.

June 22, 2015

Here we go…sort of a mixed bag this month…

Girl Underwater by Claire Kells / I don't think anyone recommended this to me, I just picked it off the "new book" shelf at the library. It was fine and a cool plot idea but it was also Young Adult which is a genre that tends to bug me. With this book I finally figured out why … I am sick of YA novels where the main female character is awesome but she won't admit it and fights it and hides in herself until a guy pulls her out of it. I mean really. We need more Hermione Grangers. Where's that spin-off franchise?

Before I Go by Colleen Oakley / not the hugest fan of this one either. It was about a woman who's re-diagnosed with cancer and knows she won't get through it (that's not a spoiler, that's the book). The story is how she spends those last few months (and it drove me insane). Personally, I enjoyed PS I Love You (which I read YEARS ago) more than this one.

Outlander by Diana Gabaldon / when I posted by stack of books on Instagram the majority of the comments were something along the lines of "OUTLANDER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" I felt very out of the loop as I didn't realize that this was a whole series that has been written for 25 years and that it has such a huge following. (Now I know.) I tore through this first book and really enjoyed it (though I didn't expect it to be quite so sex-scene heavy). I'm currently listening to the second book (as an audio book loan from the library) and I think I'll (slowly) work my way through the rest of the series.

What You Left Behind by Samantha Hayes / this was an odd sort of medium thriller. It was sort of young adult. Sort of murder mystery. Sort of strange. I was intrigued enough to finish but not blown-away.

…like I said, mixed bag. Please tell me you've got some good recommendations for me! I'm currently reading The History of Love by Nicole Krauss and I've got Girl on a Train up next.

ps…more book reports and when I read.