Anniversary photo wall (home decor).

Last month, Matt and I celebrated our one year wedding anniversary! We ate a few bites of (stale, freezer-burned) wedding cake, went out for a lovely dinner, and enjoyed each others company all day. The traditional gift for a one year anniversary is paper, so for part of Matt's gift I put together this photo wall commemorating our love.

June photo-a-day challenge (week three).

June is flying by! Here's week three of my pictures for the June photo-a-day Instagram challenge. I decided to say a little something about each individual picture this week. No real reason, except that I felt like it, and I can ;)

Don't forget, you can also follow along on Instagram @mdoublemcrafts.

15. Yellow

Snapped on the way home from the park by my Grandma's house. I had a lot of fun playing with various filters and photo apps with this photo.

16. Out and about

At the Denver airport, waiting to get on that plane and head back to home, sweet home.

17. In your bag

This is my "purse" when I fly. I'm prepared with books, computer, kindle, candy, and my dSLR!

18. Something we don't know about you

We eat pizza for dinner at least once a week when I don't feel like cooking. Lucky for me, the hubby would be happy to eat pizza every night!

19. Imperfect

Chipped paint on an old pipe. I love the contrast of the green with touches of red.

20. Fave photo you've ever taken

Well, "ever" is such a strong word, but this is my favorite photo that I've taken with my new phone that I haven't shared yet. I love the red tones of the dessert against the bright blue sky.

21. Where you slept

In my bed; the same place I sleep almost every night. The hubby is obviously still very soundly asleep (shhh... don't tell him I posted a pic of him sleeping).

Paper American flag (kids' craft).

This is a simple little Fourth of July craft that I did with the three and a half year old that I watch. He had a blast making it, and has been showing it off to everyone. I love that he had so much fun while working on his cutting, coordination, and listening skills too (not to mention practice with colors, shapes, and counting!).

These directions are based on how I did it with him, but this is easy to adjust to other ages/levels of development. I had him cut out the shapes himself (using children's safety scissors of course), but you could do the cutting for younger kids. For older kids, you can give the more autonomy when putting everything together.

A few of my favorite shops (treasury Tuesday).

The other day, I was looking through my past purchases on Etsy, and I was surprised to see how cohesive the product pictures looked together. That's when I realized I should make a treasury featuring the shops and items that I have been delighted with (I've had very very few less-than-awesome Etsy experiences, but I definitely did not include those shops here!).

Many of these are the actual item I purchased, either for myself or as gifts. Those are our wedding rings, that is my camera bag, and the boys I watch love those wooden trucks. These shops also all gave me excellent customer service, which is incredibly important to me.

My Favorite Shops

I'm also very excited to tell you that I am guest posting over on White Lights on Wednesday today! Julie is so awesome, and I'm honored that she let me take over her blog for a day.

I'll be showing you how to make this delicious risotto that requires less than 10 minutes of stirring! Oh, how I love shortcuts! Be sure to go check it out (and if you haven't read White Lights on Wednesday before, be sure to check out Julie's blog too!).

Easy risotto for two, with chicken sausage and peas.

June photo-a-day challenge (week two).

Here are my photos from week two of the June photo-a-day challenge. You can see in some of these photos that I am playing around more with some of the other picture editing apps. It's amazing what you can do so easily on a cell phone now!

Don't forget, you can also follow along on Instagram @mdoublemcrafts.

8. Six o'clock

9. Your view today

10. Best bit of your weekend

11. Door

12. From a low angle

13. Art 

14. Time

June photo-a-day challenge (week one).

It's official, I'm addicted to Instagram. This came as no surprise, I knew I would be addicted to it as soon as I heard about it. I actually thought about getting an iPhone just so that I could have Instagram, but my old phone still worked perfectly well, and I couldn't justify the splurge. You can imagine my excitement when I first heard that it was going to be available on Android phones too. Then I tried to download it, and learned that my phone was too old to support Instagram!

My old phone finally started acting up, so a few weeks ago I treated myself to a new phone. The first app I downloaded? You guessed it, Instagram. I've been having so much fun playing with it, and exploring the other free photo editing apps.

When I saw this photo-a-day challenge for June, I knew I just had to do it. I'll share weekly updates of my photos for the month. You can follow along and see my other photos on Instagram @mdoublemcrafts.

1. Morning

2. Empty

3. On your plate

4. Close-up

5. Sign

6. Hat

7. Drink

Back from Colorado (update).

Please forgive me for my unannounced absence. We spent last week visiting my wonderful Grandma in Colorado. She turned 90 earlier this year, so my family came together from across the country to celebrate a belated birthday (we had to wait until all of our schedules worked together). We had a fabulous time visiting, and I can't believe how fast the time went by.

Before leaving, I had grand plans of prewriting and scheduling blog posts for while I was away. Clearly, that never happened. The week before we left was unexpectedly busy - the family I nanny for had a new baby girl (almost 2 weeks early), and our old car broke down, so we suddenly had to get a new one. It was an exciting week! I didn't even start packing until 11 o'clock the night before our (early morning) flight.

The good news, is that now I have lots of posts waiting to be written. My goal is to get back to at least three posts a week. I feel refreshed and energized after our trip; my creative juices are flowing again. After I write up a few more posts tonight, I plan on trying out a new risotto recipe (if it comes out delicious, I'll be sure to share the recipe with y'all).

Three generations. My aunt had these shirts made up for us (I blurred out my grandma's name).