Pottery Barn for Less

 I was crazy about this canopy the moment I saw it in the Pottery Barn Kid's catalogue. Emmy's bedroom has a sort of whimsical garden theme going on, so I immediately started imagining how oh-so cute her bed would look with this little woodland canopy hanging over it. 

Then I saw the price tag.

$99. Plus shipping. It's since been knocked down to $58, but that's still a lot of money for a wreath and some tulle.

So I went out and bought my own wreath and my own tulle. Two five-yard pieces of tulle to be exact. In total, it cost about $12.

I broke out the glue gun and glued A LOT. 

I used ribbon and an eye-screw to hang it from the the ceiling.

 (Pay no attention to the walls. We haven't painted them yet!)

And there you have it. A $99 wreath for twelve bucks. Not too shabby!

What's in a Name?

 Happiness is Homegrown wasn't this blog's original name. It used to be Heather in Wonderland. I renamed it last spring, after I left my job to be a full time stay-at-home Mama. I had these big plans to grow a garden in my half-acre yard. The "garden" was already there, a large triangle fenced in long ago by a previous owner. It was so overgrown, we hired someone to rotorill it for us. Oh, how beautiful it was when it was done. The smell of freshly turned New England dirt is a smell like no other. And soon, I told myself, it would be full of vegetables.

 Then we went to DC for a month. We came home to a flourishing weed patch. But we went out there and ripped a lot of them out and planted zucchini, green beans and tomatoes.

 I learned that summer that I do not have a green thumb. The zucchini grew and we made some delicious breads with it. We did have a few bowls fills of beans, but those tomatoes never stood a chance. Some little critter ate every little green tomato. Our neighbors had a garden box, no fence for protection, yet they had beautiful tomatoes. Of course, I'll bet the little buggers was too full after eating all my tomatoes.

 This year I bought a small barrel and stuffed some herbs in it. They're grown, and all but the tarragon are in good shape, by some miracle.

 I've kept a fish alive for 2.5 years. Maybe livestock is the way to go....

 This blog was never intended as a business blog. It was supposed to be ablaut all things domestic and related to homemaking and raising little ones. Somehow, somewhere, I got derailed and the vast majority of my posts have been focused on my crocheted stuff.

 If my blog was to ever have a place in blog-history, it's for my LalaLoopsy inspired hat. Particularly the first one I ever made. It's pretty ugly compared to the other hats I've made since; the hair is too heavy, the eyes too far apart, and yet such a large percentage of my page views have been for that post. Go figure.

 Anyhow, I digress, running the risk of yet another post being about HeatherDoodle Designs.

 We started Kindergarten yesterday. Our first official school year! My hopes and goals for this blog are that it becomes a place to not only document this first year through words and pictures, but also to share ideas with others.

 On that note, we're off to the craft store or Wal-Mart to buy planters, soil and seeds, as Emily has asked that we grow a real "Kinder garden." Hard to say no to that!

Horse Hat

Emily LOVES horses, so I'm surprised it's taken me this long to make a horse hat. I was going to leave it as just a hat with ears and hair, but when Emmy saw it, she asked me "Mommy, where's his face?" That settled it, and now the horse has a face.

Mermaid Tail Photo Props

 Oh, if only I could still cram my baby into cute little things like mermaid tail cocoons. I designed this photo prop set this past week, and I'm really happy about the way it turned it. I could improve on the flower's beading, but that's a simple fix. :-)

Where the Wild Things Are

 I'm not quite sure I'm going to put this Etsy. Maybe as a photo prop, but I'm not sure yet.

RAWR!!

Homemade Clay

  It was two ingredients. Three if you count the food coloring. I wouldn't. That was just a big mistake. Every time I find a recipe for play dough, slime, modeling clay on Pinterest, I just want to try it. So I bought some clear glue, added cornstarch, and made a huge mess. The recipe was as follows:

1/3 cup glue
1/4 cup cornstarch.

 Mix together. Add glue or cornstarch as needed for consistency.

At first, it was horrendously sticky. So added cornstarch. Then it was stiff and sticky. Then it started to dry and crumble, so we threw it away. Oh well, it was worth a shot.