LIVE – Page 2 – the MAD creative

DIY NUMBER PLAQUE

Post author:Ashley
Post published:February 1, 2016
Post category:HOME KIDS LEARN PROJECTS
Post comments:1 Comment

Never before has the number 4 seemed so much larger than the number 3. Since Leah joined our family unit just over a month ago, I have learned that little projects (or heck– even just the laundry!) are more tedious tasks than ever before. I have never felt more victorious than when I drove in the car with both girls weeks ago by myself to run errands. Extremely exhausted, yet victorious. Today’s errands consisted of two Leah blowouts, Mya constantly needing “more snacks!”, me not being able to collapse a double stroller in the parking lot, two Leah feedings, and a mysterious something sticky all over Mya’s pants… all within an hour and a half. I might never leave the house again. And yet the number 4 has never seemed so beautiful.

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HOLIDAY CARD WREATH

Post author:Ashley
Post published:December 7, 2015
Post category:HOME LEARN PROJECTS
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Mya and I love getting snail mail during the week. And since the holiday cards are already starting to come in, it has added even more excitement to her Christmas spirit. It’s also making me realize that some people seriously have their acts together if they’re sending out their holiday cards by early December. That is certainly not the case with us! I gave up on that a long time ago. And we send ours out for Valentines’ Day. Because it takes me that much longer… two more months. Womp womp. But I did want to somehow display everyone else’s cards; and with some already-owned supplies, it was super easy.

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GROWN-UP GIRLY GIFT GUIDE

Post author:Ashley
Post published:December 1, 2015
Post category:FOOD HOME LIVE LOVE PLAY
Post comments:4 Comments

I was going to compile a list of maternity items that’ve helped me through this pregnancy. And then I realized that they’re not maternity items at all because I was too cheap to buy much of anything that I’d only be able to use less than 9 months. Especially when I can live in sweatpants everyday. And I’ll probably have stretch marks because I didn’t get a bellyband; and I’ll probably have back problems because I didn’t get a pregnancy pillow. But I got a super soft infinity scarf, a mommy journal, and some other goodies instead. So I think the tradeoff was totally worth it. And I’m hoping these items will bring you comfort too… if not for you, for some other special gal pal. And most are great stocking stuffers, so just drop some hints to your man friend and make his job a little easier this year.

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BUTTERFLY SNACKS

Post author:Ashley
Post published:November 13, 2015
Post category:FOOD KIDS PLAY
Post comments:1 Comment

Truth: Mya’s napping and I should totally be making food for her birthday party tomorrow or cleaning the house… or sleeping. But I’d rather blog about the silly butterfly snacks we made for her preschool class. Priorities, am-i-right?! Yesterday was Mya’s 3rd Birthday(!) and she had school for a couple hours in the morning. We wanted to bring treats, and her teacher requested something besides sugary cupcakes or cookies to make her job easier. (Hey, I get it!) So we opted for some of Mya’s favorite foods: grapes and cheese (and popcorn on the side.) And since Mya loves herself some butterflies, here’s what went down…

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BASEMENT BUILDOUT : DRYWALL

Post author:Derek
Post published:April 27, 2015
Post category:HOME PROJECTS
Post comments:1 Comment

It’s been a month since we finished framing and hung the drywall for our basement project. We had hoped to be sharing the final outcome with you by now, but the finishing touches have been stuck in idle as we’ve turned our focus to knocking out a few outdoor projects while the weather is nice. So, for a quick project update and to hold you over until we complete the finish work we’ll go ahead and give a glimpse of the new and improved space. Again, we’ve compiled a list of our handiest tools to complete this phase of the project.

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MYA’S ROOM

Post author:Ashley
Post published:April 20, 2015
Post category:DESIGN HOME KIDS PLAY
Post comments:2 Comments

Welcome to Mya’s room. As she is growing up way too fast and her room will also be ever-changing, it’s fun to document her little space. It’s difficult for me to pinpoint a specific “theme” for the room, except that it’s filled with color and feel-good things. Many items are from my childhood and we were able to save a lot of money on furniture. Her crib is from Ikea and the white cabinet/ shelving unit was given to us. Every picture, blanket, and stuffed animal is meaningful to us and probably won’t be to you; but we hope you enjoy the tour nonetheless!

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OUR ITALIAN EASTER

Post author:Ashley
Post published:April 8, 2015
Post category:FOOD LOVE
Post comments:3 Comments

Sure hope you’re not sick of Easter-related posts quite yet. Because I have one more for you this year! We drove up to Omaha to spend the holiday weekend with my Grandparents. My Gramps is a full-blooded Italian and my Gram is half Italian, half Czech. (She wouldn’t want me to forget mentioning the Czech part!) They always have more than enough for us to eat– my favorite being their homemade meatballs, Italian sausage, and spaghetti; but I wanted to cook something for them. I found a recipe for Italian Easter Bread and it’s just too good not to share!

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LIVING ON THE EDGE

Post author:Derek
Post published:March 31, 2015
Post category:HOME PROJECTS
Post comments:2 Comments

Over the past two years, we have explored a few landscape edging options and have become proponents of the approach that “less is more!” First, we tried an easy-to-install, no-dig plastic edging. In general, we were pleased with the look, but over time this edging had a tendency to float where it wasn’t staked down and still allowed grass and weeds to creep underneath it. Second, we tried a limestone border using rock from a nearby construction site. We placed a temporary border next to the plastic edging last summer with plans of permanently installing this spring, but in the short time we had it we decided it wasn’t quite the look we were hoping for. So, on to round three with what we think is our best solution yet.

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BASEMENT BUILDOUT : FRAME OF REFERENCE

Post author:Derek
Post published:March 22, 2015
Post category:HOME LEARN PROJECTS
Post comments:0 Comments

With every home project, we’re learning that having the right tools makes things a lot easier. Ashley jokingly claims that I married her for her power tools because she owned more than me. (I guess that’s what you get when you end up with an Interior Architect — bonus!) And we basically have the best neighbors ever — who not only lent us a ton of framing tools, but spent an entire day helping us in the basement. So with the compilation of our tools and their tools, we really had no excuse to not tackle the basement framing plans. And since half of any project is prep time, hopefully the following will save you some time with your framing project. Here are some lists of tools and building materials needed to frame a wall:

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BASEMENT BUILDOUT : THE PLAN

Post author:Derek
Post published:March 17, 2015
Post category:DESIGN HOME LEARN PROJECTS
Post comments:0 Comments

Teaming up for a home construction project probably isn’t the way most couples envision celebrating an anniversary together, but we have never been too concerned about doing things the conventional way. Life is pretty sweet with Ashley, and seeing her excitement to break out the power tools and learn some construction basics together is just another item in the long list of reasons why. To get things started, and especially since we’re rookies in this business, we wanted to get a good plan in place before we tackled this project. After some quick reading on the right way to build a wall, it was back to SketchUp to design our closet. On top of giving us a visual of what our completed project would look like, it helped get an accurate materials list together.

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HOLIDAY TREATS

Post author:Ashley
Post published:December 16, 2014
Post category:FOOD
Post comments:0 Comments

We finally took the Pinterest plunge. "What is that?" you may ask. We got with the times and joined Pinterest. I thought it would totally be a time-sucker. And it was initially.…

HOLIDAY DECOR TIPS + TRICKS

Post author:Ashley
Post published:December 10, 2014
Post category:DESIGN HOME LEARN
Post comments:3 Comments

As Derek’s mentioned, I thoroughly enjoy decorating for the holidays. But what I don’t enjoy is having a bunch of stuff in storage that is only used for one month out of the year. So, our look for the holidays leans towards the minimalist side of style. Here are two tricks we used this year… and some gingerbread house ~~eating~~ building fun.

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