art you should see

I received my copy of Craft Leftovers Monthly in the mail yesterday. It's chocked full of so much fun stuff. There are recipes for food, recipes for tea, recipes for salts and scrubs! There's a crochet project, knitting project, an embroidery pattern, and even a paper snowflake template...ya know, for inspiration so the entire house can be filled with snowflakes. I suppose it's time to break out the scissors...closely monitored scissors, of course. What? I know my girls are almost 7 and 4 1/2 but there is a lot of fabric and yarn lying around and very tempting long locks of hair. We've never had a scissor incident and I'd like to keep it that way.
Now, I won my copy of Craft Leftovers Monthly from Regina. She was hosting a giveaway over at her wonderful blog Creative Kismet. If you've never been there you should pop over there and check it out. But be prepared...there's lots of crafty inspiration over there. Regina is a wonderfully talented artist. She paints and sews and creates wonderful mixed media pieces all the time. A while back she was even on the Martha Stewart Show! Anyway, Regina has an Etsy shop called Creative Kismet Studios with lots of great stuff in it. You'll find something irresistible there, I know you will! Her prices are great and her products are wonderful. She's got lots of prints for sale, tea wallets, stationary, ornaments, and pin cushions. Regina is offering free shipping on selected items until December31st, so shop now before it's too late!

(graphic/button from CreativeKismet.com)

let there be art

Not a day goes by where there isn't some drawing going on in my house. Now this drawing could be on paper, in a sketchbook, on my grocery list, or on a magnadoodle, but most of the time the dry erase board is the coveted spot to be creative. The only problem is it has to be erased to draw another picture. Thank goodness I take pictures of everything all the time. Okay, so I don't take pictures of everything they draw, but when it's a super special, most spectacular, colorful feast for the eyes and they want to save it for Dad to see I just take a picture so we can share it with the world! Here are some of the more recent drawings. After I took these pictures I was asked to post them on my blog so the whole wide world could see them. So, whole wide world...I hope you enjoy these drawings!

If you have any doubt, we have a black and white cat named Shadow. In the above picture he is a super hero capturing the bad cats. His little orange kitty friend helped to hang the wanted posters. Miss O was the artist.

Cats News was quite the treat. Miss O worked long and hard thinking of each headline. Of course Shadow was featured in every story. He is super after all.

Here, little miss E was using every square inch available on the board. Obviously we've been working on letters and a few tricky numbers. Of course, a lovely striped cat had to be added for extra cuteness.

Miss E again with a picture of her and her big sister as princesses with many sparkles around them. I'm not really sure why all of her people have cat eyes now, but dang, they're cute!

It is apparent that miss O is longing for warmer, sunnier days in this picture. A beautiful rainbow, a kitty chasing a butterfly, kids playing in the sprinkler, a pony, and a mom watering flowers...hmmm...warm sunny days sure are nice. Oh, and I was told to explain that the sun is light green because we don't have a yellow marker.

And last but not least, another super fancy, pink princess with sparkles and curly hair (ahem...like mine), a dress for the ball (that doesn't conceal her wide hips..certainly not mine) and a fancied up cat with curly whiskers and all!

So what art is happening in your house these days? Leave a stack of paper and some crayons in view of the little ones and let there be art!

Happy Tuesday! xo ANG

a (creative) year in review

I know I'm not the first to do this, but after seeing several collages out there in blogland of projects made throughout the year, I had to give it a try. I wasn't sure that I'd created enough things over the past year to even warrant a collage but as I looked through my monthly photo folders and clicked on each look-what-I-made picture I was completely surprised by the outcome. I made a lot of aprons...and I must confess, most of those were created in the month of December. However, there were burp cloths, bird mobiles, pen rolls, curtains, camera strap covers, ornaments, shirts, bean bags, skirts, dresses, GPS cases, play-doh beads, special blankies, costumes, and tissue holders. Wow! Who knew? I had no idea that I had actually created so many things in 2008. That's pretty exciting....and motivating!

Now, I've never been much of a resolution person, but keeping those creative juices flowing is definitely something I'd like to sustain in 2009. First thing on my list...well now, I can't really tell you...but I'll show you when it's done. And, hey, if you're looking for some inspiration to get those creative juices flowing for 2009 you have got to skip on over and visit Ellen at The Long Thread. She was kind enough to compile a fabulous list of the Top 100 Tutorials of 2008! Seriously! Now, if I could just squeeze a few more hours in the day....

fancier is always better

Last Saturday we took the girls to Home Depot for the Kid's Workshop. Miss O has been really into building things lately...building with Legos, building with magnetix, building various contraptions with jump ropes and toys. Of course E follows right along. Then we read the book Littlejim's Gift. It's a great Christmas story about working hard, loving your family, and thinking of others. Oh, the life lessons to be learned in just one story. Anyway, the little boy in the story wanted a child-sized set of tools. Well, that just put O right over the edge. So when I learned from Heather how fun the Kid's Workshops were I just had to take the girls. The project was to build an easel. The girls received a Home Depot apron, a pin to attach that shows the project they built, and a certificate of completion. There were safety glasses, child-sized hammers, nails, bolts, wing nuts, washers....oh the joy! They really enjoyed the whole experience. I had to help E a little bit, she was like a mad woman with that hammer.O did most of her project independently...I just had to (bravely) hold the wood together so she could hammer the nail. She didn't hit my hand...not even once! Pretty good for her first project. They were both very pleased with the final product but when we got home they thought it needed to be a little fancier. They immediately got to work adding just the right amount of girly-ness.

there's a first time for everything...

...and this year is the first official dress-up-in-a-costume halloween for our girls. You see, halloween has never been a huge deal for us. The girls play dress-up all the time so one more day in a costume was no big deal. Plus, they're still little. As long as they get some candy and pumpkin they're satisfied. Well, now that they are both a little older we agreed that this was the year! We didn't tell them. We didn't let them choose. It was all a surprise...and boy, were they thrilled! So what do you get when you have a stash of felt and fabrics in these colors? Well, you get a cute little brown mouse and a cute little gray cat.

Of course, they are better known as Tom & Jerry!

the good, the bad,....

...and the disgusting!

Oh, let's start with the good!
+THIS IS MY 100th BLOG POST!!!! Can you believe it?! Who knew I had so much to say? Well, my husband knew because evidently I talk a lot. You don't mind my yammering on and on do you? I mean, that is what blogs are for, right? As we head back into the swing of things with homeschool this year there will more "meat" in my writing. I must say, I have enjoyed blogging so far. And there are some really great, talented, wonderfully nice bloggers out there that I have "met". Woohoo! 100 posts!
+The girls have really been enjoying their swimming lessons. So they're not as comfortable in the water as I would like them to be, but they have certainly come a long way. And...tomorrow is family day so I get to join them in the pool-yippee! I may help them a little with overcoming that fear of being submerged :o) They'll never be able to race me in the pool if they don't relax a little and learn.
+My friend Kim was sneaky the other day while we were at the pool. She got a picture of me and E trying to convince O to go under the water. I promise, I'm not making a mean face. It's my 'come on you can do it, just give it a try' face. Funny that E is making the same face while adding in her 2 cents to the pep talk....she wouldn't put her head under the water either. Little stinkers!! So as I was saying...the picture is great, then Kim added some nice details...thanks Kim!
+My blog friend Zoe gave me an award! It's a blog award. Pretty exciting really...it's my first one! She's so sweet! You should really go check out her blog. She's always got some kind of sewing or craft project in the works. Thanks so much Zoe...I promise I'll follow the rules...soon!
+Finally the beads are dry! We got to string them yesterday. The girls really enjoyed choosing which beads they wanted to use. Of course they whined and bickered over a few of them, but after all was said and done, they were happy with the results. Oh, and by the way, play-doh beads are a lot heavier than polymer clay beads.

Now, onto the bad.
-Is it just me or is there a lot more whining going on these days? There really is no excuse, it's just sin nature...but I loathe seeing it in my own children. Don't get me wrong, my girls are really well behaved the majority of the time. But every once in a while it's like the floodgates are opened and I have to remind them of what it means to obey, refocus their hearts, and realize that they aren't perfect..and neither am I.
-Okay, this is more annoying that bad, but our Walmart is in the midst of remodeling. I can't find anything! When I do find the general area of the items I need they are usually out of stock (or the stockers can't find where anything goes so they just don't restock the shelves) Either way, it resulted in a really disastrous meal!

I can't think of anything else bad (yippee) so now we're on to the disgusting.
~It has been a really long time since I have made a meal that is bad enough to throw away. It has probably been 6 or 7 years really. I'll admit, right here and now, that I am not the greatest cook in the world. Quite frankly, I used to be a really bad cook. I'm not sure why....I just was. I've never been one to whip up a meal without some type of recipe or framework to follow. I'm a recipe follower, I can't help it. After I make something once, completely by the book, the next time I make it I might tweak it a little, but never on the first go round. So last night I made chicken enchiladas. A recipe that I have used many times always with delicious results. Oh so yummy! It's a staple on my menu. We hadn't had it for a few weeks so it was time. We were all craving it. Oh wait, let me back up a little. When I went grocery shopping there was no enchilada sauce left...the kind that I like anyway. I bought a different brand thinking...it's enchilada sauce, they should all be kinda the same. But, oh I was sooooooo wrong!!! Okay, so I make a big pan of enchiladas, all the while thinking the sauce smelled different, a little funny. But it was a different brand, so no big deal. Whilst that was baking and getting the cheese all melty I made something new. I made polenta. Polenta? yeah. It's a corn meal side dish that was supposed to be good...oh man, I was wrong again! So I get the enchiladas out of the oven and the sauce looks like tomato paste. Weird, the other brand never looked like that. Okay, so now I have to taste it...it's weird, gross, indescribable. Maybe I'm just paranoid. So now I taste the polenta that has cooled and...eewww, that's pretty bad, too. What is up? I followed the recipe. Okay so maybe the enchiladas are salvageable. We wait for Tim to get home and taste them...not even he can hide his dislike, distain, disgust. Believe me, after almost 14 years he has gotten good at pretending that something "isn't really that bad". But not last night. The time in the kitchen...wasted. The food that I purchased and baked...wasted. The money spent on ingredients for a normally anticipated dish....wasted. Ughhh. It was really, really, really DISGUSTING! Into the garbage it went. So what did we eat? Tim had leftovers from a much more successful meal, the girls enjoyed a delicious sunbutter & banana sandwich, and I had a delightful bowl of raisin bran. Let's hope tonight's dinner is more edible successful!

so, sew happy!

I can't believe it's Monday already. My poor little blog has been neglected all weekend. It's not that we were super busy or anything, we were just hanging out. Oh shoot! I just realized that I didn't do Muffin Tin Monday today for lunch...totally forgot. Maybe I'll give it a try at dinner tonight.
So let's see...let me give you a quick update on a few things. Friday there were no swimming lessons, it's a make-up day in case it rains. My girls were kind of glad to stay at home...as was I. They were fighting a little cold anyway, so it was good to get a little extra rest. I got the laundry done, some housework done, and I managed to squeeze in some sewing time :o) Meanwhile,Tim found a yellow jacket's nest in our yard (which has since been dealt with-we are yellow jacket free) that was very close to the clothesline which the girls like to play around while I'm hanging up the laundry. So the girls were limited to playing on the porch and driveway. Not fun they thought. However, while they were playing on the porch they came across some spider webs and little bugs, which kept them happy and occupied. Miss O said "I blew a big bug off the bench." (there's a bench on the porch) Then she said "Hey, that sounded cool, did you hear that Mom? I said 'I blew a big bug off the bench'. Most of those words start with the letter B!" Seriously people, I promise I had not previously shared with her my love of alliteration. But guess what, she thought it was great! You know I had to have a little language arts lesson right there with pile of clean wet clothes in one hand and some clothespins in the other. Can you guess what happened next? Go ahead, guess. Yeah, she started coming up with lots and lots of alliterations-hehehe- and little sis had to join right in! Oh, my little whippersnappers, they had so much fun with that. It's a teacher's dream come true! Okay, now onto the sewing. A while back, like maybe six months ago, my Grandma gave me a whole bunch of calico fat quarters that someone had given to her. She's not a quilter. She likes to make clothes when she sews...all the rest of her time is spent crocheting. Anyhoo,

THIS BOOK

PLUS THIS FABRIC

EQUALS THIS APRON!

I followed the pattern for the "Orange Crush" apron designed by Erin Harris. I made it a little shorter in length and since it was supposed to be lined I decided to just make it reversible. Not too shabby for my first one. Okay, so it was all squares and rectangles, which only requires sewing straight lines, but still I made it, I love it, and I'm ready to make another one. I've never really been an apron wearer. I'm a messy cook so it makes sense that I should wear an apron, and since it has the loop for the towel I won't be hanging it over my shoulder getting my shirt all wet either.
Let's see what else have we done lately. Oh, I know...we got a book from the library a couple of weeks ago called A String of Beads by Margarette S. Reid. Actually, Miss E picked it because she loved the cover...smart girl. We've read the book several times and learned about all sorts of beads as well as a quick and simple history of beads and their uses and purposes in different cultures. Quite interesting really. So, you know we had to make some beads, right? The only thing we had to work with was Play-Doh and, knowing how hard it is when it dries, I thought it would make great beads. Getting over the mixing together of the different colors is a whole other thing, but I survived. The girls and I had a ball rolling and shaping the beads. I used a needle to poke a hole through each one, now we are just waiting for them to harden all the way. It's taking longer than I thought it would, but the girls have been checking them every day by gently squeezing them. Soon, they'll be stringing the beads to make a necklace or something.
Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy! As I am sitting here writing this extremely long blog post, Tim brings in the mail. Not just any old mail....my prize from the Dress-up Giveaway! I'm so excited! Okay, hold on a sec while I open it......alright, I'm back. Hurrayic is the blog that had the Dress-up Giveaway. You should drop by there sometime. She's got all kinds of great stuff going on. So here is a picture of all my goodies, plus she threw in some bias tape and some lace...and a nice note. Now I must go and figure out exactly what to make for the dress-up box so I can fulfill my part of the giveaway. Naptime is over anyway...gotta go!

****apron update****
It was brought to my attention that there is no picture of me wearing the new Orange Crush apron. So here it is! Please excuse the wrinkles, the junk under the girls' bed, and the finger prints and face prints dirty mirror. I really should have the girls clean that off again.

my brain is full...

...so is my camera.

...Old Navy had a $1 flip-flop sale so we went to get the girls some new ones. Believe it or not, I didn't get any for myself...self-control :o) Okay, so all they had left, by the time we got there, were black ones. No pink, no purple, no periwinkle, just black. But black goes with everything, so this is perfect. Oh, no it's not...they're not fancy, princess-y, or cute. No problem...we can make them cute. So we did! Here's a before and after.

...Do you love limes? Do you love lemonade? Oh man! You're gonna love this drink then. Over at Once Upon a Time there is a great recipe for Brazilian Lemonade. As soon as I saw that recipe I wanted to try it. So when I went grocery shopping and the limes were 4/$1.00 I knew I had to try it out right away! Yippee! I made the drink and it was sooooo good! We all loved it. It's a great summer-y drink. We had some left over so I poured into an ice cube tray to freeze it. Today I threw it in the blender and made a nice Brazilian Lemonade slushie! Yummy! I'll be making it again soon. You've gotta try it...if you love limes, that is.

....We went down to the river yesterday to go for a nice walk. A long cool summer shower passed over while we were there. Thankfully, the trees formed a nice canopy for us so we didn't get soaked. I got some great pictures though. We found a plant with some great big leaves, huge, gigantic, enormous leaves. It was like being in Jurassic Park...minus the dinosaurs. We also saw a deer cross the path not too far in front of us...I got a picture...of it's butt! Sorry, it was on it's way escaping the sounds of my not-so-quiet girls. At least I have a picture to prove we saw it. I also got a cool shot of a raindrop hitting a puddle. The blackberry bushes were lining the path...so tempting...so yummy looking...but not ripe yet. Oh, I'll be back for those....if the deer doesn't eat them all first. There was a beautiful mimosa tree on the trail that I really wanted to get some good pictures of , but it was raining too hard for me to get a decent shot.




...one more thing...I went to Once Upon a Child the other day and found two dresses, one for each of my girls in the perfect size, matching, and only $1 each. Oh yeah, I'm a bargain bird...Cheap!Cheap! Worth every penny...all 200 of 'em :o)

playdates, privacy, and promises

Yesterday we had a play date at the house of my friend Mandi. It was a lot of fun. The girls really enjoyed their time together playing dress-up, making a craft, then digging in the dirt. It is tradition now for the four girls to make a craft together, little brother just watches for now. I'm sure when he's a little older he'll want to be right in the middle of it all :o) Anyway, we made windsocks, very simple windsocks. A few supplies, a few little girls, and lots of ribbon and tape. Do they look happy?!


This morning I realized that the amount of privacy I have is very slim. Even when I shut my bedroom door to get dressed for the day there are always some little fingers and toes peeking under the crack. Privacy? Who needs privacy?Okay, so last week I bought some finger paints. My girls have never had that pleasure. It's been sitting on the shelf taunting them. Well, yesterday they asked if we could paint tomorrow...so I promised we would finger paint....today is the day. I am keeping my finger painting promise. I hope they enjoy it. I also promise to not worry about a mess. (we'll be outside...smart,yeah?) I promise to let their creativity blossom.(I won't hover) I promise to take pictures. (gotta capture it) I promise to update later.
UPDATE: It all began with one little finger tip...but then they got the hang of it. They enjoyed mixing the colors and smearing it all around. What fun! I promise those are happy faces they are making :o)

new discoveries

1. I have discovered that I don't like to see paint brush lines when I paint. I've never really paid much attention to the trim before, but since I am painting it myself, I've been looking at it up close and personal. finishing the trim + perfectionism = anxiety! Husband to the rescue...small roller instead! I am so thankful I married a genius :o)

2. I have discovered that my tiger lilies are blooming! Orange is one of my favorite colors and lilies are my favorite flower. orange + lily = beauty

3. I have discovered that pools are fun for moms, too. The pool we got for the girls to play in this summer is big enough for all of us. 100 degrees + pool = relief

4. I have discovered that I am better as something than my husband...Wii Fit. It's a balance thing. my name + highest score = it's about time! He's better at just about everything else...and I'm okay with it, really!

5. I have discovered that one of my blogging friends,Zoe, is way better at sewing than she ever let on. You've got to go check out the great bag she just made. fabulous end result + picture to prove it = motivation to make something great!

puppy party pics...and more

What a busy morning. We had a fun tea party playdate with the M sisters. Thanks Heidi, we had a lot of fun. I cleverly kept it a secret until we drove up to their house. I usually keep play dates a secret just in case we have to cancel...which saves me from having to explain and saves the girls from boo-hooing about it. Plus, it's fun for them to guess where we are going. So now the girls are taking a nap and I can post some more pictures from the birthday festivities...and some other random things. So lets start with the puppy dress that I made. It has long tie ribbons in the back, you just can't see them. The only things missing are the buttons on the bodice. The fabric store had the perfect buttons, but they were broken so I obviously couldn't buy them. I'll have to swing by there one day this week to see if they got any more yet. The buttons were brown dogs with green collars...matched the dress perfectly. If they don't have them when I go check I'll get some little buttons shaped like dog bones...that'll be cute, too. No, I don't have a picture of Miss E wearing the dress yet...she said it needs buttons first.

Next is the bean bag game. Okay so I made 8 bean bags and a cute matching bag to carry them in. It all turned out great and right now we're making our own targets in the yard out of sticks, or chalk, or frisbees. But I am working out a plan in my mind to make it a complete game with either a target board(you know, with holes cut out of it) or some sort of fabric circles that are weighted (varying sizes for different points to earn). Back to the bean bags. I found bandannas at Walmart that had paw prints. So I got a black one with white paw prints and a hot pink one with black prints and white prints. So cute, really..and only 94 cents each. First, I lined them up and cut out 8 squares, each being 4 inches. They came out really cute, black on one side, pink on the other. Then I filled them...one bag of black beans did the trick. Yes, I like to use beans...they don't call them bean bags for nothin'. Great, got that done, but I had a lot of bandanna fabric left over, and it was so cute. I had to make a matching purse to carry the bean bags. Thankfully, I had some solid hot pink fabric in my stash so I made a purse shape (sketched desired purse shape on paper, cut out, used as pattern) solid pink on outside, pink paw print as the lining. Then I used the black paw print cut two 5 inch wide strips(the entire length of bandanna) sewed those end to end then lined it with the solid pink. Then sewed the long 5inch wide strip to the purse sides. Tied ends of strap in cute knot to show both hot pink and black paw print. I had some extra black paw print left so I cut out a bone shape and sewed it to the outside of purse on solid pink. I didn't finish the edges. No, not because I'm lazy, (okay maybe I am just a little) but I like the frayed look and after I wash it the edges will be perfect. Miss E loves it. The only things I would change would be to have longer strap, put fusible webbing on the bone to make it a little more stiff, and to make the bottom a little more solid somehow, yet still washable. But, she loves it, I'm pleased with the outcome. Now all I have to do is get the idea that is in my head drawn on paper, then sewn into reality. Piece of cake!....Mmmmm cake.

Okay,just two more things today. First, my boss friend Ginny gave us a bag of hand-me-downs the other day. Her daughter is a little older than Miss O, so some of the new-old clothes fit Miss O and some fit Miss E. Yippee! Two happy girls. What adorable clothes they are. They chose these outfits first and had to model them for me. Sickening isn't it?...how cute they are! Second, the other day it was nice and warm and the girls wanted to paint with their water colors.

Miss O - Mom can I paint?

me - I guess so.

Miss E - Me too, me too!

me - I know! Why don't we paint outside...it's nice a sunny, it'll be fun!

Miss O and E - Yay!

Yeah, I'm smart like that :o) No splatter-y mess in my house...hee hee. I got some really cute pictures I thought you might enjoy.
They had some great fun. I love these pictures...and this is just the beginning of summer. There's so much more fun to come!