Blur

The end of October and all of November were a blur of activity.

:: We celebrated Halloween with Waldo,a Minecraft dude,a greek goddess,an adorable panda, Harry  
  Potter and ET dressed as a ghost.
:: played with A LOT of pumpkins
:: received,as a surprise,some pre-decorated pumpkins. Zombies! My favorite.
:: celebrated my birthday with a visit at a knitting group, a yummy lunch and then visited some local yarn        
  stores we're I got to pick out some birthday yarn. All activites were enjoyed with the lovely Nancy.          
  Perfect,I tell you.
:: thanksgiving came and we feasted.
:: so many sniffles and coughs,several doctor visits and lots of resting with Little House on the Praire.


Then there was December. December was full.

:: family, and some more family
:: adopted cousins
:: sugar
:: a Nutcracker performance
:: Daddy home for two weeks!
:: presents
:: sugar
:: lots of Avatar
:: special nut bread
:: staying up late
:: sugar

Now we are all a bit grumpy. Daddy had to go back to work, the sugar rush has finally worn off and there is a lot of laundry to do.I am feeling the need for a little focus.

more painting

Lots of painting is going on at home lately. 

Let's see, I painted a room, 4 chairs, and a table this week. The kids worked on lightsabers and their own artwork and I still need to add more layers to my works in progress.

I guess we are in a painting mood. 

I have a few posts up at emerald lane, one is on the progress of my paintings for my class I'm taking and the other is about how art can be therapeutic at my house. 

Follow the links to read more.

painting

I'm taking another painting course online with Mati + Lisa. I talked about it last week.

I have my painting supplies set up at home in the kitchen because it  has great light and it works better for me to work there that at the studio.

I love having it all right there when I walk by.  I am constantly reminded that I am painting and creating art. An artist in the making? We'll see.

So far my process has been to collect inspiration for my paintings, select my color palette and record it.

• I printed out my inspiration and taped it up by my painting area, then I discovered a color palette based on my inspiration photos.
• I went to the store and selected paint chips based on my selected color palette. This way I have something to try and match when mixing my paints.
• I also made a color notebook to keep track of colors I love. I covered it with a sample painting I did when I was trying to see if I could mix the colors I wanted.

Mixing colors is fun and frustrating at the same time. I enjoy it and find it a fun challenge. It is tricky, but cool when I get it right!

costumes

Dressing up is the best.

My kids have always loved it.

This year's costumes were put together with a few things we had, a trip to the thrift store, the fabric store and help from google.

 Read the full post on the costumes here and here.

twitchy

I have been attempting to focus on Nancy's wise words this week and to abide in Him, who makes everything possible. For the most part,things have gone smoothly. My sister called to ask about Thanksgiving and my chest tightened,palms went sweaty. There are two birthdays left (not counting mine), Thanksgiving, Christmas with all its activities and today, I have costumes to finish before the Fall Fest. And in midst of all that there is school that will need to be done, hungry bellies to fill,wounds (physical and emotional) to mend and my fearful heart to wrestle .

Yep,there is that tight feeling.

 I have found myself drawn to these images taken at my favorite fall/winter beach. I can hear the roar of the ocean hitting the rocks. It is deafening, in a way, that drowns out all my scrambled thoughts. I love the soothing nothingness that enters my brain, as I hunker down on a rock and stare at the line where the ocean meets the heavens. I love the feel of the coarse, hot sand and the slimy, slick seaweed that covers everything.

I love how the calm overtakes my children. Until we reach the van at the end of the day and the arguing begins about who sits where, they are blessedly peaceful. There are no arguments,as they play in their own imaginary worlds. There are only cries of delight at new discoveries and urgings for Mom to get off her rock and see what they made. Sigh . . .

                           I know God is good, that Christ sits on His throne and rules over it all.
                                                                         All is grace.
                      BUT sometimes life gets to be a little too much and I get a little,well, twitchy.
                                                Guess where I am headed next week???

diy :: chalkboard sign

With a little help from my two youngest and my handy dad, we now have a chalkboard sign for advertising. My dad build the sandwich board style sign out of materials he had on hand- 2 pieces of paneling, 2 hinges, 2 1x2 boards and some screws. He added a rope handle to carry it. 

These are the supplies I used to paint the sign: 

Kilz latex primer

Valspar Chalkboard paint

cabinet and door roller (this gave it a smooth finish)

We primed the surface with one coat of Kilz primer and two coats of the chalkboard paint.

Here is the finished sign! I used chalk ink markers that wipe off with a wet cloth. I can change the sign as needed and use it for different events or announcements. 

reading

Lately at my house comic books have taken over the coffee table, the couch and the dining table. I can often find a boy or two lounging on the couch in crazy positions that I didn't think were possible for the human body. When breakfast, lunch or dinner is ready, at least one is dragging their comic book over with them. 

I have written more about our love of books and reading over at Emerald Lane. 

horsey girls

       Two of my favorite girls in the whole,wide world have this thing for horses. Since they were both very small they have dreamt of owning a horse. The dreaming did not stop with just the ownership of a horse but they dreamt big. They wanted to be able to ride together and share in this whole horse ownership experience thing together. And it has finally happened. Both of these young ladies now have their very own horse AND are able to ride, muck, deworm, bathe, chase after and occasionally cry together.

  

      I am not much of a horse person. Its not the smell or the dirt or the sweat. It all boils down to one word-FEAR. Horses scare me. They are ginormous. They are intelligent, too and can have a mind of their own. These girls are brave. They asked their moms to come take pictures of them together-two friends and their horses. As I watched them, I was struck with awe. These girls are really brave. They handled those giant beasts as if it was nothing. And when a horse is spooked, they take it in stride. They do what needs to be done.When the adrenaline rush wears off they laugh with tears in their eyes and call their horses silly names. They get back on and keep going. These girls are really, really brave.

     As I stood there snapping away, I just whispered a quiet prayer, that when life was hard they would remember how tough they really are. I prayed they would always dream big and love with such open hearts. They inspire me. I am privileged. 

autumn fun

At home I'm enjoying time outside with my littlest one. Creating works of art with fallen leaves and making trail totes for collecting .

google docs

    Last week I was feeling very under the weather. I only made it into the studio  for two very unproductive hours. My body refused to cooperate with my brain, which was swimming with plans and schemes. What's a girl to do? I climbed into bed, gathering my knitting, sketchbook, resources and trusty clunker of a laptop. Then, between children crawling in next to me for help with school, a report on their sibilings' behavior or just for a snuggle, the Google documents began. 

A document for each thing rattling around in my brain. One for projects in progress, project ideas, classes, shows and all the details of what we will need to do to implement our goals. (Dreams really.) I ignored the growing piles around me, slept when my body called me to, let my family serve me and dreamed away.It really wasn't a bad way to spend the week.

vodka experiment

I tried a new recipe for pie crust that had an interesting ingredient - vodka. Check out the recipe here.

fall

 Fall is finally in the air and that means a changing of our seasonal banner. I saw this idea in a lovely magazine somewhere and can't remember its exact name, so thank you lovely magazine, wherever you are.  It is simple but satisfying.

 And one of my favorite things has a starring role-PAINT CHIPS! I love all the colors, the possibilities these little cards hold and the names. My girls and I always debate about whether we actually like a certain color or just love it's name. A little like lipstick or fingernail polish. The colors in this banner were chosen by my daughter . I enjoyed her process of choosing fall colors.

Fall at our house also means school outside. Everyone cheered, gathered blankets, books and pencils and hunted for a spot. I haven't decided if we actually get much done on these days. The distractions from pesky puppies, the swing and trees that really want to be photographed make it rough to focus on those math problems. *wink,wink*

in the kitchen

Join me in my kitchen today ... in the kitchen :: pumpkin edition.

scotch tape decorating

lil' C's artwork

the nostrils!!!

I am fairly confident that my decorating 'style' will never grace the pages of any glossy magazine but it sure does bring a smile to my face. There are six lil' (and not so little) Picassos churning out artwork around these parts. The refrigerator, very early on, could not hold all of their masterpieces. We began tacking them pretty much anywhere there was an available space with scotch tape. When they were younger I was involved in this process, now they are all capable of hanging their works on their own. And because of that I often come across scenes like the one pictured above. This one made me laugh out loud. I love the positioning next to the framed piece. The nostrils!!! I love those nostrils. The attention to the small details (pockets) and those catlike pupils. I hope this one is not soon replaced. It might actually need a frame.

a new look

Fall is in the air! Only one day until it is official. The change of seasons always puts me into a sort out, clean up and rearranging kind of mood. I've posted all about the changes at Emerald Lane, hop over to read more about what I've been up to.