Some recent projects

Turkey Vulture cupcakes for Elijah's birthday (delivering these to school today).  We are so into birds around here.  Vulture cupcakes for a birthday?  What's next?

Afghan for B that's been several years in the making

Afghan to match my Monet print (also several years in the making)

Sariah's Poi cupcakes from January

Sideways owl piñata (Sariah's birthday)

May's second afghan--She made this for the intern from her 2nd grade class who recently had her second baby girl!

I have also finished another afghan recently, but have the pictures on my camera, rather than the computer.  It's a beauty (because of the yarn) and my favorite that I've ever made.

On Humility

In keeping with the topic of humility from the end of the last post, I'm finding that I feel the need to dump it (that is, humility) in the gutter and show off my first embroidery project. We checked out the book Kids' Embroidery and I had been practicing the stitches. (I've been meaning to learn to embroider for a very long time). I played around with a pattern and then remembered May's jeans with the ripped knee. I decided to make a patch and here it is:



Now, I'll scoop humility back up and say that I have a lot to learn, but I think embroidery is fun, artistic, and sometimes relaxing. I think I'll look for a fun project!

Teacher Ts 2007-08

Nathan's teacher loves to fish!

May's teacher has done several amazing things with her kids this year!

Elijah's classroom mascot is the MONKEYS!

The back says "Thanks from your 2007-08 Class" and I give the shirts with a set of fabric markers so that the teachers can have the kids sign the back. It was a hit last year!

A Card, a Message and a ZING!

This blog post is more spiritual in nature, but I feel like posting it here rather than my other blog.

Joseph and I have made each other some cards over the years. It started when we were dating and he made me a card for something or other. I was really impressed! He drew a funny little heel on the back of the card with the label "Heelmark: For when you can't afford to send Hallmark." College students...!

After he made me a few spectacular cards, I caught on and made some of my own. I've run across some of our cards recently. Today, I ran across this one that I made some years ago and the message was for me:



Have you ever had that feeling where some idea was trying to get through to you and then suddenly ZING! you got it? There's an idea floating around time and space for me right now, but the ZING isn't happening. I'm too collapsed, fearful and spending my energy trying to ward it off.

I'm going to try deep breathing!

Decorating

For Mother's Day this year, I asked Joseph if we could redecorate the living room. We're not getting rid of our 15 year old furniture, even though by the end of the day, the cushions have slid almost to the floor! Instead we're pulling down some of the wall hangings, repainting and trying to make the room tidier looking in general.

On Saturday evening some friends of ours watched our kids and for our date, we went shopping. We went to four different stores. I wanted some yarn (I'm going to crochet a new afghan), a small lamp, a new print for the wall, some baskets and a few other things. We found something in each store we visited and made mental notes of things we were interested in, but unsure of.

I know that I want more of a nautical theme and the walls are going to be painted a very pale blue. We found and bought some baskets to make the computer desk more organized. Like it or not, the computer desk is staying in the living room. We found and bought some wall hangings (sea star and scallop) for a grouping with the new print I'm going to get (Monet). We found and bought some jars to put shells into for display. We looked at a couple of yarns but didn't buy. We saw a really cool tree wall hanging, but didn't buy because it seemed too breakable. We saw some decorative pillows for the couch, but we weren't sure they'd match the blinds we have. We couldn't find a lamp that would work.

After we got home, I immediately regretted not buying the tree, but I also remembered that I had a 40% off coupon that we could use. I asked Joseph to pick that up. After I got the kids off to school I went to look at the yarn again thinking I had chosen, only to realize that the soft yarn I wanted had too much turquoise. Our couches are forest green and I just don't think those colors can mix well. I also walked through more of the Michael's store than we had on Saturday and found a lamp for half off that matches the wall hangings and tree perfectly in style and color. I tried again on the pillows and still didn't buy because of the colors. I found some silk flowers and rocks so that I could make a simple floral arrangement (see picture above).

As I was doing all of this shopping, I realized that my decorating life could be much easier. I could just go to Jo-Ann or Michael's or (fill in the blank store) and buy a bunch of things out of their nautical section and just be done. It was at this point that I realized that the searching and the mix and match are my style. I love it. I love getting things that work together from many locations. It gives me a thrill. I like doing this with birthday party supplies and other projects as well (the best example would probably be May's doll house). Though I usually like the end results of my searches, I have no idea if my versions of these fashions would be "socially" acceptable. That's not really what matters anyway!

I asked Joseph if he liked this as much as me. He said he'd rather just find it all in one place and be done with it. But he was happy to do it this way if I wanted.

It made me wonder what other people's styles/strategies are like, too. I wanted to make a poll, but I didn't know how to word it. How do you do these kinds of things? I know some people do the mix and match version to save money. Sometimes I fall into this category. I've been very pleased with thrift store finds, like an outfit that comes from three different stores and works perfectly together. Other times I probably spend more than if I were to just pick up all the items from one store and be done with it. It's these times when it's purely for the creative feeling I get.

Posters

Here's another post about something that I needed to take pictures of and then throw away. These are some of the posters I've made for my kids' birthdays. A lot of them were used for some version or other of "Pin the Tail on the Donkey." Coloring is surprisingly therapeutic (well, to a point).

Have you ever read the George and Martha stories by author/illustrator George Marshall? If not, you should check your local library. They have a humor all their own! These posters were for Joseph's party about four years ago. I told him that he had two surprise visitors coming to his party. He was genuinely excited about this because he loves having people over to our house. Secretly I had bought some stuffed hippos and dressed them up for George and Martha (you're seeing that this was more for the kids than Joseph). In one of their stories they go up in a hot air balloon. I created a hot air balloon, put the hippos in and sailed them into Joseph's party! The kids and I thought it was great!



Elijah's third birthday party:


May's fifth birthday party. We played pin the horn on the unicorn:



For Nathan's eighth birthday we held his party at the local science museum, but we were all really into Gumby and Pokey at the time, so I had to incorporate that:



Sariah's fourth birthday:


Elijah's fourth birthday. He's still a Curious George fan. We even have Brio train sets that were made to accompany some of the stories. I can't tell you how many Curious George books I've read:



Elijah's sixth birthday party, also held at the Science museum, but with a penguin theme (all the kids go crazy for penguins in Kindergarten because it's part of the curriculum):


We've had lots of Thomas the Tank Engine parties and we're going to have another one on Sunday. Brigham is already crazy about Thomas!

Where are Memories Stored?

Joseph and I really like to conjure up ideas and build toys for our kids. Over the years, we've done some pretty neat things. We made a whole set of wooden blocks. We made a ball pit. We made a puppet theater. We made a doll house plus many of the fixins' (clothes, bedding, furniture etc.) for the dolls (see this previous post). For Nathan's fifth birthday, we threw him a Thomas the Tank Engine party and made these trains for each of the kids who came:


I found the extra trains that we had the other day and let Brigham play with them. I went back and forth deciding whether I would keep them or not. In the end, the face fell off of the Thomas and that decision was made easy.

All in all, I'm working to get rid of things even in the face of my version of practicality. For instance, why get rid of boy clothes that Brigham will eventually grow into? On the other hand, what is the price to store them for another five years until they fit him (and the elastic waistbands are likely shot)?

I also want to get rid of a lot of things that I think my memories are tied to (like the Thomas trains), because we just can't keep storing all of that stuff. (Do I sound like a broken record? Probably!) I was on the phone the other night with a lady whom I hope to get to know better (hi Jenny!). She talked about not letting the things that are in our homes define our memories. I thought that was wise. Somehow as I look at these things, it seems like the memories are captured inside them. If I remove the object, it seems like I remove the memory. In reality, I believe I just project the memory into the object. They are really stored inside me.

I haven't figured out how to keep memories differently. Maybe I do know how, but I've not effectively done it in the past. Surely pictures and journals are a big part of it. Sadly, I haven't done a very good job in the past of taking and making pictures available or of writing things down. My friend mentioned sending me the letters I had written to her over the years. I'm grateful for that because my journals are a desert during that time frame. (Wish I'd thought of sending people their letters before I rashly threw them out!)

My memories are important to me. I don't want to lose them.

P.S. For some bed-making fun, check out Lara's blog!

Handprint T-shirts

Last summer, when we were in Utah, we made these cool t-shirts for the cousins on my side of the family. Since there were only 11 (with one on the way), there was plenty of space for the hand prints. We bought six colors of fabric paint. Each kid could choose one color or they could mix two colors. It took a lot of space and time coordination, but I'm so glad we did it. My kids love them.

A Kid Craft Weekend

The kids have been using their talents this weekend. In a fit of boredom, their creativity leaked out!
Nathan always draws excellent birds and recently perfected his German Shepherd. The thing that amazes me is that he does these drawings out of his mind. I have to copy a picture when I draw.
Elijah has been receiving the kid's magazine "Ranger Rick" since Christmas. This is a great magazine all about wildlife. Inside this month's issue was this idea for making an owl to keep birds from whacking into your window. The owl is meant to be hung outside. We won't do that since the window that birds hit into is also the window where the bird food is.

A few months back, I read Mandy by Julie Edwards, to the kids. May really enjoyed this book, which is a little like The Secret Garden. She began reading it herself this last week and today did a watercolor to depict the little house in the woods that Mandy finds, complete with flagstone walk and flower beds.

Elijah did a watercolor of a Christmas tree.

May has been practicing her crochet and talks about that here on her blog. She amazed herself as her ball of yarn disappeared today during Sacrament meeting. She graduated from single crochets to double crochets recently!


We held American Girl Club this past Saturday and we were talking about World War II. It was particularly fitting to 2008 as well since our country is at war. We read a story about a little girl whose family was spared from the atomic bomb in Hiroshima, Japan. However several years later, she was diagnosed with leukemia from her exposure to radiation. There is a Japanese legend that cranes live for 1000 years. The little girl believed this legend and believed that if she folded 1000 cranes, perhaps her life would be spared. She died after folding 655 (I might be off a little there) cranes. Children from her village folded the rest of the cranes and brought them to the funeral. To this day, children who love peace fold origami cranes and send them to a monument around this little girl's burial site. At American Girl Club, we learned to fold origami cranes and though we aren't sending them to Japan, we talked about why we were folding them. You can learn to fold your own crane here.


After we had folded a whole flock of cranes, Nathan broke out his book Super Simple Paper Airplanes and folded a few of those.

Last year Elijah received a desk calendar of paper airplanes. Tomorrow's paper tells you how to fold today's paper into an airplane. Some of those seem to be expert designs, but we've got a pile full of planes that those boys have worked hard to fold.


On a final creative note, Nathan decorated this cake for our friend Gabe whose birthday is coming up this week. This was Nathan's first decorating job and I think he did just great!


Sariah wanted to make sure I posted her painting. The pink dots are clouds, she told me.

The Inspiration for May's Dollhouse

In this post, I shared photos and descriptions of the dollhouse that Joseph and I made for May. Here is the original dollhouse made by my mom and dad that inspired the one for May. In front of it is my brother Todd at about age 2.

Library Bags

Today, I made library bags for each of their kids. I want them each to have a library card, check out their own books and learn more responsibility. I used canvas bags that Joseph has brought home from conferences he has attended. I made small drawstring bags that are just the right size for library cards. I attached them to the canvas bags and off we went. It was new and exciting! Here's how I did it:

Here are my handy quilting tools, useful for cutting fabric for other projects as well.

First, I cut a 6" by 6 1/2" piece of cloth.

I zigzagged around the edges.

I folded the 6 1/2" side down 3/4" and sewed a seam.

I folded the fabric in half with the seam side out and sewed around the edge.

I stopped before I got to the zig-zag to leave an opening for threading the cord through.

I used a safety pin to thread the cord.

Voila! I decided that I liked cording better than twine.

I just looped the bag through it's own cord onto the handle of the canvas bag.

Off to the library we go!