Since I still have to put new pictures on the computer--that's been the holdup with new posts--I thought I'd post an old project. Several months ago, I decorated this bag for the movie I was giving as gift. I love doing collage work with scrap paper--it is just so fun to represent something without having to worry about all the minute details. Can you guess what movie is in the bag?

beans, beans...

Aubie has never liked beans. Since she was tiny. The other day when we were eating taco salad, she finally described to us the reason she doesn't like them. "They taste like potatoes without any salt on 'em." After she said it, I could kind of understand where she was coming from. Especially when I split a kidney bean down the middle--it even looked like a tiny potato. :) (Here she is back around the time she was beginning to decide these sorts of things.)

lesson

This morning, I had another Bible lesson much like this one. Though I was standing right in front of him, Matthan kept saying, "Mommy. Mommy. Mommy. Mommy! Mommy! MOMMY!" All the while, I am saying, "Yes, Bud." every time. Finally, it was too much. So I yelled, "Stop saying my name if you're not going to do anything!" More than ever before, it hit me. God doesn't really like that either--He must not if it's one of his top ten rules. And I thought about my dad's sermon on Sunday (if you'd like a link to listen, I can send it to you)--that maybe I'm not guilty of saying God's name as an expletive, but that, like I yelled at my son about, I am guilty of saying His name repeatedly without doing anything.

the house

It's hard to do your schoolwork when a little house needs furniture. And people to live in it. Only, I was just told, "Mommy, that little circle is not a head. It's a table. I can put some people if you want..." No Ma'am, I'd just like for you to finish your spelling, please. :)

already?

Hard to believe this was 2 months ago...

Happy 2 month birthday, Solomon!

more guitars for the guitar room

I've had a 4-picture frame that I bought at Kirkland's hanging on the wall for MONTHS now. I am very sad to say that I left the fake people pictures in the frame and even sadder to say that the way it was hung, those people were sideways. :I

My plan was to take a picture of each of us with David's guitar and put those 4 pictures in the frame. To let you know how long it's been hanging on the wall, "each of us" meant Saige, David, Aubie, and Matthan. :) When I knew number three was coming along, I also knew I had to put up with the sideways people for a little longer. But here's what ended up going in the frame:

This is back before we were married--I think we might have been engaged. But I like that it was an already existing picture even though all we have is a copy made on a copier. And this is actually a picture of that copy. (I mean, I'm sure the negative is somewhere, but who knows where, and the little 2x3 picture is somewhere too but I'm not sure of it's location either.)But with it being one from before our marriage, itt's kinda saying, "Here's where it all began".

My sweet girl.

I love it when he's serious like this (a rarity!).

I "Paint"-shopped this picture to get rid of the grass that was showing because I didn't spread the blanket out far enough. :I Thankfully, you can't really see the weirdness from up on the wall. :)

The finished product. (You can see my yellow kitchen through the doorway.)

this day

On August 28th, 1999, I married this handsome man. :) Eleven years and three kids later, I definitely love him more than I did then.

I plan on making him a mobile...

but until then,

he's thrilled with this one from 1971 (5 years older than me!).

i never thought i'd make curtains

So, a WHILE back, I promised I'd write a post entitled "I Never Thought I'd Make Curtains", but you never saw it. And then a shorter while back, I promised to show you the children's artwork, but never did that either. Well, here are both those posts rolled into one.

I don't guess you can call a simple valance a curtain, but I made it, and I think it was the first "curtain" I ever made. The shade is a flour sack towel that Mom had given me. When she gave it, I knew it had to be used in my yellow and black kitchen somewhere, but I wasn't sure how. Then I remembered having seen a tutorial on adding fabric to shades. So that's what I did. It's a little wonky since it was my first try and, once it's on, it's on. But I like it--it's fun. Now if it just wouldn't fall down every time I try to pull it up... I'm gonna have to have David work on the hardware part for me. :)

You're probably thinking that the shelf just looks like a board laid across two cabinets. Well, guess what? You're right. It is just a board laying across two cabinets! That's a future project...

I really cannot remember where I got the scale. Maybe the Rescue Mission thrift store, maybe David got it from "that old lady" (another post another time), maybe it was Aunt Mae's (my great, great aunt who was the previous owner of this house). All I know is I had it way before I decided on a yellow and black kitchen and I love it. And as you can see, on either side of it is the artwork. Aubie's kind of looks a little Van Gogh-y. Matthan's is definitely very impressionist--as in, the impression of his foot is seen many times throughout the piece.

This curtain is sort of a valance too, I guess--it had to be short so that when I open the glass slats, I can still see the kids through the screen when they're playing outside. Yep, it's one of those weird 50's? doors. I just loved this print on the dress that I got in a stuff-a-bag for $10 at a thrift store. I had to take out some darts, but this curtain came pre-hemmed! I LOVE re-fashioning for that very reason. :) The top is the same fabric as the other valance, and the trim is some awesome Asian-themed ribbon that I got at Malone's fabric (one of the junkiest, most amazing places I've ever been) for a dollar a yard.

That almost concludes the tour of my kitchen. I can't wait till I can one day post the truly finished version. No more plastic tile, no more ugly floor. But until then, I'm trying to make it as "me" as possible.

Cows 3: The Herd Returns

My cute cow girl. :)


Another Cow Appreciation Day has come and gone. It's funny how when I worked at Chick-fil-A, about the 3rd year in of "Eat Mor Chikin" I hated the cows. I thought it was a major marketing mistake. But here I am, dressing like a cow for the 3rd year in a row, so I must be over it. :)

Here is the proof that we walked up to our Chick-fil-A to avoid taking a one week old baby around a bunch of folks (I had a lot of grandmothers worried as to what I would do).

David's photo shoot with our sad camera...

You can see what he has to work with...

But here I am telling him how to take pictures, and messing up our only chance for a good one.

And here is my sad attempt to do better. :I

These didn't turn out too bad, though. :)

A friend made this onesie for a baby gift. I'm so glad she did! Though I had the best of intentions, I know it wouldn't have turned out this cute even if I had found time to do it. It says, "NUBORNZ NEED MILK. MOMZ NEED CHICKIN". So cute!

Well, this concludes my first post after a long, long absence (AGAIN!). But I've already uploaded some photos for future posts, so there should be a new one next week (or as soon as I know that my 5 faithful readers have had a chance to read this one :) ).

yay!

Welcome to the family, Solomon! He arrived at 3:20 a.m. July 2nd. My biggest yet at 10 lbs. 3.1 oz. and 22.5 inches long! We are all so happy that our sweet baby boy is here. :)

original artwork

I've had these brown squares for a while--I think Leah got them while she was teaching art or something, and passed them along. And I've always wanted to do something cool with them. Well, one day a few months ago, I decided to let the kids use just my kitchen colors (yellow and black) to paint something for the shelf (that is not yet completed, but kind of hanging anyway).

Aubie was neat, and stuck to the color scheme by mixing colors as little as possible.

Matthan on the other hand...



But now I have two very yellow-and-black and very original paintings for my kitchen. AND... you will have to see how they are arranged (currently) in another post, since I can't get my pictures to upload right now. So just enjoy these shots of this dainty girl and this messy boy and then imagine what fun I had cleaning my kitchen after they were finished. :)

numbers

75, 85, 45, 18. What do those numbers represent? Would you like to guess? That's the amount of times I blogged in the years 2006, 2007, 2008, and 2009. So far, though you may not believe it, I already have 14 posts for this year. I sincerely believe that I will beat last year. I really do. Thank you Miss Debbie for encouraging me to post again. I'll get a new picture post up next week. :)

cherry blossom time

So, what year is this of our Cherry Blossom Festival tradition? I think the first year, Daniel was 10 months old. Actually though, we went the year before that, only it was night time and with other friends too. So yeah, we've been doing this for 5 years! Wow. Hard to believe.

Aubie watching the sea lions with some random children.

Pre-drama picture. Naptime + Crowds+ the motorcycle already being taken= Little man not riding anything the whole time and lots of tears. I even tried to see if he wanted to ride later when the motorcycle was free, but he just wouldn't do it. :(

Another pre-drama picture. Should have known better (I did, actually, but didn't stop her) than to let Aub ride with Daredevil Daniel. She enjoys going round in circles at the lowest level. He enjoys pushing the throttle and staying at the highest the dragon will take him the entire ride. Needless to say, there were LOTS of tears. :(

Some fun after all. It's always fun to continue throwing rocks when your mother is telling you its time to go and all your friends are waiting on you.

The PINK choo-choo train could not be avoided by this young man. Even though it was pink. :) But, it was a stationary train, so there were no tears here!
(Oh and a crafty thing--Matthan's shirt is a freezer paper stencil I did for him. The boy needed a motorcycle shirt something awful!)

All the kids are in this picture somewhere... The more children, the harder it is to get the picture! So next year, I am not sure if I'll be able to get a shot at all--the newest member of the bunch will be really be wanting to explore by then. :)

As we were walking back to the van, a helicopter was about to fly off, so we all stopped to watch.

After minutes of waiting, finally, it took off! It was a lovely day to attend the Cherry Blossom Festival and we all had a lot of fun. Sadly, I forgot to get the traditional 5-kids-in-the-back-of-the-van picture. Kinda sad, cause next year we'll be driving separately. Oh well, I'll still have the memories. :)

if I live to be a hundred...

I hope I'm as cute as this little old lady. :)

Thursday was the 100th day of school at Aubie's kindergarten and they were asked to dress up like old people. I was out of baby powder or she would have had grey hair as well. :) With the dressing up, and the counting 100 cookies, 100 marshmallows, 100 pieces of candy, I think she had a pretty fun day!

a glimpse of the kitchen

This is a picture of the wall above the stove. As you can see, I still have the yellow tile that I described in detail here. I'm ok with it for now, but when it is gone, I will be so, so happy!
I have my pots and pans hanging on the wall--I wanted a baker's rack, but David said that it would be hanging too close to the stove and everything would get covered with grease. Yuck! So, I made my own baker's hangers using 2 black plant hangers I found at Kmart. They were a lot more economical and definitely take up less room!
I painted the "P" plate at a local pottery place. It was so much fun, I would love to paint plates for the entire house! But, speaking of economical, that's probably not the best idea. :) The other two monograms are David's and my initials and they were done using the same Black Adder font. Only this time, I just Mod Podge-d them onto some $.25 plates I got at the Rescue Mission. I had to darken the letters by coloring them with black permanent marker after I "cut" them out by outlining them heavily with a ballpoint pen. Yes, that was probably a weird way to do it, but at least it made the edges as softly jagged as I wanted them, as opposed to the horribly jagged job that I would have done with an Exacto.
And the adorable little cookbook that's framed in the middle is one my mom got at an antique shop. She told me that Mimi used to have one just like it! I just love that.
Well, that's a glimpse of my kitchen. More to come later.

wedding bot

My future cousin-in-law, Kat, suggested that we do a swap back at Christmas. She'd make me a scarf, and I could make her a robot shirt sorta like the one seen here. Well, Christmas came and went. I had my scarf, but poor Kat didn't have her shirt. Organizing the house, sicknesses of various kinds, and fear of making a shirt for a New Yorker working for a designer, all kept me from getting started. After receiving the sweetest letter from her, I finally found the courage to just do it, and send it, no matter what it looked like.

I had always wanted to make a detachable veil for the robot, since she and my cousin were getting married very soon. Now that the wedding is next week, I have finally completed the project and it will be there in time for her to wear it only once before the wedding. :( Oh well. At least she'll have it before the wedding! I used an 80's-ish cut tshirt in case it's too big for her, so she can make it look as though it's meant to be big. I also made her a little robot tag for the present. Hope she can use at least one of these two items!

another finished corner... for now

Another finished corner? But wait... those curtains DO NOT match the ones she made. Bless her heart! No, I am not pattern-challenged--well, at least not too bad anyway. I ditched 'em. Well, I mean, they are in my fabric stash again, but they won't be hangin in my living room. When you find $50-a-panel-curtains (that match your living room pretty closely) for $4, it's kinda hard to convince yourself to continue working with vintage polyester. :)

Hanging on the wall is the guitar picture that I was having trouble finding. I was quite distressed, because it's one of my favorites. I drew it shortly after David asked if he could begin courting me, but we couldn't yet because I still had this final project to do and needed to focus on that. Funny how my subject was guitars (because of him) and that this picture happens to be my guitar and his guitar side by side. Kinda shows where my focus was heading. ;) I found it after much searching, and was so happy! (The little picture on the lamp table is one of us when we were dating--he's playing the guitar while I watch happily.)

For 10 years, I've searched on and off for a frame for the "our guitars" picture. The problem is, it happens to be 17 by 24 inches--way bigger than your average frame at Goodwill. I wanted so much to have a nice frame, but for very little cost. And though I never officially priced it, I'm pretty sure having a custom frame made for such a large picture is out of my budget. So how did I find one? My brother got this frame with the faded out picture of an airplane and a car from one of his civil engineer jobs and Mom had been saving it for just such an occasion (not really knowing about my endless quest for just the right frame). I had to do a tiny bit of refashioning to it, but if I don't tell you what I did, you might not notice. So, I'll keep it at that.

After looking at this picture, I realize how bland the fluffy off white pillow (and its mate that I've kept shammed for 6 years until now) and the off white throw look sitting on the couch. I'm going to have to remedy that. But at least things are starting to come together. And, having things still to fix means more posts later on, right?

instead of cards

Last year, I bought two or three boxes of Valentines that I just knew the kids would love handing out this year--Transformers, Hello Kitty, something I can't remember. Two months ago, I set them aside because I knew I'd need them soon. And although my life has been one long organizational ordeal since after Christmas, I have yet to find that special place that I stored the Valentines. My house is pretty dang small, so I'm a little confused. Anyway, since kids in Aubie's class are always giving out goody bags, and as of the night before the party I had still not found the cards--I refused to buy more!--I made these to go with the Valentine gummies I bought. Sure, what's a kid need a key chain for, but I thought they turned out cute.
The names were done on Shrinky Dink paper (I love to make small things, but Shrinky Dinks make things even smaller!). The little flowers were some small ornaments that I got on clearance after Christmas . (Had I realized at the time how many uses I'd find for these, I'd have bought them all!!! Pics of other uses to come later.) And I had the all the key rings already on hand. Pretty nifty little Valentine for about $.30.