Cute, Quick, Pretty Craft!

 

Just popping in to show you a cute craft I did with Noah and Avery today.  I cut their initials out of thin cardboard, then let them decorate with washi tape!  So easy, and such a pretty finished piece!  And those rolls of washi tape last forever, so I don't mind them using little bits and pieces to make pretty art.  For a bigger statement, imagine these done on those two-foot-tall papier mache letters you can get at JoAnn's or Hobby Lobby! 

 

 

The kids were ultra proud of their new creations! 

 

You know, I keep a binder full of kid's craft projects that I cut from magazines or print from blogs and Pinterest.  But ones like this, that I just randomly think up, always seem to be the cutest and easiest and most enjoyable for the kids! 

 

Hope everyone's having a great summer so far!

 

 

Pretty Pastel Redecorating

 I may have mentioned before that we're redecorating our family room.  We bought a new white slipcovered sectional, and are rearranging things around that.  It's been slow-going though.  We tried to sell our old couches (only about 5 years old and in nice shape) for about 2 months on Craigslist, with no luck.  So we've been walking around an extra set of couches crammed in here for that long!  We finally relented and donated them, and it's been so nice to be able to begin the decorating process!

 

 I wanted things lighter and brighter, with pretty colors as accents.  As I searched around and "shopped" my house for accessories, I was mostly coming up with neutral colors. Until I went into my studio...

 

 I've always hesitated putting most of my more "unusual" collections out in the main area of the house.   Most of my guests just don't "get it" and ask why I need so many globes, etc. (you know what I'm talking about!).  Plus, I know my husband would not choose to decorate with doll furniture if he had his way about things!

 

 But these pieces were really just so perfect all together!  They brought such pretty pops of color against the white couch and cream sofa table.  And so far, Hubby hasn't made mention of my things slowly creeping their way into our main living area, so he either doesn't mind or has chosen to remain quiet- both which I can live with- ha ha!

 

 This quilt I found for $3 at a thrift store!  It breaks up the expanse of white on the back of the couch.

 

A couple more thrift store quilts in a wire basket...

 

Such pretty colors!

 

 Here are some more neutral accessories on the top of the table...

 

 A new collection of wire balls is slowly forming here...!  They were all found at HomeGoods and Target.

 

 In the background you can see a shelving unit I'm working on.  I haven't rearranged the artwork on the walls yet, so some of it is a bit covered up!

 

 The other area I've been playing with is the mantle.  We're going to be doing some construction on either side of the fireplace, so I may decide I want something different in the future, but currently, I'm trying this out.

 

 I just picked out all my prettiest, sweetest vintage children's books and lined them up!

 

 The colors make me smile every time I look at them, and as a bonus, the kids have asked to read them more frequently as well!

 

What's your opinion?  Does your family just grin and bear it when it comes to your decorating style?  Do you bring your unusual collections out into the main areas of your house, or are they "banished" to your own section of the house?  It makes me so much happier seeing these things out in the open as part of the décor!

 

So anyway, that's just a look at where I'm going with our family room remodel.  It's still very much in the works, and I don't know when it will be done, but I'll be sure to show you here once it is! 

Birthday Painting

I finally had a chance to do my birthday painting!  A week late, but that's close enough!  (I do a piece of art every year on my birthday, or in this case, close to my birthday.)  It's been a while since I've had a chance to do a painting, and it took me a bit to get into it.  I had the hardest time with this one!  It took me forever, but now that it's finished, I love it!

 

 There are different images and things that have meaning to me and to the last year of my life.  Can you guess what the dollhouse means?  Ha ha!

 

 If you count the scribbled dots in the pink and light gray sections, there are forty-one, my age this year.

 

 

I rarely use black in my work, but I was struggling so much with this piece, I decided to try it.  And you know what?  I think those are my favorite parts of the piece!  If you've read my book, you'd know how I feel about having a tough time with a piece of art.  In my experience, getting to the point where you "hate" what you're creating inspires you to try new things, which most often, "save" the piece!  That was the case with this painting- I was so unhappy with it, I decided to try the black, and ended up really liking the direction that it took!

 

Anyway, I'm so happy I've continued with these birthday pieces every year.  It's fun to look back at them to see both how I've matured, and how my artwork has matured.  If you'd like to see ones from the past, you can follow the links through this post.

 

Once more week of school for my kids (except Avery- she was done with preschool last week), then it's time for summer!  I'm both excited and a little afraid!  They're good kids, but all three of them home all day can even be a little much for the best of kids, you know?

 

 

Our Past Month, Ending With My Birthday

It's been an eventful past month for us.  Lots going on!  So I thought I'd share some photos and let you know what we've been up to!

 

 The end of April was busy because my youngest sister got married.  She had her bridal shower at a local park.   The kids had lots of fun, playing at the playground,...

 

...playing badmitton,...

 

 ...and swinging on the monkey bars.

 

Riley had a little too much fun, and fell off the monkey bars- uh oh!  We put ice on his arm, and gave him Ibuprofen for the next couple days.

 

The next day, we were in the wedding, and all had a great time!

 

A few days later, Riley lost his second front tooth (he's already lost the bottom ones).  It's cute to listen to him talk, because he immediately picked up a lisp!

 

 Oh, remember that fall from the monkey bars?  Yep, it was still hurting 4 days later, so we took him in.  Turns out it was broken!  Oops!  Worst parents ever, right?

 

 Then, this cutie was in her first ballet recital!  Can you tell she was excited?  Talk about cute overload!

 

 

And that brings us to this past weekend, my birthday weekend.  We had booked a camping trip several weeks ago over Memorial Day, not really thinking about the fact that it was my birthday weekend.  So I spent my birthday camping!  The kids had such a great time!  Here are some pics from the weekend.

 

 

 

Little Miss Model!

 

 (Melt my heart with the one above!)

 

 

There was an abandoned tractor near the campground that we explored.

 

 

And although we were camping, Hubby let me sneak off for a few hours to do some antiquing.  It was my birthday, after all!

 

Here's what I came back with!  Isn't it adorable?  It's bigger than a typical doll's dresser (of which I have several!).  It's more meant for a child, or was perhaps a salesman's sample.  I've seen them before, but they usually run in the hundreds.  But this one was only $40!

 

 

And so, since my birthday was spent in the woods, I didn't get any presents that day (except for the above dresser, which I bought for myself!).  But take a look what was waiting for me when I got home:

 

 

 A Keystone Put-A-Way dollhouse!!!  I love it!  I had hinted to my husband that I was interested in the Ebay listing, but didn't know if he had taken the bait or not!

 

Then, as if I weren't lucky enough, my mother also spoiled me with this:

 

 

 An FAO Schwarz Keystone dollhouse!  Again, from an Ebay listing.  When I talked to my husband and mother, both claimed they didn't know the other one was getting me a dollhouse;  otherwise they say they wouldn't have both done it.  But hey, I'm certainly not complaining about their lack of communication!!!

 

So that's what we've been up to.  If you've followed my blog for a while, you know that every year, I try to do a piece of art on my birthday.  Because of the camping trip, I didn't make it this year, but I hope to do one in the next couple days.  I'll be sure to show you here when I do!

 

Avery's Journal

I've just finished up Avery's most recent art journal.  Although I'm doing Project Life scrapbooks for the boys at this point, I'm still doing art journals for her, until she turns five, which will be in a little more than a year.  I really love the art journals I've done for my kids (you can see them all on my Flickr page), but I have to say, it's getting harder and harder for me to do them.  My artistic style has changed over the years, and these journals are more challenging than they used to be.   But enough of that!  Here are her most recent spreads:

 

 The above is about Playball, a sports club that meets once a week at her preschool.  My boys also are in Playball at their school, and Avery just loves that she gets to do it, too!  She has so much fun- I usually go to pick her up a little early, just so I can watch her having fun!

 

 This next spread is about a little tea party we attended.  All the girls in our family (aunts, sisters, cousins, etc.) went and had tea together.  Avery had the best time dressing up and pretending to be a grown-up drinking tea!

 

That was the last page in her book (I do her journals in thrift-store books, so they have a limited number of pages), so it was time to make the cover.

 

I love the way the cover turned out!  I love the colors, and the little girl is such a perfect representation of Avery, cuddling with the kittens...  The spine is actually a really saturated teal velvet, but I couldn't seem to get the right color on my computer.

 

 Here it is, sitting on her dresser.  You can see some of her other books over to the side.  I always like the way they look lined up, with the different spines next to each other.

 

Time to start on a new book for her.  I suppose it will probably be her last (before I make the switch to Project Life scrapbooks), which makes me a little sad.  But maybe that will be good incentive for me to do some really nice artwork in it!

 

New Toys for the Twins

Yesterday, the twin girls in my 1906 dollhouse were lucky enough to receive two very special toys.  Maybe it was their birthday! 

 

 Red Sister got a beautiful rocking horse, and Blue Sister got a beautiful dollhouse!

 

The rocking horse came from the thrift store.  It was originally a carousel horse Christmas ornament, but I dismantled it and turned it into just a rocking horse.

 

The miniature dollhouse came from Ebay.  I've seen this style before but didn't pay a lot of attention to the dimensions when I purchased it.  It's a lot larger than I thought it would be, so this is the only house I have with a big enough nursery to accomodate it!  But it works well in here, because now each girl gets a special new toy!

 

Add that to the smaller dollhouses they already had on their dresser, and soon they'll have a collection as big as mine!!

 

"New" Scrapbooking Storage

As I've become more involved with doing Project Life albums for my boys (I'm still doing the more artistic journals for Avery until she turns five), my scrapbooking supplies have increased.  I've corraled them in different ways over the years (see my most recent system here), but a recent trip to an antique store brought me a wonderful new storage possibility!

 

 I'm sure you've seen these vintage quilted satin boxes before.  A little research online told me they were used to store gloves back when....  Well, guess what they're also perfect for?

 

 Scrapbooking doo-dads, and more importantly, Project Life cards!  They're the absolute perfect size to store the 3x4 cards that are used in Project Life.  And the little dividers are perfect for organizing little labels, journaling tags, etc.

 

 My adhesives and small tools now go in the cute vintage tin where the cards used to reside.

 

 And this little dolly found a place to watch all the fun!

 

 My "new" boxes make me happy every time I sit down to work now! 

 

If you're interested to do the same, I did a quick search on Ebay under "vintage satin glove organizer" or "glove organizer" and found some similar ones!