Arty, Arty, Art

You may be seeing a little more art and a little fewer thrifted goodies from me in the next few weeks.  That's because it's Lent.  What's Lent got to do with me making art and thrifting, you ask?  Well, this year (and last), I gave up thrifting for Lent!  While thrifting is wonderful for many reasons, it also has a pretty negative side for me as well.  I would rather thrift than do a lot of other more productive things (like cleaning, playing with my kids, doing art, etc.), and I sometimes go a bit overboard with it- there are weeks that I go out every day, especially while the kids are at school.  So giving it up for a few weeks allows me to reign my life back in and focus on some other things for a while!  

Anyway, all that to explain why I had the time to do several pieces of art this week!

I really love this first piece, which is saying a lot!  You should have seen where this piece started.  I probably did three complete paintings under there before ending up with this result.  But all the layers add nice depth to it, so all that work was not lost!  I've been inspired a lot by this artist lately...

Then I did a spread in Avery's book.  It's about how much she loves things that match.  She points out matching items probably twenty times a day to us!

And finally another page in Riley's journal.  I'm still catching up for the year I lost, so these events took place last year.  He went to his first baseball game and went camping for the first time- big events in a little boy's life!

What's interesting is that in the past week, I've done three different types of art.  One Project Life page (scrapbooking), one art journal page (collage/mixed media), and one freeform piece (painting).  I know that to someone else, they may not seem that different, but to me, they each fall into a different category.  It's nice to have all three to alternate between, since they each require a different sort of thinking and concentration-they're all fun, just different kinds of fun!

A Little Sad...Sniff!

A couple years ago, this baby... 

...was sleeping in this crib. 

 And at this very moment, this toddler is sleeping in this big girl bed....

 This morning we sold our crib, the beautiful crib that saw me through three babies.  And I have to admit, it makes me a little sad!  I really loved that crib, and spent such time choosing it six years ago.  It's hard to believe it's gone...

 ...but our little girl is growing up, and is ready to move on, even if Mommy isn't!

And as I peeked in on her to see if she was asleep, I saw something that makes my Mommy heart smile- babies and strollers and other dolly items strewn about the floor!  Maybe this little bit of freedom in her room during naps will awaken the dolly lover in her!  I can only hope!

P.S. Isn't that big kitty cat pillow adorable?  It's from Costco, if you're interested!

Lil' Vintage Story Books #18

Welcome again to Lil' Vintage Story Books, where we share our favorite vintage children's books!

 Today's book is such a sweet, simple story.  My kids love it and I love it.  It's called "How Joe the Bear and Sam the Mouse Got Together".  It's written by Beatrice Schenk De Regniers and illustrated by Brinton Turkle, published in 1965.

  It's about a bear named Joe who meets a mouse named Sam.

They begin comparing all their likes and dislikes.  (By the way, isn't this illustration of the houses just magnificent?  I love it!)

 But they can't seem to find anything in common...

 Every time they think they've found a mutual interest, they end up having opposing views.

  Poor Sam and Joe...

 ...until....they both head towards the ice cream store and realize that they BOTH like ALL kinds of ice cream!

 They're so happy that they can still be friends!

Hooray! Yummm!

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Little Vintage Nightgown

I love a sweet nightgown on Avery.   But I have a hard time finding ones I like!  Every one I find has princesses or Spongebob or some other character on it.  Until I found this sweet vintage one at the thrift store.  

 It's made from a little rosebud print, with lace and a bow at the front.  I think she's just almost edible when she's still rumpled from bed, and wearing this!

She's into stickers lately, as you see!

 And her favorite subject is hearts!

Sweet little feet trying to reach the counter...!

As you see here, I did break down and buy here a Dora one (from the thrift at least).  It's the same styling as her rosebud one, so it's still pretty cute.  Here she is with her absolute favorite person- big brother, Noah!

I'm linking here and here this week!

A Couple "New" Things in Avery's Room

Last week I suddenly had the idea to transform this little wall hanging.  You can see its former self in this post.  It's been sitting in the closet ever since we rearranged the boys' rooms, but I've always liked the piece and have been looking for a new use for it.

 I pulled out my stash of vintage decals (some are actual vintage, and some are reproductions) and some paint, and went to work!  You may notice that the middle decal got a bit messed up, but I really don't mind- I think it makes it look more authentic- ha ha!

 I think it turned out darling!  A perfect place to hang some little dolly clothes!

And speaking of darling, how about this little bed?  I found it on the Goodwill auction site. (Did you know Goodwill has an auction site?  I should probably keep it a secret, since I don't think that many people know about it!)

I've never seen one of this style before.  The footboard and headboard are actually just corrugated cardboard, slid into the metal casings. Aren't the graphics adorable?   I think this may be my favorite doll bed to date, and I've got a lot to choose from!!

One of these days I'm going to have to admit to myself that Avery's not interested in dolls, and I'll have to find room for it all in my (already cramped!) studio.  But for now, it's part of Avery's room decor, I guess until she gets old enough to tell me she doesn't like it anymore!

The End of One Era...

So you may all be sick of me "blah-blah-blah-ing" about the whether to continue with the art journals/scrapbooks for my kids.  But bear with me for one more post about it!  

Since Noah turned five a couple weeks ago, I'd made the decision to finish his art journal at that point, and continue with Project Life as I will be doing with Riley.  So in the past few weeks, I've sort of made a mad scramble to do some pages for him before THE END of the art journal!  So here are those results:

The first is about his determination to learn how to whistle.  He has really practiced and practiced, and learned how to do it!  He's so proud of himself!

The next is about his tongue.  Have you ever known a kid who needs his tongue to do everything?  I swear, Noah cannot concentrate without his tongue out!  I'm not sure how well you can see those smaller photos, but in every one, he has his tongue out!  It's pretty cute!

And then the final spread.  Obviously about him turning five.  I used pieces from the pinata at his party, and a mouth and teeth from the silly monsters the kids made.

And finally, the cover to the book.  I just love doing covers!  It's the thing I'll miss most about doing these books!

I know I'm probably being all melodramatic about this, but it's really bittersweet knowing that this is the end of these art journals for the boys!  While I'm excited about continuing with Project Life, these books were just so much more personal!  But alas, the reason I'm making the change was because I was having such a hard time keeping up, and it will be nice not to be so stressed about it in the future.  And of course, I will still be continuing with Avery's art journals!

So, here's to the end of one era, but the beginning of another for me!  May it be just as creative and fulfilling!

(P.S.  I know there are still a couple more questions I haven't answered yet.  I will get to those, hopefully this week!)

Silly Monster Party

While you may think that I would be into throwing totally elaborate, totally crafty, totally decorated, totally adorable parties for my kids, I really am not.  I see the parties that people put together on other blogs, and I'm amazed at how wonderful they all are.  But I know myself, and I know that I am a perfectionist, and a party like one of those would STRESS ME OUT to the max!  So the two real parties I've thrown for my kids (by real, I mean someone other than family was invited) have been cute, but I've definitely not gone as "all out" as I could have.

 Anyway, all that explanation was just a way to say that here was my simple, fairly easy solution to Noah's request for a "Silly Monster Party".  It came out cute, somewhat crafty, and lots of fun for the kids!  

At Target, we found these monster shirts for the boys to wear (Avery wore some monster pj's that we already had).  Ugh, do you think we could clean our front door a little bit?  I didn't realize how bad it looked until I saw these photos!

I googled "silly monsters" and found several cute monster images that I printed out and  made into a banner.

 We gathered every kid-sized seat in the house (and outside) and put them around the coffee table, along with monster sticker sheets for the kids to play with as they arrived.

 My sister helped decorate a monster cake (inspired by this one).  Isn't he cute?

We got a monster pinata at Target, which was a big hit, of course!  Target has a really cute monster line in their party section- we got lucky with that!

And the funnest part was making their own silly monsters!  I made the monsters from two pieces of felt, then  stuffed them.  They went pretty fast, maybe about 15 minutes for each monster.  I cut out lots of items for the kids to glue on- eyes, mouths, noses, bows, hair, and of course, teeth!  

I printed out the photo at the top of the post for them to get ideas.  Grown-ups helped glue all the pieces together.

 Avery loved hers, and carries around her "Baby Monster" all the time!

And here's the cutest picture of all- all the kids with their monsters!  Aren't they cute?  (Some of the kids had  fake teeth in- they aren't in need of a dentist!)

It was a fun party overall.  Noah had a great time, and so did the kids.  And it wasn't too much work!  But I still have to say that even though it wasn't a whole lot of work, I still was TOTALLY STRESSED OUT!  So it's a good thing I don't get any more elaborate than this- ha ha!