Only Child For A Few Days

 

 My boys are visiting Grandma and Grandpa for a few days, so Avery gets to play "only child" with us while they're away.  It's really been so nice and peaceful since they've been gone.  Don't get me wrong- I love my boys, but the volume level immediately dropped when they left, and hasn't picked up since!  And no fighting to referee- hurray!

 

It's been a while since Avery wore a vintage dress, so I decided it would be a perfect day to do a little photoshoot with her, with no distractions.  You've seen this dress before here, but now we've added little pink bike shorts underneath.  She's such a tall girl, I end up doing this with a lot of her dresses, since they're too short- thank goodness for these shorts from Target- we have them in all the colors!

 

She loves swinging on the swings lately- she's learning how to pump with help from her brothers.

 

 And of course, who doesn't love to twirl around on a swing?

 

 Little Cutie!

 

 She's very into "posing" for photos these days.  Above is her "go-to" pose...

 

 ...but then the poses often gravitate towards something like this...

 

 ...or this.  Huh???

 

But I do have to say that I like this one quite a bit!!

 

I'll be trying to trying to appreciate the quiet around here before we see the boys again, and hopefully do some special activities with my girly, too!

 

 

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?