Cuteness All Around

Hi, I've got several cute things to share, beginning with some recent vintage purchases. I found these two old books at an antique shop a couple weeks ago. I'm always searching for new cute, vintage animal images, and these books definitely qualify! Then I also couldn't resist the little baby bootie planter as well.

Then, another cute thing is Riley's little underpants!! I never thought I'd be doing a piece of art about underpants, but of course, your own child can make anything cute, even something as un-cute as underpants! He's beginning to potty-train, and so it's often easiest to just let him run around in only his underwear, which I just find irresistably cute! He'll probably kill me later on for putting these photos in his book (and showing them to his future wife-ha ha!) but hey, moms will be moms!

Also, here's another project I decided to tackle this week-a shoe caddy. I have always struggled with the kids' shoe storage, and wasn't finding pre-made caddies that I liked, so I decided to make my own! I loosely followed the design of another shoe caddy, and just sort of made it up as I went along. All in all, it came out pretty well, although if I were to do it again, I would have made the pockets all a little bigger, because as the kids get older, their shoes are going to quickly outgrow it. Oh well, it can always be used for toys or socks or something else...

And finally, just a cute photo of the two kids. We went to the beach over the weekend, and I took some shots. Since it's virtually impossible to get a good shot of the two together, this will have to do!

I hope you're all having a great summer!

Artwork & My Current Obsession

Here's the cover of Noah's second journal. I love the way it came out! This journal covered his life from 5 months to 15 months, so I chose a photo from when he was about 11 months, right in the middle. So, soon I'll start his third book. I'm sort of at a turning point with the kids' journals. I'm finding it difficult to keep up, yet I want to keep doing them. I'm thinking that with the beginning of Noah's next book, I'll start doing single page spreads instead of double, which may make it easier to keep up... I'm almost at the end of Riley's current journal as well, so I'll do the same with his next one.

Speaking of Riley's book, this is his latest spread. Here's the story. Somewhere, somehow, Riley's come up with the expression of excitement, "Hoo-ha! Giddy-up, giddy-up!". I have no idea where it came from, but I suspect it may have been derived somehow from the character Woody in Toy Story. We hear it every time he's excited about something, and it's pretty cute.

The page came out sort of strange-I'm not sure if I like it or not. I put Riley's face on a cowboy image from a vintage book. My husband said the page was "scary", but I don't know about that- just a little strange. Oh well, I'm happy enough with it not to fiddle around with it any more!

So I wanted to tell you guys about my latest obsession. I have become obsessed with the dollhouse that I blogged about in the last post! Thanks to Moniqui, I've learned that it's a Lundby dollhouse, and I've spent countless hours researching the brand, furniture, dolls, and vintage dollhouses in general. I just cannot get it all out of my mind! What's the perfect furniture for my house, the perfect dolls, etc., etc.?

Needless to say, I think it is maybe becoming too important for me to allow it to be destroyed by the boys. So I think it will be moving out of Riley's room and into my studio soon. Jenelle had a neat idea about hanging it on the wall as a shelf, which I may try. But I really like the idea of finding furniture for it, too. Anyway, if I make any progress with it, I'll let you all know.

Have a great week!

Art & Thrifting- Who Could Ask for Anything More?

I did these pages about Noah's recent love for books, and more importantly, his love for sitting in my lap while I read to him. As a second child, he's learned that if he wants attention, he needs to demand it. So any time I happen to be sitting on the floor, it's not long before he's there with a book, plopping down in my lap before I've even realized it! It doesn't matter what else I was doing, I'm now supposed to read to him! Of course I can't deny him, since he gets so little one-on-one time as it is. I'm just glad that he's learned an effective way of asking for it!

My next step with Noah's book will be to do the cover, since this was the last spread in this book! I always love doing the covers, so that will be fun.

And here are a couple of my latest thrifted finds. The first I am so excited about. It's a handmade wooden truck/toybox. Riley absolutely loves semi trucks (spurred by Mack from the movie Cars, no doubt), so I knew he would be wild about this. I love the graphics on it- I have no idea who A.M. Hall & Co. are, but it looks cool! It's really large (about 2 1/2 feet long), and the fact that it serves as a toybox is a huge bonus. And it was half price, so I got it for only $8!

The second I have a feeling is going to be a big disappointment to me, but I love it nonetheless. It's a wonderful dollhouse from the 70's/early 80's (my guess from the decor) for only $5.

The reason I think it will be a disappointment is that I'm sure the boys will not play with it as I wish they would. Why oh why was I not blessed with a girl to share in my joy of these sorts of toys??? Oh well, maybe someday... And maybe they boys will surprise me and be really into it.

One of the reasons I liked this particular house so much is the way the side is opened up to two other rooms. It just makes for a more unique play experience, I think. Two children can more easily play at the same time. And as outdated as all the wallpaper is, that's one its charms, I think.

Does anyone out there have any suggestions for kid-friendly furniture and dolls that would fit with this style/size of house? The ceilings are 5 1/2" tall, so I think that's a touch smaller scale than most dollhouses. I wonder what was sold with it originally?

Okay, that's it for now....hope everyone's enjoying their summer!

Treehouse

Just a quickie post to show my latest piece. I've been relaxing in front of the tube a little too much lately during the magic "naptime hours", so a couple days ago I forced myself up into the studio to do some art. I'm always happy in the end when I do that, but sometimes it's just hard to muster the motivation when my DVR is calling me with all the shows I've recorded (So You Think You Can Dance, Legally Blonde: The Musical, to name a couple- you know, those ones that my husband just can't stomach, which is why I've recorded them!)

Anyway, this piece was a hard one- it took my three days worth of naptimes to finish, whereas most I can finish in one naptime plus a little time in the evening. It's because of the tree, which just gave me problems for some reason. In the end, I'm pretty happy, although there are still some things that bother me about it.

As always is the case, I used images that relate to my life. There are the two boys at the bottom, representing my boys, and the "rooms" in the house each illustrate something which is pertinent to our lives right now. Both boys are into elephants lately- Noah likes raising his arm to mimic the trunk, and Riley is in love with the movie "Dumbo". Much of our time is spent on our lanai playing with water toys and being in and out of the kiddie pool, thus the watering cans and the word "bottoms". I just let the kids play naked vs. taking diapers on and off, so I get to see lots and lots of two little bottoms! The face drawing is obviously from Riley's recent drawings, and the little book is because Noah is obsessed with looking at books recently.

The rainbows and clouds keep showing up in my pieces, which is odd because those really aren't images I'd ever see myself using, but they just always seem to feel right as I'm working. It's something I'll have to explore...

Well, my "quickie" post turned into a longer one, but that's okay! Hope you're all having a good week so far!

Ebay Stuff!

Hi, just a quick pop-in to let you all know that I'm selling a few things on Ebay. A huge bunch of ephemera (really good stuff here!), some clip-art books, and some back issues of Teesha's Art & Life. Check them out if you're interested-they end in just a couple days!

Also, just so I don't leave you without a photo, I'll show you my latest favorite find. I picked him up at a children's consignment shop, and I love him!

Happy Birthday to Me & Other Milestones

I celebrated my thirty-sixth birthday over the weekend, and again was reminded of how uneventful birthdays can become once you're an adult, and especially a mother! I always sort of expect to have a day where I get to do anything I want. Well, I guess if cleaning up toys and taking care of cranky kids is what I want, then I got my wish! Ha ha!

No, I'm kidding (sort of...!). It was actually a pretty nice day. We went to the beach in the morning, my sisters and their families came over for cake in the evening, and my husband took care of the kids for a few hours so that I could do my annual birthday piece of art.

I'm real happy with the way it turned out. Each little "room" of the house signifies something about the last year of my life. The journaling reads, "It's been a year of trying to find BALANCE. Balancing my weight (I lost a bunch of weight after Noah was born), balancing my own time with the kids' time, balancing responsibility between Jason and myself. Sometimes up, sometimes down."

One thing I'm really pleased with is the little bear family. These were actually all separate images that I placed together and modified to form the grouping. They worked perfectly to represent me and the two kids, and my husband watching us.

Then, besides my birthday, we've also had some other small milestones in the house lately. The first is Noah learning to talk. He's been saying a couple words for several months now, but now all of the sudden he's talking up a storm, learning new words every day! So I figured I'd better do a spread in his book about it... Two of the first things he said were "bye-bye" and growling like a lion, so I illustrated those, then also listed several of the other words he's now saying.

And, how thrilled do you think I was to see this come out of Riley today??

I know the little labels I've written are probably too small to read, but we've got eyes, eyebrows, nose, mouth, hands, and shoes! For a few days, I've sort of suspected he was drawing "face-like" images, but everytime I'd notice them, he was already onto something else, so I wasn't sure if it was just a fluke. So today, I sat and watched him draw, and sure enough, he told me what each of the items were as he drew them! I'm just so excited, because now the fun begins with his art, instead of just scribbles and stickers!

I'll leave you with a laugh today. Here is where I found Noah a few days ago. Don't let his innocent little face fool you- he can be a real troublemaker sometimes!

Here's a piece I did yesterday. (I think you can see a larger version on my Flickr site.) I usually don't go into these pieces with the intention of using "personal imagery", but I guess I'm just drawn to certain themes, etc., so that's usually what ends up coming out. Here I started with the two little boys on the steps, then added the two bunnies on bikes. At that point, I was obviously representing my two boys, so I added the swimming pool and picnic table at the top, since those are what a good portion of our time consists of these days. And I'm just now noticing that the tree which wraps around the top of the house is separated into two sections, which could represent my husband and myself, protecting and nurturing the family...


See? Your art really does speak about you, even without that intention. For those of you who have seen my book, this is the sort of thing I'm talking about, especially in the section about analyzing your artwork. I constantly discover themes and imagery that I've used without "meaning to"...


Anyway, I hope all you mothers had a great Mother's Day on Sunday! We decided to go to the beach with the kids. It's amazing to me that I live 15 minutes from the beach now, yet we rarely go. It's just so difficult with babies, but now that Noah's walking, it's a lot easier, and I think I'll try to make it a more regular thing.


I took my camera, and got a lot of really great photos. The beach is such a great backdrop for photos! My kids are difficult to shoot these days because they never want to sit still for a photo, and ask them to smile? Forget it! So this was a perfect opportunity to get some shots while they were naturally having fun.

Journal Pages

Even though I have more fun doing the sort of art I showed in my last post, I still feel drawn to work in the boys' journals. I do have to admit that at times it feels like a "chore" to work in the journals when I'd rather be doing "fun" art, but every time I complete a spread, I'm glad I did it, because I know how much these journals will mean to me (and hopefully them!) as we get older.
.
The first is in Riley's book, about his favorite color, yellow. He is really obsessed with it! I think it began with his favorite pacifier, which was yellow, and then progressed from there. Now, it is definitely his first preference if there's ever a choice between colors. The photo is of him standing in front of a wall with yellow pieces of paper on it, which resulted from a game we play about colors. As you can see in my journalling, he has a little trouble pronouncing it, so it comes out "yeyyow"!
.

It's funny, because my plan was to do the whole spread in almost entirely yellow. Obviously, that didn't happen- I just couldn't seem to get things to work. But I still think it feels like a "yellow" piece for his sake!
.
The second spread is about Noah's first haircut. There wasn't much to cut, but he was getting a pretty long curl in the back, so he was risking looking like a kid from the 80's (remember those "tails" people had? Yuck!). He was perfect throughout the haircut, just sat and watched. I kept a little bit of the curl from the back and glued it to the page here.
.
It's staying consistently warm here, so we're getting some summer things set up, including a sprinkler. Noah had a fun time checking it out for the first time!
.
And here's a photo of Riley painting. I'm really excited, because this week, I'm starting a toddler's art group, inspired by this blog. I'm not sure what to expect with this age kids-both my kids tend to lose interest in art projects pretty quickly, but I'm hoping that having other kids around will keep their attention a little better. If nothing else, it will be fun to watch them make messes of themselves!

Rainbow House & Springtime Fun

I've been in a little bit of an art funk lately. Because I'm in the midst of trying to expand myself and move in a different direction, it's a little intimidating to sit down in my studio and create. Every day, when nap-time comes, I must make the decision: Art-time or Relax-in-front-of-TV-time? I have to admit that on most days recently, the TV has been the winner. But the other day, I decided to force myself up into the studio and just create, regardless of whether I was feeling inspired or not. Well, I'm so glad I did, because I love what came out!


I'm not sure where these little pod houses and rainbows are coming from, but they just feel so "innate" to me, if that makes sense. They remind me of when I was young, and I used to draw countless little mushroom houses for little mouse families. I guess I'm all grown up now, and this is my grown-up version. As you can see in this particular painting, there's a representation of Riley and one of Noah, both asleep in their rooms. In Riley's side of the house is a semi truck and the alphabet, both current obsessions of his. And on Noah's side is his giraffe lovey and a shopping cart, again, current faves of his.


I'm not sure where this theme will lead, but for now, I think I'm content to keep doing little houses and their inhabitants!


And just for fun, here are a few photos of how we're spending this beautiful spring, before the Florida heat hits. Noah has learned how to go down the slide by himself, and he loves it! And Riley is loving playing with his bubble machine...

Yummy Goodies and a Cute Tummy!

Hi Everyone, I hope you're all having a wonderful spring thus far! It's been beautiful down here in Florida, although I can't get over feeling somewhat of a sense of dread at the hot weather that is right around the corner. I'm still learning to change my mindset about the seasons here-whereas most parts of the country are looking forward to a wonderful spring and summer, in Florida summer is the difficult season, for me at least! But I guess playing outside all winter long in shorts makes up for that!

So I participated in ArtsyMama's vintage party swap, and was lucky enough to get Kari herself as my partner! Since I don't really have a birthday party coming up until October, I told her that any non-party vintage kid's stuff would be great, too. Well, she really loaded me up! Look at all the fantastic goodies she sent! And this isn't even all of it- I forgot to take a photo before I started putting everything away, so I just pulled back out my favorite things for the photo.


This vintage doll trunk is my absolute favorite item! Can you believe she was willing to part with it? I absolutely adore it- it has got to be one of my top ten favorite possessions right now!

And this book is wonderful- I love the cover, and the text and illustrations inside are great as well!

Also love this little paper doll! He has lots of clothes, all outfits from fairy tales. It's so difficult to find nice boy paper dolls, and this guy's wonderful!

Of course I forgot to take a photo of what I sent Kari, so hopefully she'll post photos on her blog once she receives her box.

Here is the only piece of art I've had time to do lately. It's a spread in Noah's book. Lately I've been feeling a bit nostalgic about all the "baby-ness", since he's so quickly turning into a little boy. We haven't decided whether we'll have another baby or not, so the thought that these may be my last baby moments is a little sad.

These pages are about two of my favorite baby parts- his tummy and the small of his back. He's a fairly skinny guy in his arms and legs, but he has got this big belly that pokes out and I find so cute, since I know he'll thin out soon. And I love the small of his back, you know that spot that is just above the diaper and just below the shirt, that shows when a baby is sleeping with his butt in the air? So cute, but I know also fleeting, since he'll soon be sleeping sprawled out like his brother. Anyway, I wanted to do pages about these things just so that I myself could remember them.

Hope you all have a good weekend!

Some Art & Some Easter Pics!

Here's some artwork that I've fit in between dr.'s visits, two kids' completely opposite nap schedules (argh, I'll be glad when Noah has successfully transitioned to one afternoon nap, so that they can be on the same schedule...), and other miscellaneous life events!

This is a piece I did yesterday:

I've discovered another artist who completely inspires me. Teesha Moore wrote about him in her latest issue of Art & Life. He's from Tokyo, and honestly, I can't even really find his real name, other than Hal, but here's his website. I am just blown away by some of his stuff, and it just seems to really fit into where I'm trying to go with my art right now. So the piece above is what I did after looking at his stuff. To see it in more detail, you can enlarge it on my Flickr site.

I've also done a spread in Riley's book:

In the past few weeks, he's become really obsessed with the alphabet, which is really fun for me. I've been teaching him all the letters, and in the matter of about two weeks, he's learned the whole alphabet. He LOVES the letter "W", with "M", "X", and "O" following close behind!

The last piece I've done is for Somerset Life:

I'll only show a portion of it, since it's going to be published. I honestly don't know which issue it will be in, but the theme was about self-portraits.

And then I thought I'd show some funny Easter photos. We went to a little Easter egg hunt at a park near our house. I wasn't sure what Riley would think, since he hasn't ever really done a hunt before. There were eggs scattered all over the lawn of the park, and we had to wait along the perimeter until they blew a whistle to start. As you can see, he seemed excited to go out and pick them up:

Then the whistle blew, and he hurriedly ran out to grab the first egg:

About five feet in, he saw the chaos of all the kids also running out, and here was the sight:

Poor Riley! He was completely scared, and wouldn't go back out... Oh well, I guess we'll try again next year!

Hitting My Stride...

I'm really starting to feel more comfortable with my latest shift in creativity. I really love this piece that I did the other day- it feels the most natural of the newest pieces I've done. I just love these enclosing pod-like shapes that keep appearing- they resonate so deeply with me. You can see it in more detail on my Flickr page.

.

I need to take a break from these newest pieces though, and update the kids' books. And I've also got a piece to do for Somerset. It will be interesting to see how my new artistic mindset transfers over to my other work...

.

Not much else to add. I'm dealing with crankiness all around these days-seems as if one (or two, or three) of us has been sick nonstop for the past two months-we just keep passing the same thing around, I guess. I'm ready for us all to be well again!