Antique-ing, Sew-ing, & Art-ing

I know a couple posts ago I mentioned that my dollhouse was my latest obsession. Well, as is common with me, that's changed. Although I'm still very interested in the dollhouse and in trying to find furniture for it, I kind of want to just "find" the furniture while out thrifting, etc., and that hasn't happened yet, so I've moved onto something a little more tangible for now. I'm now obsessed with vintage porcelain figurines/planters.

You saw a few I found on my recent trip in my last post, and here are my newest acquisitions. I wasn't lucky enough to find these at cheap thrift shops, but I did find them pretty inexpensively at antique shops and on Ebay. However, I'm going to have to be careful, as they're pretty easy to accumulate! I'm already running out of room as it is!

I put them on this metal shelf because I've run out of room in my other good display shelf, as you can see in the below photo.

You may have seen some of this stuff when I showed photos of my studio at one time, but I've added some pieces since then. My late grandmother collected head vases, and I inherited four of them. They are all younger girls, so I've decided to begin collecting young girl vases myself as well. Here are some detail photos:

I love this little girl playing the piano. She's a recent purchase.

The little girl waving is also "new".

The cows I got for 50 cents at Goodwill!

Then, besides quick trips to antique malls when I'm fortunate enough for hubby to watch the kids, here's what else I've been doing. You saw the shoe caddy project a couple posts ago-well, I've expanded my reorganizing project in Noah's room.

I decided to make this much-needed pajama bag to hang off his crib. I usually have the kids wear pajamas two nights in a row, so I now have a bag in which to hold them until the next night (I keep both Riley's and Noah's in there). It's a project that I wish I had thought of sooner, since it is just so much nicer and neater, not to mention cuter! And, as with the shoe caddy, no pattern for this- I just made it up as I went along!

As well as sewing, I've also managed to do a couple pieces of art. First is the beginning of Noah's next book. I've kind of been putting it off, because I felt like this next book needed a change of some kind compared to all the other kids' books. I'm just getting a little bored of the same size, layout, etc. all the time. So I've decided to do this one vertically.

And so far, I like it! The first spread went really well, and definitely gives me different alternatives for layouts and placement. Maybe this will be a nice change of pace for me.

It's about a silly face Noah makes when he thinks he's being funny or clever- a little goofball! Here are some details, since the vertical spread is so tiny:

I don't know whether you can tell here or not, but I've extended the photo of him by painting the background to match the original.

And finally, here's a piece I did a couple days ago. I did it amidst Tropical Storm Fay, which thankfully didn't cause too much damage here where I live, although we definitely had our share of rain and winds. I've put rain in the background, and bowing trees from the wind. There are also umbrellas, which are a current favorite of the kids lately.

Also inside the house are images representing my two boys doing what they do probably at least three hours a day- climbing over and jumping on the couch. I swear Noah has no fear. The little boy's position in this illustration is not an exaggeration-upside-down and on his head! There's also a drawing of two puppies and pawprints. For those of you with kids, you probably know that those pawprints mean "Blue's Clues", which is a huge obsession around here right now. And lastly, the chimney has numbers written on it, because both kids LOVE counting, anything and everything!

Whew! That was a long post! Probably my longest in a while! By the way, my air conditioning did get fixed, for those of you who read my last post. Thank goodness!! I hope you're all having a good end of summer!

Sweating for Art...

As I was upstairs working on a piece in Riley's book today, I began feeling warmer and warmer. Since my studio is our only room upstairs (a bonus room over the garage), it tends to feel warmer than the rest of the house anyway, but today was particularly bad. Well, lo and behold, when I finally came down, guess what? Our air conditioner appears to be broken....in Florida....in August.... Ugh!!! It's going to be a long night until we can get someone in tomorrow. Hopefully it will be a quick fix!

However, amidst all the heat, I did manage to finish the piece in Riley's book. It's been a busy past month. We went on two separate week-long vacations, so I haven't had a lot of time to do art, and it felt good to be back in the studio, even with the heat. The piece is about his naptime/bedtime routines, in particular his whale that plays music. I swear I replace the batteries in there at least twice a week- he plays it constantly while he's in bed- as he's falling asleep, during the night if he wakes up, and then in the morning as well. It's a well-loved part of his routine. Here's the photo I used, which includes the whale and also his two naptime books:

The picture at the very top of the post is one of all the treasures I collected during my trip last week. My mother and I went out thrifting/antiquing one day, and I found several cute things, which my husband of course thinks are pointless. Good thing he went golfing several days, so I can use the money he spent on that as justification! Since the first photo is a little small, here are a couple more detailed ones:

Love, love, love the little elephant with the cart!

Well, I hope this post finds you all a little cooler than I currently am! Once we've got the air going again, and I can tolerate it upstairs, I am planning on doing a bit more art to catch up for all my time lost these past few weeks. You'll be the first to see it here!

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.