Something incredibly important for us to think about...and act on.

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Something for the Season...

Here it is. I posted my process on Facebook and this is the finished product. Finally! I really like the stars peppering the dark blue in between all the bright gold and orange, and the simplicity of the figures...reminiscent of the simplicity and humble beauty of that night so long ago...in a stable, in a manger...

Senior pictures....

I had the opportunity to photograph two of my students recently. I can't believe they are seniors! They chose a fantastic park in the area which provided a wide array of backdrops for their shots. I would love to take Pumpkin there for a photo shoot but I doubt she would sit still for a measly two seconds. I usually have to follow her around with the camera...meh, maybe that would be okay. Maybe I'd still get a couple good ones...Anyway, here are a few.

It's Spring!

Well, actually, it depends on the day. Some days it seems like spring really IS here and we might even be on our way to hot, lazy summer days. But then I wake up on a day like yesterday and discover that it got down to 20 degrees the night before and all my plants are frozen. The frozen night was followed by a cold, windy day reminiscent of March. Definitely not MAY people. Not May. A few weeks ago I was enraged by the stinky, rotten weather. Now I'm just numb. But, in an effort to embrace the sunshine and warmth we are experiencing today I present some projects I've been working on with my students. My high school students paired with some elementary students in our district and used their beautiful art projects to learn about computer animation. Here are the resulting animations. Kind of cute! Enjoy. And focus on the positive people. 

Treasures in Heaven...

This is a little something I've recently completed. It's actually not little. It's approximately 16" x 20" watercolor and ink. I'm reasonably pleased with the outcome. Although if I could rework the temple spires I would. It's okay though. It'll do.

















There is a bible verse that follows the perimeter of the inner circle. "But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." Matthew 6:20-21

It is a constant reminder to me of what is really important and on what and whom my life should be centered always.  

Doing Craffs with Pumpkin

Sooo, whenever I head down to the basement, to my little corner, by my sewing machine and other crafty stuff, I hear a little voice call after me, "Can I do a craff too? I want to do a craff..." I think Pumpkin just likes to do whatever I am doing. 

I know this because when I go down in the basement to run on the treadmill, she will trail after me with her tennis shoes on and ask me if she can run first. When I'm doing the dishes, she will pull a chair up to the sink and ask if she can do them too. (I know THAT won't last long.) She is my little buddy. Where ever I go she goes. Whatever I do she does. It makes me smile...

This is the "craff" we did the other day. Pretty easy stuff. You know those fleece blankets you make by tying together two big pieces of fleece? Well, we just cut two hearts from an old pink fleece blanket of hers. Then I made cuts all around the edge of the hearts.

Pumpkin tied most of the strips in knots all along the edge leaving a small portion of them untied. We stuffed the pillow and then she tied the remaining strips. And there you have it! The easiest pillow you'll EVER make! No sewing required.

She was very proud of herself.

"Grab a partner, lend a hand, welcome to Berry Bitty Land..."

That is one of Pumpkin's all time favorite songs. Have you heard it? Personally, having grown up in the eighties, I actually did play with Strawberry Shortcake and her friends. I had some. They were great. Cute, fun, sweet smelling, adorable little dolls. I do not remember that song however. I do not think that song existed when I played with my dolls, and it's probably a good thing, as I would have driven my mother crazy singing it over and over and over and over again just as Pumpkin drives me crazy. (My mom thinks it's funny. It's amazing how much Grandmas can tolerate as opposed to Moms. She sings along with Pumpkin. Sooooo funny. Not.)

Anyway, this post is not really about that song. It's about this little string bag that I got in my mailbox at work from a textbook company. It is bright red and has a company logo on it...and I was going to throw it away. I have many bags, much more functional ones at that, and certainly don't need any more. BUT, it's bright red. And perfect for this:

Her very own Strawberry Shortcake bag! I used some of my fat quarters to make a big strawberry applique. Easy peasy.

 And very well received. She loves it. I'd say that's a win-win.

 And now for your viewing pleasure, I present...

Tomorrow is always fresh, with no mistakes in it...

That, my friends, is a quote from one of the greatest heroines in literature. Of. All. Time. Actually the exact quote above is not from the book, by L.M. Montgomery, but rather is stated matter-of factly by Megan Follows, the actress who played Anne in the 1985 version of "Anne of Green Gables". (In the book she says something a little different but the sentiment is the same.) She is my absolute fav. By far. She was so wise.

As we look to another year on this great big ball we call Earth, I'm hoping we can LOOK FORWARD, in hope and love. I'm counting on humanity to have a little, well, humanity. Let's be better this year than we were last. Let's be more loving, more generous, more gracious, more forgiving, more tolerant, more humble, more compassionate. Let's find more pleasure in the simple things, find more humor in fumbles, find more light in the darkness. Let's ROCK 2013. I'm serious. Let's do it. Let's not hold anything back. I'm not even exactly sure what kinds of goals and resolutions I want to put down in pen, but I do know that I want more. And I want to give more. When I solidify my goals and resolutions maybe I'll record some of it here. We'll see. For now, here's something to help light the fire and get you started. Let's look forward together, with a perfect brightness of hope... 

He is the reason...

...for the season. Needed to share this. May you find hope and peace this Christmas, and may it last all year long.

The warmest and brightest to you and yours...

Just wanted to quickly post this...we will not be getting our cards out in time for Christmas but here's a peek. We love you all. So much. Our hearts are full this Christmas. We know we are blessed beyond measure and look for ways daily to share with others. Hold your loved ones near this Christmas. Count the many blessings in your life, not the least of which is His unconditional and boundless love for you. May it be merry and bright at your house all year long...

P.S. Just noticed this. We will definitely fit some time in over our Christmas break to share some love and some snowflakes. It seems like such a small thing, but I think it could have a big impact for good.

First day of 4K!

Well, school has been in session for a whole nine weeks now.  I know this because not only am I a teacher (which is still the best. job. ever. thank you very much. other than motherhood of course, but that goes without saying) but because Sweet Pea is in school now. 4K. It's the big time. She's not full days yet but she's every day and she is into it in a big way. And I am glad. I hope she keeps that "I'm so happy to be going to school because learning is fun and I love my teacher" feeling for as long as possible. I work with too many kids who have decided to quit. At everything. Yes, I do work in a high school and some may say that high school students, teenagers specifically, are like that. But I think that's still way to young to give up on life and your future. Maybe I should take this picture to school with me. I could project it on the smartboard. Maybe they could take a lesson from my Sweet Pea. School is AWESOME. Learning something new is FANTASTIC. It's okay to LOVE books, and numbers, and letters, and playtime, and craft time, and gym, and friends, and teachers, and even homework! It's COOL to know things! YAY for school!

Happy Halloween I think

This year, and I knew it was coming, my little Pumpkin found her voice. She did not want to be one of the Three Musketeers, or Yoda to our Princess Leia and Hans Solo, she didn't want to be Red Riding Hood to our Big Bad Wolf and Granny. This is our all time favorite Halloween to date:

We got the lobster costume online. We made the lobster bibs and even designed a little restaurant logo for "Pumpkin's Lobster Shack" in photoshop. How the heck can it get any better than that??? I should have known it was going to be all downhill from there. It may even be the end of "family" costumes for good, eh?

At the ripe old age of four she has her own ideas, her own plans. She asked if she could be a Lalaloopsy. I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. But here she is, and she IS sort of cute I guess. Crazy girl.

She's also attached herself to a very large, hairy spider decoration from Walmart. It's like her new best friend. She treats it like a stuffed animal. No, she treats it like a pet. It's so weird. Or horrifying. The other night I went in to check on her before I went to bed and she was asleep, looking like a perfect little angel, except for the big, black, hairy spider she had resting on her chest. So creepy...

Attention, attention

I interrupt your regularly scheduled Sunday evening activities to inform you that I am going to try this posting thing again...you know the old adage, "If at first you don't succeed, try, try again"? Does this hold true with blogging? I also want to inform you that I am going to try to make small changes here and there to this ol' bloggaroo to make it easier to navigate and view on various web browsers. I've found, and this has also been a source of my apathy in regards to posting and updating, that it doesn't look right on all web browsers. Right now I'm on Google Chrome and it looks great. If I look at it on any other it's terrible. Frowny face. I'll figure it out. In the meantime, hang in there. I really like visiters. Here is a a tiny taste of some fun we had this summer:

It was wonderful. And I have lots to say about it. Summer I mean. I just haven't had the motivation or the time to tell anyone about it. So sad. But, as I said above, I'm ready to try again. And I'm ready to get creative again as well. That is all. Returning you back to your regularly scheduled Sunday evening activities. 

Why I stink at blogging...

I don't post.

Anything.
 
Ever.
 
Nothing.
 
At all.

Okay, slight exaggeration but almost exactly spot on.

And today I'm posting something but it's not anything that I've worked on recently and some of this isn't even mine. I'm trying to update a google site that I use at work and am having trouble with the video in my google docs. So I am going to try the "embed" gadget. Hopefully this works. Here goes. Whether or not it works for me, you will still be able to enjoy some videos and artwork that my students and I have worked on. Cheers.

 

 

 

 

Can't resist a steal

We'll be traveling this month and we're excited.  We really haven't been on many vacations, Superman and I, in the 11 years we've been married.  Maybe three?  And I don't count our honeymoon.  Which was like a two day thing a few hours from home.  

We'll have others with us on this trip including littles so I decided to make some "busy bags" for them for the long car ride.  

I found these bags at Best Buy of all places.  They were UGLY, to say the least.  But sturdy and perfect in every other way, including the fact that they were a penny.  Yep, one little cent each.  So great.

They are made of an extra heavy-duty felt.  I have lots of felt, fabric, ribbon, and buttons in my stash, so when I discovered that I couldn't remove the icky embellishments off the bags I just hot glued stuff on top.

I started with large rectangular pieces of felt that I glued fabric to.  These were glued to the bags.  I cut out big felt letters and glued those to the bags.  Then I made some felt flowers and glued those to the girly bags, and added ribbons.  I glued some colorful buttons to the boy bags. I think the kiddos will love them and probably use them the whole week, not just in the car. I spent a whole four cents.  That makes me smile.  That means that I can use the money I saved to fill them up. 

     

Photos of friends...

Here are some photographs of some close friends from church. Their girls are ADORABLE. Totally and completely. I thoroughly enjoyed this shoot even though I prefer taking pics outside, or with as much natural light as possible.  These were the first real pics I took with the new equipment that Superman got me for Christmas. He was so excited when I opened my new backdrops and lights. I have to say that I was excited too. So, though the set up depicted here is not optimum, I think the pics turned out really well. What do you think?  Okay for inside, in my living room, in the evening, dead of winter? 

         

The joy of learning something new

Just a quick post tonight.  I really wanted to share this with someone.  Everyone really.  It is so funny.  And now you know why I love her laugh.

Perfect medicine...

I spent some time outside today.  I haven't been feeling well lately, actually that's an understatement, and the fresh air was wonderful.  I read a little.  I painted a little.  I did a little homework.  (Crazy I know.)  But the best part of my day was when Sweet Pea came outside to play.  She walked over to me and told me she was sorry I was feeling sick.  She told me I was a good mommy.  She also told me I was soooo beautiful.  It was very hard not to laugh at that one.  I've been in bed for two days straight. 


But I will take her unsolicited and unexpected offers of affection and expressions of love.  I will hold on to them and keep them safe in my heart.  I will treasure these moments because I know that someday there might be other moments.  Ones that are more difficult.  Times when we might disagree or even say things we don't really mean.  She is my daughter after all.  And I know what it's like to be a daughter.  


Her sticky hugs and kisses, her smile, her laugh, the way she snuggles up to me...by golly she is the best.  No medicine I've taken over the course of the past 48 hours has made me feel better than hearing her say "Momma, I love you, soooo much."  

And then she painted my nails for me. Best. Manicure. EVER.  :)

   

Back up...finally

So, thanks to my beautiful sister, over here, I am back up. There will still be some adjustments to the ol' blog as my past posts are a bit messed up. I will get them edited as quickly as I can. Thank you for stopping by even though I often seem to drop off the face of the planet for extended periods of time!

Tomorrow is the last day of school, at least in the district I work in. I love the opportunity the summer provides me to focus on my own work. I think that there are people out there who think that teachers just kick it back and play the summer away. I don't think I've had a single summer "off" in my entire teaching career. And while I may not be in front of a class lecturing, demonstrating an art technique or process, reviewing terminology, teaching about commercial advertising or computer animation, I am working. I'm painting, taking classes, doing some photography, sewing, teaching adult art classes, reading, creating new lesson plans, updating my professional portfolio...there is so much that needs to be done. I will have fun too, don't get me wrong. We like us some serious fun around these parts. Sweet Pea is sooooo excited to have Mom and Dad around and we're excited to be able to spend more time with her. So, here's to summer! (My favorite time of year!)

Please Forgive Me...

Hello, I feel like I need to reintroduce myself. Even to close friends and family. It's been longer than long since I've visited these parts. I wanted to apologize for that, and for the fact that I'm updating the ol' bloggeroo. I can't seem to figure out how to get it offline while it's under construction so please just understand that while I have had this here blog for several a year already, I still know very little about blogland. Thanks and I'll see you soon...summer is coming and I'll have a little more time to visit. Bye for now!