A Crafty Mom's Life

Daily Routine Chart and Behavior Chart

2011-11-30T08:43:00.000-08:00

I mentioned in my last post that Taylor's sensory issues have become much more prominent in the last 6 months or so. I'll be blogging more about Sensory Processing Disorder as I have time, but for now I want to share a tool I developed for us to have more structure and less meltdowns in our day.

Taylor is a child who thrives on control. I know all children benefit from structure, but for Taylor, when her routine is out of whack and she doesn't know what to expect next, it sets her up for anxiety, uncertainty and horrible behavior. We had an occupational therapy evaluation last week to help us diagnose and treat the Sensory Processing Disorder that we see emerging with Taylor. One of the suggestions the OT had, was to have more structure in our days. The caveat, of course, being that all kids need time for freedom and free play.

I've been wanting to create a routine chart and a behavioral/reward system for Taylor for quite some time, to give her an added sense of control over her day. So, after looking at various resources, I found Sparkle Box. They offer 1000's of free printables. While most of their resources as aimed at teachers and education, they also have a section for parents and homeschooling. I printed off their daily routine cards, and cut out the ones that apply to us. I then used my Xyron machine and laminated each of the cards.

I included a heading that identifies the day of the week, under that I added what time of day/routine we were working on: Morning, Afterschool, Bedtime. Finally, I went through our routine and the basics of what needed to be done at each time of day and wrote it out on paper to help me organize the cards. This also made me realize that I need to make or find other cards for activities that weren't included in the set I printed. For example, I'm working on having Taylor take more responsibility for household chores, so I need cards that say "set the table" and "fold laundry" and "clean up toys". I also need to create some custom cards that include photos of her medications (asthma and allergy) and some of her sensory activities. You can see from the photo above that we don't have a picture to show the task of getting dressed. We'll be adding that!

Once I had the cards organized, I added velcro dots to the chart and the cards. I was able to determine that at this point, each of our routines has at most, 6 steps, so their are 6 velcro stickers that stay on the board and the cards are attached and removed as the routine is completed.

Other ways she can earn star stickers is by following her rules, and then there is opportunity for us to give her stickers for random good behavior. This makes us more aware of catching her being good. After a week of accumulating lots of stars, on Fridays she will get to choose one thing that she wants: either McDonald's, Wendy's, Dairy Queen or Starbucks. Now, I'm really not fond of offering food as rewards, but when Taylor outgrew her food allergies, we got in the bad habit of often grabbing fast food on the way home from school. This soon turned into her expecting fast food everyday. When I refused her requests, a major tantrum would ensue. So, the new rule is she can have fast food once a week, only on Fridays and this eliminates the daily battle.

I also added a calendar to the chart so we can see upcoming events and talk about them, count down the days until they happen, etc. Finally, I added a place for reminders and important notes/papers. Our fridge is not magnetic and so we can't use it as our central command center. This bulletin board is a great place to keep track of all the little things that I need to see or they get forgotten.

I'm sure I'll end up making changes to the board as we figure out what works for us. But, so far, Taylor loves the board and she's responding really well to the structure and knowing what's going to happen next.

A few weeks ago, during a very trying time of behavior problems, I wrote out a set of rules for Taylor. I decided to include the rules on her routine board and under the rules, I added a star behavior chart that I printed from Sparkle Box. I then purchased star stickers at the dollar store. There are 10 spaces for stars on the chart each day. At this point, Taylor gets one star for following each of her routines without a big fight. I give a little bit of leeway with "not a big fight" because I recognize that I have a very, very strong-willed child. I also like that she's assertive and I recognize that one of the rules she struggles with the most, is rule #1 Do as you are told. She's just not that compliant of a child (at least not at home!). That's not her personality. She often needs to do things "her way". So, as long as she follows her routines without a "big" fight, then we're happy and she gets a sticker.

Our system has quickly become an activity in itself. Taylor likes going to the board to see what's up next, she takes the cards down once she's completed the task, and she's responding really well to the star sticker system.

Do you have a system like this for your child? I'd love to hear how you manage routines and behavior in your home.

Catching up....

2011-10-12T19:37:00.000-07:00

Um, OK, so my long blogging breaks are becoming a pattern...See, I have every intention of blogging regularly. I think about blogging everyday. I go about our daily life and take pics and say to myself "that's so blog-worthy" and then the pics sit on my SD card for weeks and don't get edited. And then I think, really, do my readers really care what we did on a Saturday 3 wks ago? Seems kind of odd to post pics of our labor day festivities in the middle of October...Which reminds me I still haven't posted about Taylor's birthday party which was in May...um yeah, I'm a bit of a procrastinator even in my hobbies. But, heck, I've got to jump back in somewhere, right, so let's just play catch up. Who cares if they're not recent events I'm sharing with you...So, here's what we've been living that I should have been blogging about...

Our girl turned 5 and we celebrated with a special tea party with bright colors, cupcakes and closest friends.

We ended our summer with a trip to Canada to visit friends and family. Taylor got a taste of Canadian nature when we spent a couple of days hiking in Algonquin Park. This was the first time Taylor saw a fuzzy caterpillar, and the first time she saw chipmunks and black squirrels. She also had lots of fun playing with frogs in Grandad's pond.

I took lots of pics of these 2 girls. Sweet cousins! I absolutely LOVE this pic!

And when we returned, Taylor had her first day of kindergarten! She's at the same school that she's been at since she was 2. She went to preschool there and we're thankful they have a full-day kindergarten program. So, she'll stay there until next fall when she goes to 1st grade in a public school (gulp! - let's not talk about that yet, OK?)

And...as you can see from these pics, I'm officially a Soccer Mom. And, I'm lovin' it! It's been a challenge finding an activity for Taylor that keeps her interest, is challenging and fits her activity level. She's a very high energy kid and sometimes has trouble with sports or lessons that require her to wait her turn. We've tried gymnastics in the past, and while she loved it, she spent most of the time running around the gym, doing her own thing. Well, it appears as though soccer is her "thing". Taylor's been asking to play soccer since she could walk and talk. the Berenstain Bears play soccer, ya know ;) . We signed her up in the spring, and she asked to play soccer almost every night in the summer. She and John would kick the ball around in the back-yard. And, I'm not at all biased when I say, this girl's got some natural soccer skills. (Really, I'm not biased. at. all. ;) ).

Other very noteworthy events in our lives in the last few months....

- Taylor lost her first tooth and the Tooth Fairy made her first visit to our house and left a crisp $1.oo bill.

- Taylor's adjustment to kindergarten has resulted in an increase in her Sensory Seeking behaviors, and I'm certain we're on our way to a diagnosis of Sensory Processing Disorder. I'm very, very thankful that Taylor is excelling in school, but these behaviors are becoming more prominent and more problematic at home. We were had an appt with our pediatrician today and she'll be submitting a referral for an occupational therapy evaluation. Now, we just need the referral to be approved. I'll definitely be posting more about this complex and often misunderstood issue.

- The highlight of the last few months is that I've reconnected with my brother! I'll spare you the details of my complex family and childhood, but I'll say that I grew up in Canada and I have a brother who is 13 yrs younger than me, who grew up in Pennsylvania. Well, he's now in the military and he's stationed in Southern California! Now that we're about 2 hours from each other, we've been seeing each other 2 or 3 times a month and we're having so much fun together. Taylor absolutely adores having her fun uncle around, and I'm loving having my 6'3" "little"brother around.

So, the last few months have been very busy and full of blessings. So, there ya go...I think we're all caught up!

She Had 3 Hearts Art Journaling Workshop {Christy Tomlinson}

2011-07-25T07:30:00.000-07:00

I am SOOOO excited to start the She Had 3 Hearts Art Journaling workshop today! Of course, I have to get through my workday first, and then head to Taylor's first swimming lessons, and then sometime mid-evening, I'll be able to take a peak at all the goodness and then I'll really delve into the videos after Taylor's in bed and I have some uninterrupted time to watch the videos.

I've been working on a few canvases in various stages since my last post. Thank you all SO much for your kind comments. :) I've also been trying to nurse my hand back to health. An arthritis flare last weekend and into Monday, resulted in numbness in my right thumb. As of Tuesday, doc had diagnosed it as tendinitis and put me on oral steroids. Finally, tonight, I've gotten some relief from the pins and needles sensation. Makes it difficult to complete most daily tasks and it has certainly impacted my art making this week. I guess that's what I get for trying to catch up on housework and organizing! ;)

Anyway, now that I seem to be on the mend, I'm definitely looking forward to playing in my journal and absorbing all the creative juice that Christy has to offer. If you'd like to join the workshop, there's still time! Just head on over to her blog and read this post and register. After my experience in her She Art Workshop, I can tell you, Christy does not disappoint!

I'm still working on my collection for The Summer of Color, as well, but I haven't finished my red or brown piece. I'll get back in the groove and post and then link back up with this week's color of Purple! And of course, you can always join in on The Summer of Color, still, too!

She Art - My FIRST finished She Art Girl!

2011-07-08T18:10:00.000-07:00

A couple of months ago I registered for Christy's online She Art Workshop. I discovered Christy and her workshop through Donna Downey. You all know about my love affair with Donna. Well, while I'm still loving Donna, I have a new crush on Christy. She is SO inspiring. Through her amazing workshop, I've learned about all kinds of art products and a ton of new techniques. She has really sparked my new passion for ART. Real ART, not crafts and sewing, but actual ART. So, although I wouldn't say I was intimidated to create a piece inspired by Christy, I just haven't had a clear idea of what I wanted my first girl to look like. After watching the first video several weeks ago, I created one that was of a little girl, and Taylor quickly declared she wanted the faceless girl with no hair to be her, so I added hair and a few details, but the canvas still sits on my shelf, unfinished, several weeks later.

Well, I was suddenly hit with a desire to create and complete my first She Art canvas. I absolutely LOVE how it turned out. In fact, that's an understatement. I realize I should probably be a little (or a lot!) more modest, but I think this may very well be the most beautiful thing I've ever created (with the exception of Taylor, of course! ;) ). Goodness, if this is the first post you're reading on my blog, please know that I'm not usually this arrogant!!!

Seriously, THIS is why I create. The amazing high I get once I've completed a piece and once I've discovered a new technique and put it into action, and it all comes together; there are few things that measure up to this incredible feeling. If you are an artist or have a passion for anything creative you know exactly what I'm talking about. (So I know you'll forgive my lack of modesty, right? ;) )

Also, notice the writing in the bottom right corner? Yup. That's my signature. I don't think I've ever signed anything I've created before. Once this piece was finished, I felt compelled to sign it. I officially feel like an artist. :)

Thanks for looking ;)

The Summer of Color Week 4 {Yellow}

2011-07-05T17:15:00.000-07:00

When I think of yellow, I think of sunshine! In keeping with the inspirational theme of the whimsical canvas collection I'm making for Taylor, I created a canvas for this week's Summer of Color challenge that is all about scattering sunshine!

I painted a 5x7 canvas panel with various shades of yellow acrylic paints. I then used a stamp wheel and created the black stamped images. Next, I cut the shape of a sun with triangular rays out of yellow paper with white polka-dots. I wanted the paper to be brighter, so I painted it a brighter yellow. I glued the sun down to the panel using Mod Podge. I then painted a small piece of rubber shelf liner with black paint and blotted it randomly on the edges of the panel. Next, I glued down the sentiment using more Mod Podge. Finally, I added gold glitter to the sun and some doodling and outlining.

This is one of my favorite pieces in this collection, so far! And I just have to share this part...Taylor is very, very supportive of all my creations. She's a little artist herself and she's always excited to see what I'm working on and gasps and says "Oh, Mom, that is SOOOOO beautiful!" when I show her my finished work. Well, when I showed her this piece, she had a totally different reaction. (Keep in mind, she's 5 yrs old). She looked at it. Paused. And then BURST out laughing. She laughed and laughed and LAUGHED. Then she said "I'm sorry Mom, but that is SO funny!!!" When I asked why she thought it was so funny, she said (still laughing) "Because the words are in the SKY!" and she continued laughing...

Happy 4th of July!!!

2011-07-04T18:20:00.000-07:00

We're off to a party with friends, but I wanted to wish everyone a safe and happy 4th of July!

Junk Journal {Art Journal} Cover

2011-07-03T18:13:00.000-07:00

I was inspired by my friend Jen to make a junk journal. I recently bought a Bind-it-All and I am absolutely IN LOVE with it. How did I ever survive before without one of these? ;) So, my junk journal is a handmade art journal that I created using all sorts of odds and ends. There are sheets of standard papers like watercolor paper, white cardstock, lined notebook paper, copy paper, and graph paper. I also included shipping tags, manilla envelopes, greeting cards, scraps of patterned papers and other odds and ends.

Once I had my journal put together and bound with my Bind-it-All, I needed to decorate the cover. Prior to binding it, I had gesso'd the cover and adhered a text patterned paper to the front using dry adhesive tape. I then covered over the paper using watercolor crayons and added water. I ended up hating what I created so I tore the paper off the cover, which resulted in a peeled paper look, adding cool texture. Oh happy mistakes! I then painted the cover with cream paint and randomly dropped alcohol ink. I used latte, ginger, butterscotch and caramel alcohol inks by Ranger.

I then stamped various images using black archival ink. The title was created by painted various chipboard letters black and then inking them with brown chalk ink. Finally, I punched butterflies out of sheet music, and added the 7 Gypsies vintage ephemera. I stamped the word "discover" on masking tape, then inked the tape with distress inks and taped it to the cover. I then added the lacy trim and flower for a feminine touch.

I'm SO happy with this finished product. This journal is going to be a place for me to play freely and learn new art techniques. I can't wait to fill it with artsy goodness! Oh, and when Taylor saw it, she asked me to make one for her, too. I'm so excited to start art journaling with her. Do you do art journaling? What kind of a journal do you use? Where do you find inspiration for your journaling.

The Summer of Color - Week 3 {Pink}

2011-06-30T18:39:00.000-07:00

Better late than never! I'm participating in The Summer of Color, hosted by Kristin at Twinkle, Twinkle. I finished my pink piece but took awhile to actually post it. So, now without further ado, I'm revealing my piece for this week, inspired by the color pink.

I wasn't totally in love with my green piece from last week, but I really like how this week's piece turned out. I am creating an inspiring colorful collection which I had planned to display in my studio. But, after Kristin's comment last week, I've decided the completed collection will be displayed in Taylor's room.

I created this piece similar to the steps I followed in creating the other pieces in this collection. I painted a 5x7 canvas board in various layers and shades of pink. Then layered it with white paint applied with a brush and then stamped white paint using bubble wrap. I added stamped images in black ink and inked the edges of the canvas. Next, I added the words, and 2 hearts that I cut out of regular ol' corrugated cardboard. I peeled off the top layer of the cardboard to reveal the texture. I then painted the hearts, and glued them onto the canvas. For a finishing touch, I added pink glitter! Everything looks better with glitter. :)

And, even though I was a little late in posting this, I've already completed my yellow piece which will be revealed next week. I've had a busy week, so now I'm off to catch up on what the other artists have created in honor of the color pink.

The Summer of Color - Week 2 {Green}

2011-06-22T15:27:00.000-07:00

I created this piece for week 2 of The Summer of Color. Remember, I'm creating a collection of canvases, each one representing a different color. There's another theme that is emerging, here and when the collection is complete, I'll reveal what the underlying theme of the collection is. It makes me giddy every time I envision the finished collection hanging in my studio. I'm so glad Kristin created this event, because I never would have thought to create this collection if she hadn't.

To create this piece, I painted a 5x7 canvas panel with layers of various shades of green (including citron - so I completed the bonus challenge). I then cut a trunk shape out of woodgrain patterned paper. Once I had the tree trunk glued down, I tore bits of green cardstock in various shades of green (including citron). I then glued them down to the canvas using Mod Podge to create the leaves on the tree. The flowers were created using stamps and paint. I then added yellow Stickles to the centers of the flowers and green Stickles to the stems and leaves of the tree. Finally, I finished off by shading a little bit with my Big Brush Pitt Pens and added some doodling and the words. I like the whimsical feel of this piece.

Finally, I want to tell you how appreciative I am of all the comments on my last Summer of Color piece. I'm thrilled to have so much positive feedback. There's an incredible group of artists participating in this event and I'm happy to be one of them. I'm off to link up and check out what everyone else has created this week! Remember, you can join the party anytime!

Fairy Garden - a mini tutorial

2011-06-18T19:59:00.000-07:00

Taylor, like most 5 yr old girls, absolutely loves fairies. She's watched the Tinkerbell movie countless times, and after talking about fairies all day today, I've realized, I don't think I've ever watched the whole movie. Anyway, knowing how much Taylor loves fairies, I was inspired to create a fairy garden with her. The inspiration for this perfect weekend project came from Lil' Blue Boo. The fairy village she created is absolutely adorable! Be sure to check out her tutorial for step-by-step instructions, supply details and another variation on decorating the houses and the village.

So, after seeing Ashley's cute garden, I gathered some simple supplies including some bright spray paints and mini birdhouses, plants, potting soil, rocks, and a tub to put it all in. Taylor and I got to work and after a day of fun putting it all together, we ended up with this:

We spray painted and decorated each house to match the fairy who lives there. That was Taylor's idea ;). Rosetta is Taylor's favorite fairy because she's red. She's a flower fairy, so, naturally, I love her, too. We glued colorful flowers to the roof of Rosetta's house because we're certain that's how Rosetta would like it.

The green house, is Tinkerbell's house, of course. And, Tinkerbell is buried among other toys somewhere in our house, so until she is found, another tiny doll has taken up residence in Tink's house. I don't think she'll mind, do you? We decorated the roof of Tink's house with artificial leaves, because I thought that looked so cute in LBB's garden.

Vidia, is a pollen fairy. She has huge flowers on the side of her house with glittery pollen in the centers ;). We had to make whimsical polkadots on her roof just because Taylor loves polkadots. Who doesn't, really? We created the dots by dipping an eraser on the end of a pencil in white paint and then dabbing it on the roof.

Taylor and I had so much fun playing with the fairies today! I'm sure we'll spend some time tomorrow adding a few other whimsical details. The added fun of this project is that she's always wanted to plant a garden and she LOVES that the plants are real and they'll grow! She's a little disappointed, though, that the plants have been in her garden for several hours and she's given them lots of water, but they still haven't grown yet! When I explained that we won't be able to see the plants grow, she said "Oh, because they know we're watching them? Maybe we shouldn't watch them."

Blue Butterflies - Mixed Media Canvas

2011-06-13T17:20:00.000-07:00

This is my submission for week 1 of The Summer of Color hosted by Kristin at Twinkle, Twinkle. I had so much fun creating this piece. Turquoise is my most favorite color so, of course, my blue piece would be covered in turquoise ;).

I started with a 4x6 canvas board and just started playing. I created my own version of glass bead gel using gel medium and Martha Stewart micro beads and I created the tiny butterflies in the corners using a Martha Stewart butterfly stencil and modeling paste mixed with turquoise paint.

The focal point of the piece is this detailed, layered Chip Art butterfly. Melody Ross' Chip Art collection by GCD Studios is one of the many new creative discoveries I made when I was on my unintentional blogging hiatus. You will see LOTS of chip art showing up in my art now.

I also took an on-line workshop with Christy Tomlinson and used some techniques inspired by her in the piece as well. (More to come on that! Christy is one of my new favorite artists!).

I've decided that I'll be participating in The Summer of Color each week by creating a 4x6 or 5x7 canvas board as the foundation of my piece. By the end of the summer I'll have a very colorful collection of art to display in my studio as inspiration. I'll also be trying new techniques or products in each piece to keep my creative juices fresh!

Thanks for looking! Now I'm off to see what the other participants have created. Remember you can join the party at anytime and you don't have to participate every week. You can read an overview of The Summer of Color, here.

The Summer of Color at Twinkle, Twinkle

2011-06-06T18:59:00.000-07:00

OK, I know, I know, it's been for.ever! since I posted here. I'm OK, really I am. I'm great, in fact! Just been suuuuuper busy. Lots of stuff has been going on and I'll give you updates soon. But, right now, I'm popping my head back in here to share something fabulous with you. Do you remember my dear friend, Kristin? Kristin who is soooo incredibly talented she's been published multiple times in the amazing Stampington and Co. publications? Well, I think she's pretty amazing and she's inspired me to join in on her awesome blog party that lasts all summer long! That's my kind of party ;)

(image courtesy of Kristin at Twinkle, Twinkle)

Her party is called The Summer of Color. The basic idea is you check her blog every Monday to discover the color for that week. You then create art in *any* medium your lil' heart desires (she offers several suggestions on her blog), and then you post a link to your work on her blog. Posting a link enters you in her weekly giveaway. How cool is that?!? You get to make art *and* possibly win a prize just for playing along.

So, I wanted to be sure to tell everyone about this awesome party so you can all join in the fun, too. Those are the basics but if you want all the details, then head on over to Twinkle, Twinkle and read all about The Summer of Color. See you at the party!

Help Japan

2011-03-13T21:34:00.000-07:00

Amazing Ashley of Lil' Blue Boo is donating 100% of the sales of her patterns between now and midnight of 3/14/2011 to Mercy Corps to help the victims of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan.

This is a great time to purchase Ashley's super cute patterns and also know that your donating funds to a very worthy cause.

Simple Abundance {a much needed attitude adjustment}

2011-03-09T18:49:00.000-08:00

You may have noticed a new button on my blog. It's the Picture Inspiration button. Picture Inspiration is a class I'm taking through Big Picture Classes. In addition to a series of weekly prompts that are intended to inspire class participants to pick up our cameras and start shooting, there is also a message board and a gallery to share our images. The class is hosted by Tracey Clark. If you've never heard of her, then chances are you've never heard of Shutter Sisters, either. You need to check out both of those sites if you have any interest in photography at all. Anyway, in Tracey's welcome to us, she discussed an inspiration tool box. This is basically the things that we surround ourselves with that offer inspiration for photography and creativity. The book Simple Abundance is part of Tracey's inspirational toolbox. I've owned this book for over 11 years.

I first discovered this book in my early years as a social worker. One of my mentors used it often in her personal life and in helping the women she worked with find balance. My mom gave me the book as a gift the first Christmas after I got married. At that time, I was in my mid-twenties. While I was certainly a mature 20-something, I didn't really "get' the book at that time. I might have thought I did. But, I was never motivated to get past the first few pages of this book of daily devotions, inspirational quotes and prompts for introspection.

Over the past 11 yrs I've moved that book from bookshelf to moving box to bookshelf to moving box as we've moved numerous times. I've picked it up periodically and flipped through the pages searching for something. But again, never quite grasped the message and was never motiviated to move beyond those first few pages.

Well, I'm now in a very different place than I was the first time I held that book. As a wife of 11 yrs, a mother of an almost 5 yr old, and a social worker who's experienced beyond my years, I find myself feeling like something is missing. I've had a few particularly challenging weeks recently. I can point to a few things in my work life or personal life that are stressful but at the same time, I just feel like I'm in an overall "funk". Ultimately, I feel burnt out. I'm exhausted, irritable and simply a little sad. Well, last Friday night, I was feeling particularly down, and I decided I didn't want to spend my weekend being a grump. That wouldn't be fun for anyone. I was suddenly reminded of Tracey's mention of Simple Abundance, in that moment I decided to soak in a hot tub filled with bubbles and delve into this book of Simple Abundance once more.

This book and it's message is exactly what I need right now. The premise of this book is that women are often depressed (on some level) because of a denial of their authentic self. Sound a little too out there? Well, think about it. When we walk around each day, as women, as mothers, as employees and we spend most of our days caring for others and doing things that are not in line with our own heart's desires, and we don't draw on our own talents, we are denying our authentic self.

(click image to enlarge)

There are principles and exercises in this book that are aimed at revealing our authentic selves and teaching ways to live authentically. I'm still only a few pages into the book, but the reason I put it down this time, wasn't because of lack of interest. Quite the opposite, actually. I wanted some time to digest the words. I wanted time to purchase or create a journal to be used as my companion as I embark on this journey.

Now, I don't mean to come off as all melancholy. Trust me, I'm OK. I'm not going to run away or quit my job or file for divorce (my marriage is quite good!). I just know I could be more OK, more "me". I know who I am (I think) and I know what I want (I think), but there's a disconnect between who I am, what I want and what I'm actually living. I need to find more balance and bring more of what I want into my life.

(I realize this is a little "deeper" subject matter than I usually discuss on this blog, but I think that may be part of the issue. I love blogging, I love crafting, I love posting photos, but I also really want to "keep it real", so I just might get a little deeper sometimes. Don't worry I'll still post super cute crafty tutorials and pics of my adorable daughter ;) )

So, I'm sure some of you can relate to all of this. Anyone want to let me know I'm not alone? Have any of you read Simple Abundance? I'd love to know your thoughts.

Pot of Paper Daisies Tutorial

2011-03-09T07:57:00.000-08:00

Check out the Crafts Unleashed blog today for my Pot of Paper Daisies Tutorial.

Happy (almost) Spring!

More Weekend Photos...

2011-03-08T07:30:00.000-08:00

I wish weekends were longer than 2 days...

Mom's Lucky Charm Scrapbook Page Featured!

2011-03-07T09:06:00.000-08:00

What a great way to start my Monday! I just found out my recent scrapbook layout was featured on the Core'dinations blog! I absolutely love the Core'dinations cardstock and I'm so pleased that my page was featured! Also, I've got another Core'dinations project posting at Crafts Unleashed later this week. You can get a peek at the project in my tutorial of how to make a paper daisy.

Happy Monday!

Weekending...

2011-03-06T23:05:00.000-08:00

I had a much needed relaxing weekend. A time to reconnect with my family and with myself. While my job as a social worker is very rewarding, it also requires diligent self-care. If I don't take the time to tend to myself, then I'm no good to anyone else. Pretty good words to live by for anyone. So, I spent this weekend tending to myself; doing things that are good for my soul. My camera is good for my soul. I've learned a lot about photography by playing with my camera this weekend. I've got plans to share the little lessons I've learned about photography since I bought my DSLR, so I hope it's not too long before I'm able to share my resources, links and inspiration with you. Until then, I share a few of my shots I captured this weekend.

Hubby is an avid golfer and Taylor's been watching golf on TV since she was born. She's been asking when Daddy's going to take her golfing pretty much since she could talk. Well, strong willed, independent, high energy, and short attention span, are not characteristics that combine to create a good golf student. So, we had held off on exposing her to the actual game until we were convinced she would have the patience to listen to instruction. Golf is taken very seriously in our household. Lucky for her, today was that day, and Daddy took her to a nearby driving range.

This last shot is my favorite from the whole weekend. She did really, really well. She listened to Daddy the whole time. No arguing and was very focused. In looking back at the shots, Daddy is quite impressed with her form, too. She was just disappointed that she didn't get to ride in the golf cart.

I had a great weekend. Hope you did, too!

Derailed by asthma...

2011-02-23T18:45:00.000-08:00

We've had a really crazy couple of weeks since my last post. We had a really bad scare almost 2 weeks ago on Thursday morning. My daughter, Taylor, has asthma. Anyone who has a child with asthma or manages asthma themselves can understand what a complex condition medical condition asthma is and how scary it can be at times. Our pulmonologist tells us that managing asthma is like flying a 747. Pretty complicated and scary at times. Well, that Thursday morning was one of those incredibly scary times for us.

When Taylor woke up panicked, with uncontrollable coughing that wasn't responding to nebulizer treatments, we thought she was having a severe asthma attack. A scary trip to the ER concluded with a diagnosis of croup. Of course, given her underlying asthma, she was given a steroid shot to help reduce or fend off a severe asthma flare. Croup is generally caused by a virus. For children with asthma viruses that affect the respiratory tract (a simple cold, for example) can trigger an asthma flare. So, while she wasn't suffering from asthma on Thursday morning, it didn't take long for the virus to trigger an asthma flare. Then, on day 3 of the simple virus, Taylor spiked a fever, indicating a secondary infection. She has a history of pneumonia so she was put on antibiotics and a second round of steroids. She was finally well enough to go back to preschool by the middle of last week and was very happy to be back with her friends. I'm finally feeling like I've recovered and have "caught up" after being derailed by this. And Taylor's back to her playful self, but it seems as though her baby is sick, now.

So, this explains my lack of craftiness and subsequent lack of posting here. I've got a tutorial up tomorrow at Crafts Unleashed and I'm expecting a special crafty gift for myself that will be arriving on my doorstep sometime this week! I'll be posting about it when it arrives. And, I've got some pics that I want to post of a lil' shoot I did with Taylor this past weekend. So, stay tuned and we'll get caught up together.

Mom's Lucky Charm Scrapbook Page

2011-02-16T08:54:00.000-08:00

I know, I know. We just got over Valentine's Day and we're already moving on to St. Patrick's Day. Today, I'm posting over at Crafts Unleashed sharing step-by-step instructions on how I created this 12x12 layout using my new Storybook Cricut Cartridge from Consumer Crafts. So be sure to pop over and check out my latest project as a member of the Crafts Unleashed Design Team!

Project 365 {Week 6}

2011-02-14T09:41:00.000-08:00

OK, so, once again, I have less than 7 photos for this week. Actually, I have a bunch of photos, but only photos from 5 days this week. Oh well, I think we can all get over it and get on with the pics I do have ;). And, apologies for not posting these yesterday but I've been hit with a nasty cold and I was up against a deadline for Crafts Unleashed so I spent what limited energy I had yesterday, finishing that project and writing the post. By the way, I'm quite happy with the finished project and it will be published Wednesday, so stay tuned and I'll post a link when it's published! OK, now, on with this week's photos:

Spontaneous date night with hubby!

Finishing up a page from one of my Donna Downey albums

We're undecided if we want to have another baby. (Well, by "we" I mean hubby and I. Taylor made up her mind long ago that she absolutely wants us to have another baby.) Until we decide we want one, we'll just borrow this little cutie from our friends. I can't even imagine how many shots I'd be snapping if we had another baby in our house!

There's something so fun and playful about sidewalk chalk.

I actually got my girl to wear jeans!!! She hates the feel of denim, but somehow I got her to oblige on Saturday. We enjoyed a beautiful "spring" day at the park. This time of year is just gorgeous in the desert.

I hope you enjoyed your week ;)

Storybook Cricut Cartridge

2011-02-09T09:49:00.000-08:00

I've written a feature post to highlight the awesome Storybook Cricut Cartridge over at Crafts Unleashed, today. So, head on over and check it out!

More Pretty Craft Storage - Altered Jar Mini-Tutorial

2011-02-08T17:15:00.000-08:00

You all know how much I love flowers, and I use them in almost all my crafty projects. Well, I've got quite the collection of flowers and I used to store them in their individual packages or little baggies and whatnot. While organizing my craft room, I decided to use this large jar to store my whole collection of flowers so it can sit on the shelf as a pretty and inspiring piece in the room. The lid was stained wood, and I painted it using a rag with purple, pink and turquoise acrylic paint. I cut the pink scalloped rectangle and the turquoise label from my the Storybook Cricut Cartridge (Thank you, Consumer Crafts). I punched holes at each end of the label and tied the pretty ribbon through to hold the label onto the jar. I stamped the word "Flowers" using the Classic alphabet stamps from Stampin' Up. Finally, I embellished it with a multi-layered flower, of course! Aren't flowers just the perfect embellishment?

The jar coordinates perfectly with the rest of my craft room and the cardboard caddy I made, too.

Cardboard Caddy Tutorial

2011-02-07T16:30:00.000-08:00

I love the shape of caddies like this but they're sometimes hard to find and when I have found them they're either too small or too much money, or just not right. So, I decided to make my own. This project was cheap and green and FUN! Let me show you how to make one!

Supplies:

- corrugated cardboard

- paper towel roll or cardboard tube or wooden dowel

- masking tape

- gesso

- acrylic paint

- mod podge

- patterned paper and solid cardstock

- stamps and ink pads

- embossing ink pad (I used Versa Mark)

- embossing powder

- heat gun

- ribbon, trims and embellishments, puches or dies of your choosing

Start by cutting your cardboard into pieces that will form your caddy. You need 2 sides, a bottom and 2 end pieces that are shaped like a house as shown in the picture below:

Next, tape your pieces together using masking tape as shown in the picture below:

Once you've got your pieces attached to the bottom of your caddy, bring all the sides up to form the caddy and tape all around the side and inside of your caddy as shown in the next picture. Next, using scissors, poke holes into the ends of your caddy where you want the tube to go through.

For my handle, I used a thick cardboard tube. I have no idea what was on this tube, it was just in my stash. You can see from the next pic, that it's a lot thicker than a standard paper towel roll.

If you use a paper towel roll, you can use several layers of paper and modpodge wrapped around the roll to make it sturdy enough to use as a handle. Then cover the whole caddy in gesso before you start decorating it. Once it was covered in gesso, I painted layers of purple, pink and turquoise on the outside of the caddy. I then treated each side as a canvas and created different collages on each side and end.

This pic above is the front of the caddy. I used mod podge to apply the papers to the caddy. These papers are from My Mind's Eye "Totally Girl" paper pad. The scalloped flower was created using the Spellbinders Scalloped Circles Nestabilities die. The quote is a Donna Downey Unity Stamp, the butterfly is cut out from the patterned paper pad that I adhered to the caddy with mod podge.

The above picture is one of the ends. I used Making Memories lace and papers from the same paper pad, canvas butterflies from Donna Downey that I painted and embellished with rsuty wire and ribbon. The pink hearts were white cardstock hearts that came in a Donna Downey grab bag I got a while ago. I simply painted them pink and them stamped the faded "Dream" text.

I created the collage on this end using a Unity dress form stamp embossed with pink embossing powder. I also used a Hero Arts faded text stamp. I finsihed it off with the adorable pink daisy chain trim.

This side was decked out with K&Company dies from a little packet of goodies with all these adorable handcrafted themed paper die cuts.That's where the word create is from and the hand. I created the tulle flower, and added a little felt flower for the center.

And now I have an adorable little caddy to hold my paintbrushes. It coordinates perfectly with all the pink, purple and turquoise in my studio and I had SO much fun creating it. I'd love to know what you think or if you use this tute, send me a link. I'd love to see how you personalize it!

Project 365 {Week 4 & 5}

2011-02-06T09:17:00.000-08:00

I'm doing my best at taking pics every day. Turns out a lot of pics I take are crafty pics of projects in progress. I don't really want to include those in my 365 because they get blogged anyway. So, I'm going to make a point of taking pics of other things every day. For now, here is Project 365 week 4 & 5 with a few days missing. Those crafty pics will make it onto my blog along with tutorials, later this week. So stay tuned. (All of this week's shots were taken with my Canon 50mm 1.8 lens, except the laundry room pic that was taken with my kit lens. Photos were minimally edited in Picnik).

Remember my one word for 2011 is Organization? Well laundry is my nemesis and much of the disorganization in our home revolves around too many clothes, clothes piled in baskets and an overflowing an inefficient laundry room. So, while Taylor takes a bath, I'm folding laundry and I spent last Sunday reorganizing and cleaning our laundry room.

My favorite dinner...pasta. I should really be Italian.

The next American Idol. Taylor started watching American Idol with us and felt the urge to set up an audition room in her bedroom. She's holding her number on her belly.

These are her judges. I must note this was totally unprompted and created all on her own. Ah, the imagination of a little girl. So precious.

And, in case you haven't already seen what a little drama girl she is, this pose and dress up was also totally unprompted. Even though we live in sunny Southern California, we had no intention of actually swimming when she decided to set up her own little beach in the living room.

And this was my shot when I realized a day had gone by without me reaching for my camera. Taylor was already in bed which left me with my beautiful calico as my subject.

I was struck by the irony of this beautiful blooming tree. Not sure what kind of tree this is, but when the city of Chicago was shut down this week due to severe snowstorms, I was walking from my office to my car and was taken aback by the beauty of these blossoms. The pure whiteness and shape reminded me of snowballs.
And this is a shot of a gorgeous desert sunset. When I'm sweltering in August in temps of 120 degrees, I'll look back at these shots and remember that it's the late winter/early spring weather that makes the area that I live in paradise.
And we took advantage of the gorgeous weather and did a little photo shoot with Taylor yesterday. This is one of my favorite shots from the day.

Remember, if you're doing a Project 365 of your own, add a comment with a link to your shots. Thanks for looking!

What to to With a Stretched Canvas?

2011-02-01T08:09:00.000-08:00

If you've ever stared at a blank canvas in an arts and crafts store or on your work table and wondered what to do with it, then head on over to Crafts Unleashed and read my post about the versatility of stretched canvases. I share several of my favorite project ideas for using stretched canvases!

Project 365 {Week Three} Still Catching Up

2011-01-30T17:49:00.000-08:00

I appear to be missing days. Hmmm...oh, well, I guess there's only 5 shots from week 3 and 2 of them were actually taken the same day! I certainly took more than 5 shots that week.

This was my first moon shot with my SLR and this shot made me fall even deeper in love with my Canon 50mm 1.8 lens that hubby gave me for Christmas. In my opinion, this lens (or the step up 50mm 1.4) is a must-have lens for anyone who owns an SLR. I couldn't have gotten this shot with either of my other 2 lenses. In fact, I think all of this week's shots were taken with this lens.

Another low-light scene in which my nifty-fifty came through for me. Taylor's learning how to play tic-tac-toe in this pic.

A birthday party for one of my BFFs. This was her desert and we all shared. It was sooo yummy.

Another moon shot taken outside the restaurant at the party.

Friday afterschool/work trip to Dairy Queen. There was a time when I wondered if Taylor would ever get to eat a Sundae from Dairy Queen due to her dairy allergy. Fortunately she outgrew her dairy allergy and had her first Dairy Queen Sundae 3 weeks ago.

Project 365 {Week Two} Catch Up

2011-01-28T09:35:00.002-08:00

Yeah, time really got away from me this month! Ah well. It happens. It's life. But I am documenting it and I've been taking my Project 365 pics everyday, I just haven't been diligent in downloading, editing and posting. But here is Week Two...

This is Taylor's first Barbie. I have "issues" with Barbie. I think Barbie perpetuates to unrealistic expectations for girls and women to have unhealthy bodies and subsequently, unhealthy body image. Although, I played with Barbies as child, I swore I wouldn't let my daughter have Barbies in our house. I've adhered to that until Taylor was given a Barbie by a classmate at school as a Christmas gift. After several weeks of contemplation, I decided to allow her to play with Barbie. This pic was taken just before we opened it. I'm still a little torn about the decision, but ultimately, I cannot protect her from all negative influences in the world and it's my job as a parent and more importantly as a mother, to model healthy self esteem and body image so she doesn't feel the need to strive to become some sexualized, flawless looking female. (I warned you I had issues with Barbie ;) ).

A before pic of a corner of my craftroom before I started reorganizing.

Woo HOO! My first shipment of crafty goodness from Consumer Crafts for my first Crafts Unleashed Design Team project!

Taylor's babies (well, 3 of them at least). I discovered them when I went into her room to wake her for preschool. This is a common scene in our house.

Taking a moment to stop and smell the flowers.

These flowers don't smell. :) I used these on my Mixed Media Love Canvas. Tutorial for the flowers is here.

Getting Taylor involved in cleaning her room. She loves to vacuum and it's good for her sensory seeking and fullfils her need for heavy work and auditory stimulation. And, it fulfills my need to get her room vacuumed!

Well, that's all for Week Two. I hope you've enjoyed these snapshots of our life. Remember to add a link to your pics if you're participating in Project 365. Thanks for stopping by!

Thrifted Shutter Photo Display Tutorial {Thrifty Thursday}

2011-01-26T10:33:00.001-08:00

I love the look of shutter photo displays and one of my goals is to print and display more photos in our home. I scooped up these shutters from a thrift store a couple of months ago for just a few dollars. I finally finished this project and I'll show you how I did it! If you don't have thrifted shutters, then you can always purchase some from a home improvement store.

For this project you'll need:

- shutters

- paint (I used house paint, but you could also use acrylic paint)

- paint brush (I used a 2 1/2 inch bristle brush)

- wire

- wire cutters

- photos to display

- mini clothes pins, paper clips or bind clips for hanging photos

This is what my shutter looked like when I bought it.

I got these paint samples from Home Depot. They were pre-mixed and were less than $3/bottle. One is black, the other is a pale blue.

I started by painting a coat of black paint over the shutter. I was going for a rustic look, so I intentionally left areas unpainted and was not "perfect" in my painting. Once dry, I flipped the shutter over and painted the other side. Be sure to open and close the shutter so that the slats don't dry closed and get stuck.

Next, I used a dry brush technique and painted a light, coat of the pale blue over the black paint. To do this, dip your brush in the blue paint and then paint on a scrap piece of newsprint, or a rag so that most of your paint is off your brush before you paint your shutter. Again, I left areas of the natural wood, unpainted, and I left lots of the black showing through to give it that rustic, layered look.
Once that coat was dry on both sides, I attached my wire that my photos would hang from.

I wrapped the wire around the edge of the shutter, and then thread it through the hooks that hold the dowels used to turn the shutter slats. I used three pieces of wire for each tri-fold shutter, so I could hang three rows of photos.

I'm using my finished display as a screen to hide some mismatched baskets that sit on top of my sewing station. You could also do this with shutters that are doors and use it as room divider or a screen to hide a cluttered corner.

Love Project Showdown!

2011-01-26T10:09:00.000-08:00

Today's the day when you get to vote! Remember my Mixed Media Love Canvas, that I created as part of the Love challenge among the Crafts Unleashed Design Team? Well, now is the time to vote for your favorite project! So, head on over and vote!

Cutest Piggy Bank EVER!!!

2011-01-24T19:14:00.001-08:00

I found this adorable little piggy at Target the other day and I just HAD to have her!

As soon as I saw her I knew she'd be the perfect little piggy to hold my pennies that I'm saving for a big ticket crafty item. I knew she'd look soooooo cute in my craft room waiting for spare change to fill her belly. Doesn't she look totally adorable? I think I'm in love.

And, really is it any surprise that I'd love this little piggy given my blog design?

Mixed Media Love Canvas

2011-01-18T07:44:00.000-08:00

My first Crafts Unleashed Design Team project is on

Crafts Unleashed today!

For full details on how I created this piece, head on over and

read my post at Crafts Unleashed.

Paper Flower Tutorial

2011-01-17T22:40:00.000-08:00

Here's a simple tutorial on how to create gorgeous 3D paper flowers using your Cricut. I created these flowers to go on my mixed media love canvas for my first project on Crafts Unleashed.

Supplies:

Paper or cardstock

Cricut

George and Basic Shapes Cartridge

Mod Podge

Paint Brush

Scissors

Glitter

Hot glue

1) Place your paper or cardstock onto your Cricut cutting mat and load the paper into your Cricut. With your George and Basic Shapes cartridge in your Cricut, select the flower shape indicated below (you want to press shift, then the flower key to get on your cricut display). Then press the Shadow Blackout feature button as indicated below. Set your size dial at 2 1/2 and press Cut.

You will need 3 flowers to create one 3D flower.

This is what the flowers will look like once they are cut and removed from your cutting mat:

2) From your first flower, cut one petal as shown below. From the second flower, cut 2 petals as shown below.

3) Next take your first flower and bring the sides of the opening together to form a cone as shown below:

4) then add a thin line of hot glue to the one edge of the petal to finish your cone shape. Repeat this step with your 2nd flower to create another cone.

5) Next, take your third flower (with 5 petals) and fold it in half to find the center. cut a small slit in the center as shown in the first picture below. Then, fold the same flower in half in the opposite direction and find the center. Cut a small slit, just as you did before, which will leave you with an x cut in the center of your 5 petal flower.

6) Next, you'll begin to assemble your flower. Cut a small amount of the point off of your 4 petal cone. Apply a dab of hot glue to the tip of your 4 petal cone and poke it through the x that you cut in your 5 petal flower (see the picture on the left below). Then apply a dab of hot glue to your 3 petal cone and add it to the top of your bottom 2 layers of your flower. You should now have a flower that looks like the picture below on the right.

7) Next, curl the edges of each petal by wrapping the edge around a tiny paintbrush or other round tool. Once all the edges of your petals are curled, dip your flower in Mod Podge as shown below.

8) Scrape off any excess Mod Podge. Then pour glitter over your flower and tap off any excess. Repeat as desired until you have even coverage. Finally, place a scrap of tulle into the center of the flower and push into place.

Now step back and admire your glittery goodness!

These gorgeous flowers can be added to any project your heart desires. Think scrapbook pages, cards, banners, wreaths, photo frames, decorative candles, really the sky is the limit.

Happy crafting!

(Don't forget to check out the canvas I used these on over at Crafts Unleashed)

Project 365 2011 {Week One}

2011-01-09T09:10:00.000-08:00

Project 365. Have you heard of it? Probably. Do you know what it is? Maybe not exactly. Well, in 2011, I'm doing it! Project 365 involves taking one photo a day as a way to record an entire year. At the end of the year, the end result is that you truly have "snapshots" of your whole year.

Well, when I got my camera {my new baby as I affectionately call it}, I purchased it with the goal of improving my photography skills and a big dream of maybe even going pro at some point. Well, I certainly LOVE shooting. The more I shoot, the more I want to shoot. So, I carry my camera with me everywhere. I take several shots everyday, so why not be really creative with those shots, really purposeful and capture all of those moments that make up my life?

Project 365 is perfect for this! So, I'll be choosing one picture from each day to post here in a weekly post every Sunday. So, check back here each week to see what I've been up to and waht I found inspiring that week. All of these photos were edited (very minimally) in Photoshop but my version is ancient as far as technological age. I've got version 6. It's about 10 yrs old and I haven't found any actions that are compatible with it. If you know of any that will work with such an old version, please share!!! In the meantime, I'll make do and keep dreaming of a new version ;). I'm also going to play around with piknik more. Anyway, enough rambling...onto the pics...

1/1/11

a fun shoot with my mom and step-dad

1/2/2011

feeding the ducks at the park with Grammie and Grandad

1/3/2011

my first self-portrait

1/4/2011

I joined Twitter!!!

1/5/2011

She's a STAR! She holds the family record

(and she gets a ball with gold stars on it! How cool is THAT?!)

1/6/2011

snuggles with Daddy before bed

1/7/2011

therapeutic play - more posts will be coming on this!

1/8/2011

date night a local Mexican restaurant

Are you participating in Project 365? Post a comment with a link to your pics/post! I'm always on the lookout for photography inspiration.

One Word 2011

2011-01-07T17:15:00.000-08:00

One Word...

Organization.

That's my word for 2011. Organization. I want to organize my house, my car, my time and my life. Perhaps that's a little ambitious, but I think it's doable. I'm sick of sorting through piles of clean laundry searching for matching socks. I'm sick of having a craft room that's a disaster. I'm sick of always looking for things. I'm sick of having a sink full of dishes. I'm sick of scrambling around in the morning trying to get out of the house on time and running late most of the time. I'm really sick of picking up after Tornado Taylor.

So, after considering several goals I have, systems I need to put in place and my desire to be happier in general, (I mean I'm happy as far as happiness goes, but I'm also often cranky and impatient. Does that make sense?), I've decided that if I was more organized in every aspect of my life, I would be able to achieve a better sense of balance and I'd be happier. I'd spend less time looking for matching socks and more time crafting and playing with Taylor and hanging out with my husband and friends. If I was more organized, I'd be more efficient in my work tasks and other responsibilities and this would result in a greater sense of accomplishment which is always a mood booster. So, my one word for 2011 is Organization. I'll be blogging about my organization efforts and, of course, all the other fun stuff that I'll have more time to do because I'm more organized.

So, that's my one word for 2011. What's yours?

Studio Sneak Peek - Guest Post at Crafts Unleashed!

2011-01-05T08:17:00.001-08:00

Yesterday I shared with you my exciting news about joining the design team for Crafts Unleashed. Thanks for sharing in my excitement! Well, today I'm sharing a peek of my studio over on the Crafts Unleashed blog. You can see pics of my former studio in our last house, here. Head on over to Crafts Unleashed for a peek into my current studio and then I'm planning to share my full studio with you next week! So, stay tuned!

Very Exciting News!!!

2011-01-04T12:00:00.000-08:00

I have some VERY exciting news! I've been recruited to be part of a design team!!! But, it's not just any design team, it's the design team for Crafts Unleashed which is sponsored by Consumer Crafts. Consumer Crafts sells a wide variety of craft products. This is really a perfect opportunity for me and I'm so happy to be part of this team! The fact that I'm not tied to one medium or one line of crafting is so freeing to me and access to the wide range of craft materials really suits my love love for all things crafty! I'll be completing at least one project a month and guest blogging at Crafts Unleashed. My first post will be published tomorrow! I'm SO excited!!!

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday and fabulous New Year. I'm slowly getting back into the groove. We had my mom and step-dad visiting and we hosted Christmas dinner. We also had a flu bug fly through our house and (knock on wood) I was the only one out of 6 who didn't get it! John recovered but is now sick again with a cold.

Also, I've been thinking about my "One Word" for 2011. I'll be sharing that with you soon, along with some of my goals for 2011 and something that I'm going to launch this year that you can participate in with your kids! It's sure to be a fun year!

Gingerbread House and Playing with Piknik

2010-12-18T20:28:00.000-08:00

Really late in posting this, but Taylor and my friend Sarah and I spent an afternoon on Thanksgiving weekend making gingerbread houses. This is the first time I've ever actually made a gingerbread house and it will definitely be a new holiday tradition in our family!

I started playing around with Piknik today and it's pretty cool...considering upgrading to the premium membership for $24.95/yr. If you use it I'd love to know what you think of it!

Featured Today on One Pretty Thing!

2010-12-15T08:19:00.000-08:00

My No Sew Stocking Garland was featured today on One Pretty Thing.

Thank you Rachel for featuring my project!

Framed Button Tree - Tutorial

2010-12-14T07:25:00.000-08:00

This is a simple project that makes a festive piece of home decor for your home or as a gift for someone on you list! Let's get started with the tutorial:

Supplies:

* Unfinished wood frame (I got mine at Michael's for $1 - I never buy just one!)

* Red acrylic paint

* Scrapbook paper or fabric (for the mat behind the tree)

* a piece of cardboard the same size as the opening in your frame

* Aleen's Tacky Glue

* Green buttons and 1 brown button for the trunk

* Green Embossing Powder, Alphabet Stamps or "Believe" Stamp, Versa Mark Stamp Pad and heat gun (You could also just stamp the word but I wanted to emboss it to give it some extra pizazz).

1) Paint the frame

2) Adhere the fabric or scrapbook paper to the cardboard that will create your photo mat.

3) Now create your button tree. If you need to, in very light pencil, draw a triangle on your photo mat to use as your guide and fill in the triangle with buttons. Put a small dab of glue on each button and then stick each button to your photo mat. You can layer different shades of green on top of your base layer of buttons. Glue down your brown button at the base of the triangle to create the trunk.

4) If the paint on your frame is not yet completely dry, use your heat gun to dry it.

5) Once it's completely dry, follow these steps to emboss the word "Believe":

Stamp your believe stamp onto a versamark ink pad. Then stamp the stamp onto your frame. Then, immediately place your frame onto a piece of cardstock (to catch any excess embossing powder). Pour embossing powder all over the stamped image on your frame. Gently turn your frame over to remove the excess powder. Your image should now be covered with embossing powder. If it's not evenly covered, then repeat this step.

Next, with a tiny paint brush, remove any small amounts of excess powder (if you ended up with "edges" around your image, you want to be sure to brush the powder off the edges of the image).

Immediately after you've added the embossing powder to your image, use your heatgun and watch the magic as your embossing powder melts. Once it's shiny it's done! Ooh, ahhhh!

6) Now put your button tree into the frame and voila! You've got yourself a whimsical piece of holiday decor.

It's seems like there's a lot of steps to this project, but honestly, I created it in less than 1/2 an hour.

Pantry Organization

2010-12-11T08:00:00.000-08:00

An organized pantry is essential during the holidays when the kitchen is in full gear! All the holiday baking and entertaining will go much more smoothly if you know what's in your pantry and where to find it. A few weeks before Thanksgiving, my pantry was in total chaos. I decided to spend a little chunk of time getting this chaos under control. We have limited cabinet space in our kitchen, but a very large corner pantry. So the pantry doubles as storage for pots and pans.

I started the organization by pulling everything out of the pantry. Yep, everything! I pitched food that was expired and consolidated food that we had more than one container of. I moved some infrequently used pots to the cabinet in our garage that I use for kitchen overflow. This freed up a lot of space.

Then, I grouped like items together and began stocking my pantry back up, grocery store style.

And here's the finished product! Can you tell I love pasta? A whole shelf dedicated pasta and a second shelf dedicated to pasta sauce makings! Bottom shelf holds baking items. I like the basket for bags of chocolate chips and nuts and such.

The pic below shows the snack basket on the bottom shelf so when Taylor wants a snack she can just grab her own.

I didn't snap a shot of the floor of the pantry but it's home to all of our cases of soda and juice boxes.

My plan is to label the shelves so that everything goes back where it belongs and everything is put in the right place when unpacking groceries. BUT...I can't find my label maker! I know it's somewhere in my craft room! That's my next organization project.

No Sew Stocking Garland

2010-12-10T07:45:00.000-08:00

A close up...

and a full view...

Yesterday I gave you a sneak peek of what I've been making over the last few days. I was inspired to create this stocking garland by this project featured in a recent special issue of Woman's Day.

As I flipped through the magazine in line at the grocery store, this adorable garland caught my eye. I thought it was made from felt or fleece stockings. I thought it was a sewing project. I didn't have time to read the instructions but I knew I had to make it (and I loved several other ideas I saw in the magazine, too!). So, I tossed it on the conveyor belt along with my other items.

Well...when I finally read the instructions I realized it wasn't a sewing project. The stockings were made from...

baby socks!

I LOVED the idea even more once I realized this would be a special keepsake for my daughter's baby socks! Yes, my daughter is 4 1/2 and I still have socks from when she was an infant. In an effort to simplify, I always bought her the same white socks from Target. So, I have the same socks from 0-36mos. I read the first couple of steps of the tutorial in the magazine and then I let my own creative juices flow...

So, I started with several white socks and a bottle of red fabric dye.

I followed the instructions on the bottle of dye to dye the socks red.

(there's no cooking involved I just used my stock pot because I was afraid of staining a bucket or my white sink!)

When the dying was done, I washed them and dried them and I had beautiful red stockings!

Then I used a whole lot of this:

Some puffy paint, and little bit of this:

to create embellished stockings like this:

To create the snow effect, I used white puffy paint to create a snowman. Then, I sprinkled the Diamond dust on top of the paint and used my heat gun to dry it. It puffed up the paint and sealed the Diamond Dust, creating a look of real snow! I also use Diamond Dust on top of Glossy Accents to create a "sugared" look on fabric and paper flowers.

I had a whole lot of fun embellishing all of these little stockings to create a festive garland.

To create the peppermint swirl candies, I used this cording that I found by the spool at Michaels. I simply curled it and wrapped it tightly to create a circular candy shape. I've got a whole candy them going on this year...I really need to post pics of the tree and another handmade garland!

I embellished the other stockings with paint, felt, buttons and ribbons. Did I mention I had fun??? Then I used my Crop-a-Dile to punch a hole in the upper corner of each stocking and threaded a ribbon through the whole. Next, I hung the stockings from a wide piece of red ribbon and then tied various widths and colors of ribbon to the red ribbon.

The stockings would also work on their own as ornaments. What a wonderful keepsake to give a grandparent as a memento of baby's first Christmas. Or, if you've got a houseful of kiddos you could have them each decorate a few of their socks and keep it as an on-going keepsake that you add to each year. Or, do a collection of stockings for each baby's first Christmas.

However you choose to personalize this project, if you create your own I hope you have fun and be sure to send me a link!

Sneak Peek

2010-12-09T21:31:00.001-08:00

This is a sneak peek of what I've been up to...tutorial to be posted tomorrow! Stay tuned!

I'm still alive...

2010-12-07T07:20:00.000-08:00

I've just been really, really, really busy! But I haven't forgotten about my blog and my bloggy friends. I'll give a quick rundown of what's been going on with me and then I'll be back before long with lots of tutorials!!!

I've been really busy with work. Hospice and KFA.

Decorating for Fall.

Planning and hosting Thanksgiving Dinner. (Very Thankful for my Father-in-law who cooked the turkey!)

Decorating for Christmas and purging unneeded decorations.

Making handmade decorations and doing Christmas crafting with Taylor.

And...last weekend our dishwasher broke. It was full of dirty dishes with another sink full of dishes ready to go in. Not the best time of year to be dealing with a broken dishwasher. New dishwasher gets delivered today! Woo Hoo!

I've been taking lots of photos but they haven't made it from my camera to my computer, yet.

I hope you're all enjoying the hustle and bustle of the holiday season and you're able to catch a few minutes of tranquility to recharge.

Raising a {sensitive} Princess

2010-11-01T07:00:00.000-07:00

I had one of those special moments as a mother last Saturday afternoon. It was a magical afternoon with several moments that made me smile but one that made my heart stop, and fill with warmth and overflow with love and a sense of pride.

Saturday afternoon was a very special "Princess Party" to celebrate the 5th birthday of one of Taylor's best friends. So, in honor of this we dressed her in a very pretty princess dress, and attended a tea party.

Watching these 4 and 5yr old girls, led by the birthday girl's very mature and kind 12 yr old big sister, was definitely a special way to spend an afternoon.

The birthday girl is outspoken when she's in a comfortable space, but in times of uncertainty, she's easily brought to tears. She becomes timid and burrows herself into the shoulder of a comforting adult. I have witnessed several of these incidents in the 2 yrs that I've known her. She takes extra time to warm up to her classmates at preschool, and is often consoled by her teachers after her mom has said her goodbyes in the morning. I've seen this same girl cheerfully greet me at the end of the day, eager to share how she spent the day playing with my daughter. She's eager to lead me to her important papers that need to be taken home, and will often hand me Taylor's lunchbag. Her name is affectionately spoken by Taylor in our home on a daily basis.

So, I'm giving you this background so you have a glimpse of just how sensitive and emotional this birthday girl is. So, while a little girl's 5th birthday party ideally should be spent squealing with delight, this birthday girl shed lots of tears. She was overwhelmed by all her princess friends and at times found it challenging to hold conversation or engage in simple hospitality. She burst into tears immediately when she was greeted by a real Sleeping Beauty who joined the party (invited by the birthday girl's mom) to entertain the girls with magic and fairy tales.

And, when it came time to open the beautifully wrapped presents, she again, suddenly burst into tears, as it was all just too overwhelming.

It was in this moment that my heart sank. I sat and watched this little girl cry, so vulnerable to her emotions. Within a few inches of her, sat my 4 1/2 yr old Taylor. I watched Taylor closely and her face went from confusion, to sadness as she watched her friend's tearful explosion. For a second, the expression on Taylor's face made me think she was going to cry. My instinct was to comfort her, but she was in the center of the circle, and I didn't want to add to the scene or draw more attention to her.

There was a certain amount of irony in the situation because when you're 5 yrs old, your birthday is supposed to be one of the best days of the year. This little princess was surrounded by her best friends, her family and, of course, an enormous pile of presents. Yet, here she sat, with big alligator tears streaming down her face. The irony of the situation prompted much laughter from most of the guests.

But, as I stood silently, watching the emotions on my girl's face, I realized, amidst all of this commotion, 2 little girls were sitting behind Taylor and they were laughing at the birthday girl. Laughing at her tears and her raw emotion. Suddenly, Taylor turned around, looked at those girls and very loudly and very assertively said, "Stop laughing, you guys!".

It was in that moment that my heart overflowed with pride! My precious little princess intuitively knew that she needed to defend her friend who was in tears. She's such a sensitive yet assertive little person. I know she was born with this incredible spirit and it's my job to help nurture it. There are many, many, many days when her assertiveness is overwhelming to me and I am challenged in teaching her that she does NOT rule the house and her bossy behavior will not be tolerated. But, then, there are moments like this moment, in which I am so incredibly proud of her ability to stand up for herself and her friends. Moments like this when her true kind and caring spirit shows through and she shows that she's both assertive and sensitive.

I love my little princess and I hope she never loses her assertiveness and sensitivity.

Happy Halloween

2010-10-31T10:41:00.001-07:00

Happy Halloween from my little Tinker ;). Wishing everyone a fun and

safe time celebrating!

Waldorf Doll Making Part 5 - All DONE!!!

2010-10-14T20:07:00.001-07:00

Introducing...SALLY!

She's all DONE! And we absolutely LOVE her! Taylor has named her Sally after her very favorite doll who went missing about a year ago :(. Sally was a doll bought for her by Grammie and she was well loved by Taylor. You can see a pic of Sally in this post. Taylor still asks about her and says she "worries" about her. We're pretty certain she took her out to a store or something and left her there, so I've told Taylor that I believe another little girl found her and is taking very good care of her.

So, now we have Sally the Second, in our family.

I need to say a big thank you to my wonderful friend Sarah who came over last night to help me with Sally's hair. I found a wonderful tutorial on how to make her hair (there are several different ways to make hair for Waldorf dolls). The tutorial requires a crochet cap that the hair is then hooked into. Well, I can't crochet. I've tried a couple of times, and I just find knitting soooo much easier. Sarah, on the other hand is crocheter extraodinaire! So she crocheted the cap for Sally's hair and I did the rest of her hair. (I was determined to finish her last night and I {happily} stayed up until 1:30 this morning working on her hair!

This is a shot of her with her hair down and gives an idea of just how much hair she has. I've said all along that it's really the hair that makes these dolls and I fell in-love with her once her hair began to take shape. At the same time any doubts that this dream doll would become a reality, disappeared as I hooked strand after stand of hair into her cap.

And Taylor wanted her hair in a ponytail at one point, so I took a shot of that, too. Since I followed the tutorial linked above, I gave her a full head of hair which lends itself to a variety of hairstyles with no bald spots.

Now, clearly, my hand-sewing skills need some improvement. I realize her eyes aren't "perfect" and the stitching around her neck is also not "perfect", but the smiles and squeals from Taylor when she awoke this morning to find her finished makes me think it's perfect enough. Then, when hubby brought her home this evening and Sally had a dress and rosy cheeks and beautiful pigtails, Taylor declared "Oh, Mom! You made her SO cute! I love her!" my heart melted. Ooey, gooey, melted. Really, could I ask for anything more?

{updated to include a link to the tutorial for the hair and a link to a past post about our first Sally}

Waldorf Doll Making Part 4 - The Body

2010-10-13T07:00:00.000-07:00

She's looking like a doll, now! In this pic, I've sewn the seams of her legs and body and the seams of her arms. I've sewn the arms to the shoulders, but the body still needs to be sewn to the shoulders, she needs stitching to define her feet (that's why she has pins in her ankles) and hips and she needs a little more stuffing. I had hoped she'd be a little plumper overall with a bigger head like I mentioned in my last post. But, the doll is supposed to be reflective of it's playmate and her playmate Taylor isn't plump at all (lucky girl is tall and slim) so maybe it's meant to be! Maybe the fact that I want the doll to be plumper is a reflection of me, ;) ha!

Waldorf Doll Making - Part 3 Making the Head

2010-10-12T18:23:00.001-07:00

I made some progress on Taylor's doll last weekend and am just now getting around to updating here. As noted in the original post about making the doll, I'm using a pattern from Weir Crafts and I followed the instructions in that pattern for making the head. The only alteration that I made is that I formed a nose. I didn't have a tutorial and I'm not completely happy with it, and actually, the head is smaller than I'd like, too. Since the pattern is copyrighted, I can't share the details of how I made the head, but there's a great tutorial here on how to make a head. I've already decided that I will be making more of these dolls and the next one will have a bigger head with chubby cheeks and a better formed nose. Stay tuned for pics of the body!

{The head was formed like this, with the pins marking the eyes and mouth for several days, until hubby said to me very firmly "Would you PLEASE finish that. It's creeping me out!!!}

Waldorf Doll Making Part 2 - The Washing of the Wool!

2010-10-04T17:30:00.000-07:00

Did you notice when I showed all my supplies in my last post that the doll's stuffing was missing? Well, that's because when I ordered all my other supplies from Weir Crafts, the stuffing was out of stock and I didn't want to wait for it to get back in stock. Traditional Waldorf Dolls are made with all natural materials, so I didn't want to go to JoAnn's and buy just any stuffing. I found the wool fleece that I ended up with on e-bay. It was a fraction of the cost of other fleece I had looked at. But, here's why: I would have to hand wash it upon delivery. Yep, it was freshly shaved off the sheep that wore this fuzzy coat of wool. The pic above is what it looked like when it arrived in the mail. There was also much nastiness in it and it smelled like a barn. Mostly just dirt matted into it and pieces of straw and random bits of leaves. Nevertheless, each of the 2 batches, took one wash and about 3 rinses before the water was clear. I'm sure many (most?) people would opt out of this and either wait for pre-washed fleece to get re-stocked, or head out to the store and make-do. My thinking is, where's the fun in that? I think the washing of the wool adds another step of love in the making of this doll. The scent also actually brought back childhood memories of my Dad's farm. I know, I'm kinda strange. ;)

Washing the wool was also a nice way to spend a sunny afternoon free of humidity thanks to a couple of days of welcomed rain. It was also a great opportunity to teach Taylor about where materials come from (even if she did think the wool smelled like "poop" ;) )

Prior to purchasing the wool, I did a quick Google search to see what I might be getting myself into and I found this simple tutorial on how to wash the wool. I followed the tutorial, but I also did a second "wash" with diluted vinegar and baking soda to help subdue the barnyard scent. That's Taylor joining in the fun.

After it was thoroughly washed and well rinsed, I let it bask in the sun to help it dry. After a few hours, I brought it in the house and finished drying it with a hairdryer on low heat. Putting it in the dryer would have just felted it. So, that wasn't an option.

Once it was dry, I pulled it apart (I'm sure there's a term for this step) and ended up with soft and fluffy fleece!

I still have half the batch to pull apart, this entire basket was used to create the (not very big) head of the doll. I'm trying to convince Taylor to help me because she's such a sensory seeking kid, I know she'd love the soft feel of it in her hands.

It was a very relaxing and therapeutic way to spend a Saturday afternoon. Even hubby was impressed at the end of it all, despite thinking I'd lost my mind when I started the whole process.

The scent lingered for a bit, but now it smells fresh and clean!

Waldorf Doll Making - Part I

2010-10-03T17:45:00.001-07:00

I've been wanting to make a Waldorf doll for Taylor for, well...for forever, really. I love the simplicity of the dolls and everything about them. Now, there are some waldorf dolls that are very, very basic, and some that are quite well accessorized with gorgeous outfits. I've done a lot of research over the last few weeks in preparing to make a doll for Taylor.

The most well known Waldorf dolls that I've seen are Bamboletta, Natural Buddies, and Apple Treehouse. I also just came across this site last night, and in browsing through her shots in her flikr pool, I fell totally in love with her dolls!

The Waldorf dolls that I am so in love with cost upwards of $100 (with many closer to $200). These dolls are all handmade from all natural materials and a great deal of time and love go into making these dolls. So, while I'm certain that these dolls are worth every penny (and even more!) I don't have a hundred dollars to spend on a doll. What I do have, though, is the skills to make one myself! I just needed supplies and instructions. My desire to make a Waldorf doll to Taylor was reinforced and my confidence grew when I read this post. I love that she says "the best kind of doll for a child is a mama-made doll".

I bought the wool with the yellow label from Weir Crafts as well and the rest of the yarn is from Michael's. The variety of strands of yarn for the hair is really what makes my favorite Waldorf dolls so beautiful. I wish you could feel how soft these yarns are. I have a few other yarns that I might buy because they are just soooo soft. Bamboo yarn is amazing soft and so is the bamboo/silk blend. I could have spent more money on yarn than all the other supplies combined so I had to remember that part of the reason I'm making this doll is because I can't justify spending the money to buy one. The other darker wool is a merino blend that my dear friend Jen gave me when I first started knitting, given I don't have a knitting project for it (and I'm afraid my days of knitting are limited - read on), I decided it was a perfect addition to the doll's head of hair.

Taylor loves red and bright colors so I picked up some fat quarters from a local quilting store in all of Taylor's favorite colors. And of course, lots of polka-dots! I'll be making the doll's clothes with these fabrics.

I bought the yarn intending to knit a sweater for the doll. I started knitting with another kind of yarn and only finished casting on the stitches and then finished the second row, and a few hours later, I had pain and swelling in the knuckles of my index finger. Pretty certain I've developed arthritis. I've had varying degrees of pain in that finger and other joints since then. That was 2 weeks ago, now. I've got a doctor's appointment later this week to see what's going on and how to manage my pain. :( . Fortunately, I have a dear friend who I'll be swapping projects with and she's going to knit Taylor a doll sweater! Still working out what I'll be making for her little one.

In the meantime, I refuse to stop crafting, but I won't be able to craft as often. I have to do a lot of writing by hand for my hospice job, and I spend a lot of time typing and doing computer work for my work with Kids With Food Allergies, so crafting will unfortunately likely be limited to weekends. Which also probably means I won't be blogging as much :( .

A lot of time and love will go into this doll so I'll be posting about the progress. Taylor knows I'm making it for her as she fell in love with the dolls I've been looking at on-line. I decided to include her in the process of making the doll. She's quite excited about it and I am, too!

Another Pattern Giveaway by Lil' Blue Boo

2010-10-02T17:37:00.000-07:00

You all know how much I LOVE Ashley's patterns. I'm lucky enough to be one of her testers. You can see dresses I've made from her patterns, here, here, and here. I'm SO glad she's finally released her doll size dress pattern!

I've got plans and supplies to make a special doll for Taylor and I'm so happy they'll have matching dresses! I can't wait to get my hands on this pattern! If you want one, too, head over to Ashley's blog to see how to enter her giveaway and you could win the pattern for free!

And stay tuned, in the next few days I'll be posting the details about the special doll for Taylor. :)

Mini Fabric Bolts from Cardboard Boxes

2010-09-21T18:42:00.000-07:00

This is one of the best organization ideas I've seen in a LONG time. I LOVE IT! I'm totally going to organize my fabric like this! A great way to use up all the empty cardboard boxes in my garage and organize my fabric at the same time. You can find the tutorial here. Thanks for sharing, Fawnda!

Paper Bag Pumpkins - Revisited

2010-09-18T07:29:00.000-07:00

{This was originally posted in October of 2009 but is one of my posts that generates the most hits! I thought I'd share it again, for anyone who missed it last year :)}

This was such a simple and fun craft to do with my 3 yr old and would be a great craft for kids of all ages. Here's how we created these adorable fall decorations.

Supplies:

- Orange Paint (I buy large bottles of Tempera paint in primary colors and then just mix the paint to create the desired color -- in this case we mix the red & yellow in a muffin tin to make orange)

- Paint brushes

- Scissors

- Paper bags (2 bags for each pumpkin) - I used lunch bags but you could make large pumpkins with paper grocery bags.

- newspaper

- rubber bands (at least 1 for each pumpkin, but I used 5 for each pumkin - explained below)

- Green cardstock (I used 1 sheet of 12x12) you could also use green paint instead.

Tear newspaper into strips.

Open a paper bag and insert a second paper bag into the first one so you bags are now doubled up. This makes them more durable and if one bag tears it won't show.

Fill paper bag about 1/2 - 2/3 full with newspaper. Press the newspaper down as you go, so that your pumpkin will be "full".

Gather the top of the bag and wrap a rubber band around the top several times, to create the stem of your pumpkin.

Now wrap another rubber band around the top 1 time, then pull the rubber band down around the bottom of the bag as shown. Optional: Continue doing this with 4 more rubber bands and arrange them somewhat evenly around the bag to create the ridges of the pumpkin. I like this step because it gives the pumpkins a more realistic shape and look when finished.

Paint the base of the bag orange.

Leave the pumpkins to dry overnight. Once dry, cut the stem of your pumpkin to the desired length.

Tear a strip of green cardstock and wrap it around the stem of the pumpkin. Glue the end of the paper to the stem. Then tear or cut out a leaf shape and glue it to the stem. If you are using green paint, you would paint the stem green.

Proudly display your new fall decorations!

Say CHEESE!

2010-09-06T12:15:00.000-07:00

That's right. Cheese!!!!

Two weeks ago, Taylor asked me "Mommy, when will I be able to have cow's milk?" This is not the first time she's asked me this innocent question. She does very well with her food allergies and is very accepting that she has allergies and she there are certain foods she can't eat. But every now and then, she'll ask that question in different ways "When I get bigger can I have cow's milk?"

So, when she asked that day, we had an honest discussion about outgrowing allergies and that some kids outgrow allergies and some kids don't and the only way for us to know if she's outgrown her allergies is to feed her to the food she's allergic to. Her food allergies have never shown up on blood tests as she has milk protein intolerance (for which there are no tests). Her reactions are delayed by about 12 hrs so we plan our food trials carefully. As the day went on, I realized she'd be off school for the next week (she's been in preschool all summer), and she's been pretty healthy for the last 6 weeks or so, so it's a good time to feed her dairy and see if she's outgrown her allergies. Our GI doctor had given us the go-ahead to try dairy with her. Of course, if your child has an allergy, you should always consult their doctor before feeding them their allergen.

Well, I'm thrilled to report that after a week of slowly re-introducing dairy, she had no signs of allergic reaction and we're saying she's officially outgrown her dairy allergy! We've proceeded in re-introducing dairy into her diet slowly because it's very common to become lactose intolerant after not consuming dairy for an extended amount of time. Her body should adjust to the dairy as it becomes a regular part of her diet. At this point, she's eaten yogurt, milk mixed with rice milk, sour cream, cheese, cheese enchiladas (which she doesn't really like), and pizza.

In other news, we got the results of Taylor's scope and probe that I posted about a couple of weeks ago. I'm choosing to just take the results as another piece of the puzzle. It was determined that she has "non-acidic" reflux, and the GI doesn't think she needs any meds at this point. In all honesty, I'm a little frustrated because she still complains of tummy pain, and I'm not really sure what the culprit is. In the GI's words "we don't have a good reason for why her tummy hurts". He recommended a dietary supplement called Prelief, that she can take before she eats acidic foods because she definitely has reflux, and when she eats acidic foods, her reflux is painful. I also believe, based on her frequent complaints of tummy pain and based on what I've read, that non-acidic reflux is still very uncomfortable.

So, that's our update!

First Day of Pre-K

2010-08-30T22:49:00.000-07:00

This was a BIG day for Taylor! She's been waiting for this day ALL summer. She spent the summer at the same school she's been at for 2 yrs. But, for those 2 yrs, she's had her best preschool buddy, Z with her. Taylor and Z have a very special friendship. There are few girls who will put strong-willed Taylor in her place but Z is one of them. And, I think this makes Taylor have an immense amount of respect for Z. This respect translates into a bit of an obsession. She talks about Z all. the. time. Well, Z didn't attend the summer session of preschool. Early in the summer, when Taylor asked about her, a teacher told her that Z would be back "in the fall". Well, everyday, EVERY day this summer, Taylor woke up and asked "is it fall yet?" When we told her no, the response was "oohh, I don't waaaaanna go to schoooool!"

Taylor had a week off last week as the teachers prepared for the fall session. So, today, Taylor's first official day of pre-k, also meant "the first day of fall" which more importantly meant Z would be back at school.

So, this morning, Taylor got out of bed happier than she ever has and she got ready for school faster than she ever has. There are days when I drop Taylor off and she clings to me and cries or asks for a bazillion hugs and kisses, or begs me to play on the playground with her. But, today, we had barely walked in the door, when she looked at the first teacher she saw and said "Is Z here?" When the teacher said she was on the playground, Taylor was off and running without a second look back at me. I tried to catch up but she left me in a cloud of dust! I wish I had seen the initial excitement of their reunion. Instead, I caught a glimpse of their second adorable hug. I wish I had taken my camera to get a shot of the two of them.

When we picked up Taylor at the end of the day, we heard all about her day with Z and her trials with her other friends as they're all adjusting to sharing each other's attention. Ahhh, the preschool drama of who hit who, and who would be who's friend and who wouldn't play with who. This is only pre-k, I can only imagine what high school will be like!

Handmade Camera Bag

2010-08-23T07:00:00.000-07:00

This is bag is based on a purse that I already had, but I wanted it to be larger and padded to accommodate my camera. It's roomy enough for my camera body w/ 2 lenses, a photography book, my wallet, cell phone and keys. I absolutely love it!
I purchased the fabric in Canada last summer because, helllooo...it's got all my favorite colors AND flowers! It doesn't get much better than that! I picked up the coordinating fabrics at JoAnns to add some detail to the adjustable strap and the side pockets.

The bag is very versatile. I can see it in different sizes all the way from child size to a full size diaper bag. I'm thinking of making it available as a PDF pattern/tutorial for a nominal fee (less than $10). Let me know if you're interested. I haven't written the tutorial, and I already know a few things I would tweak on the pattern. And, of course, I'd need pattern testers to test it out before I made the PDF available for sale. :>

Princess in the Park

2010-08-22T15:57:00.000-07:00

Just a few of my favorite shots from a shoot I did with my favorite girl yesterday! She was so happy she got to play "dress up" at the park.

Well, she had her moments of pouting and whining, of course. She is a four yr old girl, after all.

I was able to convince her to work her magic a little, and she thought that was fun....

It tuckered her out a little...

But Mommy got some adorable shots!

Playing with my new camera again...

2010-08-14T15:13:00.001-07:00

Just a few shots from a short hike we took today at a palm oasis. I hope you enjoy!

So Glad it's Over!

2010-08-12T06:30:00.000-07:00

We took 2 days off of preschool and 2 days off of work for a procedure for Taylor that will hopefully give us some answers and help her feel better.

I haven't blogged much about Taylor's medical issues. I count my blessings everyday that we deal with medical problems that are treatable. I know there are too many families out there who manage medical problems that are more heartbreaking than what we manage everyday. There are families out there who spend days on end (and weeks and months and even years) in hospitals and in and out of doctors offices. My heart goes out to all of those families. While we haven't had to deal with any catastrophic medical issues in Taylor's 4 yrs of life, she has some chronic health issues that cause her discomfort and cause us a lot of co-pays in doctor's visits :). Of course she has food allergies, which I've discussed several times before. But honestly, that's the least of what we deal with at this point. Kids With Food Allergies has been such a huge source of support to me and our family that I feel like we've got a really good handle on how to manage Taylor's food allergies and keep her safe.

Taylor also has asthma which we've been managing for about the last year (although, in hindsight, I really think she's had asthma for longer than that but it went undiagnosed). She also has mild eczema. But the daily issues that we struggle with are related to reflux. I debated about sharing all of this because it's heartbreaking to see kids connected to tubes and I have a weak stomach. Yes, even as a hospice social worker a lot of medical stuff makes me cringe and turn away. So, I certainly won't mind if you skip over this post and don't look at the pics (which really aren't graphic), but I decided to write this post in hopes of maybe helping someone else out who may be on a similar journey.

This is a picture of Taylor before her procedure yesterday. She LOVES doctors and nurses and hospitals. I really have NO idea where she gets that from because hospitals used to cause me to have panic attacks. Literally. And, after a recent trip to our pediatrician, Taylor declared she wants to be a doctor when she grows up. (I guess we better start that college fund).

Taylor was born at 37wks after a very quick and intense labor for Mommy. From the very start, she spit up often. I had been surounded by babies and children for as long as I remember so I know babies spit up. But, by 3wks I was saying "This isn't normal!". She would projectile vomit (like a foot away), 15-20x/day. At the time, I didn't know my breastfed baby was allergic to dairy (which I was consuming daily), but I knew something was wrong. It took 3 months for our pediatrician to take us seriously. She ordered an upper GI, which involved feeding Taylor a bottle of barium, while we watched her gastrointestinal tract on a monitor. It showed her refluxing several times as she squirmed and screamed (exactly like she did when we nursed). I finally had a better understanding of why my baby was so miserable.

To make a very long story short, Taylor was diagnosed with GERD: Gastro-esophageal reflux disease after that test. As an adult, you know it as heartburn. Heartburn becomes a "disease" when it's frequent and chronic, and uncomfortable (I'm sure there's more specific diagnostic criteria, but that's the layman's terms version ;) ). Taylor has daily issues with reflux. One in 3 babies is diagnosed with GERD. And the vast majority of them outgrow it by 12 months, as their GI tract matures. Taylor is now 4 and still complains of a lot of tummy pain and has daily reflux symptoms. Since she was diagnosed with asthma, her reflux symptoms have become a little more confusing. She coughs during and after meals and drinks. She's also had pneumonia twice in the last year. She also gets monthly upper-respiratory infections and has missed a lot of days of preschool because for her, a cold is almost never "just a cold". A cold, for her, means a fever, a trip to the pediatrician, sometimes a chest x-ray to rule out pneumonia, antibiotics and several missed days of preschool.

So, all of this brings us to how we've spent Monday and Tuesday. Our GI decided some more tests were necessary at our follow up appt about a month ago. He wants to ensure she gets on appropriate medications, that there isn't more going on with her than we think and he's thinking maybe she actually has "non-acidic" reflux. So, he did an endoscopy and an impedence probe (the tube that you see in the first picture) to measure the acidic and non-acidic reflux that she may be having. The scope involves a tiny tube with a camera attached to it going into her esphogeous and looking into her stomach.

The impedence probe is a tiny probe that goes through her nose (as pictured above), into her esophagus and it sits just above the opening of her stomach. It measure the acid in her reflux, how far it goes up into her esophagous and how often she refluxes. The probe is attached to a recording device. So, our GI gave Taylor a sedative (what they call conscious sedation) to make her sleep during the procedure. He then did the scope and inserted the probe that would remain inside her for the next 24 hrs. The procedure itself is only about 15 minutes.

This is a picture of her shortly after the procedure. When she first came back to us she was awake and delirious, and not very happy. She was also quite chatty. She really needed to sleep so the drugs could wear off. Her face is red and puffy in the picture because she seemed to be having an allergic reaction to the drugs she was given. Fortunately, we were very quick in catching it and it resolved with Benadryl that the doctor ordered. The picture below was taken about 20 minutes after the Benadryl was administered via IV. They wrapped a bandage around her IV port prior to the procedure because she didn't want to have to see it. :)

When I explained to her that she was going to the hospital and what would be done, I told her she could bring a blanket and a stuffed animal or doll. When I asked what blanket she wanted to bring, she said "My sweater blanket". Our wonderful nurse was quite impressed when she commented on how cozy the blanket was and Taylor responded "My mommy made it for me!".

The Benadryl helped Taylor settle back down after the procedure and she slept for another hour and a half. We were sent home with the probe in, the recording device, and a form to write down every time she ate, slept, and had reflux symptoms. They'll then, review the recording on the monitor and compare it to what we had written down to determine the severity of her reflux and what the best treatment is.

While we were at home, Taylor wore her backpack with her monitor inside. We were really worried she would pull the tube out but she did really well with it. She said it was bugging her nose a few times, and when I questioned her about it she said she could feel it in her nose and in her throat. Here's a pic of the monitor/recording device.

We went back to the hospital on Tuesday to have the probe removed (very simple, literally just pulled it out. Painless, except for pulling the tape off), and Taylor was quite excited to see her nurse again, who tended to us yesterday. She colored a picture especially for her and ran and gave her a huge hug when she saw her! I actually almost got teary eyed because I work with so many nurses, I have a very special place in my heart for them. Our nurse thought Taylor was pretty special, too. When she greeted us yesterday, Taylor was her typical energetic self and the nurse said "Wow, this is great I love enthusiastic patients!" My response? "Well, then you're the perfect nurse for us because she's definitely enthusiastic!"

We should get the results of the probe in about a week. The scope looked good on first glance, just mild esophagitis that was there the last time we had this done 2 yrs ago. The GI took biopsies to test the tissue and rule out other conditions for her symptoms. We also need to schedule a swallow study to help determine why she's coughing and gagging when she eats.

Thanks for reading this far. :) If any of you have questions about reflux, please ask me and I'll answer you the best that I can. If you want more information on reflux and are also managing food allergies, there is a wonderful forum/message board to discuss food allergies, reflux, asthma and eczema at www.kidswithfoodallergies.org. You can also visit infantreflux.org and reflux.org.

Featured Today on One Pretty Thing!

2010-08-10T20:57:00.000-07:00

Thanks to everyone who stopped by today to check out my Cookie Sheet Magnet Board. I hope you'll come back often :)

And thank you Rachel for featuring me on One Pretty Thing. :)

Playing With My New Camera!

2010-08-07T18:40:00.001-07:00

We headed out to the park this morning to play with my new camera. We are very fortunate to live in gorgeous Southern California and we have a local park that has large ponds and lots of ducks. As you can see they're quite friendly.

Here are the specs on the above pic (for my own notes and for anyone else who may care):

Lens: Canon EF75-300m-5.6 IIIm f/4

Focal length: 120mm

Shooting mode: Aperture Priority AE

Aperture Value (AV): 4.5

AF Mode: One Shot

The shot above is our favorite of the day and it's these kind of shots that were a big reason why I bought an SLR. I absolute love how blurred the background is and how sharp Taylor is. I also love that she was looking at me for a split second and yet I got a great shot! I could NOT have created this photo with my point and shoot. Here are the specs on this photo:

Lens: Canon EF75-300m-5.6 IIIm f/4

Focal Length: 155

Shooting Mode: Program AE

Aperture Value: 6.3

Lens: Canon EF-S 18-55mm IS

Focal length: 25mm

Shooting mode: Aperture Priority AE

Aperture Value (AV): 7.1

AF Mode: One Shot

Because a {Good} Photo is Worth a Thousand Words

2010-08-06T17:15:00.000-07:00

This baby is my brand new Digital SLR Canon EOS Rebel XS.

This is another dream come true for me. A goal, I guess, more than a dream, really. I've always had a love of photography. I appreciate great shots and I'm critical of bad ones ;). While I don't (yet) have the technical skills and knowledge of exposure and "noise" (aka, grain in the world of film), I have an eye for photography.

I've always wanted to improve my photography skills and expand my knowledge of the technical aspects of photography. When I was 12 my best friend and I would do photo shoots. And that was a gazillion years ago and we didn't even own a real camera so we used disposables. Pretty sure digital cameras with an LCD screen allowing instant viewing of photos didn't even exist at that time. It certainly wasn't available to amateur photographers. So, during these cheaply and ill-equipped photo shoots, I was always much happier behind the camera than in front of it.

In high-school I took a media course (which was pretty cutting edge at the time, nowadays, many schools offer classes with high-tech equipment, but at the time that certainly wasn't the norm). My favorite section of the class was the photography section, but again, that was such a long time ago, most of what I learned is forgotten.

When I started scrapbooking, my love of photography and my desire to take good quality photos continued to grow. Since we've been married, my husband and I have always had decent, current point and shoot digital cameras. I've always had fun focusing on photo composition and getting great shots. There is a lot you can do with a good point and shoot digital camera, and they've come down in price drastically since they first came onto the market. Currently, we own a Canon Powershot S70. It has served us well over the years and I think I'll always remember we took Taylor's baby photos with that camera.

But, recently, I've realized I've outgrown our point and shoot. I find myself admiring shots on other blogs or in print and when I try to recreate those same effects, I'm consistently left disappointed because there is only so much you can do with a point and shoot and the basic modes it provides you. I'm also constantly disappointed by the lag time of my point and shoot and with an extremely fast moving preschooler, I can't wait for my camera to catch up to snap the perfect shot that I saw when I pushed the button! By the time my camera catches up, the moment has past and the shot is lost.

So, after much research, much discussion and a lot of shopping around, I finally bought my Canon Rebel XS last night! It was part of a package with the kit lens that's 18mm-55mm and a second lens that is a 75mm - 300mm which allows for shooting images at a distance (with a zoom that I'd never be able to achieve with my point and shoot). The package also came with a "manly" camera bag and I'll soon be making my own, more girly, more compact bag for everyday use. It also came with a tutorial DVD which I am loving. It reviews the basic features of the camera and how to take great photos in the creative modes that are offered.

Going with a Canon was an easy choice for me. As I said, we've owned our Canon point and shoot for years and have never had any problems with it (except the times (yes timeS) hubby has dropped it in water but I've teased him enough about that, so I won't elaborate about that here!). I should clarify, though, that the water damage killed the camera and we replaced it with another Canon Powershot S70. We've been happy with the quality of photos our Canon Powershot gives us, and we'll certainly continue to use it (read - the SLR is mostly MY camera and hubby can use the point and shoot and take the risk of breaking it ;) ) The Canon gets great reviews. I've talked to some people "in the know" and all of them recommended Canon and said "I've never heard anything bad about Canons".

So, I'm certainly a happy girl, today! I'm taking the plunge and diving into the world of photography. I've got a lot to learn, but I was recently reminded that everyone was a beginner once. Oh, and I have to add that I went to the bookstore to look at photography books and the guide for my camera shown in the picture above was on clearance. It's regularly $19.99 and I got it for $2.18. Woo Hoo!

Since I have so much to learn, I want to ask you a few questions:

Do you own a DSLR camera?

What do you love the most about it?

Do you have any great sources of inspiration? Photography blogs or books?

OK, gotta go learn how to use this thing!

MMM Past Loves

2010-08-02T10:25:00.001-07:00

This is my piece for this week's Mixed Media Monday. This week's prompt was "past loves" meaning a technique or medium that we used to love working with but haven't used inawhile. My past love is scrapbooking. As you know from my recent posts, I spent last weekend scrapbooking with Donna Downey. Before then, it had been ages, I mean ages, since I've scrapbooked. I had forgotten how much I love playing with photos and scrapbooking.

This is another page that is part of my first canvas album that I'm working on. The stamped image was created using acrylic paint and Donna's Baby's Breath Foam Stamp. I added Stickles to the petals once the paint was dry. The background was created with various layers of pink and white acrylic paint and I used gel medium to created the embedded sheet music.

Thanks for stopping by to look and I can't wait to see what the other MMM artists have created this week.

Another Fabric Scrapbook Page

2010-07-31T17:24:00.001-07:00

This will be the first page in my fabric album. I painted the canvas page with a landscape scene using acrylic paint. The house is raw canvas that I colored with Stampin' Up ink pads and water. I bought the fence at Joann's and I added the mini roses.

I created the tree by tearing circles out of patterned paper and then crumpling them. Then I tore into each circle to create an almost petal effect. Then I glued the circles one on top of each other and added the roses to the center. I used real branches for the tree trunk and cut the bird free-hand, then inked it to coordinate with the color scheme of the page.

I used the Martha Stewart Monarch Butterfly punch to create this butterfly. I am totally in love with this punch and while it was a little pricey, I can see myself using it a LOT. I punched the butterfly out of vanilla colored cardstock and inked it with the same way I inked the house.

This house is not anything like our house. We don't have roses and it's much more Victorian than our house is. I could never live in a fancy, frilly house like this, but I find myself admiring the Victorian Cottage style and it makes me happy. So this is my little fantasy house. In reality, I'm a much more casual, rustic girl. I guess that's why I had to add the roughness of the burlap to the roof of the house. :)

{Again, the canvas page, album and house are part of Donna Downey's Fabric Scrapbooking line and can be purchased from her website}

Fabric Scrapbooking Page

2010-07-30T17:00:00.000-07:00

This is my first completed fabric scrapbook page! I started the page during my weekend with Donna Downey and I finished them last night. I absolutely LOVE working with canvas as the foundation for the page. The various layers were added by using techniques I learned from Donna. I'll walk you through how I put these pages together.

First, I absolutely love this photo. This is one of those photos that was taken, uploaded (or downloaded?) onto my computer and then forgotten about. When I was searching through photos I came across it and I simply adore it. It was taken on a hike when Taylor was about 2 1/2. So, now for the details of the page...it's a raw canvas page, no gesso, and I began by gluing down the photo with fabric glue (Aleen's Tacky Glue works well), smooth out the bubbles. I chose to tear the corner of my photo before gluing it down, but that's just because I don't like the harsh edges of photos. Next, I used the tree stamp and then embossed the image. I wanted my trunk longer, so I painted the trunk with a dark brown acrylic paint. Then I spritzed the background with walnut ink. I painted the canvas butterflies with acrylic paint (watered down), and used a scrap of patterned paper on the corner of the photo. Then I added the ribbon tab to the outer edge of the page along with the strip of frayed burlap. Finally I typed the journaling and cut it into strips, then adhered it to the page. Oh, and then I added the little flower because every page needs a flower. :)

My journaling reads:

Life is a journey;

a path with twists and turns,

we never know what's around each curve,

but, little one, rest assured,

whatever this journey brings, I'll be there to hold your hand.

For this page I started by painting a "color within a color". That was the instruction that Donna gave during the workshop. So I painted brown edges with a muted green inner circle.Then, I added the patterned paper as a mat for the torn photo and attached the wire heart to the page with the the ribbon scrap. I added the canvas tab that says "Family" and stamped the word "Cherish" on a scrap of vanilla colored paper. Then I inked it with pink and purple chalk ink to coordinate with the other page in this 2 page spread. To make it more distressed and blend in with the other page, I also spritzed some walnut ink on this page and stamped the butterfly image, and added the burlap. Finally, I took some cream colored Prima flowers, spritzed them with the walnut ink and then added some copper colored glitter glue to give 'em a little shimmer.

I love how they turned out! I can't wait to work on the rest of my pages!

{Updated to let you know that you can buy several of the supplies for these pages (canvas album, rustic wire, and canvas tabs and canvas butterflies) from Donna's shop!}

Dreams do come true...

2010-07-28T09:20:00.001-07:00

My dream of meeting Donna Downey finally came true this weekend when my friend, Jen, and I drove to Valencia, CA to spend the weekend creating in workshops taught by Donna. It was all that I had hoped it would be and more. I didn't walk away with any "finished" projects, but I have all the supplies, tools and knowledge on how to complete them. The projects are all started and are at various stages on their way to completion. The weekend was all about learning techniques to create incredible mixed media pieces. While we carted in a lot of our own paint, brushes, stamps and inks along with some patterned paper and random embellishments, Donna supplied all of the products I've been drooling over in her shop. We worked on 2 canvas albums and learned layering techniques and the secrets behind Donna's unique style.

My workspace looked like this for most of the weekend...

This is a picture of Donna demonstrating a watercoloring technique in my friend, Jen's, canvas album. How COOL!

Here are some random snippets from my weekend:

- Although we allowed 5 hrs of travel time that should have taken 2 1/2 hrs, we were a 1 1/2 late for the first workshop. Gotta love LA traffic!

- The Remember When Scrapbooking store was ammmaaaaazing! They have awesome products (including Donna Downey products and Unity Stamps and a large selection of Tim Holtz products), and an incredibly friendly staff. They even had a tab going for me on Saturday and Sunday! How awesome is that...an art supply tab! I have to give a huge shout out to J.P. who is probably the nicest person in customer service I have EVER met!

- Donna autographed and wrote a quote on my canvas tote bag that I'll be painting once I decide how I want to decorate it...

- On Saturday we had lunch catered by Panera and ate and chatted with Donna about her journey as an artist how she was "discovered" and some of her goals and dreams. She was just as down-to-earth and as approachable as I expected her to be.

- When we weren't in our workshops we went to Joann's and Michael's (where I got the cutest little inspiration binder I'll be sharing soon!) and we ate really yummy food that we can't get at home!

Meeting and learning from Donna was a dream come true and I had such an awesome, relaxing weekend with one of my best girlfriends!

Thanks, again, Mom for helping to make this happen!

{Thrifty Thursday} Music to my eyes!

2010-07-15T22:29:00.000-07:00

I love the look of sheet music. I was very into music during my childhood. I sang in choirs and musical groups, I played the trumpet in high school (oh, and just to clarify, at my high school, all the "cool kids" were in the band, it wasn't a nerdy kind of thing, by any means). Our high school won multiple musical competitions for years at national musical festivals. So, music and sheet music holds special memories for me. I love the look of it in art, too, so I was thrilled when I found a few books of sheet music while thriftin' last week.

In the same trip I picked up another embroidery hoop, some vintage-y looking trim and some really pretty beads...

All this loveliness for a grand total of $2.18.

Not bad.

{The Artistic Mother Art Group} - I'm joining the fun!

2010-07-13T14:04:00.000-07:00

I'm so happy to have discovered the book The Artistic Mother and The Artistic Mother's Group. Trudi recently commented on my blog and personally invited me to join the group. I just received my copy of the book yesterday from Amazon and I've soaked up lots of inspiration already. I love Cole's down-to-earth style of writing and she had my full attention once I read her statement that she has days when she's a "good mom" and other days when she's "overwhelmed and crabby". It's always nice to hear I'm not the only one! And, like me she says the more she creates, the more good Mommy days she has. That is exactly how I feel. I've always said I craft to stay sane.

So, I just wanted to share with you all, that I'm officially joining the Artistic Mother's Group and I'm excited to work my way through this book and be more thoughtful and purposeful in my creating. Thank you, Trudi, for hosting this incredible group and inviting me to join. I want all my readers to know that anyone is welcome to join the group, all you need is the book and your imagination. The supplies needed to create the projects are minimal and easily found in arts and craft stores or online. Click on the button for more information on the group and how to join.

You can find Shona Cole's blog here.

Mixed Media Monday - Something Blue

2010-07-12T17:00:00.000-07:00

I'm participating in my first Mixed Media Monday challenge. If your visiting from MMM, thanks so much for stopping by! This is my first "official" mixed media project. The theme for this week's challenge is Something Blue. Given turquoise is my favorite color, I was quite excited to jump in and get started on my piece. I picked up this dress form from a thrift store awhile ago and I knew I could alter it and make it more beautiful. Ever since I started sewing I've developed a love for dress forms. Here's what it looked like before I started the transformation:

I set the paint bottle there so you can see the size.

So, let me share the techniques I used in making this. First, I painted the entire piece white, just kind of haphazardly. I knew I'd be adding multiple coats of various shades of blue. Then, I used alcohol inks to color white buttons various shades of blue. This was my first time using alcohol inks and let me tell you; I'm in LOVE. These are SO cool! Here's a before pic of the buttons:

Once the buttons were dry, I used tacky glue to adhere them to the bodice of the dress form. For the flowers, I mixed white, blue and turquoise acrylic paint and dipped 2 cream roses into the paint. I swirled them and smooshed them and used tissue paper to sop up the excess paint, then I hot glued them to the arms of the dress form. I added stickles to the petals as a finishing touch.

For the skirt, I mixed blue liquid water color paint with water and a dollop of royal blue acrylic paint, then I soaked white eyelet trim in the paint and then hung it to dry. Once it was dry, I cut it into strips and hot glued the strips around the dress form to create a ruffled skirt. I added more stickles to the flowers in the ruffles simply because glitter is addictive!

I added some white fiber ribbon to the waist and a string of thrifted beads around the neck. I think all of the elements of this piece were thrifted except the paint.

I love how it turned out and it's the perfect decor for my studio!

I'd love to hear your comments!

Beachbound!

2010-07-09T09:21:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the lack of posts this week. I've had a sick girl this week (yes, she really does get sick every month! We're working with our docs to determine if it's more than just out of control reflux and asthma). Anyway, obviously she's needed my attention and I've had to tend to my other responsibilities that are part of my daily life (I need to figure out a way to pay the bills by crafting!). So, I haven't had time leftover for blogging. I was able to pop into a thrift store earlier this week and gathered some awesome goodies for a grand total of $2.18. I'll share those with you next week.

I've got some projects on my mind and some things I hope to finish up next week and show all of you, but in the meantime, my girl is feeling much better and hubby and I are going away for the weekend ALONE! Taylor's staying with a very dear friend who's got a houseful of girls of her own so they're sure to have blast while hubby and I soak up some sun and enjoy the cool ocean breeze.

I'll catch up with you all next week and please check in next Friday to see who's been featured as the Featured Follower.

Have a great weekend!

Happy 4th of July!

2010-07-04T18:20:00.001-07:00

We're heading out to enjoy some patriotic festivities with some friends. Taylor and I created this American Flag canvas earlier today and I got a serious lesson on allowing on our children the freedom to explore their own creativity. I hope your having a good Fourth!

Cookie Sheet Magnet Board

2010-07-03T23:00:00.000-07:00

Very simple, oh so cute and oh so functional! Here's the tutorial:

Supplies:

2 cookie sheets (I got mine from the dollar store)

Spray paint (optional)

Coordinating scrapbook papers (I used 4 sheets of 12 x12 and had scraps leftover)

Coordinating solid cardstock (Stampin' Up has the best and it's worth the extra money)

Coordinating Ribbons in various colors, widths and textures

One Shoelace (or long piece of ribbon, rope or cord to use as your hanger)

A Drill or another tool to create the holes that the hanger goes through. You could also use heavy duty glue, I suppose, but not sure how it would up.

Step 1: Determine the layout of your papers and cut to size. My cookie sheets were 9x13 and I cut one paper 9x5 and another paper 9x7 to cover the entire back of the cookie sheet (the raised part). Then cut your accent strips that create the dividing border (in my project those are the striped strip on the top sheet and the polka-dot strip on the bottom sheet). Mine were 1" wide and then I cut one strip of red cardstock that was 1.5" wide and one strip of yellow cardstock that was 2" wide and. I layered each strip as shown in the photos.

Do NOT glue your papers to your cookie sheet yet!

Step 2: Drill holes at the top and bottom of the cookie sheet that will hold your hanger. Drill holes in the top of the second cookie sheet (These holes will tie the cookie sheets together).

Step 3: Spray paint your cookie sheets in whatever color suits your fancy!

Step 4: While your cookie sheets are drying, create your ribbon hanger. I started by folding my shoelace in 1/2 to determine the center of the shoelace. Then I simply cut ribbon and tied it onto the shoelace, starting at the center point, then cutting 2 pieces of the same ribbon and tieing one on each side of the ribbon at the center point. Then choose a different colored/textured ribbon and cut 2 pieces and tie one onto either side of the ribbons that have already been tied on. Make sense? I hope so. Be sure to alternate colors, widths and textures to get a scattered ribbon look.

Step 5: Once your cookie sheets are dry, glue your papers to the cookie sheets using Mod-Podge and then cover with another lay of Mod-Podge.

Step 6: Thread equal lengths of ribbon through the holes to attach the 2 cookie sheets and tie a knot in each ribbon. See the photos for clarification (I'm referring to the 2 pieces of turquoise ribbon that hold the 2 cookie sheets together).

Step 7: Thread your shoelace (now covered with lots o' pretty ribbon) through the holes in the top of the top cookie sheet and tie a knot in each end of the shoelace.

Now stand back and admire your work!

I made this magnet board for my daughter to use because our stainless steel fridge is not magnetic. This would be a great gift for a teacher, too!

Thanks for looking - leave a comment to let me know you saw this and leave me a link if you decide to make one of your own!

I'm joining these fun linky parties:

I'M GOING TO SPEND A WEEKEND CREATING WITH DONNA DOWNEY!!!

2010-07-03T11:29:00.000-07:00

{Photo courtesy of Remember When Scrapbooking}

Excuse me for just a second...

AAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!! EEEEEEEEKKKKKKK!!!!!

Deep Breath.... Sigh.

OK. I think I've composed myself. I have that I'm-SO-frickin'-excited-I-think-I'm-going-to-jump-out-of-my-skin feeling! OMG. O. M. G.!!!! In 3 wks I'm going to spend the weekend playing with paint, and paper and fabric and flowers and ink and stamps and all kinds of artsy goodies with DONNA DOWNEY!!! I'm going to Remember When Scrapbooking in Valencia, CA and I'll be attending 4 workshops taught by the one and only Donna Downey. If you've been a long-time follower of my blog, you know how much I LOVE Donna Downey. I first shared my love for her when I came out about by my craft addiction. Then, I told you how much I love her studio. I've also shared with you some projects that were inspired by her and I shared more about my love of her, her studio and her fabric scrapbooking here. Donna and I share a love for turquoise and my recent mixed media canvas was also inspired by her. I love browsing Donna's blog and her shop for inspiration.

This is a DREAM come TRUE! I still can't believe I'm going to be in her presence and creating with her and learning so many creative techniques that she uses so I can expand my skills and let my creativity soar! I've been telling everyone I know but I simply cannot put my excitement into words. I don't think I'll be able to sleep at all that weekend!

And I need to tell you that I have the BEST MOM in the WHOLE WORLD! While there are many reasons why she's the best mom, the number one reason today is that she is helping with the cost of the weekend. Of course, I offered to foresake all Christmas gifts for the next 10 yrs if she would help pay for this amazing opportunity. I also have the BEST HUSBAND in the WHOLE WIDE WORLD, because he is letting me go away for this amazing weekend ALONE. I'm leaving Taylor with him for the weekend as I enjoy the creativity and the moments of solitude! I hope they're both still alive when I return!

Did I mention I'm excited?

{Featured Follower Friday}

2010-07-02T06:30:00.000-07:00

The first Featured Follower Friday is HERE! Check out this post to learn how to become a Featured Follower!

I've looked through the profiles of all of my followers (and browsed your blog if you have one!) and I want each of you to know how much I appreciate that you think my blog is worthy of following. We all have busy lives and time is precious, so if you actually spend a few minutes of your day clicking on my blog and viewing my projects and reading my ramblings, I am truly appreciative.

This world of blogging is a wonderful thing, isn't it? Once you step into it, it becomes a part of your daily life. Or maybe I'm the only one who's addicted to the blogging world? OK, enough with my ramblings...without further ado I'm thrilled to announce my first Featured Follower is...

Kristin of Twinkle, Twinkle.

Let's give a big round of applause to Kristin! I am fortunate enough to know this very talented lady in real life. And, She has even credited me with inspiring her to create her own blog. She makes time for art now, and does more creating because she has a blog to post to. I am also very excited that Kristin was just published in the July/August issue of Somerset Studio magazine! How cool is THAT! This is her first time being published! Again, let's give a big round of applause to Kristin!

I'm glad I inspired Kristin to start her own blog because her blog inspires ME! I didn't know what her art of choice was when I was first talking with her about creative blogging (which was last summer) and when I clicked on her blog for the first time and browsed her mixed media projects, I was instantly in awe. She created art that I had only ever seen in magazines.

Kristin is an incredible mixed media artist and here are just 2 of my favorite pieces of hers:

Not only is she an amazing artist, photographer and writer, she's also a wonderful mother. Our daughters are in the same class at preschool. Most days, my precocious Taylor barges through the doors of her preschool, with me not far behind trying to catch up with her comb in my hand, pleading with her to let me comb out her bed-head. I'm always frazzled, running late, and almost always arguing with Taylor about something. I'm often greeted by Kristin, who is there with her gentle demeanor and her undeniably adorable daughter, Kendra. Somehow despite the hustle and bustle of a busy morning surrounded by energetic preschoolers (some happy to be with their friends, some in tears as they're pried out of their parents arms), Kristin remains calm and smiling. Kristin and Kendra have a very special connection that I cannot put into words. Kendra and Taylor had been at the same preschool for over a year before Kristin told me Kendra is adopted. I was shocked. Kendra looks so much like Kristin, I couldn't believe that she wasn't her biological daughter.

So, given Kristin says I inspired her to start blogging and given that she inspires me as a person, an artist and a mother, I thought it would be perfectly fitting for Kristin to be my first Featured Follower. So, be sure to stop by and visit her and then come back here and let me know if you're just as inspired by her as I am!

Oh, and she has me wishing I had kept my daughter's beloved pacifiers. She keeps a collection of Kendra's pacifiers in a jar in her studio. What a clever idea!

Kristin - Please be the first to grab my Featured Button and post it on your blog!

P.S. Be sure to become a follower of my blog so you have a chance to be a Featured Follower!

{Thrifty Thursday} More Craftin' Goodies!

2010-07-01T17:23:00.001-07:00

Sorry today's Thrifty Thursday post is a little late. Will you forgive me?

I totally scored the other day when I got these goods. The bright bundle of flower leis was only 10 cents! They're brand new!!! I plan to put a few in Taylor's dress up trunk and use the rest for crafty stuff! I absolutely LOVE flowers! Here's the run down for the other stuff:

paint brush - 25 cents

1 yd of turquoise velvet ribbon (of course I had to have that!) - 50 cents

glass jar to store crafty stuff - $4

I'm a happy thrifty girl.

Dabbling in mixed media art

2010-06-29T07:00:00.000-07:00

I've been inspired by mixed media and collage, lately. On Saturday night while on a rare date with my husband, I browsed through some issues of Somerset magazines at Borders. I was inspired to create this piece using a large canvas I picked up at a thrift store awhile ago for $5. It's a work in progress but Taylor and I had some fun playing with paint, paper and glue as entered the world of mixed media on Sunday morning...

See that crayon on the paper towel? Taylor started off wanting to just sit with me and color while I painted it. Well, her crayon started to melt in the scorching desert heat. When I dipped my finger in the melted wax, I thought, hmmm...melted wax, kind of like finger paint...

I created the deep blue heart by rubbing my wax dipped finger on the canvas...

I'm likin' this.

It's been awhile since I've be artsy and not just crafty.

Do you dabble in mixed media? Where do you find your inspiration?

Tornado Taylor

2010-06-27T21:06:00.001-07:00

Ever since she learned how to reach, then crawl, we've been calling her Tornado Taylor. It doesn't take long for a fairly tidy, organized space to look like a tornado blew through it after Taylor's spent some time in it. So, this is a sampling of what our house looks like on any given day...

She loves to stash things in cabinets, baskets, boxes and purses.

Her bedroom, which is supposed to have very few toys in it, to reduce the amount of cleaning/allergen reduction I have to do...

Every kitchen floor needs an abandoned naked baby lying on it.

And I'm not quite sure what this is....

Her little studio table...always a disaster...I'm too embarrassed to take pics of all the paper scraps on the floor...

The thing, is...I have no idea where she gets this from...

because I'm always so neat and organized and I set a perfect example by always picking up after myself.

She must get it from Daddy, don't ya think?

Introducing {Featured Follower Friday}!

2010-06-26T11:49:00.000-07:00

We all love followers, don't we? I get sooo excited when I see that I have a new follower. So, I've decided to start {Featured Follower Friday}. Here's the deal, every Friday I will feature one of my followers by linking to their blog and highlighting some of my favorite posts of theirs. Pretty simple and fun. Here are the rules:

You MUST be a follower of my blog for me to feature you as part of my {Featured Follower Friday}.

If for some reason you want to follow my blog but you do NOT want to be a Featured Follower, simply contact me by e-mail and let me know and I will not include you.

You must have a blog to be featured and your blog must be public, not private. Private blogs require that you invite readers and are only viewable by the people you invite to read your blog. You would know if you have set your blog to private.

Your blog does not have to be a craft blog in order to be featured as part of {Featured Follower Friday}. I love blogs of all kinds and followers of all kinds! :)

So, sign up to follow my blog so you can be featured! Then be sure to check in every Friday to see if you're the Featured Follower!

Thrifty Thursday

2010-06-24T07:30:00.000-07:00

When I saw this in the thrift store the other day, I thought it would be the perfect suitcase for doll clothes. (I've been looking for one). But when I opened it, I discovered it wasn't a suitcase. When I opened it...I discovered....

this....

a vintage typewriter! And it's kinda small. I saw a blog post recently (of course I can't remember what blog) about using a vintage typewriter as a toy for children. How cool! I've seen a few typewriters in thrift stores but they're usually very large and are about $30. This baby had a price tag of $10 and I got the store clerk to give it to me for $5. Now that's cool.

I wonder where this was in its former life? I wonder what words or letters or books were typed with it? I'm tucking it away as a Christmas present for Taylor. Maybe between now and then I can find a suitable typewriter ribbon for it.

Easel/Art Station

2010-06-23T14:23:00.001-07:00

Here it is...This is what I did with that polka-dot vinyl. When most people are laid up with the flu they sleep. They worry about what e-mails and unfinished tasks await them when they return to work. They worry about housework piling up. But, when craft addicts have the flu, they lay in bed and plan their next craft project. That's what I did when I was hit with a flu bug a few weeks ago. And when I shared my idea with my husband, he rolled his eyes. When my ideas became more elaborate, he went to Home Depot with me and helped with the construction of the art station. And Taylor LOVES it.

I've always wanted her to have an easel, but I just couldn't justify the cost and the space it would take up. Creating an art station with storage for art supplies and a table top easel was the perfect solution. The white shelf and cubby are from Target. The tabletop easel is from Michael's. It's $19.99 and of course I used a coupon and got 40% off. The easel comes unfinished, so I had hubby spray paint it a sunny yellow. I'm really loving yellow, lately. such a happy color!

This is a drying rack that we added for her paintings. It's made from a wire shelf from Home Depot that was less than $5. Hubby attached it with hooks and then created the bar mechanism to hold it up.

Handmade storage boxes using foam core covered with the vinyl to hold her paper.

The folded vinyl beside it is a drop cloth.

And more storage boxes to hold pads of paper and other supplies.

It will live in our kitchen but the lighting is better in this area for photos.

Hubby added casters to the bottom so it can easily be rolled from room to room and even outside. The casters have brakes to hold it in place when in use. The vinyl makes everything wipeable for easy clean-up and worry free creating!

I'm linking to Show off Your Stuff at Blue Cricket Design

Art Supplies for Preschoolers...

2010-06-20T13:20:00.001-07:00

pssst.....this post is a little bit of a hint as to what I'm creating with that polka dot fabric I posted about! We're working on it and hopefully it will be ready to post in the next few days! Stay tuned!

Looking for an awesomely inspiring blog to get you creating with your kids?

Check out Pink and Green Mama! I've come across her blog before and I was reminded today of how much I love her blog and her creative ideas.

She has a post on her favorite art supplies for preschoolers (and she also has one for toddlers and one for school aged kids, too!)

I've been doing a lot of crafting on my own lately while Taylor does her drawing. I need some fresh ideas to get us crafting together again, and this blog is exactly what I needed today!

What are some of you favorite blogs to get your creative juices flowing with your kids?

In Need of Craft Room Organization!

2010-06-19T07:00:00.000-07:00

I had a wonderful craft space in our last house. After months of organizaing and re-organizing I got to a point where I loved the space and I knew where everything was. And then we moved. :( My craft room was the only part of that house that I really liked.

Now we are in a house that I really like, with a craft room that's a shared space with a guest room. So, it's a space that does double duty and there's not a whole lot of space to be had, yet I have a whole lot of stuff that needs space!

I need to purge some of my stuff, and I did purge a lot before our move, but see, I'm just into so many different materials and crafts that it's hard for me to purge and consolidate. I love everything from sewing, to jewelry making, stamping and scrapbooking to altered art and other miscellaneous paper crafts. Then, of course, there's all the kid craft supplies, pipe cleaners and pom poms, tempera paint and playdoh. So how does one maintain an organized space that lends itself to creativity and productivity when one dabbles in so many different mediums?

I need some guidance. I've been scanning through images on google of other people's craft rooms, and how sad is it that most of them look familiar because I frequently scan through photos of craft rooms?

I need my space to be organized and efficient because crafting is how I stay sane in my sometimes stressful world, and digging through piles and bins searching for something I know I have is just frustrating. It keeps me from creating the piece I envision and it causes frustration rather than giving me the therapeutic benefits I get through creating and crafting.

So, I'm wondering, if you have multiple crafts that you enjoy, how do you organize your supplies?

I have quite the collection and I'd like some tips for organizing:

- beads and jewelry making supplies

- patterned paper

- rubber stamps and clear acrylic stamps

- ink pads

- acrylic paint and paint brushes

- fabric (this gets out of hand sooooo quickly!)

- various types of adhesives

- paper punches

- double point markers that have to lay flat

- knitting needles

- yarn

- Cricut cartridges

I read an article earlier today about taking stock of your supplies and making an inventory list and writing down all of your supplies on a piece of paper. Ha!!!! Seriously! I realize it's important to know what you have, but I clearly have too much stuff because it would take a whole notebook for me to write my list of supplies! The thing is, though, I really do use my stuff. I have intentions (that will come to fruition) for all of my supplies. So, between now and the time I actually create them, I need to create a better system to organize them. I'd love to hear your ideas! Better yet, add a link to your craft room if you've got pics!

* I've made some progress in my organization and I've found a great storage idea for Cricut cartridges and a few great ideas for storing ribbon. I'll be sharing those ideas in the next couple of weeks as I continue to make progress in organizing my space, but I'd still love to hear ideas on storing other supplies! :)

Polka Dot Fabric!

2010-06-18T07:00:00.000-07:00

Isn't this just so cheerful! My girl is all about polka-dots right now. I was looking for some vinyl to use for a project I've got planned for her and I found this adorable polka-dot vinyl at JoAnn's.

Stay tuned to see what I'm going to make with it! I'm hoping to have it done this weekend!

{Thrifty Thursday} Craftin' Goodies!

2010-06-17T07:00:00.000-07:00

These are some goodies I scored on a recent thrifting excursion. I got all of the small embroidery hoops for $1.25. As in $1.25 for ALL of them!

The twill tape (the white ribbon-like stuff) was 30 cents!!! 30 CENTS!!!

And, the gingerbread house kit is the kind they sell at Michael's. I got it for $2.00

The bag of vintage thread and other vintage sewing notions was $3.00 for the whole bag. I'm not sure if I'll actually use the thread but it looks really pretty sitting on my sewing table!

It's deals and treasures like this that make thrifting addictive!

Thrift Store Shopping

2010-06-16T07:00:00.000-07:00

Until about a year and a half ago, I had never stepped foot into a thrift store. Then I became friends with someone who loves to go "thrifting". There is an abundance of thrift stores in my area and I have come to love wandering through these stores in search of hidden treasures.

Awhile back Simple Mom posted 12 Tips for Thrift Store Shopping. Those are some great tips!

I find thrift stores are a great source of inspiration for me. I wander through and look for things that I can embellish, alter and repurpose. Every store that I've been to has a small section with crafty odds n' ends. I found a brand new thread organizer that retails for $15 for $3. I found my craft tote that was a file box in it's first life. I have found lots of fabric remnants and yarn, and embroidery thread. Recently, I purchased a grab bag of vintage jewelry for $8 and I didn't realize what treasures I had found until I got home. It was filled with everything from junky broaches I can alter, to what looks like diamond pendants, a couple of watches, some gorgeous earrings I can use as charms for my jewelry making, and a whole lot of other shiny odds n' edds that I can use as embellies on my projects.

Thrift stores are also an incredible source for baskets and storage containers. I may never pay full price for another basket. My first thrift store purchase was a large wicker trunk with an original "blue tag" of $24 but the day I found it blue tag items were 50% off so I got it for $12. What a steal! I use it to store my fabric stash.

I feel GOOD when I shop at thrift stores. I'm helping out the charity that runs the store and the people it serves by paying money for their donated items. I'm helping the environment by reusing what's already produced, rather than buying it new. And, I'm helping out my pocketbook because I get such great deals!

One very important tip to remember when thrifting is that you need to know how much things retail for as brand new items. Sometimes it makes sense to buy it new. For example, when I was in the market for a sewing machine, I found several at thrift stores. But, they looked like they were about 20 yrs old and were missing the manuals. As a brand new sewer, it was important that I have a reliable machine, with a manual that I could refer to and a warranty should I need it to be repaired.

Some of my favorite things to look for in thrift stores are: storage containers, dishes that I can use for storage and linens that are gently used that I can use for sewing projects.

I'm going to start posting some of my thrift-store finds on Thursdays in a new series I'll be calling Thrifty Thursday!

What are your favorite thrift store finds?

Banana French Toast

2010-06-12T07:00:00.000-07:00

I LOVE French Toast. I could probably eat it everyday! The other morning, I found myself standing in my kitchen, craving a yummy, filling breakfast and I noticed a bunch of bananas in the fruit bowl. And Voila! Within just a few minutes I sat down at my kitchen table and devoured a generous helping of Sweet Banana French Toast.

Here's my recipe:

(for a single serving)

Ingredients:

approx 2 Tbspns of butter or margarine (I use nucoa because it's dairy free margarine but behaves just like butter in cooking and baking)

1 Tbspn of sugar cane syrup such as Lyle's Golden Syrup

Approx 2 Tbspns of brown sugar

2 bananas

3 slices of bread (I like multi-grain bread for French Toast)

1 egg

1/4 cup - 1/2 cup of milk (I used rice milk because we rarely have Cow's milk in the fridge but we always have rice milk)

Cinnamon (to taste) -- may 1/2 tspn? I don't know, I just sprinkled it in without measuring ;)

In a small saucepan (that's a pot for those of you who may be cooking challenged ;) - Seriously, my husband was following a recipe once and he asked me what a saucepan is. So, now you don't need to ask, I've told you...) melt butter or margarine over low to medium heat. You want it to melt slowly, not simmer (bubble) or it will burn. While it starts to melt, add the sugar cane syrup, and brown sugar. Stir to combine. Cut one banana in half. Mash one half of that banana and add it to the saucepan.

Slice and coarsely chop the remaining half of the banana and set aside.

Meanwhile, in a bowl wide enough to lay your bread in, combine 1 egg (crack it open first, of course), milk and cinnamon. Use a fork or a whisk to mix them well.

In a skillet (a.k.a, frying pan) melt 1 Tbspn of butter. Place one slice of bread into your egg/milk mixture and dip it so that it is fully coated in your egg/milk mixture (you may have to flip your bread to coat both sides) then lay the bread in the skillet and cook for a minute or 2 until the egg is cooked, then flip and cook the other side. Remove the cooked piece of French toast from the skillet and set aside. Repeat with your other slices of bread.

Once all slices are cooked, stack them on a plate and pour the banana syrup over the bread, top w/ sliced banana and enjoy!

Teacher Gifts!

2010-06-10T06:30:00.000-07:00

I saw these crayon monograms last year and as the end of the school year approached, I knew I wanted to make these as year-end gifts for Taylor's preschool teacher. Taylor absolutely LOVES to color and she does a whole lot of coloring at preschool! I think these make adorable classroom decor for a preschool class so they're the perfect gift for preschool teachers. I think they'd be super cute in a play room, too!

For each one, I used a 5x7 shadow box from Michaels, printed the teacher's names on yellow cardstock and then glued the broken crayons to the cardstock. I followed this tutorial. It's a simple, easy and inexpensive gift, that will get you the "ooohs and aaaaahhhhs" that you always hear when you give a handmade gift.

And of course, a handmade gift deserves a handmade card...

I actually made a card! I used to make cards all. the. time. Paper crafting was my first love but since I got my sewing machine a lot of my stamps and card making supplies have been sitting collecting dust. Well, I decided to pull 'em out tonight and I created 2 of these cards, one for each teacher. I've been itching to make some cards lately, and when Taylor saw me playing with stamps she wanted to join in the fun, so I think I'll be planning a card making session with her. Fun! And of course, Taylor signed her name on the card. She's able to write her first and last name, correctly spelled and legible without any prompting. She couldn't do that in September!

I finished off the gifts by wrapping them in a simple red gift bag from the dollar store. I added a little tissue paper and tied the card to the handle with some coordinating ribbon and Ta Dah! That's it.

I hope they like them!

Airing my clean laundry!

2010-06-08T19:17:00.001-07:00

A nasty flu bug has been making its rounds in our house for the last week. It started with Taylor (and really hit her hard!!!) and then I got it on Sunday and am still recovering today. I wasn't well enough to go back to work or to leave the house but I managed to gather enough energy to get caught up on some laundry. (Desperately need to catch up!!) So, given I haven't been very productive in any other way, lately, I thought I'd show off pics of all my freshly folded laundry and my day's accomplishments!

The pile of clothes between the two baskets above is Taylor's "too small" pile. I keep a plastic bin in her closet and as I do laundry if an item is too small it goes into the bin in the closet, then I sort through the bin and see if there's anything I can recycle, or pass on to a friend or donate to charity.

All of the hangers in our closet are white plastic. I started buying white plastic hangers when I left home to go to university. I've only bought white ones since then and it makes my messy closet look a little less messy!

I am terrible at keeping up with laundry. My laundry room usually looks like a clothes bomb went off. I have no problem sorting, and throwing clothes in the washer, but they don't always get transferred to the dryer in a timely manner and they don't always get OUT of the dryer in a timely manner and they almost NEVER get folded and put away in a timely manner. Every once in a blue moon, I get all caught up and I swear I'm going to turn over a new leaf and keep the laundry under control. And then, I have another basket of laundry that needs to be washed, and then another and another...and you can imagine how it goes from there.

Sigh. Maybe this time will be different.

How do you feel about laundry? Do you keep it under control or is it total chaos at your house? What's your system for keeping it under control?

Thrifted sweater Quilt

2010-06-06T09:15:00.000-07:00

Do you remember when I posted about getting ready to make a quilt out of thrifted sweaters? Well, I finally finished it! The actual project could probably be done in a weekend but with my crazy life, I never get a whole weekend to dedicate to a craft project. I've got constant interruptions from an adorable 4 yr old and a husband who likes me to realize he's alive once in awhile!

But after several weeks of interruptions, I finished the quilt last weekend and I love how it turned out! (I know, I say that a lot of my projects, but really I'm quite happy when my visions are realized! It doesn't always happen!)

If you purchase used sweaters for this project, be sure to wash them all together, in hot water and dry them on high heat before cutting. I did this because when you buy a thrifted item ya never know where's it's been so I wanted to be sure I was working with fresh and clean sweaters! I also put it through the high heat because my daughter's bedding has to be washed with hot water and dried on high as one of the measures we take to manage her asthma and reduce and neutralize the cat dander and other allergens that are present in our home.

So, let me show you how I made this:

To create the basic rectangles that make up the quilt: I first cut off the sleeves of the sweater, at the seam where the arm and shoulder meet. I then cut the sleeve open along the remaining seam on the sleeve. I determined the size I wanted the quilt to be and asked my hubby to help me with the math. Have I ever mentioned I hate math?

A Twin size comforter is 68"x86". I didn't want my quilt quite that big and I decided on 64" x 82" as the finished dimensions. My wonderful husband told me to cut 106 rectangles measuring 5" x 13" which would give me a 1/2" seam allowance and finish with a 64" x 82" quilt.

Once I had all my rectangles cut: I laid 'em out and hubby said I needed 7 rectangles in length and 16 in width. I arranged them on the floor in a random pattern, while also ensuring a somewhat even dispersement of color. Then I sewed the long strips (So I sewed the 7 rectangles end to end). Remember to sew them right sides together!

Once all 16 strips were sewn: I sewed the strips together lengthwise, adding another strip once one was finished until I eventually had it all sewn together. I then backed it with a jersey sheet by simply sewing the jersey sheet to the quilt, right sides together. I left an opening at one end to turn it inside out and then top-stitched it closed.

My girl loves it and so do I! Such a cozy quilt! I'm thinking of making one from sweaters in different shades of browns and cream for our master bedroom.

If you decide to make one of your own, leave a comment or e-mail me a link. I'd love to see how many variations can be created.

Any questions, let me know!

Preschooler Backpack

2010-05-24T18:30:00.001-07:00

Taylor was recently diagnosed with asthma. Given she has multiple asthma triggers and an asthma attack can come on at anytime and can be fatal if not properly treated, it's important that she always has her rescue inhaler on her. I decided to make a backpack that will go with her everywhere. I wanted it roomy enough to hold her inhaler and spacer on a daily basis and then also hold her Leapster, crayons and drawing pad and a book or 2 for our frequent doctors appointments or other outings.

Given it's going to become a constant accessory, I figured she should have a say in what it would look like so we headed to the fabric store and she picked out this floral fabric and I assisted in picking out the coordinating fabrics. I absolutely LOVE the colorful combination of fabrics!

In this pic the backpack is hanging on the back of her doll stroller.

I used this tutorial and pattern as a starting guide but made a few modifications. First, I made the body of the backpack slightly larger and the sides slightly narrower. I also lined it, added a zipper to the sides, eliminated the open fold as the opening and created a pocket on the front.

Here's a pic with her inhaler and spacer inside.

The fabric tag has her name on it since everything that goes to preschool has to be labelled.

When I finished it last night, she was quite excited. I asked if she likes it and she said "Yep, I do. It's beautiful, Mom".

Love that girl!!!

She was soooo excited to carry to school today and bring it home again.

Food Allergy Awareness Week

2010-05-14T18:28:00.001-07:00

May 9-15 is National Food Allergy Awareness Week.

This is a photo of my 4 year-old daughter, Taylor. If you've read my blog much you know that Taylor has food allergies. She is one of the 3 to 5 million children in the U.S. who have food allergies. To find out why I took this picture, keep reading.

As an infant, Taylor was a bundle of allergy symptoms but because the world of food allergies is often confusing, I didn't realize the symptoms she had were related to food. It all became a little clearer as we introduced dairy products.

Taylor was exclusively breastfed until the age of 6 months when we introduced rice cereal. I didn't restrict my diet in any way while I was nursing and thus she was exposed to all the foods I ate (at least if the proteins in the food were passed through my milk, which they often are).

I knew a little bit about food allergies and I knew that one should introduce solid foods cautiously when there is a history of allergies in the family (which there is in mine). I fed her one food for a few days and didn't see anything unusual (for her) and continued on with the next food.

Once we introduced dairy products, I began to see that she had GI issues (that'd be my nice way of saying nasty diapers!) when she ate dairy products. Nasty diapers were normal for her because I was eating dairy products while nursing, but they became even worse once she ate dairy directly. The worst offender was straight cow's milk. Still not really realizing this was an allergy, I limited her dairy, but didn't feel that it warranted any medical attention. She continued to have frequent, unexplained rashes, reflux, GI issues and frequent night-waking/crying.

We were officially thrown into the world of food allergies one Sunday morning in October of 2007 when I fed Taylor a bowl of cinnamon oatmeal. I mixed up the instant oatmeal and handed it to her in her high chair. At 18 months old she fed herself as I turned my back and unloaded the dishwasher. Within a few minutes I heard her say "all done" and I turned around to take her bowl. I was shocked at what I saw. My baby girl's face, hands and arms were bright red. That's when I realized we were dealing with food allergies. I took pictures to show our pediatrician and watched her like a hawk. I'm embarrassed that I didn't even think to give her Benadryl or call the on-call doctor or take her to the ER. Fortunately her reaction did not progress.

A similar reaction the next day, led me to call for an immediate appointment with our pediatrician who then sent us to an allergist. I began to put the pieces of the puzzle together and with the help of our allergist and a good gastroenterologist (a GI doctor), as well as a reaction to soy milk, we have determined that Taylor has Milk/Soy Protein Intolerance (MSPI). This is VERY different than lactose intolerance, although the symptoms may appear to be similar. MSPI manifests as delayed GI reactions to milk and soy protein. Every food has protein (well, except salt and sugar) and a food allergy is an immune system response to a food protein. People who have lactose intolerance do not produce lactase which is an enzyme that is required in the digestion of dairy products. Most people with lactose intolerance can drink "Lactaid milk" or take Lactaid prior to consuming dairy and will not have an adverse reaction to dairy. People with a milk allergy and milk protein intolerance will have a reaction to milk products even if they consume Lactaid prior to drinking milk or eating milk products.

Allergies can manifest in different ways and many children with food allergies react to the food they are allergic to with hives, swelling, and/or breathing problems. Food allergies are very serious and can cause a life-threatening reaction called anaphylaxis. These serious reactions can be triggered by minute amounts of the allergen.

Fortunately, within a few days of Taylor's reaction to the oatmeal and it's other ingredients (she's not allergic to oats), I was strongly nudged by a friend to join Kids With Food Allergies (KFA). KFA was the first message board I'd ever participated in. Basically, you register, post a question and then several of the 20, 000 members will respond to you with their experiences! How cool is THAT! And your post is only visible to other members, not to anyone who wants to google you or food allergies ;)

KFA is a non-profit organization with a Medical Advisory Team who contribute to and review the KFA resources to ensure accuracy of information, and dozens of volunteers who are parents of children with food allergies. The volunteers and the members of KFA are so welcoming that I quickly felt as though KFA was a second family to me. There is no cure for food allergies and there needs to be more research done to find a cure, but in the meantime, as a parent of a child with food allergies, I needed to know what to feed my child and how to keep her safe at playdates, with babysitters and at preschool. The members and volunteers of KFA have taught me all of those things. While they don't provide any medical advice, I've found their wealth of experience incredibly helpful in knowing what questions to ask our doctors and how to best advocate for my daughter.

I began volunteering for KFA about a year and a half ago and I was thrilled when I was recently offered the position as the on-line Community Manager. KFA members can now participate in discussion on the forums for free and can purchase a "Family Membership" for additional benefits including full access to KFAs educational resources and over 1,000 allergy friendly (and delicious!) recipes.

If you, or someone you know, is a parent of a child with food allergies, KFA is a priceless source of support that can make all the difference in improving the quality of life for children with food allergies and their parents. KFA is a non-profit organization that needs your support. Please consider making a tax deductible donation to help KFA continue to support families managing food allergies. To donate to Kids with Food Allergies click here.

Thank you for reading Taylor's story.

To see some of the faces of food allergies (and to see why I took the picture of Taylor), go here.

The following are some great resources for anyone dealing with food allergies:

KFA's Starter Guide to Parenting a Child with Food Allergies

Allergic Reaction or Anaphylaxis

Diagnosing and Testing

What is FPIES?

What is eosinophilic esophagitis?

A Crafty Mom's Life

Daily Routine Chart and Behavior Chart

Catching up....

She Had 3 Hearts Art Journaling Workshop {Christy Tomlinson}

She Art - My FIRST finished She Art Girl!

The Summer of Color Week 4 {Yellow}

Happy 4th of July!!!

Junk Journal {Art Journal} Cover

The Summer of Color - Week 3 {Pink}

The Summer of Color - Week 2 {Green}

Fairy Garden - a mini tutorial

Blue Butterflies - Mixed Media Canvas

The Summer of Color at Twinkle, Twinkle

Help Japan

Simple Abundance {a much needed attitude adjustment}

Pot of Paper Daisies Tutorial

More Weekend Photos...

Mom's Lucky Charm Scrapbook Page Featured!

Weekending...

Derailed by asthma...

Mom's Lucky Charm Scrapbook Page

Project 365 {Week 6}

Storybook Cricut Cartridge

More Pretty Craft Storage - Altered Jar Mini-Tutorial

Cardboard Caddy Tutorial

Project 365 {Week 4 & 5}

What to to With a Stretched Canvas?

Project 365 {Week Three} *Still Catching Up*

Project 365 {Week Two} *Catch Up*

Thrifted Shutter Photo Display Tutorial {Thrifty Thursday}

Love Project Showdown!

Cutest Piggy Bank EVER!!!

Mixed Media Love Canvas

Paper Flower Tutorial

Project 365 2011 {Week One}

One Word 2011

Studio Sneak Peek - Guest Post at Crafts Unleashed!

Very Exciting News!!!

Gingerbread House and Playing with Piknik

Featured Today on One Pretty Thing!

Framed Button Tree - Tutorial

Pantry Organization

No Sew Stocking Garland

Sneak Peek

I'm still alive...

Raising a {sensitive} Princess

Happy Halloween

Waldorf Doll Making Part 5 - All DONE!!!

Waldorf Doll Making Part 4 - The Body

Waldorf Doll Making - Part 3 Making the Head

Waldorf Doll Making Part 2 - The Washing of the Wool!

Waldorf Doll Making - Part I

Another Pattern Giveaway by Lil' Blue Boo

Mini Fabric Bolts from Cardboard Boxes

Paper Bag Pumpkins - Revisited

Say CHEESE!

First Day of Pre-K

Handmade Camera Bag

Princess in the Park

Playing with my new camera again...

So Glad it's Over!

Featured Today on One Pretty Thing!

Playing With My New Camera!

Because a {Good} Photo is Worth a Thousand Words

MMM Past Loves

Another Fabric Scrapbook Page

Fabric Scrapbooking Page

Dreams do come true...

{Thrifty Thursday} Music to my eyes!

{The Artistic Mother Art Group} - I'm joining the fun!

Mixed Media Monday - Something Blue

Beachbound!

Happy 4th of July!

Cookie Sheet Magnet Board

I'M GOING TO SPEND A WEEKEND CREATING WITH DONNA DOWNEY!!!

{Featured Follower Friday}

{Thrifty Thursday} More Craftin' Goodies!

Dabbling in mixed media art

Tornado Taylor

Introducing {Featured Follower Friday}!

Project 365 {Week Three} Still Catching Up

Project 365 {Week Two} Catch Up