my favorite part about this picture is that every single thing was the commentary which went along with it. each piece of the drawing has a purpose/meaning. lilie jo is always so intentional with her drawings. she explains every little thing as she goes. i need to record her explaining sometime. i think that might be something i want to hang onto.

Christmas is just around the corner! Have you started your Christmas shopping yet? We have ours mostly finished, actually. Lilie Jo’s is about all we have left. At the beginning of the month, we thought we had hers all figured out. It wasn’t going to be much in quantity, but pricey and high quality, none the less.

And then I kind of came to my senses and remembered the parent aim to be.

Lilie Jo was all set to receive her own tablet this Christmas. We researched and compared the Leapster LeapPad 1 and 2 and the Nabi 2. One more expensive up front, but the other more so in the long run. So many things to consider about each. Then, one night, while I was laying in bed–that’s where all my greatest thinking happens–it came to me.

She’s five years old. Her imagination and curiosity are on fire. She still has such willingness to do and learn.

Sure, tablets are full of educational games. And we all know this generation is one which is being raised on technology. Of course, we should teach them to use it now so they aren’t behind later. And I know it would be fabulous for car rides.

But you know what? She has school, parents, books, morning cartoons and every day life to educate her. She uses technology at school and home, enough, to not fall behind in that arena. And she has a portable DVD player and will soon be reading her own books in the car for entertainment.

I don’t want a stationary five year old. {I’ll probably regret saying that at some point.}

I don’t want to teach this creative, independent, imaginative little girl to depend on a machine to entertain her. I want her to run and play dress up, not sit in one spot only moving her hands and fingers. I want her to make believe with her dolls and toys. Get real paint on her hands when she creates a work of art. I want her to practice holding and writing with a real pen or pencil.

Most of all, I don’t want to be that parent, in five years, arming their child with a cell phone at the age of ten. I also don’t want her hooked on video games. I, personally, have seen one too many disasters with that obsession. Rather than trying to set and stick to limitations, let’s just avoid the situation completely a little longer.

So, the Christmas list has changed a bit. Its longer, but not much different in price. Its a list of quality and quantity, if you ask me. One that consists of legos for building imaginary villages, furniture and dolls to pretend with, art supplies to create with and–as with every occasion–books to enrich her mind and feed her beautiful imagination.

Tell me: what are you shopping for this year?

note: i’m not bashing technology or parents who choose to immerse their children in it a lot/a little at any age. its just my personal opinion and parenting style. its about what i think is appropriate for my child, at her current age, and with my personal parenting strategies. i’d love to hear your thoughts on the subject.

My little garden has brought me so much joy, already.  I tried for an herb garden last year, but it just wasn’t in the cards, apparently.  Most of my seeds just didn’t start.  This year, however, we had more time to plan ahead and prepare.  Of course, Pinterest helped.

In my patio garden, I have some basil, oregano, strawberries, tomatoes, thyme, lavender,citronella and a patch of wild flowers.  I wanted something clever and cute to mark the plants.  Not because I forget which is which, but just to let others know and to add a little more pizazz, I guess.

I grabbed some spoons from a thrift store, pulled out my Mod Podge and got to work.  In no time at all, really, these babies were in the ground.

To get rid of the crisp clean white paper, I soaked it in some water and coffee grounds for a day.  Then, I simply drew out the labels, tore them out and Mod Podged them to the spoons.  I then covered them in a couple more layers of Mod Podge to seal and protect the paper labels.  We’ve had several rains since I installed the spoons and they are still holding up strongly.

 Do you have anything growing this year?

While riding our bikes around the neighborhood, one afternoon, Billy and I found something.  Someone apparently had quite a bamboo garden and decided they wanted a new look.  A heaping pile of bamboo sticks.

*freebie* Mama can use that!

With visions of bamboo creations in my head, I planned to grab the car, as soon as we got home.  I started a list even: fence around the garden, a wind chime, perhaps tomato cages.  I was ready to get work.  Today, I want to share my wind chime with you.

Materials:

• bamboo
• hand saw
• drill
• twine
• fishing line
• paint & brush
• spray fix
• key ring

I planned out my design, before making any moves, to avoid mistakes.  I used the hand saw to cut all my bamboo pieces to size.  I found that when sawing bamboo, it works best to only saw in one direction.  Before I started putting anything together, I painted my bamboo pieces with acrylic paint.  After they were dry, I used spray fix {like clear spray paint} to lock and seal my pretty little design.

I used smaller pieces of bamboo, twine and a key ring to build the top part of my chimes.  Then I used drill with a tiny bit to make holes in the top pieces, as well as the hanging pieces.  I strung fishing line through the holes and tied to secure the chimes to the top.  I found that you could pull and turn the tied fishing line so that the knot was actually inside the bamboo and, therefore, unseen.

Now these pretty little things hang happily on my patio, where they sing soft songs to my herbs.  I’m not sure, really, though.  These little girls make it hard to hear anything other than their giggles and squeals.  Plus, their sounds really isn’t loud, so you don’t worry about it bothering any neighbors {I’ve really heard of people who can’t stand wind chimes}.

I have another one cut and ready to paint, but was home some little hands would help.  I’m also putting the finishing touches on the fence around our vegetable garden.  I’ll be sure to share photos soon, though.

Do you have anything handmade in your garden?  Or maybe plans for something?? Tell me about it!

This past weekend, my Grandmother and I threw my little sister’s wedding shower.  I think its actually the first shower I’ve ever had to plan.  She gets married in June and I am in charge of the hair, makeup and photography.  That will most definitely be a busy day for me.

I didn’t plan anything too fancy.  Her colors are blue and black.  I pretty much decorated the party with my bare hands.  The only thing we purchased were the groceries and eating ware.

You can only imagine how please I was when my sister gave the thumbs up on brownies instead of cake.  Brownies are most definitely above cake, on my list.

For our drink, we made up something new.  We brewed regular black tea {like making sweet iced tea} plus one bag of Tazo Vanilla Rooibos tea.  We then added Granny Smith apples, strawberries, mangos and fresh spearmint leaves.  Yum.  Writing that recipe down in the book.

The crowd wasn’t huge, which made for a more relaxed and personal setting.  We played a few fun games and some lucky ladies won a fabulous facial scrub I made.  I’ll most definitely  have to share that with you sometime.  Its truly amazing.

And then was the flower girl.  She is definitely my child. Haha I can’t wait to watch her perform her duties, next month.  This should be interesting.  Stay tuned, friends.

{ink pen}

My summer break has officially begun.  Happy day.  I don’t even mind all the house work I’ve added to my schedule.  Its been a gray, drizzly day.  I have covered it in flanel and filled it with coffee and photo editing, as well.

{ink pen, pastel}

While I was cleaning and putting away my school supplies {so they were no longer loitering by the couch}, I went through my work from drawing this past semester.  I did a lot of drawings over this past semester.  This teacher had us work more on speed.  We always finished at least one drawing in class {other than big project assignments}.  In my first drawing class, we would spend 3-4 classes on one drawing.

{inda ink}

I loved having so many to look through, this time.  Billy and I went through and picked out our favorites.  The class was broken up into three segments: still life, figure drawing, and landscape/spaces.  Notice you don’t see any figure drawings on the list.

{mixed media}

This one here {above} has probably gotten the most attention.  I shared some photos of it on Facebook and it received several comments.  She’s already been claimed and gets to go to her new home in July.

{ink pen}

{ink pen, india ink}

This was the second to last drawing I did this semester.  I finished it in one class sitting.  Its quite possibly my favorite.  Its sitting out for all to see.

{pastel, graphite}

This was our final project, which was inspired by Kandinsky.  I really like the bright colors and am generally happy with how it turned out.  However, I don’t know that I’ll be using oil pastels much, on my own.  Then again, maybe I just need to try playing with a more high quality product.  I just wasn’t too crazy about it.

This summer, my goal is to get my hands on some water colors.  After playing so much with ink washes, I’m dying to dabble in that colorful world.

Its my last week before classes and I’m swamped.  About 95% of my time not spent taking care of Lilie or eating is spent on school work.  I only have one final exam to study for, but I have several tedious and time-extensive projects I’m working to finish.

This first of which is due tomorrow.  This Kandinsky-inspired oil pastel has been something I’ve been sporadically dropping work into.  Sometimes I’m excited about how its coming along but, occasionally, I hate it.  I’m finding that I’m not really a fan of this medium, either.  Maybe that’s the problem.

However, ink pen is one I always hated.  Since I’ve been forced to experiment and use it anyway, though, I’ve really come to enjoy it.  The past few weeks of landscape drawing outside have been absolutely marvelous.  An activity I hope to enjoy often this summer.

Yesterday, though, we were handed a sheet of watercolor paper and told to use our India ink and do a wash drawing outside. I’ve come to so love this medium and am just dying to get my hands on some watercolors. My next trip to Hobby Lobby will not exist without watercolors.  This day, though, I used my ink pens and brushes.  This is when the piece was half finished.  I can’t wait to show you the finished product.  It is likely my favorite from this whole semester.

Sorry, I haven’t been too present, lately.  Let me get through this last week and a half of school and I’ll be ready to throw some goodies your way.

Happy May Day!

Things are definitely off, lately.  I’ve felt a creepy dark pit in my belly for days.  Clueless as to what was causing it, I think I’ve figured it out.  Stress.  I’ve felt anxious and nervous for a couple weeks now, but haven’t had any major tasks of my own to blame it on {other than an interview}.

However, Billy is still searching for work and it is really affecting us.  I’m finding this unemployment thing to affect more than just finances.  Its totally mental, too–for both of us.

But this week, we had Valentine’s Day.  It was some sunshine through the clouds.

Lilie and I had fun creating some little potato stamps to make Valentine’s for her class party.  She was so excited and talked about it for days.  When the party came and I think it ended up being more than she hoped for.  We chose not to attach candy to her cards, but pretty much everyone else did.  She was thrilled.

Valentine’s Day is definitely one of her favorite holidays right now.

That night, we all went out, as a family, for a fancy dinner.  When I say ‘fancy‘ I mean a place with a playground and small bill.  Us, girls, were treated to roses, as well.

Oh! And I almost forgot to share my favorite part of the day!  Lilie made the sweetest little Valentine for bring home to us.  She is constantly making ‘rockstar’ and ‘I love you’ hands.  This Valentine is so her.  I loved it so much I immediately framed and hung it up.

And that pretty much wraps up my week.  I did have a pretty awesome interview on Tuesday, as well, but more to come on that later.  I won’t know anything until next week, so I’m holding my tongue until I hear from them.

Have a lovely weekend!!

My first drawing class was last semester.  I was definitely pushed to the edge of my comfort zone but I learned so much.  I’ve also talked about how therapeutic drawing has become for me.  I joke with my friends that I can’t afford a therapist, so I just taking drawing classes, instead.

Ok, so I don’t really have a choice, since its required for my graphic design, but yeah.  I don’t mind.

This second drawing class has already pushed me out of that confort zone.  Of course we started out drawing with our regular ole graphite pencils.  As boring as it may seem, its comfortable.  Its generally light {depending on the pencil you use} and its erasable.  Lord knows I’m no where near perfect, therefore, my eraser is my best friend.

However, our professor took away our graphite and erasers after just one week of drawing.  She then limited us to ink pen.  Ink pen! I don’t mean sketching in graphite then going over in ink.  I mean starting, drawing and finished with ink.

No more eraser, no more fixing my mistakes.  Just messy lines all over the place.  After a couple of weeks working in ink, though, I think I’m kind of getting the hang of it.

Honestly, though, I think drawing in ink is more representational to my life and there for more fitting for me.  With graphite, you can keep erasing until its just right.  You can make it just the way you like.  But with pen, your mistakes are there for all to see.  But its still beautiful.

{unfinished}

Its messy and real and you can see every mark made by the artist.  There’s no redos.  You can’t go back, erase a mark and try again.  Just like life.  Just like my life.  I’ve made so many mistakes and have so many blemishes in my life, but it all together makes the whole picture, which is me.

Without those mistakes, I wouldn’t be the woman I am now so happy to be, today.  I’m learning to love drawing/sketching with an ink pen, now {even more since we’ve started adding some color}.  Especially now that I’m able to see the beauty which secretly lies within the finished piece.

What have you done, lately, which pushed you out of your comfort zone?   Did you learn anything from it?

Hello friends! Lilie received a special little package the other day.  I’m excited to finally share another piece of our December Omaha trip with you.  There’s several little treasures hidden in that city.  If you ask me, the whole town’s a treasure.  But today, I’m talking about a little art studio which goes by the name of ‘Its Yours Pottery.’

During my first trip to Omaha, many moons ago, I visited a couple of art galleries in the downtown Old Market {which is another secret treasure in its self}.  I was introduced to the craft of  glass fusion and instantly fell in love.  I was completely fascinated and had to get my hands on it.  I looked it up to see if there was anyone who could show me more before I went home.  That’s when I discovered this little jewel and made my first visit.

There I was able to create a little pendant.  It really didn’t turn out to be too much, since I had no experience, but I cherish the piece I came out with.  I heavily dreamed and looked into  purchasing my own tools and supplies to start practicing the art back home.  Now, the glass fusion jewelry is booming {at least around here}.

So, on our last visit to Omaha, Teeyl and I thought it would be fun to take Lilie down there to mess around on the pottery side of their services.  She picked out a little angel ornament to work with.  We grabbed a table and some pretty glazes and put her to work.

Since the firing and cooling process wouldn’t be finished ’til after we had to leave, Teeyl just packaged and mailed it to her.  Its adorable and filled with a sweet little memory for us to share.

So, if you’re ever in town and looking for a great activity {adult or family} check this place out.  I actually suggest you check out the calendar on their website too.  They have some pretty great classes and events for all ages.

I’ve had a couple of people ask the same question: “What did you ever decide to do with the fingerprint drawing?”  You’re confused? Read this post and then check back.  Go on, I promise I won’t go on until you get back.

….

Gee, you’re a slow reader.  Shall we proceed?  I had a moment of need.  I was working on a drawing and came to a point where I had to choose my colors.  I knew I was using black, but what else?  Should I go with the trusty black and white, pop art look?  Or should I go with a more warm, sepia type tone?  I had went into the piece with warm thoughts in mind.  I was using Lilie’s fingerprint, so that was probably the mama side of me.

 Either way, I had to make a decision.  And I knew that once I’d gotten started, there was no turning back.  No erasing, if I went with the sienna.  Needless to say, I was a tad nervous to make any further marks.