just some art journal fun

Some of these art journal entries are a couple of months old.

I haven't had a lot of time to journal lately,

but what I have had has been so nice.

From December,

more experimentation with negative space:

"Snow had fallen, Snow on Snow,"

a line from Christina Rosetti's "In the Bleak Midwinter"

The snowflakes were fun.

A complainy entry from way back
when I had to drink crazy amounts of water
for my kidney stones.

Happy New Year complete with glitter glue

that Little Man generously shared.

(Turns out fireworks are hard to draw!)

And two from this week!

I must be getting tired of winter.
Something very bright and warm sounded nice.

Lovely morning drawing in the sun with some coffee.

Delightful.

Linking up with Jennifer's Studio Sneak Peek.

art together

Last week while Sweet Pea and Baby Boy were resting,

 Little Man, Brother, and I

got out the "grown-up paints" (aka acrylic tubes of paint)

gifted to the boys by Grandma and Grandpa

and spent some quality time creating together.

(I love that they're finally old enough that we can do this!)

Even our painty rag looks kind of beautiful.

"A Giant Crevasse" by Brother

"A Whale Ship" by Little Man

"Colorful Base for Calligraphy" by me

orange marmalade

In a recent Bountiful Basket order,

we received a bag of Seville oranges,

which it turns out,

are sour and seedy

and not good to just eat.

They are, however,

excellent for making orange marmalade

due to the high pectin content in their many seeds

and the usual high sugar content in the marmalade.

I don't particularly like orange marmalade,

but it's a great favorite with my mum and my Little Man.

So I set out on a work of love: making orange marmalade for them.

I used a clear and helpful recipe I found online

and experienced lovely results.

(I've never made jam without a box of pectin before!)

I even ate a little of it,

though most of it has been reserved

for the true orange marmalade fans.

thank yous

More than a little of my spare time

the first month after Baby Boy arrived

was spent writing thank you notes.

Thankyous for meals and visits,

clothes and toys, diapers and cash,

and first-baby-of-the year gifts

from local businesses.

Though I am truly grateful

for the outpouring of love to our family,

sometimes the consumption of my precious free time

with thank-you-note-writing

grates on me.

I bolster my attitude with the fact that

thankyou writing is

its own sort of art form.

One that (I think) I do fairly well at.

As an artist, this pleases me.

And silly as it may be,

having cute thank you card to use

is also tremendously comforting.

I loved using these adorable cards from Pepper Pot.

The cute graphics and charming details

(the backs of the cards! the delightful tin box they came in!

the coordinating plaid lining the envelopes!)

never failed to make me smile.

I got mine at a charming local shop,

but you could get some from Amazon

if you can't live without them.

This is not a sponsored post.

I just loved these cards so much

that I had to share.

handpainted handprint mugs

In addition to Benjamin's valentine mug,

I used my Pebeo paint set and thrifted cups

to make hand print mugs for my Mum

and my mother-in-law.

I traced my children's hands on paper,

making templates which I then stuck to the cup

and outlined with dots.

Dissatisfied with the uneven nature of the dots I used

to outline the hands,

I decided to fill in the hand prints on this first mug

with freehand swirls, dots, and hearts.

I'm an artist who likes to painstakingly sketch and plan first,

so this was wildly out of my comfort zone.

And the cup did turn out somewhat...wild.

In my newborn-stage haze of sleep deprivation,

I despaired,

fearing that this looked like one of those nightmarish trinkets

you see in the thrift store and pass by,

smirking with a hint of disdain.

I think I might even have shed a few tears.

But

happily,

my mom loves it.

LOVES  it.

Whew.

So the fate

of my painstakingly hand painted mug

will be a happy one:

a long life of use,

not forsaken on a thrift store shelf.

(Can you tell that hormones

and sleep deprivation make me more dramatic

than usual?)

This second

"more normal-looking" mug

(Benjamin's words)

will be either a belated birthday gift

or an early mother's day gift

for his mom.

I expect that she'll like it

just as much as my mum likes hers.

one month

Ahem. Yes, Baby Boy is actually more than

one-and-a-half months old.

I'm running late on my blog post,

but the photos were all from the week

he turned one month old.

At one month Baby Boy...

eats

mama milk on demand

sleeps

anywhere relatively quiet

but preferably snuggled up on mama's chest

not in the middle of social situations

says

soft, monosyllabic, coos

hearty cries ("MAAAAAAA") when distressed

does

lifts his head and looks around

flails his fists and kicks his feet with vigor

makes a lot of "duck faces"

occasionally smiles

studies the world around him with solemn face and furrowed brow

likes

being in motion

dry diapers

cuddling

music

having his head rubbed

dislikes

sudden loud noises

sneezes (see above)

his car seat

hats

[first smile for the camera]

valentine mug

My parents got me a really cool set of Pebeo paints

for Christmas last year.

I have been not-patiently waiting to use them

on some blank thrifted cups I had stashed.

A couple of weeks ago

I  finally decided to just leave the laundry for a day or two

and get some painting play time in.

One of the mugs I decorated

became Benjamin's Valentine's Day gift.

A simple saying plus a cute penguin couple plus little hearts,

and BAM--I had a gift-worthy cup in my hands.

I neglected to get Benjamin a card this year,

but this mug plus some of his favorite teas

put a smile on his face

when I presented it to him last Thursday.

boy art

"Happy Birthday"

and a jaguar boat

by Little Man for his Nonna.

Spider Man

by Brother

also for Nonna's birthday.

"A Shark" along with some O's and L's

by Brother

for Grandma

(I love this one so much that I was sad when he gave it away.)

"A Squid in Some Water"

by Brother

for me.

(YES! So pleased to hang it on my fridge.)

preschool and valentines

[first day of preschool]

 This month there was an unexpected opening

in one of our local preschools.

One of my friends is on the board of directors

and was able to offer us the opportunity

to start Little Man mid-semester.

He began  last Monday
and was so excited,
that it was impossible not to catch his enthusiasm.
We are, however,
facing a bit of a learning curve
as we work on fitting our schedule around it.
Preschool has yet to become part of our routine.
It'll happen.

I was excited that he got to start before Valentine's Day
so that we could make some of the cool valentines
that I have been pinning.

We selected these simple yet unique
guitar lollipops from Zakka Life.
(I'm so, so thankful for the nice people
who provide awesome free printables.)

Little Man was able to do most of the work himself,

cutting and assembling like a pro

with just a little help.

They turned out fantastic!

Sadly, we had a break down in communication,

and in spite of his excitement to share them with his friends,

his awesome valentines came back home again in his backpack.

I almost cried (hey, yesterday was just an emotional day).

But in a quick call to his teacher,

I got the okay to try again Monday,

so it's all good.

I also free-handed some simple valentine hearts

for Little Man's teachers.

He colored some of the details and signed his name.

These did get delivered yesterday. : )