birthday in a bottle 2

Today is my sister-in-law's birthday.

(How fantastic is it that we were friends

long before Ben and I were together!)

I thought she needed a little bit of birthday hullabaloo,

so I sent her some happy mail.

happy birthday balloon

bright pink nail polish

girly post-it notes (see the shoes?)

two pairs of earrings

tic tacs (because a cupcake would't mail well)

curly ribbon (not pictured above)

and a generous sprinkling of star confetti

I cut open a bottle, put all the goodies inside,

then finished the package with a sparkly pink paper band,

address labels, and tape.

Lots of tape.

Then I weighed it and stamped it

and stuck it in the mail.

Here's hoping it brings a smile to her face.

little tag blanket

None of our oldest three were enchanted with tags,

so I thought that those toys/blankets

with little tags sticking out all over were kinda cute

but pretty much useless.

Then Baby Boy came along.

He loves tags.

If a toy has a tag, that's what he goes for.

He feels them, chews on them, sucks on them...

He even discovered the long tags on the bumper in his crib,

pulled them into his bed,

and chewed on them until he gagged.

I felt like such a spoil-sport when I cut them off

that I decided to make a special little tag blanket for him.

It is about 6 1/2 inches square and is bristling with tags!

One side it's soft, blue flannel.

And the other is brown waffle-knit

that I upcycled from an old t-shirt.

It's always gratifying when your handiwork

is just as much of a hit as you hoped it would be.

A quick note about the variety of ribbons I had in my stash to use: Bits of ribbon pop up all over, sometimes in surprising places. Keep your eyes open for them and don't sneeze at small pieces; they can come in handy. To illustrate I numbered the ribbons and will tell you where I got each piece.
1. This used to be a useless drawstring on a pair of my shorts. I pulled it out because it was annoying me and added it to my stash because it is cotton and has a cool texture.
2. Came in a "goodie bag" of notions I picked up for a few cents at a local thrift store. It was only about 8 inches long and was wired. I had plenty of it for this project, though. (And I pulled the wires out.)
3. I think I actually bought this one at Joann's for Sweet Pea's nursery. This project used up the last little bit I had of it.
4. Left over from Ben's coworkers' Christmas gifts.
5. One of the popular baby gifts here in the United States are these little outfits packaged into gift sets by the company that makes them. They often use see-through bags tied with real fabric ribbon with nice prints or textures to finish off the look. I save these ribbons and use them for projects like this.
6. More baby gift set packaging.
7. Partial spool of ribbon I picked up at the thrift store.
8. Found in the bargain section of a local store. ($0.13 for a mini-spool of ribbon? Yes, please!)
9. Huh. There is no #9 on the picture. Ooops. I guess my brain leaped to a nice, round number. :)
10. Very cool train ribbon that came as part of the packaging for scrapbook supplies.

Disclaimer: I AM NOT ADVOCATING HOARDING! Please, don't just compulsively keep random bits of supplies you'll never use. If you cannot honestly project using, say, the ribbons that came on your baby gifts within the next six months don't keep them. However, DO look for supplies and inspiration in unlikely places. You might be surprised at what you find.

anniversary quilt

I've been holding off on posting about this

on the off-chance my in-laws randomly looked at my blog.

It's being given to them today, though,

so I think I'm finally good to talk!

Last month my sister-in-law and I

spent an intense four days making this quilt

for Ben's parents' anniversary.

She collected family photos and notes from the four kids,

artwork and hand prints from all the grandkids,

the family crest, and a favorite verse.

We printed all of these treasures onto fabric,

and incorporated them into a pretty awesome quilt.

(Even if I do say so myself.)

We are so proud of our accomplishment.

I can't wait to see the video

of my in-laws' reaction

when they open it!

weekend art

I ended up having a very artsy weekend.

It was lovely, and I now I want to share what we made.

A very stereotypical "Christina" piece

for my art teacher friend

who requested a larger version

of my little quotation

for hanging in her classroom.

This little piece is also a gift.

This one's going to a fellow blogger/contributor to Made.

The quotation is hers,

and the rendition of Montana dusk is all mine.

The next few pieces were inspired

by the beautiful Beth's (creator of Made)

challenge to make messy art.

"unfinished" set of two coordinating art journal pages

I had some fun using up the paint leftover from my dusky art

to make these two wild pages.

This piece was inspired by the paint left over

from Brother's messy art (see below).

Of course my children had to get in on the painty fun too.

They loved my idea of making paint blobs

and blowing on them through straws to make them spread out.

I really like Little Man's autumnal color scheme here.

Brother tried straw-blown paint blobs

and splatter painting.

Too fun!

Sweet Pea enthusiastically did her own thing

with what appears to be her favorite color: purple.

Benjamin abstained from the messy paint art,

but he did make lots of beautiful music.

This post has been full of Made references
(you'll have to bear with my enthusiasm).

Click here to get the full scoop on Made.

art journal

One of the things I love about my art journal

is that its pages are small (about 6"x6").

These small pages make it easier

to fit small sessions of art-making into short amounts of time.

They also make it easier to let go of my uptight perfectionism

and boldly try new things.

(For some reason it's much harder for me to let go

when I'm staring down a big, blank space.)

In short, it's a little safe haven

were I am brave and just have fun

with my art.

One of the ways I do this is by incorporating

whatever art supplies my kids have out.

The following two pages are experiments in wax resist

that were made on a rainy day

when they had their crayons and coloring books at the table.

I've been a little slow jumping on the washi tape bandwagon

simply because it seems like such an extravagance.

(No local stores sell it, so I have to pay shipping too.)

Last week I finally got some, though.

Well, Benjamin got it for me.

'Cause he's sweet like that.

 I love it just as much as I thought I would!

I think it would make great a great stocking stuffer.
Just sayin'...

While I was melting the boys' crayon nubbins

to make new heart crayons last week,

I decided to try some encaustic painting.

Okay, so technically encaustic painting uses

bees wax and powdered pigment,

but I figured that melted crayon wax

would make a fine substitute this time.

 My first try turned out pretty cool!

Melted crayon wax is hard to work with,

but the texture is amazing.

 My second try, well, lets just keep the 

brave and fun concepts in mind

because it's sure not great art.

For my third attempt I got a different paintbrush,

and it turned out pretty cool too.

And then there's this thing.

I sat down with my pens to make a

"one thing at a time" doodle

while focusing and organizing my thoughts.

But OF COURSE,

I didn't listen to my own advice

and jumped up to do something else.

When I came back, I discovered that my little Sweet Pea

had decided to edit my art.

Too funny.

I finished the words

and then added some of my own embellishments

around hers.

linking up with Jen's In the Studio again today

summer

I don't really like summer.

Sure, there are aspects of summer that I love,

but the heat just sucks my life out.

Plus I have seasonal allergies,

and I never know what to cook when it's hot.

I'm trying to stay focused on the good things, though,

because life is so much nicer when you're not whining.

Here are some of the fun things we've been up to:

Little Man saved up his money and bought himself a new bike!

We're working on learning to ride without training wheels now.

Their enjoyment of the kiddie pool is infectious!

The sprinkler is great too.

I take my turn running through it,

but there's no photographic evidence. :)

Our popsicle love is still going strong.

left to right:

cherry lemonade

tropical trio (banana, pineapple, and coconut milk)

fruit-salad-sicles (bits of melon and strawberry in pineapple juice)

I'm having so much fun

learning as much as I can as fast as possible

about jewelry making.
Now I just have to figure out how to take better pictures

of the stuff I make.

sweet tea

(Who says mugs have to be reserved for the hot liquids.

I heart my mug collection all year long.)

We're seeing how far we can get through the Little House series

for the summer library reading program.

It was that time again.

Time to upcycle the dirty, broken crayon bits

into bright, fresh heart crayons.

Not pictured:

Planting flowers

Date nights with Ben

(Motorcycle ride and a picnic with a view! Also Star Trek.)

Dairy Queen

Vanquishing organizing projects

and completely rethinking my laundry system.

(Both much more fun after the fact.)

Road trip to Washington with Mum and the kids.

Enrolling Little Man in school

Autumn vacation planning

Father's Day art

Backstory:

A couple of years ago

my dad was driving home late at night

when he plowed into a full-grown moose at 70 miles per hour.

Miraculously, he walked away from the wreckage.

Since then we have had some fun

giving him all sorts of moose themed gifts.

It's part joke, but deeper down it's a reminder

that life is short and God is good

and that we should make the most of the time we have.

Here and now:

Last Tuesday

I randomly flipped through a vintage book

that I had stashed for future projects,

and I found a section about moose

which even included a cool moose picture.

Inspiration struck,

and in no time I found myself making the some father's day art

instead of working on laundry. : )

made from layers of

scrapbook papers, vintage book page and moose illustration,

 watercolors, my own calligraphy, and thread.

It's not a traditional card,

just a flat piece of art with a not written on the back.

He'll love it, though.

Linking up with the fabulous in the studio group

for the first time in way too long.

five months

Baby Boy is five months (and a little more than one week) old!

Right now he...

eats
mama milk

oat cereal

the occasional bite of big people food

(he doesn't want to be left out)
anything: toys, magazines, blankets, hands, etc.
(teething already?)

[first solid food]

sleeps

in his crib most of the time

4-6 hours at the beginning of the night fairly consistently

better when he rolls himself onto his side or tummy

says
babbling "talk" when making eye contact

sings himself to sleep often

is loud when he finally gets worked up enough to cry
has a fantastic and contagious belly laugh

does

rolls around all over the floor

loves toys
(picking them up, examining them, and chewing on them)
can scoot a little bit in an inch-wormy way
is trying to get his knees under himself to crawl
loves to stand (with help) and step and jump
has enjoyed hanging out in the johny-jump-up twice
kicks his legs vigorously in a jumping motion when excited
plays with his toes

likes
music
being held
excercising
toys that make noises when handled
being the center of attention
making other people laugh
(most notably by blowing his food everywhere)

dislikes
having a wet or messy diaper
being too hot or too cold
not being picked up after making eye contact and cooing

having his toys out of reach

grey and green

splatter, pat.

the rain is back.

the sky, layers in grey.

why do they say

that sun is best?

i'll never know.

because green is greenest

against the grey.

Made: an e-course

Guess what!
I get to teach a session about calligraphy

in this collaborative e-course!
Registration is open now

(not June 15th),

and there are some cool prizes for the first people to register.

Click here to view more details