Finding something in the ordinary

A little man seems to have found his way in to my brown paint!! Just walking along...

Haunted Houses

Today we decided to build haunted houses, with our left over cardboard boxes. Simple process really... Find card board box... imagine... cut out & paint. (I did the cutting, for safety reasons, but they had to draw, where I should cut)

The funnest part was listening to the stories the kiddo's would come up with while creating their houses. Trap doors, and secret chambers, underground labyrinths, passwords, and doors that automatically opened and closed! They were busy for hours.

Some times, a window also became a tombstone.



All in the details.
For some more adult fair, and resources on line, I've seen some awesome posts:

Claudine Hellmuth
Easy to make Halloween village

And:

Cheeky Magpie
Decorative tombstones

American Visonary Art Museum

One of my all time favorite museums is the Visonary Art Museum. It seems to be the ultimate in recyling, re thing and re exploring museum.

Snap Dragons !!

This spring, i tried my hand at growing things for the first time. I am notorious for NOT having a green thumb. My motivation was multifaceted, i was hoping i could use some as centerpieces for my wedding (didn't quite work out) ; i was looking to learn how to plant & grow things thinking i'd start with plants, and then perhaps move on to vegetables; and finally i though this might be a fun learning experience for both me and the little one to share.

And so today i present to you.... (drum roll please)... snap dragons!

I had a little help along the way, i have to admit. I picked up a great book called "You Grow Girl" by Gayla Trail, which not only helped me figure out what to do... but was also really motivational in having the guts TO do it. I believe she has a blog at: http://yougrowgirl.com/

The fringe benefits have been surprising. First of all i get really excited walking out the door seeing the snap dragons, and even MORE excited when I get to walk over , pinch them and make them talk. I still can't believe it worked! Only a few months ago they were little seeds, and itsy sprouts.

Now i have to admit.. i killed at least 1/2 the crop on a whole... ok, ok 3/4. Some didn't get enough light... some didn't get enough water... some perhaps were lacking in the love. I also can't quite imagine what my porch would look like if i was able to keep them all alive. Along with the snap dragons, i have a bit of lavender, some butterfly weed (but they won't give me flowers for a bit) , and unfortunately i seem to have killed all the straw flower off :-(

Recycled Wedding Crayons

When I first went looking for places to have our wedding, I called a place reputed to have locally grown eco-friendly food. I thought, right up our ally!!

Well until, she told me the additional price I would have to pay for the linens, "because you don't want just plain restaurant linens."(snooty tone) I countered with... "can't we just put down art paper... and let everyone color? "

You could actually hear her gaping on the other end of the phone, mouth wide open. "ha, ha" I nervously added, "just kidding?"


Well it was our party... which meant crayons were allowed to be a part of it! (That particular restaurant was not.)

We collected old used, no longer loved crayons locally. Then the neighborhood kiddo's and I, peeled and sorted them all, hundreds of them. We took a crack at melting them in different ways, and subsequently shaping them in different ways. The results were very cool!

To make the hearts (in ice cube molds):
http://www.instructables.com/id/ReUse_ReMake_Crayons/

To make the tea sets (with cookie cutters):
http://dannyseo.typepad.com/my_weblog/2008/08/new-crayons-from-old-one.html



Pro's & Cons
Both the hearts and tea cups went over well, and were great for making rubbing's, people left us love notes, and many were taken home as favors.

I liked that the ice cube mold technique allowed us to not have much, if any waist. I also liked the ways these felt in your hands. The kids could help with popping out the crayons from the molds and deciding about colors & shapes.

The cookie cutter technique, made some wild designs in the crayons themselves! Some really were just gorgeous. But also seemed to separate in to layers a bit, making them not as sturdy. Stir up the mixture a bit when it comes out of the oven, to make designs and mix up the layers that separated. I don't know if only using one type of crayon (like Crayola's only) would improve this. The cookie cutter technique was also not quite as child friendly. I found it to be slightly messier & melting more temperamental (different colors have different melting points). I let it sit to long once in the oven.. crayon smoke filled the kitchen... smelled like crayons for days :-) .

Comming up for Air

Sigh... what a pleasure this morning, my art room is clean!! No more wedding boxes, papers, stuff cluttering up my space. No more plane tickets and itinerary's on my desk. I can start to think strait again!

I have to apologize for my absence... A wedding was a bigger thing to plan then I expected. And unfortunately right on the heels of our wonderful wedding, my mother was admitted to the the hospital, which has also meant a trip overseas, to help however I could.

On the upside, today I can breath. While my mother is still not entirely well, things are slowly getting better. I have a list of 103 things that need to get done, most of which have been put on the back burner. I'm looking forward to tackling those projects, thank you note, and playing a bit in the next few months. And breathing :-)

On this blog over the next couple of weeks, I'm hoping to be able to share some of the wedding projects... I was certainly inspired, and had a lot of fun creating them.

How I remember how to breath:

• bringing some order back to my life (cleaning my sanctuary)
• starting the tasks that have been put off
• hugs!!
• purring cats
• my ritual cup of tea
• listening to the little one's day
• going outside to play
• watching the water flow down a fountain
• eating good food
• accepting my lover's (now husband!) love
  

Wedding Invitations, Woops!!

We all make mistakes, and we hope to have the opportunity to learn, and then correct those mistakes in the future. But this one... well, I'm hopping you all learn from this one!! 'Cause wedding mistakes, you hope to have the opportunity only one time.

I designed our wedding invitations, and spent a lot of time & effort, and had a lot of fun doing so. So busy planning, prepping, looking for eco friendly papers, and envelopes... I missed a couple of basics.

1) Not every person needs an invite... usually every household or so. Dope! would have cut my numbers in about half.

2) Square... means more money at the post office. Apparently, the of width of the envelope divided by the height of the envelope, needs to fall between 1.3 and 2.5.

In my case:
6.5 inches wide / 6.5 inches tall = 1 (this does not fall between 1.3 & 2.5)

A regular # 10 envelope:
9.5 inches wide/ 4 inches tall = 2.3 (this is fine)

There are a couple more rules about maximum and minimum width and height... The Post Office has some info here. I could really use one of those plastic place mat things they have at the post office to measure with!

3) Understand your quote. Ask Questions!! I worked with an awesome printer (Gateway Printing) , the prices were fair, and the help and craftsmanship were awesome. I, however, had a few screws loose... did not read the quote correctly, and did not have to presence of mind to make sure I was making the correct assumptions. In the end it would not have made a difference for me here, but man it would have killed me if I had been doing it as a freelance project. We'll chalk this one up to being new.

Wet and more wet

Day two on the trail, started out wet!! We left the cabin, after negotiating with strong willed cotton bearing teenagers, they HAD to put on rain gear, and wear plastic bag skirts! Teachers are so demanding! I think everyone was a little sore, everyone a little tired, everyone dreading the rain. By the top of the steep climb leaving the cabin, the young man sporting some jeans in front of me.. was soaking wet, hiking up his jeans every 2 seconds, as they contined to slide down, rather unfasionably, past his bottom... And here in lays our lesson for today. I have long ago learned to dress for the weather... If I'm worrying about being cold, wet, uncomfortable, I have a hard time focusing on client needs. It has become almost second nature to me, and served me well.. But untill I saw the struggling miserable teenagers, I'd forgoten just how well. Now to be sure, the afore mentioned teenagers had been aprised of how to dress for a trip, what to bring.. But as is the nature of some.. Refused to listen. It made all the diffrence... Singing in the rain, vs "how much longer?"...
Tired, sore, and aching for sure.. I had another wonderful day, dancing through raindrops, warm and smiling.

Hiking the AT

Todays a hazy cool quiet day, some little sprinkles, and beautiful fog. I did my first hike on the AT today, along with a wonderful group of highschool students. 27 pounds of gear and water on my back, and after 8 miles I can tell you, I'm feeling my age. Surprisingly, inspite of many outdoor adventures over the years this is my first backpacking trip. I got to learn about how to filter water, and some of the flora trail side. Right now we're enjoying a cabin... And the kiddos are cooking, strumming the guitar, relaxing and recuperating. My feet will be heavy tomorrow, and my knees cranky... But my spirit light, I'm enjoying this.

Vinyl Possibilities !

I love learning about a new tool, or technology. It always gets my mind spinning with possibilities.

So my good neighbor Vern, has a small business making vinyl signs (Eyler Signs, eylersigns@yahoo.com). They look really cool on cars, on wine bottles, and in store fronts... so I'd been thinking, hmmm , wonder how I could decorate my car? Ok, not there yet, but I did stop by the other day with a logo I'm creating for the wedding, wondering if Vern's program could cut out my illustrator files. Sure enough, we put our heads together and it works!! It looks really cool! (Next, I'll secretly sneak it on to my lovers car, ok maybe AT the wedding). Learned that dot's are a little tough, and if my lines were to thin, then it was possible it would break. I'm totally psyched though, and I'm sure we'll see some of this handy work at the wedding.

Sooo what would you do with vinyl?