Tending the Eclectic Kinder-Garden

Father’s Day is this weekend, and the kids have had fun making some artwork for Daddy! All they needed was cardstock, paint (washable, of course!) wet wipes, paper towels, and their hands and feet!

We’ll add this poem to one of Daddy’s cards, or print it up in a cute font and frame it next to a photo of the kids:

Footprints

“Walk a little slower daddy,” said a child so small. “I’m following in your
footsteps and I don’t want to fall.

Sometimes your steps are very fast,
Sometimes they’re hard to see;
So walk a little slower, Daddy,
For you are leading me.

Someday when I’m all grown up,
You’re what I want to be;
Then I will have a little child
Who’ll want to follow me.

And I would want to lead just right,
And know that I was true;
So, walk a little slower, Daddy,
For I must follow you.

*****

I cut out the hand/foot prints, chose some fabric (tan), and let the kids choose some ribbon to coordinate with the paint colors:

Added some glitter stickers (silver since we chose a black frame):

Added “Happy Father’s Day” and “2008″ in glitter stickers and adhesive-backed blue felt:

…and framed it all for Daddy’s new office:

*****

I’ll be spending this afternoon figuring out how to load photos onto a digital photo frame for Grandpa’s Father’s Day gift, wish me luck!

Miss me?

While I was happy to share the wonderful Muppet video clip on Monday, I haven’t written anything in the past two days other than grocery lists and email messages, which is odd for me. It’s not that I haven’t had scenes, situations, or thoughts to share, in fact I’m happy to catch you up in a sec… I suppose I just needed a little break from blogging. Now *reading* blogs… I’ve been up to the task, and have even been rewarded for my reading and commenting…

Hostess With the Mostess hosted a giveaway with Childish Clothing.com last week, and GUESS WHO WON? Oh yes, ladies and gents, that would be ME! Five hundred dollars to shop for my almost three-year-old, and don’t you know, it’s perfect timing since the last growth spurt made most of our boy’s wardrobe much too small. I’m making sure that the boy gets one of these:

It’s the shirt that inspired me to comment on the giveaway post in the first place- I’m such an Army Wife/Mom!

Sigh, here are the skulls that Daddy likes:

Just perfect for our toddler, who is ALL BOY!

Thank you again Hostess and Childish Clothing, you have made our week, and our toddler’s summer!

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Along with fun surprises, we had a not-fun one this morning. One of those that makes you wonder as a parent just *how* exactly your own parents allowed you to live past the age of, oh, thirteen…

I asked Dear Daughter to please wash my truck yesterday. Apparently she took my truck keys in order to stick them in the ignition so she could listen to tunes during her dreary task. An hour later (she washed the outside and cleaned the interior), she came back into the house, and since I wasn’t aware that she had taken the keys, I didn’t ASK HER FOR THE KEYS. This morning we headed out the door to run some errands, and guess what I couldn’t find?

And guess where daughter found them? In the ignition. With the ignition on. And it had been on, all night long. The problem was solvable, doable, but a pain in the sheer timing of it. Military Spouses, you’ll understand this one: guess where Husband is this week? Yep, out of town at training. For those of you non-military families, believe me when I tell you that Murphy’s Law LOVES to lurk around the homes, vehicles, and workplaces of military spouses and families. Just waiting. Yes, you can almost hear the theme music from Jaws in the background begin to play as soon as our soldier deploys or leaves town for training. Pipes burst, tornadoes hit, cars die, and basements flood as soon as we’re on our own. Add “teenagehood happens” to that list.

So after a phone call to Dear Husband to find out 1) where the jumper cables were and 2) just HOW I should use them to bring my truck back to life, I was moving vehicles, getting into the tool box, poppin’ the hoods, and making sure red went to red and black went to black (my husband warned me that “bad things” happen when the reds and blacks on the jumper cables are mixed up on the vehicle batteries). Ten minutes later, my truck was running, and I had cooled down enough to know that I could speak to Dear Daughter without bursting her eardrums or the windows of our neighbors. I even fed her lunch.

Good mommy.

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I’ve got the urge to make a banner…or two…or three… with inspiration from Holly at Decor8, and Candice at Peacoats and Party Hats, and easy directions from Beth at Stitch, Rip, Repeat. One for kindergarten, another for birthdays, and possibly one that says “Welcome Home!”

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Jenny and Doug, I’ve started thinking about the passion-quilt meme, really! It will be coming up in a future post!

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See you back here tomorrow for Show and Share Thursday- I think I’ll go make sure my keys are where they’re supposed to be!

Tags: blogging, blogs, family

My family and I will watch The Wizard of Oz, Return to Oz, and Tin Man this weekend because…

Uncle Sam says we are to return to the land of Munchkins, scarecrows, and ruby slippers this summer!

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Please do me a favor and help me in the “oohs and ahhs” department once you see my latest attempt at scrapping (my husband doesn’t quite understand the need for encouragement for this kind of thing). In preparation for moving this summer, I’ve been snipping and clipping my favorite recipes, photos, craft and home decor ideas for my Inspiration Binder. I’ve mentioned before that we have a weight limit for our household goods each time we move, so packing and hauling stacks of magazines isn’t feasible. I just can’t bear to be without all of the beautiful, creative and innovative ideas I come across though, so I sort the clippings by season/holiday or subject (health/diet; home decor; houseplans; fashion; crafts/patterns), pop them into page protectors and add them to my binders. Wouldn’t you know it, I had to buy larger binders because my old ones were stuffed! Here’s what I started with this afternoon:

There were so many pretty papers I wanted to use, so I decided on a nine-patch pattern:

I used ribbon as border around some of the squares, and photo corners, brads, and embroidery floss on others:

Out came the chipboard:

Then tags,text, paper flowers and more ribbon:

And a bitty photo of little ol’ me when I was MUCH younger (don’t worry Mom, it’s a digital copy):

I was only able to finish the front cover before the toddler woke up from his nap, so tomorrow I’ll be adding the spine detail and back cover:

I feel like it’s a bit of a “sampler” of scrapbooking ideas, though I didn’t use stamps or “fancy scissors” yet…not sure if I will…

Tags: crafts, military life, Oz

Hello, my name is Michaele, and I’m an addict. A Vera Bradley Addict.

What’s surprising is that I wasn’t aware of the extent of my addiction until today, as I went through the hutch in our dining room to find Easter-ish or Spring-ish place mats or tablecloths for this weekend.

I kept pulling out set after set of VB place mats and realized that there were still *more* sets packed away with the Christmas decor! In fact, the photos I’m sharing today don’t include my VB tablecloths, napkins, table runners, purses/handbags, or clothing items… and the sets shown above aren’t ALL, since I’m using several sets in our barrister bookcases and throughout the living room and kitchen for spring accents:

I’m guessing my love of Vera Bradley table decor is linked to my love for quilts- each of these place mats are quilted with a coordinating fabric on the back. I’m always on the look-out for retired patterns and colors on Ebay, Petit Point, Black Walnut, and Maison Blue especially:

What’s not to love? They’re machine washable, patterned enough to hide a small stain here or there, and instantly dress up a table or other surface beautifully. With a toddler and busy family, EASE and FUNCTIONALITY are essentials in our home, but in case you were wondering, no, I simply cannot resist PRETTINESS.

No, no, I’m NOT a Vera Bradley salesperson or store representative- though I wish I were if it would get me a discount on the new line of RUGS available online! Gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous!

If you’d like something a bit more romantic, “foofy” even for table decor, try April Cornell, another favorite of mine!

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Easter/Spring Projects:

~Kelli at There’s No Place Like Home has made some beautiful egg-shaped pocket cards and walks you through, step by step…

~ Lisa at Celebrate Creativity in All its Forms shows us how to decorate a new vase, just in time for those spring bouquets, though I think I’ll use her techniques and advice on a few storage containers I’ve been saving up lately for my desk…

~ Terry at Bent Objects expresses some Easter humor with a chocolate bunny, some raisins and Raisinets, a nice change from the deluge of Peep dioramas that many others have produced this year…

~ Laura Rebecca’s Kitchen tells us how to make perfect hard boiled eggs (still on my to-do list for today!)

~ Angry Chicken shares a recipe for birds’ nests (edible!) that kindergarten teachers, their students and families are sure to enjoy!

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Recent Blog Discoveries:

ModernJune

Tammy Gilley Studios

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I forgot to mention that while I was playing with Scrabble tiles and tongue-twisters the other day, I also made a Scrabble rack to go with my Easter decor in the epergne:

Happy Spring!

Tags: Easter, links, recipes, Show and Share

Yes, that’s *really* the title of the book! While wandering through B&N last week, I found this thing staring at me from the Art/Craft section and of course, HAD to pick it up. I had a few additional errands to run so I did a quick flip-through of the pages, found the photos and patterns interesting, and decided to buy it.

Mark Montano is the author/craft compiler, while photos are by Auxy Espinoza. The projects are all about being affordable (in some cases, CHEAP) and creative, but after several popsicle stick projects and Mark referring to crocheted blankets as “knit,” (I know, I know, I’m being…(k)nitpicky), I had to put the book down and leave it alone for a few days.

After a second looksie, I’ve found several projects I’m hoping to make in the next few weeks: magnets, photo art, possibly a screen room divider, though that one might have to wait until we’ve moved. The “Urban Corsage” will probably end up being Dear Daughter’s new favorite gift to make and give:

…and I’m going to be on the look-out for the perfect fabric to make wall panel art with, since my husband’s military plaques and awards will be moving to his office once we relocate- Mark’s examples are gorgeous:

While there are some fabulous looking projects in this book, (it’s over 350 pages, by the way), there are a few train wrecks as well (the “Bronze Baby Sculpture” made out of a plastic baby doll, spray paint and glue for instance), so be warned.

Cynic that I can be, after Mark’s misidentification of crochet/knit projects, I’ve been wondering how many other goofs he’s made. I think I need to put the book down again for a bit.

Tags: books, crafts

What can you do with a bucket of wooden tile racks, a bowl of Scrabble alphabet tiles, and a storage container full of shells?

I decided to add some paint, hot glue, and a tongue-twister:

Whhaaaaattttttt? There was no one at home with whom I could play! Sheesh.

Tags: crafts

Yes, the gussied-up photo albums my daughter gave as birthday gifts were a hit. So much so that several more friends have strongly hinted that they’d like “those cute photo storage books” too. As much as I enjoy working with scrapbooking materials (and making the much larger version of a scrapbook page, the bulletin board), I’m thinking teen girls prefer the ease of an album with slide in/slip out photo pages…after all, BFF’s can change more than once in junior high, and that cute boy from science class can turn into that creep who annoys you on the bus after school. Hello new friends, goodbye old photos, off to the dartboard with you!

Here’s the second batch, again from the clearance bin at JoAnn’s:

Cut ribbon long enough to wrap around the front cover, back cover, and a length for tying the album closed:

Start with a dot of glue (I used my low-temp glue gun) for the “tie” ribbon:

Then cover the tie ribbon and glue glob with the ribbon you’ve chosen as trim:

Glue the ribbon down along the length of the album cover, then open up and finish adhering the ribbon to the inside:

(After overlapping the ribbon on the inside of the cover, I disguised the rough edge with a green button- sorry, forgot to photograph it!)

I ribboned the other albums…

…and figured…those ties sure are handy!

Dear Daughter wanted more detail, so out came the bag of chipboard letters:

Now three more friends will be happy!

Tags: crafts, family, friends

…instead of recreating it!

Daughter has some friends celebrating birthdays this month and asked for something affordable but unique to give as presents (ah, the requests we get when our children’s allowance is what funds the birthday gift-giving!). Joann’s had photo albums on clearance (oh yes, I got them for a STEAL) that I figured would look more appealing with a tweak here and there.

Before…

…and after adding ribbon, ties, chipboard and dimensional stickers…

MUCH better!

Tags: crafts, family

… was so much fun to work on yesterday!

Remember, the old binder looked like this, blue and dated,

while the new one has family and retro humor wrapped up all in one:

Yes, I ended up using the photo of my mother and grandmother in the kitchen of the Alaska cabin as the focal point, reprinting my other family cooking photos in black and white, trimming some of the edges with photo corners. I found a retro font online for the title and the labels for the divider pages, and then used some make-you-smile vintage food photos to continue the theme.

Very plain, very simple, and I love it! Today I’ll start sorting through all of my recipes and placing them behind the appropriate divider pages, and then I’ll start planning the update for my inspiration/idea binder.

Tags: crafts, family

I finished Rosie’s “thank you” chipboard book…I think. I’m uncertain whether or not the project is complete because I’ve never assembled a book like this before. Photo albums with sticky pages and crinkly clear sheet covers (shudder), recipe books with page protectors, lesson plan books with subject areas highlighted…yes. Chipboard books…no.

It’s small, maybe 4X6. Only eight surfaces upon which I could add pictures and embellishments. Photos of the exterior of Rosie’s workshop are on the cover, while the interiors are on the middle pages, along with a photo of me and Shannon.

Shannon contributed the title as well as a piece of burgundy beadwork that is a terrific textural element. As Rosie is a weaver, raffia seemed a natural product to use for the tags. Earthy tones for both Rosie and Shannon, with a touch of pink, since Rosie made mention of my pink cheeks and nails, and told her five year old grandson I was as sweet as candy. I told him I was sour sometimes too, like pink lemonade!

It was fun putting the book together, but I think in the future I’ll spend more time matching papers, fonts, stickers, embellishments…to see what really catches my eye without overwhelming it. Imagine, *me*, “toning it down.” Wonder of wonders, miracle of miracles…

Tags: crafts, friends