February 24th, 2009 §
A few days ago the girls were *begging* to paint, but I just frankly wasn’t up for a big mess late in the day. So…I let them paint with water. 
It was perfect. They painted their little hearts out all over the driveway and my car until they had their fill, then jumped around in the water puddle left by the spilled water bucket.
They were then able to move on to things like examining a spider (it’s small, but it’s there)…
and jumping off anything higher than two inches off the ground.
We’ve been spending alot of time outside as of late, so I’ll be sharing some of our outdoorsy fun with you in the coming days. See you soon!
February 12th, 2009 §
Me to 2yo: What do you want to give your friends for Valentine’s Day: lollipops or heart-crayons?”
2yo to me (head cocked and eyes squinted in deep thought): “Well, they already have crayons there, so….probably lollipops.”
Such a practical soul already. She gets her sensibility (and her sweet tooth) from her mother. 
Ever the procrastinator, we’ll be making about 20 of these tonight for Annabelle’s Valentine’s Day party at daycare tomorrow. I went ahead and made up a couple, but Annabelle will be gluing the faces on most of the hearts. It should be interesting to see how they turn out!
I didn’t set it up this way on purpose, but doesn’t it look like the guy heart is totally checking out the girl heart and she’s just rolling her eyes like, “What-evarrrr!”
*Big thanks to JC Handmade for the heart face inspiration!
February 8th, 2009 §
It’s not often that we get freezing temps around here, so when I saw these gorgeous wintry creations I had to console myself and find solace in the fact that it just wasn’t meant to be.
And then…we got a freeze! And I don’t just mean temperatures hanging out around 32 for an hour or two before daybreak. I mean a good solid freeze with lows in the mid 20s!
I was determined to make a frozen wreath with the girls, so I gathered some sticks and leaves and stems and flower petals and let the girls arrange them in our pot. Then I poured the water in and brought it outside to freeze.
There was much anticipation come morning. Mostly from me. I was downright giddy with excitement at the prospect of hanging our beautiful nature wreath. Unfortunately, our cold spell wasn’t enough to freeze through all of the water. Major disappointment. But I was determined…so I put it in the freezer. And I waited.
And when the time came to take it out of the freezer I was downright giddy with excitement over the prospect of hanging our beautiful nature wreath. Unfortunately, it was very frozen…completely frozen through. I was impatient. I wanted the beautiful nature wreath to come out of our pan so that we could hang it and admire it’s natural beauty. I decided to help it along by bending the sides. This proved to be ineffective so I took a more aggressive approach. I turned it over and tapped…tapped harder…stomped…and then heard a crack.
@#OIU#@*#
It had broken into 3 pieces.
After a brief period of mourning, I regained my composure and decided to try again.
We gathered some sticks and leaves and stems and flower petals and I let the girls arrange them in our pot. Then I poured the water in and put it in directly into the freezer because our cold spell was over.
After checking several times over the course of the day, it finally froze. There was much anticipation. However, this time there was also patience. Over time, the ice loosened and our beautiful frozen nature wreath released from the pot very easily.
We hung it, admired it, and photographed it. We felt the smooth ice and the soft petals that slowly revealed themselves. And we watched as it melted in our 60 degree temperatures.
January 29th, 2009 §
So, I kept you all in suspense, and all it was is this simple little scarf for the girls. Got the idea from Martha, but it came as no surprise to me that the idea was originated by Betz White (whom I’ve mentioned several times before). Just to catch you up, Betz White is the queen of felted sweater crafts…and she’s a genius.
I needed to do something with my felted sweaters and I thought the girls might like wearing this for dress up (because nobody actually wears scarves in Florida). I was going to just post a few pics of the completed scarf today, but I ended up taking some pics of Charlotte with the scarf…so now this is pretty much just a post with pictures of Charlotte playing with her new scarf…which she loves.
It’s actually a very cozy scarf. Charlotte went back and forth between snuggling with it and wearing it. So, if you’re north of the Mason Dixon line, you could probably make this to keep little necks warm during these last few weeks of winter.
She also drug it around quite a bit.
And of course, the pigtails. So cute. She’s eating a pine-needle.
There you have it. My littlest girl and her brand new felted heart scarf! Thanks for looking.
P.S. Can you tell I’m still playing around with PW’s actions? I’ve been meaning to take on a new “no photo editing” policy…but these actions are just so darn addictive!
January 27th, 2009 §
Lately my new blog (shameless plug) has been taking up the majority of my free time. However, I have a few things that I’ve been wanting to make for the girls for Valentine’s Day.
I cut these hearts from wool sweaters that I felted months ago, and then abandoned them for other projects. All I have to do now is attach them to make a …
I’m not telling. A little suspense is fun, isn’t it?
Actually, tomorrow’s project photo is “something on my wall” and I have nothing to show, so I’ll be over here posting my completed work (assuming I finish it in time!).
Check out Jenny’s blog to see what others are working on!
January 26th, 2009 §
Seeing my two girls play together.
Few things make me happier than seeing these sisters play and connect and enjoy each other. I know they are building the foundation of a relationship that transcends the bond of blood. They truly love one another.
The other night in the bath Annabelle put her arm around her little sister and declared, “Charlotte is my best friend.” Already she knows that the other child in this house is particularly special to her and is not like the other kids she’s befriended at her daycare.
As they grow they will learn to trust each other like no other. They will look out for each other. And I hope that they will always be there for one another.
These little mutual displays of affection bring a happiness to me that is unmatched by anything else.
*Today’s post was part of a photo project that can be found here.
December 11th, 2008 §
I began my journey with the only person for whom God intended me.
We’ve been nuzzling ever since.
And our schnozzes are still vying for space.
May we continue to have such problems well into eternity.
Happy Anniversary, Sweetie!
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As an aside, we will be flying into New York tomorrow to celebrate our anniversary and I am so. friggin. excited! Any tips on restaurants or places to visit?
November 3rd, 2008 §
I spent part of yesterday afternoon fusing together plastic bags that I’ve been holding onto for months for just such an occasion. The latest Craft magazine is featuring some of Betz White’s fused plastic creations and it was enough to get me all in a tizzy and break out the iron. Although I have some ideas of what I might do with the fused material, it’s always fun to check out Flickr for inspiration.
1. quilted plastic bag, front, 2. New Butterfly Tote, 3. fused plastic brooch, 4. recycled plastic bag
Really, there are so many possibilities it’s overwhelming. I hope to show you what I’ve come up with soon…in the meantime, gather up some of your plastic shopping bags, grab your iron, and check out this video tutorial on how to do it!
October 12th, 2008 §
A couple weeks before the birth of my first baby, I started looking into where to buy baby announcements. I noticed that some places were selling announcement layouts for customers to purchase, download, and add their own photos themselves (or you could send your photos to the retailers). My first thought was, and usually is, “Shoot, I can probably do something like that myself.”
This was the outcome:
The bird is only there to cover up our last name. Anyways, I absolutely loved how the announcement came out. And the best part…it was cheap, cheap, cheap! We have a photo printer now, but at the time we only had to pay 19 cents per copy for Wal-Mart’s one hour photo. Cory (the husband) took the pictures so that part was free.
I’ve been hooked on photo cards ever since because they’re
cheap
easy
and personal.
A couple weeks ago I took the girls to the backyard for a photo shoot, hoping to get something I could make into a birthday card for Cory from them. First, I have to say my hats go off to anybody that takes pictures of little kids for a living, especially little kids together. After over 150 shots, this was pretty much the best I could do:
Coordinating these two little munckins plus the signs proved more difficult than I had anticipated. My criteria for success was basically reduced to having both kids’ faces in the picture, everybody in focus, and legible signs. Forget about smiling or holding the signs. There’s even a “Daddy” sign that didn’t make it into this shot. It was supposed to read “Happy Birthday Daddy.” But, it’s still totally cute, one of a kind, and Daddy absolutely loved it.
Most recently we had to come up with birthday invitations for Charlotte (the little one). Her birthday is in just two weeks so our deadline for getting these invites out was right on top of us. I knew I didn’t want to buy anything, and my original idea of making accordion-style pumpkin cards for everyone would have taken way too much time. So, we carved up a pumpkin and plopped our subject next to it:
Viola! Instant birthday invitation! Ok, so the outfit was totally staged for a Fall scene. Although it was around 9:30 in the morning, I’m pretty sure the temperature was already starting to hit the 80 degree mark. I promise it didn’t take long to get the shot and we took her jacket off right away.
See how easy it is? And cheap? And personal? I love it!
As an aside, we ate about half of the seeds from that there pumpkin, but I saved the rest for something a little different, so stay tuned!
P.S. If anybody knows anyone looking for a baby announcement layout and would like to pass along the one at the top, I could probably set it up for download, so just say something in the comments or shoot me an email. I also have a few layouts that I ended up not using that I would be willing to share.
EDITED: I now have the templates available for download on my new downloads page! Enjoy!
September 9th, 2008 §
I don’t really feel like getting into it it too much, but basically the past few weeks have gone like this:
Started girls in daycare.
Started SLP internship.
Started SLP classes (returned after nearly two years off).
Girls got sick in daycare.
Charlotte decided that she needed to be attached (literally…still nursing) to me every moment that we were together.
Annabelle learned such pleasantries as spitting.
Fevers.
An ear infection.
Buckets of mucous.
Girls staying home from daycare.
Difficulty keeping up with coursework because girls are home sick.
Withdrew from classes and left internship.
Removing Charlotte from daycare.
Limiting Annabelle to just a few days per week.
Counting my blessings and every day that I get to spend with these two little girls before they’re all grown up.
Smiling.
