Life in Photos #22

Edgar has always loved our little miss, and I just love it when they get snuggly! Melts my heart.

Who doesn’t love Netflixing from a blanket fort?

I love giving Eli catnip. He sits there and rubs his face all over it, kneading the rug the whole time. Then he gets all jittery, and just starts licking the rug obsessively. Heehee, kitty crack.

Just a typical morning of Lego play dressed like a ballerina.

After taking down the above blanket fort, the hubs folded the blankets and put them on the coffee table. Edgar moved onto them, and they are his new favorite spot. Luckily, he didn’t mind us moving the stack to our little couch so I can have my coffee table back.

Having a quick rest on one of our morning walks. We often do walks sans shoes. While I’m really ready for fall to be here, I will miss being outside in bare feet!

It was kind of a kitty heavy photo week, but my boys are just so cute!

Top left, going clockwise. . .

1. Mailing out some happy mail to the winners of my Sailor Moon Bookmark Giveaway, and two more postcards for Postcrossing.

2. The Book Photo Challenge for August is almost done! It’s been a fun one!

3. I’m attempting to make felt plushies for the first time as Christmas presents. We’ll see how it goes.

4. I had Friday night all to myself as the hubs was out at FNM, and the little miss was off at a sleepover with her cousins at Grandma’s house. I took the time to get some serious blog work and planning done.

 

I’m so happy September is just about here! Despite fall not officially starting until the 23rd, I’ll be rolling out my new fall header paintings tomorrow. September is fall enough for me!

 

 

2014: One Month In

January is coming to a close, and for the first time in awhile I don’t feel like time is shooting by and I am sitting back helpless, getting nothing accomplished. I’ve been keeping up with my art, crafting, and projects with my little girl. It’s something I’m really proud of since not too long ago (circa 2012 and early 2013) I didn’t have the focus, commitment, and balance I do now. It’s taken time, and work, but it’s been so worth it! I’m finally in a place where I feel decently balanced between being a mother, and having my own time as well. Some of this months projects:

• Hired a graphic designer to work with me and revamp my blog – custom layout here I come!
• Drew two portraits. One is for an upcoming blog series so I can’t share it yet! Here is the other – a portrait of a friend’s son that I did just for fun.

9×12, all graphite pencils. He’s a handsome little one!

• Completely cleaned and reorganized my arts and crafts area, and am adding to my inspiration wall. I painted this to add to it – it’s one of my favorite quotes.

This was the best shot I could get. The background is a much nicer blend of blues and teals than this looks!

• I have two new commissions.
• I purchased my 1AM Promise indie buy. I was Ms. Indecisive this month and went back and forth about what to get for weeks. Then something new popped up and it was the perfect thing!! They’ll be a post on it when I get it in!
• I made and began my first idea/art/doodle/thought journal. In addition to my regular writing journal. It’s still in the process of being decorated. I need more stickers.
• Daily journaling – I’ve actually been keeping up on it!
• Learning activites with my daughter. She just turned three in December and I’ve been doing more of a focus on ‘classroom’ type activities since ideally she’ll start preschool in the fall. She now knows all her letters by sight, can recognize and spell her name, and is well on her way to learning to count to twenty! We’ve also started writing practice. The rate she learns thing just blows me away.
• I completed my first freelance job with a local maternity photographer! She wanted some basic pose sketches using her photos as references. This was SUCH a fun project for me since I usually work in headshot/bust type portraits. It was great to do something that was mostly full body!

Four of my favorite sketches I did for her.

That being said, I do want to be more organized in the coming months. I have the tendency to come up with a lot of ideas for things to do, but then apply zero organization or planning ahead and they either slip by, or become way too big of a project to take on. So I’ve finally made use of a daily planner that has a lot of room for notes, and between that and my idea/inspiration journal I’ve started I should be able to keep my projects in check and organized! Here’s to more productivity!

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30 Days Of Lists: Week 1

Last week I mentioned that I was partaking in a fun blog project called 30 Days of Lists. I had no idea just how much fun it would be!

Originally, I wasn’t planning on making a special book for this project. I always keep a makeshift smashbook on hand to jot down ideas, stash magazine clippings in, or take notes about projects I’m planning. So I figured I would just add to that. But as it turned out, I only had three pages left so it wasn’t going to be enough for this project. And once I saw the beautiful books some other bloggers were making, I was longing to do some scrapbooking!

So I made a book. At a yard sale years ago I found four vintage albums (the kind with the cellophane inside to stick your photos under) for a quarter each. They were brand new, still sealed in plastic. Yeah, they came home with me. I used one for the base of my lists book. It’s simple; just fabric covered with a bit of wrapping paper, but it’s exactly what I want. Once the outside was done, I made pages for the rest of the days as well, so now I just have to fill them in and embellish!

My page for days 1 and 2.

It was so nice to scrapbook again. Before this, I hadn’t made any pages in almost two years! Being so busy with other arts and crafts, I’ve mainly switched to digital scrapbooking (using sites like Shutterfly or Blurb), and it was incredibly refreshing to sit down for two hours after my little miss went to bed, spread all my supplies on the living room floor, and just make something! I am hooked all over again.

 
Days 3 and 4.                                Days 5, 6, and 7.

So needless to say, I’m loving this project! Each day is like it’s own little Christmas present in my inbox with a new list prompt. I’m so glad I decided to partake!

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Art: Toddler Edition

I am one of those crazy mums who saves all her child’s artwork. And I mean ALL. From her first scribble, to her finger paints, to her sticker collages. I have every single one. In handy, digital form! Yes, I save every single image she’s ever made – by scanning it into the computer and having it as a digital file. It’s such a space saver. I have a wooden portfolio in which I’ve put some of my favorite pieces she’s done, but for the most part they get scanned and tossed.

Some of my favorites from January through May.

At first, my little miss was upset about losing her art – she happened to catch me one day throwing away a fistful of her drawings & paintings and began screaming “No, Mommy!! Not trash!!” I could feel each heart string snap, I’m telling you. But I pushed down the guilt and explained to her that I had scanned her drawings on to the computer so we could look at them any time she wanted. She was thrilled! Now she likes to take her art and ‘put it in the computer’ as she has dubbed the process. Which brings me to the point of this post: The Toddler Art Gallery.

June was a busy art month!

Even back when I was pregnant, I knew that our little one would be doing art projects. I love arts and crafts, and really wanted to incorporate them into my little one’s life. I also knew that I would want to have a place to display them, at least temporarily. So shortly after her first birthday, I made her her own gallery in the playroom. It keeps the fridge less cluttered, and gives her more of sense that it’s hers, I think. Every time she finishes a picture she immediately says “Let’s hang it in my gallery!”. Ah, my heart sighs with happiness every time.

I made this image to hang above it.

The quote image was actually part of a magazine ad, for a print company I think? Anyway, I trimmed off the company logo/info parts, backed it with some scrapbook paper, and put it in a frame to hang on the wall. Simple, and FREE! Eventually, I’d like to decorate the clothespins with washi tape, but given all my other projects, that’s pretty low on the priority list! The gallery itself is just bakers twine strung between thumbtacks. Again with the simple and free factor. Two of my favorite things for a project!

Her first ever nature collage! I really liked this project. We used white contact paper (sticky side up) so she could just stick on all her treasures.

I take everything down on the first of the month and scan it in, so she gets a fresh clean gallery to fill. I can’t wait until she’s old enough to start trying to draw real ‘things’ and telling me stories about them. It’ll be so much fun to look at them hung all together!

What art related things to you like to do with your little ones?

And since we’re on the topic of art, I just wanted to remind you to visit my Pure Inspiration page! I’ve added quite a few more gorgeous works of art since launch day – go take a look!