Lasso The Moon

Adornment

You didn't think we could just leave the walls plain blue, did you?

One thing I love about decorating a kid's room is that pretty much anything goes.  For this room I knew I wanted a light, airy blue...and a slightly darker tone on top...but what next?  Donnie suggested using a hand-carved block-print in an all-over pattern.  Very cool. And then there is the very popular vinyl option.  Not only are they really easy to find and order on etsy, but they are usually color-customizable.  And when I was searching for vinyl appliques, I came upon this option:  the all-over wall stencil.  Amazing possibilities with that one. 

But when it came down to it--as I was standing in the aisle at Hobby Lobby trying to decide--I just really wanted to freehand the thing.  And if there is anywhere you can freehand a bunch of flowers on the wall without worrying about what people will think--it's in the kids' room. Maybe I'll try the stencil in the hallway or my own bedroom some day.

So there you have it.  This happens to also be the most cost-effective option.  About $2.50 all told.  Craft paint is super cheap.  It may not hold up until the little ones are off to college, but I fully expect to have another design idea for the room in a couple years anyway.

Details: The broad strokes were made with a basic foam paint brush in the color "Hawaii" (Anita's # 11187).  I wanted to outline everything in a grey paint pen.  I've used them before, and the process is very simple and quick.  But apparently, paint pens only come in silver, not grey.  And that was not working for me.  So I was forced to freehand the outline, too,  This is not such a simple or quickly-accomplished task.  I used a small round-bristled paint brush with "Charcoal" paint (Anita's # 11086), and tried not to worry too much that it was not coming out perfectly.

I'm pleased with the overall look.  And even though it's a little messier up close than I would like, it's a reminder to me that sometimes when our lives seem messy and confusing, the path we're on will one day become much more defined when we take a few steps back.  Or maybe that's reading too much into a craft project!

linked on:

TCB, G,G &G, SCS, Brambleberry, MRH

First Fruits

If you can't have your own vegetable garden--and I can't since I have a newborn, for crying out loud--at least have friends with a vegetable garden. 

Tonight we are enjoying the first fruits of my momma's hard labor.  Cherry tomatoes and banana peppers in our salad.  Tomorrow maybe a beef steak tomato from Donnie's mom, and a side of squash?  Ooh, this is what I love about summer.

A New Project

When we were house hunting, one of the points that sold us on this house was that it was move-in-ready.  When you are trying to live within your means, and possibly a little below your means, sometimes you have to entertain the idea of moving into a fixer-upper.  We saw so many houses that just could not be lived in without much TLC, and we did not have the time to wait.  So when Donnie and I walked into this one, we both sighed with relief.  The carpet had been replaced (builder-grade), the appliances were new (though slightly under-sized), and the walls were a color we could live with (beige).  So we bought it.

But after 18 months in our new house, it's time for a change.  And what better room to start with than Baby Esther's! 

Everyone's getting in on the fun!

We can't wait to share Esther's new room with her.

details:

Paint : Glidden

color: clear blue bottle

orchid: a gift from my friend, Mary (thanks, Mary!)

Who's ready for the Weekend?!

See you all Monday!

Anna

My Favorite

My favorite person turns 31 tooday.

Happy Birthday Donnie.

You are my best friend.

 

 

An Excellent Year

Although Emma's last day of school was a couple weeks ago, I thought I'd share the gift we made together for her teacher.  We could not have had a better experience this year, and Ms. P was one of the biggest reasons for that.

So I decided to make a bag for her with a bit of Emma's artwork on the front.

Emma made a picture for her and wrote a long note around the edge letting Ms. P know how much she liked her. I took the words, "You are the best techr evr" from this. 

The drawing is as close as I could get to the original, too.  I appliqued the colored parts and used my free-motion embroidery foot to do the outlining and lettering.

A pretty lining and handy pocket inside.

A bit of branding on the back.

I was lucky enough to be there when Emma presented the bag and the drawing to Ms P.  She loved it and said she would make it her official school bag.  Of course Emma was beaming at this. (So was I!)  Honestly, there is no way we could have thanked her enough for successfully teaching 22 6-year-olds for an entire school year.  This was just a small token.

Emma on her last day.

linked to:

homework, bcd, somewhatsimple, momnivores, F&J, MWA, HoH, picketfence, Joyfulstamper,

Hatchlings

Only ten days after Momma Cardinal started sitting on her eggs, these guys appeared:

Naked and blind, they are completely helpless and guarded every minute by a very protective dad.  (Some research revealed that the daddy bird is the one who finds bugs to bring the little guys, while the momma goes off to build another nest for the next batch of little ones.)  Since the nest is right outside our front door, our ears are getting extremely attuned to the sound of an angry cardinal parent.  Almost every time we take a moment to peek inside at these little babes, we are immediately chased down by the screeching, flapping red-feathered fella.   In fact, right after I took the above photo (which took several tries--I was so nervous!) the male cardinal swooped down to stand his ground as their guardian.

It's getting a little "Alfred Hitchcock"  around here.

Siblings

I promise this has not turned into an all-baby-all-the-time blog.  But lately that's pretty much been the norm.  We have baby poems, and baby birds, and of course a baby sister.  There is some other stuff going on around here, but before we get to that, I just want to say one more thing about babies.

I have heard parents explain that they were stopping after one child, because they didn't think they had enough love/time/energy to split between more than that.  Since I was raised in a family of six kids, I do know a thing or two about what that's like.  It's true that sometimes we didn't get enough of one parent or another.  And it is certainly true that if my parents had tried to spend equal time with each of us every day, there would have been no time left for anything else.  But still the split-time reasoning has never made sense to me.

To be honest, I was not a very good mother of one child.  I felt like I was constantly learning something just after I needed it.  Like, what to pack in a diaper bag.  (i.e. diapers.)  And how much I should have been reading each day to my newborn/infant/toddler... Did you know experts expect you to read to them everyday!?  I remember being frustrated, guilt-ridden, and exhausted.  Being a mother to one child is overwhelming.

But something has happened in our family of three children this week.  My kindergartner is reading to our newborn.  In Esther, Emma now has a captive audience with whom she can read as slowly and haltingly as she pleases.  An audience who isn't watching the clock, prompting her impatiently, worrying about what needs to be done, or saying "NO!" when she asks if we want to hear that book again. 

Having siblings doesn't mean that the time/love/creativity/energy is divided.  With a big family, those things are multiplied.  It's true that Esther won't have as much of her parents' attention as Emma had.  But Emma didn't have a loving sister and brother to fill in the gaps--and then some. 

 

Having another baby has already blessed our family in so many ways.  And I know her brother and sister will be a blessing to her as well.  At the very least, this is one newborn who'll get a few bedtime stories. 

Poetry Wednesday - A Late Night Haiku

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A Late Night Haiku

Dawn is approaching.

Sleepless, we await the sun.

Night and day are one.

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Yes, that's all I have in me for this week.  Hope you are all having a great one.  Baby bird pictures coming soon!