Creature Bug

gettin' my valentine's day card on

I have had one of those weeks where I wish I could do it again. Not because I regret anything I did, but because I had a list a mile long of things I needed to get done this week, and didn't. My to-do list wasn't helped by me getting some sort of bug in the middle of teaching class on Thursday (Student: You look terrible. You really need to sleep more. Me: I think I have the flu. Didn't you see me leave for a few minutes in the middle of class because I was so ill? Student: I didn't notice. Suuuuper.) It was one of those days I wished I didn't work 70 miles from home. I had to stop halfway through my commute to take a nap at a rest stop area. Good times.

Fortunately, I'm feeling better.

Fortunately, Addie is feeling better too. She got what I had (or something like it) and had a temperature of 102. Poor baby.

So, yes. The week. Not what I had planned.

One thing that I knew would make me feel better? Picture cards.

Today I managed to make the girls' Valentine's Day cards (found this idea from Pinterest; I think the original idea came from here).

{Tootsie Pop illustration by Sarah Morrissey.}

Of course, the cards will have real Tootsie Pops in them, but I Photoshopped in a little illustrated one here so you get the basic effect. I'm pretty tickled with how the cards turned out--especially since I had a photo credit at Costco, so the pictures didn't cost anything. The girls' favorite part? The hearts. They told me where to place each of them, and the thrill of Photoshopped heart placement was almost too much for them. They were crazy with power.

And lest little Miss Addie should feel left out, I managed to put one together for her:

{Font and owl graphic free from MTF.}

Truthfully, I just wanted a reason to make this picture into a card. Is it not so ridiculously adorable? On the practical side, however, she'll get to pass them around to her college buddies on Tuesday. College kids need Valentine's Day cards too.

So, that was my Saturday. Even if "make Valentine's Day cards" was supposed to be done a week ago, at least I know that the classroom cards will be delivered on time. The family cards that I frantically addressed and mailed out today? Well, sometimes it's the thought that counts. I hope so anyway.

Pinterest Love

A few months ago, I decided to hop on the Pinterest bandwagon.

(Pinterest, for those of you who don't know, is virtual pinboard where you can "pin" all the fabulous things you find online. Any image that inspires you, that you want to "file away" for future use/inspiration? Just pin it on your board, and the pin is hyperlinked to wherever you got it. Okay, Pinterest explains it better than I do.)

My friends told me Pinterest was addicting. I was skeptical.

I am no longer a skeptic.

Here's a screen shot of a few of my Pinterest boards.

All those images are either just the inspiration themselves or they're linked to instructions on creating what you've pinned.

I find material I can use in speech class, like this one that I can use on moving past stereotypes:

I find images that just make me laugh:

When Jason was building the pergola, I found the one I wanted him to replicate:

I find things I want to do with the girls:

I find things that aren't pretty, but are helpful:

I was totally inspired by this, so I went out and bought some pegboard and zip ties, and voila! All my computer cables are now organized.

I'm sure plenty of people never do anything with their pinned images other than look at them, but that's the beauty of Pinterest. You can let the inspiration just wash over you, or you can actually go out and create.

Take this picture for example:

The picture inspired me to do something, and it feeds my love of looking at pretty things that I don't necessarily need.

I saw this and immediately knew how I could change our dining area to include a bench. We went to IKEA, got a bookshelf, turned it sideways, and now all we need to do is install wainscoting behind it.

The table? I'd love that table. The natural wood-top with the white pedestal? Yes, please. I don't think I'll be recreating the table though (even though I think it would be relatively easy to do). It'll just be one of those things that I think is beautiful.

Yep, I think it's fair to say I love Pinterest.

I love looking at all the lovely pins that my friends find.

I love searching Pinterest for images of things I want to find (which is how I found The Kitchen).

I love that it doesn't stress me out like Twitter did (before I cancelled my account) or make me wonder if I missed something important (like Facebook does).

I love my community of fellow pinners whose presence is marked by the beautiful things they're finding, the places they want to visit, the crafts they want to make, the food they hope to put at their table, the things that just make them smile (you never know you really needed to see a sweet picture of a baby panda until you actually see it).

For a visual person like me who sometimes tires of words, Pinterest is relaxing combination of really good magazine/art museum/coffee shop/boutique/dreamworld.

And that's the best way I can describe it.

[I promise to go back and add the links to where I got all these photos, but right now I'm sleepy and am going to bed.]

7 Quick Takes Friday (vol. 12)

: 1 :

I found it.

This is THE KITCHEN.

And wouldn't you know it, it's Martha Stewart's kitchen line (this particular line is called Ox Hill, named after, I suppose, the oxen that Martha raises on organic greens and buttermilk and taste beautifully in a beef stew paired with red wine).

Of course, we don't have windows in our kitchen, and the ceilings are only 7 1/2 feet tall, but the walls are already that color, we already have white appliances, and the backsplash and flooring will be done as soon as we can find a contractor who will return our calls, and then I will paint the cabinets.

My search is over. Hooray.

(Edited to add: Jason saw this picture and informed me that we can't have that kitchen because it's too big. Yes, I'm aware. So, for all the literalists out there, I'm not duplicating this kitchen EXACTLY. It's just my inspiration.)

: 2 :

I love watching Castle. It's the tv highlight of my week.

: 3:

I know many of you are wondering how Jules is doing, and some of you have been so sweet as to inquire on how we're all doing with her. The short story is this: she's getting better. She is still (mostly) gluten/dairy/red dye #40 free. She still visits a naturopath every other week. She's on vitamins and homeopathic remedies, and has even taken up yoga (seriously. she does it on her own in the living room to calm down). I'm working on a longer write up on her, but she's improving. It's not all roses and fairy dust, but you know. Perspective on where we were last June and where we are today.

: 4 :

The Occupy Wall Street movement confuses me. There's an Occupy Portland movement now. I'm not against them; I just don't understand what they're hoping to accomplish. Are they just protesting just to protest? That's fine, if that's what it is. I'm not sure though. Someone please explain to me what they're doing. Thank you.

: 5 :

I got Addie's silhouette done. Tomorrow I'm printing them and hoping they look nice on photo paper.

I love that I captured her two chins. Scrumptious.

: 6 :

I took a nap today with Addie and Jules. Jules doesn't take naps anymore, but she decided to humor me. It's rare I get to do two of my favorite things at the same time: cuddle my girls and nap. Bliss.

: 7 :

Stumbled across this image this week, and I loved it. 

G. K. Chesterton is right.

: 7 1/2 :

This is my 1300th post at Typepad. I don't know where that ranks in terms of anything, but there you go.

(More Quick Takes can be found at Conversion Diary.)

Silhouettes

I mentioned last week that I wanted to make silhouettes of the girls, frame them and hang them over the piano. I had a general idea of the steps I would need to do it, but wasn't sure what method I would use. At this point, I think I'm going to print the silhouettes as 8x10 photos (at Costco) and then hang them in white IKEA frames.

Here's what I have so far.

Sydney's silhouette. Possibly needs to be redone with me asking her to please stop slouching.

Jules's silhouette. Excellent posture from that girl.

Addie's silhouette photo wasn't the right angle, so I'll have to redo hers tomorrow. Other than needing to even out the bottom parts of the silhouettes, I like how they've turned out.

(It occurs to me now that I could probably post a tutorial of this if there are any Photoshop users who would be interested.)

PS: The background pattern is from WebTreats Etc.

Pumpkin Craft

I'm not particularly crafty, unless you're speaking in terms of sneakiness, in which case you'll have to ask Jason. This is not to say that I can't do crafts. It's more to say I can't of my own creative accord dream up any sort of crafty ideas.

And yet, somehow that didn't stop me from volunteering to be the creative activities person for my MOPS group. (I have mentioned this group several times. MOPS stands for Mothers Of Pre-Schoolers, and exists to offer support and encouragement for all moms who have kids under the age of 5.) I figure I'm smart enough to find projects. I'm organized enough to coordinate craft projects for 30 women. And, if need be, I can operate a glue gun with the best of them.

So, with autumn on the brain, I set out to create an easy pumpkin making craft. Since what I found turned out to be really easy, and since it was also kind of fun to put together, I thought I'd pass along my how-to tutorial. It's a good one for kids because it doesn't involve glue guns, or (once you have the supplies ready) scissors.

Supplies:
-one 22"x22" square of fabric
-one double roll of toilet paper
-some kind of stuffing, like the kind for pillows or stuffed animals
-one paper bag or stump of wood
-one yard of raffia

1. Place roll of TP and stuffing in middle of fabric square

2. Take corners of fabric and stuff them into the middle of the TP. As you do this, move the stuffing around so that your "pumpkin" will take on a more pumpkin look, rather than look like a roll of TP. You may have to experiment a little bit to get the fabric lines to look pumpkinish.

3. After getting the fabric stuffed, you'll want to anchor it in the center. I took a small paper bag, cut it in half, stuffed part of the bag in the TP hole, exposing the top half of the bag to resemble the pumpkin's stump. When I did this with the other moms, some of them used the bottom half of the bag because they liked the jagged edges (rather than round). If you have a small stump of wood, you could use this instead of a paper bag.

5. Take the raffia and tie it around the stump. To make the spirals, wrap the raffia around a pen and gently pinch the paper together before releasing it.

Truly, it's nothing spectacular, but they do end up looking pretty cute. And I think I might go out and pick up some other fabric types and make a couple other complimenting pumpkins (I saw some orange velvet that would look rather festive).

So, there you go. Happy Pumpkin Day!

(If you're interested in the specifics of this craft for a group project, click on the link below.)