Valentine Wreath of Love Kiddo Style

Because February begins tomorrow and because Valentine's Day is right around the corner, I though it best to share a piece of kiddo decor from the DC.  We started our day with a little girl time and really girlied up a piece of cardboard for our entrance.

We cut a good-sized heart that I free handed (it doesn't have to be perfect) and cut it out.  Next I drew another heart inside this heart and cut it out also, you know... to get the wreathy effect.  Then, we took apart some $1.00 flower bunches and only used the pedal parts and glued them all over our big heart!  We used the rest of the flowers and decorated the smaller heart for my helper to take home with her.  We let them dry for a lil bit, then I carefully punched a hole and tied a piece of yarn to the heart and fancily taped it to our door.

It's amazing (not to mention slightly tacky) what a a couple of bucks can turn into with a little creativity!

Goodbye January! 

Wataweekend

I have the flu.  Saturday morning I got up with cold chills and by that evening had a full temperature.  I had Shaun take me to the clinic yesterday to confirm what I was afraid of given my temperature and body ache combination.  I had to not go in to work today so I wouldn't pass it to anyone.  Who am I kidding?  I couldn't have physically done what I do on a normal day to save my life today.  When he turned on the TV this morning I heard the music from Cat in the Hat and almost cried.  I am not a good sick person.  Saturday evening i cried no less than eight times before the ten o'clock news. 

This afternoon, I am feeling a tad better.  Meaning I am sitting upright and walking without stumbling too much.  So in an effort to feel better I thought I would blog and at least share some pictures from last Friday... I think it was Friday... my brain is so off.  And Saturday I did help my sister with some decorations for their chili cook off booth at church, even though my immune system was being viciously attacked.  So if she gets sick... I know where she got it.  And to satisfy some weird voice in my head over the entire time I have been typing this, my eyeballs hurt soooo bad this morning... along with every other joint in my body.   Arg... I will be so thankful when this flu is gone!

 I want to bust this rock open so bad just to see if it had the cool crystal stuff inside. 
But what if it doesn't?

 My little birdies are probably wondering where I am today.

 And this is me in my basement, the long haired hippie, drawing their backdrop.

My people are always short and squatty.

Not to self... must work on that.

Drawing & Chalk Pastels

I love to draw.  I love to create.  When the crayon hits the paper... it's all me.  Though I never really thought I could until I realized that all I had to do was transfer my thoughts on to paper.  That it didn't matter if it was good or not to any one else.  The image in my head - come to life. 

What you have to do is trust in the finished product.  When you start out, get frustrated and rip the paper as it heads to the trash, you simply weren't patient enough with yourself.  Then again it may be what you are working with.  If you are working with a pencil and not happy with the results, stop and use paints.  Or if you are using paint, stop and use a crayon.  I am personally in love with chalk pastels.  I first discovered using them when I obtained an art kit from a family member's estate.  I adored the box full of old paint brushes, real drawing pencils and colored pencils.... and chalk pastels. 

Pastels are easy.  They are messy on your hands and so very fun to use.  You can make a line or begin to fill in and take your finger tip and start smudging to get a whole nother look and dimension.  You can get tons of colors for under ten bucks at the art store.  And they can be used on any kind of paper. 

I've not been to art school (obviously).  Matter of fact, I still have a painting that I got a D on in art class in high school.  How does that happen?  Is there no encouragement to be yourself in art class?  Harsh.  But... I don't know if I use the tools that I have correctly or not but I sure have fun.

What's your favorite art utensil?

 These are my Johnny Cash tributes.

I did this one on freezer paper for the bulletin board at the day care.
I like Rudolph photo bombing.

The art kit and my doodles of my pictures.



Hooked On Henkes

Kevin Henkes is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors of children's books.  For the age group that I have it seems better that there is less to read and more to look at.  I simply lose their attention if the story is too long. 

I found my first Henkes book while looking for children's books about birds.  The cover was colorful and on the library's website it looked interesting.  So I requested it and picked it up the next Saturday along with another Kevin Henkes book about gardening.  At story time the following week, these were the weekly favorites.  So yesterday, when I visited the library, I searched the kid room for more.  I came home with four more although there were more than that.   I don't want to read them all at once!

I have already read one this morning.  I just love the small stories and how beautifully the books are illustrated.  It makes me feel that I could create my own book.  Maybe I will.

 

Weekend Adventures

One of my resolutions for the New Year was to take a walk in our woods once a week.  I always like to see what has changed and grown and find new rocks and such.  Yesterday, however, we played in the woods a little differently.

 

Yeah!

FRONT PAGE NEWS

Saaawwweeeettt!  Our tub shelf is featured on the front page of etsy today!  I am terribly beside myself with delight!!!

WOW

www.etsy.com

Indoor Garden Terrariums

When I told people what I made for my sisters and mom for Christmas, most of them said "wow, those are from the seventies!"  But really terrariums have made a humongo come back.  I love the idea of a self sufficient world under glass.  Once the plants are established you don't even have to water them much at all.  Maybe every few weeks and not much then.  They don't need outside oxygen and don't need a terrific amount of sun light.  It's the perfect little world.

I bought my glass containers at Wal-Mart because they were the cheapest and believe me when I say I shopped around looking for low priced ones because I was making four.  One for me and three for them.  They were in the kitchen department and ran seven and nine dollars. 

The plants I bought at Lowe's.  The moss I dug up from around Shaun's shop in the gravel.  I used a layer of gravel from the driveway on the bottom, activated charcoal, potting soil and then plants.  I stuck pretty rocks that I have found and placed them in there for character.  They all seem to be doing very well.

I will tell you that I got my courage from Martha Stewart and her very instructional videos.  Once you find one and watch it, it will bring up more and more.  I bet I watched ten of them and I was ready to roll. 

 

 

 

The charcoal can be messy!  But it keeps the stink out.

The big one was for me :) It's is 2 gallon and the others are 1 gallon.

One bought plant can be seperated into several.

 

Give it a pretty good spray down so the plants will settle in.  But not so much water on the plants themselves as trying to get it to the soil and moss.

 

 

I will say the the ferns haven't done very well, the ones that I bought.  A different kind may respond better.  And you do have to trim the plants down some so they aren't too tall.  And also they aren't supposed to touch the glass. 

 

If the inside of the jar has moisture building up it is either in a spot that's too sunny and it definately doesn't need water.  You can tilt the lid a touch and let it get a small amount of air to absorb the extra moisture. 

 

The moss that I got from the driveway has done well and little plants have popped up out of it. 

 

It really didn't take long at all once I had on the ingredients and I love the results!

Birds at the DC

We like us some birds at the DC y'all.  We watch them out the front window as they frequent our feeder, we collect feathers when we play outside, we even had a Robin's nest in our tree we planted this past Summer!

This past Saturday I picked up a book at the library by Kevin Henkes called Birds that had requested.  So that is the book we read at story time.... four times.  Then during nap time I cut out bird silhouettes on card stock that I had printed.  After sleepy heads were up, we broke out colored tissue paper, circles and glue sticks. 

Sometimes I have to stop myself because of the ideas that are in my head of what I want the end result of a craft or plan to be and allow the kids to do whatever they want with the supplies they are given.  I get in there and create my own version and let them be the artist of their version.  It always works out beautifully and they are so proud of their work. 

This morning, on the drive to work (down the driveway), I stopped and picked up a couple of branches, which were a little icy.  They thawed quickly once inside and I strung thin embroidery thread from the branches to tacks and pushed the tacks into the ceiling.  The branches hung really nicely.  Then I tied the string from the birds to the branches.  I love it!  They are hanging in front of the window where our bird feeder is.

The kids were so excited when they got there this morning.  I love that feeling.  The little one always says "Oh thank you Waurie!" when I have done something new.  So very rewarding.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Black Rose

Ooh Black Rose.. bam a lam.  Oh Black Rose.. bam a lam.  Black Rose is the name of my four wheel drive.  She is a 1989 Cheverolet K5 Blazer... flat black and I adore every inch of her.  Ever since we bought her on February 6th, 2011, I have adored her.  She got her name from this Waylon Jennings song, which I also adore... really loud.  You can listen to it while you read this if you want to. 

 

OR  you can listen to this while I talk about her recent transformation from factory Black Rose to

Black Rose..... All Jacked Up!

 

 

Before

 

This is right when I got her and Shaun was doing a "goin over."

 

This is when we took her camping.  She sleeps good!

 

And this is where the transformation begins.

 

Don't worry folks... he's done this before.

 

I swear... I have the biggest S*%t eatin grin on while I'm typing this post.

Lift kit installed!

 

Oh yeah... from 31's to 35's!

 

Ooooooooooo.  Yes... this is This Girl's truck.

 

Tell me 'bout it... stud.

 

We took the top off this past summer.  This is by far my most favorite vehicle I've ever owned.  Santa brought me the 4 inch lift kit for Christmas and we bought the 35 inch tires yesterday on 15 inch rims which took her up a grand total of around 8 inches higher.  It really feels different driving her higher up.  And it sure does look cool!  Dang!

 

                          Before                                                                       After