what a day...

Today started with Logan waking up at FOUR! A.M. ready for the day. There was no talking him into going back to sleep for a few more hours, no convincing him to just go play in his room. Groan. Lucky for me Lynn had to be on the road by 6:15 this morning so he took over the Logan wrangling, fed him breakfast, played with him for a bit and finally talked the kid into watching the Incredibles so Mommy could sleep a little longer. Instead of every five minutes hearing, "Wake up, Momma! Open your eyes, Sleepyhead!" it was only every twenty minutes. Groan some more.



When I finally dragged myself out of bed I discovered that my well meaning husband left the upstairs gate AND the kitchen pantry door open. This is like leaving the gate to the corral open and shooting pellets into the rumps of a bunch of cattle. Mayhem and destruction ensues. Thank the good Lord above Caleb chose this morning to sleep in! Logan helped himself to a banana, two packets of Pop Tarts and at least two cans of diet root beer. Logan really does have a hollow leg because there is nowhere on his little body to fit all that food. AMAZING.

Once Caleb decided to grace us with his presence he had a particularly messy piece of jelly toast and most of a banana. Afternoon finally rolled around and we took Caleb in for his 18 month well baby visit. No vaccinations were due today (score!), he is in the 90th percentile for height at 34 inches and 60th for weight at 26.5 pounds. He's a tank. We did get a prescription for his allergies, finally, and one for his eczema, also from allergies (uh, thank you and duh, dear doctor).

After all that excitement we dropped my broken glasses off to be repaired. It takes a minimum of a week (A WEEK) to have an earpiece shipped. Then it was off to the post office to finally mail the rest of Leigh's goodies to her (my last attempt to mail them off to her was April 15th...SMAH-HAR-ART). Upon leaving the post office I went to another eye doctor for an exam and some new frames too. Tuesday my new frames will be ready (hooray, no more lopsided glasses hanging off my face). They're tortoise shell on the outside and sagey green on the inside. Logan wanted me to get either green frames or pink frames. We settled on green on the inside. Phew. Didn't want to have to subject half of the free world to the melt down of a child that has been up since four a.m. and is crashing from his sugar high. My mental prowess managed to out maneuver a three, almost four, year old. I've still got the touch. Where is my ticker tape parade?



It's Miller Time by way of Lynchburg, Tennessee now, buddy.

month of softies: recycled monster

It's that time of the month again...Loobylu's Month of Softies is right around the corner. Ready for her grand debut, here's my submission for this month, Pennie Monster.



I've come to find out she enjoys the outdoors very much.



She's not so keen on the crap-ass truck that has been parked across the street for a week. She had words with the neighbor and he swears it will be gone this weekend as the new owner will be driving down from Oklahoma to retrieve it.



She is pretty proud of her tail too. She insisted on me taking a snap of it.

Pennie picked up her name from the wool scraps I used to make her facial features. They're left overs from various penny rugs I've made in the past. Her body is made from vintage quilt squares and her hair is made from over-dyed handspun wool.

** Click here for a close up of Pennie Monster. **

the making of pennie monster, continued...

I finally started on my Month of Softies submission last night. I drew my little monster and cut out the pattern. Then I had all night to think/dream about what to make her out of. I stood in my supply room this morning looking through piles of old fabrics and quilt tops and what not and decided on a set of little bowtie quilt squares. I know these are seriously vintage because I have repro fabrics with the same cottonball/popcorn print. The squares are hand pieced and meticulously pressed. It almost seems a shame to use them this way, but there are only four in this particular set and this set is only one of hundreds I have in my collection. And besides, I think little Pennie Monster deserves to have a little heritage.

Here she is this afternoon, just before I sewed the squares together.



Here she is this evening, face almost finished.



She says she has a piercing headache just behind her right eye. I told her it should start to feel better in just a little while.

Here she is beyond giddy that her headache went away.



Logan insisted on posing with his new friend Pennie. He's been working really hard on making goofy faces for the camera. Just in time for the wedding. Thank goodness, because you know, I was worried.



Logan also suggested she needed ears, a belly button and a "'gina like you, Mom." I just about passed out from trying not to laugh at the last suggestion. I told him little monster dolls don't need girl parts and then he asked, "Is she a boy?" He's to the point where he realizes there is some sort of difference between girls and boys.

L: Momma, I have a penis. Does Aunt Misty have a penis?
M: No, boys have penises and girls have vaginas.

L: Oh. Does Aunt Katie have a penis?
M: No.

L: Momma?
M: Yes Logan?

L: Boys have penises and girls have 'ginas.
M: Yes, that is correct.

We have this conversation about once a week. I can't wait until it goes away. I need to recuperate for when Caleb hits this stage. Then I'll need to recuperate and gear up for the birds and bees talk (eek).

Anyway, back to Pennie. She started complaining of a sharp, radiating pain originating round about her rear end. I told her to just give it time.



Wouldn't you know it, just as soon as her posterior pain subsided, up came a new and more painful brand of headache. Poor Pennie cannot catch a break!



About the time Pennie was finished up and ready for her debut, Caleb woke up from his nap anxious to meet her.



Caleb loves her hair. It is just right for looping little fingers through. And the baring of the belly? That's his code for "I'm ready to sit on the toilet."

illustration friday: daring

This week's cue is daring. Normally, when I think of someone as being daring "mischievous" is not far behind. My daring devils-cum-mischief makers often do things that bring me ver' near to heart attack. Like climbing up on precariously stacked stepping stools and leaning as far forward as gravity will allow all in an effort to reach a box kleenex that was put where it was put for a reason. Each of them has their own little grin that just SCREAMS trouble.

As I was sorting through pictures I saw this little girl's face and immediately recognized that look. Trouble with a capital T. I'll just bet she teetered back and forth on a fence or two and probably did her fair share of taunting the animals too.

lucky me...

In the mail a few days ago I recieved an envelope full of perfectly wonderful stationery from the lovely and talented Kim of Something to Say. A while back I had admired a thank you card she designed for a friend of hers. Then a little later she broke the news that the cards would be for sale and I begged her to let us all know when they were available for purchase. She very generously offered to mail me a set of the cards and I was THRILLED at the thought. When I opened the envelope to find more than the little bird cards I was over the moon. Little things like this turn a crappy day right around. Thank you again Kim!

Logan recognized the punches first and then that the colors were from paint chips and decreed that our next Mommy-Logan art project would be "Home Depot Color Square Cards." His only stipulation is that we do them baseball card size so that they'll fit in his wallet better. A toddler version of artist trading cards. That might make a fun swap for the kiddies to do. Will have to work on that.

porcelain interest begins...

I sense another round of potty training looming (halleluiah). Yesterday Caleb decided that the toilet was good for more than just splashing in (hoo-it). The first time he wanted to sit on it I was already occupying it. He tried to lift me off the throne. He tried to shove me off the throne. Then when he unsnapped his onesie and started to take his diaper off I finally put two and two together. I was preoccupied, what can I say?

After he commandeered the throne using his little mini seat for awhile with no business taking place he indicated he was ready to hop off. I proceeded to put his diaper back on and snap his outfit back together when he FREAKED out. I finally let him loose to show me what he wanted and he began trying to rip his clothes off. I admit I was momentarily confused by the commotion. He finally got his onesie off and ran back to the bathroom where he insisted sitting on the toilet completely naked...the whole time I'm thinking to myself, "[sigh] shades of Patrick (my youngest brother)." No action this visit either, but this time he tore little pieces of toilet paper off and practiced wiping himself. He wiggled down from the seat, flushed the toilet and was ready to wash his hands. Once all the bathroom procedure was completed again we reapplied the diaper and tried to put the onesie back on. Listening to the ranting that went on you might think I was trying to rub lye soap into his eyeballs or something...he DID NOT want that onesie on AT ALL. He ran to the stairs went straight to his closet and handed me a pair of shorts and a tshirt.

The third potty run went much smoother as he was able to pull his own shorts down but still needed help getting onto the toilet. No business took place the third time either. We did grasp the idea of the stool as handy tool for use not only in climbing onto kitchen counters and washing machines, but also getting up on the toilet.

Now as exciting as all this new found interest in the toilet is...I learned my lesson with Logan. They will do it in their own time regardless of how badly you want them to do it sooner. It doesn't help that my offspring are as cantankerous if not more cantankerous than me. I believe I shall sit on my hands and wait and see how this all unfolds.

pill bugs...

Today Logan discovered pill bugs. He calls them rollie pollie rollie pollie olie bugs. At first he found only one and was worried that the bug must have lost his family. Logan brought it in to the kitchen to show me his new bug friend and to ask me for help in finding his friend's rollie pollie rollie pollie olie parents. We went outside, looked around, found some smaller ones...rollie pollie rollie pollie olie baby brothers. Then Logan worried that his new bug friend "really, really misses his rollie pollie rollie pollie olie grandparents." So we had to find them too.

I had forgotten what fun pill bugs are. I have a friend whose mother takes great glee is telling stories of her wee little girl eating pill bugs. Mmmm, crunchy. I can't wait until I find a doodlebug hole to show him.

the ringbearer's pillow...

Way back when Uncle Nolan asked Logan to be the ringbearer in his wedding I volunteered to make the pillow if he and Jana wanted me too. They did. So I started thinking of how I wanted to make it. Finally with the wedding looming I sat down a couple days ago and started playing around with a few ideas I had had. Worked up a couple dummy pillows, nixed all of those ideas. The nixing was all due to the fact that polyester and acetate fabric is a NIGHTMARE to work with and I have little patience for such things. Thank God for pinking shears. I could write poems about pinking shears. In fact, here's a haiku.

pinking shears are nice.
sanity savers for sure.
i heart pinking shears.

Heh, anyway, I finally landed on a design Wednesday evening, worked out the particulars and got to down to business. I should have taken pictures from start to finish but my camera was downstairs and I had already removed the boot for the evening. So only "after" pictures this time.


Close up of the piecing and beading. The flash makes it look Vegas-y but in person it looks very ethereal.


Here we have the front of almost* finished pillow. The little charm has a picture of my brother and his fiancée on one side and a tiny digitally made collage on the other. *I have to find a nice ribbon to use for tying the rings onto the pillow then it will be complete.


The flip side of the charm.


The back side of the pillow.

i am a collector of...

unusual jewelry, among other things. From time to time I come across an artist whose style just blows me away and Thomas Mann is one of those artists. He refers to his jewelry as techno.romantic jewelry objects. He uses the usual metals and mixes in resin, laminate, glow-in-the-dark acrylic, even found objects like license plate digits. It's all just very cool to look at. I roamed around his site today and there are just too many things that I love and at the same time so many inspiring ideas. His work reminds you too look OUTSIDE the box.


License Plate Series Pin #0902


License Plate Pin O1088

Just make sure you set aside a couple hours to read and roam ThomasMann.com. Don't forget to bookmark it too.

happy birthday, UT...

I tried to get a good picture of the two of them together...but really, it just doesn't happen that way anymore. So with that said, Happy Birthday, (great) Uncle Tom! We're looking forward to seeing you in a couple weeks!

back-tack...

I found this swap project via the lovely Theresa of Rock, Paper, Scissors. She always knows about the fun stuff.

I signed up and am looking forward to getting started. Should be fun. Someone anonymously mails you fabric and notions, you use the goodies to anonymously make and send a crafty pouch or some sort for a third person, meanwhile someone somewhere else is doing the same for you. Good times.

caution is the key...

This is what my orthopedist tells me today...caution...ya think? That and permission has been granted to walk about freely on the foot in the cyborg boot. Three more weeks in the boot and then I'm back to regular ambulatory pursuits. Hooray!

mom's day off...

Yesterday Lynn and my brother Nic took the boys to Six Flags with our friend Gary and his son Jared. The outing meant to feed our budding adrenaline junkies also gave me an entire half day all to myself. You might think I got all sorts of fun stuff done. Ha. While I did manage to get one piece I've been thinking of finished, not much else fun was done. I put away laundry and dishes and other mind numbing chores that take me 200% longer to do these days because my foot is STILL! broken. Even though I would have liked to have done more artsy fartsy stuff it was nice to have some peace and quiet for a little while.

Here's a look at my finished project:





I was able to get out all my noxious chemicals and play to my heart's content! Awhile back I bought a big box of vintage glass slides with the intent of making some larger glass collage ornaments. Finally, with the time and absence of little hands and lungs around, I made one. I really like making these things. Aside from the fun of assemblage you get to play with heat/fire (depending on what metals I'm soldering), dangerous chemicals and did I mention fire? Yeah, fun stuff.

Anyway, with this particular ornament/charm, I started with the back side. I etched the top side of the glass leaving "inspire." and etched the bottom side completely to make the word shiny and milky at the same time. I found a photo via The Library of Congress [thanks to Kathy over at MeggieCat for the link]. First I polarized the image and added fields of color and printed the image onto cardstock. Then I altered the black and white image and printed it onto a transparency. I found some vellum and handmade paper scraps big enough to fit the glass and then layered all the pieces together and sandwiched them between two sheets of glass. I wrapped the glass in foil tape and then layed down a bead of solder, added the jumprings, patinaed the finished product with a copper patina and added the ribbons for hanging.

ugh...

Have you had the misfortune of stumbling upon the train wreck that is The Doodlebops? If you haven't, count yourself among the lucky. Our beloved Playhouse Disney apparently signed their souls away to the devil and optioned this irksome made-to-mesmerize-toddlers "music, dance, comedy and pro-social educational" show. While the "music" is more tolerable, overall, the show may be more aggrevating than The Wiggles strictly because of the creepy costumes the main characters wear.

Much to my chagrin, Caleb LOVES this show. Logan shares my loathing to the point that this morning when the show was announced as up next he asked me to turn off the television before Caleb knew it was on. Caleb normally has no interest whatsoever in the television. But, this show? It shoots out baby mind control waves that make him stop dead in his busy little tracks, glue his eyes to the tube for the full fifteen minutes (give or take, Disney loves their commercials) of the show, dancing and clapping and chattering the whole time. If it weren't for the fact that Caleb is interminably adorable when he dances and claps I would blow the television up to make that show stop. Seriously.

paper source rocks...

I love chinese take-out boxes. Big or small they are so versatile. They have an appealing graphic shape. Love them. And now Paper Source has gone and made them MORE lovable.



Once on the Paper Source website it is impossible to skip over all the gorgeous paper they carry. And then they taunt me with their promises of free shipping if I spend over $100. I don't need $100 dollars worth of anything right now...but I sure do want $100 dollars worth of something!

finished products...

After finishing up all the little goodies for our niece, I made two new, almost ready for sale, changing pads. Now all I need to do is decide what to price them and they'll be completely ready.


I decided the "faux bois" would be good for little boys and you can never go wrong with polka dots for little girls.


I am obsessed with cowboys and wild west themed stuff for little boys...so the liner is all cowboy portraits with stars on sepia for the accent fabric. And, well, I have always loved paper dolls and most little girls I have met in my time have an appreciation for them too, so the liner is Mary Engelbreit paper dolls with a tiny little polka dot accent fabric.

Oh and here's what I've decided to do for tags for the time being. I'm fairly pleased with how they turned out. I am still working out something else for the little chick's sign, but for now it works for me.

this is the coolest thing i've read in quite awhile...

The coolest thing aside from this anyway...

From the Brady Standard-Herald: Longrider Gallops into County from Georgia for U.S. Troops

pardon me while i pout...

Oh to have the time and energy to make my way to Anaheim round 'bout May 21st. Sigh...a girl can dream...

hayseeds and greenhorns: prototypes three and four

Prototype number three has been a long time coming. These were not my original plan, but they're also sort of "special order" for our niece. This was also my first go at screen printing. I used this tutorial. The actual oops rags will be slightly different and in a font of my own making.



Prototype number four was serendipitous. I had a left over piece of oilcloth that I couldn't throw away and couldn't use for much else so it became a small bag, good for quick trips or maybe as a lunch bag.

this is why little boys are fun to have...

Round about midnight on Friday I turned around from the computer to grab something from my desk only to find Leonardo standing guard at the edge of my desk.



I left him there until the next morning to see how long it would be before Logan or Caleb would snatch him. Logan grabbed him after breakfast and asked me if Leonardo did a good job of protecting me the night before. How cute is that?

for pete's sake online charity auction...

If you are a lover and collector of contemporary folk art and have some extra pennies laying around right now I suggest you get on over to Lori C. Mitchell's site, LaDeeDah Folk Art, and get to bidding. Lori has gathered 20 pieces of original and one of a kind folk art pieces from nationally recognized artists. Some of my favorite artists have contributed: Lori C. Mitchell, Trisha O'Donnell, Jennifer Murphy, Pat Murphy, Christy Silacci, and Nicol Sayer.


For Pete's Sake, by Lori C. Mitchell

"About this auction:
My father, Peter Mitchell, dedicated much of his life to volunteering for the American Red Cross. On top of running the Atlanta based International Warehouse that is responsible for holding and shipping supplies to disaster stricken areas worldwide, he spent countless volunteer hours in the field assisting those effected by the Northridge Earthquake in California, Hurricanes Hugo and Floyd in Florida and the Carolinas, flooding in Texas, tornados across the 'alley' in Alabama, Tennessee and Georgia, as well as many other natural disasters and local fires. Perhaps his most emotional assignment was providing relief to the firefighters and emergency crew working at Ground Zero shortly after the World Trade Center bombing on September 11th.

I lost my dad in July of 2003. As news headlines announced disaster after disaster throughout 2004, I couldn’t help but feel the need to somehow fill his shoes . . . And so the idea for this auction was born.

With the amazing support of the contributing artists and the donation of web services by Chris Mills of dumbtourist, without whom none of this would be possible, I am proud to hold this event as a fundraiser for the American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund. This fund supports disasters that make world headlines, as well as those less publicized, but equally devastating to victims. 100% of all proceeds will be donated.

- Lori C. Mitchell, LaDeeDah FolkArt"

illustration friday: alone

As soon as I read the que for the coming week's Illustration Friday the phrase, "the cheese stands alone," popped right into mind. Ever since then I've been humming The Farmer in the Dell. Sigh. This particular cheese person is inspired by the big hunk of stinky cheese made by monks that my great-great-aunt would send for Christmas and of course the actual Stinky Cheese Man of The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales fame.



I guess it could also read, "the foul green marshmallow stands alone," too. Heh.

why am i...

compelled to tempt fate?

Today Logan, Caleb and I had a big day. We began our big day by heading north to Aunt Misty's house to drop off some (real) Benihana salad dressing. Our next stop was Joann's fabric store where I was hoping to find some 1.5 - 2 inch wide cotton twill tape but alas did not (we did, however, find two orange mini push brooms for the boys and a 12 inch black zipper for me). After all that excitement we stopped by the "hippie" grocery store (I could spend all day there) for some cereal and to pick up the tea I had ordered forever-and-a-day ago. Then we headed back to the house to fetch the double stroller. Caleb fell asleep en route to the house so Logan and I decided that we should have lunch at Sonic. After lunch we stopped by Barnes and Noble to roam the children's literature section where we found Sleepy Time Olie and Peekaboo in the Jungle. Logan decided to have a Chernobyl-esque melt down as we were heading to the check out. Most of the time I am able to not laugh as he freaks out, but today was not one of them. Among me, the cashier and the very pregnant woman who let me cut in front of her to pay and get my foaming-at-the-mouth toddler out the store, it was IMPOSSIBLE not to laugh. He really does say the funniest things during these "spells" but today was particularly funny. At the moment I can't even think of anything he said so that you can enjoy the same guffaws I did at his expense, but rest assured it was HI-larious. We finally made it to the jeep and loaded up amidst high winds and occupied runaway strollers (fortunately not ours). As if that wasn't enough for one day we ventured to the other side of the universe in search of wipie containers at the Super Target in Flower Mound. I can never get out of a Target under $100 and today was no different. We found another Piggy Toes Press book, This Little Piggy (at the very bottom of the link page), new bathtub crayons, jelly beans, diaper bag necessities and baby things for our new niece, Lillian Ingrid (born last night, safe and sound, congratulations to the newest Ma and Pa Lyons).

At the end of this big day my broken foot started hurting. Was that a collective "DUH" I just heard? I thought so. Well, I have been off of it all night and swear, SWEAR, I will stay off of it and only use my crutches until the doctor says otherwise. Seriously, I swear on my stack of Mary Engelbreit Home Companion magazines (and I mean all of them, even the very first issue). I choose to blame this little lapse in judgement on my own version of cabin fever. That's my story and I'm stickin' to it.

hayseeds and greenhorns: prototype number two

I made this one with the intent of giving it to my brother-in-law and his wife; therefore, it is decidedly girly. I added a zippered pocket to the foot of the pad (to hold necessities like diaper rash cream and purell) and changed the two pockets to one that can flip up adding an extra five or six inches of length (plus if you have an extra diaper in it it's a pillow). Those two little changes make me happy and the scalloped edge? Holy cow, cute.

operation haremail arrives to texas...

My package from Leigh arrived on Saturday!



We decided to let our littles in on the swap since they are all so close in age and demeanor. Logan's book, Robots: Build-a-Bot, features a pop out puzzle of Rodney Copperbottom. He's built the bot about one hundred times today, no thanks to Caleb. Caleb's book,What Can Rabbit See?, is a lift-the-flap book. Just the type of interactive thing he likes right now...aside from trying to "help" Logan build Rodney.

Along side the wonderful books for the boys came a bag full of bun buns (most of which were dismembered on the trip over, heh) that Caleb loves, a box made with handmade paper that holds a little rabbit ornament and two little chocolate bunnies, and a slew of GREAT papers and post cards.

The papers are beautiful. There are five all together: one orange (banana fiber?) flecked and it has a nice smooth finish, one orange mulberry with a silver dotted sunburst pattern, one red mulberry with gold star pattern, one magenta machined paper with stitching all over and a heavy white textured paper with bamboo (I think) leaves embedded in it. All are begging to be used promptly.

The post cards are graphic and colorful and made by Beaumonde-Cards. There's this one and this one plus the other two. So nice!

Thank you to Leigh and Samantha and Daniel for all the wonderful goodies. I'm still waiting on one last thing to arrive for Leigh...hopefully in today's mail...then I can mail the rest of my swap goodies off!

march month of softies...

I don't know where she found the time this month, but Claire has March's Month of Softies gallery up and ready to go. There are so many great submissions this month. I just couldn't get myself together for it this month. I thought about it a bunch and decided that I would make my mini-me as me at two(ish) in my orange and navy striped playboy bunny tank suit. I just never got around to it. Maybe someday, but probably only after I finish Logan's doll of Logan dressed as Spiderman wearing Ninja Turtle underwear.

illustration friday: travel

With the way gas prices are climbing these days this will be the extent of our travel by car anyway. Heh.

finally...

The Dick Blick gift certificate that has been burning a hole in my pocket has been spent and then some. I've been hunting around online for two inch natural cotton twill to make my tags today and decided that I would shop screenprinting stuff too. As is my natural predilection, I have to accumulate all the supplies I want to use first before I decide whether or not I even like the project. Luckily (or not, depending on who's interpreting the situation) there hasn't been I project I didn't like so far. So I bought this kit and the starter set of inks to get the ball rolling. I suspect before this undertaking is through I will have accumulated many more gadgets...because I loves me some gadgets...the more the better.

My hunt for twill tape has me thinking that I might have better luck calling around to a couple upholstery shops in the area. I found a couple links that seem to have decent prices on jumbo spools of tape but then their shipping charges end up being retarded. I looked on eBay and found several auctions with some really good prices but not the size I want. Will have to look around some this weekend...maybe even brave Harry Hines Blvd. Eeek.

Anyone have a good source for twill tape? Leads would be much appreciated.