My amazing Cale

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It's a Dog Party!

Draper turned 3 on the 21st. Being that he's our collective little buddy ...we decided to throw him a dog birthday party and invite over some friends and cousins! We had 4 dogs over, Gordon, Cindy Lou, Merle, and Sada, and they all behaved exceptionally! We had pumpkin apple pupcakes (Ruby was the only one that didn't finish hers) for the dog guests and pumpkin cupcakes for our human guests. This party was as much for the kids as it was Draper. They were super excited and were so helpful with gathering up dog toys and making sure all the pups were being safe and having fun. What an awesome day :)

Soil and Toil

Our newest creative project....our front yard! Since moving in 5 years ago I have wanted to tear up the grass up front and put in a xeriscaped oasis. Grass is so needy, gotta water, gotta weed, gotta mow...I would rather a more natural environment up front, and keep the grass in the back for the kids and dogs. So during this hot summer a new weed took over our front yard grass and the grass looked horrible and felt horrible. So we felt it was finally time to do something. I recently heard about this book by Ivette Soler, called "The Edible Front Yard" and got myself a copy and poured through it front to back and back to front. It basically calls us out to get rid of the grass and plant a landscape full of edible annuals, perennials and mix in some beautiful ornamentals.  It just makes sense, and Jason and are becoming more and more aware of our food, where it comes from, what is in it. By having our front yard full of organic, healthy, food grown with our family's love, what could be better? So yesterday we worked all day, under the brutal hot sun of late summer, and layered our front yard grass so that next spring (hopefully!) the grass will be dead, but all that good magic stuff in the soil won't be. We first layered cardboard all over the grass, then added about 4 inches of compost and then 3-4" of mulch. I can't wait for next spring!!!

End of Summer days continued

For the last week that me and my three children would be home all week together before school starts up for all of us, I decided we would go out with a bang and planned a week full of busy fun. On Monday we went to our beautiful City Park and met Daddy for lunch at Subway (kids choice!). On Tuesday we headed to Lee Martinez farm which I grew up with and now my kids have too! These are the pictures that chronicle our quaint little tour, we always love it and the animals, especially the babies! On Tuesday we also went school supply shopping, who doesn't love that?! Wednesday was a walk to the comic book store to pick out comics for our South Dakota vacation. Thursday we had Maya's friend over and had some mini golf adventures together. On Friday we checked out the new Rocket Fizz store downtown and of course had to get some soda and candy, and then played pinball at Pinball Jones , YAY!!

End of Summer days

Well my poor doll has been put to the side because of the extreme heat and dryness of this summer. The clay would dry too quickly for me to work with and I want her to have young, smooth, firm skin, not blotchy, bulgy and patchy skin! So I found some more practical projects to try in my spare time. One of them was curtains for my front window. Waiting on finding the exact color of dye to finish those up and post about. So in the meantime I decided to make some eco-friendly napkins for the kids packed lunches! I think I may be more excited then they are. It was a super quick little project. I am excited and feel happy about having one less wasteful habit in our lives!

Tie Dye

Over the weekend the kids and I decided to attempt our first ever tie-dye t-shirts. Being that it was the first, we learned many new things. One being that the fabric dye I already had for doll dyeing was probably not the best choice for a beginner, second, it's super messy. There are still remnants in our sink, outside cement patio, and my yellow tank. For Maya's shirt we tried to make a classic spiral; didn't happen. For Aden's shirt we attempted little bursts of bubbles; also didn't happen. And for Cale's shirt we tried a concentric circle design; not really! But Cale's is a bit of a Rorschach test and we all see different things in it, kinda cool! So such is life, we learn from mistakes and will definitely give it another try, next time I want one for myself!

Dolls

So I like dolls. A lot. I like cute dolls. I like beautiful dolls. I like to try to create my own dolls. Now that summer is here I have a burning drive to make a new doll and as I was researching all the different kinds of dolls (Ball Jointed dolls, Waldorf..) I came across this blog,  Du Buh Du Design, and fell madly in love. I want to make gorgeous dolls like these. So here is my first ever attempt at sculpting a doll. She is made out of Creative Paperclay, which is similar to clay but is made with paper instead. Paperclay works great with paints and I can't wait till she is all sculpted and put together so I can put some color on her. It is such a cool feeling holding this little sculpted human head in my hand! Next I will sew her a nice soft body and then model some arms and legs!

Floppy Reindeer

My latest little creation. Not sure what to call him yet. He's floppy, beady eyed, and very cuddly though. He is my first completely designed by me pattern and I am quite happy. If ever I had the time to sell my own goods on etsy.com this is what I'd sell. Big ones, little ones, ornaments, maybe change him into a bunny or puppy!

Fibers. Fibers was what it was all about. In my dreams it was going to be the most fantastic class e-v-e-r. But right before the semester started I became a little nervous...what if it didn't meet my expectations? What if I didn't like what we were doing? What if I didn't know what I was doing??

As it turns out...I loved it, every little bit, from bleaching techniques, dye working, screen printing, embroidery, and even weaving. So much work. So much time spent on the weekends away from my children. But I loved it. Here are some of my project pieces.

A tapestry weave of a moon and star sky turning into sunrise. This was made to cover the hideous ceiling heat duct in Aden's room. 

 My first woven scarf (everyone's gotta do it!)

Surface techniques such as dyeing and painting. This one is called "Childhood".

My "sweetest" project ever. What can I say...I love pink! (and sweet desserts).

As suggested by my Grandma <3 I will show off my latest experience with color! My hot pink chandelier. The previous color was a dark metal color and fit in with the dark floor and dark green walls. Instead of dreaming and scheming for a brand new (and probably pricey!) light fixture...I re-invented! I am in love. Dark green and hot pink go so well together, they bring a feeling of a lush secret garden inside my own house.

These are some of my favorite drawings from my figure drawing class. Yes, naked people. But this class taught me that all I'm seeing is lines. Lines and shadows. I really liked drawing live models. Unfortunately I am not sure how to continue drawing naked  models. But more importantly I have found inspiration in capturing a person on paper, either by paints, pencils or crayon conte. There is definitely more romance and mystery compared to a camera only.

These are a few paintings from my 2D class. The first is an exercise on figure painting with a model ( I painted the best head in class I was told by Teacher!). The second a collage focusing on focal points. The fork painting an exercise of rhythm and pattern. And the last painting was a depiction of a feeling or mood or adjective. If it makes you feel happy then I did a poor job. I chose to portray "betrayal".

This is a mini art gallery intended for the quaintest of the population; my family. It is a sampling of work that has pulled me away from my husband, children, and cuddling on the couch with my boston and eating pie. I love half of it and the rest just is, just happened, just came about for a grade. As I pulled together all my work created since last fall I found myself excited to look back. It has been an amazing two semesters of art school and I have accomplished much and been inspired much more. Not only will this serve to showcase my work to my loved ones but will also be a bit of a therapeutic glance of myself for myself.