simple Analogy

My Leafy Pumpkin

I like to do the craft along projects with the boys.  While Noah did a traditional jack-o-lantern and Landon did his modern geometric one, I wanted leaves on mine with traditional fall colors.

Freehanding the leaves with a marker first before painting proved unsuccessful, seeing as how I'm not the best at drawing and the roundness of the pumpkin made this even more pronounced.  I wiped off the freehand, grabbed some fallen leaves from the neighbor's yard, and traced them onto my pumpkin. 

My dwindling paint supply contained very few fall colors, so I started mixing my own.  Noah looked over just as I was squirting black paint into the middle of the red on my plate.  "What are you doing?" 

"Mixing my own colors."

"Cool!"

Obviously it's been too long since he's mixed his own paint colors.  Next week's art lesson! 

Baseboarding

New sport?  Hardly!  For the past two days I have been painting the baseboards.  Sounds great doesn't it.  Well, it's not.  It's tedious and not all that comfortable.  You either squat and waddle along as you go, or sit and scoot.  I guess you could go on all fours, but that would really wear on the knees.  Posture is not required for the job; a hunched over back actually works best.  As well as tipping your head upside down to be able to see what your doing down there near the floor. No wonder my back was aching last night.  Joel and I agree that in all of the jobs that we have done in the past few months, baseboards are our least favorite.  Don't get me wrong, they look GREAT all shiny and white, but getting them that way is no fun.

On my way home from baseboarding today, I heard a prayer on the radio that kind of stopped me in my tracks.  "Whatever is frustrating us or what ever is exhilarating today, Lord, let us praise you for all of the above."  Confession time!  I was not praising the Lord for those baseboards.  I was actually kind of grouching about them.  Not out loud mind you, but in my heart.

So, I have decided that I will find some things about those baseboards to praise about.

1. Because we are able to do the baseboards, that means the list of things to be done before we can move back in is dwindling.
2. I am over two-thirds of the way through.
3. The contrast from the tired, yellowed ones to crispy, white ones is refreshing.
4. We should be able to finish tomorrow and move on to the doors.
5. After we finish the boards, we'll be ready for flooring!

Life lessons while baseboarding.

Chocolate Light

Light.  It's amazing how much I've missed it.   Even though we had no light fixtures at the house, I would walk into a room and flip on the switch; then I'd feel stupid because it was a useless cause.  All these weeks of painting at the house with only sunlight to work with.  It did save us from working till all hours.

This is my dining room.  The color is so warm, cozy, and chocolaty.  It makes me want to eat - chocolate.  Chocolate cake, chocolate pudding, chocolate candy bars.  This could be bad for my figure.

Cheesecloth, Cukes, and Cranberries

Thanks for all the wall love.  It feels so good to walk into the house and not have to pick up any more cheesecloth.  Yes, that is what I used to rag off with.  A wadded up piece of cheese cloth.  Pieces plural is more realistic.  When the cloth became too saturated, a new piece was cut.  I used 80 yards of cheesecloth total for this project.  No wonder my arm is shot.

So on to cucumbers and cranberries.  My days have been packed to the gills.  School first thing in the morning until lunch, painting till 5 PM or later, and then rushing home to make dinner.  I try to make sure the meals I have planned are quick, easy, and yet healthy so that we don't die of hunger before they're ready.  I have to admit that we are eating out A LOT more just for the sake of convenience and my sanity. 

Here's a quick/easy for ya!  It's my take on one of my favorite meals at a sadly no longer there we-used-to-eat-there-almost-every-Sunday restaurant.

Grilled Chicken with Cucumber Cranberry Relish

chicken breasts/tenders/thighs marinated in a good Italian dressing 

2 cucumbers quartered lengthwise and sliced

1cup crasins

small handful of cilantro chopped fine

1/4 small red onion, diced (Our family is divided on onions, so I put these on the side.)

1/2 cup sunflower kernels

Red wine vinegar

Salt and Pepper

Have your husband throw the chicken on the grill.  Or do it yourself.  While the chicken is cooking, mix the cucumbers, crasins, cilantro, onion (optional), and sunflower kernels in a medium bowl.  Splash in some red wine vinegar to taste.  Add a little salt and pepper.  When the chicken is done, serve in up on a plate and smother it with relish.

No hamburger helper for my guys.  That's actually another story.  Maybe tomorrow!

It's Done

 

Finally!  Though I really like the way it looks, I can safely say that in all probability I will NEVER do it again.  Joel concurs.  Where is that Motrin?

Oh So Faux

The hands are tired.  As well as my right arm, shoulder, and knees (from climbing up and down ladders).

Joel and I have painted the house together many times, but it was always a room here or there.  This time we are painting the whole house.  Mom, Tracy, and Juan came one day to help.  But now the labor intensive work has begun - faux painting the entry hall, living room, and one wall of the kitchen equaling almost half of the house.  Last time we did this, we used a woolie with two tones of yellow.  We liked it, but for this go around we opted for no yellow and a different technique.  We are using a chai latte color for the base and ragging off with a cocoa glaze.  This is very messy and time consuming, but we work well together. 

I like painting with my husband.  We are a perfect complement to each other.  He is speed, and I am method.  Joel rolls on the glaze, I rag it off.  He tried to help with the ragging, but I fired him.  By the end of the day my right arm and hand are worthless.  I can't even lift a cup of water.  Sad!  Good thing we took a few days off for the New Year.  After much Motrin and massaging, my arm is almost back to normal.  I'll show pictures when we're done.

Last Minute Christmas Towels

I am a proponent of children making handmade gifts for Christmas.  As nursery director, every year I like to come up with a gift that the children can make for their parents.  This year we made Christmas Tree Kitchen Towels.  The kids did a great job!  Even the one year old class!  I know - I'm insane!  I even had my boys do some. 

Start with solid lime green fabric and a white flour sack towel.  Be sure to pre-wash.  Apply heat-n-bond, or any other fusible, to the wrong side of green fabric.

Cut a triangle out of the green fabric.  Mine are 6 inches across the bottom and 8 inches tall.  This is your Christmas tree.

Peel off backing, position tree, and fuse onto flour sack.

Using bright red thread, sew 1/4 in from the edge of the tree - or zig zag around the edge.

Using acrylic paint (and making sure to cover up with one of dad's old -shirts), allow the child to "decorate" their tree by having them dip their finger into the paint and press onto the tree. 

Let dry completely, then iron to set paint.  Wash and dry using normal settings.

Variations:  use more than one Christmas tree; vary the size, shape, color; use fabric markers instead of paint

This towel will forever commemorate their little fingers and can be used for many Christmases to come.

To the Point

I am really missing painting with the boys!  They are continuing on their watercolor merry way, but I haven't been able to tag along.  My watercolor brush is heaven knows where. 

Yesterday's lesson was on perspective.  You know, where you paint things that are closer in the picture bigger and things further away smaller.  I really wanted to play with this one.  The book had us draw a horizon, put in a vanishing point, draw a road to the point, then break out the paint.  It looked so fun!

Here's what the guys turned up.

Landon's - Not all the way completed.

 

Noah's - He loves to splatter his pictures.  He says this splatter is rain.

   

While they were having fun without me, I opened the door to take the dog out.  The sun was shining in perfectly on the table.  Hold on!  I gotta get my camera!  My poor dog had to wait while I did a mini photo shoot. 

 

My to do list this weekend includes buying a brush!

Me time:  I took a class at Williams and Sonoma last year on how to make pie crust, but am still too scared to try it.  Specially when the teacher threw everything from a mix into a food processor, which I don't have.  Do you call that a class?  Anyone can dump a mix into a machine!  Come on now!  Well, at least it was a free class.  It would have been insulting paying for a class on how to dump a mix into a blender.

   

B.C., A.D., B.I.

B.C. = Before Christ 

A.D. = Anno Domini (in the year of our Lord)

These abbreviations have been sorting time throughout the centuries.  So our family has a new one.  B.I. = Before Ike.  Here is a project I worked on B.I. 

Who ever came up with chalkboard paint was a total genius.  I'm in love with the stuff.  I painted a whole wall in the playroom in the nursery with it.  The kids, not to mention the teen and adult volunteers, love it.  It's so easy!  You can virtually paint anything paint-able with it and enjoy:  a cupboard door in the kitchen turns into a grocery list surface, a wall into drawing space, a pot into label-able planter.  Endless possibilities!

So this project was to make new signs for the nursery rooms.  The ones we had were ancient small bulletin boards.  The backgrounds were very hard to change and the border was always being bumped and falling off. 

Enter chalkboards.  These were so easy to make.  Wood, sandpaper, a few coats of paint, ribbon, staple gun.  Ta da!

Here's Martha's recipe for custom color chalkboard paint, or you can just pick up traditional black at Home Depot or Lowe's.

House Update:  We talked with the adjuster.  He can't come out until Oct 2.  So in the meantime we are getting bids.

Watercolor Fridays Are Back!

Yes, school is back in session and that means Friday art.  Yeah!!!!  My favorite subject.

So, we are continuing our watercolor adventure with Watercolor for the Artistically Undiscovered.  This week's lesson was fun.  The challenge was to take the first sentence from a classic novel, change it up, and use it for a springboard of inspiration for painting.  They gave several suggestions . . . one being from Moby Dick.  Have I told you how much I HATE that book?  Don't need to go into that mantra again!  I told the boys that today was make-fun-of-Moby-Dick day.  Of course they've never read it, and I don't plan on making them read it, so I gave them my very biased opinion and synopsis and told them to get to it!

Our springboard . . . "Call me fish mail."  Originally "Call me Ishmael." 

Noah's version

 

Landon's

  

Mine