Sneaky-Peeky--ART IS YOU

They just posted the workshops for ART IS YOU Petaluma!!! Registration is now open!  After a lot of careful consideration, I signed up for Cathe Holden's Collage and Components class, Jennifer Whitmer's Impromptu Millinery and Tina Haller's Halloween Pumpkin Witch. So many great classes that it is hard to decide!!!  But I signed up!!!  This event is sure to fill up quickly so move fast!

Come out to Petaluma this September and play with me!!!

Right Around the Corner

Tonight, we'll be ordering Chinese food, eating movie-themed gourmet cupcakes and watching the Oscars.  I'm rooting for THE HELP and THE ARTIST. 

The weather has been so nice that my husband is taking the opportunity to put out some Spring/Summer bulbs in our difficult flower beds. Hopefully, something will grow. The daffodils did!

I was so inspired (and so impatient to wait for real ones), I decided to break out my Spring comforter filled with flowers.

I have three different comforters that I switch out with the seasons.  It's a small way of making yourself feel as if you have a brand new bedroom. 

It really feels as if Spring is right around the corner!

Guess I better get some Spring cleaning done.

(I'm actually typing this from my workroom-in-progress.  It seems as if I make a lot of progress only to find more boxes to unpack which, inevitably, makes a mess again. Someday, this will be a functional workroom and I can get back to crafting!)

Catching Up

Sorry I have been absent.  It has been a busy few weeks!  I pulled out the Easter decorations and I'm hoping I may actually get decorated for Easter this year.  Not sure what I'll be doing for Lent. Normally, I try to ADD something to my life for 40 days. Usually a Lenten devotional. But I haven't found one I really want do this year. Anyone have a good one to recommend?

I am finishing up BODY RESTORATION and I will be really sorry to see it go. In many ways, this has been my very favorite Brave Girls Club ecourse so far.  I only wish it would go on a bit longer.  This class had a profound effect on me and it is starting to change the way I relate to food. Baby steps but steps nonetheless.  At the gym this morning, I renewed my vow to start running and get in shape for a 5k.  My ultimate goal is to run the Disneyland Half Marathon the year I turn 40.  A few years to go so maybe I'll actually get it done.  I'm tired of feeling weak and worthless.

(image source)

Spring is such a wonderful time of renewal.  It is my second favorite season.  Everyone you look you see signs of rebirth and it is such a beautiful thing.  In the midst of the depression and drama surrounding our move last Fall, I decided to get some daffodil bulbs to plant in our new flower beds.  My husband planted them for me and I told myself it would give me something to look forward to.  Well, almost every one of the bulbs has started sprouting and I am so excited to think that I will soon have cheerful daffodils in my front yard.  Spring is right around the corner!

Kiwi Crates

As a full-time-work-outside-the-home mom, I always feel as if I have to make those precious moments with my son count. I commute to work so I typically get home around 5pm.  Dinner is at 6:30pm and bedtime is between 7:30-8:00pm. That doesn't leave a lot of time for quality moments.  I love to spend that time together doing crafts or activities or reading books. On days when I am particularly tired, it's hard to come up with things to do.  That is why I love Kiwi Crates. I just started subscribing to this service before Christmas.  Each month, a box is delivered to our door that has a particular theme and two activities.   Our last two crates focused on Space and the Ocean.    Noodlebug and I absolutely LOVED the Space activity where you make your own rockets and launch them off a straw. We had contest to see who could launch their rockets farthest down the hall.

Here is a sample activity from the Color crate:

The activities can focus on art, creative play or science activities.  The best part is that the crate contains just about everything you could possibly need for each activity down to the colored pencils and scissors. So, no running around trying to gather materials! I can just open the box and we can get to work!

At $19.95 a month, it may seem like quite an expense but I have to tell you the activities are truly quality experiences and having all the materials at your fingertips saves time and money. No going out and buying a giant bag of pipe cleaners when you only need two for the activity.   What really sold me was the fact they won a MAKER FAIRE Educator's Award.  I haven't been disappointed so far!

Can't wait to see what this month's box will bring!

Read more about Kiwi Crates and see sample boxes here.

(The opinions in this review are all my own. 
 If you sign up using my link, I will get a $10 credit
so Noodlebug and I can enjoy more quality time together with Kiwi Crates!  You will ALSO get a $10 credit so what have you got to lose?)

Peculiar Valentines

For fans of the book MISS PEREGRINE'S HOME FOR PECULIAR CHILDREN there is a special Valentine's treat!

If you are a little late with your valentines, go here to find some really fun and quirky valentines based on photographs from the book.  You can send them electronically or print them out.

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

Valentine's Eve

For some time now, I have wanted to do a Valentine's version of an advent calendar and also a little Valentine's mailbox that would have little treats for Noodlebug in the two weeks leading up to Valentine's Day.

It still hasn't happened.

Maybe next year.

I did manage to make homemade cards for my husband and my mother. Noodle has a special Hallmark Toy Story card with 3D glasses waiting for him. I also managed to put together two little flipbooks for my two best local friends filled with all the things I love about them. And I made six handmade Valentines to donate to our local Meals on Wheels program to be delivered to local seniors on Valentine's Day.  Wish I could have done more.  I also had Noodlebug help me finish his TOAD-ally awesome Valentines for tomorrow.

Didn't get the house decorated.  Didn't get my Valentine's crafting goals done. But I hope the things I did get done will show my loved ones will know how much I love them.

Create Club Recap

One of the things I love about getting together with the girls for a crafty afternoon is the fact that no matter what project we are working on everyone comes up with something different!

Since this was our first meeting, I made little notebooks for everyone and included a Mary Engelbreit pen:

sideways photo!!!

We made journals from old books that I fished out the recycle bin at work.  

Carmen's book

Kim's book

Danielle's Book

Tina's Book

I hope we can all get together soon for another project!

Make a Muppet Face (tutorial)

This isn't really a formal tutorial.  It's more of an easy play idea I wanted to pass on.

I took my 3.5 yr old to see THE MUPPETS when it came out and he really enjoyed it. (although probably not as much as I did)  He is already a big Sesame Street fan.  I have always loved the Muppets because they are all shapes and sizes.  There isn't really ethnicity about them. They are all different shapes and sizes and colors. It's wonderful!  I love their diversity. 


I thought it would be a fun activity for my son to mix and match his own Muppet faces.  I cut up a cardboard box and covered some square pieces with black felt using a glue gun. I then cut out 4-5 typical Muppet face shapes and glued them onto the boards.  I then covered one large piece of cardboard with black felt that would be the holder for all of the features.  Finally, I cut out an array of Muppet features.  Eyes. Noses.  Hair.  Eyebrows. Glasses. Anything I could think of.  I ended up drawing the mouths onto the faces.  I may make some interchangeable mouths in the future.

Here are some sample faces he came up with:

I based this one on Bert but he has endless options:

I have been pleasantly surprised at how occupied this activity keeps my son.  He really enjoys making the faces although he seems really concerned about making them look exactly like his Sesame Street friends.  The best part is that you can make this using materials you most likely already have on hand.  The possibilities are endless!

Team Ashley Auction

I have mentioned Lil Blue Boo many times on my blog.  I absolutely love Ashley. She makes me laugh every single time I read her blog.  Ashley is fighting a very difficult and invasive kind of cancer right now. The amazing thing about her is that she maintains her sense of humor and hope and works very hard to help the people around her. Every time I get a case of the "woe is mes," I head over to Ashley's blog to remind myself how good I have it and how blessed I am. If I had an ounce of Ashley's hope, joy and sense of humor, I would be a very lucky woman indeed.

Some of Ashley's friends will be putting on an auction to help raise money to cover Ashey's medical bills.  In spite of the profound and difficult treatments she is going through, Ashley has fought to keep her online store open not only to earn money but also to keep her employees employed in jobs they so greatly need. A little extra money would take some of the pressure off so she can focus on healing.

I have gotten so much out of Ashley's story, creative inspiration and daily dose of humor that I want to give back.

Read more about her story and the auction here.  I'll be there.  How about you?

GIVEAWAY

I'm giving away a new edition of the KAMA SUTRA (just in time for Valentine's Day!) on my book blog.  If you thought this was a dirty book filled with erotica....think again.  The KAMA SUTRA is an often humorous historical work that looks at right and proper conduct in love and relationships.

Find information on the giveaway here.

(This book is text only.)

Create Club

(I chose the chicks because Petaluma is known for its chickens)

Some of my friends are naturally crafty. My friend Monique does everything from mixed media to knitting. My friend Danielle is a wonderful quilter.  My friend Kim is also a very talented multi-crafter. 

Some of my friends come VERY reluctantly to the worktable.

I believe that everyone needs time to do something creative.  It can be extremely freeing and relaxing. 

So, I decided to reinstitute our crafty get-togethers here in Petaluma. 

Our first meeting of the newly minted CREATE CLUB will happen this weekend.  I work in a library and we often have to discard and recycle books that are too beat up or out of date. I have been fishing some of the older hardcover ones out of the bin in order to repurpose them as journals.  So, this weekend we will be pulling apart old dusty books in order to turn them into new lovely journals.  The perfect craft to kick off the new year, don't you think?

Check back here for photos after the weekend!