tsk... tsk... That Naughty Alice

This innocent looking little girl is not quite so innocent after all. :) This is one of my paintings for my "little" Halloween project I began a month or two ago. The bottom half has some lovely little words that I took out to post on here. I thought I'd just show my painting. It doesn't give too much away. I was going to post a page/painting every day starting at the first of October as a count down for Halloween for fun, but have changed my mind. It's turning into a really lovely/morbid book and I think I might just try to submit it to some publishers. I hope writing that doesn't jinx myself. I like low pressure. Art for the sake of art. If I feel that I am on time constraints or people counting on me than I get all freaky and back away, but this project has made me so unbelievably happy that if I could get it published it would make me even more happy to feel like others would enjoy it too. I'll understand if no publishers are interested because it's more for the age of little kids, but at the same time has become too macabre to get many parents interested to buy for their children. This "Alice" painting is probably the most tame of all 27. I can't get myself to tone this book down at all. I feel that's where its charm lies. ~sigh~ I think now it will only appeal to those who like Tim Burton. So grown ups who are kids at heart, are a little twisted and like things playfully dark. If no publishers are interested by next Halloween I'll post them as a count down by then- sound good? It just wouldn't be a good idea to post my words, illustrations, and ideas if it were to actually be considered. Wish me luck. I've never tried anything like this before.

Songs from this summer

Well it's hard not to feel a little silly posting this, but I've decided to try to not feel dumb anyway. I guess the other videos of me singing or with my guitar have been messing around with my kids and it's a little weird to show these videos of me just by myself. I keep thinking things like, "huh, do I really do that with my lips when I sing?" Anyway, here's a fun song by Ingrid Michaelson called "The Way I Am," that I figured out this summer. I play it almost like a bass guitar and tap the guitar at the bottom with my hand to give it some percussion. (Ignore the vibrating of my low E string that needs to be replaced. :)

This second song is by Brandi Carlile and is called "The Story". I love how she sings softly and then gets really loud at points. I tried to do that a bit, but I guess I'm more of a folky singer than a rocker. :) I've been really into Sondre Lerche as well, but he's so amazing on the guitar I'm not brave enough to show my versions of his songs.

Ahhh- Life returing to normal.

It's been a terribly long time since I've posted anything on here because I've been absolutely boring. :) Long story short, this pregnancy turned out to be so much worse than I had anticipated even when I was as morning sick as my last post 3 months ago. After needing to be hospitalized with an enormous blood clot and severe dehydration and bed rest with I.V. I am happy to say I feel pretty normal now! For a while all I did was lay in bed and read or play the guitar. I haven't felt like painting and or sewing. Since this is my projects blog, the only project I've been working on is our little baby- which we now know is another fun girly!!! I guess I could post one of the new songs I've learned on the guitar. hmmm- yah maybe.

Well just know that I'm not dead and now that I'm feeling better there's some fun stuff to post soon. I've been working on a Halloween surprise the last 2 weeks. Come on, you know me- Halloween excitement starts in August. I wont have it finished anywhere near the point that I'd like for this Halloween, but I'll post what I've got as it gets closer to normal Halloween time and hope to have it all completed next year. It's actually a pretty big project with 26 separate paintings. I'm just glad I feel like being creative again.


Here's how you know that I'm really doing better.... on September 6th I'm going to be teaching my neighborhood how to do the Thriller dance so we can perform it in a big talent show Oct. 18th dressed up like zombies. I have to teach them in Sept because the try outs are the 12th of Sept. I just know we'll get it the talent show though. It's going to be so awesome if we get a big crowd. I've talked with about a dozen people about my idea and they are all excited so I figured why not invite everyone. I made invitations yesterday and reserved a gym to teach them in and will pass out those invites Tuesday and Wednesday to 100 neighbors or so. If I get a big enough crowd I'll host a Utah event for "Thrill the World". They are trying to break a Guinness Book of World Record for the most people dancing the same dance at one time (Thriller of course). It's scheduled for October 25th at 10am our time here, but no one has volunteered to head it up for Utah. I figure if I'm already teaching a bunch of people, I might as well host an event for here. Check out the website here. There's information for where different events are held all over the world and how to get a hold of that person hosting it. Also there's videos that very easily break down the dance for you to learn. I'm pretty excited in a very typical, me geeky way. Email me if you live nearby and want to learn the Thriller. :)

An Addition to the Family

Presenting "Princess Buttercup" the newest member of our family. (The name might not stick- we are also trying out Pepper Pots, Fire Cat, and Sarah- but the girls seem to like Princess Buttercup the most) She was born about two months ago and has 5 siblings. Yesterday we got the call from our friend that their kittens were old enough now for us to come get one and so we rushed right over. The girls picked her out and named her.
They were so excited and spent all evening playing with her. She has a very comfy bed and a blankie that Kendyl (our blankie expert) was sure she'd love and you guessed it. She spent a little bit of time in it, but when it was time for bed she would have nothing to do with it and slept on Seth's head and neck all night. :) It's just a little ironic since Seth was fairly adamant before we got her that she would sleep and have her litter box down in the basement in the storage room and here she was, two floors above the basement sleeping on him all night. hehehe (I may have enjoyed that too much)

Okay so we have more news than that. Actually bigger news!

AaaaaaHHHHHhhhhhHHHh! :) We're a little over two months along!!!! So of course I am spending a lot of time with this....

I'm actually not as sick this time as with both my girls, but still pretty sick. You know, maybe throwing up a few times a day instead of a few times an hour. (I know, too much information) So, we are thinking maybe it's a boy or else my body is older and doesn't go through the same amount of trauma. Hopefully it wont last for 7 to 8 months like my other pregnancies. Keep your fingers crossed. :) Anyway, this is why I've been MIA for a while and will probably be for a while more. I'm just doing all I can to try and let this baby grow inside me and make a meal every once in a while for the kids (and cute man) that are already here.

Baptism Dress and more...

I finished it... well almost. I still need to hem up the underneath layer and add the horse hair to the lining to make it a better finish, but I was too excited once I tried it on her that I yanked her into the bathroom, played with her hair and made her go outside so I could snap lots of pictures. (phew- what a run-on sentence!)

Here is the front and the back

And here are some pictures of detail on her dress. Embroidering all those little pearls and crystals on her sleeves to make little viney flowers took almost as long as sewing the rest of the dress, but it's one of my favorite parts- so I feel it was worth it. I actually really enjoy doing embroidery work though I understand it drives some people nuts and they think I'm nuts if I go to the work to do it. For me, it's fun. I added a tulle (tutu material) slip to push out her dress just a touch in between her lining slip and her silk underskirt (that is just below the organza black viney layer). The waist has a beautiful silver and black trim with embroidery through it of flowers and vines and we added the little pearl broach to the center.

I'm so happy with how it turned out and I'm happy for her that she has made this decision for her life. It has taken her a while to decide if she wanted to get baptized. She told us last spring that she wasn't going to get baptized if she wasn't sure that the church was true. We were proud of her for wanting to think for herself and we told her that it was her choice and we wouldn't pressure her one way or the other, but gave her advice for studying it out for herself to find her testimony. So since then she has been reading the Book of Mormon on her own every night and with us and she has been writing in her journal things she learns and praying to know if it is true. I'm happy to have a child so determined to find truth for herself. I told her I'd make her a pretty dress for her 8th birthday no matter what. :) I'm happy she has received her witness. That will be a strength to her all her life.

On a much lighter note... our littler one decided she needed a fancy dress. Would you believe the girls sewed this? I helped in places, but the two of them designed it with the scraps of other projects.

It was cute to see Makenzie cutting out the bodice in the shape of what you would draw on a stick figure for a shirt. She asked me to sew up the side and top of the arms. Then Kendyl picked out other fabric and said how she wanted it layered. She even designed a puffy silk part along the waist like a princess dress. She found some scraps from our vampire dresses and tried to sew an apron into it which is completely crooked and starts in the middle of the dress and ends near the back. One girl would push the peddle below and the other would guide the fabric and then they would switch places. I would help guide their hands and shout for the peddle pusher to start and stop. Kendyl also cut out an old bratz valentine and attached it to the front of her dress completing the disney store look. All she needed was a parasol and tiara and she was ready for a night on the town. :) Fancy!

This dress took about 20 minutes to make- which is a very nice alternative to how long Makenzie's took. :)

Hooray for Mommy-Daughter-Dates, Girly Movies, and Art!

Our family absolutely adores this movie. I think I adore it even more than my girls if that's possible. We went and saw it in the theater and couldn't wait until it came out on DVD.
This is a picture from my favorite part in the movie when she sings to him in Central Park. She is simply delightful to watch.



Here are some of the drawings my girls did after watching the movie. They loved it so much they sat right down and began drawing. Kendyl had a stash of stickers that she added to hers. She said Gissell was dressed up for a birthday party.
Makenzie drew her favorite part of the movie where Gissell had cut his curtains and made a dress. You can see the material cut out.

Anyway, we had a mommy-daughter date where we watched this movie and played with scrapbook paper. I haven't ever tried scrapbooking before, but I love all the yummy paper and so sometimes I just buy it and have a stock pile of it. My girls like to get into it with me- like when we made our little journals. Actually Kendyl didn't make a journal that night so she did with me the other day and here's a photo of that.

Here's what I did while we watched Enchanted. My Relief Society needed some binders for the role, announcements, sign up sheets, etc. I couldn't just let them be plain white binders- so I got out my paper, scissors, and glue and made these. One binder goes to Primary, another to Young Women and 3 go to Relief Society because the room is split into 3 sections of chairs and that way they all get around.

It's fun to spend time with these cute girls and create stuff. I love to see what they come up with. I wish we could just do this kind of stuff instead of chores. I'm looking forward to summer when I get them more. We have plans for a science day, cooking day, craft day/art, and swimming the other two days of the week. They have been making a "family camp" plan for me to submit to. I must add that I am cheerfully submitting. :) I want to invite others to join in the neighborhood though. I think that would be lots of fun and a good way to use up our summer.

And the winner is...

Melissa- from back in Wymount days! Sorry I didn't post yesterday. We did the drawing at Seth's parents' house last night (aka the brothel to some of you - hahaha don't ask). Anyway, we didn't get home til late and then I forgot about it until now. Sorry. Well Melissa. I'm so excited to send you the painting. Use my email link and email me your address. I'll get it to you really quick. Sorry to the rest of you guys that didn't win. I can't feel too bad because you did have really good chances. 1 in 13 (since Seth didn't need one and James (aka Brittany) wrote two comments). Thanks for all your support with my art. It really does help!

My Painting for Janelle

This isn't a post of who the winner is from my post below. I'll post that on Sunday. It is the design I was waiting to post until I had given it to my friend. This design is inspired by the dress that my friend Janelle bought to wear for after her sealing ceremony. I framed it and gave it to her tonight when we were out to dinner. Her husband (Nate), herself, and her son (Bart- Makenzie's age and buddy) took our whole family out to dinner to The Melting Pot for one of the most delicious dinners we've had. We were there over 3 hours eating and talking and having such a great time (and the kids did great- so that was wonderful- yeah for older children). If you haven't gone there and you've got some major cash to blow I highly recommend it. DELICIOUS! Thank you Nate and Janelle!
So anyway, about the design. It's the first I've ever done in photoshop and I feel like I totally cheated and loved it. Fun to try new things I guess. I have a few other designs I want to try in photoshop that could coordinate with this particular design. I sketched the flowers etc. and put marks on it of where I'd place black, scanned it, and colored it in photoshop. It took a total of 30- 40 minutes. Way quicker than my paintings that take days and days. Janelle's dress is black and white like this with tropical flowers and has fuchsia colored satin ribbon along the bottom and across the top part of the bodice. It's so cute. I can't wait to see her in it. :) I studied her dress to figure out how to make this kind of a pattern. I wanted to make it similar to her dress for her specifically, but now have other ideas in mind to make it more my own. So those will be fun to make. Also, it goes along with my tropical thinking lately, not to mention I've been really in love (secretly) with this shade of pink since about last summer.
Well there you go Janelle. :)

Happy 100th Post

I'm actually pretty proud of myself for reaching 100 posts on this blog because that means I finished 100 projects (paintings, sewing projects, decorating things, playing songs on my guitar, cross-stitches, crafts with my girls, big school event things, etc.) I use to never finish projects! I use to never feel brave enough to show my art to ANYONE- even Seth. I didn't even draw or paint hardly at all for about 8 or 9 years (shortly after meeting Seth and becoming majorly intimidated of him - no matter how much he encouraged me) ;).

So here is a compilation of the 40 paintings I've done since starting this blog. I'm excited to see what my compilation will look like at 200 posts. What will happen in my life by that point. Maybe I'll be brave enough to try and sell some of it... nah. :) But to celebrate I want to give away a copy of one of my paintings. Any one of them. You choose. Just put your name in the comments and tell which one you'd like. Go ahead, anyone put your name in- even if I don't know you and you are a lurker. It's okay with me. :) Hopefully this wont be embarrassing and I discover only a few people look at it. I guess that would be okay, because mostly I'm just happy to have 40 paintings done and see the progress I've made. Last day for putting your name in will be Sat. April 12th and I'll post on the 13th who wins.

Tropical Themed Painting

Well, here's a painting that's not for any sort of art challenge, but just because I seem to be thinking about tropical things lately :) and spring. Today my daffodils offically opened all the way and it's very exciting. This is my first garden since getting married and it is beginning to bloom. I feel so blessed and happy to see what will come up next. I spend an hour out there several times a week pulling weeds, trimming roses, clearing the ground, etc. It's so fun and reminds me of my momma. I'll post pics of my garden I'm sure as I get more progress done, but for now here are some of my daffodils.

Someone has got to stop me...

Well, I'm addicted. :) I can't stop myself from making these cute snowflakes. I wanted to make a few for my classroom door at school in January for a decoration and I just can't stop. It's so fun to wonder what each one will turn out like... I fold... cut randomly... hold my breath as I unfold it... and wallah... each one is beautiful and unique and I can't believe I could make something so pretty without trying. :) Sure, as you make a few you understand a little more what to do to get what sort of effect, but it still surprises you in the end and is so serendipitous. Here's a few...

They were hanging and dangling and taped all over my classroom and now I have taken them home to dangle here. (I have now put up Saint Patrick's Day decorations that I made and will put up some Easter stuff shortly in my classroom). In case you want to know how to make such splendid snowflakes, here's a guide. (The yellow snowflake isn't so pretty, but it's a good simple design to teach you how).

btw- you can also use coffee filters and fold them up to cut.

Here's a fun website that you can make snowflakes with online. http://snowflakes.lookandfeel.com/ or click here. It's quicker and just as pretty, you just don't get to keep them in the end. :)

Probably because of all these snowflakes around here the weather has decided to become chilly and stormy again, just when the snow was melting and looking close to spring. This is what I saw from my backdoor two days ago. Isn't that incredible? It was so cool to see that storm coming in on such a pretty day? I guess I better make some kites or butterflies or something to dangle from my entry way balcony to entice warmer weather. :)

Thankful Journal

Well I finally did it! I've had plans for making this since November. I was going to start at the first of the year and that came and went, so what better day to start it than today (March 2nd). The girls and I messed around with paper, glue, ribbon, markers, and cardboard last night for a few hours and made our own creations. Makenzie wanted to make a journal like me and Kendyl wanted to make a "shooting heart" and an "ornament". What fun. The way this "Thankful Journal" works is that every day for a year I will record a few words of what I was thankful for that day. Emily Falconbridge thought it up and made one of her own that you can check out here and my friend Kristen made one too that you can check out here. It's a fun simple idea and easy to keep up with. A lot easier than a painting a week I'll bet, but I'd still like to keep painting. :)

Anyway, here's how mine turned out. Here's the front and inside the cover. I just glued it all together not really knowing what I was doing, but so happy trying something new.

Here's what all of our creations look like together. Kendyl's "shooting heart" is the gold creation protruding from the top and her ornament is that paper wiggly-squiggly creation on the left. Makenzie's journal is to the very most right and I thought she was quite inventive to make a clasp to keep it shut with that cute polka-dot paper. They are resting against our "Tinkerbell lamp". It's this cool lamp that opens up and we've filled with little paper slips of "happy thought" memories. Seth and I started filling it up when we were first married so it has memories from dating all the way to our crazy kids. It's fun to look through together sometimes.

Here's our cute Makenzie writing in hers today. She wrote last night too. She was so happy as she was making it and writing in it today. She kept telling me how fun it was to be creative and that I was being like her Aunt Kristie who always makes neat cards and sends them to us. Sweet girl.

Anyway, I'm excited about this new journal. I think it's a beautiful gift to be thankful and probably one you have to work diligently for. What a great idea to end each day thinking about how the Lord has blessed you and what you are thankful for. I feel it's very important. President Eyring gave a great talk last conference called, "Oh Remember, Remember" and I feel this journal is a spin off of his counsel. I've attached a link to his talk here. Read it. It's wonderful. Go ahead and make your own journals too. It's so fun.

Makenzie's Baptism Dress

Okay Kristen, here is the fabric that I called you about while I was in the fabric store today. For everyone else... you are looking at the fabric that will become Makenzie's baptism dress(not what she will be baptized in of course, but the dress she'll wear after in celebration of such a great event in her life). The underneath fabric is a shantung and the skirt part will have this organza black finished lace fabric over it. The bodice and sleeves will be the shantung with regular white sheerish organza over it. I haven't quite decided all the embellishments yet and trim, but the beads are for the embroidery work I'm going to do on the bodice.

Here's a closer look at her dress. Sorry if it's still hard to read. You can look up the pattern online. It's McCall's 4286. It's the dress to the left. I love the one to the right, but it's a bit fancy- more a wedding reception- flower girl dress I think. Anyway, I love the flowy airiness of this dress and it's sweet empire waist and slightly poofed sleeves. It feels Jane Austin-ish to me.

When I finish the dress I'll have her pose in it and post it to here. Of course I can't even get to this dress until I finish a series of books I'm reading (which should only take a few more days) and get my house back in order from our lovely vacation to LA. I should probably switch the order of those things to get done, but I most likely wont. :) Her baptism is still 2 months away so I'm not too stressed. "Still 2 months away"!!! Can you believe my little baby is so big? Already 8. Before you know it I'll be sewing her wedding dress. Oh dear, now I have to stop typing. For some reason my computer screen is all blurry. Waaahhhaaa haaa.

Week 49: Time Flies

Emily's Challenge for week 49 was "Time Flies" and boy does it ever. Time has flown from when my girls were babies and I would sing to them at night. (Okay so we still do that, but they aren't babies anymore.) :) Time has flown from when Seth and I got married 8 1/2 years ago. Time has flown from when we were dating and in college.

I remember taking a trip in college and visiting my friend Katie's house and listening to her dad (David Golden) play the guitar for hours while we sung along. This is the way she grew up and I knew that was the way I wanted to raise my kids too. So I decided to learn the guitar. I practiced a few chords and the next trip we took he taught us a very special song he wrote the music and set to that old dutch lullaby/poem "Wynken, Blynken, and Nod" by Eugene Field. (My absolute favorite) It's so beautiful and magical and I knew I wanted to learn his version the best I could. I learned it from him when I barely knew anything on the guitar so please don't judge the song by how I play and sing. If only you could hear him. He's an amazing musician and such an incredible person as well. I was so blessed to spend time in their wonderful, loving home. I hope he doesn't mind me sharing the song here. Any credit should be given to him, except for much more because he'd play it much better for you than me. :)

I play this song for my girls all the time. They know the words even though in the video Kendyl is more interested in showing her gum to the camera than singing every word, but she's such a cutie, what can you do? We're mostly just messing around in the video, but you get the idea. It's nice to me though because it's just how it sounds in our home instead of being professional. Might remind some of you of another video Kendyl and I made singing together almost two years ago...

I made plans 10 years ago to make a painting for this poem and made sketches etc., but didn't feel confident enough to complete anything. It was so special to me I was worried about making a painting that couldn't show how much I love this poem. Well, with this challenge I wanted to try and I think it's safe to say I spent the most time on this painting than I have on any of them in this challenge. I'm happy with how it turned out so all the time put into it was worth it. I'm so thankful I can express myself with art and music. It makes me happy and it's wonderful that I don't have to be the best artist or musician to find joy in it.

Something so interesting about planning out my painting was looking through my notes and my sketches. Back in college I had known I wanted Wynken to be the oldest with long brown hair that would have a caring personality sitting back amazed at all she was seeing and be holding a baby. I knew I wanted Blynken to be more of a curious nature with shorter blondish hair and holding a lantern that she had stuffed a star into that was lighting their way. Blynken had the personality of touching everything around her to experience it all whereas Wynken was happiest seeing it all play before her. The baby Nod I knew I wanted to be a little boy in green in his big sister's arms and feeling safe and close to her. I spent hours thinking about this in college and felt like I really knew these little characters. I have pages and pages of notes and sketches, so much that I had to put them all in a folder. Now as I looked over these 10 years later I realize that Wynken looks and is so much like Makenzie, Blynken is Kendyl, and Makenzie is holding a baby Nod...... no we aren't pregnant. :) Did I get you? :) I'm just pretending we are for the painting. hehehe But maybe we have a little Nod waiting. :) That's what our joke is anyway. (btw- the blue polka-dot fabric around it was Makenzie's idea and a nice touch too- thanks kiddo) :)

So here we are... a blink later, when actually it's been 10 years, with a painting finally done and two kids that sing along with us at night. Time sure flies....

New Sunday Dresses!

A few weeks ago while going through some fabric I found a little plastic bag of this cute embroidered corduroy material that I had already cut out to make simple little jumpers for my girls. I had cut the material and the lining and never sewed them together. I remember doing this a year ago last December when we were still in LA and thinking I would whip those out before Christmas. I guess I stuffed it away and never got it out again. Thankfully I cut the pieces too large and so now it fit the girls perfectly this year. :) Anyway, I set up my little machine downstairs and watched "Stardust" with Kendyl one day last week and sewed the pieces together during the movie. I'm so use to things taking weeks and weeks because I don't get inspired to sew unless it's something extravagant and complicated, that it was so fun sitting down and creating something new just during the time of a movie. I may have to do more simple little projects like this. I had fun looking at them during church and thinking to myself that I made those cute dresses for them. It's nice to see my handiwork more than just once a year at Halloween. :)