and the winner is...

...my little buddy, Jacob. Proud winner of the history bee. And some celebratory cookies. I didn't have time to bake, so I made sandwich cookies out of vanilla wafers and homemade frosting. Yummy! Good job Jacob!

rainbows everywhere...

I thought all of the rainbows were kind of cheery. I keep my embroidery thread on these neat old spools I found on etsy, my favorite piece of batik fabric, some new oil pastels and a journal page I never finished. I've noticed that most of my blog posts are color coordinated. Why is that? Does anybody else do that? I think I get it from my dad. He has his routine right down to certain meals on certain days. I'm not that bad, but... I like things to match. I only wear neutral colored clothes, usually something black or white or gray, sometimes khaki. And I like things a certain way. I have a routine most days. Get up, coffee, get the kids off to school, exercise, studio time, check emails, work on some art, lunch, blog, more art... Of course, it helps keep me focused, but still. Time to get out and do something exciting.

dreams...

My original love is for making dolls and I've gotten away from it somewhat (although there is a lovely fairy in my shop right now). I find myself missing the dollmaking process, so I am working on some new dolls of my own design. The doll above is one of the first dolls I ever made - from a book called Crafting Cloth Dolls. I still remember the day that I discovered this book. At the time, I had been a stay at home mom for a few years and hadn't done anything creative for a while (except for raising four toddlers, which involves a different sort of creativity). I had just discovered the internet and I saw this book on Amazon. I fell in love with the doll on the cover. For me just then, a dream was born. So I ordered the book and made the doll and then another and another... Little by little, my squelched creativity was let loose. And that opened up a world of dreams and slowly, slowly I find them coming true... And it's all so wonderful. So you see, dreams really do come true.

no place like home...

There's no place like home, that's for sure. A picture of a shadowbox I made for my daughter with her most favorite pair of shoes ever. The words are stamped on the outside of the glass. I thought I would show you this picture of my kids. We stopped at one of those photo booths in the mall. They've gotten so big, we could barely fit them all inside. So much fun. It was one of those hang out at home weekends. I dragged out our spin art machine and the kids had fun playing with it. I'm still finding spots of paint all over the dining room...

fun at the art shop

I've been shopping today. I've been hanging on to this gift certificate since Christmas and I finally got to go to my favorite local art supply store and spend it and boy it went fast. I got some new stuff to try, but my favorite is the recycled brown paper journal. You know I'm a fan of journals and this one caught my eye. I love the rough brown paper. I'm thinking some pen and ink? I'll let you know. I didn't want to leave you with just one picture, so I included a couple of snippets from one of my art journals.

this and that

With all the kids back to school today, I'm doing a little catching up. Working on a little birthday present. I always spend more time on the presentation than the actual making of the gift. I think that is actually my favorite part. Here, I made a pair of earrings and then I stamped and hand colored a tag and wrapped it with ribbon and hung the earrings from it. I hope she likes it! My 12 year old daughter made this lovely lemon cake yesterday. It is so lemony and delicious. Each of my kids can cook to varying degrees. A couple of summers ago I had them each choose a meal they wanted to make and with a little help from me, they planned it, shopped for it and cooked it. They turned out to be really great meals and now they all feel comfortable in the kitchen. Now I just have to teach them to clean up! Also working on my drawing skills today. I'm trying to draw a little something every day. One of my goals...

purpley stuff

I can't believe it, but it is snowing again. One of the reasons we moved here was to get away from the icky white stuff. The kids are home anyway because of President's Day, but who knows about tomorrow. I may have to start home schooling pretty soon (ha ha). Sooo anyway, I'm doing some experimenting today with collage and painting, which is one of the things I do, but I am still working up the courage to put that kind of stuff out there for everyone to see. One of my goals... But as I was taking some pictures for you, I noticed that everything was kind of purpley (is that a word?) The top two pictures are of today's experimentations and the next picture is part of a wall hanging that I am working on and the last picture is of flowers I received for Valentines Day. My nine year old picked them out. He picked a red rose for each of my daughters and he told my husband, "mom needs something colorful" and this was his pick. So pretty. And purpley. I hope you all had a wonderful Valentines day. I had so much fun posting all the hearts last week and thank you to everyone who stopped by to look. I truly appreciate all of your lovely comments.

renewal...

Today I find myself thinking about spring. It could be because we are buried knee deep in snow (which I know is not that deep for some of you). I really like spring. The flowers are pretty, the birds are chirpy, everything seems fresh and even the colors seem brighter. Spring is a time of renewal. I have big hopes for this spring. I've really found my courage the last few months and have done lots of new things. I'm looking forward to learning even more and achieving some new goals that I've set for myself. Yeah, spring sounds really good.

handmade love...

This is a really special heart. My mom made me this tiny velvet heart pin for Valentine's day when I was seven. She was (and still is) a very talented and crafty mom and I'm sure that is where I got my crafty gene. There were a lot of times when my sister or I saw something at a store that we wanted and my mom was always able to whip one up at home and it always ended up being way more special than what you could buy in a store. Thank you Mom!

a blessing for you

May the blessing of light be on you, light without and light within. May the blessed sunshine shine on you and warm your HEART till it glows like a great peat fire, so that the stranger may come and warm himself at it, and also a friend.

- irish blessing -

so many hearts...

Can you believe I am still finding hearts for you... I had no idea I had so many. We are on snow day number five here, only it's actually snowing today. We are supposed to get 8 to 12 inches and I wonder if the kids will ever go back to school. The fresh snow has given them new inspiration to play outside. It's very quiet in here at the moment. Today seems like a good cookie making day. Maybe some heart cookies.

hearts...

After taking a little break from hearts yesterday, I'm back. If you like all these hearts, you have to check out Rebecca Sower's "Heart Sessions". I love her blog and her heart idea is so fun. And I found some new blogs that I will surely revisit. We are on snow day number four in a row here, but I'm going to be good and not complain. I'm actually getting used to having the kids around (kind of like summer vacation, there's always that adjustment period). I racked my brain last night for some fun ideas of things we can do together. Our valentine making session yesterday went pretty well. If you have any ideas, please let me know. Keep in mind, we are not actually snowed in here. We have snow, but otherwise the weather is pretty nice. Of course there is some "impending" weather on the way...

snow day...take three

Three snow days in a row... really! It is 50 degrees today. This would actually be a nice February day where I'm from (break out the shorts!). And even though they would never admit it, the kids are so done with being home, tired of wet snow, bored... The above snowball fight (boys against girls) is about to end badly. I think I will make a huge bowl of popcorn and break out some valentine making supplies and see if I can create some peace, love and happiness around here.

seeing red today

Our "impending weather" prediction from friday turned into another snowstorm on Saturday and the kids have been home from school ever since (we take our snow real seriously in Virginia). They really enjoy the snow and have been going outside a lot and coming in and going back out and coming back in and going back out... You get the picture. It actually just started snowing again a little while ago or what they call a "wintery mix" - all slushy and slippery, so I'm pretty sure they won't have school tomorrow. Oh well... I did manage to work on some valentine stuff. I made a tiny little red sparkly inspiration kit and some sewn paper/fabric valentines and I even tricked out my little striped bunny for Valentines day. The glittery heart hangs on my front door. The final picture is a gorgeous deep red book I found at an antique shop. I will probably chop it up and make it into a lovely journal. Maybe for you.