[This Week] All About Me and Craft Fail

Are you familiar with "All About Me" boards?  It's pretty much a preschool/kindergarten rite of passage-- Usually a poster board filled with photos and drawings about the child that can then be shared with the class.  The child and parent are supposed to work on it together... Except in my experience, the kids are not interested and the parents ends up with "homework".  :) 

I'm on my 9th one... Ah well, I do it for their self esteem!  Happy Vee has no interest in drawing or answering questions about himself so this soon became a last minute "mom" project.  One of the questions was "What do you want to be when you grow up?" I fully expected something like a Transformer or Super Hero.  Instead he surprised me when he came up with an actual profession-- Doctor.  

I swear that I don't underestimate my children, but this is coming from my child who has been running around yelling "armpit farts" (oh the things they learn in school), so hey, I was surprised!  When I asked him why he wanted to be a doctor, he said "So I can doctor my brother when he gets hurt".  Awww.... brotherly love is the best!!! But since he can't/won't draw, I was stumped on how to portray this visually...

Photoshop to the rescue!

If he does become a doctor, he will have excellent bedside manner. This guy is a people person! He may karate chop you back together though :)

I didn't have a ton of free time this week, but on whim decided to throw together a Fall project.  At least it was supposed to be... Instead I ended up with something that words cannot describe...

[Make] Gilded Brown Paper Bag Pumpkin

When we last left off, I showed you how I made this brown paper bag pumpkin.  Now comes the fun part-- Adding some glimmer and shine to that plain ol' paper pumpkin!

I wanted my paper pumpkin to fit in with my pumpkin collection, so metallic paint to the rescue!

Click "Read more" for more details

[Make] Grocery Bag Pumpkin

Before BYOB (bring your own bags) became the norm, I accumulated a huge stash of market paper bags. Last fall I made a painted leaf garland with them.  This year I wanted to make a bigger dent in my stash and decided that a 3-dimensional paper bag pumpkin would be just the project to do that.

Click "Read more" for the tutorial

[Weekender] The One that Done Me In

I'm under the weather this week.  Still chugging along, but at a snail's pace.  I hate to sound like a damsel, but the 100+ degree heat and 8 hours in the sun over the weekend about did me in!  I woke up on Monday with fever blisters and a swollen face.  Now if that isn't purdy, I don't know what is!  ;)

The only relief on the soccer field where I volunteered this weekend... The tiny little shadow from a lamppost--

At first I thought my feet got a super tan, but then I realized that they were just covered in dirt.

The only thing that kept me lucid at my 2-hour, extreme heat, no shade, volunteer stint was getting to carry a walkie-talkie.  Made me walk with my shoulders back, all full of pride and stuff-- glorified mall security guard syndrome.  Kidding! But I did call in an injury to the EMT, so that made me feel that standing in the inferno, sweating like a prize fighter, looking like a dork wearing a fluorescent yellow vest that was so big that it covered my shorts and made me look like all I had on was a yellow vest with nothing under it <shudder>, was worth it.  I wish that I can say that I paid my volunteer dues, but I have to do it again in a few weeks.  Why didn't I get lucky and get chosen to plan the end-of-season party? Or make the team banner? Pray for snow.  :)

10-4 over and out!

So what does a little fella do when his mom is out of commission and his brother is at school? Fun Straws! These were a gift that I didn't quite get at first... but now I understand.... Aaah, FUN STRAWS!

This is so up Happy Vee's alley-- playing with water and straws. What more can a 4 year old ask for?  He spent at least an hour constructing different straw designs and drank a lot of water. No chance of dehydration with Fun Straws!

And the design got even more intricate when his brother came home--

All good. Except for the milk part, which they helped themselves to when I was outside talking to the landscaper... which then hit the deck... but then they cleaned it up... sorta... But hey, it kept them entertained for a good bit.

Anyhow, I haven't done a thing this week besides the minimum-- feed offspring, shuttle offspring around, and make sure said offspring take a bath and brush their teeth. Bare minimum.  I hope to get around to some Fall crafts in the next week or two. Wish me luck!

[Home] African Basket Wall Decor

Three years after moving in, I finally hung something up on our kitchen walls.  It's about time, right?  I'm not one to frequently change up my wall decor, so I took my time to find just the right thing. After contemplating contemporary art work and a gallery wall, I decided to go with something that I will love for a long, long time. Our kitchen has a natural and contemporary vibe so, with their earthy colors, texture and graphic designs, these handwoven African baskets are a perfect fit. They add interest without overwhelming our kitchen's narrow wall space.  To see the entire kitchen area (pre-baskets), click here .

Click "Read more" for the full post

[The Look] Basket Wall Display

I love the look of beautiful baskets artfully arrange on a wall.  With an assortment of textures, colors and shapes they are versatile and can enhance a variety of styles-- From rustic and natural; to clean and contemporary; to bold and modern.  Whatever your style, baskets as wall art definitely adds character to a space.

basket wall display via bloomingville

their catalog is amazing... I think I want everything in it!

Here are more Basket Wall Display ideas --

[Make] Painted Stained Glass

I love anything translucent and have been wanting to experiment with glass paint.  On a recent trip to Joanns, I didn't find exactly the glass paint that I wanted so I decided to try out stained glass paint.  It's not dishwasher proof, so not something you can use on drinking glasses or glass plates, but for pure decorative purposes, it was easy to work with and did the job.

Since this was an experiment, I decided to use upcycled jars. Now that I know how it works, next time I will paint-up some glass vases and ornaments.

Click "read more" for the details

[Weekender] The One with Just Sports!

It's official... I'm a soccer mom.

Smarty Pants played his first AYSO game this weekend.  He also had soccer practice, two baseball practices and a baseball game... Throw in the USC football game that we watched on tv and it was a sports-filled weekend!  I was resisting the "2 sports in 1 season" thing but at the last minute changed my mind... and Smarty Pants is beyond thrilled. Baseball is his thing. And with Happy Vee starting soccer next weekend, I'm pretty sure that the next 10 weekends will be be exhausting (but fun).  Now if the weather would just cool down a bit...

I'll be back later to share a project that I've been working on.  Have a nice week! 

They're in School! and a Sneak Peek

Today was the first day of school for my now 1st grader and preK-er.  Yahoo!  They were both SO excited for school to start.  Smarty Pants woke up this morning and proclaimed (actually yelled)-- "Yay, I get to go to school!".  This was Happy Vee's first day at a new school and a new routine, so I wasn't sure how he would react. But he wasn't phased at all-- he jumped out of the car and dawdled off to PreK without looking back.  Not even one glance. (Don't worry, he made it there with an escort). I think I was the only anxious one.  :)  But  I'm so glad we are back on schedule.  Summer was wonderful, but IT IS TIME!

Somehow, in my drive to get everyone up, fed, and out the door on time, I forgot to take First Day photos.  Apparently my body was up, but the brain... not so much.  So here's a picture from yesterday's informal  "meet the teacher & classmates" day.  

They look a little stiff because I just told them to stay still.  They always think I'm making a movie!

I may try to stage a "first day reenactment" photo... but knowing my boys, that probably won't go over too well.  ;)

Every morning I will have 3 hours of "alone" time.  Hmmmm...  What will I do with that free time?  Here's the plan-- First organize and finally get around to my Spring cleaning (better late than never, right?); Finish up a bunch of home projects (see below); And then hopefully start some new fun projects (oh the possibilities!).  And I need to squeeze in some exercise too-- swimming while it's still warm, walking and maybe a class or two.  I'm not a gym person so I like to keep it simple.

Here's one of the home projects that has been on my mind for quite a while now. I finally found the pieces that I like and just need to hang them up--

[Make] Disguise an Alarm or Other Electronic Gizmo

I had a hard time coming up with a title for this post. What I'm trying to say is... Cover up that ugly electronic thing that's stuck to your wall in the most unfortunate place.  In our case, the ugly electronic thing is our pool control panel and it's right smack dab in the middle of our family room wall. Not something that I want to gaze at every day so... a little ingenuity to the rescue.

So the eyesore is covered up, but you're probably wondering how we can easily access our pool controls without removing the artwork?

[The Look] Enzo Mari Prints

I've had my eye on these Enzo Mari prints since I saw them on the September 2011 cover of Martha Stewart Living. They are fun, modern and can liven up a neutral space with a big pop of color. Not only that, these prints have longevity; they were first published in the 1960's and are still current today.