Snow Day

No school.

No work.

No teaching.

No grocery shopping.

No library.

No post office.

No crafting.

No alone time.

Just this:

Best. Day. Ever!

Look at Me and How Awesomely Famous I Am!

Y'all know how I am so cutting edge in the eco revolution, right? So I often watch Zaproot, which hosts these little news-show clips of breaking news on the enviromental front--they're nice because they usually report positive environmental acts or encourage people in concrete positive environmental acts they themselves can take, etc.--I'm really not so much into downer news because then I feel all bummed and powerless, so I like their method. Matt hates all their quick cuts, by the way, but I'm all, "Dear, it's supposed to be edgy. That's what kids like these days."

Well, imagine my surprise while watching the latest Zaproot to see...well, me!

Keep an eye out at around 51 seconds into the video, and you'll see a screenshot of my Crafting a Green World post about writing my reps to protest the CPSIA:


Ah, fame. I have become so powerful that my mere image can now be used as shorthand for what I represent.

Heart Handmade: I Made It!

Y'all, I received SEVEN Valentines in the mail today! (And one etsy order). The big news, though, is that I mailed out TWENTY-FOUR Valentines today (and two etsy orders from my pumpkinbear etsy shop).

I glued patterned paper (sheet music or scrapbook paper) to the fronts and backs of 4"x6" pieces of recycled cardboard (cut from pizza boxes or record album covers), except for a few cool-looking record album covers that I cut down to 4"x6" and glued front-and-back. Then I cut and punched hearts of different sizes from more sheet music and scrapbook paper, and punched 1" circles in some of the cardboard Valentines. I glued hearts to the cardboard Valentines in whatever pattern I felt like (a different pattern for each one), glued pages recycled from a tiny little quote book on some, and wire-wrapped beads (some vintage amber beads, some a Christmas present from my mother) to dangle in the 1" circles of some of the cardboard Valentines. I hot-glued tinsel or thrifted bead strands around the edges of most of the Valentines, and cut and glued each Valentine a custom envelope recycled from an old atlas.

The US Valentines cost $1.17 to send, the Canadian ones cost $1.18, and the Australian one only cost $1.40. I have got to start sending more things to Australia.

Here are just a few highlights:Today was the day that Willow also finally got to wear the Salvation Army sweater I bought for her. It's about four sizes too big and has a big pull-mark on the back, so I thought I was buying it as a pillow top for her or perhaps her best little friend, but noooooo...

See? It's a knitted horse. With a real yarn mane. And a blue button eye. Of course she's going to wear it. Every. Single. Day.

And speaking of true love? This Saturday, my dear friend Molly and I are driving up to Indianapolis (By ourselves! Without my babies! Without my husband! Has not happened since before Sydney was born!) to see Old Crow Medicine Show:

If you're jealous (which you are), you should totally come and meet us there. I'll be the 30-something lady in the jeans and T-shirt, acting like she hasn't been out in public by herself since 2006.

I am so freakin' happy.

His Further Fall

Since the awful aftermath of their too-brief love affair, Barbie has gone missing, but Ken? Ken, I fear, has taken his first steps down a dark, dark path:

P.S. Check out my tutorial for making envelopes out of recycled paper on Crafting a Green World.

Whole Wheat Makes It Sturdy, Agave Makes It Sweet

Having one overripe banana and one ready-to-expire egg (and an insatiable sweet tooth--sigh), and being rather tired of many failed attempts at making banana bread (a very simple recipe that apparently completely relies on white flour and white sugar? I never had a chance), yesterday I made banana cookies using this banana cut out cookie recipe from Hip Mama magazine: My favorite things about this recipe? I was able to sub in all white whole wheat flour and agave nectar (I use agave nectar at about 3/4 the amount of sugar I would use--do you think that's right?) and the recipe still worked--a little sturdier with the whole wheat, which you're fine with if you're already used to whole wheat, and a little thicker, but then again, I'm no whiz with the rolling pin, either, so we must leave open the possibility of human error.
I also really like that this makes a cut-out cookie that looks like a sugar cookie, blonde enough to ice and decorate, but with more flavor and a little healthier than a typical sugar cookie (I was a big fan of the banana taste--next time, should I use banana extract instead of vanilla?)

Because of course, the whole point of the sugar cookie is to ice and decorate it:

And in the process, I made this whole other crazy discovery that y'all probably already know all about. So Willow wanted to ice the cookies with strawberry jam (we don't often have jam and, like her mother, Will goes a little apeshit when something delicious is in the house), but I doubted the sticking power of strawberry jam to a cookie top, and anyway we still had some cream cheese left after making the half-birthday half-cake, so I shoved the rest of the cream cheese and the rest of the strawberry jam (sorry, Willow) into the food processor and pureed it all together, and when it was done, y'all--I had made a SCHMEAR!!!

There was an Einstein's Brothers just off campus of our undergrad, and even though my super-sarcastic best friend and I used to make massive fun of just the word "schmear"--"Go on, say it." "You say it." "I'll buy you a bag of iced animal cookies if you say it. " "Fine, but then you have to say "purse." Etc.--y'all, they are delicious.

So, two great food discoveries in as many days, and Matt is currently working like a dog around the house.

Yay, Saturday.

P.S. I fear that yesterday's affair did not end well for a certain pair of lovebirds:

P.P.S. There's also some leftover blueberry pie filling in the fridge--blueberry schmear, anyone?

Oh, Dear

Forget the kids--my own loose morals are starting to rub off on the dolls, now:

Heart Handmade: Paper Edition

It was a freak accident--Matt's carrying Willow out to the car for school, and somehow he manages to bend her arm back and catch it in the screen door. The man is oblivious on account of he has no ovaries, and so he's all, "Willow, let go of the door and come on!" and I'm all, "AHHHHHH!!! You're killing the baby!"


Yeah, she's totally fine, but since her arm was all red and scratched, and since it was already ten minutes past time for school to start, AND since she was totally going to show up with a tear-stained face and red arm and tell everyone that Daddy hurt her because she was acting naughty, I decided to have Will ditch school for the day--juvenile delinquency starts so young, and is an obvious result of parental abuse.


So even though this was my To-Do list for the day--

1. Buy hot glue.
2. Figure out the serger.
3. Blanket binding post for Crafting a Green World.
4. Post to Etsy teams.
5. List record bowl/album cover Valentine on my pumpkinbear etsy shop.
6. Make banana bread.

--instead the day went more like this----and this: I'll write more about that latter photo later, but let me just say--Plaster of Paris? Rules the World.

I'm getting pretty close to finishing my Valentines for the Valentines Classroom Card Exchange swap over at Craftster: I'm a little disappointed in myself in that I had wanted them to be entirely recycled, and they're not--there's obviously some stash scrapbook paper in there, and the tinsel was on Christmas clearance. I'm also having a little trouble finding recycled materials to fit my theme--I started using scrapbook paper because I ran out of sheet music of love songs, and I made a bunch of handmade envelopes for the Valentines, and they look cool and all, but they're from maps. Not so much of the love in a map, maybe. But since I'm a newbie at papercrafting, this is a good start for me. It takes a while to learn to suss out the possibilities of unconventional materials for your craft.

Here are the two beautiful handmade Valentines I've received so far in my exchange: Awesome, right? And I'm still going to get something like 21 more!

I Heart Obama

I just can't get enough of the Obama love--I've been all amped up for this inauguration since the election, and all amped up for the election since the primaries, and I'm so used to the anticipation that, except for a couple of moments in the car (moments in the car are occasionally peaceful, unlike the rest of my life) when I felt such relief at having a sane, intelligent, and compassionate person finally in charge around here, I've been a little twitchy today.

Is that, perhaps, why I've spent the past half hour not grading papers, nor working up tomorrow's lesson plans, nor emailing some very boring emails, but creating a bunch of Obamicons? Um...yeah.

The girls spent the morning out on one last adventure with their grandparents, but they arrived back home in time to witness one small moment in history with me:
Thank goodness for autofocus, because Momma was crying too much for manual.

P.S. Check out my post for other fun DIY Obama stuff over at Crafting a Green World.

Bead It for Love

Matt's parents were here this weekend, playing with the girls, taking us out to eat, and assigning themselves to random and very burdensome tasks around the house, so I had plenty of time to finish my denim quilt with heart appliques for my pumpkinbear etsy shop, to give up utterly on figuring out what material those vintage amber heart beads are made of and just post them, already, and to do a lot of work on my handmade Valentines. I wire-wrapped heart beads to the cards I'd punched holes in, and I think they look really fine:
My mother gave me those multi-colored heart beads for Christmas, and what is that vintage amber heart bead made of?

While I was searching etsy for beads similar to my amber ones (didn't find any), I did manage to fall in love with several other sets of vintage beads and baubles and buttons:

vintage aged brass heart charms by ellielantern

bag 0' red buttons by ric rac and buttons

I'm pretty sure I'm going to buy those brass charms, so don't you get there first.

In other news, even though Willow voted for McCain, we have been getting way amped up around here for the inauguration tomorrow. All weekend I've been blasting this four-CD set of modern reinterpretations of historical Americana songs--pre-Revolution on up--and so now Will's on board. Of course, she hates England now, but what can you do?

My favorite of Syd's photos from yesterday is entitled simply "Uncle Wiggley":

P.S. Check out my post about fun inauguration activities to do with kids over at Eco Child's Play. Except the comments? First this guy posts and chews me out for suggesting an activity that involves a paper plate and another that involves typing paper, so I had to post a pissy reply about how I clearly stated that you're supposed to use recycled cardboard instead of a paper plate and the backsides of used typing paper instead of new typing paper. Then? Some other person comments with a link to another web site that has educational quizzes for children on it, but I had to post another pissy reply that the site also has ads you have to watch before taking the quizzes and it lets you gamble for money.

WTF?

A Half-Birthday Half-Cake

Yesterday was Willow's half-birthday--she is now 4.5 years old. Thank god she's not five yet--five seems so old, like she ought to be smoking cigarettes and stopping by the gas station for lottery tickets.

The best thing about half-birthdays, though? On your half-birthday, Momma bakes you a half-cake.
A half-cake, y'all! Half a cake! Here's how:

1. Buy yourself a nice box of cake mix. Will wanted a blueberry cake (when it's your birthday, you get any cake you want--same holds for half-birthday half-cakes), so I bought a nice box of store-brand natural vanilla cake--plenty of sugar, but no preservatives. Also? Damn delicious.
2. Bake your cake in one round cake pan. If your mix makes enough for two cake pans, bake yourself up a bunch of cupcakes, too, and then throw them in the freezer before the kids see them. I threw some extra vanilla extract in and some almond extract, on account of I think almond extract is delicious and should go in everything, and I had Will sprinkle plenty of frozen blueberries over the top of the cake before we stuck it in the oven. And after it was in the oven, I noticed that the directions on the box had all these picky instructions--"Mix with an electric mixer at blah-blah speed for blah-blah minutes, then put it on blah-blah speed for blah-blah minutes." Yeah, Will and I just hand-mixed it until she was bored, and it turned out great.
3. While your cake is cooling, mix yourself up some nice cream cheese frosting. I just beat a bunch of cream cheese (with a mixer!) until it's fluffy, and beat in some almond extract (on account of it's delicious and should go in everything) and just enough powdered sugar to make it a little sweet, but really, I'd be chill with just straight-up cream cheese frosted all over my cake.
4. Okay, here's the trick: Cut your one layer of cake in HALF! Frost one half with your cream cheese frosting (the girls and I also spread out some blueberry pie filling on top of the frosting, which I had mixed feelings about--it came from a can, and I'm sure has lots of preservatives. Next time I'd go for a nice natural blueberry jam, I think). Then, put the other half of the cake ON TOP OF THE FIRST HALF! Frost that baby up, too, and you got yourself a half-birthday half-cake.
5. Eat that puppy up!

After the half-birthday half-cake, during the obligatory dressing up in fancy dresses and running around like maniacs, Will took this photo: My half-birthday is next month--I wonder how much chocolate one can pile on top of half a cake, anyway?

Clothing for Dancing In

Y'all, you will never believe what I found at the Salvation Army today while hunting for red and pink buttons (the Valentine quilts, they are tooling along):
Five dollars each, handmade white satiny poofy lacy elaborate dresses exactly the size of a four-year-old (a tad long-ish on the two-year-old, but she cares not). One dress even has a little tag in the back that reads "Made for you with love by Grandma."

Were they flower girls dresses? Baptism dresses? Easter dresses? I surely hope that Grandma, who made them with love for some little girl just Willow's size, never knew that they got donated to the Salvation Army along with some other junk.

Grandma would be pleased, though, don't you think, to see the reception they're getting in our house:
Before I show you my favorite of Willow's photos from yesterday, I should ask you: You do know the whole purpose of photography, don't you? It isn't just to look, or to capture--it is to see. Seeing is something much different than merely looking, and it is why unobservant people generally take very poor photographs. To see something so truly that you can take a true and beautiful photograph of it--to do that you have to know what you're looking at, to understand it, to accept it, to love it. When you do that, then, with luck and skill, you can take a photograph that will help other people see this something, too.

I am, and this shouldn't surprise you, my friends, much more comfortable behind the camera than in front of it. I like to quietly see and capture, but I very rarely trust another person to see me, to know me well enough to capture a true photograph (if you want to hear a funny story about that particular little neurosis of mine, ask Matt to tell you about our wedding photographer--sheesh!).

It's stunned me, then, this week that I've daily put my fragile and expensive camera into the hands of my little girls (the lens still works with a few little scratches, right?). Because my girls, every day with my camera, they've shown me that they see. They've taken photos of their toys, their room, each other, and really captured their subjects, shown them true and beautiful through their young eyes. But most of all, my girls have shocked me by the many photos they've taken of me. Here, for instance, is my favorite of the photos Will took yesterday:

Those girls, they see me.

P.S. Check out my denim quilt tutorial over at Crafting a Green World.

Golden-Haired Girls Finally Earn their Keep

Y'all, my girls are finally gonna make me some money!

My sanity nearly cracked during the making of the very large amount of scrappy heart pinback buttons the other day--the girls, with painstaking care, chose combinations of hearts and backgrounds enough to make ample buttons for themselves, for whatever friends they choose to give Valentines to, for birthday parties yet to come...and still we have many buttons.

And that's when I had my inspiration--rather, the next time I had a shower, which is the only time I actually spend alone (usually), is when I had my inspiration, but stories that start "And so I was in the shower..." really only tell well to good friends, which you are, so, the truth for you.

Ahem. Yes, so what do I do when I make too much of something cool, which I do often, because I can't stop pattern-tweaking and such? Why, I sell the extra somethings on my etsy shop!

My girls could sell their extra buttons on my etsy shop!

And thus is born the Made by Golden Haired Girls section of my shop, so far populated by the girls' very own set of six scrappy heart pinback buttons. Here they lie all in a row:
And here's an example of one of my favorite things about the girls' work:
Pink and green! My color combos are much more staid--my girls', much more bold and creative.

Willow, at least, is pretty stoked about her intro to entrepreneurship, and has already suggested that she make some more things for the shop. And so now the search begins for projects a four-year-old can do and have the result not look like a four-year-old did it. Ya know?

Also for your consideration, my favorite of Sydney's photographs from yesterday:

my jeans as I'm wearing them

her sister, upside-down

P.S. Inspired by cake, check out my post about local businesses that teach kids practical skills on Eco Child's Play.

What They See

Snow on little girls' faces:
Snow in little girls' hair:
So much snow, in fact, and wind, and chilliness, that instead of cleaning out the car in between picking up Willow from Montessori and heading off to my own classes tonight, we hung out inside and, for kicks, I taught the girls how to use my camera.

I never knew it would, but it was a blast to watch my girls joyfully wielding my camera, which is always such a joy to me. Watching Sydney fit my big, big camera to her little, little face and hands, carefully focus through the viewfinder, and snap photos of her Willow over and over, I wished that I had...well, a camera.

And let me tell you, the kids are naturals. We got lots of shots of toys, the filthy carpet, me looming overhead, the plant that needs watering, etc., but my favorites of these are the shots that each sister took of her sister. I was lonely as a child, and I envy their connection, I think. The camera is heavy, of course, so most of Sydney's photos point downward at her sister, showing sleeves too long and pants too short-- --but Willow, I think, captures in her photo what it means to be a small girl happy to be photographed by someone she loves very, very much:

We should all smile such smiles.