WIP Wednesday: Less Talk, More Craft

I've been in the spring cleaning spirit lately, one of those moods in which I feel like getting rid of all of my stuff, preferably by crafting it into other stuff. Here's what I've been up to, in my flurry-ish of activity:

Patternmaking:

Quilting:

Party planning:

Working in the garden (thinning seedlings requires much consumption of radish sprouts and kale microgreens, as everyone knows):

And, of course, playing with a new toy:

Trust me, we have LOTS of plans for that new item.

And, of course, I've also been parenting and taking lots of walks and eating sandwiches and watching season 2 of Supernatural. You know, important stuff like that.

P.S. Check out my weekend posts at Crafting a Green World--a tutorial for making those paper chains that I've been going on and on about, and a review of Ecofont, which is my new favorite font because it rules.

On the Wall

It has taken, literally, YEARS to figure this out, with lots of bad ideas and a huge stack of all kinds of photo frames set aside for our garage sale later this spring, but I have finally achieved wall art perfection:

So I didn't like the photo frames because I could never get their placement measured out perfectly (me and my math...sigh) and they always hung a little crooked and our walls are crap, I mean CRAP. They're plaster over metal lathe, and can you imagine a more nightmarish scenario for trying to hang something from a wall? Half the time you hit the steel, and the other half of the time a huge chunk of plaster falls out. And poor Matt, who has the primary responsibility shelf-making in the house--he has uttered swears that I have never heard before, and I have heard a lot of swears.

Anyway, inspired by these Photojojo vinyl wall frames that just stick right to the wall (vinyl decals are way trendy right now, because, I don't know, people need more vinyl in their houses?), I first tried to make my own removable frames with Velcro for re-stick-ability. Cardboard record album covers were a bust because they curled, especially if I tried to decorate them with wallpaper or collage, but even thicker corrugated cardboard tended to curl, and EVEN mat board curled, as well.

So I brought out the big guns. Foamcore, baby. Never gonna bend.

The photos themselves I laminated to make them sturdy to be on the wall without a glass cover over them. My plan is also to swap out the photos and other artwork fairly often, so I needed something quick and dirty. Here's my VERY dirty application method:

Pushpins through the laminate and into the foamcore hold everything nice and secure, doesn't leave much of a mark, and makes it a cinch to swap stuff out.

Now if only a person didn't pretty much have to donate plasma to afford new ink cartridges.

To Partially Explain the Clown Feet

In case you happen to see me around town and it makes you wonder:

Preschool mani-pedi, my friends.

A Temporary Flower Installation

My little ones were very offended that I mowed the lawn yesterday. We have beautiful little wild violets, you see, and beautiful dandelions and other weedy flowers. And sure, I'm very fond of them, as well, but I would like this spring to go down in the books as the first spring in which the city has not posted a warning on my door to mow my lawn or face a fine.

So I mowed, and the little ones scurried ahead of me and rescued all the beautiful little flowers in my path by pulling them up and stuffing them into a bucket. And when I was finished, they presented me with the bucket, and I thought, "What DOES one do with a gift such as this?"

One gathers one's children, is what one does, and one throws down a large, pretty mat board into a shady spot in the backyard, and everyone works together to lay out a masterpiece:

It was as fun to photograph as it was to create:

Here are the dandelions:

And violets, and some lilac, which was not in the way of the mower:

Yeah, I'm pretty sure that bulb flower would have been safe, too, kiddos:

And clearly by this point the kids have just lost their heads, because here's some phlox, as well:

I don't know what that flower with the green leaves is, but I WOULD have mown that down:

So far this spring we've eaten our weight in dandelions (primarily thanks to this book), painted with them, and created an art installation that speaks to the ephemerality, and also the eternality, of youth. We haven't eaten the violets yet, but we will, and we may even make dandelion and/or violet jelly, although I'm still not sold on the idea--SO sugar-heavy! But it is still spring, and there is still much foraging to come.

P.S. Want to follow along with my craft projects, books I'm reading, road trips to weird old cemeteries, looming mid-life crisis, and other various adventures on the daily? Find me on my Craft Knife Facebook page!

An April's Worth of Paper

Well, we like what we like. That may be about all I can say about it.

For some reason, between the girls and me, what started out as just a simple paper chain to count down the days until the baby's birthday has...um, snowballed?

We make paper chains every day now.

I think the girls are pleased by the novelty of the new form--the strips of paper are fun to draw on and otherwise decorate, and it's fun, especially, for a three-year-old to see how her efforts add up into something concrete and hangable, and in one dark incident, it was discovered that a sister tearing up her sister's paper chain in secret can launch a day-long appetite for vengeance. Good times.

As for me, I think I'm mostly attracted to the paper chain's ability to mindlessly entertain. Often, while keeping the girls company in the work that they choose to do at the big table--pictures to draw, encyclopedias to page through, snacks to eat, dots to connect, random stuff to paint, etc., etc.,--I need something to do that is more interesting than just conversating (sorry, kids, but sometimes your conversation is boring, although I do agree, some dogs ARE brown, and yep, it IS weird that you can put a sock on either foot) and less interesting than writing a book proposal, or editing photos, or listing stuff in my pumpkinbear etsy shop, none of which will allow me to continue uninterrupted in the mindless conversating.

And that's why the living room has a little more bling, courtesy of a collaboration of scrapbook papers in blues:

And the bedroom has the more intellectual model, done with several pages torn from an old dictionary (we have better ones, I assure you, ones that are descriptive and not prescriptive, yuck):

I even posted some by-the-yard paper chainage in my pumpkinbear etsy shop:

You should totally check out that listing, by the way, because I discovered, in the process, how gloriously these paper chains photograph, and so my listing is stuffed with all these awesome close-ups and artsy takes on the subject "Paper Chain."

And EVEN THOUGH I started a paper chain cut from comic book pages today (I know--SQUEE!!!), with my excuse being that I HAD to watch those last two episodes from the first season of Supernatural because it was due back at the IU media library today, I have to put my toys aside for the rest of the week, I fear...

Remember the last dinosaur quilt? With the last panel to be pieced right here on my work table? And a tutorial on back-to-front blanket binding, intended to be photographed using this quilt, scheduled for Crafting a Green World this weekend?

Turns out that those things don't tend to sew, photograph, write about, or sell themselves. Huh, who knew?

Us, Tonight

Considering that barely half an hour prior, Willow was being perp-walked out of the park, bellowing, as Sydney followed behind us, screaming just as loudly, this is a mighty peaceful scene:

Willow is making alphabet flashcards for Sydney, cut from one of those Everything Preschool activity books--this was her idea. Sydney is completing page after page in a 1-10 Dot-to-Dot book--also her idea. She requires a lot of positive reinforcement as she works, because she thus far lacks confidence that she actually knows what the numbers look like and in what order they run, although she does, and so I'm hanging out, as well, creating yet another paper chain, this time from an old dictionary.

It's nice to have those moments of peace, especially when you know that all hell will break loose again at bedtime.

Rainbow Party Project #1: Rainbow Paper Chain

On the one hand, some of us (Willow) are still in our pajamas at 7:00 pm--these will apparently be tonight's pajamas, as well. Others of us (Sydney) have worn a sparkly leotard and tights all day. Cookies were eaten. Magic School Bus computer games were played allllllll morning.

On the other hand, we also made the gluten-free chocolate chip cookies, and a dandelion greens frittata for breakfast, AND had macaroni bar for dinner (available toppings: leftover dandelion greens, veggie parmesan, roasted red peppers, vegan chili, and avocado oil), and I did two loads of dishes (obviously, after all that cooking), and worked out, and we planted pie pumpkins and spinach in our community garden and spied what might be baby kale there, and I took some photos for ebay, and prepped a package for etsy, and we read lots of books, and of course there was some business with the glue stick.

Although I do not plan for Sydney's birthday party to cost a great deal, I do plan for it to be elaborate. Sydney enjoys elaborate planning, as does Willow, and they are VERY happy making lists and doing little projects to prep for the main event. VERY happy. Seriously. This rainbow birthday party is practically the only subject of conversation among the household under-six set these days.

To date, party plans range from spray-painting the EZ-Up to dyeing ice cubes with food coloring, but today was the first time that we actually put a plan into action:

Remember the birthday count-down paper chain that Sydney adores so much? Those packages of stash strips include every color of the rainbow, and they have been crafted into our first rainbow party decoration:

In rainbow order, of course.

I don't know how long the chain ended up being, but I'm hoping that it will drape nicely around the perimeter of the EZ-UP, both for the party and for future craft fairs. It looks EZ-Up size, doesn't it?

I haven't figured out any nice way of attaching it to the EZ-Up yet--I am SO over futzing with duct tape at sunrise--but still, one party decoration is achieved. Huzzah.

P.S. Speaking of huzzah, Crafting a Green World is back!!! Someday we'll split a pitcher of margaritas and I'll tell you the whole story, but for now just suffice with checking out my review of The Sewing Machine Attachment Handbook and my tutorial on painting with flowers. Huzzah!

We Can Stay All Day

We're going to the zoo, zoo, zoo!

How about you, you, you?

You can come, too, too, too!

Well, actually you can't, because we already went. Yay, day at the zoo! Having Matt come with us on a Sunday, even though it was CRAZY-crowded, caused the trip to not be the mom-chore that I had anticipated for tomorrow, but pure pleasure for today. We looked at stuff, I brought the zoom lens, I drooled over the Zoobooks in the gift shop (did you guys have those when you were little? They RULE!), there were butterflies, and then we came home.

And now I'm recharged and ready to get back to being super-busy tomorrow. Well, since it's a school holiday tomorrow make that super-SUPER-busy. So I'm not only planting in our community garden, and cleaning the bathroom, and finishing a dinosaur quilt, and putting some cloth diapers for sale on ebay, and making a rainbow felt bunting, but also playing LOTS of Uncle Wiggily, and going to the playground, and painting in the backyard, and baking cookies, and doing some Legos...

You know, your typical Monday stuff.

These Dinosaurs are for Monetary Gain

We are FINALLY back in the groove of business as usual over here. Meaning, of course, LOTS of business and good things that happen. We got the morning pain meds and antibiotics and bandage change done, with only one tantrum (big improvement!!!), and hit up our Montessori garage sale (and bought toy ponies and stuffed kitties and a board game about musical instruments and a wooden map of Europe puzzle and several children's craft magazines and a felt book about animal habitats with loads of little felt animals to put in it and a remote control T-Rex and another kit to paint a plaster T-Rex that I've been eyeing in the stores but it's been too expensive but this one is pretty much BRAND-NEW, SCORE!) and went to the Bakehouse for breakfast for Matt and the littles and coffee for me, and got free cookies and coffee cake there on account of our food took half an hour to come, and I love you, Bakehouse, and thanks for the goodies, but I am NEVER going in on a Saturday morning again.

And then Matt went to work out and the kidlets got so involved in that I actually got the chance to sew, which I have not done for a while now, THANK you infected lymph node.

I made:

 

and:

and:

Ah, bliss! You'll likely notice that these dinosaurs are also T-shirt fronts stitched to quilter's cotton in a log cabin pattern (Courthouse Steps, to be precise). These, however, are to be sewn into a quilt for my pumpkinbear etsy shop, or perhaps my May craft fair, for the season is again nigh.

Then, of course, I had to suck it up and submit to an item that the girls requested be put on the calendar almost a week ago, and I put if off as long as possible, but I could reasonably put it off no longer...

We ate lunch at China Buffet. Barf.

However, after China Buffet (the girls' favorite food items there? Macaroni and cheese, and ice cream. See? Barf!), we came back home, and while the girls and I picked interesting violets and followed the paths of bees and stared at spiders and pestered slugs, my Matt fixed up the compost bin and then assembled my most favorite item of summer infrastructure:

See, what did I tell you?

Bliss.

Dandelion Stir-Fry

My poor little lamb:It's been a bit of a job keeping her comfortable and content after the operation to drain and clean out that infected lymph node. She can breathe and think now, with the displacement of her trachea and the blockage of one jugular eased, but replacing those dangers are the active discomfort of that huge bandage around her neck, and the constant itching.

Oh, that itching!

We do have many distractions. We have Legos. We have Netflix (While her sister was at school, Willow and I watched a three-part Nova special on the evolution of humans. We are now experts on the subject). We have party planning. We have bubbles. We have our garden, in which we have just planted sunflower seeds:And we have dandelions. I have been wanting to cook with dandelions since last summer, just after dandelion season here, when dandelion season struck at 5 Orange Potatoes--seriously, dandelion syrup! Dandelion jelly! The awesomeness was overwhelming.

In consultation with Willow and I picked a mess of dandelion greens from our yard: Willow actually does this off and on all day, and so I tend to keep a Ziplock baggie of dandelion greens in the vegetable crisper for her. The greens are really the tenderest and tastiest BEFORE the dandelion flower emerges, but Will also honors no such distinctions, and so our greens contain a mixture of young, tender flowers, and the older, tougher, more bitter ones. No matter, really, as they're all going to be cooked.

Last night for dinner, I made Steve Brill's dandelion saute: There are loads of carrots and onions to go with the dandelion greens, and I added a sweet potsticker sauce to counter the bitterness of the greens until there was only tastiness left:And the saute was enjoyed with leftover pasta.

The little lamb has her huge bandage off now, although being left with a large, open incision, the large, sticky band-aid over which has to be peeled off and changed twice a day, is not exponentially better, IMHO, but as I always say, baby steps, my friends. Baby steps.

Oh, and hooray for narcotic pain meds!

Blowing Bubbles in the Garden with My Girl

While Sydney was at school the other day, Willow and I spent a calm afternoon out in the yard blowing bubbles:I don't know if you can see the big lump on the side of her neck, but it's about the size of Willow's fist. Late the other night she woke up crying and feverish, screaming that her neck hurt. Since I secretly read all those scare-tactic parenting magazines at the library, I immediately figured that it was meningitis and that she was going to die. I asked Willow to turn her head so that I could see if her neck was stiff, and as she turned I saw revealed that huge lump, which was not there when we put her to bed two hours previously, and I was forced to hasten the mental timeline leading to my child's death by quite a bit.

Fortunately, I am great in an emergency. Seriously, I am exactly the person that you want around you in a crisis. So ten minutes later, having driven under the speed limit and obeyed all traffic signs and signals, with wallet and insurance card and cell phone and ipod loaded with PBS Kids videos and Wee Sing mp3s, we were in the emergency room.

NOT meningitis, hallelujah. Lots of waiting and morphine and CAT scans and medical staff with questionable bedside manners and staff with great bedside manners and eavesdropping on other patients (this one guy accidentally stuck himself with his babymama's syringe! And she came to the ER with him! And they brought the baby! And then they yelled at each other!) and IV drugs later, the verdict became an infected lymph node. We got loaded up with drugs and sent home, and had one nice day to goof around in the garden--

--before we decided, in consultation with an ear-nose-throat surgeon the next morning, to submit Will to outpatient surgery that same day to drain the infected lymph node and clean it out. It was NOT fun, obviously, and I didn't tell Willow that it would be, but fortunately nothing has been too scary or too painful, and Will's big unhappiness today is primarily directed at the uncomfiness of the HUGE bandage on her neck and the itchiness that she can't touch just under it.

So our big plans for the near future include lots of Mythbusters, party planning for Sydney's birthday, and maybe some coloring pages. Oh, and apples. Lots of apples.