swallowfield

summer vacation + a giveaway

yesterday was the last day of school for my kids. i usually feel a little more on top of these things, but i've been practically sleepwalking since we got back from brooklyn, so as a result i've been a bit of a slacker mom this week. i didn't bring my camera to school to take a picture of their happy faces as they came running out, and i didn't do all the things i'd meant to do to properly thank their teachers, either. i think/hope they know i appreciate them; i have a bucketful of respect and admiration for teachers.  i don't even feel successful as a parent field trip chaperone most of the time, so i think they are a special breed. and that goes double for the homeschooling parents out there.

anyway, here we are on the first day of vacation.  they have big plans and i have some big deadlines. we'll see how it all pans out.  we made a family decision to turn the tv off for the summer starting on monday.  no more 10am martha stewart for mom this summer (shut up,) and no arthur for the kids. (somewhere in the fine print it says mom can watch random episodes of hbo series on her laptop after they're asleep. shhh. don't tell.)  they have a few week long day camps here and there over the summer, but on the other days i really want a quiet and relaxed routine where we can all get our stuff done + needs met. some of my happiest moments from summers as a kid were being cozied up somewhere with a nancy drew book, or beachcombing and finding the big flat sunny rocks to sit and warm up on after a chilly dip in the ocean.  we'll spend lots of time at the beach,  i know, and hopefully i'll find the time to squeeze my art deadlines in  around the edges.

what are you doing  with your kids this summer,  if you have  any?

damn, it's hard to take a picture of your own neck.

i have a few of the many necklaces i made from my designs left from renegade. (thanks to everyone who bought them there, btw!) leave a comment and i will draw five names of five winners to send a necklace to on sunday, june  22nd at 6pm est.  i think some will be hitting the shop in a few weeks, once we get our groove down, too. ((note: necklaces are all different sizes + shapes and may not look just like this, but they're nice, i promise.))

have a great day.

johnny sunshine

i'm pretty psyched that it's friday. 

this week i made pita bread, after being inspired by stephanie's. it actually worked, even though i am totally bread-klutzy. i let it rise a good long time, and i think that made all the difference. i often get impatient about how long things take in the kitchen. patience, young jedi.

ellie was super excited to find out that she had a sculpture in the citywide school art show. we went to the opening last night (the picture of blossoms above is from outside city hall.)  i wanted to kiss her art teachers, who were both there beaming and being supportive. i love them, and love that my kids are excited about making art.

i got an old favorite cd out this week. some songs are best listened to when the kids are not sitting in your lap. i still know all the words by heart.

i am enjoying these two artists' work a lot right now:
stehpanie levy
leah giberson
i 'met' them both through etsy recently and am really excited about what they're up to.

enjoy your weekend! i hope it is sunny and lovely where you are.

furniture putter-together-er

say what now?  ikea directions make me laugh.

the kids are on vacation this week and i'm in spring putter mode, so we made a trip down to ikea last weekend for a few things we needed. i felt like i really knew what i wanted there, but it still took over three hours to figure it all out and by the time we ate lunch/dinner there we all had that wacky glazed-over look in our eyes. does that happen to you?  it was a long day, but i left feeling convinced i'd be a more organized, better person going forward. ha.

i've been putting stuff together over the past few days in between applying bandaids, serving snacky meals on the fly, and enjoying time with the kids and their friends. (i forgot how filthy my kids tend to get at this time of year, when they're outside until its dark and i'm begging them to come in.)

in other news, i have some cool art-related stuff going on:

- i now have a shop on supermarket - i really love the site's spare look and design, and there's some excellent stuff to be found that i hadn't seen before - super fun browsing.
- i'll be participating in the old school show at uppercase gallery this fall.
- i'm looking into a way to have my art available for vinyl cling enlargements to order - a lot of people have emailed and asked me for this option; i'll keep you posted!

it is sunny and gorgeous here - how about where you are? enjoy your day.

hippity hoppity

happy first day of spring!

we dyed some eggs this morning before school. we didn't do anything special, just a paas kit like the ones we used when i was a kid. the colors are vibrant and make me feel nostalgic in a happy way.

this sweet jack rabbit was made by the super talented, currently super pregnant dawn from look what i can do. it was a gift from meg for my kids last christmas, and we all love it. i think he is eying the eggs suspiciously, or else he just needs a big nap. he is the king of the sideways glance.

checking in, quickly

i am having a lot of fun talking about artists i love this week. i think so much of the time with blogs and the internet i'm guilty of "just looking" and forgetting to comment and tell anyone how much i love something i see, so this purposeful effort every once in awhile to really talk about what inspires me is a valuable exercise.  also, i think no matter how big a blog gets, the writer/creator still appreciates comments and feedback, because it lets them know people are actually reading + thinking about what they see.  what do you think?

it's been a crazy busy week around here, and next week promises to look the same. our school auction is coming right up and i've got a hand in much of it, so my posts might be sparse-ish. i think i mentioned awhile back that one of my kids' classrooms (3rd grade) was working on a garland of peace flags for their live auction project - i've been printing their work onto fabric and i want to share with you my favorite peace flag - isn't it great?  i love eight and nine year olds. they're so clear about what they're into and not into.

each kid's design will be stitched onto fun fabric (a lot of stuff i got from superbuzzy + purl awhile back) and strung together with bias tape, garland-style.

in other news, there is a %*$#&-ton of water in my basement due to extreme amounts of snow this winter and some clogged storm drains. the basement is where my art studio is, so that's been fun.   reason # one million i am so ready for spring!

see you back here tomorrow with another artist i love. happy day to you!

love is in the air

i don't know when the last time i made two posts in one day was, but i'm feeling kind of post-y today. in a picture kind of way, anyway.
we've been doing some valentine making. the cat got in on the action, too.

Seven

{{This is my once a year post where I get all weepy and happy that my once quite-preemie son is now a robust young gentleman. See you back here next December 4th.}}

"Chase, I can't believe you are turning seven."
"Mom, you say that every year. every year you can't believe it, and every year it happens. You just need to learn to accept it - I'm a big guy now!"
"I'm not sure I can deal with that. You're my little guy."
"I know, I know, I'm your tiny little guy. I was tiny once, in the hospital. It was scary. Those were good times. I'm being sarcastic. But I'm not tiny anymore. I'm seven.  It's cool."

Likes: sweater vests, collecting Pokemon cards, fart jokes, legos, drawing in small notebooks, Harry Potter, shorts, softies, growing his hair long and shaggy, his best friend Charlie, learning to read

Dislikes: long-sleeved shirts, baths, flossing, being told he has to use the ladies room at the airport

Happy Birthday, Chaser.

good eye candy

as meg mentioned the other day, there was a great book fair this week at our kids' school. i love supporting local bookstores whenever i can and we got some great stuff to boot. i am especially excited about these:

i am in love with the illustrations in taro gomi's coloring books and have bought them repeatedly for birthday gifts + for my own kids. i think i like coloring in them at least as much as they do. squiggles is the new one (yay!) and there are two more - scribbles and doodles.

i am also a huge lauren child fan. i usually shy away from things once i find out they've made it to television, as her charlie and lola books did - but i think she is an amazing illustrator/collage artist, and was thrilled  to find out she did all of the illustrations for the new complete pippi longstocking collection.

happy friday!

In honor of Halloween, and because I have a very busy week this week getting ready for the show (I keep thinking I can just make a FEW more things...but I need to stop at some point here,) I am going to share some pictures from Halloweens past.
First we have the classic photo I bring out every year at this time now -the completely unstaged chair stacking photo from three years ago - this was a team effort aimed at getting to the halloween candy. It scared the bejeezus out of me.

This one was from last year, and I still love it. Our house is always this cozy and idyllic. Just kidding.
 
Finally, because this is, you know, meant to be  my art blog, I bring you one of my more favorite pieces for the show - it's called 'I like the view outside my window.' 
Happy Tuesday, friends.

happy, happy

yesterday wrapped up a busy week of commitments at my kids' school, and was topped off by ms. 8's big birthday bash (the date, alas, poorly planned by me in a moment of spaciness.) she wanted to invite everyone in the third grade, and we compromised on a lesser number but still far too many kids. and when i say compromise, i really mean that i was struck with an amnesia similar to what women everywhere go through when they think birthing a second baby isn't such a bad thing, and that their labor the first time around was really just fine. it was all my fault, this crazy party we had, because i decided that we had to have lots of things to do, and lots of things to make, and did i mention there were lots of kids? i feel like crawling into an isolation chamber today.  all that said, i think the kids all had a wonderful time, and that's what matters.
::fun with oobleck + some crazy-awesome balloons + sugarific chocolate fondue (oh, and in the backround you can witness chase and charlie's prerequisite and legendary birthday party wrestling match parlor-trick.)::