Really!?! Can you say OCD?

Sometimes I just have to laugh at myself. We are getting our house ready for sell and thus painting out some of the stronger colors. I am very picky about how I paint and edge. The previous owner had painted the master bathroom indigo blue. I like color, but it was too much for me. We had painted it out a light oceany (yes that is a word...at least in my world!) grey but you could still see where some of the indigo paint had barely splashed up onto the ceiling. Let's just say, it bugged me. Shon came home to find me painting the blue out with this teeny-tiny make-up brush. The look he gave me was so funny!

He thinks I am getting too OCD about painting the house....OCD...I just think that those are nice letters in the alphabet. Nice letters that are out of order, maybe I should put it on my list of things to organize...then I will highlight it so that I know that it has higher priority...Should I color code them so that they are easier to find, or maybe just file them under alphabet...hmm, maybe, I should do that right after this post instead of sleep...What am I doing still posting? I have to fix the letters! Shon, me OCD? I have know idea what you mean. :-)

Art rocks!

Way, way, way...(add a few dozen here) back in time, I went to school to become an elementary teacher. My specialty was to be reading readiness and learning challenges. Life changes our plans sometimes though and although I did my student teaching I did not end up in the classroom as an educator. Now, looking back, I am not sure what kind of teacher I would have made. I have been thinking a lot about this because as Toby gets older, Shon and I have talked about me possibly going back to work. Sooooo, 20 years after graduation, the question comes up, what do I want to be when I grow up? :-)

Many thoughts spring to mind, most of them involving either artwork or museum research. One other job appeals, but unfortunately I think that they are a dying breed. Art teacher. I love art. I love kids, I love to see kids get excited about art.

No matter the size of our houses that we have lived in over the years, we have always had a dedicated art space for our kids. I think that is why I can always leave my art supplies out without fear of them being touched.

In this house there is an odd closet type space at the bottom of the

basement stairs. We finally decided to make that the kids art space. There are all kinds of fun things in there. I don't care how messy it gets while in the middle of a project, after all, everyone should get a little messy when they are in a creative frenzy! Afterwards, the kids know that if they clean up, I will constantly restock it.

Here is the cute paper project that Lissie made the other day. Her cousin Natalie was over and they recreated themselves in paper. I know it sounds sappy, but it made my heart happy to see them so content and busy for HOURS making clothes, their dolls and houses. I loved how creative they were with layering paper, and using different textures for the hair, door, rooms etc. It brought back memories of when I used to play with paper dolls. Check it out.

Paper Lissie is going for the smoky eyes and bee stung lips this summer...

Livin' the life in a paper world.

Everything a paper preteen could want! I think that some of these items are not so subtle hints, like the paper laptop, cell phone and i-pod. :-)

Paper Lissie, I think she can only walk in one direction though....she has a huge wardrobe now, and although you can't see them, stylish undies and even a belly button.

A fabulous door.

Time to sleep....zzzzzzzzz....
Time to wake up!

Glue, paper, pipe cleaner, sequins, beads, glitter...doesn't it make you want to come over and play!?! ART ROCKS!

Back to Blogland....

Whew, I am not sure about everyone else, but in our house, summer does not gently creep into our lives. It smacks us upside the head and says triumphantly "Baby, I'm Back!!!!"

Don't get me wrong, we love summer. May and June are just psycho months. Here is our life in a nutshell,
1)We went to Utah for Mother's day~more to follow
2)Cub Scout Day Camp preparations including, paperwork, set up, painting a 20 foot long pirate ship, day camp itself, take down, more paperwork ~ more to follow
3) Some fun and cool crafts squeezed in here and there including, cards, jewelery, canvases, and a fun mannequin that my s-i-l Colett gave me. (No C, it didn't end up with Lissie lol) ~more to follow
4) Many hours of prayer, and discussions, leading to my sweet hubbie following a dream, which means a location change for us ~ More to follow.
5)Challenges and fun with my church calling.
6)Building a pirate fort for my 9yr old's birthday ~ more to follow.
7)Looking up the meaning of sleep, since we aren't getting any! :-)

One of the projects I have been working on was sparked by one of my best friends Wendi. She showed me a site where words are spelled out by architectural elements. I am trying to spell out Ostler. Here are the letters I have so far. Not loving the T, any ideas?...Everything else my friends will have to follow in further posts. Happy Summer!

Sanctuary....Aaaaaahhhhh......

Sometimes life doesn't go the way that we plan it. Usually when we look at the big picture, there is a rhyme and a reason to it. The hard part is looking at the big picture. There are many ways to deal with this. Prayer, scripture study, talking things out with someone you trust. I also firmly believe that you need a sanctuary. Just a little spot that you create that is totally you. My craft room is that place. When we moved into our house, the laundry room was designated as mine. Not just for the massive amounts of laundry that my family produces. (Really, I thought I had just 4 kids....) No, I picked it because it has a built in wall to wall desk, linoleum floors that were already a bit trashed (now I feel less guilty about paint) and lots of cupboards. It was cream and kind of a tomato soup red. It was cute and totally suited the personality of the friend who lived here before. Not my style though, so I have been working to transform it to my taste. I knew I would have to compensate for it being in the basement and not having a big window and having to get ALOT of craft stuff in a small space. I also wanted items that inspire me. Oh yeah, and it has to be done without spending any money. Hmm...tall order.
Here is what I ended up with. Starting with the walls, mixed some paint I had left over and came up with a grey/blue that is the perfect foil for any other color. Painted the cupboards white as well as the shelves for the wall. Hung some funky indigo blue curtains that I have had kicking around for years across the back wall to deaden the sound of the washer and dryer. Now comes the quirky fun factor...These pictures were taken standing in the middle of the room turning counter clockwise (skipping the door ~ boring!)

This shelf used to be in a florist shop as part of a hutch. They were throwing it away and a friend claimed it and gave it to me. I love the bird picture painted by my sister in law Colett, she is an amazing artist. Her blog is linked to mine...you should check out her art. :-) The rest are items that inspire me, either things I have made or found. Check out the sweet vintage table runner that I put on top of the dryer.

The drawers are actually the plastic ones you find at Target that I added paper to. They are sitting on a shelf that had five spaces on it with vertical dividers that Shon's Grandpa Howard used to have in his shop. He made it, which makes me love it even more. I added the wood medallions on the bottom and painted it. The items below are sitting on a narrow table that is desk height which is ~ not white! But it will be when the weather gets better. :-)
I added some peg board to hang the things that I use a lot. My scrapbook paper is kept close at hand, sorted to my own whimsical filing style. Easy access for those spur of the moment decoupage or crafting urges! The fun little wooden statue of the African woman is something that my Nana brought back from one of her trips before I was even born. I love the clean lines of it.
A few changes since this picture was taken, I was in the middle of a project so it was messy. I have rearranged the top, and put stuff away. I like things to be handy, but you also need room to work. BTW, is that not the cutest desk chair ever? Thanks to Aunt Betty, several years ago, she was getting rid of it and wondered if I wanted it. She told me I could recover it if I wanted to...don't want to. I love it just the way it is. (plus it is so comfy!)

Lots going on in this picture. I know that visually it is busy, but I have found that if things are not out and labelled, I forget to use them. I found these cute wooden shelves at the Robert's outlet for a $1 each. Sweet! I want to paint them white. They hold lots of little things in clear paint cans.

Wayne-O made that wonderful orange shelf for my 30th b-day. Yay way cool father in law! It didn't start out orange, but in it's current life, orange it is! I love the pop of color! The big white shelf is one that Shon hates, but I won't let him touch. When we were first married, someone gave us a gigantic water bed. We had a different bed that we liked. We didn't have money for wood to make shelves, so my sweet hubby cut up the waterbed and made me a bookcase. He did this with barely any tools. Just a saw and a drill. He looks at it and sees it's imperfections, but I look at it is and see his love. :-) Sigh. I like that boy!

I love this cupboard! Seriously someone threw it out! The kids and I found it on the side of the road. Made a few changes, there were country duck curtains instead of the metal and I changed out the knobs...Believe it or not, it was the same color as the indigo curtains I already had!

Little bits to spark creativity....The bottles are vintage food coloring. Some of the food coloring has dried into powder and is still in there. The little porcelain girl statue is one that my Nan and Papa gave me when I was 4. The owls just crack me up. They look so satisfied with life. The cute little shelf that they are in is actually an old cardboard box that was filled with mini-jam jars. Repeat after me...spray paint is your friend!

Sadly necessary, but not cute...maybe I should spray paint them orange? ;-) I don't usually want everything to match, I just like things to look like they are "friends" with each other, but in this case the room is so small that I have chosen some things as basics, like the white, grey and indigo. Then it was fun to branch out with pops of color. Welcome to my sanctuary.

Time for change

Whenever spring is around the corner, I get restless. I want it to be warm, I want to be able to go outside and not freeze, I want to be in my yard! Since I can't do any of those things, I start looking at things in my house that I can refresh and change out. I love the challenge of taking something old and reusing it to make it new, different and my style. Like everyone else, we also have to add cheap, cheap, cheap into the mix. Any changes I make right now, pretty much need to come from items I already have. I looked around, hmmm, I want to finish my mural, but thanks to Montana weather, it is way too cold to have my windows open and since I am using latex wall paint, that needs to wait....Let's see.....Mmmm....I know! Let's get rid of the off white carpet! Oops, guess not, that definitely wouldn't be free. :-) Looking around, my eyes came across the chandelier over my kitchen table. I actually like the shape, but someone in the 80's gave it a weird faux stucco, stone type finish, in beige, ivory and white. Now I know that taste is subjective, but I will file that one under E for Eeeewww! Besides, it has always driven me crazy because no matter how much I clean it, it always looks dirty. Upon closer inspection, I actually like the texture, it reminds me of wrought iron. That made me think of the 87 cent bottle of black craft paint I had in my craft room, so I got up on the table and it only took about an hour to paint it and change it completely! It probably would have been faster to spray it, but this way I didn't have to take it down. I love the results! Sometimes, change is good...especially when you can do it for under a buck!

No Peeking!

Today while everyone played with new toys or relaxed, I decided to relax in my own way and create the first set of pages for our 2008 Christmas album. I like to do a mini-album for each Christmas. I chose a 12x12 for this year. Not so much a "mini" :-) but a fun size none the less. Last year my mother in law Joan made this darling Christmas card with Toby on the cover. Of course I had to keep it, because it was way too cute to throw away! I knew it was perfect for my layout containing Toby's Christmas letter. When we asked Toby what he wanted Santa to bring him this year, he replied, "It's okay, Santa knows!" We pushed to no avail. Finally, we lucked out when he wrote us a letter. My favorite moment was when Toby looped his arm around my neck and read it to me. He still struggles with his "r"s and it was so endearing when he was reading. Can Christmas get any better? Anyway, I wanted to make sure that I preserved that sweet letter and those amazing eyes peeking over the edge of the card. Merry Christmas everyone!

Here are the pictures, smarty-pants one and two! I couldn't load them yesterday because blogger kept saying the server was down. So, what do you think?

I have had this little dresser for years. It has had many incarnations. Dresser in my daughter's room. Holding tools in the garage, craft supplies, in the linen closet, back in my daughter's room as a Barbie high rise apartment building. When we moved into our new house, I knew it would be perfect in my living room. It had a really wonky paint job however, dark purple on top and pink and white on the bottom. (Painted many years ago at the request of a 7yr old Barbie fanatic.) Blindingly colorful, but not the look I had planned for my living room. I painted it walnut brown. I loved the original hardware so I left it the way it was. To dress up the drawers, I pulled out a Monet poster that I have had kicking around since college. It was pretty beat up on the edges, but I really loved the picture so I cut it and decoupaged it to the drawers. It turned out really well, no bubbles, and after weathering everything just a little bit, the whole thing now looks like an antique. My girlfriends came over for a stamp party and everyone had to keep touching the drawers because they thought the picture was painted not decoupaged. On a funny note, I now know that being a graffiti artist can be crossed off of my bucket list. I thought I was going to die after spraying the whole piece. How do those kids do it?