Marketing AND Decorating FTW!

Made some wood block ornaments for the stay-at-home moms group I run (SAHM's Club). Look, I managed to make a cute do-hickey that incorporated the group logo. Rock on. They turned out pretty well, but damn, I think I may have given myself carpal-tunnel syndrome sanding 'em down! The blocks are about 1.25" square.

Side 1: Group Logo
Side 2: Pink
Side 3: "SAHM I AM"
Side 4: Blue
Bottom & Top: Orange

Going to try to make photo blocks next (after I forget how much it sucks to make these).

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And so it begins

This week I decided to take the plunge: I'm scheduling photography appointments! I'll be working super cheap and only focusing on kids to start with. And, of course, I'm scared, so I'm only working with friends who'll cut me some slack as I blindly feel my way through this process! Time to pull out my camera manual and start learning how to actually use the thing. . . .

But I'm excited to get started and my family can really use the extra income right now. So, wish me luck!

If you're a friend who'd like some photos of their kids, let me know! Sessions starting at $25 in January; prices will go up as I gain experience and build a portfolio, so schedule an appointment today!

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Spooky Thumbs

Lacking inspiration for something new to post, I've decided to post something old.

For Halloween this year--my favorite holiday--I had my girls help me make these cool thumbprint decorations for my mantle:

I chose two creepy scrapbook papers and had 'em each put one thumbprint on both pages. I added the details of the bats and spiders with my skinny Sharpie and stamped on the words with my alphabet stamps. Then I simply Mod-podged 'em onto small blocks of wood. Ta-da!

I promised these to my mother so she can display them in her house for years to come.

Also, my pumpkins in the back are those plastic pumpkins that are so popular now. I just drew on them with my trusty sharpie ('cause paint and I are NOT friends).

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Thanks and Christmas

Every year for Thanksgiving, I set a little decorative bowl out next to some pretty scraps of paper and I encourage everyone in the family to write what they're thankful for. The bowl collects all our thanks (of course, I write out my kids'--very amusing--entries for them. . . last year someone was thankful for underwear).

I read through them at Thanksgiving dinner (which is never turkey, by the way, none of us are fans), and then. . . what? What should I do with all those precious scraps of thanks? The first year I copied the list into a journal, but I want something more novel to do with them.

Thanks to a blog I enjoy, Tatertots and Jello, I now have the PERFECT solution.  They did a post awhile back about a Christmas gift for newlyweds. And I'm totally stealing the idea.

This year I will put all our little, colorful scraps of thanks into a clear glass (or maybe plastic is more appropriate for now. . .) ornament to hang on the Christmas tree year after year. Of course, I'll paint the year on the ornament and every year we'll add a new ornament with new thanks, just shake it up and see what we appreciated most that year. Our scraps are tiny, so it'll look like a colorful little snowglobe (although I love the curls in the "Tatertots" post). Maybe I'll even post a picture to share with you all!

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Career Paths

I still don't know what I want to be when I grow up. But I'm considering working on my photography so I can take photos and get paid for it. But I'm a little scared. I can almost NEVER get Bugger to smile, how am I going to get someone else's kid to smile? Hmmmm. . .


Took a successful photo drive this weekend (where I put the kids in the car and we drive around, jumping out of the car for photos whenever I spot a good place)

Happy for insights into my new endeavor, if anyone has any pros/cons for me to consider!

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Literary Art

I love this stuff. I think you should, too. I could probably recreate this to some extent, but I'll likely never make the attempt. I like the Alice in Wonderland one--wish they had more classic children's literature pages. I'm thinking Peter Pan, Tarzan and The Wizard of Oz would look awesome on the wall in any toy room or framed and standing on a bookcase among tattered copies of the books themselves.

Check out the shop at Etsy.

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alpha

Many friends have great blogs, and so I'm inspired to launch one of my own. I'd like to focus more on writing, reading, art and photography. . . but I'm destined to get side-tracked. It's kind of what I do.

Anyway, after two days, I'm still lacking the proper muse for my first post, so I decided to move some of my favorite past artistic endeavors over here. Maybe that will get me going.

So, let's get things started.

This is a piece I wrote in April 2008. . . except I edited my daughters' names out and replaced 'em with their nick-names, Monkey and Bugger.

TODAY 
No jacket today, it's too warm for a jacket.
 
No crackers in the car; you'll have to wait until we get home.
 
Don't touch, please. Fragile.
 
Dinosaurs say "RAWWRRR!"
 
If you hurt Bugger, you get an automatic time-out.
 
Stop telling me that you don't like it; you haven't even tried it yet.
 
Pick your nose in private please. And use a tissue.
 
There's no need to be scared of bugs.
 
Mommy is just being silly.
 
A bubble went into your mouth?! Wow!
 
You don't need to shout "this is FUN!" whenever you're enjoying yourself. But you can keep doing it, because it's cute.

Please sing to Bugger for me. She's sad.

*mwah* Does that feel better now?

That is called a pine cone.

I don't know that little boy's name. We don't know him.

Yup, Daddy is my best friend. But you're my best friend, too.

What does this say? Can you tell me?

You're the most ticklish girl in the whole world!

You're going to dream about puppies and nursing? Okay, that sounds good to me.

I love you, Monkey. I love you, Monkey. I love you, Monkey.

Yes. I love Daddy too.

Yeah, and Bugger.

Night-night, baby.

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