constructive messes

I decided Will needed to spend more time being creative & getting messy instead of spending the majority of his time playing with his trains, cars, & dinosaurs, or getting into things he shouldn't: remember this?

So I asked the Easter Bunny to bring Will some handpaints.

And Will loved them!

He didn't waste much time before swirling his hands all over the plates & squeezing the paint between his fingers. It's always so much fun to see his excitement when experiencing something new.

love this little handprint

Project Goals for the New Year

I have been working (or procrastinating working) on more than one quilt for a while now (being pregnant for the last year was part of my excuse for putting them off). I have a bunch of fabric to make a quilt, but don't know what pattern to follow or what I'll do with it when it's finished. I also have a Christmas quilt started from about 2 years ago & a quilt for William that I started earlier last year. Yesterday, I bought more fabric for a new quilt (I really wanted to buy fabric for 2 new quilts - I convinced myself to hold off on the second one until I proved my commitment to finishing at least 1 or 2 of my already started ones. As it is, the only way I allowed myself to buy fabric for 1 new quilt was by committing to myself & to Scott that I would finish my Christmas quilt before I could start the new one.) I am feeling very optimistic about finishing at least one quilt, if not two by the end of the year. So if anyone's interested in getting together to sew, I'm ready.

This is the quilt I bought fabric for yesterday (as it turns out, one of the fabrics is the same one my Etsy apron is made from - see previous post). I'm planning on putting it in my craft/green-painted guest room. Isn't it awesome? I think I'm going to enlarge it, so it will fit on a queen-size bed instead of being a lap blanket.

This is the other quilt I almost bought fabric for. I really want to make it too! I better get going on my other quilts, so I can buy the fabric guilt-free.

Transportation Art Project: Completed!

Back in May, I got the idea to decorate Will's nursery in a transportation theme (this allows me to incorporate fire trucks in his room without it being overwhelmed by them). I was inspired by Pottery Barn Kids where I saw these pictures:

However, they cost a little over $80 per picture after tax. This got me thinking that I could make these myself - it just looked like canvases decorated with paint, scrapbook paper, and Mod Podge. I called my artistic friend, Marisa, to see if she could help me out since I'd never painted anything except for in my elementary school art class. I have done plenty of artsy projects in the past, and knew I would be able to at least draw the pictures & then learn/improvise from there.

This is how the canvases started:

Marisa showed me how to use acrylic paint & different kinds of paint brushes, and after our first day working together, this is what we ended up with. She took responsibility for the tractor, and I did the others:

We got together again about a month or so later and got this far:
We were then going to get together today to finish them, but Marisa was stuck without a car 2 hours away. I kept thinking I should just get them out and finish them myself, but I made the excuse that I didn't own any paintbrushes (plus I was intimidated to do the letters without Marisa). However, the nesting instinct really kicked in, and I wanted to finish the pictures today. So I went to the craft store and guessed at the paintbrushes I should buy, came home, fixed up some details on the canvases, braved painting the remaining letters, painted the borders, & added the finishing touches. So here are my completed Transportation pictures. I'm so proud of myself. I knew I would be able to do it, I'm just so happy with how well they turned out & that I made something so cute for Will's nursery (plus to make all four of these cost less than the price of buying one at PBKids).
Thanks for your help Marisa! I had so much fun hanging out with you & doing yet another crazy art project (not quite as crazy as our President t-shirts: Abe Lincoln (Marisa's) & George Washington (mine) drawn with sharpie on neon shirts & then accessorized w/ gold sequin eyes, puffy paint & cut out quilt fabric for clothes - good times).