A New Adventure

I haven't written in a LONG time, and I know that. And many many people have told me that. I just always feel so funny about posting with no pictures, and I'm sort of in a camera funk. I hope to get a new one soon, I hope.

Anyway, I am finally writing to say what I was so excited about a few months ago, the thing I couldn't talk about for fear of jinxing it. Well, I can finally talk about it, without fear: in August I will start a new job. I am going to be an elementary school art teacher!

I had to write a grant to get funding for the position, then once we received the grant, I had to wait for the official contract from the school district. But now I have both and I could not be more excited.

My degree is in art education, and I am certified to teach art K-12, but when I graduated six years ago, I sort of thought I wouldn't get the opportunity to teach art for twenty years, or never. But this chance just sort of fell into my lap. I wasn't even looking for a new job. I just got a phone call one Saturday from the teacher that I student taught with, asking if I'd be interested in this new position. I was sort of wary at first, not ready for such a major life change. But now I realize that I'm actually super ready for a change.

The best part is that every step of the way has seemed to sort of fall right into place. I even got to plan my own schedule, so that Todd and I can take turns with the kids, and even take Zoë to and from kindergarten every day.

So, this summer I get to really spend my time thinking about what I'd like to teach. It seems that I'm going to have a lot of freedom. I can create the curriculum myself, as long as I tie it in to what the students are learning in their other subjects. It's a fun challenge and my mind is constantly working on it. I also get to come up with fun fundraisers, buy all the supplies, and design a few teacher in-service trainings about drawing, painting, and bookbinding. Oh, I can't wait!

Do any of you have any good ideas for art lessons for very young children? I find that I think of a lot that will be great for 8-11 year olds, but I need more ideas for the 5-7 crowd. Please, I'd love to hear what you've got.

Happy Birthday Mom!

I haven't written in a LONG time, I know. But my mind and time have both been filled to capacity with the thing that I cannot yet write about, for fear of jinxing big time.

But here and there I've still been able to do some decent making, I think. I recently received the Crafter's Companion and I think it's fantastic. There was one project inside that I've been wanting to make for months, ever since I saw the sneak peak of the projects.

It's this fabric box designed by Sarah Neuburger of The Small Object. You can see some good examples here and here.

So right away I made it. It was fun and easier than I thought. And I have all kinds of ideas for making more. Todd just built a new shelf system in my closet, which I LOVE. Not the premade wire kind. He designed and built a custom system just for me. And I can see a few of these working very nicely in there.

I especially like the drawstring top on this box. When you're just using it as a box, the top part lays down inside very nicely. And when you're ready to go, you can cinch up the top and it's a secure, portable bag. Very handy.

This one is going to my mother, for her birthday, late. Happy Birthday Mom! At least you can see what it is now.

Received: Miniswap

I just got the best best best miniswap package from Kirsten. As you can see from this picture, Ikey could hardly wait for me to snap one quick shot. He tore into EVERYTHING right after this was taken. Then it took me a full day to get everything back from the kids long enough to take photos of it all.

We just loved what Kirsten sent. It was all so perfectly suited for my children. Here are some (several) photos.

First, Kirsten sent lovely pouches for both kids. Zoë's had costume jewelry and Ike's held three little cars. He's been driving them in and out of the "garage" all day.

She made these placemats which are a really great idea. We use fabric placemats every day. It's Zoë's job to put them on the table. She's going to love using these. And notice that great fabric on Ike's. I love it.

She also sent these pillowcases which were so immediately loved that I HAD to put pillows into them right away. You can see another picture of Ikey's here. He just pats it and says "train train train."

And for me she sent a lovely little tissue holder. I've been meaning to make one of these for a long time. I'm really happy to have one now. And the fabric is wonderful.

She also sent some pretty little Richard Scarry buttons that are so cute--I don't know if I'll be able to share them with the kids.

To top it all off, she also sent stickers, a great thrifted book, some beautiful little paper dolls, a dance mix CD, and a Valentine making kit. She said that I spoiled her but I think she spoiled us just as much, if not more. We're loving everything and so so glad we signed up for this swap. Zoë's been asking me if we can do it again soon. She loves having new "computer friends."

Mini Swap

I joined the miniswap over at MommyCoddle. This is my first ever swap and I was pretty excited and nervous about it. I am partnered with the fabulous Kirsten. It was so funny because we both live in the same state and it looks like we have a LOT in common. Like we went to the same school, same major, same professors, and many many shared interests. It was so cool to meet someone that I have so much in common with--that I never would have met without the swap.

Her kids were really easy to plan for. In fact, I had to totally restrain myself because I think I had too many ideas. Here's what I sent:

For 21 month old Monkey: Fabric balls with embroidered letters on them--I got the idea here and the pattern here.

For 4 year old Thomas who loves all things with wheels, I made a car playmat. It was influenced by one my mom made for my brother about 20 years ago. I just drew on canvas with crayons and permanent markers then iron and dried it on hot to set the wax. I bound it with bias tape and steam a seam. Easy peasy no sew project.

For 6 year old Princess who loves pink (and purple) and projects, I made a quilted sketchbook similar to these and a coordinating clutch similar to the ones I made at Christmastime.

I also included some mix cds of kids' music, a flower brooch, a lavender eye pillow and a collage kit (i.e. lots of scraps of paper.)

This swap was so much fun to do. I really loved making for someone else's children. I can't wait to mini swap again.

SuperLove

Todd really likes superheroes. This is a thing that I did not understand before we got married. Really, I didn't even know it. Maybe there were a few clues--he had an old ratty batman bath towel, a superman t-shirt. But that didn't seem at all out of the ordinary.

He's a writer and creative writing professor. I met him during his PhD. To me he was so smart. And literary. Like high horse smart. He knew everything and it seemed to me that he had some kind of "high tastes." And I liked him enough to marry him anyway.

Then soon after we were married a LOT of superhero/comic book movies started coming out. Some of them are not so good (the Hulk) some of them are wonderful (Batman Begins). To me it's been no big deal. But to Todd, it was a really big deal. It was like suddenly, somehow the stuff that he has always really loved is now okay to love publicly.

Plus he made a new friend, another professor in his department, who has a lot of toys in his office. Little lego guys and figurines. And now it was super okay to have superhero toys. So he has some. Gift giving was easy for a while--superhero toys and superhero books (of course the very literary superhero books.)

But after a while that sort of got boring. Maybe not for him, it's hard to tell. But boring for me. So this Christmas I tried to think of something I could MAKE that I knew he would like. And this is what I came up with: superhero pillows.

I looked online and through many of our books and found some great vintage logos and appliqued them onto dark blue french terry. I wanted them to look like someone's mother made them back in the sixties. I think I got it.
Now he's got the pillows in his office.

On a side note, Todd's superhero love isn't totally childish. He has written and presented two papers on the genre of superhero films at international conferences. So, he's keeping it grown up, I guess.

In My Head

I have lots of thoughts running through my head--that I can't really share here yet. But I can say that I'm excited and hopeful about a possible new opportunity and that my head is spinning with really great ideas. The kind of ideas that I haven't had in so long that I forgot I was capable of them. I'm happy to be thinking this way again.

On another note, the weekend we closed on our house and moved in, I found a piece of upholstery fabric that I felt expressed the mood I wanted for our interior. It had the right colors, and the right feel. But I couldn't figure out just what to make with it. So it has been sitting in my stash for four years. Then as soon as I saw this TV cozy, I knew it would be the perfect thing. Now, many months later, I've finally made it. And I love it. Here's a not so clear picture of it. I'll get some more straight on shots someday. It was fun to "draft" a pattern to fit our large and funky shaped TV. I still need to bind the bottom edge with brown bias binding, but again, I 'll do that someday, I'm sure.

Todd has also been busy. He and some friends/collegues from the university made a movie on Friday. It was for this film festival. They filmed outside for something like 5 hours, in 10 degree weather. Then it got dark and they had to reshoot everything, for continuity. It went much faster the second time. The film is only three minutes long and I think their finished product is fantastic. The best part of it for me was seeing how happy it made Todd to work on something like that. On the crew of 6, he was the writer. But he also helped with every other aspect along the way--and they shot it in our driveway. I just loved seeing him so excited to collaborate with other creative people on such a quick, invigorating project. I'll tell you the results as soon as we find out.

I Can't Believe It

I was picked as one of the winners in this month's Whiplash competition. I really can't believe it. I am so honored. I'm also very humbled. There were quite a few fantastic entries. In fact, I really didn't think I had a shot at winning. As I looked through the entries, I came up with a pretty long list of projects that I was sure would win. So, thank you thank you thank you. I can't believe it.

The prize is a copy of ‘The Crafters Companion’ edited by Anna Torborg and published by Snowbooks. I'm really excited about this. I have been wanting this book since I first heard about it. I can't wait to read it cover to cover and try every project in the book. I'll definitely review it once I have.

Thank you!