two straight lines

Tackboard II

I made myself a large tackboard a while back, and had some leftover material, so I decided to make one for Elliot's room.  The top is covered in muslin, and the bottom is 1/2 of a vintage linen dishtowel that I found for 25 cents last week at a thrift shop.  The fabrics are divided by an old measuring tape.  I made the tacks in a similar fashion to the ones I made for my own board, but this time I cut the circles from a piece of wrapping paper that featured vintage looking letterforms.  The paper is Mod Podged to wood circles and the circles are then hot glued to brass tacks.

Here's most of the board--

Click on photos for a better view.  Again sorry for the bad photos...overcast as usual...

In the Moment...

No pictures or crafts today.  We are away at my in-laws lake cottage, and my little one is so tired he went down for an early nap.  I forgot to bring any projects or the camera, which has been a blessing as I have tried to relax and be more present in our family weekend rather than being productive.

This cottage used to be a great get-away for us when we lived in Chicago, but over the years I have let myself relax less and less...This weekend I have gotten a little bit of that feeling back.

We've had naked toddlers in the baby pool, naked toddlers in the sandbox, naked toddlers wielding garden hoses.  We've gone on (clothed) boat rides, listened to the hum of other boats swirling around the lake, and thrown stones into the water.  I also loved hearing the sound of the Indy 500 yesterday, such a soothing VROOOOOOM to me, since I grew up in Indy, and that sound is ever-present on local television during the month of May.  Sounds like home to me.

I watched a movie last night-- The Family Stone.  So happy and sad all at once.  Diane Keaton reminds me so much of my Mom, never mind that her character died of breast cancer (as my Mom did), so it was a tearful watch for me.  The family was the sort of madcap big family I always wanted-- and in a big rambling house too.  Not sure where the movie was supposed to take place, but we spotted Madison NJ as the "real town" where it was filmed.  We lived a few miles from there until 2 years ago, so it was nice to see a familiar spot.

Hope you all had relaxing weekends, and were able to be more present than usual.

Corners of My Home

For my first "Corners of My Home" I wanted to show a few recently acquired pieces of artwork.  These corners were quite dim before these pieces came to live with me, and now they are a little brighter.  The first is an original Amy Ruppel painting titled "Mornin' Sunshine."  For those of you who aren't familiar with Amy's work, she works in a combination of paint & cut paper layered with beeswax on wood.  They have an amazing depth, and I find that visitors to my house are fascinated by their texture. (I have seen numorous people reach up and touch it- gasp!)

I found Amy's work a few months ago while surfing the internet one night when my husband was on a business trip (those can be dangerous for our bank account).  It is special to me, not only because it is a delight to look at, but that was how I first discovered blogs.  I was searching for something online, and came across Design Sponge, and a little owl was peering at me from an ad on her sidebar.  I followed that link, and a little while later this painting was being sent from Seattle all the way to Michigan.  I placed it in a small hallway on the way to our powder room.  I like the way it catches your eye unexpectedly as you walk by.

These other three small pieces, found just inside my front door, are prints also by Amy Ruppel.  I took a print for my son's room to the frame shop one day and happened across these prints.  It was such a random coincidence since I had just received my painting, but I quickly ordered three of them and had them mounted.  They are quite charming, but when you see the beauty and depth of the original, you quickly realize why one is so much more expensive than the other!

I subscribe to Amy's blog, and was excited to see that she is having an art opening in Detroit in the next few weeks.  I am going to try and find out the details of that because I'd love to see more of her work in person.

(Sorry for the terrible quality photos-- it is overcast here, as always...)

Wooly Vase

Well, as you know I recently fell in love...with the ceramics of Annette Bugansky (see post below), but I can't justify that kind of purchase right now, so I decided to make my own...kind of.  Annette knits a form for each piece and then casts it in porcelain. (er, something like that) Well, I don't knit, and I really haven't cast anything in porcelain lately (ok, never), so I had to come up with some other way.  So I felted up one of those wool sweaters that I have been collecting for years (you too, huh?) and found some tiny galvanized pots in my cupboard that I could just squeeze into the cuff, and voila...the wooly vase was born.  It took me about five minutes to make two of them.  I think it's quite cute, actually.  And for now it will have to do!

Amazing Ceramics

These have GOT to be the most amazing things I have ever seen.  I am in LOVE.  Fabulous vessels by German ceramicist Annette Bugansky.  Available at Loop.  I desperately need the chunky pot in the Aran Knit, or 3 of the votives. (Listening, honey?)

Via Holly at Decor8

Kids's Music Swap- Our Package

OK, so here is the package that we sent Cocoa Pebbles and Mrs. Pilkington.

We included a CD which we titled "Look Closely."  It is all about summer-- making friends, catching fireflies, listening to whipporwills, and looking at floppy tulips.  I hope that it evokes a calm summer evening after a day of too much playing.

The playlist is as follows--

We're going to be friends- Jack Johnson
If all of the raindrops- Old Town School of Music
Firefly- Dan Zanes
Have a little fun with me- Glen Phillips
You've got a friend in me- Lyle Lovett
I like to run, I like to jump- David Mead
Sing- Ivy
Catch the moon- Elizabeth Mitchell and Lisa Loeb
The rainbow connection- Sarah McLachlan
My favorite things- Nathan
Free little bird- Elizabeth Mitchell and Lisa Loeb
I won't grow up- Rickie Lee Jones
I'm different- Butterfly Boucher
You are my sunshine- Old Town School of Music
Bye Bye Blackbird- Rickie Lee Jones
I'll Fly Away- Alison Krauss and Gillian Welch
Birds and Ships- Natalie Merchant
Sun in my eyes- Ralph Covert
Constellations- Jack Johnson
Oh what a world- Rufus Wainwright
With my own two hands- Jack Johnson and Ben Harper
Baby mine- Bonnie Raitt and Was (Not Was)
Floppy tulips- Session Americana
When you wish upon a star- Joe Henry
Merzidotes- Session Americana
Whipporwill- Session Americana
Night Owl- Dan Zanes and Aimee Mann
Sing Along- Dave Matthews and Blue Man Group

(If anyone wants to know the albums just email me- I'm trying to ge this posted while Elliot naps!)

Also included in our swap package is a toddler sized purse that I made that just fits the cd, a small magnifying glass with it's own cozy, a tiny bug observatory, some flower tattoos, and a bouquet of japanese lollipops.  I also made Mrs. Pilkington a tissue cozy to match Cocoa Pebbles' purse.  We are going to send some more loot their way to make up for this uneven swap!!  They were too good to us.

This was such a fun experience for our family.  I love the fact that we were so busy gathering and planning for their package, that I hadn't even thought about what we might receive.  It was also great connecting with such a sweet family.  I only wish we still lived in the New York area so that we could meet up for a cup of coffee!

Kid's Music Swap

I received my swap package today from Cocoa Pebbles and Mrs. Pilkington of Mrs. Pilkington Knits and I am overwhelmed!  They went crazy!  This is our first swap and I wasn't sure what to expect. Now, I'm feeling a little bad about what I sent.  Hey girls-- more loot coming your way!  I was actually trying to restrain myself and now I've been outdone!

So here are the goods--
they sent FOUR cds-- I won't take the time right now to type in all of the songs but hopefully Mrs. Pilkington will on her blog.  I can't wait to listen to them.  I almost bought an Ella Jenkins CD for E. yesterday, so I'm glad to see some of that.  And I LOVE Ladysmith Black Mambazo, and there are so many other great artists represented I can't wait!  They also made a sweet little green scotty dog (maybe from the Allsorts pattern?) and the CUTEST owl puppet...LOVE owls!  They sent some small maracas- two small Dover sticker books, two full sized books (Zin Zin Zin a Violin! and Creepy Crawly Calypso -which also has a cd included) and to top it all off-- she included a Marie Claire Idees for moi!!!  I've been stalking the website thinking about subscribing, and now I can try it out!!

Oh my gosh Mrs. Pilkington and Cocoa Pebbles- thank you so much.  Your generosity is so appreciated!

Chicken "Man-Purse"

Elliot has his first "Man-Purse!"  Is this a right of passage like a girl getting her ears pierced?  Last night I was finishing up a few goodies for a sweet little girl in Brooklyn (more on that after the package is received), and he saw the goods and had a fit.  So we searched through the stash for some appropriate boy fabric, and the chicken "man-purse" was born.  He even helped me whip it together (at 10:30 PM since he napped until 7PM- this transition stuff is killing me).  As I sewed he would yell- "watch out chicken!" as well as "faster! faster! faster!"

Here's a more casual pose...future JCrew model, wouldn't you say?

One more thing-- this morning a friend invited me to a Scholastic Books warehouse sale right here in my town.  It was awesome- I got 13 books for $31.  And they were books I'd been wanting like this and this.  They have warehouses all over.  Check out this link for a site near you.  Seems like most of the sales are in the next week or so.

Photocraft

Well, it seems that my pillow struck a chord, and I thought I would pass along some information about a book that I bought recently that includes a wealth of inspiration for turning photos into crafts.  Photocraft is a book put out by a small independent publishing studio, Herter Studio, whose founders include former Chronicle Books collaborators.  The book is filled with great projects, most of which were designed using Photoshop Elements (but could be accomplished with other programs too).  It is very well laid out and organized, even summarizing the basic "photocraft pantry" that you will need to have on hand. It also has a nice resource section.

There is information about the book including sample projects here, and here ,and here-- and I can't help but include a few beautiful photos from three of my favorite projects.  Also, check out the new issue of Blueprint for a nice article on enlarging photos for artwork (those blown-up playing cards at the bottom of that link are from the article), including great resources.

Photos from Photocraft

Baby Quilt

Lampshade

Silk Scarf