Wednesday, November 30, 2011

bundle of brushes

sorry my friends...
life has gotten a little too hectic.
here is a favorite photo to tide you over for awhile.
nothing makes me happier than a 
'bundle of brushes'
just waiting to be dipped in paint
to depict the best of 
our imagination.

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

random behavior

hmmm...
came home to find the closet open with this note.
 that would be pretty random 
because our cat, Matteo,
really likes to sleep in his cozy chair.
He is there literally 95% of the time -
a cat who likes routine and a fine chair
which does not smell too much like dog.
the other habit we can count on with him
is that he will come and greet us whenever we come home.
Zoe taught him this -
and she taught him that this behavior is done without exception
every time the masters return.
most often he is sitting with Zoe at the garage door
with half open eyes and a yawn on his lips 
as he greets us and saunters back off to his chair.

but lately he has been an explorer...
 case in point - 
see this pine dresser above which holds our linens
in the kitchen.
well a couple of weeks ago he disappeared for 3 whole hours.
we called outside and swept the neighborhood 
as we were sure he had gotten out when the garbage was taken out.
needless to say we were wrecks 
as our neighborhood is frequented by coyotes and such.
but twice I heard scratching and all 3 of us 
(that would be our dog Zoe as the third detective)
went looking.  
I was sure he was in the wall...
could not tell where the noise was coming from.
 but eventually we narrowed it down to this bottom drawer.
I opened it and out he jumped.
sheesh...
he has never done anything like that before.
he jumped into the bottom drawer
 while my husband was fixing a knob on the third drawer down.
and Doug put the drawer back without seeing him...
and he stayed there three hours without letting us know.
now today he hid out in the closet 
and I just got home and he did not greet me.  
instead I found him sleeping under the table peering out at me...
do I sense a mutiny in the works?
 naw, it must be the wind and rain howling outside.
smart cat - maybe I should join him.

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

duck, duck, goose

You may know by now that I have a thing for Canada Geese...
wish they were tame and I could have a potty trained pet in the house
that would curl up and sleep with my cat and dog - 
maybe put his wings out for them to sleep under,
and they could run around chasing each other and 
the goose could fly through the room
yelling "duck, duck GOOSE" as they played tag.
Oh well I must be really losing it, 
but don't you enjoy daydreaming?
 I think the kiddos really enjoyed some daydreaming with these mixed media geese.
 First we drew with crayons for some wax-resist.
 Then we used cake tempera for the background...
 and we pulled out the texture templates 
 for the wings.
 I made templates of the geese which they painted and cut out.
 Stamps were used for background texture.
 Feathers and geese were glued to background...
 and feet and tails painted and background touches added.
Love these artists and their creations!
I can just hear the geese flying overhead in a V-
QUACK, QUACK, HONK HONK...
almost forgot - I got the idea for the project here.

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

any owls flying your way?

want a fun project that will keep the little ones 
focused and happy?
then collect those toilet paper rolls and begin...
one with a shield,
a samurai,
notice the crown,
and some love.
 hoo, hoo I love you!

Friday, November 4, 2011

pumpkin, pumpkin, where's the pumpkin?

 start with a lot of white glue and wait until dry.
 color in between the lines with chalk pastel -
a good quality one works better.
 it always amazes me how the same directions
result in so many different kiddo visions...
just a sampling above.

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

house beautiful and picture show

as I have said before,
House Beautiful is my favorite home decor magazine...
I love the vignettes in this month's issue
and I am a tad smitten with
the Picture Show app
on my iphone.
and if you put the two together - poof- instant magic.
thanks to Jill for hooking me up with it.
just feel like I am in a dream with these photos
and I could so cook here
and wander out into the big dream-like world through these doors.
on a side note -
It's my birthday today and I am so looking forward to dinner with my boys.