• Blog - Creativity

    T Tuesday: canvas edition

    I have been all over the place this week with ideas. None of which have actually come to fruition. But ideas are the start, right?

    I am thinking of making a few seasonal canvas paintings. While digging through my canvas stash I found this one. I feel like it needs some words.

    On these canvases, I threw some color down on the background to cover the previous paintings. I picked these two canvases out of a free bin at a garage sale over the summer. No idea where I’m headed with these…or if this is even a remote representation of the background colors….it was just a coverup.

    My journal keeps getting more things tucked inside without any actual placement or journaling. One of these days…

    The same goes for my travel journal. Although I did get photos printed, so I’m a little closer.

    In art class this week the kids are working with clay. One of my students wanted to make a creeper from Minecraft. On the day I missed, it was decided that he’d make a mug. I helped him assemble the pieces and create the signature face. This week it’s all about adding textures and interest.  I’ve been assisting in the assembly a few other students’ projects as well…I love playing with clay. It would be so fun to make a project myself too. 🙂

    This weekend brought us an unwelcome visitor…snow. As you can clearly see, we are nowhere ready for winter. Thankfully it was short-lived and we made it above 50°F today.

    On Saturday we also had welcome visitors. They brought over this hard cider,

    It was really quite good. I didn’t think I’d like it as most hard ciders are too sweet. This was not…it was almost like a dry white wine in flavor.

    And I promised photos of all the assembled furniture…the white pieces are Mini-me’s and the dark brown is in J’s room.

    We have a choir concert tonight for Mini-me. She is in two choirs this year…she and a couple of other girls are helping to lend more voice to the small freshmen girls choir. This means a change of clothes for them…floor-length dresses to choir robes.

    What are you doing today?
  • Around home - Blog

    T Tuesday: assembly edition

    This week’s post is brought to you by IKEA…well, not officially. It’s just what the past three days and counting were all about. Building new pieces for the kids’ rooms. Truly not the entire time but it certainly felt like it. And I’m still at it!!

    My weekend actually started a day early. J was feeling really cruddy and just wanted to come home to rest. He caught the 6:45 am bus from college. I knew he was definitely ill when he voluntarily got up that early. I took the day off so I could meet the bus at MOA.

    It was good to see him a few weeks earlier than expected…just a bummer that he was so sick. Nasty virus. I didn’t even hug him until he was leaving….sad but true. He pretty much spent the weekend in bed or in a steaming hot shower trying to clear his congestion.

    So I mentioned IKEA…in the above picture if I had panned right 90° right, you’d see IKEA. Of course, at this moment in time, we hadn’t decided to purchase anything new. SO off to home we drove.

    The next morning we made the decision to buy two new dressers and a desk from IKEA…back across the city we went.  Mini-me and I started by putting together her new dresser. It went wonderfully. Then we open the desk box….DAMAGED GOODS! UGH!

    I was not about to drive back there again on the same day since we’d be heading back on Sunday to drop J off at the bus. When we returned we got a new desk and another storage unit. Yep…4 pieces of furniture to assemble. Oh goodie…

    This is the current state of things. I’m on the last piece. Four drawers left to assemble on J’s new dresser. I can tell you one thing…my body doesn’t like me sitting on the floor that long.

    I promise I’ll share photos of the new pieces…but for now. My water is empty and I need to shower because it’s picture day at school tomorrow! Remember the stress of picture day? It’s funny…not quite as stressful for me these days. I know for sure no picture I take can be as bad as the ones I took during my middle school years! LOL

    What are you doing today?
  • Art - Blog - Creativity

    T Tuesday: junk journal and more edition

    Last Tuesday had me very introspective with my post. Throwing the words down and wading through them really helped me through what I was feeling. Your comments were also inspiring…so thank you for that!

    Mindset

    At school, we often talk about growth vs fixed mindset. I think perhaps those lessons are rubbing off on me as well. Setting goals, developing a plan and not giving up when life throws a curveball. Honestly, these are things I have done in the past but I didn’t think critically about them until now.

    So last week I talked myself through making a plan to set aside time to create. Guess what?  I did!

    I had the bones of this junk journal project set aside…I just needed the time, drive and a few little tidbits to make it happen. Now that it’s done…I love it.  I’m planning to use it for bits and piece from everyday life, quotes, thoughts, etc.  I want to do a flip through at some point. What I really need to do is figure out YouTube and publish videos there and embed them in my posts. I think it would honestly be easier than the way I’ve been doing it.

    In addition to making this junk journal, we had a flurry of activity on Saturday. Mini-me and I went to a local church rummage sale for bag day as we try to do each year. We spent a total of $16.50. Mini-me filled one reusable grocery bag mostly with clothes…$4. I filled one with clothes, craft supplies, and potential Halloween costumes…$4. The third bag was filled with books…$4.  In addition, we bought one super old arithmetic primer…$1 and a print for Mini-me’s room….$3.50

    I only took photos of my lovely new crafty items. Look at that amazing box of trims!!

    Saturday evening Mr. G’s brother messaged him saying that he was playing a gig in our neck of the woods. We quickly grabbed our things and headed out to hear him play the mandolin with the Roe Family Singers. It was a lovely but slightly chilly evening sitting on hay bales enjoying some bluegrass music.

    Their aging corgi, Daisey, even made the trip. A good time was had by all.

    We invited them back to our house after where I whipped together a few snacks and drinks since we haven’t seen them in a while. Sometimes the unplanned things are the most fun things!!

    What are you doing today?