RIP Luigi the Squeegee

A Note From My Day Job...

This post is for my boss, Sarah.  (you know, at my hobby job that helps to pay the bills ;P)  Every experience is an adventure!

The squeegee doesn't really sqeeeeeg like it used to.

Art Lesson #1

On Friday morning, my neighbor girls Maggie and Lucie came over for their first art lesson in our studio.  Maggie, 7 and Lucie, 4 are home schooled by their mother Anna Kate.

Their first lesson needed to be light and fun, an introduction into the limitless world of creativity.  The girls made greeting cards.  They were provided with plenty of supplies including crayons, colored pencils, markers, glue, scrap paper, glitter, cardboard, and fabric scraps.  The fabric scraps seemed to be the favorite along with the glitter.  They were each aloud to use scissors too as I was not holding back when working one on one with them.  They each used them with great control and impressive skill.  

 I pulled samples from my own personal collection of handmade greeting cards, which I keep stocked and ready for sending to friends.  I shared a few and gave them instructions while they snacked on some homemade banana bread.  Without hesitation, the girls jumped right into the project.  They are very good at staying focused.  I think this comes from their home school background, as they do not have many distractions in their daily environment.

Using the glue was good practice especially for Lucie.  Children tend to use too much glue so we were working on controlling the amount needed to stick each piece to the paper.  With a little guidance, Lucie was well on her way to becoming a glue expert at the ripe age of four.  Lucie finished sooner than Maggie and went into the living room to visit my boyfriend Cam who is also an artist.  Cam read Lucie a few books while Maggie continued to work.

When the one hour lesson was finished, the girls proudly held up their greeting cards to show their mom.  They even had a special card made just for her, and one for me too!  The girls left their cards to dry in the sun.  Next week, Cam will be introducing the girls to drawing and using their box of pastels!

  

Order with a "Ribbitting" Twist

At home I keep a stack of my business cards near my desk in this vintage soap dish.  It is a super fun way to store them.   If you are bored with organization, find a way to spice it up!

Grandma's Quality Kitchen Goods

Growing up in my family, a lot of things were always handmade.  I believe the first time I had store bought jelly was probably sometime in high school.  Grandma always made our jelly, and she still does.  All things handmade is a part of our world.  It is a way to get by with spending less money, express our need for creativity, and show each other our love.  Today I am highlighting one area of Grandma's handmade expertise of many.  There will be many more blogs to come about my Grandma's goods as well as my Mother's.  

 Here is a photo of numerous dish clothes and hot pads all made by Grandma.  I really love using them, and I'm not afraid to.  Although they do hold sentimental value, they were also made to be durable.  Grandma occupies much of her time making them, so whenever I go to visit there is always a stack of different colors to choose from.  I always choose a new color because my house is full of lots of colors, not just one.  filling my kitchen with these handmade goodies is like surrounding it with Grandma's love.  She is well known for her cooking, especially her cookies and pies and I like to live up to her kitchen standards.  One thing I always do is keep my kitchen floor very clean, just like Grandma does.  I try to sweep it every day and mop it once every 2-3 weeks.  Grandma mops Her's every week, but I am not that attentive.  Having Grandma's influence has infiltrated much of my life and having her wonderful handmade things in my kitchen keeps the creativity flowing throughout the house.

The Unicorn Uniform

So I was at work...well my side job...its really a hobby job...that helps to pay the bills And a friend of mine said something about her "uniform."  Well, I wear a hearing aid and sometimes I don't hear things right.  I thought she said "unicorn."  This spiraled into a picture in my head that looked something like this: 

Continuing with this thought, you could hang dry your laundry on the horn, one piece at a time.