an old post

I just found this draft I had written back in early November and never got around to posting. Figured I'd share. We kept this up for a while, and it did really improve the attitude of my little miss. Hoping that after we move we can fit this back into our routine. Also important to note: this is definitely not the first or the last time I was highly inspired by my children to get crafty. ;)

Madelynn is in first grade. FIRST GRADE! I can hardly believe how fast the time goes, and I am amazed at how lovingly this girl has been in her role big sister to two little brothers. There are times when her life is unfair and she has to show what feels like too much patience. At the very beginning of the school year, she had had it. Being the only one in the house who had to get up early for school, meant we held her to her bed time more strictly, reminding her that when she was a baby sometimes she stayed up too late, too. And when she was a baby, she shared the bed with mommy and daddy, too. And when she was three.... yada, yada, yada. Those reminders didn't seem to help, and I noticed that my girly was losing patience more quickly with her brothers. Then, at the perfect timing I got an idea from a blog post I read (written by a wise mama), and I decided to start letting my little miss stay up one night a week to have some special time with just her and myself while the boys were put to bed by Daddy. The first night, she decided she wanted to revisit embroidery and together we drew up a pattern directly onto the fabric. Turns out, she really rocks the floss!

I was immediately inspired. The very next day I got online and purchased some embroidery patterns I'd had my eye on for quite some time (so fun, I also purchased the Ryan Berkley patterns. LOVE his work!), and got to work on this huge canvas tote I scored for a few bucks from the thrift store. It is still only half finished, even though I've been using it as my knitting bag. Oops!

My husband and I went to see Kyle Cease last year sometime when he did a comedy show with Louie Anderson. We absolutely loved his message, which he presented at the end of his routine. He talked about little kids, and how they believe whole-heartedly that they can do or be anything they want when they grow up. His main point was that if we can foster that excitement and belief in ourselves, no matter what other people think or what may seem more "logical" we just might surprise ourselves. Here is a video from his blog with a similar message. I have been straddling a line for the past few years, and that line is between doing what I feel in my heart I'm supposed to do "when I grow up" and doing what I think others expect of me. For some reason it has been tricky for me to realize that the people in my life who matter most will love me no matter which direction I choose to go. Now I just need to have the confidence of a four year old and the stubborness drive of a toddler.

Happy Valentine's Day.

You can click the picture to read a Wikipedian History of the special day, which is where I found this fantastic piece of artwork.

:)

I finally visited anthropologie.com for the first time. In real life, I'm an Ikea kind of gal, mixed with some Target and Value Village. But while browsing around the site I decided that one day, when Karl and I build the old farmhouse of our dreams, this will be on the front door.

And this will be on the bathroom door.

 Wall paper will definitely be welcome in our dream house. The one on the right, in the kitchen. The beauty on the left, in the Peter Pan-style nursery (not because I want a Peter Pan theme, but because I'll design the perfect room that my children will share until they're twelve. We'll also probably rename Gus and call him Nana. It'll build character. It'll also be cute.)

And these here are calling to me in a special sort of way. It must be the fabric. Or the fact that Anne of Green Gables is the one dressed in pink. Either way, they would probably take center stage in my dream house and land on a shelf in the living room. By the fireplace. On a brick wall. 

:)

she's amazing!

We had a photo shoot a few weeks ago, thanks to Mama Rhondi, and I wanted to share a few of the photos. I love that I belong to a family with such a great photographer! These photos were taken out at her place, but she's also met us at a park before for a photo shoot. It's so much more comfortable than going to a studio and having our photos taken by someone we don't know, which I think helps us all act a little more natural, allowing our personalities to really shine through the photographs. My favorite photo is going to be on our Christmas cards, so I'm not going to post it here until after I send them out. ;)

I find the kids' expressions here hilarious,
 and quite telling of how much they enjoy the whole photo-taking process.

Isn't she great?!

 :)

PS- those photos up on my banner are from Mama-Rhondi as well!!

inspiration overload

This is the result of having so much inspiration, but little direction. I realized last night that my entire sewing table is covered with various projects and supplies.

 I'd like to say it's because I'm being super productive and getting tons of stuff done, but really, I'm just getting lots of things started. Before I can even finish a project, it seems something is inspiring me to start something else.

 I can't pin it down exactly, but I'd say that all that inspiration is probably coming from here, here, here, and here.

 Fortunately, at least one of my projects has an end in sight, and I'll share the details soon.

:)

PS- Please excuse the purple walls. My sewing table is set up in what used to be the playroom.

fun with face paint!

 a few weeks ago i bought some face paint crayons at joann. i bought them partly because they were 50% off, partly because halloween is coming up, and partly because i wanted to help satisfy madelynn's current obsession with makeup in a away that didn't actually have her wearing makeup. well, not "real" makeup anyway. you see, i'd rather her running around looking like a tiger or butterfly, than have her running around looking like she belongs on toddlers and tiaras. that show is hideous and just the thought of it makes me shudder. and cringe. i'm still hoping that even though it's classified as reality television, it's not real. anyway, i had completely forgotten about the face paint, which i had placed on top of the fridge, until just last week when our national geographic for kids magazine came and had a tutorial on tiger face paint. to my pleasant surprise, once i got it out, it kept us entertained for  hours, days even.

 madee the tiger.

 max getting facepaint on the go.

 artist hard at work.

and something about the combination of tears and face paint cracks me up. am i terrible? i'm positive that looking like a butterfly makes tantrums easier for mama to deal with.

:)

this moment.

::inspired by soulemama::

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see. 

children's artwork inspiration.

my nephew has been coming over nearly every day this summer, and it didn't take long for me to realize that when there is no inspiration behind making art, kiddos can go pretty quickly through an entire stack of paper with nothing but a few rushed scribble marks on each one. being drained of ideas and inspiration, myself, it was hard to think of new crafts. then i realized that kiddos are still very much interested in things that many adults don't think twice about. so last week i decided that we would simply trace our hands and feet and go from there. to my surprise, the kids were pretty fascinated with this simple task, and stayed entertained long enough for me to make lunch plus some. i thought the results were cool.

i thought it was funny that my very orderly nephew took his time to make both feet as similar possible, while my abstract thinking daughter turned her feet into some sort of monster. 

and here's a look at the green "cloud" i painted in our playroom to be our "art wall".

the lesson i learned...

today i learned an important lesson in quilting.

here, i have just finished my quilt top and am pinning it all together with the batting and backing. beautiful.

here, i am quilting it with the amazing thread i found that matches beautifully. exciting.

here, i am binding the quilt with what appears to be two different colors of binding. yikes!

why didn't i notice?!?!

and here is what i learned. it is MUCH easier to bind a quilt, than to un-bind it!!

but for the record, i'm not so careless that i bought two different colors. they are SUPPOSED to be the same. i'm just apparently oblivious to the manufacturer's mistake (/in denial because i just. wanted. to finish!!).

simply inspiring!

Nikki McClure by Dicky Dahl from PatCastaldo on Vimeo.

where has this been all my life?!

my only experience with wallpaper was in second grade. my teacher had a stash of tacky wallpaper samples we were allowed to cut up and glue to things for arts and crafts. also, whenever i see wallpaper on tv, it is usually on those home makeover shows where people are painstakingly and usually unsuccessfully trying to shred it off their walls. however, laying in bed tonight, i found i couldn't sleep because visions of wallpaper were dancing around in my head. i really want to make my kid's framed silhouette pictures backed with pretty wallpaper. weird? maybe. but i think it will be cute. so, here i am, online WAY too late looking at wallpaper designs. and here. is. what. i see. i think i am falling in love. aren't all those designs too cute for words? i see them fitting into a nursery in the future house of my dreams--i raise my kids peter pan style, all shoved in one room. call it a nursery. it sounds better than "all shoved in one room."

alright. now you all see my new obsession. don't judge me. i'm going to bed. :)

xoxo

sweet ride.

i oh-so-totally hope to win this sweet ride so that someday when i move into town i can rock the "soccer mom" look on two wheels!

something to aspire to...

I haven't read Elizabeth Zimmerman's books. In fact, I haven't read anything but childrens' books for a while. I like to completely immerse myself in my reads, and there's not much time for that with two littles running around. So instead, I knit. My mom knits too, and she reads. And she just so happened to read some Elizabeth Zimmerman. She told me Elizabeth Zimmerman had been known to knit while reading. That's some crazy-cool multitasking skills, if you ask me. Now, I don't think I'm comparable to Elizabeth Zimmerman at all--trust me, I'm not!-- but I do think that knitting while reading aloud to children is definitely something to aspire to!


PS- as if I don't already have enough cast on, I decided to also add the the list a pair of pants for Maximus. So cute!! :)

Be well!