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Thursday, December 13, 2012

Mesmerizing video!



I love how this video just builds with unexpected layers, from violin loops to beat boxing to playing a violin like a ukelele. Such a gorgeous mix of styles and it just makes me happy. I can't stop watching!

Scrapbook paper crafts and dog fashion. Yep. Pretty much sums up my life.

Life has been, well, life. I've stopped expecting it to slow down or for me to feel caught up. Suddenly it is the holiday season and WOW! Wasn't it just summer? That is just how it is going to be, isn't it? This wild head first slide into home plate, all the while wondering what inning we are in and if it was our day to bring the snack and oh! Did I leave the stove on at home? I'm getting old now that I think like this, right? Is this what age is? This roller coaster in my head? In my days?

I'm not even one of those busy moms. I purposely try to keep time open for us to breathe. I don't know how other families accomplish all that they do without curling into a fetal position and whimpering their days away. I'm not even all that busy compared to 'normal' people. And I'm still, well. Busy. Bless all you moms out there that earn their busy stripes with your soccering, and careering and baking cupcakes for the school this-and-that. I stand in awe. Awe, I say.


So anyway. Since suddenly we went from running through sprinklers to the Christmas season in the past week or so, out came the advent calendar I made last year. We used to buy the playmobil advent calendars and while those were awesome, we've sort of moved more toward lego and aren't looking to add to our ridiculous amounts of playmobil toys at this point. And have you SEEN the price of lego advent calendars?!?! No way can I justify spending that much for a couple minifigs!

Doing holiday/seasonal related things as a family seemed more in keeping with the season anyway and I found this cute little advent calendar thing on overstock for (I think) $14.00 and free shipping and thought it was time for a change. I had to assemble it, paint it and decorate it, and I made the cards out of small pieces of scrapbook paper and printed out 'things to do' which I laminated with packing tape. I'm happy with how it turned out for using simple materials and I like that we can use it year after year. I finished it up this year adding numbers and painting a paper star to add to the middle to match the numbers.

Before adding the numbers.

With the shiny happy numbers and painted/glittered star.

The extra box holds the extra 'things to do' cards. I made a lot so I can change things up from year to year, and because some of them are weather related like build a snowman which obviously needs cooperating weather. We also sometimes do a couple things a day as some of them are simple, like make hot cocoa. I love, love, love advent calendars. I have a thing for them. A few years back I made one using sewn cones. It was cool but took up a ton of space. And filling them was expensive! Even when trying to find cheap little things, it added up to more than the playmobil calendars. So this little one with drawers just big enough for a small 'thing to do' card and a couple chocolates is working just fine for this mama that is trying to scale back on stuff and expenses. And it works for the kids as they just enjoy the anticipation and the activities that surround this time of year. Win/win.

Other than decorating the house for the holidays, this is the extent of my holiday crafting this year. I've been going lighter than usual with projects as I've been hunkered down working on a BIG PROJECT for the past year. It's finally feeling like it might end in the somewhat near future. Yay! However, thanks to Pinterest, I did get sucked into a couple projects over the past few months and thought I'd share a couple I stumbled on when going through my pictures today.


This one still makes me smile. I made this following these awesome directions from A Little Hut. Again with the using of scrapbook paper scraps. Sigh... I love scrapbook paper. I painted the spiral on the canvas before applying the little flags of paper. I think I like her plain white spiral better, but I still like my little creation. It is on a 12x12 canvas board. It reminds me of something quilted with the texture and patterns.

Hey! This project fits into my whole wordy walls theme! I painted this on my walls after I saw a vinyl decal someone pinned onto pinterest with this quote. I couldn't find a decal that would fit the blank space on my wall so I decided to just paint it on. I found fonts I liked and printed the quote out in the size I wanted it. Then I made guides by cutting out the letters from the paper and tracing the letters up onto the wall and then painting them in. Yes, it was a pain. But I am happy with how it turned out.

This is the wall above my bed, btw. Artfully taken as to not show my unmade bed. Yes, that is more scrapbook paper mod podged onto my walls acting as a visual headboard that I did a few years back. I painted the different colored squares and then centered scrapbook paper that I like inside the squares and then put 'patches' of complimentary scrapbook paper within the squares. I also have patches randomly placed around the room to cover ugly spots on my walls (old plaster). The lights strung in front of the squares are dragonfly lights, not bats like they look like in this photo. They're pretty, with colored beads making up the dragonfly bodies. It is all very bohemian college dorm meets crafting space meets bed taking up most the room meets escaped balls of yarn that like to wrap themselves around my feet at night. Hey-- It works for me.

I have started a couple more projects recently, but due to the lack of time they are still ongoing. I'll post about them as I finish. I've learned that I can still do projects, even with a lack of time, I just have to accept that they won't get done quickly and come to terms with that 'things are unfinished' feeling that I used to freak out about. I think I'm mellowing out a bit as I age. So there are some good bits with the whole aging thing. So I guess with my logic tonight I might have a spinny, world-is-going-at-full-speed brain thing happening as I get older, but as time goes on I won't mind how crazy that makes me? Hmmm... Methinks I need to go to bed now. I'm confused.

So here ends my projects portion of this all over the place blog post. Only fun bits of random left from pictures I found while scrolling through my photo files.

Dragons taking tea:

Then the next bit needs a bit of explaining. My daughter and dog are totally MFEO. They've started this game called, 'dog fashion show' which they both love with a ridiculous kind of quirkiness that makes me laugh every time they play. I think my dog enjoys it more than my daughter. It seems she feels she was destined for great things and it is only right that people would want to faun over her and photograph her. Here is just a sample from their growing dog fashion collection:







Yes, she actually sits there waiting to be photographed. And yes, she is even wearing a headband in the above picture. This is what happens when you mix a kid with years of accumulated recital outfits and a compliant pet and a mom that is obsessively working away at projects involving scrapbook paper to notice that her daughter and dog have become addicted to fashion. 

Well folks, that was certainly a rambling journey into my recent days. I don't even know if I had a point tonight. Just felt chatty. :) Wishing everyone out there in internet-land the kind of joy that my dog and daughter find in a pink tutu and matching accessories.