Storytelling-- Toddler Style

Momma laughs.
Alyssa- "What is it?"
Momma- "The couch is eating Wyatt's legs."
Alyssa laughs- "Where Baby Wyatt's legs?"
Momma explains that he backed up under the couch and it just looks like the couch is eating him. - "Go tell Papa that the couch is eating Baby Wyatt."

Alyssa runs to back door and yells- "PAPA, IT A 'MERGENCY!"


My daughter is so smart.  If the couch was really eating us, she would know exactly what the situation should be labeled as....

Card Making and Resolutions

Do you adore cards?  I love searching through the card aisles for hilarious or heartfelt messages.  My favorites are usually found among the Papyrus brand.  I simply love the handmade look and the oftentimes simple designs.  This is probably one of the reasons I decided I wanted to make cards instead of purchase them.  At typically $3 per card, and 4 Mother's Day or 5 Father's Day cards each year (that would be 9 total for me to buy--I buy for my grandmas and grandpas) just those holidays alone made it worth a try.

We are approaching Father's Day and I have not purchased a single card this year.  We've had birthdays, the Valentines, Mother's, and Father's holidays, and graduations, and even one bridal shower.  I have been LOVING the time spent card making.  Shapes and colors are what it comes down to artistically.  This is perfect for me as my siblings got the physical talents of music and art, I simply have the 'ear' or the 'eye' respectively for those talents.  When it comes to colors, that is my area of art.  I love to work with colors and textures but I can't draw a stick figure to play hangman.

I'm progressing in techniques and embellishments but I'm still very much a beginner.  Catch a recent glimpse at where I've been in this adventure:

Metalic Markers!

Love the lined paper (it is a heavyweight and dry embossed with alphabet).

Later I added "Grandpa" vertically...gotta work on my spacing that direction.

Love my gears dry embossing folder.

I love the texture this embossed frame gives when it is cut out!

Ribbon flower and traditional paper pattern!

Matched up the black paper with the green after embossing and added some ribbon accent threaded through.  (Added the age later because my Mom wouldn't appreciate if I posted that online for all to see!)

I am loving the progress I've made (if I had pictures of my work from the beginning of the year, I'd show you, I swear).  This is exactly what I wanted to accomplish as my "New Year Resolution"!  Progress in a skill, something tangible but not with pressure behind it.

I'm proud of these even if they still have visible flaws.  Trust me, I can see them, but I put a lot more effort into these than I did picking out the perfect card from the store before.

Too Much Fun

Some days are full of fun!  We had a long day playing at drill (family day).  Our toddler had story time, art projects, and an obstacle course in the gym while the adults took care of some classes.  Then there was more playing (for everyone) after lunch.

After all this, we drove the hour home and went grocery shopping for the week.  After supper Alyssa really wanted to go outside so we took our little dog on a short walk.

Toddlers, full day of fun, tired, and won't hold hands....end result, a sad and hurt little girl.  Her face met the concrete after tripping over some invisible nothing.  Poor kid had too much fun.

Craft Room Overhaul

In our seemingly endless unpacking adventures, rooms get put together rather slowly.  So the original setup of rooms gets changed over and over again.  They also get cleaned from top to bottom multiple times this way (about the only time I'll get to say that).

I just wanted to show off what happens when shelving is finally unpacked and utilized in a craft room!

Garage durability shelving (Rubbermaid @ Home Depot)

My husband gave me some of his shelving when he got a new, large tool box with work surface on top as his all-holiday gift (well, Father's Day and on at least).  I have an amazingly thoughtful husband (who took my concerns over the weight on the old wooden shelves seriously enough to ease my fears of broken bones when they eventually were going to fall on my legs...).  He even cut that bottom 4' shelf in half to accomodate my taller items that I didn't want shoved next to the furnace that is not in the picture.

I've been LOVING my papercrafting of cards for all of our events so far this year.  I haven't purchased a card yet in 2013 and I'm THRILLED about it.  (That table isn't clean very often because there is always a project on it.)

Here's to happy crafting everyone!

Raising a Reader

Anyone know the secret?  People keep telling me that readers make readers.  If you read to your kid x minutes a day, they will love to read later on in life still...

Well, I call BS!  I am thrilled that my daughter seemingly loves books right now.  I have no idea if it will stick though.  I am a reader, but my parents certainly are NOT.  I don't know if I saw any books in our house besides the children's book collection that was available to me while growing up.  My mom has started to enjoy reading some books now that her kids are 16-26 years old.  It pains me to see how slowly she gets through a novel.  I used to rip through novels in what would be more accurate to count by hours rather than days.  I miss that.

Right now, I am lucky to finish one of my romance novels (300-400 pages) in a week!  If you're an addicted reader, you can feel the pain that accompanies the adjustment of pre-kids 2 days tops to a WEEK OR MORE for one book.

So, as a reader, I sincerely hope the amount of children's books that I am consuming in place of my novels will benefit my kids into a long and happy relationship with books in general life.  If not....well, I guess I'll be happy enough if they just realize the importance of proper English spelling and grammar. (Yes, I am 26 and already harping on that note.  I hate the texting language that I see being used in school papers or worse--job applications!!)

And just to show you a partial reason why I'll say I am a reader...here is part of my collection of books (most of which were collected prior to having children for my own personal enjoyment of a good fairytale):

Sadly, this really isn't all my books.  My collection ranges from (tons of) children's books and collection tomes, to a lot of romance novels, to informative Religious texts and commentary on said topic.  A bunch of interesting history books and a handful of old collector (looking) books found in thrift or antique stores make their way into my collection also.  Somewhere in the pile of unsorted totes are a few full of even more books.

Alyssa has her own shelves in her room.  Wyatt's collection has just started.

What it comes down to, is that I hope my kids will love books as much as I do.  If not, I hope they find a hobby that they LOVE.