First day of kindergarten

{Making back-to-school crowns with friends the day before.}

{Glitter!}

{The finished crowns on Malayna and Lily.}

{Special back-to-school dinner the night before.}

{Sleepy, but ready for her first day of kindergarten.}

{Saying goodbye to the neighbors.}

{First day of kindergarten!}

{On the way to kindergarten.}

{Very excited girl.}

{Love this face.}

{Waiting in the schoolyard for kindergarten to begin.}

{Me and my big girl.}

{Daddy's girl.}

{Bye-bye!}

{All gone.}

{Daddy is very sad.}

My baby is in her kindergarten classroom right now. And I'm more okay with that than I thought I would be - the worrying about the day was much worse than the actual day. Malayna was really excited to be starting kindergarten. She shed a few tears, but nothing like she did last year when she started preschool. She was so anxious to get to school this morning, putting her backpack on and going outside to say goodbye to the neighbors.

We had a special dinner last night, with her favorite meal - spaghetti and homemade meatballs (made by her and her daddy). We lit candles and she wore her special back-to-school crown that we had made earlier that day. We talked about all the things she'll do in kindergarten - art class, gym class, eating in the cafeteria, recess, meeting new friends. We toasted to our big girl.

She whispered to me this morning that what she was looking forward to the most was art class. That's my girl! (Whether it's true or not is questionable - she may just know how to play me. I'm okay with that. Hehe.)

We knew several people with kids starting kindergarten at her school. Some were people we know from the community parenting center, other we had played with at the park, and some we met at orientation. One set of parents used to work with Jimmy at Ikea years ago, and another family is related to my uncle.

I said to Jimmy after we dropped her off this morning, "This is it! This starts her school career. This is when we find out if she's as smart as we think she is, or if we're just biased because she's ours."

I do know this: she is a wonderful child - super bright, creative, funny, beautiful and brave. And she'll always be my baby.

Kindergarten orientation

 

 {checking out the kindergarten playground}

 {school garden}

Malayna starts kindergarten on Wendesday the 9th - just five short days away! I keep looking at her and wondering how she got to be such a big girl. Where did my baby go? She's doing all sorts of things on her own these days. It's a huge difference from last year when she would hardly leave my side. I love the fact that she wants more independence.

 

 {computer lab}

I think she's going to love kindergarten and thrive on all the activity. That's not to say that the first few days (weeks?) are going to be a tough transition. She had one year of preschool before this and those days were pretty short compared to kindergarten (the kids have a full-day in our school district). She had a hard time when I would leave her at preschool, and it pretty much continued throughout the year. There were times when she would go happily into the classroom and hardly look back, but the times when she would cry seemed to come more often.

 {Looking at the corn in the school garden.
The kindergarten kids pick the corn in the fall.}

We had an orientation in the spring just like this one, but she was much more reserved then. This time she happily followed the other kids around, asking questions and volunteering information. She seemed so comfortable being in her classroom and chatting with her teacher.

 

 {classroom}

What will I do with all the free time come next week?

Changing things around…

You might notice the blog looking kind of funky today while I change some things around.

Have a great weekend!

Happy birthday, mom!

Today is my mom's 60th birthday. Happy birthday, mom! I made this magnetic photo frame for her yesterday (I work best under pressure apparently). It's fiberboard painted with eco-friendly paint, has hand-painted type (my mom calls Malayna sweetie pie) and measures 12" square. That's one of my hand-drawn patterns in the background behind the photo. That section of the piece is magnetic - the little round mirrored pieces have magnets on the back and are holding that photo in place.

When I was trying to photograph this today, I put it on my wall and thought, "hey, that looks good there!" My parents' house is like a gallery of my work, yet I hardly have anything in my own house that I've made. I think it's because if I had my work hanging around here I'd constantly be critiquing it and wanting to change things. I wonder if that's common for artists?

Photo Friday

{Trying on the new backpack for kindergarten.}

A page from my sketchbook

Creativity, inspiration, and where to get it

Summer does this to me every year - makes me feel uninspired. Maybe not so much uninspired as lazy. I don't want to do anything productive. I just want to soak up the sun, go to the beach and work on my garden. Okay, that last one is a stretch since it involves actual work! Come to think of it, my "garden" looks like a jungle right now.

I think I'm at a transitioning point right now with my artwork. It feels like something is going to change soon, but I'm not sure what or how. I've been sketching for a few months, but I don't know what to do with those sketches. For now I've been turning them into patterns, which I then turn into paper to use in my clocks, cards, and wall squares. But I think I should do something MORE with the drawings. I want it to be real art, if that makes any sense. Right now I'm creating usable art, but sometimes I want it to be art that's made for no other purpose than to fill my need to create.

I remember feeling this way before Malayna was born. Taking a class would get that creative spirit moving again.

What do you do when you feel stuck creatively?

Ah, summer…

Hello there! I haven't dropped off the face of the earth - I'm just having a great, busy summer. Malayna and I have taken many, many beach trips this year. I'm trying to squeeze as much fun as possible into these last days we'll spend together before she starts kindergarten in the fall.

Seriously, look at this happy face! Would you deny her a day at the beach?!

Summer sale!

Take advantage of 20% off everything on milkshake crafts! When checking out, use the code summer09 to receive the discount. Happy shopping!

Updated!

{new {faye} bloom square}

I finally updated my website with new magnets and squares. Yipee! It took all day on Monday {which also included play breaks, snack breaks, meal breaks and outside-time breaks since school is finished for Malayna}. When I list my products on my site, I don't usually use real photos - I use the digital file I created for each item. I'm not sure how this translates on the web. Would it be better to show the real photo? Someone said to me recently that she thought my squares were thinner than they actually are, based on what she saw on the website.

What do you think? Should I keep the clean digital images I have on there now, or should I use real photos of the products in action? {You can see some real photos in my last post. I would take better ones if I were to use them on my site.}

{new {lucy} dream magnet}

Arts in the Park

Good things about yesterday: great weather, lots of friends stopping by, and lots of dogs to pet. Thanks to everyone who stopped by!

{necklaces}

{new wall hooks - yet to be uploaded to the website…}

{new magnets - being uploaded as we speak}

{wall hooks and matching squares}

{more squares}

{view of the booth}

{my clean-up helper}

Raindrops keep fallin' on my head

Malayna's preschool performance yesterday was hilarious. She loved being on stage. Here's a video of one of the songs they performed. She's near the middle, wearing a denim jacket and a green dress. By the way, this side of her comes totally from her daddy.

Luco's "memorial day"

We planted a tree in Luco's memory last week. Malayna had been asking daily when we were going to have Luco's "memorial day." So on a beautiful day last week, Malayna, my mom and I went to the garden center and picked out a white kousa dogwood. We already have another dogwood in the front of the house, so this one will be a nice addition. The new one is in the spot where our very old maple used to be.

Malayna helped us get the spot ready, put one of his tennis balls in with the tree and put some dirt on top. After that, though, she was off - playing with her friends on her new swingset. Jimmy and I each took some of his ashes and sprinkled them at the bottom of the tree. We then took turns filling the hole with dirt.

Knock, knock. Anyone there?

{Spring.}

I can't believe it's been 10 days since I've updated this blog. Totally unintentional. I've been thinking about things, business-wise, and trying to make sense of all the ideas I have in my head. As is always the case before a show, I've come up with some new stuff. But trying to stay motivated, stay in the house and work on producing it is proving difficult. When spring (and the warm weather) rolls around, all I want to do is be outside and dig in the dirt. See those pictures, above? That's why I haven't been around here. I just want to soak it all up.

Be back tomorrow! I promise.

Slowly grieving

Malayna has been pretty emotional these days, crying at the littlest things, quietly sucking her thumb, needing more hugs and cuddles than usual. She's been crying when Jimmy leaves for work in the morning, when mom-mom goes home, and when I drop her off at school. She talks about Luco often during the day, and always before going to sleep at night. Every night she tells me she misses him and wishes he could come back. I tell her I do, too.

Every time we come home, she says "I still expect Luco to be there." He would lie by the front door, and when I would put the key in the lock we would hear him scramble to get up off the wood floor. Because of this, I would open the door slowly. I still do. I am reminded every time I open that door that he's not here anymore.

It's the little things that get me. No more dog bowls in the kitchen, no hearing him shift around and sigh during the night, no companion for me while Malayna's at school and Jimmy's at work, no furry face begging for scraps at the dining room table. I miss his sweet face and his silky ears that I would kiss before going out. I miss him keeping us company while we sit on the porch (one of his very favorite places to be). I miss him acting like a puppy when Jimmy would come home from work, jumping and wagging his tail.

The house feels so empty when it's just me here. I'm reminded every morning that he's gone - he would sleep by Jimmy's side of the bed, and would stay there until Malayna woke up. He would go into her room and lie on her floor while she was getting dressed, and then follow us downstairs. He was so big that he would be in the way, and we'd have to squeeze into a tiny space to help Malayna get dressed. It would be slightly annoying, but now there's too much room in there. I miss his big, old, furry presence.

I've been thinking about how to write a post about Luco - about how incredibly awesome he was and how much he meant to us. How he was our first baby. How he was so gentle and patient with Malayna. How sweet he was. I just can't seem to do it. I can't yet find the words.

We're going to have a memorial service for him soon. We'll plant a tree, bury some of his toys, talk about him, and cry and laugh. We have his ashes, but we haven't told Malayna about them yet. One thing at a time…

Giveaway on Scoutie Girl!

Scoutie Girl and Art Garage Sale have teamed up to put together a fabulous giveaway worth over $600! One lucky person will win the entire package. Go to Scoutie Girl to enter (you can enter up to 16 times for more chances to win!). Good luck!

(PS: I donated one of my Rebecca pendants.)

Photo Friday

These are from our beach trip a few weeks ago. We had the best time playing on the beach (Malayna actually splashed in the freezing water!), walking around town, enjoying ice cream together (that was our lunch), and watching a wedding party arrive at the church in town. I'm so glad we went.

Rain makes me feel creative

It has rained here for the past 9 days - which means I've been stuck in the house when I'd rather be outside gardening! One good thing about rainy days is that it forces me to find things to do inside, like drawing, designing and cleaning. (Okay, so that last one was a lie.) While Malayna is at school, or while she colors next to me, I work on a new ideas. My latest new idea is to make prints for framing.

I've used some of my favorite patterns, which start out as illustrations with ink. After scanning, I color the patterns on the computer. The prints measure 8x10 and the paper I'm using is recycled and created with wind power.

What do you think?

Amelia pendant

{Amelia pendant - one of my favorites!}

I'll bet you can guess what Amelia Bloomer is famous for… That's right - bloomers are named after her! She had a leading role in promoting dress reform for women in the late 1800s.

She was the first women to start her own newspaper, The Lily. At first, the focus of the paper was temperance, but, with the help of Elizabeth Cady Stanton, the focus soon changed to the issue of women's rights. The Lily educated women about the inequities they faced and the possibility of major social reform.

See the Amelia pendant here!

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You've got to see my Scoutie Girl post about gorgeous jewelry and dishware!

Alice pendant

{Alice pendant}

The Alice pendant is named after Alice Paul, a leader in the woman's suffrage movement and one of the founders of the National Woman's Party. Alice Paul is one of the women responsible for the passage of the 19th Amendment (which gives women the right to vote). It's hard to believe that this Amendment was adopted in 1920- a mere 89 years ago. The movie Iron Jawed Angels tells the story of this struggle.

Alice Paul later became involved in the struggle to introduce and pass the Equal Rights Amendment, which has still not been passed.

The Equal Rights Amendment

Section 1. Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex.

Section 2. The Congress shall have the power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.

Section 3. This amendment shall take effect two years after the date of ratification.

The ERA would make it illegal to discriminate against someone based on their sex (for both women and men). Seems pretty basic, doesn't it? Want to do something about it? Go to the National Council of Women's Organizations website. They list events and programs to get involved with, lots of information about women's rights and a page of resources so you can learn more.

See the Alice pendant here. (Just $15!)