Merry Christmas !

From Alvin & the Chipmunks....

Just 4 years Ago

I took these pictures of Chloe & Blake in December 2004, I think I sent them out with Christmas Cards that year, and since I have not done a Holiday Photo as of yet this year, thought I would share these. For those of you who remember my post about the Solstice Tree in my next store neighbors yard, well right directly underneath is where these images were taken.













The Poncho, Sweater and Hats were knit by my Mother.. I just loved them, they are definitely in the keepsake box now, except for the poncho, Chloe still wears it four years later. Thanks Mom !

Chloe Art

Chloe made me these tags to go on the aprons I made for the Winter Boutique last week. So not only did the ladies receive a nice handmade apron, they got a little piece of artwork as a bonus. Thank you Chloe !





I did the back, with a very thin lined pen, really helps when you have not so great writing, (micron's, the pens, highly recommended).




I encouraged Chloe to make some slightly bigger pieces to sell herself, this one was my favorite. Our friend Annie was the happy recipient. Chloe really enjoyed using her earnings to play some games and get some treats.



I really enjoyed meeting some of the other Momma's that create and sell their art. Some very cleaver and beautiful things. I don't have very good pictures of our table or the others, it was quite windy and the sun was in a funny place, plus I was to busy gabbing away with friends !! All in all it was a fun day, and I was really glad that Chloe came along, it just might be the beginnings of a budding Poppy Heart business for us!!

Winter Boutique Preview

A few details...
Embroidered Vintage Napkin Pocket





Vintage Inspired 1950's smock









The two aprons below are for a girl size 5-7, Chloe says she would wear them as an accessory over her pants.



The Bernina and I have been very busy these past few weeks making aprons for our School's Winter Boutique. This will be my first time selling aprons at a craft fair, and I am looking forward to it. There are a few more aprons that didn't make the photo shoot, hopefully I will get some images of them tomorrow.

Notice in the images my newly acquired dress forms, Mandy & Mindy. Below is the lineup I picked them out of at Farkas store fixtures. It was pretty fun staring at these forms and mannequins trying to figure out which one to pick.





So all my girlfriends out there...come by school tomorrow and get your aprons on...

P.S. My good friend Daleth will be sharing a table with me and selling some very beautiful bags and purses. Great time to buy yourself or someone you love a Christmas present !!

Peace

Chloe has been making entries into a old dream catcher journal that Alan had lying around never used. I just love this entry, Peace has been a theme for Chloe since the beginning of this school year. She was part of a group, (5th graders and 2nd graders) who got together to form "Peace Pals" for International Peace day. They learned to sing "We are the World" and had a performance in the school auditorium for everyone. So, I think this little entry was influenced by that event. Notice the word bubble coming out of the little person on the bottom, it says "Yes, we will" written backwards... Its so interesting to see how the world influences a 7 year old, and how it comes back out on paper.

Manual Labor

Look what I made this week. With the help of my Father-In-Law, I made a redwood raised planter box (12x2ft) for my Winter Garden. The original idea was for me to pickup all the supplies and have my (FIL) do the work, but guess who ended up doing all the drilling, and in the meantime learning exactly how to make one of these things...yes, me. Its always a good feeling accomplishing a job that I usually rely on the Men in my life to do! Thanks to Grandpa Guntist for teaching me how its all done!



At Chloe's school, we were busy utilizing grant money to build the school an Outdoor Classroom, more raised planters, and a circular butterfly bed. I spent this past Thursday with our good friend, Rich, who has acquired excellent masonry skills over the years, making the form for the circular bed butterfly bed, and then pouring the concrete. We were on a time crunch, because of daylight and we needed it to be dry for everyone at school in 2 days in order to start the mosaic designs on the sides.



After an eight hour day, with about 4 straight hours of that time mixing and pouring 70 bags of concrete, (Oh, my aching back !) I definitely had a real sense of what manual labor can feel like. Along with another 8 hour day at school yesterday, this Momma is wiped out, but feeling a huge sense of accomplishment, and a gratifying sense of community!



You can see more pictures from our school garden work day and the beginnings of the beautiful mosaic designs here.

Yes We Did !

When I started this blog, I promised myself I would not talk about politics's in this space. What I write and show here, is suppose to be about art, nature, life, & family. It is also a journal for our family to look back at in the coming years, which is why I could not let this time, and these few days pass without putting it here, for us to look back and remember how it felt, what it looked like, and what happened as a result. Its historical, its the beginning of change and I am very proud to be a part of it.

By the way, in regards to Art, I have never seen so much creativity behind a Presidential Candidate, so amazingly cool! The image above is from the same website as the previous post. So, in a way, I am still keeping with my theme...finding the beauty and art in everyday !

Got Hope

If you want to print off some beautifully designed Obama Posters, like the one below, go here, you will love them all !

Halloween Characters

Chloe got busy making some spooky characters to decorate with for Halloween. Here's who she created....






I love them all....

Girls Weekend in Idyllwild

Chloe & I went to Idyllwild this past weekend, for a Girls Only adventure at "The Little Cabin on the Creek". Daddy & Blake stayed home so they could go to the Miramar Air Show, experiencing fun & exciting Boy time.





We had a very peaceful time. We read books, watched the Stellar Blue Jays & squirrels eat peanuts we left on the deck for them, had a nice warm fire in the evening, drank hot cocoa, went for walks breathing in the fresh mountain air along with the scent of pine trees, and visited the Idyllwild Nature Center. It was a lovely time, and we have images to prove it !!






Thanks to our friends at Plump Otter for sharing their beautiful cabin with us, a great place for Mother/Daughter bonding!

Sunset

We went for an evening jaunt to the beach on Thursday, one of the Hottest Days we have had this month, to cool off and catch the sunset. It was of course, beautiful as most sunsets are. I had a hard time figuring out how to pick up the vibrant orange color of the sun in my camera, so imagine it turned up about 5 notches.





When we got there, we ran down to the ocean, breathing in the smell and the coolness of the ocean air, I thought yes, I can capture this moment with pictures, the kids playing in the water, the different colors of the sunset sky, the pelican's flying close to the ocean waves, but then it happened. The beans & rice that we ate for dinner before coming were having their way with Blake's digestive system, he put his hand over his behind and said, "Mommy, hurry up, dig a hole, I have to go poop !" So, what does a mother do at this point ? Dig a hole if front of everyone so we can stay close to the water and click away on the camera, or turn around and run to the public rest room ? (By the way, I have never dug the whole at the beach before)




Well, you guessed it, we ran, away from our perfect moment, all the way to the bathroom, and got Blake on his throne, while Chloe and I watched the sunset from the boardwalk. It was all the way down when Blake was done. How quickly it goes below the horizon. All that work to get to the beach, ah, well, we will have to try again another day, another sunset.