Lemon Tree Creations

I am extremely excited about a project that I have been working on for the last few weeks, and beyond ready to share it.  I am going to be a weekly contributor at a new creative blog called Lemon Tree Creations. 

I am working with a few amazing girls, and I am lucky enough to be friends with each of them. 

You know how sometimes you are browsing creative blogs, you and you come across items that are so adorable that you don’t even want to attempt to copy them and blow it, you just want to email the person who made it and buy one off of them.  Tiffany and Patrice are both those kind of people.  They consistently have such great ideas, incredible execution, and manage to maintain their warmth and modesty in a way that keeps you from being annoyed with them for being so darn good!  I am quite certain that having my own projects sandwiched between theirs trick people into thinking that I am almost as talented as they are, so be sure to check it out, particularly at the end of the week. :)

 

I will be posting my own projects on Mondays, so head on over today to see my $1 Welcome Sign.

But then, really, you’ll need to come back on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday to see what Tiffany, Patrice and Jessica have put together this week.  You won’t be disappointed.

Also, I found out that my guest post will be posted this Saturday at Tatertots and Jello, so be sure to go over and check it out.  I am so excited about it and about to burst from sitting on it for the past week!  But it’s worth the wait.

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Accessorizing

I know that some parents have a hard time getting their kids to wear shoes.   Some kids refuse gloves, immediately take off their hats, don’t cooperate with Halloween costumes, and wearing something like sunglasses would be completely impossible.  My kid is the opposite.

Jayce actually LOVES these sorts of things.  He loves hats and often won’t take his off  once when we get in the house or the store.  He loves gloves, and gets mad if one falls off.  If he’s getting antsy in the car, I’ll give him my sunglasses, which he’ll put on upside down, and then wear for the rest of the trip.  And then there’s shoes.  No pair of shoes, slippers, or flip flops will go unnoticed by him.  Actually, what irritates him the most about shoes, is when he is already wearing some of his own, and they are preventing him from slipping on an adult’s shoes as well.  He became fascinated with our shoes last summer, so he’s pretty well practiced by now, and often literally runs around in them.  Yesterday he was pushing the lawn mower in circles around the room while he was wearing his dad’s slippers.

I know you’re not supposed to do this, but I’m going to just come right out with it.  When it comes to walking around in shoes that are half the length of his body, Jayce is gifted. 

As the family picture-taker, this is pretty fun for me, because there are always funny photo opts when your kid can’t walk by a pair of work goggles without putting them on and then continuing on his way.  There were so many at Christmastime, that I ended up making a little collage of my favorites.

And this one didn’t even make the cut.

Just a day in the life of my funny little boy.

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In Other Fun News: About Me

My mom is always commenting that she wants to hear more about me on the blog.  Actually, as long as there is a steady stream of pictures about the grandbaby I know she is satisfied, but still, on the side she is also interested in what I’m up to.  I typically say something like, “The blog does tell what I’m up to…taking pictures of and laughing at Jayce, hanging out with and bragging on Chris, making stuff for around the house…these are the things that I’m doing.” 

Well I have some other fun news that does just have to do with me.  I am so excited about all of them and have been dying to share the news on our blog, so here goes.

First off, a few weeks ago, one of our friends who is an unbelievable professional photographer in Chicago emailed me and asked if I would like to assist in some weddings this summer.  I was stunned, mostly because she is really awesome (seriously, check her out www.christineotte.com), and I am a complete photography newbie.  I was thinking to myself, “Why?  Are the bride and groom making something out  of burlap that you want me to come take a picture of?”  When we talked last week I asked her, honestly, “So when you say you want me to assist you, do you mean, like, helping you get things set up and arranging people, getting you water, etc, or like…helping take pictures?”  I was being completely serious.  And she laughed at me.  She then proceeded to tell me all sorts of nice things about me, my pictures, and what I would be in charge of at the weddings.  I was floored and beyond flattered by her confidence in me, (perhaps blind confidence, but I will do my best to make her proud.). 

In all seriousness, I am really excited about this because I know that I will be learning a TON from working with her.  Her photography is that beautiful photojournalistic style, and when you’re looking through the pictures you feel like she took pictures of the couple being in love, not just of them dressed up, standing in front of the altar and smiling (like mine were).  Christine has done the photography at a few of our friends’ weddings, and just ask my husband, I am spitting jealous afterwards whenever I’m looking through her pictures. (The one above is of me, by her at a friend’s wedding.  Seemed an appropriate pic for this post.) 

Second, next week I am going to be guest blogging at the awesome DIY site, Tatertots and Jello.  Jen, the blogger there, is going to be on vacation and asked if some of her readers would volunteer to do a guest post and a tutorial.  I put my name in and was one of the people she picked!  I am SOO excited about this.  She has a great blog and I have been working away all weekend to finish up the project that I will be posting on her site next week.  I can’t wait to share it with you all!!  It is one of those things that you finish and then can’t stop looking at because it just turned out so well.  I’m not sure exactly which day I’ll be posting yet, so please check back here and I will let you know as soon as I do!

Third, there is one other fun thing I’ve been working on this last week that I am dying to share, but it’s only in the planning stage at this point.  Hopefully by the end of next week it will be completely ready to go.  Stay tuned, it’s going to be great.

Happy Monday!

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He Likes That Boom Boom Pow

I think that I have mentioned before that Jayce sometimes watches CMT with Chris, and now knows that when he hears country music, he should stomp his foot, clap his hands, or smack his hand on his leg along with the beat.

Last week in the car, I heard Jayce singing “Boom boom boom” along with the Black Eyed Peas on the radio. Later on in the day, he came into the kitchen, pointed up at the radio and asked for “Boom Boom Boom.” And then started breaking it down.

Though Chris is responsible for the country “dancing,” I am not responsible for this.

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Welcome

I had a successful thrify re-do this week that turned out well and I thought I’d share. I came across these old blocks at the thrift store last week, I knew exactly what was in store for them.

I popped off the wooden letters, painted the front black, and printed off some letters in various fonts.

I liked the way the black letters on white looked so much that I painted white over the black background. I then traced the backs of the letters in pencil, put each letter on a block, and rubbed the front with a lead-less mechanical pencil to transfer the letter outline onto the block.

I got some Craft Smart paint from Michaels that almost doubled my painting time (on the right). Do not get this stuff if you are trying to do this project, it covers like watercolor, so it makes an already time-consuming project take a lot longer. Luckily I had some of the Liquitex (on the left) leftover from another project, and that filled in the letters easily with only 1 coat.

I then sanded the letters and corners, painted over the whole thing with a glaze and wiped it off. Ta da!

I realize that glazing flirts with the fine line between making your project look antiqued, and making it look just plain dirty. This was my first time glazing anything so hopefully my technique (I’m pretending there was one) will improve with time.

The black paint under the white background paint ended up coming in handy, because when I sanded the edges and corners, the black just popped right out. It didn’t even need the glaze.

I'm excited to be linking this to the CSI Project!

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One of the World’s Leading Young Scholars Lives in My House

LCU’s alumni publication, The Restorer, recently did an article about Chris receiving the Templeton Award.  Below is a snapshot of the article, and if you want to see a PDF of the whole magazine, I put a link here.

Once again, I just can’t help but share this great news, which we are only now starting to wrap our heads around.  We are beyond excited about the opportunity to return to Europe for a a little bit this summer where Chris will receive the award.  Furthermore, I am so proud of the hard work that he has continued to pour into his studies since the day that I first met him.  It has been more than enough to stand out in a crowd, despite having small Christian College credentials, and to gain recognition abroad and among elite colleagues.  I’m just so proud.  Okay, enough gushing for now.

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Keeping Us Laughing

Yesterday afternoon I was sitting at the kitchen table making a grocery list while Jayce played in the living room. I glanced up as he walked into the room and saw this. (I promise that this was in no way staged or instigated by me!)

Luckily, I had downloaded some pictures the night before, so the camera was sitting on the table and I was able to catch this. He didn’t make this shot (surprisingly), but grabbed the ball, headed back towards the hoop for a second shot, and ran into the wall instead. I didn’t get a picture of this, but not because I was trying to stop him from running into the wall like a good mom, but because I was changing some setting on the camera. Darn it!

Jayce abandoned the pumpkin bucket after the wall incident, and at that point I noticed that he had pulled out all of his “buckets,” and was trying to wear them one by one.

He eventually put the pumpkin bucket back on his head, and went for the hoop again with a different basketball. Why the bucket and basketball? I think the real answer is, why not? A bucket over the head is fun, and everything in our house is about basketball these days, so why not combine the two? That’s my best guess anyway.

And then he decided to go after my boots which posed a little more of a problem than our other shoes, so I helped him and zipped him in.

Since you can’t wear boots without some other winter gear, he brought me his hat. And then went into our room to dance to my alarm clock radio, which he knows how to turn on.

I know that toddlers are funny, I guess I'm just still surprised when he cracks me up by doing things that he sees as no big deal. I think there is probably a lot more of that to come.

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