five-year-old league

the birthday boy and best pal

bowling cookies

cool shoes

not a bad shot

how five-year-olds feel about bowling

a book, a gift

A gift for E's best friend on his fifth birthday, and her very first, very own story.

free friday gallery

puppet
e, 4.5 years old
brown paper bag and graph paper
29 February 2008

M printed out the Arthur birthday hat for E to color while she spent the day at his office. She took a lunch bag, some graph paper and colored pencils and made a whole puppet inspired by the hat. Later she added the necklace and bracelet. I especially like the way his/her hands are clearly "left" and "right" with the opposite thumbs, and the feet turn outward with laces and grommets.

detail of the face with the mouth over the fold in the bag for proper puppet mouth action

projects in my head

I've had this idea floating around for awhile in my mind, and I got excited when I saw something similar on this blog, Sugar City Journal. Now that my new desk area is coming together I thought I'd try my hand at some simple sewing projects. I wanted to do something incorporating the artwork E has made in the past, and I thought the dress pocket at Sugar City looked a lot like the landscape collage she made a few months back. And of course my all time favorite kids-art-meets-fabric project...angry chicken's jumper with her daughter's drawings. Too cute for words.

I'm quite confident that my desire to sit in front of a desk will change once the weather turns into something resembling spring, but I'm not holding my breath around here.

hippity hop

The Easter holiday found us further north where it was a bit chillier...although with the big day being so early this year I don't think many Easters were very warm affairs. The eggs were plentiful though, and Dad got in some good strategy with the girls pre-race.

Someone is still not so sure about the costumed sorts... she was finally convinced into scooting a few feet closer, and then later confessed nonchalantly "I think that was just some man dressed up in a big bunny suit." Well, there you have it.

I hope everyone had a great holiday, and maybe even spent it with those that you love. And I hope you got a gigantic chocolate bunny to enjoy.

free friday gallery

Napkin Sketch

E, 4.5 years

Colored Pencil on Napkin

7 March 2008

E does her own version of a napkin sketch of her building idea. This building has balconies, stairs, double doors and a dormer...and of course, plenty of parking for the cars.

a splash of easter

These are what have been keeping me in the kitchen well past dinner time. The first batches shipped off today, the rest are packed up for places tomorrow and then off this weekend. There's nothing like breaking out all the pastels to improve a mood. And after making a bizillion shamrocks last weekend, I was about done with green for awhile.

These chicks look so springy in their yellow. After reading this post, I've realized I need to build a light box for photographing these things. I've never managed to get enough light pointing their way to lose the shadows but not produce a glare off the shimmery surface. And my desk is nearly done - it's received a hundred finish coats at least - so I should be able to get my sewing machine out and start getting crafty somewhere besides the kitchen. Check out Kit, Chloe and Louise - this might be a project I have to tackle for the 5th birthday later this summer. After reading their "ten questions" let me know which one you'd choose.

Wrapped up for E's teachers tomorrow (above) and sent off to those expecting new little ones (below). I'm so in love with these little bears.

a splash of green

A bit of green on our backs, a bit of green in the grass. This is what I call progress.

...and there's nothing better to do on a rainy, soggy night than bake. My eager sidekick...

...lost in thought, lost in the task at hand.