Random bits of fun

I went a little crazy making birds this last month, and still have a few left after the open house. They will make great ornaments this year on the tree if I don't sell the rest by Christmas. I also made a few sewn tags out of tape transfers and fabric for the open house. They are so much fun to make and decorate with. I am itching to decorate for Christmas already but am determined to wait until after Thanksgiving.

We will be celebrating with Turkey 3 times this year, since turkey was such a good deal at the grocery store this year Micah and I bought our own to make (Micah's idea, but I'm sure I will end up in charge of cooking it). We are headed up the Sumner next weekend to this great B&B with Micah's family, then headed to the Wilson Thanksgiving the following Thursday. What a great busy time of the year! I love the holidays, but am determined to keep things a little simpler this year. I wanted to make it a handmade Christmas, but I don't think I planned ahead enough to do that for every one this year.
I did find a great new cranberry jam recipe to try making sometime in the next week or two. Poke around on the site, she has some great ideas for food in jars.

On another note, this baby is kicking like crazy and is measuring a little large at the moment. I'm 20 weeks on Tuesday and feel like I am 7 months pregnant. Tonight I was watching FB with Micah and nearly fell off my chair, it felt like an electric shock kick, this baby is strong and could possibly be very fiesty. Watch out. We did the old ring test on the tummy this weekend and it showed "boy" which I am more convinced of every day.

A few favorites

In the few minutes here and there I've been able to spend time at my cluttered desk adding more to the pile and actually finish some things for the Open House next weekend. I finally bought some more ink and am having fun playing around with it. These are 4x4 canvases so they are very doable in my spare time. These could go in Mason's room if I don't sell them next weekend, so either way I will be happy :)




I scavenge around the garage every once in a while to see what treasures Micah has been storing in HIS piles. I grabbed a few boards and thought they would be perfect for some mixed media collages and drawings. He also has some great trim that I haven't gotten to yet, not sure if he's ready to give it up yet...
(Pine board, found papers, gesso, acrylic, pencil, chalk, not sure what else I used... a little of everything)

These little houses are yet to find a home, they are in process and I'm still contemplating what to do to them next. Mason arranged them on the window with his little person looking at them. Priceless.

On another note, today is "take your son to work day" at the Miller household - which means I am home alone until tomorrow when I join the boys at the farm. Micah took the truck, wagon, a load of shingles and Mason up to the farm to do some roofing and combining with his dad. My mind was spinning this morning after they left at all of the possibilities I have to do until tomorrow. I haven't had this much time to myself since before Mason was born. A little bizarre.

But how could you want to leave these beautiful faces???

Happy Friday!

Pumpkins and Mr. Spooky

Its hard to believe it is already November. We were pinching ourselves last night as we took the kids trick-or-treating, are we really parents taking our KIDS doing this? It still seems like we should be the ones dressing up and going door to door. Time goes by so fast. Mason went trick-or-treating with his cousins Thomas and Tristan and they were very enthusiastic about the entire experience. Mason loved dressing up in his costume and quickly figured out the perks of ringing someone's doorbell and knocking on their door. A few times he even tried to go inside! Fearless. He did get called a girl 2 times, but we'll blame that on his eyelashes.
Mason's Grandma Miller grew Jack 'O Lanterns for all the kids, so we brought that and two of our little pie pumpkins from our garden to carve with the family. Mason and Thomas were more interested in the markers, but Mason did help dig out his pumpkin.
Mason and Thomas call Grandpa's computer the Choo Choo box. YouTube has some great videos with trains and everytime we visit thats the only thing they want to do. So when the boys got back from trick or treating they crashed and watched the ChooChoo box and ate raisins.

I hope everyone had a safe Halloween! It was so much fun to see Mason running from door to door, he even had the "Roar!" down for a tiger. What a fun holiday!

Please Join us!

Keri Speidel, Andy Gael and I are having an open house in November and we would love it if you would join us to browse, shop, or stop and say hello! We thought it would be a fun way to show some of our work and get us motivated to keep working through the holiday season. I will post some photos soon of things that I have been working on so you can get a taste of whats to come. Check out Keri's site too, she has some neat windows and things that will be on display. Hope to see you there!

Happy Fall

I am stuck with my apples. Any ideas? I have made applesauce, apple butter, pie, crisp, etc. I need something new!

SO apparently some of you caught on with my last post... If not, the big news is baby #2 is on the way! The "official" due date is April 6, which seems a long way away but the past 14 weeks have sure flown by. Mason likes to say "baby" and give my tummy a hug, and then refuses to give ME a hug. Stinker. I think he will be a great big brother!

Just a little sketch...

Productivity

The sewing bug has returned, just when I had the art room almost in an orderly fashion I delve right in again and make a mess. Currently my table has layers of collage paper, acrylics, bobbins, and sewing patterns piled in such a way that causes me to just ignore it and continue with the next project. I did find that "someone" had gotten into the pins earlier this week as I found them scattered everywhere. I have yet to really childproof that room (hence the plastic bag of items such as acetone and turpenoid, etc. sitting on the floor that is supposed to be on the top shelf).
I have never attempted a sock monkey or any sock-type creature, but this week I had to get rid of the wool socks sitting in my drawer since my Colorado days. Mason's monster is almost done, it actually looks a bit like a bunny with large lips, but he likes it. I also found time this week to make the cutie booties from Amy Butler's pattern that I had fabric cut for since last winter. Something made me just finish it this week. I'm trying to actually finish something around here, since cleaning and organizing is so daunting and never ending. I can't give the booties away because if you look too close they are quite amateur and my sewing needs a bit more practice. But I am glad they actually turned out quite adorable.

Mason's new word is no. He is very proficient in using it and is turning out to be quite strong-willed about certain things. Like food and wearing clothes. He also says "mmm-hmm," meaning yes, which is very helpful in decision-making throughout the day. We are working on using words now instead of sounding like a monkey when he wants something. If you've been around him you know. Kind of like a whining monkey. This is just a phase. We are working on yes please and no thank you, but I'm sure that is far into the future. Thankfully if you ask for a kiss or a hug he is willing and doesn't say no. That really brightens my day :)

Have you seen this book? It is a treasure and on my list. So many great ideas!