The Amazing Adventures of Us

We made frog heads today.  Tomorrow we (almost the whole school - those who aren't on the camping trip, a lot of the parents and a few grandparents) are going to be in a parade through downtown Portland.  I plan on taking as many photos of us as I can while wearing my frog head.

Chris Lutter spent the day with us helping us design and build the frog heads.  It was one of the funnest things we've done in a while (we spend this weekend painting the dining room, so of course it was more fun!).
I'll post more photos from the parade as soon as I can. 

basket of monsters

  basket of monsters 
  Originally uploaded by artfulblogger.

I've been hard at work making many many monsters.  Here's a peek at few of them.

Yesterday was Open House at the kid's school and it was a good one.  We had about 20 families show up and most of them seemed really interested!  It was good.  It was billed (for the kids at school) as an extra day of school, most of them seemed to like that. 

We followed that up with one of the kid's friend's birthday party at a local skating rink.  That was cool, loud, but a lot of fun.  And the chocolatey-est cake ever, yum.  Needless to say, all of the kids fell asleep early what with all the playing at school in the morning and rollerskating in the afternoon.

Valentine's Day is coming up.  I've never been a fan of it, I mean I like the idea of showing those you love how special they are to you.  But I'm not keen on getting cards and the artificiality of it.  I'd like a homegrown rose and a kiss on the cheek (or lips).

My sister has an interview tomorrow.  We're all keeping our fingers crossed for a good outcome.  Got anything you can cross?  Fingers, toes, eyes, anything.

  Fish crown closeup 
  Originally uploaded by artfulblogger.

In the past few days we've had rain and snow and more rain and wind and gorgeous sun.  Crazy weather.

Here's a closeup of the newest crown.  I love it.  The colors are so beautiful (and my favorites). 

Everyone here is in various stages of illness.  Not lots of fun.  But we're working on getting better.

We didn't get into Crafty Wonderland this time around.  I'm hoping that we make it in in March.  Think good thoughts for us.

  Portland theater 
  Originally uploaded by artfulblogger.

So I've been published!  My theaters can been seen in Teesha Moore's magazine Art & Life.  How cool is that?

I'm still cranking out the stuff.  Crowns, monsters and theaters for (hopefully) the upcoming Crafty Wonderland.  Keep your fingers crossed for me, I find out today if I'm in or not.

That's it from here.  Back to the daily daily.

  Fernando Llama 
  Originally uploaded by artfulblogger.

I've added a bunch of new photos of things I've been working on the past few weeks - here are some of them.   On the right is Fernando Llama, he's made from a sock.  And he's wonderfully soft and squishy.  The one with the black stripes is Toe Head, and the elephant below is Waltzing Matilda.

I've been spending a lot of time in the studio getting ready in case I get selected to sell at Crafty Wonderland.  Because of my extra studio time my kids aren't very happy with me these days, Stu's been begging me to spend more time with her (and I have, we hung out all morning yesterday just the two of us), and Robin's decided that getting into trouble is the best way to garner some attention (this parenting thing isn't much fun sometimes).

Other than that life is going along just fine.  As a group w have decided to worry about cleaning less and spend more time playing and creating.  I think it's a good decision.

  yellow cupcakes - old 
  Originally uploaded by artfulblogger.

We went to Saint Cupcake yesterday - very cool.  I love their decor, and the cupcakes weren't bad either.  I did ask if I could take photos before I whipped out my camera.

It rained here all day and it was lovely.  I must say I'm not missing the heat in the slightest. 

I spent the afternoon sitting on a friend's sofa with a few other moms while we learned how to play D&D.  My character's name is something like Alahandra and I'm a warrior (or something - I forget really).  We meet again next week to really get started.  In the meantime I'm thinking of making my character into a doll I can take to D&D games with me. 

Open studio this Friday should be fun, I may have more people coming and we're thinking of setting up a class schedule.  Melanie is interested in teaching an art journaling class, I'd love to teach doll making, and we'll see what other people have to offer.

studio 2
Originally uploaded by artfulblogger.

Here's the finished studio space (ok this is really only my part of it, but still, here it is!). I've been working out there making pennants to hang from the ceiling (and since I had a lot of extra fabric I made some to sell in my Etsy shop). I love it out here. So do the kids, they say it's even better than the studio space we had in our old house. I agree.

This Friday will be our first open studio night (I'm thinking decaf and rice krispie treats). I'm so excited! If you are planning on being there (Melanie, Leslie, Jenny) - leave your kids at home, bring your stuff to work on, dress warmly, and bring your bathing suit cause we may want to take a break and get in the hot tub!

Joy and Amy I wish you could be there to join us, we'll certainly miss you (well, I will anyway).

See you Friday!!