Kitchen Bling

So it probably won't come as a surprise to you that I am attracted to shiny things. :)  We'll one of my obsessions this summer was kitchen Cabinet Bling! 

 I had been obsessing over replacing my door knobs in my house from gold to silver when I stumbled across crystal door knobs.  Now at $100+ I wasn't about to take that project on but, I made a comment on Facebook about how many cool door knobs are out there and how I should start a collection.  The very next day I was watching Kitchen Cousins on HGTV with Buffy when they redid a kitchen, painted the cabinets blue and put a different knob on every cabinet!  Of course this was amazing and Buffy and I both decided we needed to do it!

I picked knobs that were black, white, crystal, or bling. Lucky for me Hobby Lobby had a great selection at 50% off!  Pictures can't do this justice.  I have 30 different knobs in my kitchen and then repeated some of my favorites in the bathrooms and laundry room!  I love them!

Get ready for super nerdy because today's obsession is Observation Drawing With Children: A Frame work For Teaching.  I seriously woke up at 3:30 this morning, started reading this book and decided I had to get out of bed and go to my computer so I could create a table of notes!

This book is so the best book I have ever read on teaching children to draw!  I ordered it from Amazon almost a year ago and started reading it at the beginning of the summer finally.  It was amazing from get go but when I got to the lesson plan portion of it I became busy being social.  The reality of summer being half over came knocking this week and I decided I needed to get to the research part of my summer plans and I picked this up again.

This is a textbook kind of book but a super easy read.  I am loving it because...
 A. it breaks down the purposes for drawing.  I guess I never really thought about people having a purpose for drawing before but it totally makes sense.  Art is just visual communication so if people have purposes for writing they would have purposes for drawing. If kids need to realize why they are writing to improve the same would be true for drawing.
B. the book is so organized and has sections for K, 1-2, 3-4, and 5-6 that follow the same pattern with a developmental framework that help you understand how kids use representation and aesthetics in drawing.  It suggests what materials to use and objects to draw and even has a section on how to anticipate and respond to problems that appear all by grade level!  It also has sample lesson plans including objective and evaluation.  Even though I will not use the exact plan I like having the samples because it makes the process of the lesson so clear.
C. I love how the lessons totally encourage student discourse and I can see how beneficial a sharing and reflecting time will be in improving my students drawings!

Is it bad that I already want to schedule my evaluation for the first six weeks of school?  I love this book!  I feel so smart just for reading it. LOL.

P.S. I warned you this post was going to be super nerdy. <3

I have somehow become obsessed with the need to grow my own avocado plant this summer.  I'm not sure how it started (probably something I saw on Pintrest) but I found an amazing tutorial and it looked ridiculously easy so...  here goes nothing.

Buffy was making her amazing Guacamole the other day and I rescued her pits from the garbage pile and searched my candle glass stash for the perfect container to get started.

K&Company's SMASH Book... A Review

In short... I LOVE it

So here's how it went down... I received an email from Two Peas in a Bucket that had a subject line about new CHA released products.  Now I was fairly sure this would cause me to do a little shopping as these types of emails always do but I knowingly clicked open the email anyway. At the top of this email was the SMASH book collection.  Honestly, it was love at first site.  I am a sucker for accessories and the go-withs for this journal were pretty spectacular.  Then I watched this video (Go ahead I dare you.) and knew I need one instantly.  Well, me needing one lead me to thinking I needed to buy one for Jessica and Andrea too because a) I had been looking for an unbirthday gift* for them, b) It would be fun to share the packs of accessories, and c) I thought it would be fun to work in them together.

After doing a little on line research I realized the whole line was pretty much sold out everywhere but got super lucky and found that almost everything was in stock at Scrapbooks.com which meant I could pick my order up in Mesa, save on shipping and handling, and have the loot sooner! (If after you read this you need one too and they are sold out everywhere still be patient, it' so worth it!)

I am having so much fun just adding stuff into my SMASH book!  Some days I am doing a spread and some days I'm randomly attaching envelopes it just depends on my mood.

The best part is that I am using stuff that I was just saving for something special. Somehow it seems like it just belongs in this book.  Check out these l-o-n-g page tabs that I had hanging out in two sizes.  They were perfect for adding a quote to the top of my journal.  I love how busy this looks with the clips etc.

If you Google SMASH books you will see all kinds of people saying, " Why would you buy one just make your own..."  A ridiculous number of tutorials are online about how to make one- most of which involve a hole puncher and a set of book rings.  I say, you are going to spend just as much cash on decorative scrapbook paper to make your own (These books only retail for $12, it would be worth buying to rip the paper out and use in other projects it is so cool!) your not going to have the cool embossed cover or the fabulous SMASH pen, and if I absolutely had to have a SMASH book today and they were all out of stock, I would at least thread up a needle and bind my scrapbook pages together into a book instead of pretending like a pile of scrapbook paper with two book rings is really as cool as a real SMASH book. (No offense if you do but I feel better to have that off my chest. LOL!)

* I will write a post very soon about unbirthdays!

Cute and Easy...

That's how I like my vacation albums.  I got the inspiration to make an album like this somewhere a long time ago and it has been stewing around in my brain until this summer.  I actually started the Disney album on the very first day of my summer vacation and just made the Hawaii album last week.

The idea is simple, just take all of your vacation photos, back them with cool and random scrapbook paper (I only bought 3 sheets with Hibiscus flowers to make these two books, I was all about using what was on hand.), add postcards and random dividers and poof..an album!  I bought one pack of index card dividers for about $2 and a pack of book rings, also about $2 and I still have left over supplies.

In the Disney book, I collaged with labels on the backs of the pages and journaled.  When I went to Hawaii, I bought the postcards and just journaled a little each day so It was already done when I got home making this little album a snap!

Yay Target, Again!

My mom found these great little drawers at Joann, in white, that were exactly the right size for holding pens.  I of course fell in love with them but when I went looking they were nowhere to be seen.  This ended up being lucky for me!

About a week ago I was wandering through Target, trying to mind my own business when I heard these fabulously lime green drawers shouting at me!  I snached two of them for about $7 each (I thought it was a steal)!  After organizing what I though was all of my pens and markers I found another special little pouch and then came to terms with the fact that my school pens wold be jealous if they did not have an adorable little house too so I went back and scooped up two more!
P.S. I know my pen habit is out of control, thanks for understanding!

Yay Target!

Yay Target, for making a box that fits my masking tape collection perfectly! (Yes, I know I have a problem.)

Washi Tape!

The mother load of washi tape arrived this week! (And if you look in the background of this picture you can tell how badly I was in need of it!)  I fell in love with this tape when Kelly was here last and kept ordering and ordering from Washimatta!  You should order from Washimatta too.  The customer service was amazing!  I also got the stickers you see in front of the tape.

Now the only problem I have is that I need another ruler box to store tape in, well that and the fact that Hambly just released their washi tape today.

Getting Back To Normal

Kelly's in town and I can't sleep.  Now I really know things are getting back to normal. :)

Randomness

I have come to realize that blogging, or journaling for that matter, is easier for me when things are roses and sunshine.  I know, I know, real life happens and it is okay to be sad, upset, or disappointed and I understand that sometimes if you talk about it it makes things better.  I got it, really I promise, but I just don't operate like that.  I am more of a think it through myself, take action, report back when things are roses and sunshine kind of girl.  There are times when I appreciate sympathy but it generally annoys me.

In the last few days I have started hearing my journal calling to me.  Now what I'm thinking I need to write is all disjointed and out of order but I have come to terms with that and my OCD side is prepared to deal with it too. LOL.  Luckily, I collaged an entire journal while I was thinking things through and refusing to write about it and have it ready to go for such an occasion.

I realized today that my hang up was that in the past I had come to a point where I was able to photograph all of my journal pages and post them on my blog for people to see and I was torn.  While I want to be able to show my journal pages I also want to keep the ideas on them private.  (See, believe it or not some people actually read the words and sometimes even comment on them. LOL!) Then it hit me.... I could photograph them with no writing and still  post them.  After all a blog with no pictures is no fun and there are only so many times you can post that you are really art journaling again without proving it. :)

Marshmallows!

Ayesha brought me these amazing handmade marshmallows back from her trip to South Dakota. I had never had handmade marshmallows before but now I can't stop thinking about them! I got an email from Etsy the other day and low and behold people actually sell handmade marshmallows on Etsy! Now I have been trying to forget that I can buy them their and trying myself out of buying them but obviously I am not doing a very good job at it! :)

A Spooky Book

Yesterday I took my mom's class at Frenzy Stamper. It's nice to take a class and actually get a whole project done in one sitting! Here it is...



My mom is selling her extra kits on her blog so now that you are in love with this spooky book get yours while you can!

And here are the goodies I picked up While I was at Frenzy too!



This super cool ice cream parlor also moved in a few doors down from Frenzy. It is super cute old fashioned ice cream parlor and game area. It also has a cotton candy machine! I am happy to have treats so close to Frenzy! You know I love taking classes at Frenzy and desserts only make it better!

It's Getting Spooky Around Here!

I didn't get super crazy with Halloween decorations around here this year just because with Shannon's wedding and visiting Deb I feel like Halloween has been about three days long this year. I do realize that I could still add more decorations but to be honest I'm feeling a little lazy.

I do love my spooky center piece and am looking forward to showing you how it will transition into a Thanksgiving and Christmas centerpiece too!



I bought the black glittered pumpkin at Target, black and white sixletts from Hobby Lobby in the wedding section, and everything else is Gold Canyon!
Cobweb Twinkle Ties
Ivory Chimney Set
Floating Tealight Holders
Crystal Candle Stands
I love, love, love it!

Also, Have you been to Trader Joe's and met the pumpking Trees? If you said no, get in your car go directly to Trader Joe's, do not pass go, do not collect $200!



They are so stinkin' cute! Deb doesn't have a Trader Joe's so I even took some on the plane to her. The one I bought for Deb was even better than my origional one so I'm thinking that the later in the season it gets the cooler they will be!

100 Days

Quite coincidentally I decided to figure out how many days it had been since my last blog post this morning and realized it had been exactly 100 days. Weird right? (Yes, the math was really about the blog in case you are wondering.) 101 days with no blog post would just be ridiculous so here I am.

Ayesha and I just got back from visiting Deb in Texas! It's perfect how the school district worked in an October break so I can still celebrate Halloween with Deb. LOL!

We visited a pumpkin farm.



carved pumpkins, (I went old school. Mine is the far right.)



visited the Halloween Bootique,



and even had spooky dinner!



We also made Alonna a new wall mural for her room!


We had a great time & I can't wait to plan our November visit in AZ!

Collaged Quote Book Day Three

The end...

Collaged Quote Book Day Two

The middle...

Collaged Quote Book Day One

Here is a cute little collaged quote book I made over a series of Friday Art Dates this summer with the girls. It didn't start out as a quote book but I decided to collage it so heavily that the smallish spaces that were left seemed like a great place to write my favorite quotes. The best part is that if I find a new quote I love I can still add it to my book. :) Here's the beginning...