Smash book pages

Things have been super busy around here!!! Yes, life with a baby and a toddler is pretty fast paced, but we are having a great time! In between laundry, dishes, bottles, feedings, naps, MDO, and play time, I try to find a few moments here and there to do something fun and creative!

Especially after I printed my Instagram pictures, I've been having a great time sticking them in my Smash books!!! I'm up to 3 of those bad boys, now!  My red one is for me and just random stuff, the teal one is Livie's baby book, and the black one is Tuckers, which started out as a way to help him learn Scriptures, but I'm adding in his stuff, too!

I found this little quote on Pinterest, and knew it was the perfect first page for his book!

These next two pages are probably my favorites right now!!! They are in my red book, and they are just so fun and colorful!...very me, no?! :)

This next piece is  not in a Smash book, but rather a card that I made and sent as part of a Love Notes project that I did! I mailed this little gem to Heidi, who was my pen pal for 3 weeks :)  I hope she liked it!

And, I'll leave you with this picture! I walked into Hobby Lobby a while back and this beauty smacked me in the face on the way in!!!  I think someone had me in mind when they made this couch!  How cute are those chevron pillows, too?! 

My dad, who never seizes to amaze me in his ever growing knowledge of girl things (he has lived most of his life in a house full of girls. We were bound to make an impact on him at some point! :), said, "You'd have to have everything else in that room be very plain in order for that couch to work!"  LOL!!! SO true, Dad!  Good eye, good eye. :)

Well, it's 9:45, so way past my bed time these days!  I hope you enjoyed this little update! :)

Recent Colors n Cups

I'm starting to jump back in to the swing of things now that Livie is over 2 months old!!! I have already done 3 Colors and Cups parties!  The first one was for my friend, Katie's little girl, Ava, who was turning 7!!!  We decided on a little owl painting for the girls to do, and they turned out just SO cute!!!

These little gals were absolutely perfect during our painting session!  They were so quiet, with the occasional be-bop to a Justin Beiber song playing in the background!  They were so attentive to instruction, and had a great time!!!

Miss Ava is quite the little artist, and her mom even displayed her own paintings that she had been working on at home!!!

Aren't these just the perfect little party favors?!!!

Last week I got to return to Elwood High School for 2 painting sessions with the teachers of the district!!! They voted on 2 paintings that they wanted to create, so on Tuesday we created the heart, and Wednesday we painting the Spring Trees!!!!

They turned out so beautifully!!!!

This year, I was given this super awesome contraption that projected my painting up on the screen while I painted.  It really helped with such a large group! ...plus I felt like I was fulfilling my dream of having my own art TV show ;)  ...You know I'd be so good at that! :D

Aren't those just such beautiful Happy Trees?! (Yes, we did talk about Bob Ross quite a bit during this class :)  Everyone did such a great job, and put such personal touches on their canvases!!! 

Email me if you are interested in booking a party this Spring!  You can check out all of the painting options HERE!

Printing Instagram Photos

I recently ran across this amazing tutorial during my Pinterest browsings that totally caught my eye!!! It said, "How to Print Instagram (or Square Photos) at Any Retail Photo Center" So, I traveled over to Ashley's page at Lil Blue Boo and read her amazing tutorial!!!

Instead of trying to create my own tutorial, I am just going to send you to her page!!! She has given such simple and clear instructions!!!

I will mention one thing, though.  When I uploaded my Instagram photos, none of the pixel sizes matched her charts.  They were either too big, or not listed.  So, being the complete math dummy that I am, I spent part of the afternoon trying to figure out in my mind how to adjust the math to get the correct pixels...

Then I had an "Ah, ha!" moment!!!!  DUH!!!

I first had to adjust the image size- so instead of using pixels, I used INCHES!!!!  (duh, right?!)

I changed the image size to 4x4 inches (since I would be printing a 4x6 picture), and the canvas size to 4x6.

Eureka!!! Problem solved!!!!   

I then proceeded to upload 77 photos!!! ...I had a little problem uploading to the site, so it repeated about 17 photos, so I was really at more like 60 :) ...that's better, right?!

I chose to use Wal*Mart because I have recently had some problems uploading to Sam's, which would have been cheaper.  But I think these would print almost anywhere!!!!

I was in heaven last night going through all of my printed out pictures, and immediately went to work!!!  Since I had received an amazing card from Mom yesterday, written to me on her brand new typewriter, I had to get it in my book!!!  I had so much fun!!!!

I hope you enjoy printing!!!  The only down side, is that I don't know how to do this if you don't have Photoshop or Photoshop Elements :/  But, I hope this helps!!!!

Silhouettes

I just had to share these pictures that my friend, Katie, sent me!!!  She has 3 adorable little boys, and we just finished this little project for her mantle!!!  I did her silhouettes on dark brown paper, and they look AMAZING in this room!!!  She said the boys love to look up at them and pick themselves out!

We came up with this idea after I had done these two for Brooks and Graham's room.  She has adorable Pottery Barn bedding, and we'll add Carter's once he's a little older!!! 

Like I said, just had to share!!!  If you're interested in having a silhouette made, please email me or leave me a comment!!!

Magpie

One of my Christmas presents this year from Big A was a very generous gift card to Anthropologie, which I used mostly on gorgeous new juice glasses and bowls.  However, with their after Christmas sale, many of their glorious goodies were marked very low, so I was able to treat myself!!!

I had seen these little kits during my many wanderings through their store before, but now I had a purpose for it!!!  I purchased a bright pink bird cage for Livie's nursery almost immediately after finding out she was a girl, but had yet to find a bird to make it a home.

Enter Donna Wilson and her Magpies!

These little kits come with everything you need to make your own little bird, and I actually think they're intended for children...perfect :)  I picked the box with the most pink in it!

I had a pretty good time stuffing it, and playing around with the scraps that came with it to make it as "me" as possible, which is the beauty of the kit!  There are no rules!!!!

So, I added pink to the orange side...

...and a ton of pink to the black side!!! 

She's just about done.  I still need to add her legs and tail, and she'll be good to go!!! Hopefully she'll be in her cage for the nursery photos!

Check out Donna's site! She's got just adorable products, and even a blog showing all of the Magpies and Monsters that people have created!

Painting with a Toddler- Part 2

If you are just arriving, be sure to check out Part 1 to get the full scoop! :)

For our background, we used analogous colors, or colors that are next to each other on the color wheel.  Since our background was in pinks and reds, we had to wait for it to completely dry before we could add any blue or green.

*Since blue and green are opposite of red on the color wheel, if we had mixed them while they were wet, they would have created a very brown, muddy, yucky mess...Gross!  So, let things dry to keep your vibrant colors!!!  Plus, this will accommodate your child's short attention span :)

Like I said, we used some light blue and green for the leaves.  He also used a much smaller brush to keep these colors to a minimum. Since we are layering, each layer will use less and less paint, and this is easier if you give them a smaller brush.

 I first gave T just the blue...and it got a bit out of control pretty quick...I blame myself...I was trying to take pictures!!! :/  I told you, you've got to be ready or they'll run away with the project!!!

You can see in the next picture that once the green was added, he was really going to town...again with the pictures!!!  Sheesh!

However, our last step was to add tiny little yellow dots with our very smallest brush, and this went much better.  Remember to help your kiddo by turning the canvas so they're not just painting in the same area.

*It's OK to suggest other spots for them to add paint to, and it will also help them achieve a more balanced composition.

And, this was our end result.  Like I said, the blue and green got a little more out of hand than I would have hoped for, so when this layer dries, I may have him go back and add a little more of the pink/red on top, since we lost a lot of that gorgeous mixing!!! :)

I hope this was helpful, and that you'll take some time to paint with your toddler!!! You'd be surprised what they can do, and how gorgeous their artwork is!!! ...You may even have some masterpieces to hang in your home!!!

Painting with a Toddler- Part 1

I know that for some of you, the title of this post alone has turned you away! :) But, I really hope you stay and just check it out!!!

I have always enjoyed painting with T-Man, and probably started with him around when he was one.  Don't get too excited that this could be an afternoon project to share with your little one, because realistically, you're looking at about 5, maybe 10 minutes of fun!!!

My first suggestions, get prepared before you grab your kiddo.  They are quick grabbers, fast workers, and it will be done before you know it...and if you're not ready, you might miss the whole thing...and end up with a painted table :)

This is what I usually grab:

To ensure success, break your painting up into multiple parts- each part using analogous colors (colors that are similar because they are next to each other on the color wheel.)  Since we are making a painting for Livie's room, I chose pink, red, and fuchsia.

Also choose a LARGE brush.  Your child will cover more surface area, and this really helps when you are painting the background.

Now it's time to get this party started!!!  I gave T just pink to start with.  Ever since he has been painting, he has really preferred a Pointillism approach...meaning, he likes to hit the canvas/paper with the brush :)  ...Great for paint, ineffective with Crayons :)

Next, he actually requested the red, so I added a smaller amount to his paper plate.  Since he is working so quickly, the colors blend very well.  This creates value (lightness and darkness of a color).  You can see in the picture below how they blend nicely.  The more that he painted in an area, the more the colors blended.
*To avoid this, constantly turn their canvas/paper to help them fill all the areas.

We then added the fuchsia to the palette.  I chose this color because it matched a painting I created for her room (see below), and was a pretty shade to go with the pink and red.

 

Once he had covered a good bit of the canvas, we set it back to dry.  I think leaving some white space on the canvas gives as much interest as using multiple paint colors to create value.

I was actually super excited to see how his Pointillism technique created what I thought were the start of some beautiful abstract flowers!!!

Below is the picture that I made for her room!  It is both paint and fabric, and I LOVE how it turned out! I think I'll be painting the frame white, what do you think?!

Be sure to stop back by for Part 2, where we'll be adding a second set of colors to the base of our painting!!  Enjoy painting with your toddler! :)