a number of things

Poetry Friday

I am on a Little House kick... again.  While I am spending long hours painting (and painting), I have been re-listening to all the stories on audio cd.  In the evenings, before I crash into a Sherwin-Williams scented sleep, I have been enjoying some of the other writings of Laura Ingalls Wilder, such as A Little House Reader and A Little House Sampler.  I never knew, before discovering these two books, what a prolific poet Laura was!  The poem below is one of my favorites.  It is on the first page of A Little House Reader and has no title attached to it:

 

Oh read me a story and let me forget

This brain racking worry, this wearying fret

Read me of when the harp was still strung

To the bold and free ditty the minstrel had sung;

When at my lord’s coming the joy bells were rung

When all hearts were merry and the world was still young

When honor was common and knavery rare

The men were all gallant, the women all fair:

And when sweetest sad music was heard in the air

Sailors knew that mermaidens were combing their hair.

So come read the tale, dear, and let us forget

This present day hurry and struggle and fret.

   

~ Laura Ingalls Wilder

Flickr Frustrations

For some reason, I am having trouble with the Flickr account that I set up to show everyone's "Sewing with St. Anne" projects.  I have gone back and forth with them but still only some of the beautiful photos that people have uploaded are visible to non-members.  Very frustrating, indeed.  So bear with me if you have tried to upload photos to the Sewing w/ St. Anne Gallery and cannot see them when signed out.  We are working on it! :-)

Have a fabulous day!

   

Art Journal Update

Ok, Matilda in Texas emailed me a couple of days ago to let me know that she had received the art journal and was going to share her family's contribution on Wednesday.  I had every intention of doing a post and sending everyone over there to check it out, but well, this crazy house has got me totally scattered.

Oh my goodness. This bunch is creative! You have simply got to go and see the amazing entry from Matilda's kids!  I have never even heard of sunprints, but I can tell you right now, we WILL be trying them!

And then, to top it off, they christened the art journal "Artie" and took him for a little trip! Wow.  Artie is now on his way to Kentucky so that Tina's kids can have their turn before blessing number 7 arrives in August. :-)

This is so much fun!

 

Button in the Back

         

When sewing for the kids, I have always used a button, from my trusty button jar, to mark the back of any skirts or pants.  It occurred to me, (while stitching on 5 buttons in a row as I finished up this summer's batch of pj pants), that perhaps other sewing moms had better ideas for marking the "backs".  If you have a different idea, I would love to hear it!

   

Flooring

Well, I'm up to my eyeballs in flooring. (Now that would be a strange picture!) The little old house we live in came with great, old, knotty pine flooring that hides dirt, dints and everything else.  Since we were only adding on a bedroom and new living room this time, we thought we would try and extend the same type into the new areas.  We knew an exact match was not possible, but we decided to go with the same, knotty, heart pine, tongue-in-groove boards.... and do it ourselves. Oh my. 

         

This is what the stuff looks like in-the-raw.  It smells awesome!

         

And this is what you get after no small amount of blood, sweat and tears. (No baseboards yet...but they're coming!)  At some point in the grueling process, James commented that I looked like a "floor scraper".  He was referring to the print below that we keep in one of our art study binders.  The English title is "The Floor Scrapers" and it is by the French painter Gustave Caillebotte.  It's always been one of our favorites, but now it makes me rather tired to look at. :-|    

         

Now that the bedroom floor is done, we are working on baseboards, closet fixtures and crown molding.  After this room , we will turn our attention to the next...

         

...And one day, one wonderful day, THIS will not be the main fixture in my new living room.

For a glimpse of the husband's perspective on our flooring adventures, check out Chip's post on the topic.

   

Full Up

Thanks for the wonderful response to the traveling art journal!!  I am going to cut off the sign-up for it now, because I want everyone to have plenty of room for their work in the journal. :-)  If it turns out there are many more pages available at the end of the current list, then I will open it back up if anyone is still interested.

Thanks again and have a terrific weekend!!

It's on its way!

         

Well, our first ever traveling art journal is on it's way to the first name on the list, Miss Matilda!  If you signed up to have a turn but have not yet sent me your mailing address, you can email it to alice@gardensofgrace.net.

Above and below are the Cantrell kid's contributions to the journal along with the simple instructions on how it all works. If you have not sent me an email or left a comment saying that you want a turn, you still have time!!

         

I cannot wait to see what everyone comes up with!

**UPDATE**  The list is full!  Thanks!!

   

Summer Food

Yum!  The Living Lives of Loveliness Fair~ Summer Food edition, is up over at Plainsong.  What delicious inspiration!  I can see "hobo meals" and "homemade lunchables" being a real hit around here.

Also, check out the totally lovely review that Matilda did of "Sewing with Saint Anne"! I do so love hearing about girls using this book!

Have a fabulous day!

    

A Traveling Art Journal

         

Amelia and I were discussing the whole art journal thing, and I told her about a "traveling" art journal that I had read about once upon a time.  I can't even remember now where I heard about it, but I loved the concept.  After a little brainstorming, we thought it might be fun to start a traveling art journal for kids (parents can play too! :)) and pass it around to some of the homeschooling blogosphere.

It would work something like this: 

• Anyone interested in participating would privately email me their name and mailing address.
• We would start an art journal and "do" the first page.
• We would then send the journal to the first name on the list along with the name and address of who they were to mail it to. 
• When it reached that 3rd person, (there would be instructions written in the front of the book) they would simply email me for the next name and address, and so on.  I could simply include a list of all the names and addresses with the book, but I'm not sure I'm comfortable with sending everyone's address to everyone. Also, this way any late-comers could still join in even after the book is in circulation.
• A book the size of Amelia's current art journal (5" x 8") would cost about $4.50 to ship first class and even less for media mail. (With a Priority Mail Flat Rate envelope, the cost is $4.60 no matter the weight.)
• When the book is full, it would simply be shipped back to us and someone else could start another one! ;-)

The sky is the limit as to what your pages can look like!  Use any media you or your kids like!  Just make sure that you sign and date your contribution, and the location would be nice too.  When Amelia and I talked about this, her eyes were wide with amazement at the thought of a small book traveling all over the country and then coming back to her with art from so many different kids!

There are many great books out there for inspiration, such as any of Gwen Diehn's works (delicious idea food!).  You can use collage, watercolors, pencils, crayons, stickers, stamps, pockets, fold-outs, cut-outs or all of the above!  Your pages can be done by one person or a family-team effort!  It can one page or two facing pages for a full spread!  If the book gets big and fat and does not close properly, wonderful! The point is to have fun and get creative and it would be really cool if you bloggy mom's would do a little post when it gets to you.  I would love to put a list of links in my sidebar of where the journal has been!

So.  If you are interested, drop me a note and I will get that list started.  I guess we need to get that journal started, too! :-)

**UPDATE**  The list is full!  Thanks!!

    

A Bit of Idea Food

hat on earth is "Idea food"??  Well, it is something (books usually, but not always) that inspires the imagination.  My "official" definition is 'anything that gives one the raw ingredients for the creative process'.  Silly, I know, but it's very real to me.  An idea food book would be one that gave the reader a plethora of suggestions, pictures or ideas; but few specific projects that require specific supplies, materials and tools.  Idea food s-t-r-e-t-c-h-e-s one's creative abilities and requires a certain amount of out-of-the-box thinking. Idea food is a spring board to further creative adventures, rather than a set of static instructions. Idea food inspires. Does any of that make any sense at all??

Anyway.  I was recently trying to help Amelia craft her own art journal, when I stumbled across this wonderful pdf called "Illuminations", by Amy E. Bruce. (Great idea food!) The perfect springboard for many an art journal page! We also found this neat site with very cool examples and ideas for all sorts of illuminated letters.  These will make great additions to our notebooking projects next fall, also!

Have a great day!

P.S. ~ If you are not familiar with art journals, here is a simple introduction to the idea.

   

Fannie Fun

We are having so much fun with this book! "Fannie in the Kitchen" by Deborah Hopkinson, as the back of the book says, is "The whole story from soup to nuts of how Fannie Farmer invented recipes with precise measurements." 

In the story, young Marcia is trying desperately to help out her mother, who is expecting "Baby" quite soon.  Despite her best efforts Marcia is a dismal failure, especially with the cooking, and Fannie Farmer is called in to be the "mother's helper".  The result is Fannie teaching Marcia how to cook and writing down the "precise instructions" in a "notebook" that Marcia could refer back to.

The illustrations by Nancy Carpenter are a wonderful blend of vintage engravings, her great pen & ink with watercolor and a touch of humor.  There is also a series of "helpful hints" from Fannie sprinkled throughout the book with valuable information such as, "Biscuits should always be small... Large biscuits, though equally good, never tempt one by their daintiness."

We even took out our copies of The Virginia Housewife and The American Frugal Housewife to get an idea of what "recipes" looked like before Fannie and her "precise measurements".  Wow.  What a difference!

 

Cool Stuff

Ok, I know everyone has probably heard about the reaction that happens when you drop Mentos candy into a Diet Coke, but check out this supercool s-l-o-w motion video of it happening!  The kids are so into this and are begging to try it. This is all on Steve Spangler's fun blog, and an explanation of the science behind it can be found on this page.

Another cool find is the Amazing Incredible Handwriting Worksheet Maker where you can print free handwriting worksheets till your heart's content! I'm probably the last to find this gem too, but Colleen just told me about it and I had to share. :-)

The last thing on my cool stuff list today is what I saw when I went down the front steps Saturday:

         

This is Brenda Breyer swinging from a rose bush.  She has been around for a few years now and is starting to show her age. Yes, the poor dear is missing a foot.  But, when her riding boots are properly shoved on, she can ride as well as ever!  The lovely blue dress is something Amelia just recently crocheted for her.  (I totally love how the swing "ropes" are attached to the rose branch.  Bread ties!)

Have a terrific day and stay cool!