Feather Ornaments

I have a yearly tradition of making my daughters an ornament for our Christmas tree.  Usually, it corresponds with some new craft I learned that year or something that was new for the kids.  One year I knitted little cardinal birds with their initials on them.  This year I was inspired by our Year of Chickens.  Having begun the chicken raising adventure at the beginning of this year, I thought it might be appropriate to design an ornament to commemorate that.  After all, my children are the ones who now snobbishly refuse to eat store eggs because in their words "they taste like chemicals!" :-)

Once I got on the ornament making train, I couldn't stop myself.  I made more than just one for Noodle and Hopers.  I made one for an ornament exchange party.  I made one for a friend.  One for my mom.  Here are a few of them that I grabbed photos of:

I used only things I had already, like buttons, fabric scraps, beads and lots of hot glue.  In the aftermath, I only ended up keeping the two I made for the girls, but I want more, more, more on my tree!  Plus, they were fun to make.  If you're not careful, I might end up making one for you too!

Pioneer Girls

In honor of this...

 

And the fact that we have read and loved the Little House on the Prairie books over the years...

 

And the fact that my children have begged me over the years to make them "Laura Ingalls" outfits...

 

I finally did it.

 

And then I died from an overdose of adorable-ness.




And then things got really ridiculous when Hopers asked me to make a matching outfit for Teddy. I laughed and waved her away. And then made Teddy an outfit the next day.

And Noodle wore her dress with high-top, black and white Converse shoes.  And no, I didn't take a picture of them on purpose because we all know Converses don't belong in old-timey photos.


And here's reality folks.  Crazy kids.  Full color life.

We'll just pretend for one day out of the year.

The Tree

I decorated my daughter's bedroom for her birthday.  I'd call it re-decorating, except that we moved into the house this year and there was no decoration to be re-decorated.  She got to choose a color scheme: orange, brown and blue...very sophisticated if you ask me.  She received new bedding, a new wall color, and new room accessories.  I even promised her an artistic flourish of some kind for her wall.  That was in October.  It is now December and I have finally made good on my promise.  Hey, at least I followed through.

As you can see, it's a tree.

I found these awesome mirrored dragonflies and flowers.  They reflect the orange and brown of the brick wall on the opposite side.  Yes, Noodle has a brick wall in her room and of course she knew that orange, brown and blue would compliment the brick perfectly. 

Of course.

I drew out the tree by hand and then projected it on the wall for scale.  Then I sketched it out on the wall, painted it with brown semi-gloss wall paint (color: Bear Rug) using two foam brushes and a small artist's brush.  Let me tell you, the foam brushes are awesome for getting smooth consistent color.  They gave me the really graphic look I was going for.

It only took me about three hours.  Noodle loved it.  I surprised her when she arrived home from school.  "Happy Birthday! Er...Christmas....er somethin'.  Mama loves you!"  She smiled.  She glowed.  She begged me to take a picture of it and print it out for her so she could look at it when she wasn't in her room.

It makes me happy to make my girl so happy. 

I'd pretty much call this decorating project a success. 

Kids with Camera

Give the kids the camera, and what will you get?

(My sister, Tabitha.)

Photos.  Lots of 'em.  Mostly stuff you'll have to spend the next few days deleting and wondering why you gave them the camera.

But...

(Hopers.)

I love to do it!  I love giving kids a camera and seeing what they see.

(Tabitha.)

Their perspective is hilarious.

(My sister, Tobianna.)

(Our friend, Jeremy.)

Fortunately, this camera is waterproof.

(Hopers.)

Unfortunately, kids aren't always.

(Tobi and Noodle.)

We spent the day today swimming in the lake at Maclay Gardens State Park.  The heat wave has kept temperatures hovering around 100 degrees every day, so water activities are the only outdoor option.

The girls decided to work on their photo portraiture.  I found their work to be very, um.........artistic!

(Tabitha.)

(Our friend and Tobianna's babysitter: Eden.)

(Noodle.)

(Me.)

They also explored the beauty of the human hand.

This is probably a finger.  Or a cheek.  Or an elbow.  (Up close.)

Another favorite subject was the lake floor.

And in a bold move, this kid photographer chose to combine her work on the human hand with the lake floor!  Genius!

Pool noodles are also a fascinating subject.

 

So get out there and promote art!  Give a kid a camera!