fab

more printables

2012-01-24T21:46:00.003-07:00

Some fun Valentine's printables I've been designing. . .

For Make and Takes: 14 Acts of Love printed on hearts:

For Today's Mama, a one-of-a-kind printable gift card that you can customize for whoever needs a little love:

** Note: Thank you, Lost Type Co-op, for some fun new fonts to work with on these. Habana and Mensch. **

with age comes responsibility

2012-01-16T13:35:00.005-07:00

Hey, Lucy! I have a surprise for you! I'd like to introduce you to "chores."
Some of you out there are thinking, she doesn't make her kid do chores? And I reply, yes, of course, I do. . . just without any sort of consistency or tracking. Now it's just on paper and will hopefully be a little more rewarding to a little four year old who has a hard time keeping track of days.

This chore chart is available to everyone and downloadable for free! I designed it for the good peeps at TodaysMama and made it customizable/editable so you can add your kids' names and your own list of chores.

Also, if anyone is wondering what "Rusty & Rosy" is on the chore chart above, it is the pre-K readiness program Lucy has been doing on the computer this year also called Utah Upstart. It's fantastic and we've loved being a part of it. . . if you live in Utah, they're pre-registering kids who will enter Kindergarten in fall 2013 now. It is also FREE but has limited enrollment. . .

cold cookie pie

2012-01-15T15:59:00.005-07:00

I just made up that name. I made up the pie, in fact. Based on an old standard but customized for a serious cookie lover, this is what I made for hubby's birthday.

Cold Cookie Pie

1 pkg double stuffed oreos, crushed
1/2 c peanut butter
3 T milk
1/4 C powdered sugar
1 carton cookie-dough ice cream
1 jar hot fudge
1 tub cool-whip lite
chocolate chip cookies for decor

Crust: Line the bottom of a springform pan with wax paper. Crush the package of oreos, stuffing and all, in a food processor or blender. Press into the bottom of the prepared pan. Freeze.

Peanut butter layer: Mix peanut butter, milk and powdered sugar until smooth. Spread over the frozen oreo crust. Freeze.

Ice Cream layer: Let a carton of ice cream soften up on the counter (10-15 minutes). Spread over the frozen peanut butter layer. Freeze.

Hot Fudge layer: Heat a jar of hot fudge only till its warm enough to spread over the ice cream. Freeze again.

Top layer: Finish off with a layer of whipped cream and some chocolate chip cookies for decor.

At serving time, pop off the outside rung of the springform pan and slide off the bottom onto a serving plate. Serve and enjoy!

**Update: This recipe is a finalist in cakespy's "So You Wanna Be a Cake Spy?" contest! So excited! Go and vote for me if you get a second! But seriously, if you are tempted and swayed to vote for one of the other finalists I'd completely understand. They all look AMAZING!**

family shots

2012-01-04T23:43:00.003-07:00

Fabulous family photos by my favorite photographer who is also a fun friend. . . shoot, that's where the alliteration ends. (Pssst! Hey, Katherine Wallin, you need some f's or ph's in your name!)

12 days of christmas

2011-12-12T21:42:00.004-07:00

I've always thought it would be fun to give 12 small gifts on the days leading up to Christmas. . . needless to say, I'm a little too last minute for that. My true love might get gifts the 12 HOURS leading up to Christmas.But if you have your act together and you just can't keep those gifts hidden a minute longer, you can print these gift tags for the 12 Days of Christmas! I designed them for Today's Mama who is making them available to download and print for free.

On the First Day of Christmas my true love gets Gift Tags.

christmas countdown

2011-11-30T16:18:00.004-07:00

Here is a little something to help you count down to Christmas! An advent calendar designed by yours truly and available at makeandtakes.com. Print one or a dozen. . . why not? They're free so feel free to share! Merry Christmas.

updates

2011-11-27T23:33:00.008-07:00

November 27? Seriously? Where did November go? We've been too busy to notice time flying by around here. First of all, I've been working. A lot. Teaching. Freelancing. Contracting. But we've managed to have some fun as well. Here the girls are joining me at the counter to draw.

The first day of snow came at some point.

It started out happy. . .
and ended kind of sad. . .
but things got brighter after some pancakes and hot cocoa.This is one of my projects for Today's Mama, a Thanksgiving bunting.

I love the picture Lucy drew of Emmie, with "girl eyes."

We put up the tree this weekend.

Remember this chart? This is how you decorate a tree when you have a 16 month old running around. . . Emmie cannot keep her hands off of those shiny, sparkly ornaments.

Lu has it all figured out, though. She is in control.Bedhead + favorite blankie + snuggly pajamas = cuteness

The only pictures I took of Thanksgiving were of the girls dancing afterward. It also = cuteness.Oh, and last update: Lucy still takes my camera and surprises me with shots from around the house from time to time. Can you tell what movie she's asked for almost every day this month?

halloween pics

2011-11-05T22:20:00.004-06:00

Lucy took this pic of me. . . I kind of like that it's fuzzy and out of focus. It adds to my witchiness.

This is Lucy's Halloween Costume #1, a Halloween Clown. . . worn to a church party where masks are not allowed.This is Halloween Costume #2, Violet from the Incredibles, complete with action pose. She wore this one to preschool wear she couldn't wear a mask either.

Can you spot Lucy in Halloween Costume #3? Yup, the ghost. This is all she really wanted to be but we had too many parties where she couldn't wear her costume! There was no talking her into any sort of a ghost costume that didn't go over her head and have eyes cut out so she could see. When people asked what she was going to be, she'd say, "A floating ghost!"
Her buddies are Josh and Jack and she is so glad they moved back from Wisconsin just in time to go Trick-or-Treating together. This is their third year in a row! A fun tradition we hope to keep. Emmie and Layla were just as excited, but there was no way we could get them all in line for a picture. . . this is the best I could get.Emmie was a darling little Bee. Does the costume look familiar? It's one I made several years ago when Lucy was this age. I love seeing them both in it -- same age, same gym floor, two very different little girls.

happy halloween!

2011-10-31T19:08:00.005-06:00

The kids are out trick-or-treating and I have twenty minutes before I have to leave to teach a class (I'm teaching design again at a local college). I figured I'd do a quick Halloween catch-up post before the month is over.

I've been creating printables every week for Today's Mama and you can still go download them if you missed them! It started with a witchy wallpaper for your smartphone or computer desktop. . .Then there was a Bat MobileOh, and the Halloween Treat Phantom got a make-over. . .And a spooky memory game for the kiddos.
We even had time to add a few new Halloween decorations this year inspired by those in Sweet Paul magazine's fall issue.

You might get costume pics tomorrow. That's a whole other post. . . enjoy your Halloween night!

pumpkin mustaches

2011-10-07T16:03:00.009-06:00

I like to have pumpkins on the porch throughout October. This year, I've pinned on some mustaches until carving time. . . gives them some personality. Now every time I go by them, I want to curtsy.
If you'd like some mustaches for your pumpkins, you can download a printable template here. . .
Cut them out of black craft foam or felt. Embellish with marker, glitter, puffy paint or whatever you have along the interior lines for a little bit of texture and interest.

Tape or pin them on your pumpkins. And then curtsy or tip your hat.

just the two of us

2011-09-30T22:14:00.004-06:00

Now that Lucy is back in preschool, I have more time alone with Emmie. Some days she's napping during those couple hours, but other days we get to hang out.
She's trying to say "Cheese!" here. . . it comes out "Eeeeee!!!" which is ok since it still produces the desired effect.

Look at those choppers. . .

I realized how few pictures I have of us together so I thought I'd take some in the big mirror in her room. It didn't always work.

I think I make this face all the time behind the camera when I'm trying to get the girls to smile. Now that I see it on from the other side, I know why it doesn't work. I should go back to "Say Cheese!"

Emmie, I hope one day when your bigger you'll look at this picture and know that I absolutely love every minute I get to spend with you. . . alone or otherwise.

the joy of canning

2011-09-26T21:44:00.002-06:00

My garden is getting easier and easier each year. This year it was basically just zucchini, squash, and tomatoes. Lots and lots of tomatoes. I love them fresh in a caprese salad or fresh in salsa, but I always have more than I can use immediately so I always have Gramma Gwen come help me can a bunch. It has become a fun tradition that I look forward to each year.

These canning labels are available for free at todaysmama.com.

2011-09-19T22:31:00.002-06:00

Two more installments in the Seriously Official Back-to-School set of printables I did for TodaysMama.com. . . Bookplates and a customizable Certificate of Awesomeness.

is it over?

2011-09-17T23:20:00.002-06:00

Is summer really over?

Really, really over?

I better post a few more pics from the summer. Just for fun, I made them into animated gifs.

lunch memos

2011-09-08T00:46:00.002-06:00

I designed these little lunchbox memos for todaysmama.com. You can download them from there and print them for free!

sunny seattle

2011-09-04T22:55:00.012-06:00

The girls and I spent the most glorious two weeks in sunny Seattle earlier last month. . . that's right, I said sunny Seattle. . . and there is not much better than when the sun is out in Seattle and everyone is excited to be outside. Emmie and Gramma Leen Cousin Max

Lucy at the Forest Park petting zoo. She for some reason decided this goat was cold and she had to keep it warm.

Emmie working on her answer to, "What does a goat say?"

Pony rides, too!

Max's first time ever in the saddle.

Cousin Tanner's first time ever in the cockpit.

It was fleet week in Seattle, in connection with Sea Fair. We toured the USS Bonhomme Richard
which is an Amphibious Assault ship and was so cool. So. Cool.

Lucy and Auntie Missy peeking out of a tank.

Tanner thought he might stow away.

Papa Bob was on Emmie duty.

We even spent a day at the beach! A sandy beach! at Golden Gardens Park.

Missy and her boys.

Tanner and a crab claw.

Missy pinching Jeremy with the same crab claw.

Lucy got buried in sand.

Her swimsuit will never be the same.

Fun on the trampoline.

Emmie claimed her spot on Papa Bob's lap.

And his kayak which was her one little playground.

One weekend we took the train down to my sister's in Vancouver, WA. Went to the Clarke County fair and then into Portland.

The line at Voodoo Doughnuts.

. . . everyone agreed. . .

. . . it was worth the wait.

Multnomah Falls.

Some cute little wood elves we found along the way.

Matching outfits.

Matching hair.

oh my stars!

2011-08-16T00:30:00.007-06:00

Summer is full of family get-togethers and family reunions. At each one, Lucy gets excited about playing with cousins. And after each one, we spend a lot of time explaining how those cousins are related to us. I thought it would be fun to put it all together in a visual way, something to point at as we explain and talk about families.

It turned into this wonky, wacky family tree with hubby and I at the center and branching out from there. Then it turned into a solar system, it just happened. And THEN it turned into something that would look great hanging on a wall.

Shameless etsy plug, I've now made it available in my etsy shop! I will make a custom chart just for you and your fam. Check it out here.

happy birthday little one

2011-08-02T23:21:00.001-06:00

princess virtues

2011-07-29T23:12:00.004-06:00

The other day, little Emmie picked up one of our little Princess dress-up dolls. She would look at it and then hold it up for my approval again and again. I'd say, "Oh, she is so beautiful!" again and again.

I've been thinking about it ever since and practicing a different response for the next time she picks up a princess and wants to know what I think of her. Here is what I want to tell my daughters about the Disney heroines:

Belle - Oh, she is so smart! She loves to read and would do anything for her Dad. She sees beauty on the inside.

Tiana - Oh, she is such hard worker! (And a good cook!) She has big goals and dreams and works hard to achieve them.

Cinderella - Oh, she is so classy! She works hard and never complains, even when life isn't fair!

Aurora/Brier Rose - Oh, she is so down to earth! She would rather stay in a little cottage in the woods with her true love than go to live in a castle and marry a prince she doesn't know.

Snow White - Oh, she is so kind! She loves animals and does nice things for others.

Mulan - Oh, she is so brave and courageous! She fought for her country and her family as a soldier when her father couldn't.

Jasmine - Oh, she is so adventurous! She's very smart and won't marry just anyone, she wants to marry for love. . . after she's seen the world a bit.

Jane - (I know, she's never included with the princess set, but she's one of my favorite Disney heroines.) Oh, she's so smart! She's a research scientist and an explorer! She's also a good artist and a teacher.

Ariel - (I got a little stumped on this one. She's really very naughty and foolish!) Oh, she is so enthousiastic! When she does something, she goes all out and gives it her all!

Rapunzel - (I almost forgot her!) Oh, she is so creative! Look at all the fun things she does to fill her time in the tower. And, her hygiene is impeccable. It wouldn't be easy to take care of hair that long!

"So much is at stake, for mothers with girls of all ages: How do we define
girlhood? What about femininity? Beauty? Sexuality? Our choices will tell our
girls how we see them, who we want them to be, our values, expectations, hopes,
and dreams. Do we want them to be judged by the content of their character or
the color of their lip gloss?" Peggy Orenstein, author of Cinderella Ate My Daugher

new quilt for a new niece

2011-07-26T23:44:00.003-06:00

Little, tiny 1" square pieces of brightly colored, varied fabrics set against white. My thinking in using really big prints in these little, tiny spaces was that each square would be unique, no two would exactly repeat.

last day of swimming lessons

2011-07-13T23:09:00.002-06:00

This story can only be told with visuals. . .

the fourth

2011-07-10T22:45:00.003-06:00

We started our 4th of July with Papa Bob who was here from Seattle. We had breakfast and then he had to take off for the airport. I think Lucy is missing him already in this photo: Then we quickly got dudded up for the neighborhood bike parade:

And enjoyed the neighborhood block party. . . cute decor:

Red, white and sparkly:

Oh, beautiful! For spacious eyes. . . alright, that was cheesy.

Fathers' Day Shoot!

2011-06-27T22:33:00.010-06:00

Photoshoot, that is. I dressed the girls up a couple days before Fathers Day, grabbed my camera, and headed out to get a couple good photos. We went to the Garden Park Ward which is near our home and has some of the most beautiful little nooks just perfect for photos.

Thank heavens for digital cameras, because with kids I have to take ten pictures before I get one good one. For example:

photo fix

2011-05-20T23:35:00.006-06:00

The many faces of the Law girls (and one Larsen girl).

our little poet

2011-05-14T22:45:00.003-06:00

The other day, Lucy was making up songs in the car. One went like this:

I love you
I will take you to a promised land
a promised land in the sky
with lots of ropes and ladders and uncles

I knew she was crazy about uncles after my brother Jon came to visit last week, but the high regard for ropes and ladders is news to me.

baby quilts

2011-05-04T23:11:00.003-06:00

I'm behind on my baby gifts again. And behind on posting. These babies were born in November. . . Oh, well.

easter!

2011-04-24T22:50:00.006-06:00

Happy Easter! Hope yours was this exciting:

Emmie even got in on the action.

And if the candy eggs and the chocolate bunnies weren't enough, we made an Easter cake just because Lucy said she'd never had a layered cake before. Easter is a pretty good excuse to indulge your children, right? Emmie got to suck on peeps, but those pics didn't turn out as well.

Gone are the days of the pretty smiles or candid shots. . . Lucy has become a poser.

This little doll, though, needs a full-time camera crew to get all the darling moments.

Happy Easter!

if these old walls could speak. . .

2011-04-20T23:55:00.003-06:00

. . . they'd tell fantastic stories of medieval court life and dragons and castles!

I just saw these fantastic shadow puppets at Kate's Paperie but of course they are sold out! Wouldn't it be fun to make some though? Lucy's into pirates these days. . . I could design a set of pirate shadow puppets. . . add that to the list of projects I would love to do but probably never will. Seriously.

semi-finals!

2011-04-01T00:25:00.004-06:00

Can you spot my little bears? They're the second one from the top right corner! I'm a semi-finalist! Woot woot! This has been a fun challenge to work on. There were 968 final entries and

those were narrowed down to 75 semi-finalists.

Thanks for all your input, friends. I really love the spacey robot one, too, but I just didn't think it was quite ready. I want to keep playing with it a little. So I went with my gut and entered the bears against the blue/gray background.

If you'd like to vote (please, please, pretty please!?!) go to the Spoonflower website contest tab and vote for any and all the ones you like. . . click on them and they turn green. The submit vote button is on the 5th page. You have till April 6 to vote, but why wait? Do it today!

hospital buddies

2011-03-29T13:35:00.004-06:00

Remember Lucy's hospital doll she named Birdie? Well, we had a service project with the children's group at church a couple weeks ago and made a bunch of dolls just like Birdie to donate to Primary Children's Medical Center. They will go to future patients there and hopefully bring the same amount of love and comfort Birdie brought to Lucy. At our activity, we had 12 kids who stuffed, stitched, hemmed and dressed a total of 34 dolls! Patterns for dolls and robes can be found here: Doll A, Doll B, Robe A, Robe B. Download all four.

baby boy fabric

2011-03-22T23:41:00.006-06:00

I'm entering a fabric design contest on Spoonflower, Project Selvage, where the winner would get to design a line of baby boy fabric for Michael Miller Fabrics! But I can only enter one design. Help! Which one should I enter?

picture update

2011-02-15T23:11:00.005-07:00

I wanna make a hobby horse. . .

2011-02-03T19:59:00.004-07:00

I've been thinking about making a hobby horse for Lu. She's been galloping around on an old wrapping paper tube. Here are a few cute ones with patterns and pictures:

Hettie the Horse from a Melly & Me pattern

One from RusticHorse Shoe on Etsy

And one from Woman's Day

I really should make two, since by the time I finish Emmie will be asking for one!

a race against time

2010-12-23T12:36:00.012-07:00

For the most part, we're ready.

The Christmas tree is up.

Lucy helped with some of the ornaments.
Little gingerbread village has survived the snackers.

Stockings are hung by the fireplace with care. (This was a project three years in the making! I've had the fabric forever.)
Christmas cards are in the mail. (Photography by Katherine Wallin, design from minted.com, love their skinny labels!)

Neighbor gifts have been delivered. (Recipe for peppermint bark from allrecipes.com)

Teacher gifts have been given. (Marble magnets "how-to" on not martha.)

The one thing left on my list is to finish Emmie's quilt.

This is how it looked in October.

This is how it looked in November.

This is how it looked yesterday.

It is not a hard quilt. It has just taken the back burner, but no longer! I intend to give it to my baby daughter on Christmas and it SHALL be finished. That will be my greatest accomplishment this month.

Merry Christmas to all, especially to all you out there pulling all-nighters on those last few projects!

hello dolly meets bye by birdie

2010-12-11T23:48:00.004-07:00

Lucy had to get special x-rays taken at Primary Children's Hospital yesterday. (It is called VCUG if you want all the details.) It is something we have to do every year to check up on a urinary tract abnormality she has. The procedure is fairly quick and easy but can be traumatic none-the-less. This year, they gave Lucy a "hospital buddy" which I thought was the most brilliant thing every. It's a simple muslin doll that someone has sewn and donated. The doll is nondescript except for the hospital gown. The children can personalize it with markers or bandaids and are even encouraged to stick it with needles. . . it helps them deal with anxiety and feel more comfortable with what is going on.

Lucy took to hers immediately. Even though we brought several of her favorite dolls and stuffed animals with us, they were left in the bag and "Birdie" (yes, that's what she named her) got all the attention.

Here is a nice article talking about some amazing kids that have made and donated these dolls to other kids.

And here are the instructions and patterns for how to make them (scroll to the bottom). . . I'm going to keep this in mind for next time I'm looking for a service project!

(That's the backside, tee hee!) I think Birdie is adorable and Lucy loves her. Thank you, thank you! whoever made her!

if you give a 3 year old a camera

2010-11-26T22:29:00.003-07:00

Lucy likes to do things together. Whatever she's doing, she wants me to be right there doing it with her. And whatever I'm doing, she has to be doing. Lately, if I have the camera out and want to take some pictures, she wants a turn too. So I put the strap around her neck and let her shoot whatever she wants.

So you end up with unusual camera angles and unique perspectives and, even more rare, pictures of me!

I took this one of Emmie, but its too cute not to post.

receiving blankets

2010-11-21T22:41:00.004-07:00

Confession: I have only made one thing for my little Emmie.

But at least its a good one. . . a receiving blanket. We use it all the time. It's light, but warm. It's a swaddler and a carseat blanket. It soaks up spit up and washes well. And it looks good.

This one I did for a friend. They're so fun to make and, um, extremely easy too.

Materials: You just need 1 yard solid color flannel (I almost always just use white or off-white, flannel colors tend to be too saturated for my taste), 1 yard of a beautiful print (both of these happen to be Amy Butler designs, you can't go wrong with her stuff), and 1 1/4 yard contrasting or harmonizing fabric for bias binding. . . oh, and I like to add on a little fabric tag (the bears and hearts are both some that I've designed and printed at Spoonflower but you can cut a little piece out of whatever fabric you like, like I did here.)

Instructions: Pre-wash all fabrics, and then iron them flat. Place flannel and print right-sides out and smooth out any bubbles. The flannel will stick to the print, but go ahead and pin it to keep them from shifting. Square up all sides and trim off some length so you end up with a roughly 34-36" square. Sew on your little applique tag in one corner. Bind the edges (I think my method is similar to this one, if you need a tutorial.) Et voila.

Are you reading back through to see if you missed a step? Are you thinking I missed a step? You know, the one where you sew the two body pieces of fabric together? Surprise! You don't have to! It works just fine without doing it! Trust me! It just works. Sometimes simple is the best solution.

funny face

2010-11-18T22:03:00.001-07:00

stovetop

2010-11-17T00:18:00.003-07:00

Although I totally covet the little play kitchen from Ikea, we just don't have space for it. I made this little stovetop to go with all the cute cooking and food toys we've assembled. We pull it out to play and then stick it back in the toy box when we're done. I used permanent markers, a sheet of craft foam and some buttons. C'est tout.

overheard at our house

2010-11-05T23:55:00.003-06:00

If you were a bug on the wall at our house today, here is a little conversation you would have heard at the lunch counter:

LUCY
(looking at my Diet Coke with Lime)
why can't kids drink that all gone with their mouths?

ME
(pointing to my Diet Coke can)
This? It's just for grown ups because there is caffeine in
it which makes kids wild.

LUCY
(after a pause)
Does that say "Wild Kids" or not?
(pointing to the large Diet Coke logo on the can)

multiplication

2010-11-05T00:18:00.003-06:00

Here's a design principle. . . repetition adds significance to images. Another design tip. . . odd numbers are pleasing to the eye, so arrange things in 3 or 5, etc.

mini and minnie

2010-10-31T00:24:00.002-06:00

Mini Elvis and Minnie Mouse!

little projects

2010-10-27T01:02:00.003-06:00

This was an impromptu project, Lucy's idea. She wanted to make ghosts for a little Halloween project. I was just thinking of using construction paper and glue, but she definitely wanted something white to drape over something else. So we came up with these little puppets.

Ghost Puppets

Materials needed:

Kleenex
wide popsicle sticks
glue stick
markers

For some really fun toddler and kid projects and activities, you've got to check out my friend Janelle's blog, Where are my Mary Jane's?

She updates frequently and has fantastic ideas. She'll also try other people's projects and let you know the reality of how it goes with the little ones. Cute stuff.

cute, a chinchilla!

2010-10-19T09:08:00.004-06:00

The other day we drove by a kid in the neighborhood sitting on on his porch step with a sign that said "Silly Bandz for Sale." Always suckers for an enterprising kid trying to earn a buck, we stopped to get a handful of the popular bracelets for Lucy. She and I were sorting through trying to find which ones we wanted to get, and I kept getting them wrong. The 8 year old actually laughed out loud at me.

Here is what I saw:

Here is what they really are:

Oops.

if you're tired of pictures, don't look at this post

2010-10-02T23:50:00.003-06:00

Guess who is two months old today?

let's let the pro handle this

2010-09-28T23:18:00.008-06:00

The amazing Katherine of Wallin Photography took some great photos of us when Emmie was just over a week old. I can't post all of them, I have to keep the baby announcement and Christmas card pics a surprise. . . but here are some of my other favorites.

I'm lucky to call her one of my good friends, but don't worry. . . if you're not, you can still have her do your baby photos . . . or wedding photos . . . or family photos . . . or facebook profile photos. She's a pro! Not only does she have a great eye and fun style, but she also retouches and makes lovely images even lovelier with a little Photoshop, which I endorse. Another thing I love, is that she'll take photos right in your home, so they're trully unique and represent you.

milestones

2010-09-21T00:05:00.003-06:00

Lucy's first day of preschool and

Emmie smiling. . . Now this is by no means the first time she has smiled, its just her first documented smile. People tell you newborns don't smile, that its just gas, but I don't believe it. Emmie's been smiling since she was only a week old and it was definitely in reaction to being picked up or smiled at. But I'm so mesmerized by her cute little cheeks and that amazing gummy smile, I never get my camera, I'm just living in the moment. Anyhow, I finally looked away for a second and grabbed the camera. . .

best of . . .

2010-09-07T22:27:00.007-06:00

We spent Labor Day weekend in Idaho at one of hubby's old college roomate's farm. We had so much fun with our friends and their kids and their animals and their wide open spaces. Here are some of my favorite pics from the weekend. . .

Best of the Trampoline:

(Sidenote: I did very little photo-editing here. . . just played with the levels on some of them, this is all legit! I had my camera set on the sports setting so it had a super fast shutter speed. I was also kneeling on the ground and had the camera pointed up so the kids were sillouetted against that amazing expanse of sky.)

I actually did it with Lucy twice, here is the Best Of her other jumping photo shoot:

Best of Me:

Best of Hubby:

Best of Baby:

week 2: in which grandparents save the day and lucy realizes the world has not ended

2010-08-25T19:34:00.010-06:00

My mom stayed with me for just over two weeks and really came to the rescue. . . not only did she do the dishes, the laundry, drove me around, painted our downstairs apartment, and kept me sane, she also entertained and spoiled Lucy. . .

We tried to do some of our normal everyday routine things so Lucy wouldn't think life as she knows it was over. Freinds came to visit to keep active and happy. . .

We went to gymnastics to get some energy out.

Mom's other responsibility was to cuddle the baby. . . (she's good at it!)

This may be the chillest baby in the world. . .

In the midst of all the excitement, we also had a major project going on at the house. . . an eight foot concrete wall going between us and the neighbor. . . with a three foot footing. . . which means a huge hole and a huge pile of dirt.

and a queen of the hill. . .

The night before her birthday party, she did what my dad describes as a double-somersault down the sidewalk (see how useful that gymnastics is?) and sustained multiple injuries. . .

Here's the damage the next day. . .

The party had a bug and bee theme. . . perfect for our little naturalist and busy bee.

My dad and Mike's parents came in for the weekend and we put all the grandparents to work helping with the picnic/party.

Thanks to all the help, we had a fun party. And thanks to all the guests who made it a great day for Lucy.

Emmie was center of attention the next day when she was blessed. She's wearing the dress my sisters and I all wore when we were babies. Lucy kept saying it was too big for her.

My parents also helped with lots of yard beautification and Lucy satisfaction.

It was a wonderful week and we couldn't have done it without family.

week 1: lots of cuddle time

2010-08-08T23:02:00.005-06:00

This is when Lucy and Gramma Leen came to see us in the hospital that first day. . . can you tell somebody likes her little sis?

One of these kids is watching Scooby Doo. . .

The best part of having to slow down and convalesce a little bit. . .

Emily May and her Great Grandmother, Gwendolyn May

Emmie watching her daddy watching crime dramas. . .

It's no wonder at dinner the other night, Lucy looked out the front window and said, "That cloud looks like a daddy holding his baby. . ."

We're loving cuddle time.

baby emmie

2010-08-03T21:59:00.003-06:00

Announcing Baby Emmie, born yesterday. . . 8 lbs 14 oz

shopping list

2010-07-26T23:21:00.005-06:00

I'm being induced a week from today. This baby's a coming. A lot of people ask if I feel ready. . . the answer is almost. Others ask if we've had to buy anything at all since its another girl and we already had everything. . . the answer is almost nothing. But just for fun, and 'cause I'm excited about my new baby purchases and gifts I thought I'd share my shopping list.

BabyBjorn Travel Crib Light - Silver (Thank you Sugar House Friends!)

Baby Monitors - Up for suggestions as to best brand and style

mela bamboo swaddles by aden + anais

(This set was came as a gift from a friend. . . I totally had my eye on them, perfect for a summer baby.)

Green to Grow Bottles

a new diaper bag from Skip Hop

Baby Book by Sara Midda

I don't scrapbook, and I'm horrible about photo albums (everything stays digital) but Baby Books I can do. In fact, my mom kept one for each of us kids and I loved looking through it. I think its a really good tradition to keep. . . This one is by one of my favorite illustrator/watercolorists, Sara Midda. Her little sketches and characters can only be described as charming.

Your Birthday Book (2 copies!)

This is so cute, it helps you chronicle your kids birthdays through keepsakes, photos, and fun interviews. I like the design and the set-up and I think I can keep up with this. . .

the law family fourth

2010-07-12T23:03:00.013-06:00

I know, I know. Somehow everyone else managed to get their Fourth of July pictures posted by the 5th or 6th of July. . . but what difference does a week make? And not only am I late, I'm a little backwards. I'll start with pics of the 5th, our Law family get-together.

(This is Mike's immediate family, not the huge Law family that would include step-brothers and step-sisters and several more generations of Marion's side of the family as well.) Shown here on our front porch, in columns top to bottom from the left: Marion and Linda, Kristina and Jacob, Jared and Matthew and Katie, Lucy and Elias and Eliza and Coleman, then Mike. We were sorry their other sister Celestia and her fam couldn't be here. Oh, and please don't ask why Lucy is in a straitjacket pose, I have no idea why.

This is Katie and Lucy playing during our little family bbq. It was fun to see her bond with her cousins.

Before that, we spent the weekend on a little "stay-ca" up in the mountains, in Midway.

We stayed at the Zermatt Resort which as you can tell is a Swiss-themed resort with a gorgeous setting and lots of fun things to do. Life-sized chess games, miniature golf around the natural hot springs, feeding goats on the hill, a working carousel, indoor and outdoor swimming pools, AND a on-site patisserie/gelateria were some of the draws.For the fourth, they also had live music, face-painting, fireworks, and a petting zoo.

It was a perfect, low-stress little get-away for someone ready to get out of the Salt Lake heat and who would die if she had to sit in a car seat for more than an hour. . . no, not Lucy, me. . . see I totally was not exaggerating in that last post about how huge I am, check out that prego belly!

On Saturday, we hopped on the Historic Heber Valley Railroad (affectionately known as the Heber Creeper) and took a beautiful scenic train ride.

Lucy covered her ears every time the whistle blew, but other than that she loved it.

I think these two loved it just as much!

This pic of the three of us was taken by the train photographer, like when they take your picture on splash mountain and then want you to pay a ridiculous amount for it. . . but seriously, how could we pass this one up?

We also found a place for Lucy to go on a horseback ride. I imagined a simple 10 minute pony ride. This will spoil pony rides and from here on out. It ended up being just Lucy and her instructor, Liz, and a half hour lesson on a beautiful quarter-horse named Classy in the most idealistic setting I can imagine. It was amazing and Lucy ate it up. She was very serious, and focused and did everything Liz told her to do.

Look at Mt. Timpanogos in the background. . .

And look at our little pro:

Anyhow, we had a blast and it was fun to share it with Mike's Mom and Dad. We just may have to do this again. . .

pregnancy update

2010-06-27T23:48:00.004-06:00

No need for me to do a pregnancy photoshoot, some of the world's best sculptors and painters have been using me as a model. . .

Thank you, Anonymous of Willendorf, Nnamdi Okonkwo, and Fernando Botero for making me feel beautiful.

You may also like to know, that I am now 34 1/2 weeks! That is 3 days past when I had Lucy! Feels like a big relief and a great accomplishment. It also feels a lot different than last time. . . First of all, I was pampered and coddled in bed from weeks 30 to 34 with Lucy. Now, I'm bending down and getting up and down off the floor and picking things up and chasing a toddler and it's hard work! I also haven't lost all that fluid, so I feel much MUCH bigger than the first time around. I'm outgrowing all my maternity clothes! I've broken two bras! My right hand and arm have been going numb in the mornings and my feet and ankles look like balloons at night. I have horrible heartburn. My undershirts roll up all day like Gus Gus on Cinderella. . .

But even with all that, I'm so excited and thrilled to be pregnant and can hardly wait to meet our baby girl in just a few weeks! And I can't help but think every day I can keep her in utero means less likelihood of ending up in the NICU. Bring on the stretch-marks, we're just aiming for a full-term, big, healthy baby.

not-so-still-life

2010-06-21T22:19:00.003-06:00

I cut some beautiful peonies from my yard. . . Lucy likes to do what I'm doing. . . she cut dandelions.

. . . and arranged them. . .

. . . she has to have her hand in EVERYTHING. . .

Here is our final arrangement.

it's done!

2010-06-14T23:01:00.002-06:00

The quilt for Lucy's bed is done! And the transition to the big-girl bed is done! I'm soooo pleased with both.

to seattle and back again

2010-06-10T22:49:00.006-06:00

Lucy and I went up to Seattle a couple weeks ago. . .

I got to rest, but my Mom and Dad put Lucy right to work . . . doing yardwork. . .

Doing the cooking. . .

Even going out to catch dinner. . .

They loved catching and watching the fish, in the water. . . they were very apprehensive about the fish once they were in the bucket. Lucy insisted she caught the little one, but in fact, she caught the biggest one.

Lucy and Max having tickle time with their Papa Bob.

Lucy's cousin, Max, is a couple months younger than her. . .

Tanner is a year and a half or so older and the three cousins got along fabulously. They had a blast all weekend. Lucy even tried to get in their car with them when they went back home to Vancouver area.

Here is my sis, Missy, and her whole cute fam.

And a parting shot with Lucy and her Papa Bob and Gramma Leen. We had a wonderful time! Loved every minute of it.

a quilt for her "big girl" bed

2010-05-12T14:22:00.002-06:00

Working on a quilt for Lucy. . .

I'm totally copying this beautiful quilt from Denyse Schmidt, one of her "Pretty Square" designs that she created for Sarita Handa. It's basically a log cabin square with variations and randomness added in. . .

Look Mom!

2010-05-09T10:38:00.004-06:00

Do those words scare you as much as they scare me? Here is one bad "Look Mom!" from this week:

She was using markers to color some Mother's Day cards for the Grandma's, and I made the mistake of turning around to do dishes or something. Grandma Leen and Grandma Linda, this is the the other product of that little coloring session! Thank heavens for Crayola Washable Markers. . . Can you guess Lucy's favorite color? Orange. She picked out the these roses for me and then hubby arranged them:

This was a good "Look Mom!". . . Mother's Day flowers and breakfast. Yummm.

what do you do. . .

2010-04-30T21:28:00.003-06:00

. . . on a snowy/rainy spring day when you're couped up with a two-year-old?Make pictures of sunnier spring days.

a haiku

2010-04-29T23:37:00.003-06:00

sad, baby blossoms

sodden sprigs of lilac beneath

delinquant spring snow

another post about baby quilts

2010-04-25T21:51:00.006-06:00

I know, I know. . . I'm always posting baby quilts. But that's my THANG. . . you have to know that by now. I LOVE making baby quilts. . . I've never duplicated one. I love making them each as unique and different as the babies and families I make them for.

This first one is for baby Livi. The little tag at the bottom is a scrap of Japanese fabric as a special shout-out for her mom, April, who is not only my friend but a fellow Japan-o-phile and taught me this little trick of using little fabric swatch accents. . .

And this one is for little baby Alden who has yet to make his arrival. . . I know, strange for me to have a quilt done AHEAD of time, they're usually late! But we had an early shower for his soon-to-be-mommy, Kate, when she was in town recently. The rugby stripes are a shout-out to soon-to-be-daddy, Eric, who played rugby for the well-known Highland High Rugby Team.

The back fabric is another piece I bought when I was in Tokyo a year or so ago. The front gray is actually a sheet. . . if you ever can't find solid colors you like at the fabric store, go to Target or someplace with bedding on sale. Sheets and bed linens seem to be more current with fashionable color choices than Joann's does. Seriously. Why is it the solids are all so bright and garrish? Plus the bed sheets have a higher thread count so the fabric feels so much softer and is so much more luxurious. (In fact, the cream color of Livi's quilt is also a sheet. . .)

Anyhow, I've got a couple more in the works, so stay tuned.

relish!

2010-04-17T22:17:00.004-06:00

Broiled Tilapia with Avocado Salsa and Steamed Broccoli with Orange

Chances are, if you've spent more than 15 minutes alone with me lately, I've told you about relish! the saving grace of my weeknight dinners. . .

I'm not a good cook. I like to cook with hubby for big weekend dinners where we might be having guests, but I get really lazy during the week. I tend to make the same handful of dishes over and over and over again. And I DREAD making my shopping list every week. One day, I put Mike in charge of planning the menu for the next week and bada-bing, look what he found. . . relish!

It's an online menu and grocery planning service. Each week they have 20 or so different meal options for you, you choose the ones you want, tell it how many servings you'll be making and hit a button and it compiles recipes AND a grocery shopping list for you. The meals all take 30 minutes or less to prepare, often use seasonal ingredients, and are actually very healthy. . . and did I mention, they're delicious? I FEEL like a good cook when I make them. I get excited to cook and I get excited to eat. I mean, tilapia? I would've never tried that on my own, but it is actually the perfect fish to cook! It doesn't smell up your kitchen and it is a very mild taste.And the shopping list makes me happy.

the good thing about colorstay lipstick is. . .

2010-04-16T22:00:00.003-06:00

I put it on once and its going to stay all day. . .The bad thing about colorstay lipstick is, if Lucy puts it on as eye make-up, its going to stay all day. . .

9 years and counting

2010-04-09T22:45:00.004-06:00

We just celebrated our 9th Anniversary. . . in San Diego! Here are some fun photos from the trip.

This is Lucy's newest move, the "oh my gosh, someone's looking at me" move. Very unusual and surprising for our little show-off. I wouldn't say its bashfulness, I think its more sudden self-awareness.All these photos are from the Mission San Juan Capistrano in Orange County. We took the train up and thoroughly enjoyed it. Notice it is our anniversary trip, but there are exactly 0 (that's a zero) photos of us (hubby and I) together. That's something I need to be more aware while we're out and about. I need to be that tourist that thrusts my camera into the hands of perfect strangers walking by and asks them to take a picture of us together. . . or maybe I just need to train Lucy to do it.

But here is a recent picture of the two of us at a friend's wedding. Seems like just yesterday that I was the one with the up-do and the white dress. . . and the handsome man sitting next to me had more hair on his head than on his face. . . and one of my wedding guests was scribbling a last-minute card to us at the dinner table.

Ah, love.

ready for spring

2010-03-18T18:02:00.003-06:00

Two weeks ago. . .

Today. . .Thanks for the headstart, Papa Bob! And Lucy is so proud of her seeds, she wants to go down to the basement and look at them every day.

potty training, day 2

2010-02-20T20:41:00.002-07:00

A weekend at Cabin's house

2010-02-20T00:12:00.005-07:00

We spent our double holiday weekend (Valentine's Day + Presidents' Day) in Alpine Junction, Wyoming at a cabin with some good friends. Lucy calls it Cabin's house and asks to go there every day now. . .

Hey, that's me! Thanks, Janelle, for the cute photo. I usually don't exist in photos. . .

Some cute snow bunnies. . . Lottie (above) and Norah and Kate (below)

Norah looks a little trepidatious because on her first run, she and Lucy had a major crash. But we coaxed them back onto sleds and hopefully the bloody nose and bloody lips and ice rash will all be forgotten.

Unfortunately, none of us got good photos of all the boys being dragged on sleds behind the Phipps car. And even more unfortunately, all the photos I took of Mike's icy beard after the hookie-bobbin' are out of focus! But you get the idea:

Here is the whole gang. . . thanks, everyone. Good times.

potty training, day 1

2010-02-19T23:27:00.003-07:00

1 whole row of stickers (all hot pink)

7 pairs of big girl underwear (in the wash)

___ number of accidents (decided not to count)

2 of which were IN my shoes (how could I not count that?)

P.S. Today I'm very thankful for hardwood floors.

we would like to take a minute to thank our sponsors. . .

2010-01-31T21:57:00.003-07:00

Who's that sexy trucker you ask? Oh, that's the same old hubby just hairier! Thanks to Hale Centre Theatre who gave him a part in their upcoming Fiddler on the Roof. Yours truly will be playing the butcher, Laser Wolf, in the MWF night performances running from February 16th till mid-April! Get your tickets now, if you like hairy men and old musicals like I do, you won't want to miss it!

Lucy would like to thank Jell-O Pudding Cups. I think she's vying for the Jell-o Pudding spokesperson gig. . . move over Bill Cosby.

And what products am I endorsing this month? First, Clomid! I won't bore you with all the horrid details, but it worked! We're expecting baby #2 in early August. Wahoo! Second, Phenergan , I now feel sick only 20% of the time rather than 95% of the time. Thank you, modern medicine, for helping us get pregnant and then for helping us deal with being pregnant!

happy new year!

2010-01-07T22:39:00.003-07:00

My New Year's Eve party hat turned into a snowman hat the next day. . .

And yes, he's booti-ful from both the front AND the back. . .

Happy New Year!

christmas mailer

2009-12-23T23:38:00.004-07:00

My Christmas cards are late, but I got a mailer out to potential clients in time!

Merry Christmas, everyone. I hope its a sugary and fattening one. . .

Love, Juliann

Our One Line Movie Reviews: Julie & Julia

2009-12-14T23:16:00.002-07:00

"Makes me want to cook. . . kind of." - Hubby

"Makes me want to blog. . . lots." - Me

Thanks. . .

2009-12-03T23:19:00.012-07:00

Thanks, Mel's Diner San Francisco, for hosting the easiest Thanksgiving Dinner ever. Complete with old college buddies, full turkey dinner for the adults, chicken nuggets and hotdogs for the kids which came in those cool car boxes. . .
. . . pumpkin pie, something strange going on with that guy over my shoulder. . .
. . . and a lot of smiles.
Thanks, Ice-skating in Union Square for helping us work off some of those calories after dinner It was a lot more work for the parents than it was for the kids. . .
Thanks, Jenni and the Smiths (sounds like a band!), for letting me steal those from your blog! and for being good enough to tote your camera around even with an armload of new baby, stroller, and two big boys and all the stuff that goes with them. And thanks for ditching the fam to come spend Thanksgiving with us downtown. It was so fun to see you guys.

Thanks, Powell Line Cable Car for giving us a lift up and over the hill down to Ghiardelli Square and Fisherman's Wharf and Pier 39. You gave us beautiful views and saved our feet a little bit.
Thanks, Pratts, for always being so photogenic. . . and more importantly for being really fun to travel with.

Thanks, Sea Lions of Pier 39 for teaching my daughter a new animal sound to make. . .
Thanks, Crown and Crumpet, for the perfect afternoon tea. . . for the tiara's and the wands, the little sandwiches, scones, and especially for not making a fuss when Lucy broke a teacup within the first five minutes.

Thanks, Exploratorium, for all the interactive experiments and displays that kept the girls entertained for hours and kept us out of the rain.

Thanks, Muir woods, for some fresh air and big trees and room to run around.

(Those tears are because we took her hiking stick away after she hit Wendy on the head with it.)

Thanks, Westin St. Fancis for being centrally located and for the cool Christmas displays. . .
. . . the 12 foot gingerbread castle and the huge Christmas Tree with cascading lights that was impossible for little hands not to touch. . .

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend in San Francisco. . . and I added a few things to my long list of things to be grateful for.

One more reason I wish I lived in New York

2009-11-30T14:46:00.003-07:00

Modern Women of Sewing. . .

Next stop Salt Lake, ladies?

Tiny Drawings, Big Hits

2009-11-23T23:09:00.004-07:00

That would be the headline if I were writing about Marc Johns for a magazine or artsy newspaper. . . or for my silly little blog, I guess.

His drawings make me giggle.
. . . and more than a little jealous that I didn't think of it first. . .

And I swear if I could I would buy everyone on my Christmas List one of his sticky note drawings. But they sell within minutes of being posted. . .

This is definitely the one I would buy for Hubby. . .

And I think I would absolutely die if I saw this in a restaurant bathroom. . .

Yes, I Photoshop. . .

2009-11-11T20:45:00.006-07:00

Warning: This image has been photoshopped. Everyone was upset when a photoshopped Kelly Clarkson appeared on the cover of Self magazine, so I'll be completely honest upfront. . . I photoshop. I photoshop all the time. The day was beautiful, my butt is not. So I photoshop. I really should have just worn my spanx that day, but c'mon! I was out walking! and we stopped to play for a bit. . .

Besides the obvious corrections, I've also been playing with Pioneer Woman's actions. . . Here I used "soft & faded" from set 1.

But thanks, Analeis, I don't have near enough photos of Lucy and I together. I love this one, or, the one with the new butt at least!

baby, baby. . . quilt, quilt

2009-11-09T15:27:00.004-07:00

This little white quilt with pink and orange is for Baby Layla. . . her family just moved back so we're neighbors again. They have two little boys that Lucy adores (and doesn't hit!) so we're glad to have them nearby.

Someone I WISH was nearby but isn't is my sister and her family. This quilt is for my new little nephew Cody. . . he's the fourth little boy in the fam and was almost named "Bear" so I used my little bear design as an applique to represent the little quartet of brothers.

While making this, I kept thinking of the old Hudson Baby wool blanket we had growing up, so beautiful and simple and striking. I think I'll be using this idea more and experimenting with different colors. With a big feild of white or cream, you could really throw any combo of colored stripes in there and it would look good!

little red riding hood

2009-10-29T10:31:00.011-06:00

(The pic above shows Lucy holding up the costume parade at preschool while she stops to admire herself in the mirror. . .)

I used one of her little summer dresses for the pattern but added the pockets just for fun. I thought it needed something. . . I was having a little Project Runway moment.I followed these instructions for making her little cloak, but smaller of course. I found trim at a little shop here in Salt Lake called The Lace Place which specializes ribbons, bows and lace.

And for some inexplicable reason, when I went to photograph the dress this morning, there was birdseed in the pocket. Maybe our Little Red Riding Hood has actually been out in the woods. . .

I almost forgot to name this post. . .

2009-10-24T23:00:00.007-06:00

Lucy's little pre-school went on a field trip to a pumpkin patch the other day. She was excited because, well, she's excitable. . . she knew where we were going had something to do with her buddy, Aidan, and pumpkins so she was sold. I was excited because, well, photo-op! So I had her all dudded up and cute and my entire camera bag in tow and we went to the pumpkin patch.

There were a million things to look at and do, so the kids were in heaven. The camera toting moms on the other hand, were frustrated and disappointed. We couldn't pin the kids down long enough even to auto focus. . . they kept moving into direct sunlight or chasing the cat or wandering into the motion-sensored cackling animatronics portion of the pumpkin patch instead of the haybale/morning shade/bumpy pumpkin backdrop we'd been dreaming of (I wasn't the only one who came prepared for the ideal photo shoot. I saw at least 4 other Canon Rebels. . .)

Here's the only good pic I got. . . It's Lucy and Aidan in a good moment. Haybale (check!), Morning Sun (check!), Bumpy Pumpkins (check!), freakin' cute smiles (check!), Teepee in the background (check. . . hey why is there a teepee at a pumpkin patch anyway? And even with a short depth of field, I can totally tell the rest of the stuff in the background is just the non-autumn seasonal stuff they had to cram behind the teepee to make room for all the pumpkins.) Oh, well.

So, I couldn't let this cute, fall outfit and me having the camera out of the house moment go to waste and we went down to Sugar House Park to do one of Lucy's favorite things in the world. Throw rocks in the river.

I got my ideal photo shoot afterall. . .

Yes, there is cherry sucker on her face in that one pic, evidence of the pumpkin patch. No, there was not even a possibility she was going to look at the camera, she was way to focused on the rocks and the river. And, Yes, that last one really is blurry but I like it so I included it anyway.

it worked!

2009-10-17T00:15:00.003-06:00

I planted a garden. . . and it grew! I owe it all to one friend who mapped out where to put what, two friends who helped me dig and plant, a toddler who likes mud, dirt, water and shovels, and a very rainy June. (I think I need a punctuation refresher. . . I use ellipses way too much and I just had like a billion awkward commas in that sentence.)

Hoping all these tomatoes can eek just a little more heat out of the low October sun.

Ok, the big one is a ringer, but all the others are legit.

Things don't always go as planned. . .

2009-10-06T21:51:00.010-06:00

Thought I'd confess to a couple failed projects. . .

First of all, I have this darling Japanese craft book which has been translated into English. There are drool marks on most of the pages. The projects are darling, the instructions are charming.

I've been meaning to try a bunch of the patterns, but settled on this one. . . tiny stuffed bears for babies to gum and teethe on. I thought, PERFECT! I have the most fruitful bunch of friends and family imaginable and I always need baby gifts. . . Here is the picture from the book.

So cute, right? Here are the two I made:

Not so cute. . . it's really hard to work this small! These little guys are only about 4 inches tall. I did the blue one first and then tried the brown one scaled up to see if it was any easier. Nope. Horrible. I won't be giving these to anyone, its too embarrassing. I think I probably should have used stretch terrycloth, but it didn't specify. I may try again in the future after the pain of this failure has faded.

Project Failed.

Then, there was this darling t-shirt idea in Family Fun Magazine. Get a solid color t-shirt, sketch your design in chalk and then do the final with a bleach pen. . . let sit for a bit and then wash. Sounds easy, right?

I thought this would be a great project to do with my nephews when I was visiting this summer. I pictured me sitting down one on one with each, they'd dictate ideas that I would easily draw in chalk and they could trace with the bleach pen. The kids would be really proud and excited about the t-shirts they made and it would be a fun Auntie Jul memory. Well, that was the plan.

It started going wrong in our brainstorming session. . . all three were coming up with a million ideas all at once.

Jake (8) decided he wanted two specific clone troopers in the middle of hand-to-hand combat.

Jesse (6) wanted a spider. . . shooting a bow and arrow at a target.

Sammy (3) wanted a dog lying on the ground dying because he'd just eaten a poisoned stick.

So Auntie Jul had to disappoint her eager nephews and break the news that she's not THAT good. Jake got a clone trooper mask. Jesse got a tank. Sammy got a monkey. And the whole let-the-kids-trace-the-outline-with-the-bleach-pen idea turned out to be very stressful. I know, I know, it seems obvious. Kids and bleach don't go together. They shouldn't even be in the same room. It was kind of a mess.

I didn't get pictures of the boys t-shirts. But here is the one I did for Lucy.

I thought it was cute. . . I was going for a kind of tattered tattoo look. When hubby got home, he said, "Why the Southwest Airlines logo?"

Project Failed.

The Exquisite Corpse

2009-09-28T15:34:00.006-06:00

Who knew the Library of Congress was so hip? They're everywhere these days: starring in Dan Brown's new The Lost Symbol, uploading amazing, copyright-free images on Flickr for graphic designers and history buffs everywhere, and now hosting this awesome reading adventure. . .

Our "Exquisite Corpse Adventure" works this way: Jon Scieszka, the National
Ambassador for Young People's Literature, has written the first episode. . . He has passed it on to a cast of celebrated writers and illustrators, who must eventually bring the story to an end. Every two weeks, there will be a new episode and a new
illustration. The story will conclude a year from now. -- from Read.gov

The Library of Congress obviously has dusted off it's old, tattered leather covers and is showing its younger, more colorful content!

Read the first episode here. . .

Find educational links and ideas to go along with it here. . .

this morning, 8:45 a.m.

2009-09-24T16:54:00.009-06:00

"Hey, Luce. . . where are you going?"

"Pee-school!"
"What are you holding?"

"Three Balls!"
"Turn around and show me your backpack."

"Packpack!"

"What's in your backpack?"

"'Nother one balls!"

itsy, bitsy spider

2009-09-22T23:47:00.005-06:00

Who is lazier. . . the funnel-web spider who got a head start on his funnel by finding a tunnel. . . or the homeowners who let him build his masterpiece on the exterior ledge of the kitchen window? Close-up:

some more birthday pics

2009-09-13T16:42:00.020-06:00

So, we had a birthday party for Lucy. . . a while ago. I'm running behind on my posts. I'm not going to even try to catch up. But I need to post these great pics from my friend, Katherine, who has such an amazing eye for a shot and obviously knows her way around a camera.

The party was carnival themed. . . and we served

We had a photo-booth for all the clowns. . .

Cupcakes. . . which Lucy LOVES. The candles? Not so much.

We also had a jump house/waterslide which Lucy still talks about.

It was huge. I guess I estimated wrong when they told me the dimensions over the phone. It took up most of the backyard!

Ned (aka Oliver's Dad) made balloon animals. . .

We had a few other carnival games around for the kids to do. A fishing pond which mostly held ducks. . .

A ball toss. . . knock down the tower of cans. (I'd been saving the cans we used for about a month. I only had to open one extra to complete the pyramid. What can I say, I guess we eat a lot of black beans!)

Opening gifts. . .

And best of all, we had a bunch of cute guests . . .

And after all that excitement, Lucy couldn't sleep. She was up till 4:00 am!

vote for me!

2009-09-03T14:33:00.003-06:00

Spoonflower is hosting a Christmas Fabric of the Week contest. . . the winner's fabric is available for a limited time to purchase on Etsy. Fun, huh! Now I need to think of a design for the Halloween challenge. . .

happy birthday to you!

2009-08-18T23:18:00.002-06:00

Enough about me, let's talk about Lucy

2009-08-18T16:07:00.005-06:00

Guess who turns two today?

The fastest ridin' . . .
. . . rootin' tootin'est toddler around. Just like her daddy, she's a neat freak. . .

. . . most of the time. But when it comes to "popcorn," all rules go out the window. . .. . . she's not the most adventurous of eaters, but sometimes she'll indulge me. . .

. . . and she always puts on a good show. . .

. . . does she look like she has horns? Most of the time its a halo, but that willful, stubborn, bossy two-year-old is definitely starting to show . . . what are we in for this year? I'll keep you posted.

She's the light and the joy of my life. Two years full of smiles, laughs, messy diapers, and a few hugs. . . bring on many more years, lighter on the diapers and heavier on the hugs, please.

Hobnobbin'

2009-08-10T08:38:00.007-06:00

Don't worry, blog. You're not alone. You are not the only thing in my life that I have completely ignored for the last several months. I've neglected house, yard, laundry, inbox messages, and husband. I've avoided friends and abandoned the gym.

And for what reason? The SCBWI Conference. (That stands for Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators, btw).

You know I'm a sucker for packaging and when the bright, colorful slick brochure with a rocket on front arrived in the mail I knew I had to go. The names of the presenters jumped off the page at me for further enticement. David Weisner? Kadir Nelson? Two of the most skilled (and awarded) illustrators in children's books. . . Richard Peck? I loved the Soup books growing up. I HAD to go.

But, I decided early on, I wasn't just going to GO, I had to go full steam ahead. If I was going to network, I needed new business cards. If those business cards were going to be useful, I needed a website. If the website were to be applicable, my portfolio needed to be updated. Oh, and if I was going to meet helpful, knowledgable people, I might as well get their opinions and feedback on my story idea so had to flesh that out a little and work up a book dummy.

Since June, every single minute Lucy is napping or sleeping, I have been working away. Drawing, painting, designing, sketching, writing, and learning. I usually turn off the computer and hit the pillow after Jimmy Fallon, but sometimes its later.

Enough setup, the conference was fantastic. The keynote addresses were inspiring. The workshops informative. The attendees friendly. Since we were in LA, Mike and Lucy played at the beach and at the pool and went on cupcake runs while I had as much fun listening and learning from the stars of the children's book business.

The most exciting part: there was a juried Portfolio Showcase and I was named a recipient of the SCBWI Ilustrator's Committee Mentorship Program! They announced my name at the Golden Kite Award luncheon, in front of almost a thousand people. I was thrilled. And even more thrilled when I was able to sit down with each of four mentors one-on-one and get direct feedback and comments on my portfolio. Amazing, and they really had some specific suggestions and fantastic guidance for me.

Thank you, thank you! And I have to name these amazing Mentors and Judges so you'll know why this is such a big deal to me:

Priscilla Burris: National Illustrator Coordinator for the SCBWI, Illustrator, Designer, Author

Arthur A. Levine: Editor, Vice President at Scholastic and publisher of his own imprint, Arthur A. Levine Books
Cecilia Yung: Art Director and Vice President at Penguin Young Readers Group, where she oversees illustration and design for hardcover titles for two imprints: G. P. Putnam's Sons and Philomel Books.

David Diaz: multiple-award winning illustrator (including the Caldecott!)

If you want to more about the conference, check out the blog recorded live from the conference.

Congratulations to the Grand Prize winner and Honor winners as well, their work is beautiful.

And, if you want to see my new website, go to juliannlaw.com

WT BBQ

2009-07-17T14:10:00.017-06:00

Pink flamingos in the front yard? Underwear hanging on the clothes line? But, of course! What could be more appropriate a "send off" for our friends Eric and Kate (see below) who are moving to Ohio than a very Improper, White Trash Barbecue.

Here's hubby after a long, hot few hours at the grill. . . kickin' it.

If we had done a prize for "best dressed," I would have had to given it to Kate. . .

And Kat who has already done justice to the great event in her blog (nice belted leopard top, chica!)

Sophie wins for most photogenic of the evening. . .

This pic of Lance is a little fuzzy but way to good NOT to post. . . and YES, I actually ate that hotdog. Why did I choose the completely black one, you ask? That's what a good hostess does, takes the worst one to leave the only slightly crispy hotdogs for her guests.

Lucy enjoyed the rare moment where we actually LET her make a mess.

A few of the fine dishes on the buffet table.

Macey and Lisa in matching tube tops. . . WOW.

I'm pretty sure Analeis wants to beat me up for taking this photo. . .

And I KNOW her daughter, Lyla, wants to slug me too.

Anyhow, some fun pics from a fun night. . .

I wish these came in poster size!

2009-07-08T21:47:00.003-06:00

A fantastic series of greeting cards featuring Monsieur Boudin, a dapper little dachsund from Paris. . . and if they did come larger I'd hang them all over Lu's room! I also wish they were available for purchase in the US, darnit! I guess I'll just have to enjoy them over the world wide web for a while. From the very creative creatives at Lab Partners.

more virtual quilting. . .

2009-06-22T14:01:00.003-06:00

This Denyse Schmidt quilt from the Sundance Catalog is inspiring me. . . and tempting me. It's on sale at the Sundance Outlet store not far from where I live and I practically salivate every time I see it.

I really like the idea of using solid fabrics to make your own patterns and designs in quilts. Here are a few excellent examples from Land of Nod that also get my creative juices flowing:

There is a whole flickr group called simply solid quilts which is also fun to peruse for ideas.

is everyone else geeking about about this, too?

2009-06-15T14:10:00.002-06:00

Did you see this over at Bakerella? They're brownie patties on cupcake buns with cookie fries! It's three desert junk foods that look like fatty, fast foods! Of course, I love it. Hubby isn't much of a burger and fry sort of a guy, but I can see this working well for kids' birthdays, too!

I'm not abandoning my blog!

2009-06-14T16:20:00.003-06:00

After reading an article from the NY Times about how many bloggers are leaving their blogs, I thought I'd better reassure you that NO, I am not abandoning my blog!

Actually, my computer abandoned me! The old gray mare finally dug in her heels and said, "No more rides, no more shows, no more long hauls. . . send me out to pasture." So, we've ordered a sleeker, younger, faster model and in the meantime, there will be posts with now pictures and no graphics from me for a few weeks. Then when the new pony gets here, I'll show you pics of my family vacation and maybe even some of the sewing crafts that have taken over my desk while the computer snores. . .

Maybe I'll just quote cool articles:

According to a 2008 survey by Technorati, which runs a search engine for blogs, only 7.4 million out of the 133 million blogs the company tracks had been updated in the past 120 days. That translates to 95 percent of blogs being essentially abandoned, left to lie fallow on the Web, where they become public remnants of a dream — or at least an ambition — unfulfilled.

That was from Douglas Quenquoa.

The end.

one for baby lyla

2009-05-28T01:16:00.003-06:00

This one is for little baby Lyla. . . a lot of fun to make. Final quilt size is about 36x42". Again, Egyption cotton on the front and a fun whole-cloth print on the back. I cut a lot of strips at random widths (1 to 3"), sewed them together and then cut strips the other direction at 1.5". I pinned them to the white cotton in sort of wavy stripes, sewed it down and then snipped the edges for a raw edge look.

It's machine-quilted in freestyle, unplanned waves.

Oh, and add this project to my list of fun projects I want to do but will probably never get to. . . I did buy elastic thread the other day, though!

two things you may not know about Lucy. . .

2009-05-19T15:38:00.003-06:00

1. She's brilliant.
2. She has a highly developed sense of humor for a 21-month-old.

Now, these two facts listed above are probably not all that evident in the hundreds of pictures I take (and post) of her. Oh, she's cute, that definitely comes across, but the picture I'm about to show you will prove that's she's more than just a pretty face. . .
Ta-da! That's the marvelous little scene she put together the other night as Mike and I were fixing dinner or who knows what. . . We've been putting real bugs in jars the last week or so (see recent post) so she made the connection and put these bug puzzle pieces in jars she dug out of the cupboard. Not farm animal puzzle pieces, or shapes puzzle pieces, BUG puzzle pieces. Brilliant.

Virtual Crafting

2009-05-15T13:43:00.005-06:00

Every once in a while, Jane and Kristine do what can only be called virtual shopping where they put outfits together online and share what the would buy if they could. . . I love it.

So here are some projects I would try or buy if I could. . . you know, if time and money were not an issue.

(found at Olivelse-shop)

(found at Pottery Barn Kids)

(found at cosas minimas)

(found at oliver + s)

I want to learn how to do these little crochet flowers and then put them all over everything Lucy owns. . .
(found at Little Birdie Secrets)

bringing home a baby bumblebee. . .

2009-05-11T21:21:00.002-06:00

Lucy's first pet. . .

Vacation posts are so intimidating!

2009-05-05T14:48:00.036-06:00

This one has been stumping me for weeks. . . so instead of stewing about it any longer, I'm just going to post some of my favorite pics (hard, because there are a MILLION!) and let you guess where we went. . .

Clue #1: We went to see our good friends the Pratts who are living there Clue #2: We had really some good food(Easter Breakfast)(I can't remember what these are called but its corn on the cob smothered in mayo, cheese and chili powder)(Tostada bar at a neighborhood market. . . mmmm)

Clue #3: And some pretty strange food

(Yup, those are fried grub worms. . . and what looks like couscous is actually ant eggs)(but Wendy liked it!)

The weird thing is, those grubs and ant eggs were served at one of the most beautiful restaurants I've ever seen where macaws and toucans and peacocks entertain the guests (especially the kids) in the amazing open garden and courtyard. . . maybe they fed us the bird food by mistake. . .

Clue #4: We did some shopping Clue #5: We saw an amazing array of architecture

From a belle epoque opera house. . .

To 16th century chapels. . .

and a baroque cathedral. . .in an old white-washed, hilltop town

a castle built by one of Napolean's brothers. . .a modern mecca where pilgrams flock from all over the country to see this miraculous image. . .

To ancient meccas where temples stand today as majestic as they did 800 years ago. . . (that might have just given it away. . .)

Clue #6: We played at a state of the art playground and went to one of the best zoos in the world (if you ask me!)(oh, and Lucy got kissed by a french boy named Simon!)

Clue #7: We were there for Holy Week, or Semena Santa (the week leading up to Easter) and witnessed the religious fervor and pageantry of the faithful

. . . and a near riot when the crowded square emptied in a matter of seconds when a transformer blew somewhere down the procession and terrified thousands of people ran to the relative safety of tiny winding streets. We happened to be in a restaurant watching the festivities fromt he second floor when this panic riot hit . . . one of the strangest, most surreal events of my life.

Clue #8: We went to Frieda and Diego's houses (okay, that one is not at their house, its a mural at a government palace)

Clue #9: One week after we were there, President Obama was there. . . and stayed in a hotel we could see from Annie and Emron's balcony.

Clue #10: One week after that, the swine flu broke out. Don't worry, the Laws and the Pratts are all okay. Annie and the girls evacuated to Virginia for a while to be with her family and Emron is our live correspondant from _____ who says that fantastic zoo and playground are shut down, the subways and restaurants are closed and noone is going to work. So in a city of 22 million people, there is suddenly no traffic and nothing to do.

Clue #11: And if all that hasn't given it away yet, this will. . . some of my souvenirs: luchadores action figures from lucha libre! Yes, we went and saw the real deal and it was an absolute blast. We sat about three rows back from ring-side, people were back-flipping and flying over the ropes right at us. Amazing.Alright, alright. . . you guessed it! We went to Mexico City and some surrounding towns (Taxco and Cuernovaca) and had a wonderful time. It far exceded my expectations and I would recommend it as a vacation destination to anyone.

(I was fascinated with the little drawings in the Aztec and Mayan codex's that we saw in the museums.)

Colorful boats on the canals of Xochimilco

Xochimilco is known as the Venice of the Western Hemisphere, but I disagree. I don't think Venice has ever seen such a party, even in the middle of carnival. The canals were packed with boats, some with traveling mariachis and bands competing to be the loudest. Boats held up to twenty people and food cart and souvenir boats would pull up along side selling their goods. . .
Thanks, Mexico City! We love you!