Thanks to a brilliant craft idea from Abbey, who was inspired by a tip from Stephanie, I spent the day crafting up a winter wonderland Mikey and Nicholas can appreciate. Glittered reindeer? Looks good, mom! Glittered dinosaurs? You’re the best mom ever, mom! False.

When I told Mikey and Nicholas last week that I would be covering in glitter the cheap dinosaurs I bought at Michaels (the ones they were playing with as if they didn’t have 52 million other dinosaurs of the same variety but ten times more expensive) all game playing came to a halt. Imagine the sound of the largest record on earth screeching to a halt, with Mikey bringing Tyrannosaurus Rex up to his chest in a protective hug.

“You’re going to what?!”  Horror.  Four horror filled eyes looked up at me.  Even the dinosaurs looked scared.

“I’m going to cover them in glitter and put them on the tree table in the toy room.  It’s going to be Dinosaur Mountain!  I’m telling you, you’re going to love it!” Please. Now you’re opposed to glitter? You used to be quite the fan. A really big fan, in fact.

Crickets.  Many crickets chirping.

“But, Mama,”  Mikey explained to me in a tone one normally reserves for the feeble, “Mama, dinosaurs don’t glitter.”

This went on for several minutes, the dinosaurs suddenly children in a bad custody case.  Finally, I had no choice but to put my legal education to use.  My closing argument went something like this:

“WE ARE GLITTERING THE DINOSAURS AND BY GOD YOU TWO ARE GOING TO LOVE IT!”

Then I called my mother in law and told her she needed to head to Michaels pronto and buy some dinosaurs for her grandsons for Christmas.

Yesterday I glittered the dinosaurs. I put Nicholas to bed and laid out all the supplies on the dining room table.  Mikey, his head stuffed with a cold, sniffed both to alleviate sinus pressure and communicate his disdain.

“Do you want to work on the dinosaurs with me, Mikey?”

“No, because dinosaurs don’t glitter.  I’ll just work on my lego car.”

Suit yourself.

I just finished gluing and glittering Tyrannosaurus Rex when Mikey approached the table.

“Whoa.  What did you do to that Tyrannosaurus Rex?”

“I glittered him.  Now I’m going to do the rest.”  Holds breath.

“He looks really cool, mom!”

Releases breath.

“Aw, thanks, Mikey!”  But really I was thinking, Thankyouverymuch maybe now you will think twice before you argue with your mother because I think I know you just a little bit better than you give me credit for, little mister.

Also, AHA!  I KNEW IT!

Mikey kept checking on my progress until all four dinosaurs were covered in glitter and ready to perform alongside white tigers in Las Vegas.

Mikey likes the Stegosaurus best because he looks like “he’s on fire.”  I like the Brachiosaurus best because he comes closest to the vintage colored glass I wanted.  Overall, everyone was happy, including the dinosaurs.

At night is when they look the prettiest, coming close to how I envisioned them in my mind when I first saw Abbey’s post. This year I went with a cheap snow blanket since I didn’t know how the project would turn out. Next year I will probably use a piece of muslin and spread some of that cotton-candy fake snow if I am confident Nicholas won’t fiddle with it too much. I will also replace the tree lights underneath the blanket with a lit table garland. The lights get a bit hot for my comfort, and I think a garland would look better overall.  In the next day or so I will tape down the tree wires if I get the energy and position the dinos better.  We’ll see.  Right now I am pleased everyone likes Dinosaur Mountain–initial furious mutiny notwithstanding.

Hello.  Allow me to frantically put up some random pictures of children doing cute! things! so we can end my cyber humiliation in the preceding post.  Yes?

Look!  It’s like King Arthur and the legend of the Sword in the Stone except the sword is made from duct tape and PVC pipe and the stone is from Z Gallerie.

Why do we own a sword made from duct tape and PVC?  The Mister made it to complete Mikey’s St. Boniface costume for his Saints Day presentation earlier in the month.  The same presentation that required me to tap into my slightly mutagenic crafty gene and sew a 16th century monk’s robe.  Thankfully, Larissa from Rejoice! Bags seems to have all her alleles in order.  I went to her studio for hand holding and sewing lessons.  We did not hold hands while sewing, but we did manage to make a costume that, thanks to my superb pattern picking gene (also mutagenic) made Mikey look like a Samurai.

I have been sitting on these pictures because I wanted to include the video, but my techy gene is in far worse shape than my crafty gene.  I asked The Mister for help, but it turns out his techy gene isn’t any better.  No, it appears our helixes in that area are twisted whirlpools of frustration, disdain, and outright stupidity.  Our children are doomed for a life of abacus pushing.  However, since the gene for retaining rudimentary information from college biology classes seems intact and dominant, Santa is bringing the boys a microscope and matching centrifuge for Christmas this year.

Last weekend I started baking again.  I made an enormous batch of whole wheat bread dough, enough for four loaves, but forgot I only have two bread pans.  Luckily, I was able to borrow two more from my neighbor.  I returned the bread pans that day with a loaf still warm from the oven.  I recommend this technique to everyone because when I gave her the bread she turned around and gave me freshly canned tuna from her son’s latest fishing trip.  If you have never tasted freshly canned tuna, oh my, try to find a way to do it soon.  It tasted nothing like chicken of the sea.  In fact, all it needed was a sprinkle of salt and freshly squeezed lime juice before I tossed it into a delicious spinach salad for lunch.

On another note, Tristan and I are counting down the days until we can launch Besotted Brand.  (Soon, we promise!)  We will have a number of lovely things, not the least of which are proper labels.  There will be very fancy ones, yes, but we will also offer what we hope you will consider the perfect baked goods label.  Look at my poor label above.  It’s from a national craft store and not a good thing, if you catch my meaning. For me, a good baked goods label should offer enough space for someone with large, loopy writing (ahem) to write something as brief as “Whole Wheat Bread.”  Not everyone writes in a microscopic print, you know.  Some of us like to live large, Palmer Method style.  And, please, how frustrated was I when the label refused to stay down?  Any baked goods label worth its salt has to accommodate the lumps and bumps of a good kitchen outcome.  Wouldn’t you agree?

God willing, we will have something respectable up and running in time for all that holiday baking!

{photo via The Newlywed Diaries}

Yesterday on The Bright Side Project we featured Janice Rusnak of Papier Valise.  For those of you who are crafty, she needs no introduction.  She is the go-to shop for the little bips and bobs you need to complete your latest artistic endeavor.  She’s the craftista’s dealer, if you will.

I used to be crafty.  Creative, even.  In fact, in school there were two subjects at which I excelled–reading/writing and art.  Writing the Papier Valise feature reminded me of that, and how little crafting I do these days.  I’ve kind of become a one trick pony–if you consider staying up until 1am reading a trick a pony would do.

I’ve made up my mind to change all that.  Less reading, more action.  To that end, I’m going to start working on projects around the house a bit more.  I’ve already tackled one project, my kitchen back splash, which resulted in THE RED SHARPIE OF DEATH.  At first I hated it because every time I walked into the kitchen I thought SHARPIE!!  But since I was able to clean the furniture, I’m backing to thinking it looks pretty good.  I mean, Design*Sponge isn’t blowing up my inbox, but it doesn’t look like a bachelor pad, either.

This is where you come in.  Who are you reading now for design tips?  I have all the major players in my reader, and now I want some of the new kids on the block I may have missed during the decorating hiatus I took this last year.  Things I like: before and afters, real homes, reasonable budgets, and a healthy mix of modern and traditional.  Every other week I like a different style (no surprise that I am all over the map) but I consistently enjoy Jennifer and Wes at The Newlywed Diaries.   Jennifer always features a nice mix of modern and traditional that doesn’t seem so damn trendy (Hello, cow  hides, antlers, owls, shell rockers, quirky pillows, and ironic posters).  My favorite post hands down is Right Amount of Black, mainly because I am injecting more and more black in my home and love that Martha and I both have cream cabinets and soapstone counters in our kitchen.

So tell me who you are reading, because I need to immerse myself in creative people, get thoroughly intimidated, and then decide to do nothing because it won’t measure up to my insane need to do things perfect on the first try.

Kidding!

Sort of.

But, really, I do want to hear about your favorites.

My friend and business partner, Miss Tristan B, is at it again. She recently started a new flickr group called Souvenir Foto in hopes of breaking Photo Block {when you have a camera but never use it} and curbing her tendency for procrastination. She rightly figured everyone else had the same problem so she opened it to all who want to play. Each week we get an assignment meant to inspire (re: force) us to pick up our cameras.

I, for one, signed right up because without an assignment or deadline, I’m pretty much worthless. The Mister bought me a new camera for Christmas (Nikon D60) and do you think I have taken advantage of the free photo classes that came with the camera? Of course not! That will soon change. I finally called about the classes and it looks like one is starting in July. Until then, come join me at Souvenir Foto. This week’s assignment was to capture sunshine. I’m pleased with the way the pictures (2 of over 100) turned out, and even more pleased that I did something with my Sunday afternoon that I would not have normally.

I’m terrible about capturing light on film, so I went for a figurative approach to spare myself the humiliation. Mango Popsicle = yellow = sunshine, right? Right.

One of my favorite designers is Patricia Zapata. The fact she is insanely talented with paper is hardly late breaking news; she does have her own book coming out in August. You would think the last several months designing, developing, photographing and writing a book on paper projects would leave her strapped for ideas, but no. Patricia just released the most darling set of alphabet cards you can download and print from your home computer.

I am especially excited about these cards because they are so relevant in my own life right now. Nico continues to take his own sweet time in the speaking department. We’ve have been really working with him on his words and letters, and he loves playing with flashcards. We had sets for the car, diaper bag, and house, but they have slowly met toddler demise. These are perfect to print again and again and are far cuter than anything you can find at national toystores. No more worrying about the expense of replacing ugly, torn flashcards!

Each PDF includes the entire alphabet scaled to print two to a page and two other pages with the entire alphabet and illustrations, which you can use as coloring sheets. You can download the set for $7.99 (and print unlimited quantities) here.

I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve watched the video I posted yesterday. Aside from truly enjoying the message, the video has helped me put into perspective a challenging few days. I do not have a Brady Bunch family, I do not coffers brimming with gold, and I do not have enough hours in the day to do everything I need to do BUT I do have clean water, thank you very much. Can you really quibble about the insanity (that is actually banality) when there are people out there without clean water and shelter? Sadly, I can and do.

On top of miscellaneous family theatrics seen all over the world, the Mister was robbed again yesterday. The timing could not be worse. With the economy the way it is, with people as desperate as they are, I imagine events like this will only become more frequent. I guess all I can muster is: I don’t know what to say. Rather, I know what I want to say, but I doubt my audience will be receptive to the message.

So I knit to keep from unraveling.

I’ve talked to a few knitters, and the pattern the yarn shop had me start with is actually complicated for a beginner project. That makes me feel better about my rocky beginning. I might start to really enjoy knitting, after all.

I enjoy it especially right now. When it seems like everything around you is falling apart, it feels productive to create something tangible. I am incapable of controlling much around me lately, but I can control my knits and purls. So, forgive me, please, if I spend a little time knitting when I should be writing. It’s the next best thing to crawling under the covers and hibernating until the storm passes.