My Sweet Imaginations

Lazy Days of Summer...

Oh dear... it's been longer than I thought since I last posted!  I always forget how busy being lazy can be!  With the kids home and the sun out, we have been enjoying most of our hours outside by the pool.   The girls have already gone bleach blonde and earth brown from the sun in only a few short weeks!   It's hard to stay inside and work when everyone else is out having fun.

I do have those three fairy girls ready to list on Etsy...two more awaiting dresses and two paintings I just started.  I'm going to try to get those listed soon and will have them available for a few days.  We leave next week for vacation, so want to be sure I have time to get things packed up and in the mail before we go.

Hope everyone had a lovely 4th of July weekend and will try to send some sun the way of those who've been suffering with the rain!  (Sorry, NH friends!!!...come visit us!)

Good Things and Little Things

Yesterday was a good day.  Jen tried out for symphony orchestra...and made it!  We found her a great piano/violin teacher and a perfect math tutor for the summer.  She's a happy camper (I am even happier!).  "June Gloom" has also subsided for a bit as blue skies have returned and we can enjoy some summer-ish weather for the last week of school.

I've been working on some little fairies for Etsy and hope to have these gals plus others listed by Friday  early next week.  I have a thing for fairies, as many of you know.  I need to get to the craft store for more little boxes for those of tooth-losing age!

New Dolls

I listed a few dolls at Etsy today.  More in the works.   Click here to visit my little shop to see what's available! 

Dolls coming to Etsy very soon!

I've been working on several new clothespin dolls which will be available at Etsy by the end of the week!  You can see a few if you click over on the right to my little flickr art gallery.  Here's one I'm making for a sweet family member.  She's just awaiting her wand and tooth box! I won't have any tooth fairy boxes this week as I need to make a craft store run for more parts...but hopefully next week I'll have a few to offer!

Sharing Some Cute!

Aren't these the cutest little cupcake toppers?  Created by thesmallobject on Etsy.

Wooden head candle holder...

Wooden peg candle holder...

She also makes darling, simple clothespin dolls and wedding cake toppers - be sure to check out her shop.  My 11 year old has a birthday coming up...I may have to borrow this adorable idea, but since she wants a Harry Potter theme, they'll all have  round spectacles and lighting scars on their foreheads!

Sometimes I have no idea.

This is our dining area.  The canvases were originally purchased for our bedroom in the old apartment, but even then I didn't know what to do to them.  I've been trying to figure something out for a few weeks now.  I have several ideas, but haven't  decided which one will look best in the room.  I also wasn't sure how to hang them.  Today I decided to just hang them straight and boring (ok, I see they aren't that straight - must fix that!) and hope the inspiration will come as I look at them day-to-day.  In the meantime, the linen is the same shade as our accent wall around the fireplace, so they at least match.  I do want to pick up the golds and reds in the painting in the kitchen.  I put that painting there because it matched the Dove dark chocolates, pasta, and dry beans in the jars below it. ...and the apples and bananas matched quite nicely too!

The table and chairs we bought for our very first apartment in Rockville, MD.  It was on clearance in the backroom of Marlo furniture for $400.  I have changed the cushion fabric at least 6 times to go with our ever changing decor!  The stools were used in my built in craft area back in New Hampshire...I so miss that area!  The little buffet was a gift from a neighbor for helping her move apartments last month.  The lamp too - she was going to trash it! I can't remember the name of the artist who painted the still life in the kitchen...I bought that many years ago on eBay.  My knitting supplies are in the crock in the corner, but I haven't knitted in years!  Again, the reds and golds of the yarns matched my little color scheme!

I'll share with you when I finally do something to these six canvases...unless I ruin them!  I'm thinking flowers...simple...sort of modern-ish.  Maybe out of fabric or more linen.  Pinned on so I don't destroy these pricey canvases and can change them if I get tired of them.   Any ideas?

New Ballerina Painting

Still a little busy in the real world, but managed to get this little ballerina girl finished.  She is available  sold on Etsy...click here to see! 

Health and Stuff...

As I get older I get much more aware and interested in my health.   I read, I research, I listen.  Sometimes I'm surprised at what I find.  My most recent discovery is actually an old one...the book Eat Right 4 Your Type which was published in 1996.  A neighbor who is a 3 time cancer beater (diagnosed with 6 weeks to live the first time!) recommended it to me.  The book explains which foods are best for your blood type based on how your body handles the foods it eats.  I was not surprised to learn that I, type A, should lead a more vegetarian lifestyle.  I was also not surprised (I was actually delighted!) to read that coffee and red wine are good for me (in moderation, of course!).  I was suprised to learn that cabbage, tomatoes, bananas, whole wheat, and other things I thought were good for everyone were not so good for me.  And my lucky type O hubby now has affirmation that red meat is ok - for him!  So I'll stop nagging him about ordering regular burgers instead of turkey burgers!  Anyway, if you are interested, you can read more yourself here...

   

I've only been observant of the advice for a few days now, but I do feel good.  No heart troubles, no heartburn, no tummy woes.    So we'll see.  The debaters claim that no one has duplicated the study yet, so they can't confirm or deny the findings in the book, but from what I already know about healthy eating, a lot of it makes sense for me.   Will I follow it religiously?  No.  That's impossible.  Especially when visiting my meat-loving carnivorous relatives!

Just finished...

a princess!  She'll be available soon SOLD.  Sorry - she sold within 15 minutes of listing, so no chance to even post here.  But I'm not complaining!  :o)

Cleaned house, baked blueberry muffins for after school snack, packed up Jen's sleepover supplies for this evening's birthday party, did two loads of laundry, and painted a princess. Not bad for a day's work. Now off to pick up kiddos from school and then to enjoy the long weekend! Hope everyone has a GREAT one!

The Girls' Room

Unfortunately our huge apartment comes with a tiny second bedroom.  It's only 10.5 x 10.5, so it makes for tight quarters when shared by two.  Because of this, we decided to get a bunk bed.  Cam sleeps on top - Jen on bottom.   The girls like having their little blue fans blowing on their faces all night long, so I had to put these white plastic shelves next to the bed to reach up to Cam's level.  I've been hunting for something more attractive, but haven't found anything that will work just yet...I wonder if I could spray paint these pink?  At least they match the quilts.  My girls are savers and stashers...every shelf they own is covered in stuff.  I try to get rid of things and hope they don't notice, but usually they do! The quilts are from Pottery Barn Kids and the bunkbed is the Columbia bunk bed by Atlantic which I ordered online after reading 100s of reviews.

Each girl has their own special desk and area for their things. This is Jen's area. Notice the Harry Potter books displayed on top of the jelly cupboard...she's a HUGE fan!...obsessed! (Like her mom!) The fairy paintings were done when we moved here 3 years ago. The desk was given to me as a child by my grandparents. I stained the jelly cupboard myself when Jack and I were in our first apartment.

Cam's Corner is a little more crowded as she gets a much smaller space (but doesn't seem to mind!). The little desk was given to us by a neighbor - it's the only Shabby Chic-ish thing I own. I bought the doll bunk bed for her at Christmas with the intentions of painting it...but as you can see, that's a job for another time!

Luckily the room has enormous closet space. Most of our toys are stored in baskets on the shelves behind the mirrored doors...I love that they aren't all strewed over the floor! The mirrors, while dated, do make the room seem bigger...and it's nice to see how you look when putting together your outfits!

This last picture I'm sharing as I know my nieces and mom will find it funny. When Jen first laid on her lower bunk and looked up, she commented that the wood slats were very unsightly. I told her she could stick a poster or something up there....so this is what she did!...

As I sit here at my desk uploading pictures, I often doodle on the backs of old printouts. Here is what I doodled today...now to go see about turning some doodles into paintings!

Have a lovely day!