Foliage

These photos are for Jennifer, who requested foliage pictures.

New Art Supplies

There is almost nothing I like more than a whole new stash of art supplies.  I just ordered in a whole bunch of gorgeous new papers as well as some new deep birch panels to use as bases for my collages for Fiddleheads.  Aren't they beautiful?  And I ordered quite a few larger format bases because it seems that even though they are more expensive, that seems to be what people are looking for.  I am so excited to get started!

Too Many Toys Getting You Down?

We have just gotten through to the other side of Emmett's second birthday and we find ourselves absolutely inundated with toys.  And a lot of them are either new, or still in regular use!  Emmett seems to play like I work, with all of his creative materials spread out around him on every available surface.  So it is time to adopt a few clutter reducing systems, and I am open to suggestions!  So I thought I would put up my ideas, or some ideas that have been given to me, and then hopefully open it up to any of you who have found good ways to deal with this problem.  I am hoping that the comments on this post, as well as the body, could become a helpful resource.   

So my friend Truddi, (who, let's be honest, is part of the cause of the inundation) suggested a tactic to me that I put into effect right away.  And the best thing about it is that it actually serves a double purpose.  She suggests packing up a bin of lots of tiny trucks and stashing it away high up in a closet out of sight of curious little toddler eyes.  Then when you really need an occupied child, or are at a loss on a rainy day you can pull it down and open it up.  Isn't this genius?  It gets rid of clutter and supplies a parent with a periodic "get out of jail free card." She said she had certain toys when her children were young that they only were allowed to play with when she was sewing, and really needed a little peace and quiet.  

Another somewhat simpler version of the same idea is just to rotate your whole toy collection every month or two.  Just pack up half or a third or whatever toy quantity seems to be a problem and put it away.  Then when the current selection of toys gets stale just switch it up.  

And another variant that I love the idea of is to do a rotating toy swap with your friends with children the same age. Of course this means that you are bringing more toys into the house, but you are also sending some out, and you are sharing the wealth.  As long as you are careful about remembering that the point is to have less toys underfoot and not more, than the system should work.   It's so crazy, it just might work!!

So who has other ideas?  I'd love to hear them, and as you can tell from the top photo, I really need the help!  So much so that I almost titled this post "I think we need an intervention!" 

Imagine the Possibilities

I fell into the Ikea inspiration blog this morning, and it a little bit made me want to throw away everything I own and start from scratch.  Sigh.  These pictures also made me feel very sad that summer is slipping away, and I didn't have any garden parties.  Of course with all the rain and mosquitos Vermont isn't the best place for a garden party, and who really has garden parties anyway, right?  Especially not during the day.  But I just love the inside/outside feel of these spaces, and the bright open airiness of it all.  I bet those rooms smell like sunshine and herbs. 

DIY Crayon Rubbings: Great Interactive Toddler Art Project!

Our super sweet and creative friend Carolyn gave Emmett this fantastic home made present for his second birthday.  She used some vehicle stencils she found to make these slightly 3D collages which can then be used to make crayon rubbings.  The toddler can make quick and easy drawings by rubbing the crayon across a paper held or taped on top of the collage and a perfect image appears like magic on the blank paper!  She told me her mom made these for her and her sister when she was a little girl.  And since Carolyn's was a gift she spent some time selecting the cardboard she used to make the vehicles, and they turned out looking very nice on their own.  But she said if one were to do this at home as an activity to keep little minds entertained you can just use anything from your recycling bin, like old cereal boxes.  Isn't that such a nice present?  We happened to have this three photo frame hanging around so we quickly threw in three of the colorful rubbings for some instant playroom art and a lovely souvenir of Emmett's second birthday and a thoughtful present.   

Misty Morning

I have not been sleeping well lately.  So this morning I thought, "hey, why fight it?" and got up around 6.  Now I fully realize lots of people get up at 6am every day, some of them even by choice!?!?  But not me, I am a big fan of 8am. (and before I had a kid, 10am)  However, it turns out that sunrise is really quite pretty.  Who knew, right?  Well, probably the people who get up at 6 by choice, actually.  It was very foggy, and the sun was just rising and burning off the fog when I took these photos.  Don't let them fool you into thinking we have nice weather up here because it is a lie, a snare and a delusion, because really all it does is rain.  We lost part of our driveway again last night because of excessive rain and runoff.

I'm super excited that my brother is here visiting from California this weekend, where he lives with his family and works in the family biz.  He is also the keeper of this super wine blog, so if you are in to wine, check it out!  Have a lovely weekend everyone!  Anyone doing anything special?

The Road Less Traveled

I took the back way home from a friends house the other day, which consists of about 6 miles of pretty narrow dirt roads.  Some of them are still damaged from Hurricane Irene, so there were some small rivers and deep ditches to traverse.  (Go Subaru go!)  It was a beautiful drive though, and on one of the few sunny days we've had recently.  It is definitely starting to look like fall around here.