A Fun Announcement!

I finally did it! After many hints and thinking about this for a long time, I've finally opened an etsy shop. If you know me, you know how much I love to collage! I've had a bunch of vintage pictures that I've been collecting, that I knew were too special to use for myself- so I've used them in making collages for others that are now available in the shop.
So far I have some vintage bird collages (all collages are mounted on 1/8 inch thick wood & hang with either satin ribbon or twisted wire)- which are my favorites. I also made a few 8x10" Alphabet Collages that are ideal for nurseries or children's rooms.

Some of you know that I started collaging maybe 2 years ago, as a way of releasing the creative energy that often built up inside me. Because I'm a perfectionist and not satisfied with my attempts at drawing, painting, sculpting, etc...I turned to collage & found an activity that brought me peace and joy!

I love bringing vintage materials together with new ones: juxtapositioning the old with the new, the elegant with the ragged. Collaging is a sacred time for me of refocusing- taking a step back to find beauty and joy in the mudane, and rediscovering my priorities (that can often get lost in daily domestic duties)- my family, friends, and finding God's beauty in the things that surround me.

For a peek into my personal collage journal, visit Cut and Paste Creativity (don't forget to click on the collages themselves to see them enlarged).
To check out the Etsy shop: Cut and Paste Collage

Thank you to everyone who was so supportive of this little endeavor. I'm humbled by your encouragement and know that I needed some coaxing to get my collages out there. Hope you stop by the shop & visit often!

A Quiet Day at Home

Most days I'm trying to fit in as many visits, errands, walks, etc... as I can. I don't usually love being home by myself (and Leta) for too long, but try to see people every day (By people, I mean adults I can converse with - Leta isn't the best conversationalist quite yet).

Today, however, I decided that after a busy week of working extra hours and knowing that a crazy next 2 weeks await me, I'd scrap all my plans today and just enjoy being home. So, this morning has been a quiet one, playing with Leta, giving her a bath, working on a little craft venture (another preview above) that you'll hear more about soon, drinking my coffee, and keeping on top of household chores. I love doing things like washing and remaking Leta's bottles, as she sits in her excersaucer chatting happily, when I'm not in a hurry. There's so much joy to be found in domesticity when one takes the time to appreciate the routine motions and the feeling of being productive, instead of focusing on the length of the to-do list.

And Leta, who is the queen of 15 minute cat-naps, is finally learning that naptime isn't over until mom says so, and so is finally putting herself back to sleep for longer naps. Yay!

My Own Spot

This morning, when Leta went down for her morning nap - I took my cup of coffee and the baby monitor down into the basement - where I'm slowly working on my own little craft spot - and started to collage. Our basement is just this big finished room - where we have a tv and couch (although we've never once watched TV down there yet), all our books, and... this little craft area:

Normally I hate to show "before" pictures without an "after"- but I've been putting in so many hours at work, that this is going to be a very long process of turning this mess into a little craft space of my own.

We don't want to fully remodel the basement yet- as sometime it will probably be remodeled to create another bedroom/ rec room. So, for now- I'm just trying to organize the space a bit more & maybe put some things down there that will inspire me (because it's a basement- the windows are tiny, it's pretty dark, and all around lacking in beauty & inspiration). Maybe I'll post some pics when I finally get it organized.

Regardless of how it looks now, it is so nice to have this little spot of my own- where I can leave collage supplies out without having to worry and can go to relax, whenever I can steal a few moments away from the craziness of balancing motherhood, domestic duties, and a part-time job. Such a wonderful respite!

Our Across the Street Neighbor

This little bunny was given to Leta by our neighbor across the street for Easter. It's super soft, and it was so fun to watch Leta with it on the car-ride to my parents' house. She just sat there petting it over and over. I think it must be her new favorite stuffed animal.

Anyways, our neighbor is this tiny old woman who's lived there probably since the 50's and was my babysitter growing up (since my parents originally lived in the house Matt & I now live in, until I was 4 years old). She's always been like another grandmother to me and so my parents often invite her over for holidays when she has no other plans. Sunday, we picked her up & took her to my parents' for Easter.

Josephine (who we call Josie) is a 93-year old woman who's probably not much over 4 feet tall (I outgrew her around 2nd grade, I think). So, she's 93, but still lives by herself in the house across the street and get this, still occasionally walks to the store to do her grocery-shopping(a good 7 blocks) ! She's nearly completely deaf, so you have to shout and let her read your lips. But she still has all her mental capabilities, is an avid Mariners fan (she even still makes it to at least 1 game a year), never misses a Sunday of church, and although she used to completely spoil my brother and I- she now spoils Leta - bringing her a gift on Halloween, Christmas, and Easter.

What a blessing to live across the street from Josie again 24 years later with our little one!

Easter Weekend

Leta's new Easter sweater from my mom (plus matching jeans that are so adorable!)

Hanging out with buddy, Sean, at our church's Easter Eggstravaganza on Saturday
Easter Sunday with Mom

Modeling her Easter dress & matching sweater...

...and eating the Easter dress (of course!)Easter Lunch at Matt's parents'. With Uncle Kevin:

...and grandma

Then dinner at my parents (and a costume-change)- laughing it up with grandpa:

A Wonderful Friday

Yesterday, Matt (who normally works volunteer overtime on Fridays) decided to stay home & spend time with our family- which Leta & I enjoyed very much! Here are some highlights of the day:

• Breakfast with Matt & Leta at the Honey Bear in Ravenna (not the atmosphere that I like at the Lake City One- but the same good cinnamon rolls & closer to home!)
• Getting the house deep cleaned.
• Grocery shopping without Leta (I take her with me every week)- it's amazing how much more I can fit in my cart without her carrier in there.
• Our new washer/dryer arrived!
• A sunny walk around the neighborhood with Leta in the Baby Bjorn.
• Trying some new recipes from my new favorite Martha Stewart cookbook- Asparagus soup, Ground turkey burgers with some gourmet fixings, and a new blond brownie recipe.
• Having our friends Katie, Ryan & Sean over to be our gunnea pigs for the new recipes.
  

Easter Week

I haven't posted in awhile, because I just haven't felt like blogging- life has been so busy lately. I feel like every day I'm scrambling to get things done and barely making a dent in my "to-do" list.
But this week is Easter week, and I must admit a lot of my "to-do" list is fun. Here's a bit of the fun stuff that's been occupying my time:

• Making Easter cards (shown above) to send to some friends and neighbors. I am completely in LOVE with these images from antique Easter postcards - I have them scanned into my computer (for various holidays) so I can print them out at any time.
• Making Easter sugar cookies for our neighbors (while enjoying a cup of coffee) during Leta's naps. Again, I had to do it in stages- dough one day, frosting the next, etc....but I hope to deliver them tonight.

• Little Easter baskets for some of Leta's friends. I found the cutest Peter Rabbit chocolate bunnies this year, so I had to share them.

• I've been collaging as much as I can- whenever Matt gives me a break or I have some downtime during Leta's naps (which isn't too often- so it's a very slow process :) This is a little preview of a new venture that might be coming down the hatch. I'll post more about it later- but I'm excited!

• And, of course, hanging out with this little girl could not be more fun! We've been so busy going on walks, visiting friends and great-grandma, going to storytime at the Library, etc... Her new thing is that she wants all the time to work on rolling over from her back to stomach (she can do stomach to back easily). She has gotten onto her stomach from her back a few times, but still struggles at it often- she's becoming a total wiggle-worm! Yesterday we tried out a baby storytime at the shoreline Library- but Leta was more interested in the other babies than looking at the books. She's so social - any chance to be around people & she gets so excited.

Working on rolling over:

And...eating Mom's camera strap:

Leta's Dedication

I've fallen extremely behind on my posting this week- which is unfortunate, because there were 2 milestones that I've wanted to write about. The first is that Leta turned 5 months yesterday (which I still can't believe- almost half a year) and the second was her dedication at our church this past Sunday and the party we threw Sunday afternoon to celebrate.

The dress above was what Leta wore to be dedicated, and it holds great symbolic meaning. It was a handmade baptismal dress that Matt's mom and all her siblings wore when they were infants. It was then worn by Matt (believe it or not) and all of his siblings for their infant dedications. So, Leta is the first of this 3rd generation to wear this gown! I think Matt's mom said it was around 56 years old! And it's so beautiful! It was such an honor for her to get to wear it! And we were so honored by all of the friends and family who attended the dedication and the party afterwards! Thank you so much for sharing that experience with us!

I know that in dedication ceremonies at some churches, parents pick a Bible verse to "claim" as their child's verse. Our church doesn't do that, but I have been thinking a lot about why we dedicate our babies into the church body and what it means to point them to Christ all their lives. I want so badly to be a mother who lifts up her children in prayer daily. I've often taken so much comfort in the fact that mine was that kind of mother. I knew where to find her every morning at 5:30am growing up. She would be sitting on the couch, coffee in hand, reading her devotional and praying.

My prayer for Leta- which I've started to pray with her every night- (and I didn't plan for these to all start with "C"- but they do, coincidentally) is that she would grow up to have compassion, confidence, and creativity. Above all else- that's what I want for her.

10 on 10 - March

The dedication dress Leta wore yesterday (more on that later)
A new shirt- a present from her buddy Monte. Isn't this the perfect find for our Little Peanut?!

A church on the first of my two walks today

My favorite evening snack and the book I finally finished reading tonight (which I HIGHLY recommend!)

Favorite Time of the Day

It amazes me how fast each day goes with this little one in my life! Today, for instance - admittedly, I slept in a little bit later than usual- but still got up at 6:30am. I worked for a few hours, washed the dishes, unloaded the dishwasher, took Leta to visit my grandma, made a grocery list, and went grocery shopping. Between that and all the feedings, diaper changes, bits of time spent with Leta- I haven't had any time to pick up our house or collage or go on a walk yet. And soon- it will be time to start dinner!

My dear friend, Lauren, asked me yesterday what my favorite time of the day is with Leta. I've been thinking about that question a lot today, and I'd have to say that it's the evenings when I put her to bed. Because Matt goes to bed so early (because he gets up at 4am)- I am usually the one to put Leta down for the night. I wrap her up in her swaddle-me blanket, we sit in the wicker rocking chair, and read a book or two. My favorites are any by Sandra Boynton - so entertaining for adults, too!

Then, binky goes in the mouth and we rock for a bit while I sing to her. I don't have a very good voice- Matt's is actually a lot better than mine- but Leta doesn't seem to mind. I have a regular repetoire of lullaby choices- some of them a bit odd for a lullaby, but they're what my dad used to sing to me:

"Edelweiss" (from the Sound of Music)

and "It Only Takes a Spark" (I'm not sure the real title of this one)

I've added "Close to You" by the Carpenters - because the lyrics are so appropriate :)

"Why do birds suddenly appear, every time you are near,

Just like me, they long to be close to you.

Why do stars fall down from the sky, every time you pass by

Just like me, they long to be close to you.

On the day that you were born the angels got together and decided to create a dream come true, so they sprinkled moon dust in your hair and golden starlight in your eyes of blue."

I love these moments of cuddling with this precious little girl! Looking into her huge eyes and smelling her baby-fresh skin. I'm trying to cherish them- knowing they won't last forever.

How about you? What's your favorite lullaby or children's book?

Random Me

I was tagged by Andi to list 7 random facts about myself, so here goes:

1. I can only start off my morning by eating some sort of carbohydrate. (I know, healthy, huh?) I can't handle meat first thing in the morning. No bacon, no eggs, no sausage. I don't know if it seems too heavy for my stomach or what, but I need to eat cereal or toast first, and then can follow it up with a protein source.

2. I hate feet. I won't touch someone's feet unless I know they just got out of the shower. Not even my own! I don't like to look at them. I don't even like to say the word "toe", and although everyone thinks it's so cute when babies put their foot in their mouth- it completely grosses me out (which is ridiculous, because it's not like their feet are getting dirty- but I still can't handle it). So, I'm sorry to say, if you're looking for a foot massage- you've come to the wrong person.

3. My jaw is crooked. I had braces twice (and may have to have them again someday), but they took them off too soon the first time and one side of my jaw continued to grow, while the other side stayed the same. So, if you look at my bite- it's off-centered to the right by 1 whole tooth!

4. I have a great short-term memory, but a horrible long-term one. In school I could easily cram for a test, remember everything, and ace it. But sadly, if you ask me now to name 5 things I learned in college - I would probably have trouble doing so (nice to know my expensive education really stuck with me, huh?) It's so bad that at work, I have to take notes during meetings, or I won't remember what was said a few weeks later.

5. I will only go running if there's a tv in front of me. I know- what kind of northwesterner am I that I dont like running in nature?! Don't get me wrong- I love nature and I love to WALK in it. But I hate running, and so I need enough of a distraction to forget that my legs hurt, I can hardly breath, and I'd rather be sitting on my couch at home. TV seems to take my mind off those things. (unfortunately, we don't have our gym membership anymore, so I've just been going on long walks)

6. I love paying bills and balancing our budget. I tried turning it over to Matt at one point, but couldn't relinquish control of it. It takes me forever and I spread out all over the living room with receipts and bills- but I oddly crave it at the end of every month. Maybe it's because I'm the daughter of a former accountant and auditor- I don't know, but I love it!

7. I am a sucker for decorative napkins. I have an ever-growing collection of them in our basement entertainingware closet. I look for good deals on them everywhere and am always drawn to them in those little boutique-y stores that sell them. In fact, I have been known to throw a party, just so that I have a use for whatever decorative napkins I just bought!

So, there are my 7 nuggets of randomness. No pressure to play along, but just to continue the game of tag going, I tag Katie, Jenny, and Kristen.

Weekend Highlights

• Getting our kitchen painted- clean, bright white - it's so much more of a joy to be in. (I'll post pictures soon)
• Selling a bunch of stuff from our condo on Craigslist and finally making more room in our basement.
• Dinner out Friday night with Matt's parents.
• Leading the discussion in our Sunday School class on the discipline of Simplicity. I really enjoyed re-reading 2 of my favorite books: The Freedom of Simplicity by Foster & Simple Living Guide. I'm sure I'll post more about this later, as I've been thinking about it a lot.
• Freetime to work on canvas collages - which I've been dreaming about for awhile now. Matt took Leta on a long walk and I had a few hours to myself to craft away! (more on this venture later)
• Steak dinner with my parents Sunday night.
• Time spent laughing at this little peanut- she's developing such a personality- it entertains Matt & I to no end!

Homemade Sweater From Grandma

Last night after a full day of prepping and painting our kitchen, Matt's parents invited us out to dinner (which was much nicer than the try-to-microwave-something-despite-the-tarps-and-paint-fumes-alternative). So, I thought it was time for Leta to try wearing this beautiful sweater that Matt's mom handknit for her (with matching booties- which you just can't see in these pictures). Isn't it so cute? Check out the tiny button detail on the ribbon-tie!

Here are some pictures from Leta's sweater modeling shoot:

Being bashful in the sweater...

Trying to eat the sweater (big surprise)...

And finally, thinking deep thoughts in the sweater...