homemade decorating! (or what to do on a snowy day)

 

*spicy hot cocoa of my own recipe topped with homemade cinnamon whipped cream & sprinkled with cayenne pepper & nutmeg! mmmmmm!

    it's snowing today. big wet flakes started this morning & have fallen all day in varying intensities. the christmas music is playing and i have been trying to decide what to do about my tree situation. this year when i started thinking about my christmas decorations i was contemplating doing something a little different. i had seen some wonderful decorations, consisting mostly of greenery with some low key ribbon and eucalyptus tucked in here and there, candles in plain glass jars &  sturdy garden cloches full of a single color of pretty glass balls... i really liked the almost rustic simplicity of the look. and when josh reminded me that we have a frisky kitten as well as a two year old, the thought of putting up the 6 foot tree with all those breakable ornaments was just intolerable to me.                 

                so.....  i decided to do a charlie brown or maybe a topiary type tree this year. and for the sake of still having some lovely decorations, i'm thinking paper (and maybe some felt?) ornaments in white & kraft, white twinkle lights, cinnamon scented pinecones. i bombed out at the store looking for a tree in the size and shape i was after, so back to the drawing board i went with that. then, today, i found this one today and got inspired!  so... i made a tree this afternoon! ta da! lol

 it still needs some finishing touches..(aka greenery!) and to get all dressed up but i'm happy with the shape & size of it so far! i took pics of the process and put them up in my picasa gallery. don't know if it will continue to live in that pot or if i will get a chunk of wood drilled for a base?  hmmmmmm. anyways, after all that, i set out on an online fact finding mission to find some fun & beautiful patterns for paper ornaments. here's some of the great links i found....

.......on the wonderful design blog howaboutorange.blogspot.com i found these delightfully

       modern yet elegant ornaments... she also has a bunch of great links for paper ornaments!

.......found a tutorial for an amazing lacy (and easy!) star here 

.......your basic puffed star template & instructions here

.......template for dodecahedron that makes a beautiful ornament here

.......hp.com also has quite a few ornament projects here

moonlight on the snow

      i have this friend.... and she loves winter. and i mean loves! she always talks about how beautiful it is & how she can't wait & how excited she is at the prospect of it. i know, it's crazy right?! but, when everyone else is bemoaning the snow & bluster & ice & cold.... she is giddy and perfectly happy in the purest way usually reserved for small children. her enthusiasm is catching and i have found within myself a deep, abiding love for the season that must have always been there just waiting to be recognized.
the thrill of that first whiff of snow on the cold air.
the excitement of the first flakes coming down.
the beauty of an unspoiled expanse of white.
the coziness of snow days, all tucked up nice and safe and warm in your own little home while the wind howls outside your door.
the extraordinarily brisk feeling of being really alive you get when you've been out in the cold and you come in, stomping the snow off your feet & sniffing against the tingle in your nose.
the comfort of warm food.
the magical wonderment of a still, moonlit winters night.
      and that's what hit me last night. as darkness fell, the moon rose & cast it's ethereal glow over the world.  the snow & ice glittered in the cold stillness of the night, the bare trees standing in silhouette against the orange glow in the sky where a small bank of clouds hovered just over the lights of our tiny town. the swatches of pale moonlight coming in at the windows and lighting the house in a way unusual and yet somehow familiar. a hidden world of wonder that most are unaware of... or asleep for. a world almost lost amidst modern conveniences and the strain of growing up.  and last night as i stood in my dark, warm house looking out at the beauty that lay before me i felt that childlike sense of wonder and delight.... it's something you realize you've lost somewhere along the way only when you see someone else with it. and i sent out a silent thank you to my friend.

terrible twos....

    ya know i guess i just never really realized how much time a two year old takes up! he is so thirsty for knowledge and experiences that i barely have a moment to call my own these days...or for any of the days this summer... or fall for that matter.

    after my success early this year with overcoming my self doubt & just seizing the day i was ready and willing to go forward in a hurry. i had so many plans for things i was going to get accomplished and really got caught up in trying to get it done. i felt that after years (...and years, if i'm honest) of my close people telling me to go for it, i finally did and it was wonderful! i had found the outlet & the desire & the gumption i had always been lacking. and then... i found myself feeling so much frustration at having found all of those long sought things and then dealing with the demands of a two year old.  in desperation i instituted a tradition of walks at our local state park, which is luckily only a few miles south of town.  initially these walks were to wear him out so he would nap for me so i could get things done.

 but in the course of going on these outings with my little guy, who loves to wear his own backpack and run most of the way, i discovered that the walks were healing my frustrations.

 i saw the trails through his eyes. 

the fascinating colors of fall, the sounds of the birds, the mystery of the wind in the trees and the prairie grasses...that little gasp and then, "wissen!" he says with his little hand up to his ear.

 the occasional snake, buzzing bee or prairiedog whose paths we crossed,

 the flowers & plants he pointed out to me.

 his interest in the trail signs and informational markers..."wat say mimi?" he asks at every one.

my admiration of his boy-ness when he bites the dust and gets a skinned knee but doesn't care

& of his bravery when he conquers his fears and jumps off the end of the bench at the council ring. 

 his absolute delight the day we saw the garbage truck driving through the park from the far side of the lake and he ran all the way up the hill calling "garbage truck?!" and was rewarded on the other side by getting to see the big, grumbly truck drop its fork arms and lift the big dumpster over its cab and dump! into the hopper. in all these things i realized that my aspirations had time to come to fruition but this time... this tiny span of time in my life when i get to experience this amazing thing, is just that. a tiny span of time, a window into the wondrous nature of life at two years old.

 it'll be over before i know it & it'll never happen again. my knitting and sewing and all those things can wait but this won't. it's challenging to remember that when he's screamin his head off acting like a banshee but i'm gonna give it my all!  three cheers for the "terrible" twos!!!!

on dealing with some people...

while washing up the last of the dishes today i realized i had forgotten to wash the knives. after a pause, i ran an inch or so of nice hot water into the sink with a tiny squirt of soap and put all the knives in to soak.  now, i NEVER put my knives in the sink...while they are dirty they are on the counter behind the sink and when i wash them i do so one at a time. i'm a bit of a clutz and it's just safer for me that way. but there were alot of them and they were sticky so i did it. point is, for me, it was an out of the ordinary thing to do and they say that doing out of your ordinary things helps build neural pathways in your brain. so... as i was standing there, giving the hot, soapy water some time to do its work before i started scrubbing, my mind began to wander a bit and  i considered just leaving the knives to wash when i got back from running my daughter over to her friends house. then my brain gave me some wonderful examples of why it was a bad idea, most of which involved some unsuspecting (or clutzy) person reaching in and drawing back a bloody hand.  now of course, intellectually, i know that i would probably remember the knives were in there and that if something heinous did happen on my 10 minute trip to drop off my daughter, and someone else was left to deal with the knives, the water would at that point no longer be soapy thereby resulting in them being able to see the fact that there were knives in the sink and disaster would be averted.  ( i know, i know... but this is how my brain works so bear with me) so anyways, i decide to just stay and wash them and while i'm standing there looking at the bubbles i have an epiphany....  dealing with some people is like reaching blindly into a soapy sink full of knives.  you can be careful and most of the time you'll emerge unscathed but there's always gonna be that once. that one time you reach in and get cut. and you have to wonder (or i do anyway) is it worth it? why would i NOT do what i know is good for me and just not even go there... to the metaphorical sink full of dangerous sharp edges hidden amongst the innocuous mounds of rainbow tinged bubbles?  hmmmmmmm.

summer always goes so fast!

and it was no exception this year... albeit it's not quite over but we're getting really close. i have noticed the early signs..... you know? the trees that look a little yellow (maybe we just didn't get enough rain this year) that subtle crispness behind the breeze at dusk... the cool mornings.  not to mention the back to school sales at every store. technically we still have 2 1/2 weeks left... school starts on the 7th this year but i feel the inevitability of the end of summer. not that i really have any amount of love for the heat & fuss of summer. and not that it hasn't been a great season....i have actually had a very exciting summer.  after i posted my last post on 23 june i turned my things in to the art gallery, entered a photo contest, took first place in one category of the photo contest, was written up in the local paper for winning said contest, got accepted as a galleried artist at the PRCA, found a friendship that i didn't know i had, started actually losing weight after years of feeling stuck this way, sold four of my pieces at the gallery, had a breakthrough in my relationship with my 16 year old daughter, pulled off two birthday parties & a brunch {at which i made cream puffs & chocolate pudding from scratch & josh's grandma from france said i did a good job! talk about swelling my head lol}  & i enjoyed watching my 2 year old son experience his world & develop his personality.  whew!   but it all boils down to this one moment back in june, sitting in front of the computer feeling anxious about my life & my path & my self.... i ran across a quote that struck me and  i took it into my heart & it settled down into that place where your "certain something" sprouts from... and boy did it ever blossom for me!  and so i leave you with these words that have so affected me...

"Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it.
                      Boldness has Genius, Power, and Magic in it.
 Begin it now."   
                                                - johann wolfgang von goethe

ready?

ok....

today's the day.
after two weeks of preparation.
                          
a representative collection of my work?  
- check.
freshly designed tags & labeling scheme? 
- check.
photos taken & descriptions written?   
- check.
website up, running & ready to go?
- check.
guts?
-...
uuuuum, guts?  {oh, there you are! get out here, let's go!}

{ready? ok.}

now...
guts?
- check.

just dropping in....

*my little grubby one

well.

i've been super busy with work & family & other work & creating & gardening & just living life.  

i've been meaning to blog...really i have. buuuuut. i haven't.

today however, i do have a few little tidbits to share:

*i have made a new page here on my blog to house all my links to cool stuff. you can find the link to your right, listed under pages as "worth checking out". i think that says it all! :)

*i have been making stuff...

*i have been gardening...{and photographing!}

*this one was taken 06.01

oh yeah, and sometime in the next two weeks i will be submitting some of my work to a local artists co-op/gallery for admission.

i'm terrified. but in a good way.

three cheers for spring!

got busy yesterday setting up seed trays with my new-found paper pot making knowledge.


i decided to do a tray of the can method & a tray of the origami method to see which ones perform better.
the origami ones feel nice & sturdy and fit better into the tray but the rolled ones made with the can are much faster & easier to make. so we'll see! :)






















some of my irises that finally bloomed this year. there are lots to come! for the last couple years i only got a bloom or two so i am really excited this year to see so many buds coming up. these particular ones are some my mom sent me years ago from washington state.











a little fledgling robin just learning to fly, taking a rest in the warm grass by the fountain outside my window. he let me get so close. i {heart} spring!

sustanable origami....lol

so i ran across something on the internet & thought it was rather interesting. it was a picture of some very happy little seedlings in a sunny window safely ensconced in happy little pots made of what appeared to be newspaper.....   hmmm.
so off i went to see what i could find.

there's this method.... which requires a little tool.  cool.

there's this method...which just uses a can. sweet!       cool *and* easy.

and then there's this method... which *i* personally think is the way to go. one video was labeled "sustainable origami pots"...i love it!

but then i am an origami lover. actual origami where you sit down with a piece of paper & create something by making all those folds. they say that if you fold a thousand paper cranes you will be granted a wish. now i don't know about that, unless your wish is for resolve & tranquility, but i do know that it is therapeutic...really it is. and it's a wonderful resource... this last winter i "origami-ed" a replacement envelope for a bill with a piece of junk mail from my car. and voila! my check was safely tucked in with no danger of becoming separated from the bill it was meant to pay whilst floating around in the nether regions of the payment dropbox. (now *that* is peace of mind!) and it's handy. i learned how to fold a box with dividers & a lid & i make them now for all kinds of things. storage & drawer dividers & gift boxes. oh my!  children (and some adults) are thoroughly fascinated when, at a restaurant, you turn your placemat into something for them to play with...a paper balloon perhaps? how bout a jumping frog? a crown...or maybe just the old stand-by, the paper crane. you could get really fancy too like this rose . ...or this lotus.  
the list could go on & on....lol

and... it's pretty to look at once you've done all the work of folding it.

i turned some origami cranes, some 3D cutwork & a handful of german paper stars (some of which i made of overhead transparency sheets) into a wonderful mobile for my baby nursery.

so anyways, to sum it all up....origami is cool and practical and fun!

go learn some here ---->  go.foldsomething.com <----

well.... go fold something!!!
go on....shoo!  :)

something new!

ok, so....

i have my very own website! {ta-da!}
www.wix.com/skred76/jenniferhope

i found this really cool program called wix where you can build your own site visually, like a collage! and i just got carried away. so now i have an entire website devoted to all things jenn! 

i know, i know....it does seem a bit narcissistic but it's meant to be a sort of expanded business card / get to know the artist type of thing.

i am just a girl/mom/wife/daughter who only happens to be in her thirties (and, incidentally, realized the other day that in a few short years, ready or not, she would actually be in her forties. yikes.)  who has a crazy real life... a life that is a woefully disordered  and wondrously charmed melee of experiences... so i thought i'd share! anyways....  i digress.

so!

this is me shamelessly plugging my website...{oh and my blog...and my etsy shop...}

something {new} this way comes!!!!!!

i have been working on something new for the last week (other than the girls quilt & new scrapbook pages & spring planting and and and and and.... lol)  anywho, it's almost ready to be unveiled!  so excited :)

for the love of fonts

i {heart} fonts!
you can use them to create your own art papers for collage or mixed media projects. and you don't need a fancy program...just open your note pad, type something up & save it. then when you need some script all you have to do is go in & change the font to suit your project. you can do it over & over, just don't save it & the original is always gonna be there! or, if you make one you want to save, that's as easy as choosing "save AS" from the file menu...just enter a new file name & it will create a seperate file & leave the original unchanged :)  i have found that fonts are one of my major go-to art supplies... just as essential to what i do as scissors & glue. get a cup of coffee and just go browse!

these sites are free, have alot to pick from AND user friendly instructions for how to download, view & install the files. also, you can type in your own text to see a sample before you d/l.
i've never had any problems with their downloads...which is a real plus, i tell ya! i use'em all the time!
http://www.dafont.com/
http://www.1001fonts.com/
http://www.urbanfonts.com/
http://www.abstractfonts.com/


 there are so many great font artists out there doing really fun work.
*like this guy... his stuff is, ahhh.... a bit different, but i really like it! he has all kinds of interesting stuff on his site. http://www.misprintedtype.com/v3/fonts.php


oh and make sure to check out the dingbat sections! http://www.urbanfonts.com/dingbats.htm   they are offer a wealth of goodness. sounds funny i know... but dingbats are not letter fonts, they are images! think of them as a way to "stamp" on your computer. each character is assigned an image instead of a letter so each keystroke results in what is essentially a stamped image on your printed page. very cool!


if you're anything like me you'll get a bunch of cool new fonts & then need a way to organize & look at them....so you'll need to go here to download a great font viewer
 http://download.cnet.com/Free-Easy-Font-Viewer/3000-2316_4-10070090.html
it's good to have because you can go open that program to view & preview your fonts on a character map instead of in the tiny little box most progams give you! :)


have fun!   :)

roadtrips.....

this is were it all started.... or very near here anyways.

as a small child i remember going for walks and riding around with my family & ending up in various rather neat spots...
like the old 76 station at the top of the hill were you could buy a strawberry crush before going to sit out on the embankment & count the cars going by on the hiway.
like the dirt road in front of my grandparents place that could take you down and around in a leisurely manner, under the birch trees whose canopies touched overhead...  past all the neighbors with their velvet-y lawns tucked back in to the woodlands, each place an oasis just glimpsed thru trees from the road...all the way down to peter's creek where you could go over the sturdy old wooden bridge that seemed so plainly constructed and so natural in it's place, all overgrown with moss, that i would lay on my stomach and try to look underneath to see what it was made of.  so close to & yet so safe from the rush of cold water hurrying away below. ready to jump up & brush off the dust and bits at the sound of an approaching car... marveling at the fact that that magic amalgam of logs, stones, dirt and wood could support the weight of a *whole car*. a whole car!

and like the steep grass covered gravel banks further up the road where the poppies bloomed. a whole hillside of them...wonderfully huge bowls of the most glowing-ly transparent red. they seemed so delicate with their crepe paper petals & hairy little buds nodding on the ends of rather long stalks.... so amazing and unlikely, such a testament to the winsomeness of life that, even then, it struck me.

and like the gravel patch were we parked and walked back  along the train tracks and over the train bridge...an adventure for my young self. we walked along, trying not to look down to the spaces in between the ties where there just wasn't anything...{risking life & limb!} to visit cousins at their cabin in the woods and eat bear stew.
like the airport road, with it's view out across the water & to the mountains beyond, where my dad & i would go and watch the planes take off & land at the local airport...the pilots learning to do "touch and go's"...the drone of mosquitos almost as loud as the planes engines droning above.... and the little creek on the way there where he pointed out a mink to me one day.

like the edges of the roads all over with horsetail grasses, their rainbow heads waving in the breeze, and the wild chamomile growing amongst the gravel & the dust...the ruts &tracks in the mud of the dirt roads that were different all the time. learning to see who or what passed through on this very same stretch of dirt....walking together and exclaiming over all our "finds"...there was a wealth of interesting-ness in the dirt & the ditches.  bottle caps from sodas i'd never tasted, little bits of shiny rock or glass and the occasional treasure find. a pocket knife. a small compact mirror, unbroken. tadpoles in a puddle. a bush of rosehips not obviously belonging to anyone in particular. fishing tackle. you never know what you might find when you strike out on the road!


yes maam...the romance of the road... the thrill of seeing something new & wonderous!
it's in my blood. :)
it's a part of my spirit.

and, since i am living the good life in the spot i'm in...and have been in,  for 10 years... roadtrips are how i find my wonderment.
my sense of awesomeness.
that feeling that eveything could really be all right in the world after all... that it's all still out there.
the flowers.
the creatures.
the sunrises and sunsets.
the rivers
the mountains.
the plains.
the family and friends.
the down vests and the campfires.
the magic.
waiting for us to come and see it.
weither it be down the block or across the country.... it's out there.

just down the road.

 

thought for the day....

"it's good work, if you can get it."

i have been saying this for awhile now.  it's become part of my life.
my little happiness mantra.

it's good work if you can get it.

to me it has always been how i feel about getting to be a stay at home mom & do all of the things that i love to do. about building a life....real life.
{with friends & family & love & teaching & learning & art & yummy food...}
and then today i was commenting on how i would love to go back to alaska and the difference between being tired & being good and tired.  you know, the difference between when you lay around all day & when you get up & DO something?
and all of a sudden it  made a sudden shift in meaning in my mind....
it's good work if you can-
get it  {understand, savvie, comprehend on another level, have a lightbulb moment} kinda get it.
rather than get it  {obtain, receive, acquire, luck into, fall into your lap} kinda get.

*bing*

like how math used to be this horrible, looming THING in my life...i hated math. all those fractions & percents & decimals...{ oh my!} *hated.*  hated to have to do math because i didn't GET it..... and then one day when i was like, thirty, lol  i discovered that i didn't hate math anymore cause i was starting to get it. somewhere along the line, what with trying to help sami with her homework and all of my scrapbooking & bookbinding & sewing & all that measuring & adjusting... i had just done it so much of it that it was finally starting to come to me.
hmmmmm.


so today it occures to me that maybe life is good work.... if you can get it.

after christmas every year i inevitably begin to feel the closeness of the weather induced psuedo hibernation that comes around in the dead of winter...ie January in minnesota, start to kick in. but this year there has been somthing more. in the midst of what will surely go down in the annals of "our story" as one of the most trying debacles we have ever faced, i have discovered a certain kind of love for our little house...all warm within & cozy looking, inviting you to come in & be enveloped...with all the hot tea, comfy spots & snarky comments that make it not only a house but a home. full every day of this colorful, chaotic wonderful blunder of things that we find ourselves wading though to get to the good stuff...to the laughter around the supper table...to the boredom SO unbearable that the 15 year old daughter is reduced to hanging out with her parents just to survive (oh! *the humanity!!!!*)...to the boy starting to talk & his papa getting to be here every day to see it....to, you know? just all the lovely parts! i am in love with this dysfunctional house & this dysfunctional life...so, my new years resolution this year is to hold that thought.






all year!
happy january :)

*oh and those cars...all lined up OCD fashion on the back of the sofa? lars did it. lol

getting on with it.....

in all my life i'm not sure i will ever be able to believe my own good luck.

we get to stay.

life at 719 Abercrombie will go on as usual.

well, maybe not as usual. not for me anyways.

looking right in the face of having to move out of your home makes you look around.

look around & see what it is you have for sure.

{life.love.family.togetherness.}

look around & see what you could go without

and what you would never leave behind.

i was up for it either way it turned out...but i'm so glad we get to stay.

bring on the seed catalogs!!!!