I am part of a group of women making projects based on the book The Artistic Mother, and step one is to make background papers for our projects.


I started with pages from an old book of quotes that I acquired for such purposes. I used purple acrylic paints, water, and foam brushes to add color and patterns to the pages.


I was feeling rather crabapple and unmotivated today, but luckily I'd already made plans to get together with my cool friend Jennifer today, so I packed up a bunch of stamps, ink pads, paints, etc. and headed over to her house. She has the coolest scrapbooking room I've ever spent time in! She did an awesome job setting it up and has even helped me with mine.


When I try to get creative with my friends I usually spend more time yakking than working, but today I actually finished all my papers! It was easy, not having to worry about the final product yet. In fact, it was very freeing!

I'm so glad the cold weather is almost behind us for another year. Esme and I like to sit outside with paints or colored pencils, at home or at the park, and let Ethan serenade us while we create. This is one of my last winter-inspired pictures for this year, and it's a typical scene from my life! It's just a quick sketch with oil pastels and acrylic paints, where I made some swirls on paper and saw what kind of people would emerge. Now I'm looking forward to Friday, when I hear we might hit 72 degrees here in the Pioneer Valley, and hoping that soon pictures of little girls in flowered dresses will emerge from those swirls.

Yesterday was my Esme's birthday - I can't believe she is 7 years old! We had quite a nice day together. We are still waiting for her first two wiggly teeth to come out though.

I made this scrapbook page the night before while scrapping with my friend, Lisa, via Skype. Skype is one of my favorite inventions ever - we live many miles apart but can get together pretty much every week to scrap together!

I think I am on the mend and at last feeling in more of a crafty mood. When the last spot goes away, I think it will be time for a party. I have been really been wanting to work on whimsical projects the past few weeks. I was lucky enough to go away for the weekend with my handsome husband, and created this painting in our friend's cottage on the Cape. It was inspired by a line in a song he once wrote that always inspires me, "Paper thin hopes folded into a boat, to sail away with you." I am planning to do a few more pieces with this line in mind.

PSA: Cool metallic paper you find on the side of the road is not necessarily an art supply.

I have been neglecting my blog due to being driven to distraction by my health. I have had my share of arts and crafts related injuries. I've had burns shaped like the end of my heat gun, tiny infections due to poking myself with my paper piercer, and even surgery under live x-ray to get a needle out of my toe. The past week has definitely ranked up there as one of my worst. It wasn't an accident, but an allergic reaction. I'm a Girl Scout leader and my little Daisies have been dying to be in our city's annual Saint Patrick's Day parade. To contribute to the building of the float, I said I would cut out the letters for the sides with my Slice. A fellow leader had found a large roll of shiny, adhesive-backed paper on the tree band in her neighborhood, so we decided we would use that.

That metallic paper gave me the worst allergic reaction of my life!! I have been COVERED with hives from the day I started cutting it. I cut half the letters (Girl Scouts leave nothing but footprints, take nothing but memories) and woke up with hives the next morning. I even had hives on the soles of my feet and the palms of my hands! Unfortunately I didn't make the connection right away and cut out the rest of the letters a couple days later, resulting in swollen lips and a numb tongue. I've found it impossible to be creative in this state - I am either dancing due to itchy skin or dopey because of Benadryl. I am on day four of steroids and I am hoping that maybe at last the hives are starting to improve. This week I am hoping to post some more crafty projects and plan to feature a couple local artists very soon! Thanks for sticking with me!

I'm very excited about a new challenge I'm about to start! It's being issued by Trudy, and it's based on the book, The Artistic Mother. I know that I often struggle to balance my own family life and creative time, so I'm excited to work with some other moms, and especially to see what they create!