Little Love Letters

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Little Love Letters

For some silly, self-imposed reason I feel a little obligated to hand make the school valentines we give out. If I'm being completely honest, this is not really my thing. Last year we did get pretty into it making mustaches and lips on sticks, but usually I go for a paper heart with some glitter and call it a day. Valentines kind of stump me...having boys makes it even harder, because they don't want anything too cute(pink is cute, love is cute). So for this year I'm going a little artsy, making a school of fish with heart shaped tail fins. I totally swiped the "school of fish" concept from a snack valentine I saw on Pinterest. My valentines are so easy to make I think they hardly warrant a formal tutorial.  All you need to do is make a template of a fish body, use the template to make the bodies from red card stock, cut out hearts from tissue paper (this pretty design is from Target), and print out or write the "our school is cool" tagline on the back. Dust your hands off, you are done, my friend. xo.

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Young Makers: The Tapestry Project

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Young Makers: The Tapestry Project

I'm currently toying with the idea of offering an indie crafting class for the pre-tween set. I imagine it to be a time to work on projects like string art, sculptural/3D pieces, and paper lanterns, and naturally we would also talk out the world's problems while we craft. I had a couple of little ladies over last weekend to work on one such project that I designed to share over on Playful Learning today.  After learning how to make my own simple loom for a weaving assignment in a textiles class, I decided to try it out as a kid's project, as the materials and technique are really quite straightforward. I was joined by 4th graders Ella and Amelia for an afternoon of weaving, here's Ella's finished tapestry...

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Couleur De L'eau

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Couleur De L'eau

I am not a fine artist, but if I was, I would paint in watercolor.  It's dreamy, and imperfect, and all about composition.  As I was mindlessly scrolling through my Instagram feed over morning coffee, I saw that Anne from the blog Flax and Twine, had posted this amazing still life watercolor picture using the Waterlogue app.  You can take an ordinary photograph and run it through watercolor filters, to render your image as though it were hand painted. I kind of had to try it for myself.  These are all pictures you've seen on my blog over the last year, totally transformed. I'm so curious to see how they print, because they are too pretty to live in a phone. Of course, the real thing is so much better, and if you can afford it, investing in the work of true artists is the best way to go for everyone, and boy do I have a list of artists I'd love to commission, but for a cheap thrill this is a beautiful new way to manipulate ordinary digital photos... 

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Vietnamese Fresh Spring Rolls

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Vietnamese Fresh Spring Rolls

A few weeks ago I featured a recipe for chicken pho, a Vietnamese noodle soup that we are known to devour in our family.  On a drizzly day in late January this will warm your weary bones. If you've never tried Vietnamese you are missing out my friend. The French influenced Asian flavor is so distinct- a combination of basil, mint and fish sauce, and it can be really healthy; many dishes are packed with veggies, lean meat and shellfish. So for today I'm sharing another Vietnamese food that we can't get enough of...fresh spring rolls. They are very easy to make at home- you can get the ingredients at any grocery store with an Asian food section. Because they are portable little pockets of noodles, shrimp and lettuce, they make a great lunch food, especially with little peanut sauce. Okay, who's hungry? Check out the recipe below.

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Hello, Friend

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Hello, Friend

I've been thinking long and hard on how I want to write this post.  I'm back from another Alt Summit in frozen Salt Lake City. For those of you who don't write a blog, this is a conference like no other, designed specifically for creative/craft bloggers like myself. Topics range from "The Business Of Blogging", "Personal Branding", "Pinterest Strategies", and "Growing Your Community", and keynote speakers included Mr.Pinterest himself, Ben Silbermann. Last year I threw caution to the wind and I bought a ticket. I only knew one attendee, and I had no idea what it would be like other than that the dress code would be strictly awesome and I needed to have knock out business cards.  While I was there I spent a lot of time assessing how I fit into the big picture, feeling a little afraid that I would never really stand out, worrying a little that I might be medicore at the thing that I think I do best.  Have you ever felt like that before? I can have a lot of self-doubt. Those inspirational typography posters that say things like:

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