My Cup Runneth Over - Large Wall Art, by the Kids

I am in the process of switching all of the posts from my "Adventures at Naptime" category to their own special blog home!!!  

Visit HERE to see a tutorial on how to create meaningful, beautiful, HUGE wall art with your kids!

So sorry for the inconvenience!!!

Ada-Piano Camp!!

Grams and Papa have been SO generous and helped us put Ada in a ton of camps this summer to explore what she's into!!! She loves dance- but I thought she might be old enough to kind of test other interests out and see if its something she might like to pursue later on. So far she's had art camp, she's in piano camp this week, and next month she has drama camp (she's SUPER excited about that one!!). She loves the weeks she has camp. She just seems so happy and calm for the rest of the day afterwards. Here are some cute pictures :)

Art Camp- she loved incorporating her different senses each day to create art. My favorite day was the day she made pottery; her favorite day was the day hey made sculptures out of marshmallows and toothpicks. She made a caterpillar, which she promptly ate when we got home. :)

Piano Camp- we've just had 1 day, but she's being a great listener and agreed to practice on her new keyboard for about 15 min yesterday afternoon! So far her biggest challenge is understanding the tempo and beat :)

Gosh I love her!

Adventures at Naptime: Activity Kits

I made these for the kids when they come visit us and the new bubby at the hospital- they are a gift from the baby, and will hopefully entertain them for a few extra minutes!

Photo Dump

Just another random phone photo dump here!

MorMor made Ada and Dax special quilts- this is Ada's, which she actually made several years ago.  

She used all of Ada's old baby blankies for hers.  

She loves this thing- and rarely lets Casey and I borrow it!

This is Dax's that she just finished- it's made from all of his old t-shirts!  

He loves it, and calls it his "MorMor Blank"- it is so soft, warm, snuggly, and COLORFUL!  

I'm obsessed.

Ada took this one.  I just think it's so cute.  She was having a "Circus Parade" and took several photos of her animals on display :)

"Dress Crazy" day at church- she wanted to wear just the Rapunzel dress, but I tried to explain to her that "dressing crazy" meant it had to weird and funky, and tried to force the leopard sweater on her to spice things up.

In the car on the way to church, Ada stated "I am just wearing this sweater for now, Mom.  As soon as I get to church I'm going to take it off.  OK?"

At least she's honest!

I've been taking the lazy mom route the past few weeks at Ada's dance class and letting Dax bring the iPad.  He is just so much to keep up with, keep out of things, keep alive, etc- and it buys me a good 30 minutes of time to watch sister, too.

This is a picture of him watching a video on YouTube he somehow found.  Of a cat.  In the kitchen sink.  Getting a bath.  A 6 minute cat bath.  What happened to "Mickey Mouse Clubhouse"?!  Ha!

Trying to start new tutu trends at dance class.

Tutu shawl: Nailed it.

Ada is obsessed with African animals.  This is her picture of Africa- the first picture was the original, and then she added a pink hippo and giraffe that I thought was too cute not to get another picture of!  She did this all on her own- we don't do any "lessons" on stuff like this- she just soaks up any information she can on it!  The obsession began with Lion King. :)

She also did the next few drawings on her own, too.  She loves Africa and Anatomy. :)  She said she learned all of the human body stuff from Blues Clues.

Top left: human heart.

Bottom left: "eye in the dark"- ie: dilated pupil.  (Seriously!)

Right: lungs

Left: baby in my belly

Right: tongue with "bumps to taste food"- taste buds!

Engineering Prints Project

I've had a black and white wall since our first Europe trip when I was 22.  

It gradually evolved after we got married, had kids, etc.  And it was starting to look scrappy to me.

A few months ago I came across THIS idea on Pinterest.  

Massive black and white photos for, like, pennies at Staples! 

Mental note: do this ASAP.

I'd intended to do it exactly like the genius from Sugar Bee Crafts did it- by applying it to foam insulation board, etc.  But I chickened out at the last minute and decided to step it up a notch and use canvases.  Guess what?  Hobby Lobby has canvases 30% off this week!  Plus I used that 40% coupon on one of them each trip. :)  

So, it did end up costing a little more- but I still scored big bargains AND I knew the final product would be a higher quality.  Plus, I would screw up cutting up that foam board so many times I'd waste just as much money as I'd spend on canvases.  

So, justified.

So, without further adieu- here's how I did it, and what you can expect yours to look like when you do it,since you won't be able to resist the project either! :)

Paint the edges of the canvases black- it looks classier. 

And I learned after applying one print that you should also paint the inner edges black, too.  Otherwise you'll have white peeking through where it's not adhered perfectly.  

And trust me, it won't adhere perfectly- just brace up for that you psycho perfectionists.  :)

Using some sort of spray adhesive (I had leftover Loc-Tite I bought at Lowe's from my upholstered headboard project, but Elmer's makes one you can grab at Hobby Lobby when you get your canvases). 

Spray the edge of the canvas and corresponding edge of your super huge photo- align as well as you can and plop it down.

Let that dry for a second you so have one secure adhered edge like the picture above.  Then liberally spray the rest of the canvas and back of the print- try to get all the way to the edges.  

Carefully lay your print down and smooth it down with something flat- I used a level-thingy.

Aaaahhhh- Paris.

Careful to work with dry paint, and wash your hands frequently after touching the ink- Dax now has black streaks on his forehead!

This is mid-project chaos.

I'd given Ada the paper scraps from cutting out the pictures, and her work area looked a lot like mine when I came in to check on her!

Now you're ready to hang them!  Some of them I had to go in with Elmer's school glue to get the edges to stick a little better.  Just FYI.

Professional photo by Rob Milton.  Who will probably cringe when he sees his shots blown up on 24x36in computer paper!  But they really don't lose a ton of quality.  I would stick to 18x24 for amateur or even phone pictures (YES!  Phone pictures and Instagram shots worked!)- but if it's a GOOD professional shot, 24x36 will be fine.

Notice some of the bubbling- especially in the one of sweet Ada at 3 weeks old.  Now, some of that is the blanket wrinkled up in the actual picture, but you can definitely tell it's not flat.  It doesn't look THIS terrible in real life- but again, perfectionists beware!

If you're hanging them on the stair wall, get prepared.  

Either be a good, patient girl and wait for your husband to get home.

Or be at least 5'9", and try not to be 8 months pregnant.

I can FEEL my mom cringing at this picture of the stool I stood on while hanging a few.

Here's a big picture shot of the big pictures! :)

Love it. Love it. Love it.

(Stop analyzing my spacing, alignment, angles, etc.  I'm not changing it! Mostly because I refuse to touch up the walls where I scraped black paint or nailed 6 holes.)

The Finger Painting Olympics

OH.M.GEEEE!  I think today (and yesterday) might go down in history as 

one of my top 5 favorite days so far.  

So you've already read the post about gymnastics.  Which was a perfect morning.  

Topped off by Chick-Fil-A.  Topped off again by an amazing "quiet time" for Ada 

(where she played her heart out in and out of the house for hours, 

stopping periodically to tell me she loved me or 

make some kind of adorable comment or observation.  Heart melting!)

- and a 3 hour nap for Dax.  Heaven!!!

So Dax woke up and, following our agenda board (see this post!), 

embarked on our Arts & Crafts block of the afternoon.

It began innocently enough.  With Ada at her new $10 easel (see this post!), painting her heart out.  

(She is painting a pond.  After I snapped these pictures, she then continued painting her pond 

by covering her entire paper with a layer of black.  

It did actually look like a murky pond, 

with a secret world of brightly colored plants and fish beneath- 

but I'm probably looking too deep into it all.)

I adore this ponytail.

Dax painting his own masterpiece on a piece of butcher paper spread out on the grass, 

with some finger paints.

Big sister Ada "helping" Dax.

I had intended to only give a few small drops of the finger paint spread out onto the paper for Dax to crawl around and paint with.  We can all see how well that plan worked out...

Enjoying this new sensation and color explosion...

Ohhh My!

He's on a mission after wading through chest-deep paint!

And, below is one of my favorite pictures of all time.  

This whole thing had me hee-hawing with laughter in the front yard.  

And the neighbors driving by were slowing down to see our spectacle.  

Some laughing.  Some staring. Some shocked.  

All the while, I'm hee-hawing.  Literally.  I sounded like a donkey.

I. Cannot. Get. Enough. Of. This. Picture!!!!  He did this ALL himself.
I didn't even turn the paint streaks up at the corner of his mouth to make him look like the Joker from Batman.  

 And then OF COURSE we had to turn on the hose to wash ourselves off!!!

Best day in a long time.  I almost hope that our days aren't this perfect for the entire summer, 

or I'll be DREADING returning to work and leaving this behind in August!  

Newest Sweetish Baby Creation

Sweetish Baby has been hard at work this weekend creating a custom piece- Tiffany Reeves, it's ready!!!  And it turned out even cuter than the original!!!!!  Love love love~

You can see Sweetish Baby's post about it at Sweetish Baby Boutique Blog.

Interchangeable Tie Onesies Complete!

O. M. G.  I'm obsessed with how these Interchangeable Tie Onesies have come out!  If anyone orders any, I'll have to make more- because I'm sending everything I've already created as gifts because I can't just hoard them in the darkness of Dax's closet!

How do I look, Mom!?

PS- I llluuuuuuuuurve my sewing/embroidery machine.  Most of these ties have been monogrammed after taking this picture- and it just takes them to the next level of adorable!

New Business Venture! Meet Sweetish Baby-

OK, I've been DYING to blog about my latest adventure, but was giving some of the items pictured below as gifts, and didn't want to spoil the surprise!!  But they should have all arrived safely (and hopefully soundly!) by now, so I'm so excited to introduce to you: Sweetish Baby! 

Online Boutique-  www.Etsy.com/shop/SweetishBaby
Blog- http://www.sweetishbabyboutique.blogspot.com/

It's a business that began with MorMor and I collaborating on these adorable baby blankies-

These will be the primary focus of Sweetish Baby (read the profile on the website - www.etsy.com/shop/sweetishbaby-  for a more flowery description of our services)... but I always have funky "pop art" ideas inundating my mind and thoughts, so I will probably sporatically paint some pieces for the site as well.  Here are a few that I was moved to create just yesterday!

Obviously, these are nothing special. I'm not what you would call "artistic" or "talented"... but I am creative and resourceful, which sometimes counts for something!  :)

So, I've already been picking MorMor's brain on the sewing front (I've actually purchased a sewing/embroidery machine already- I'm SERIOUS about this, and so optimistic!) , putting her to work with the few orders that we have already recieved (by networking, not via the site.  YET!), and now the floodgates have opened in my brain and the ideas are pouring in!  :)  Follow us at http://www.sweetishbabyboutique.blogspot.com/ for the latest shop scoop!

Mission Master Revamp: Complete!!

After living in this house for three years, I have FINALLY decorated our master bedroom!! This was the last room in the house that needed to be done (aside from the office, but that really just needs a few more office-y things).
These are the kids' rooms, since we're on the subject-
Ada's - http://thedailydowell.blogspot.com/2010/08/adas-mod-pod.html
Dax's - http://thedailydowell.blogspot.com/2011/01/african-safari.html

Here is the before. Decent enough, I suppose. This is the color that our entire house was when we moved in. It's mind-numbingly bland. I WILL paint the rest of the house. Eventually...
I've been collecting things throughout the summer with my master plan in mind; and I committed to the final step this weekend- painting the walls. Once that was complete, it was a whirlwind of fabric, frames, and hardware! Oh, and Adele's new album. :)

First, a quick thanks to Team Dowell for their support, assistance, understanding, and positive words of affirmation-

And, here it is! In all it's glory! I LLLOOOOVVVEE it (said in a growly voice). In fact, rarely are my visions realized EXACTLY how I'd hoped. And this one met and exceeded all of my expectations! I don't even mind the mis-matched nightstands and our cheap bed. They just add to the eclectic vibe I was aiming for. :)

MorMor recovered our old throw pillows with leftover fabric that I didn't frame. :)

We cashed in our credit card rewards and got a new TV! It's awesome.

"Crap, now I have to go home and tell my husband I spent $100 on lamps." -Saturday's Facebook status. I just couldn't resist them- they were calling my name.

I painted our bathroom while I was on my painting rampage. I decided to go a shade lighter than the bedroom for a two-tone look.

The best part of finishing the room? The kids and I snuggled for 1.5 hours this morning watching movies and drinking our coffee & chocolate milk. LOVE.

Tada!