this moment....lemonade and cookies

this moment}-A Friday ritual. A single photo-no words-capturing a moment from the week. A simple,special,extraordinary moment. Inspired by Soulemama's blog.

A Rainy Day Craft....

I wanted to share a craft that I taught to a group of little kids last week. Portland has been having an incredibly rainy spring/summer and I though we would just go ahead and celebrate it with a rainy craft.
I have seen a bazillion crafts that can be made from paper plates and I have promised myself(for the sake of not being too predictable) not to use them every week, but then I came up with this little umbrella idea and just had to try it out.

Here is what you need: paper plates,blue and brown construction paper,blue or gray yarn,glue,scissors and tape.

Cut the paper plate in half and decorate it with paint,markers or stickers. After it is decorated cut a handle shape out of brown construction paper and glue to the back of your umbrella.

Fold a long 1 inch thick strip of blue construction paper like an accordion. Draw a raindrop shape at one end and cut (this just saves time cutting out individual rain drops).

Cut the yarn into short varying lengths about 4-6 inches long. Glue two raindrops together with the piece of yarn in between. Make as many drops per string as you like, 1-3 work best.
Then tape the yarn to the back top edge of the umbrella and... ta da, your done. It looks kinda cute hung up in a window too!

Happy Summer Solstice!

Introducing: Illustration Sunday

I am starting a new blog tradition. Each Sunday I am going to post an illustration. It may be just a sketch or possibly a fully worked, finished piece.
This is just to motivate myself to draw and paint again on a regular basis, and most importantly to motivate myself to work towards getting my Children's book published that I created as my senior thesis project in Art school.
I am ashamed by how little I have done to achieve that dream in the past few years since graduating. I was however, very completely distracted by the birth of my son.
So here I go....trying to get on it again.
After all nothing burns out an artists passion like 4 years of art school....

This Moment...

this moment}-A Friday ritual. A single photo-no words-capturing a moment from the week. A simple,special,extraordinary moment. Inspired by Soulemama's blog.

Exploring something new ,take two

Here are a few more photos of our day exploring new places in Oregon. The Santiam River and Detroit lake are a few miles East of Salem. We planned to picnic near the river and play by the shore, but the rivers are all running very high from all the rain we have been having, high and dangerous, not good at all for little people to swim in.
Well, Sophie, being very determined to swim, sported her suit anyway( in case you were wondering why she had a swimsuit on while hiking in the previous post). We learned that Detroit Lake was just a few more miles east and so we decided we better explore there too.

Trying to swim in a tiny riverside pool...

...but just a few feet away.....!

The Lake...

Sophie gets her wish...

Check out this proud mama....

Tree Monsters...

We did some exploring over the weekend in a few places we have never been before.
We hiked along the Santiam River and found some really amazing looking trees. It was an enchanting spot, we imagined all the creatures that lived there. My kids pointed out the faerie homes and castles along the way(more on that to come).
Here are a few of the trees that we encountered....enormous, and very much alive. One of the trees looked as though it was about to walk away....and we found one in shaggy green sweater too.