[hunter]

Despite all my pre-planning we seemed to have another up-to-the-last-minute Easter this year. Thank goodness I did in fact do all my Easter candy shopping weeks ago and that I started Little A's suit last week, or we might not have had much of an Easter egg hunt at all (Easter itself still would have been wonderful of course). Some how or other (burning the midnight oil, cranking out illustration after illustration had nothing to do with it I'm sure...) I managed to come down with the worst case of strep throat ever. I seriously woke up one morning feeling like a ferocious cat had clawed out the back or my throat (and it sort of looks like it too...but enough of the gruesome details...).

By using a few of our favorite creations (bunny nesting dolls, chalkboard painted pails, etc.) and candy traditions (Lindt chocolate carrots, Trader Joe's malted eggs, etc.) we managed to pull it off...in the nick of time.

I made Little A's suit from a vintage simplicity pattern, picked up last summer at a thrift store and threw together a plaid scarf (fabric from Joann's). It ended up a being a bit windy and nippy so I'm glad the scarf came in handy.

I had great visions of making a companion ensemble for Baby O but there just wasn't any way I was getting up off the couch. I do think however that he looked adorable in Little's A outgrown "jolly holiday" attire even if it didn't so much "match" his brother's look. I also loved that he was able to take part in the festivities this year. He kept going back to places where he found eggs previously to see if they were there again (such as the leaf above). So adorable, I just about died from his cuteness.

The hunt was splendid. Little A was seriously into this year and most definitely ate one too many chocolate carrots.

Baby O was all about the loot as well. Wow. The first year of candy overload ever...Not even Halloween was this bad. "Cranky kids" at bed time doesn't even come close to describing it.

But we had fun, chocolate overload and all. And now it's finished, and I'm off to recover so I can get back to the drawing board.

[wishing you all a...]

Yes it's late in the day but I hope you all had (and still are having) a wonderful Easter Sunday. Aside from the cat scratching strep throat I've got going on I think things worked out pretty well for us this year (I was afraid I wouldn't be able to make it off the couch).

We made our own dye this year out of food coloring and vinegar and are totally converted (no more store bought dyes for us!). The coloring is so great and sticks to the eggs immediately. We used a few basic letter decals for decoration, dipped away and called it good.


Pretty happy with the results and just might have to do this every year.


More pics of the day to come! Hope you are all munching away on delicious chocolates and scheming up new and creative ways to prepare and eat hard boiled eggs. Happy Easter!

["why didn't I think of that?"...]

Now that baby O has wiggled his way into the title of toddler, I knew it was high time I did away with the itsy-bitsy, teeny-weeny baby towels that I've been stretching over and around him in and attempt to dry and cuddle after bath time. Little A's polar bear towel had also seen quite a bit of wear and tear so it was undoubtedly time for new bath towel hoodies for the boys.

I loved the white simplicity of Little A's previous bath towel as well as the little hidden hand pockets and wanted to carry over both of these features in the boys new towel wraps. I had previously purchased white terry cloth and striped fabric that my mother ran through her bias tape machine (super cool time saving device btw...seriously am going to have to get one of these) months ago but just couldn't decide on how I wanted to put them together. There were so many options...I could put the hood on a rectangle of fabric or just cut out a square and add a hood at one corner, etc. but none of these seemed to capture the look I was going for.

Then out of the blue a friend called me up wanting some sewing help with a couple of baby towel wraps she was making. She brought over a version that her aunt had made out of an pre-existing towel. All her aunt had done was fold the towel in half, cut a scoop out of the top, sewn on some trim and presto - new hooded towel. It was so simple. so brilliant. I was sold. Quickly I measured how long I wanted the towels (based on the boys heights) and where I wanted the scoop/hood to be.

I then added a couple of triangles for hand pockets, the trim, and finally some ears. I love the results. They drape so nicely and the boys love them (even if it was hard to get them to sit still long enough in them for any sort of photo shoot).


In fact, baby O wasn't having it so here we see Little A sporting his blue eared bear towel in a crouch, ready to spring around the living room couch.

And as Little A became restless during the shoot he managed to grab my camera and take this candid pic of me readying the towel. I rather like how it turned out. So telling.

And of course...as the photo shoot was wrapping up Little A rid himself of the towel and willingly posed for some goofy shots of his own choosing.

[arts and crafts corner]

As is the norm around here, we've got a pretty busy week ahead of us. With lots of exciting illustration work going on (naps and bedtime just won't cut it this week) I've had to get creative about how to entertain the Littles. I'm not sure much can be done to keep Baby O (who is a toddler now but I just can't strip the "baby" title yet) out of the paints and away from the keyboard, but I'm armed and ready with an ongoing art project for little A - and we have Ann Wood to thank for it.

Inspired by her 100 horses series Little A and I have set out to create our own little stampede (we're not ambitious enough to go for the full 100. We'll be happy with 10). Once a day, while I'm at my desk/drawing board Little A makes himself comfortable on the floor with craft paints, brushes and a cardboard horse cutout (made from Ann's template).

He loves it and has already started to ask about his horse every day. It's amazing to watch his concentration. He truly immerses himself into the painting, focusing on every stroke. I limit his color palette and offer a few suggestions such as painting the legs a different color than the body, but otherwise let him go at it. When he's done, I finish the horse off with an eye and few details. Little A then picks out the buttons and we assemble the horse together.

I hope this project sticks and Little A stays motivated. I can't wait to see what our colorful stampede will look like in the end (and I think I'll actually get some work done!).

[crackers and cheese}

We had an impromptu Valentines snack this weekend. We made love-inspired lunchables with turkey, cheese, crackers and cookie cutters.

A scrumptious little snack that filled our hearts and our bellies.

A snack that had little A and myself grabbing for more.

yum yum! Hope your Valentines weekend was filled with love and delicious goodies!

[aRRRR you ready for some...]

It's finally here! A day I've long been awaiting. A day when little A will be sent off to school with a bag full of Valentine booty for all his little preschool mates to enjoy.

Oh how I love Valentines. Hands down some of my favorite memories as a child were cutting doilies and red and pink construction paper hearts and applying them to a self-made mail/shoe boxes of sorts in preparation of the wonderful flood of cards and candy to be received by peers. When it was all over I'd sit in my room sorting through my loot, picking out which cards I liked best. I remember Garfield and Peanuts cards were usually on the top of the list. Oh what magical school memories (second only to the Halloween costume parades and cotton ball Santa beards).



In honor of this momentous occasion little A and I have decided to share our Pirate Valentines with all of you. Simply download the boy and girl pirate sheets and get started.



You can then print these onto white or colored card stock. From there you simply cut out felt heart eye patches and then stitch across the paper, write a cute piratey saying such as "you're gRRReat!" and the front of the card is complete.



You can get creative with the candy. Here little A and I did variations of gummy hearts sealed in sewn wax paper and lollies stitched right onto the back of the cards.

Little A can hardly contain himself. He can't wait to dress up as a pirate and deliver his treasure to all his friends. He also can't wait to have a lolly, so I slipped a little card in his bag just for him, from mommy.

Now all I need is a box (or two) of chocolates, conversation heart cookies and a night out with Jon and my V-day celebrations will be complete.



** All downloads are for personal use only. Please do not use for resale, or commercial production.

[raiding the toy bin...]

I find that fashion inspiration can come from just about anywhere...and at anytime. But I have to say, I didn't expect it to come from Little A's toy box. Today, while working on fine motor skills, I pulled out his lacing beads. I started to make patterns on one strand, and he did the same on another. After I was finished with mine, I thought "hey, I love these colors" and then, "hey, I might actually wear this". So I put it on and what do you know, I loved it, and wore it for the rest of the day.

Who knew my craving for chunky, geometric necklaces could be satiated just by raiding my sons educational toys?! I'm not sure if it will be obvious while walking through the grocery store that I'm wearing toys around my neck but I think I'm OK with it either way. Little A sort of wanted his beads back (I might have to purchase another set for myself!) but Baby O was all about it. Talk about a necklace that you are finally OK with letting your one year old play with!

[join Cafe Mom and the...]

For a little sneak peak inside our bat cave, fly on over to Cafe Mom and take a gander. Sheri Reed of Cafe Mom was kind enough to interview and invite me to give a mini tour of our new South Pasadena apartment, and truly, I was delighted to accommodate. It was a wonderful opportunity to document moments and places in my life that I hold dear. I hope you enjoy them as well!

[we've gone giddy for...]

Our Little A is a budding mathematician (or at least that is what his very biased mother thinks) and we are more than encouraging it (hey, the arts are great and all, but any other way to make a living and we say go for it!). He's been obsessed with puzzles for quite some time and is especially fond of shapes and matching, etc. We have a lot of Montessori toys that he enjoys but I've had this idea for a geometric art puzzle that I wanted to try with him. Last summer (yes I've had this project idea stewing for far too long...seems to be the way things go around here) I went to Home Depot and had them cut a large sheet of 1/4 inch hardboard into five inch squares. Just this week I finally managed to paint them into colorful triangular shapes. I used acrylic craft paint and a sponge brush (don't use a bristle brush, it will just frustrate you).

As soon as Little A saw them, he went to town and I loved what he came up with. The amount of beautiful designs is truly endless. I have to confess that I'm having just as much fun with them as he is!

My original plan was to apply Velcro to the back of each square and then mount them onto the wall as a movable art piece (an idea I got from a friend, Amy Palmer, while living in Brooklyn. She had various shades of blue squares hung above her couch and it was true eye candy). However, once I saw the "out-of-the-box" designs that little A made, I knew these were better suited as a floor activity.

I might still hang them on the wall as a visually appealing home for them while they are not in use, but for now we are enjoying sliding them about, mixing and matching, this way and that. Talk about just the thing to do while cooped up indoors during this week of California rain storms.


*To get the sharp diagonal I took a ruler and made a pencil line from corner to corner before painting. From there I just eyed it (taking advantage of the clean line a sponge brush can give you) but if you are a perfectionist you might want to try taping it off.

[he'll fit into it...]

As part of my New Years resolutions I'm trying to reuse as many things around the house as possible. Little A is growing by leaps and bounds as of late and has been in need of a new sweater/jacket/hoodie or two. So I scoured our closets and found a few sweater vests that Jon never wears (the fit is off) but that I have always loved. As the wheels started turning, the scissors started snipping.

Being jazzed about this and ready to go, I didn't want to go out and purchase a pattern (I don't feel comfortable enough to do it without one...yet) so I went through what I already had. I came across the Finish Ottobre pattern book that I have had for some time but have been slightly intimidated by (due to a lack of visual step-by-step instructions, metric sizing and the fact that you have to somehow decipher your pattern pieces from a frenzied maze of differing, overlapping pattern lines).

It was now or never so I dove in. The pattern sizing is all in cm so I took a wild guess based on what I thought would fit Little A. I know, I know...taking a random chance isn't the best idea when you are planning on investing time, fabric, effort and more time...but I was ready to go, and ever so slightly impatient.

So after piecing together Finish pattern instructions and various discarded sweaters found around the house I ended up with a very fun yet very over sized sweater hoodie.

He still looks darling in it and when he's, oh say, five or six years old...or even older...he'll fit it perfectly. And as excited as I am for him to wear it, I certainly can wait...a very long time...for him to grow up and into it.

[Christmas 2009 round up]

For Christmas this year (or I should say this past year) Jon and I decided to exchange gifts that wouldn't cost anything. It was an exciting and delightful creative journey of suspense, surprise and serendipity.

We are going for an old school scientific/ecological environment in our living room and I've been obsessed with all things entomology as of late. Jon (who has always been an entomologist at heart) picked up on this and decided to create an insect showcase complete with butterflies, a dragonfly and a beetle. He did this by carefully selecting decorative/textured papers and then printing black insect drawings onto them. I was completely enamored when I opened the gift and from far away they actually look real (everyone thinks they are!). One of my favorite things about this gift is the story behind the shadow box frame. Because this exchange was not supposed to cost anything, Jon got creative. He found some old Euros from our 2007 Paris trip and took them in to be exchanged into US dollars. The total ended up being just the right amount for the frame. So technically it wasn't zero dollars, but I think his ingenuity makes up for it.

Jon has been asking for a painted family portrait for a little while now so I thought I'd better start working on it for his Christmas gift. I was originally going to have us all together on one canvas but I thought it might be more fun to have individual portraits scattered about the wall (which will also make it easier to add any new additions down the road).

I only managed to get Jon's completed by Christmas but I'm excited to finish up with the rest of our family. I am happy with how this turned out and really feel like I captured what I see and feel when I look him. When I walk by this painting I think, "that's my Jon". He likes it too. Win, win.

I think I like this zero dollar gift idea. Might just be doing it again next year...