Art on ice....

How do we celebrate getting through another January in Minnesota? We went to the art shanty's on the lake near our house for the third year in a row. Remember here and here? It's always a fun time and this year I knew that there was an art swap shanty. What could be more fun than that?!

You bring a piece of art.... and take one in return. I love swaps and had to particiapte!
The gigantic pom pom hat on the top was adorable. The weather was great again this year and we had a fun time checking out all the different themed shanty's.

The teepee had a running sauna inside.

In the foreground is the Nordic shanty.

The idea shanty. The "write me up" shanty.

Can't forget the art car taxi. Wow!

Always fun to spend an afternoon in the middle of the lake.

Hope you're having a great weekend!

Five senses Friday: the frigid edition

We're inside staying warm because it is coooold outside. As always, I love participating in abby's five senses Friday. see: These amazing prints I just got from Danielle. They were bought for Chloe's upcoming birthday, but I hung them just to see how they look and I'm not sure I'm going to be able to take them down and wait until April.
taste: Yummy blueberry pancakes for breakfast with Lowell.
smell: Bacon frying for BLT's for lunch. Lots of comfort food in this weather.
hear: I listened to Ali Edward's discussion of what story means to her as her word of the year. This is my word as well for the year, so I thought I'd share another crop of my daily pages from the last week of the month.
touch: I'm really excited to spice up my pages a bit by taking Kara's Life Story class in pdf. Looking forward to getting down and dirty with ink and paints, inspired by her style.

Have a wonderful weekend!

steps three and four...

Feeling ambitious today and ready to take on the last two steps to beat the winter blah's. step 3: I would have to agree with Andrea, paper straws do make everything better!

For some reason these make me want to try making some bubble tea, even though it wouldn't fit through the tiny straws.step 4: flowers. flowers. flowers.Chloe and I headed to a local nursery to soak in some vital energy from the plants.Since Andrea suggests yellow daffodils in particular, here is the handsome bunch we brought home.

Ahhh....feeling much better and enjoying the frigid winter sun.

How are you holding up?

step two....

Andrea says that step 2. = if you happen onto a lime green bowl- buy it... you must fill the bowl with fresh lemons. because it's january...
I will add that tulips don't hurt either. Fresh flowers are always a welcome sight for beating the winter blah's.

step one...

I'm playing along with Andrea, trying to beat the winter blah's. 1. Head straight for the thrift store and buy the brightest, happiest thing you can find.

This stash of blue delights certainly put a smile on my face.

Does anyone know what this type of bag is called? It can be full size or you can button them in half (like bag on the left) and the one I found today even came with an adorable matching coin purse. I see them fairly often at estate sales. Thinking I may need to start a collection. Are they from the 60's?

Weekend progress..

Lots of crafting was done here this weekend, which always makes me happy! The kids put together and painted several models, Chloe made her own banquet of food with model magic, then Chloe and I stitched up an adorable felt owl mommy and baby. After being inspied by Leigh-Ann's project, I decided to alter my retro photo album into a book of gratitude, just to add little thoughts of thankfulness whenever I feel compelled. I slipped patterened paper into each little pocket, and just need to add a quote or other gracious tid-bit. Seems simple enough, and fun!
I also read the book A Million Miles in a Thousand Years by Donald Miller cover to cover. I first read about it on Ali's blog post here, and since we have the same word for this year, story, I thought it would be something worth checking out. I included a bunch of quotes I liked from the book on my page for the day.
Here are a few favorites...

Live a story; a life designed and lived with intention.

We learn our story through each other.

Half the effort is finding out what the story is going to be.

We are all living out the character of the roles we have played in our stories.

We are designed to live through something, rather than attain something and that thing was designed to change us.

The point of life is the same as the point of a story, the point of life is character transformation.

People love to have lived a great story, but few like the work it takes to make it happen.

Five Senses Friday: grey January edition

I love participating in abby's five senses friday. It's been so cloudy and grey around here lately. I can't complain too much, all that cloud cover means milder temperatures. touch: To perk things up a bit, the kids have been working on lots of art projects to add some bursts of color to our world, which makes an extraordinary mess and is utterly enjoyable.smell: Also enjoying all the citrus love that I've been seeing around blogland. Found this post and this especially inspiring. After eating these little cuties I saved the rind in little bowls to dry them. I remember having some of these cute little citrus containers that my grandmother had dried and I treasured them, so I thought I'd make some of my own.hear: We're really enjoying our new/old (from an estate sale) dining room table and chairs. I love thinking about all the family gatherings and conversations that have taken place at the table and so many more we will be adding to it's history.see: Hoping to get to work on some fun projects that I've envisioned and just need to get to work on. Definitely want to do something inspired by Leigh-Ann's great project here. taste: Love having a new "breakfast club" with some friends. Enjoyed taking my friend on her first outing since her accident. Check out her funky cast!
Hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Sweet thoughts...

Is it too early to start thinking about Chloe's fifth birthday?! (it's April 14th! hehe.) I'm not anxious for her to turn five, just excited to throw her a "minty" birthday party!! I love all the planning:) Here's some sweet inspiration on a cold, grey day.
1. pom poms, 2. vintage looking rabbit, 3. _BlueBallerina, 4. Back Porch, 5. blue1, 6. Fabric Inspired Cake, 7. Vintage Barrette Card, 8. Cake Pouch with Bow (blue) 1, 9. six, 10. Untitled, 11. food - multi-colored candy bar, 12. cake - bunt with pies, 13. food - colorful candy bar, 14. Sprinkles teal green cupcake, 15. GROUP BOOKING AT BAKE-A-BOO, 16. Farfallette Fascinator // Bows Tied, 17. Fabric Trees, 18. *JL* Doll-hollywood dolls-1, 19. Love Bites, 20. Untitled, 21. pretty camera!, 22. tue2, 23. A happy vintage find!, 24. FOUND!!! fabric - grandpas dots in green, 25. Coconut Layer Cake 4x4 Art Squared plaque, 26. Untitled, 27. Pink/Mint Party Banner, 28. pink blue cupcake hat, 29. Mint-balloons, 30. Sweet Little Mint Chip Brownie Cuppies with Ganache and Mint Buttercream, 31. Mint tea garden gala outfit, 32. "Choco-mint Minis", 33. Mint-Dark Chocolate Cupcakes.09, 34. scalloped fabric garland, 35. Untitled, 36. Mary Blair handkerchief

Dailyness...

I am truly enjoying the process of my page-a-day resolution for the year. Each day depicts my "everyday life" like visiting my friend that was in a bad accident, our meals for the week, balloons that made me so happy, holiday photos, lots of movies, time inside and outdoors soaking in the winter sunlight, skyping with Hope, and totally out-of-nowhere finding a new dining room table and chairs at an estate sale. The pages are super basic, each taking under 5 min. to create, but together telling a story of where we are right now in 2010. The joy is in the photography and choosing how I depict each day on the page. This is definitely my favorite new years resolution to date and I really look forward to keeping up with it.