Hello August...

Assorted Succulents

I thought I'd experiment with succulents today.

They are certainly pretty and hopefully as hardy as they say. 

Keep your fingers crossed.

Happy Saturday!

Looking for Love at the Flea Market

What a beautiful day. The sun was shining, we had money in our purses and the flamingo's were marked down. Let the bartering begin. This is the bi-annual Springfield Antique Show and Flea Market at the Clark County Fairgrounds in Springfield, Ohio. One of the largest antique and flea market events in Ohio. My mom, daughter and I decided to get there early to beat the crowds and get a good parking space. Well, so did everyone else. But there were still plenty of wonderful objects and deals to be made. 

There are strategies that are taught, written about, and told to help a new flea market shopper navigate the stalls. My first piece of advice is to always negotiate. It's expected and as long as you're nice about it, many will strike a bargain with you and are happy to do so.

My second piece of advice is to bring enough cash. If the great selection doesn't whittle it down, the food vendors will. Either bring snacks or prepare to pay for the fair-like food. It's hard to resist though. Do you know they make elephant ears in french fry form now? Evil. Good thing we walked a lot (I'm sure it wasn't enough, though).

My third piece of advice is..."If you see something you like, buy it. It may not be there the second time around." I ended up doing this with some typeset letters I had been looking for. I found them in a box, but there were a lot of repeat letters with not many vowels. The deal was $1 a piece or $30 for the whole box {which probably contained about 50 pieces}. I decided to go to lunch and then come back. Within 20 minutes half the box had been picked through. I asked again and the offer was $15 for the whole box. I bartered to $12.50 and took home about 30 pieces. Mostly T, U, V, W, X, and Y's. But I found that I had all the vowels but A. So guess what my next search will be for?

One thing I found different from last year and especially from 5 years before was the amount of vendors selling their items in groupings or vingettes, according to the style. Shabby Chic was very popular and smart vendors paired items together that enticed you to buy the whole look and not just one item. There were still the usual chotsky's and most were not my style, but I'm sure it was someone's.

Overall, I was happy with what I found and what I took home. Along with the typeset letters, I found a beautiful Jim Thompson silk scarf with such wonderful saturated blues and greens for only $10. I know these go for $40 and up but I don't plan on re-selling. It was bought because I loved it. 

And I think that is why most of us go to flea markets...looking for love. 

Turning Over A New Leaf

Baby steps....I have aspirations of completing a large beautiful watercolor, but I need to practice my technique first before I can commit to something so ambitious. I'm almost afraid to start. First, I'm not sure where to begin and second, I don't want to mess it up. You can't exactly erase watercolors (although there is a technique to fix a mistake - more on that later), or hit the undo button like I'm so used to doing. {Oh, for an undo button on life}

I thought I would cure myself of this fear by having my son do a watercolor with me. Kids just dive in without asking for instructions and they are usually okay with the results. The control freak in me did have to give him a few pointers on how to hold the brush and then started to tell him about mixing colors, but he stopped me. "I know how to do it Mom." I was very impressed that he wanted, and actually knew how, to mix the primary colors to get his secondary colors. He is 5 and this was one of the first lessons he learned before preschool but he's already a pro at video games, I thought he might have forgotten.

We both started by drawing our pictures with a soft lead pencil. I watched him scribble a face on his and I carefully, methodically, outlined a leaf. Baby steps. I squeezed out blue, red and yellow paint for him and told him to wet his brush first then go for it. He was fearless. Not caring if his colors were outside the lines. Not caring if the eyes were too far apart or if the mouth was too big. And it turned out...beautifully.

Mine on the other hand doesn't look bad. But I was so careful to keep within my pencil line. So careful to paint a straight line. I played with the color. Added more water to blend the orange. Used a paper towel to absorb some extra water I had on the red. 

I tried to not to worry that it was not perfect. I am happy with it, as small and clean as it is. But I am going to take my son's lead and paint my next one with a little more abandon.

Mandalas...finally

I've never heard of mandalas before I started blogging. I came across a few blog sites written by an artist, an art teacher and novices like me. I was fascinated that this was more than just a lovely form of art. The word Mandala is from the classical Indian language of Sanskrit. Loosely translated to mean circle, it has spiritual and ritual significance in Buddhism and Hinduism. They have been used as an aid to meditation and trance induction. It gets even deeper than that...The psychoanalyst Carl Jung saw the mandala as a "representation of the unconscious self"...okay. 

I found my first mandala on one of my favorite blogs, daisy yellow. To me, they were beautiful, therapeutic, and could be extremely creative. You could do them in all types of media, which daisy yellow will show you, but my favorite is with Staedtler pigment liner pens. I experimented, very briefly, with my color pens and liked the outcome but I like the black and whites a little more. 

Mine take on a more floral look. Some are more circular and geometric, while some tell a story within it's framework. Check out Stephanie's Mandala art on her flickr site. She tends to create them when she is angry to release stress and help balance her emotionally. 

Start small, and don't worry if you mess up. I have a few that didn't turn out very well, but with practice it helps train your hand and eye coordination. You are essentially creating as you go and there's something to be said for such simplicity and uncontrived design. Have fun with it and maybe it will help you stay focused and balanced in your life. Who knows, it worked for Carl Jung. 

Let It Snow!

We woke up Saturday morning to a blanket of beautiful snow. The kids were amazed and immediately asked if they could go outside. Well that was 8 o'clock in the morning so I wasn't too thrilled about that. I managed to get them to eat breakfast and then by 9:30 we were out in the stillness of the first winter snowfall. It was so magical. 

Our creek is so beautiful (I know I'm using that word alot). I love how the snow collects on the tops of the river rocks. I've taken this picture every winter that we've lived here, and it always amazes me that this is where I live.

 

We have a steep, but short hill on the course that the kids love to sled down. The only problem, beside the fact that it's steep and after one trip up you're pooped, is that it is riddled with trees. The first time down a few years ago, no one but me was willing to navigate it. Now, my son who's 5, just told me he did it all by himself. "It was no problem, Mom." I guess I'm not surprised. He's a tough one. 

So after only 2 or 3 trips up that steep hill, Lia decided she wanted to go for a walk in the woods. It was so serene. No wind, no sound. Gorgeous. The kids found a little clearing where the branches hung down low and they thought it would be cool to just hang out for a second. The picture doesn't do it justice, but it did feel like a place where woodland creatures might take a rest.

I didn't know how long the snow would last or if it would be back for Christmas so I convinced the kids to help with a snowman. I had visions of funny scenes from Calvin and Hobbes but once I got to work it wore me out. I was lucky to get one "Frosty" out of this. The funny thing was it actually looked "hairy" because as I rolled him the snow took the last cuttings of the grass with it. Dominic didn't think that was very funny. "Who ever heard of a hairy snowman?" he said. {laugh}

I'm not sure if you can see, but that's Dominic in the background packing a snowball. He was so funny, not even trying to hide, but coming right for me very slowly with a devious grin on his face the whole time. 

This snow-filled weekend finally got it me in the spirit to finish our holiday cards. I made a stamp (of course) of a snowflake and used silver and sky blue ink to stamp a custom card for our friends and family. It was more work than I expected but it was worth it. I love my cards. Very simple...but I think that's our new year strategy. Keeping it simple and enjoying the little things. 

I hope all of you have a wonderful and safe holiday and I wish everyone a prosperous and healthy new year.

Tamra, Dan, Dominic and Lia

Fish Town

Forgive me followers, for it has been over a month since I last blogged. {hehe} I was going thru some pictures I took this year because I've been meaning to print and frame a few. I found the pics I took on our July 4th visit to Traverse City, Michigan where my in-laws live. 

My husband primarily takes all the pictures because he's really good at it, but you don't get to see him in any. So I thought I'd grab it in hopes I could get him in a few. Well forget about it. Through that lens I was drawn to all of these unique and wonderful collection of things. I don't think I even took one picture of my kids {I am now though}. One particular little harbor town called Fish Town, near the Sleeping Bear Dunes sparked something in me. 

The town is actually Leland, Michigan but it's nicknamed Fish Town because of its rich history of being a 145 year old fishing village. It's a small village but has these wonderful shops, perfect for a mother and daughter in law to escape while the men take care of the kids. Believe me, they have the easy part, because there is a great ice cream parlor and candy store there too.

                                    
It's funny how we take our pictures, upload them to our computer and then forget about them. We don't even put together photo albums anymore. Well at least I don't. I'm not a scrapbooker. I would rather do something digital and then have someone else print it or put it together. But I want to be more creative with these then just a typical photo album. 

So I thought about selling them as postcards or prints in Fish Town. I know I won't make a lot of money. But how cool to have your photos for sale in a gift shop. Even if one other person loved it and bought it I'd be happy.


Happy Holidays!