2010 Edition of the 14 Days of Valentines Smackdown Challenge

Yes, it's that time of year, the time you have waited for. I am happy to announce the 14 days of love challenge is back. That means 14 days of loving behaviors. You can do it for your kids, for your spouse, for your friends-- cause they "can't get enough of your love". (cue Barry White) While there are "50 ways to leave your lover" there are over 250 ways to love your lover- so here is the list 250 ways to say I love you  in case you are "all out of love"-ing ideas.

 

Because the "what the world needs now is love sweet love". So bring your A-game cause smart mama can out love you anyday of the week. (You also know I can talk a little smack to get some healthy competition going).
 
Last year we had quite he impressive shows of loving behaviors. And this year I want to see more!

And there is a prize...if you succcessfully complete the challenge and return and report via blog or email you will be in the running for a set of my domestic cards.

And well if you live near me you can get int he spirit in person as I will be teaching a loving behaviors class at my church on feb 9th-All are welcome-- if you want more details you can contact me.

Also I am posting at segullah today about why valentines day...so catch me there

"I wanna know what love is, I want you to show me"

XO, smartmama

because boys can have cool rooms too...

All I can say is decorating boys rooms is tricky. I don't like juvenile stuff and I like it to look different than every copy pottery barn (because it always feels like slight variations of the same thing for me)  and even finding fabrics is tough. I finally got in gear though and got my 3rd son's room changed from the cowboy nursery to this (he's 2).

I love these ODDA beds from IKEA (I always buy twin beds in sets so there is an extra bed in the room), as as I am one who loves storage space and hates to look at extra stuff, came up with this idea to  fit two 36", over fridge cabinets below each bed.  They are super deep and provide tons of storage. Also my coolest innovation is that the beds glow. Yes I had this vision for them from the very beginning. So each bed has LED lights below them. Connected to footpedal extension cords (which are hidden at the far wall end of the beds). So turning it on illluminates the underside of the bed. They love to lay under them and bask in the E.T.-like other worldy glow to read books and play, and it'a an awesome built in night light he calls it "the glows". I made the curtains (lined with blackout- as you know I have a deep love for hotel blackout curtains) The sheets are delicious 400 thread count from target and match the bluish gray walls perfectly. The comforters are reversible black/gray, the mirrors are 2" thick squares bound in rolled newspapers, the art is mine, and the license plate that run the two long walls of the room are courtesy of my best friend Shelah. The room feels sleek, clean, airy and modern and hass quickly become everyones favorite reading destination!

Interviewed

for the Mormon Women Project. This fabulous project is the work of Neylan McBaine (who is so delightful, we bonded on the phone as my 2 year old sprayed the kitchen with water and dumped out hundreds of train pieces everywhere.) Don't spend so much time reading my interview because well, you already know about me and really I'm not that exciting. But spent your time reading the interesting profiles of the other featured women. I love biographies, the rich stories of people's lives. Add it to your reader so you can read all the upcoming interviews....

corresponding style

my new set of domestic cards are in...

it is the first 5 pieces in the domestic series

stirring things up
a piece of cake
soft & clean
who's there?
cleaning up the mess

The cards are white 5x7, with matching evelopes. Attached are 4x6 matte photographic prints. Each is hand signed and hand titled and in it's own clear sleeve. ($12/$14 shipped).

they are good for many things, not just letters, in fact if you buy enough you can wallpaper your bathroom with them...

if you want a set hit me via my website contact page

shoot!

Well nap time thursday was slated to be an art & artist photo shoot, (somehow I forgot to post aspen expanse piece to my gallery site -ironic- given it's the hugest painting in my house) but in all my furniture moving I knocked my camera to the floor and prompted shattered my lens. The morning turned from shoot into "Shoot!" Then again the silver lining in this cloud is that as long as I was forking it out for a new lens I might as well get a better one...(on it's way)

 A friend saved me in the mean time sparing me a loaner lens. Unfortunately the delay meant I left the room in disarray until the next days nap time when I could try again. I wanted a lineup of all the finished domestic pieces in a row (so I could see my work thus far, pat myself on the back and feel motivated to keep going) but this means needing wall space <20 linear feet and serious wide angle! When the series is done I'll have to line them up at warehouse or half a football field for a full panoramic shot.

Also the next time I scheme so gradiose a series. Please remind me to...

1. Not to paint so big

2. Not to paint so tight (I am not naturally tight- I am naturally really loose so tight takes alot of restraint, and intense focus for me to paint in a more regimented way)

3. Choose to set my sights lower than 12-15 pieces for the series

4. Give myself more than a 6-8 mo personal deadline for such an undertaking (especially amid devotedly mothering 3 young children, teaching early am seminary, being the blog editor of Segullah, and the 50 other things on my plate)

5. Choose simpler paintings that take less than 20+ hours to complete

6. Don't be passionate about it's message because, that way when it gets hard you can abandon the series and not care.

I CAN DO IT! (positive self talk)

A Himalayan sense of accomplishment

I am generally not a procrastinator...
Actually though putting things off can sometimes be a good thing. Like recently, I did this with laundry until the mounds of clothes were in a word...epic? mammoth? nay Himalayan.  (This is after all one of the things I like to chronically put off-- because it has no deadline and I thrive on open-endedness. (This is why I made sure to have 3 weeks worth of underwear and plenty of clothes in college.)

See as I realized today, had I done this in a "load- per-day" timely fashion, it would not be a monumental task. And were it not a monumental task, it would not yield a monumental sense of accomplishment upon completion. The process of reverse-entropy on this scale is truly impressive, a sight to behold. Cubic yards of twisted robot bedsheets and footie pajamas artfully transformed into neatly folded piles spanning my entire family room (please note full usage of the 400+ sq ft) turning it into a mini scale version of the man-made world archipelago in Dubai (PBS documentary watchers anyone?) Then hefting the baskets upstairs (thats how my arms stay cut- with loads like this if I keep it up they'll probably better than when I played lacrosse).

Revealing this to the public may paint me in a less than glamourous light, but I promise no one was injured in this stunt, no real neglect. No one was forced to go naked or wear dirty clothes. While my husbands drawer now has 16 more pairs of socks in it, he was no worse for wear. The sock count runs around 5 dozen pairs, so as you can see I could have drawn out this laundry strike shenanigan even longer. (This might also give insight into why I insist upon very spacious, deep drawered dressers?
It also meant letting my kids shuttle the baskets from the laundry room to the family room and dump them out- something they love. Nothing like achieving Mach II maximum velocity with a slick plastic basket on polished hardwoods given a good 50 foot straightaway.

We tried to see how tall of a mound we could build, had a rousing round of king of the laundry mountain. My 2 year re-enacted what seemd to be scenes from Lawrence of Arabia with a blue tea towel on his head.  Something this big called for a party, so mom put on a movie (arise joyous shouts from my TV- limited children) They are cursed with a mother with a child development background seeks to create some cultural growth restriction and therefore my kids don't watch TV much. (Don't get me started on the correlations between violent media and behavior or marketing influence on children- thats when former college professor smart mama pops out, wearing her studious looking glasses and instantly descend into journal and statistic-speak-it's not pretty- just be glad you never had to listen to me lecture for 6 hrs hours straight. )

So don't put off till tomorrow what you can do today, unless it's laundry because you might miss out on a party and a Himalyan sense of accomplishment!

I am Spartacus or rather "Art"acus

Domestic series is finally continuing after a forced holiday hiatus. The new lamp piece, while almost done, is forcing me to channel my inner Spartacus. Must conquer! Seriously the light glare on the midcentury pecan wood, like being a a ring with a fierce lion. (You didn't know I could get gladitorial about that did you-- these paintings should know not to mess with me, I always win especially at scattergories)
I have painted it 3 times and still don't like it...so obviously the oafish slave guy from Thrace is currently pounding "Artacus" with a spiked metal club (not well verse in the lingo of ancient roman weapons).

After this I have 5-6 more to go before I switch to some mothering pieces. I have already done the studies for them and I am dying to get to them, but again I must call upon my inner Spartacus' steelly resolve and determination to not jump ship but see out my first project before going to the new series. (see I knew all those Latin class hours in HS I spent watching Kirk Douglas would turn out to be life changing and inspirational) Also on the radar are 2 commission pieces to get done in the next 2 weeks (those involve money now so they should take more priority bu they just aren't as fun)

Currently I rate my busy-ness on the "time- to- reply-to-emails" scale (like the how many minutes to hold for customer service) which is currently about 3 days (and thats for messages under 2 paragraphs only). This week I start doing my artist-in-residence program with a local early childhood program. (dining room table= supply drop zone) I love exposing preschool children to great art as well as eally helping them understand and engage in the process of art making/art thinking. One thing I found so interesting in my readings for my masters thesis was the path of children's creative development and how it really bottoms out by middle childhood if not given supportive/appropriate art experiences. I am always surprised by the resistance I face from adults and even other educators with their "traditional and "product" expectations. Tomorrow I will delve 3 year olds into the exotic world of Henri Rousseau. Which the thought of those orange tigers makes me think some chicken tikka masala might be in order to round out the day.

Speaking of preschool art, I loved it when I picked up my son from his preschool the other day (shaving cream/glue mix) snowmen on the wall. His wonderful teachers who share my philosphies, laughingly assured me I'd be able to easily spot my son's on the wall. While most of the others were fairly straightforward- face only- my son had covered his with dozens of colored beads! Ahhh, I was so very proud to be the mother of the beaded pavé snowman, becasue plain white snowmen seriously that's so last season!

So listen out tonight... if you hear shouts of "I am SPARTACUS!" echoing through the snowy New England hills you know it's just smart mama wielding burnt sienna and paintbrush victoriously, okay maybe just determinedly over the brutish pecan dresser.

entertaining to a different degree...

Scene: Christmas Vacation dinner party at my aunt and uncle's.

Guests: aunt and uncle, uncle's daughter and husband, one of their sons, Dean (who directs and edits films) and his girlfriend Jenny, one of the cast members of Saturday Night Live, my uncle's ex-wife, my parents, and our family. Reggie and Hoby (dogs).

As the luck of the place cards had it, poor Dean and Jenny, got stuck not at the grown up table but at the kids table with me, Allen, and our 3 boys. (As we are the closer generational equivalents) Although in thier minds, this was probably taking the "just treat celebrities like normal people" thing a bit too far.

Really they are very delightful and excessively affable but, as NYC dwellers, I am sure they are used to a more thoroughly fascinating crowd (as comic as my children's dinner table antics maybe).

A simple a run down of the following words illustrates the dichotomy of our lives

after-parties (them)=hip weekly dinners with SNL cast after the show
after-parties (me)= me with a headache after 2 hrs of smelling vinyl and stale air at one of those warehouses filled with giant, bouncy house inflatables for preschooler's birthday parties

driver-(them) someone to drive you to swanky parties at secret locations
driver-(me) me in the minivan which desperately needs vacuuming and has boys names graffiti ed in the accumulated dirt on the side-panels, passing pretzels to the backseat.

Funny- (them)- a great SNL skit that 6 million people watch or editing a good episode of Food Party for IFC
Funny-(me)-my child procuring cake with a lacrosse stick, me envisioning MacGuyver like ways to escape when locked in my bathroom, using my emergency supply of pleather in my attic, pan-handling on the side of the mass pike, my parents thinking I was not mature enough for really sharp knives (part 1 & part 2)

Our dinner of Yorkshire pudding and prime rib was interspersed with enjoyable discussions of NPR fund drives (hold out for the good donor appreciation gifts I say- don't be a sucker for the tote bags!), reminiscence of memorable school projects, the recounting of our recent lego Guggenheim creation, and missives on food, cooking, & New England life (jenny is native of my fair state).

At one point, amid peas with pearl onions and roasted potatoes, as my boys played with Reggie the dog, we talked about the proclivity of young boys to use everything in a way which is dangerous or destructive (or at least potentially so). I recounted my recent blog inventory of the top of my fridge, resting place for all such confiscated items.

Dean said, (In polite dinner party conversation form) "You have a blog? I want to read it!"

At this point I choked on my water.

"No--really it's just a mommy-blog" I back peddled-- quickly. I really hadn't meant it as a "oh I have a blog" but it rather it slipped out in the course of the story. The recent years up-shift in activity and responsiblities have left my writing languishing as well as often un-spellchecked (I am a publish in rough draft form kind of girl-- too busy to revise- you know I am always doing 500 things at once). It has become this random compilation of recent paintings, my harrowing motherhood escapades, shameless shows-offs of my progeny and their projects (ewok gingerbread village anyone), and something occasionally mildly thoughtful or funny.

(note in the course of the conversation I also learn Jenny's sister is a food writer/blogger and her dad is a poet, who publishes in the New Yorker)

I know my place though. Not a top ten blog read, (it may hold a certain voyeuristic suburbian mom appeal like the people of Walmart site). I should have said it's entertaining to a different degree- and I use the word "blog" loosely.... It's amusing to my friends... Surely the 19 followers in my sidebar stands as a testament to my mass popularity (hey maybe I should do a giveaway just to followers to pad my numbers a bit!). In defense of my "high celebrity" blog status I will provide the following supporting evidence)

exhibit A. Actually most of my 19 "followers" are not IRL friends but are indeed strangers.

exhibit B. Most of my most beloved fans/commenter's (aka real life friends) are not "followers" just catch up via their google reader (maybe because I made some disparaging remarks in the past about term followers sounding Jim Jones-esque)

exhibit C. My stat counter log and meager blogher ad revenues (wait those stats probably come only from other suburbian moms reading my how to make an R2D2 cake tutorial for their kid's party)

exhibit D. I have actually had people in public recognize me from my blog and once even had someone ask to come over to a mutual friend's because they heard smartmama was going to be there and wanted to meet me(my 5 minutes of blog fame).

I brought cards with prints of my new domestic paintings on them as holiday favors (I mean at least being a artist who paints headless women engaged in domestic tasks probably buys me a little space in quirky artist department which makes room for some "allowances". Maybe next year if they are lucky they'll get a seat at the grown up table and a self-published compilation of the best of smart mama...

(really Dean and Jenny always a good time- such a nice evening, and maybe I should sculpt some golden award for your endurance of dinner at "the kids table"!)

in the works

Well as many of you know I am a child life specialist by profession, which means doing psychological preparation & therapeutic play with children in hospital settings. My absolute favorite thing that comes with that is being able to do medical missions for Operation Smile. (You can read more and see pictures here from some of my travels to Kenya, Philippines, Siberia, Morocco.) I have done many missions in post, mostly before having kids, but this year with no "little" babies I decided it was time to dust off the suitcase and expedite the passport for another adventure.

Going on medical missions profoundly changed me. It has changed my sense of place in the world and the way I use my resource and for this I am always grateful. As it looks now, I be spending 10 days in Amman, Jordan this year on another medical mission. So I am madly mentally preparing and will soon be literally packing a playroom in a suitcase. I am actually really excited to do this as a mom because this time my kids can be involved in the preparation and the service (even though they won't be able to go with me) I am excited to go and bring back pictures to my boys and show them how the things they sent helped others.

My job is to oversee the psychological, emotional and devolpmental needs of all the patients. Screening usually take a few days. Many children wait in line all day with hundreds or thousands of people just to be screened for surgery. (As I can attest merely standing in line for 10 minutes with my boys at the post office can be rather harrowing- let alone a good 5 hours!) Then the day of surgery, they spend the day in the playroom, NPO, waiting for their turn. I have all ages from babies 6 mo or so all the way up to teenagers. Many of these children are very anxious especially in an environment surrounded by strangers. The play and teaching about the surgery goes along way to alleviate anxiety and make the experience a positive one for them. We use play to provide a developmentally support environment, to provide distraction/alternative focus during stressful times and procedures, to help children understand in a developmentally approrpaite way what will be happening to them, and it breaks the language barriers as the teams are very international and we require interpreters for communication. For many of these children having facial deformities and visible differences has made them the object of teasing or shame.

You can support Operation Smile in many ways.[And if anyone would like to donate any supplies I do have a "wishlist" of things (as do CCLS for the many missions OpSmile does all year- we bring all our own stuff- I can you link you up with others you ever want to help) that are always welcome and really appreciated on missions (mini Slinky's, puppets, finger puppets, bubble wand necklaces, water tubes, doctor kits, stickers, mini suction cup ball hoops, jenga, to name a few). Being limited by space and weight makes it challenging. (I also have a few small projects kids/families can make if you are looking for a service project (beading kits, cutting strips for paper chains, etc) Please feel free to contact me email is on my profile page]

on animal movies and christmas trees

I'll admit it... I have a fake Christmas tree. Yep, I don't do real Christmas trees, while that seems like a mockery of authentic Christmas decor, I am not entirely ashamed. Because as I see it, it's really more practical and economical.
1.I can set up before Thanksgiving, should I so desire (as i did the year I was pregnant with my #3 son who was born the day after Thanksgiving)
2.It requires no special trips to get other than a jaunt up the pull down stairs to the attic.
3. I can go on vacation and when I return after 2 1/2 weeks it's not a mess of dried up needles.
4. One time purchase
5. Easy set up/consistent size.

You see the list of pros goes on. But really the biggest reason is, I get depressed by real Christmas trees. Don't get me wrong they can be pretty, I sometimes envy my New England neighbors who go to our local town farm to chop their own it see so quaint and quintessentially Christmas. While I marvel when they are majestically lit up and decorated and steal piney sniffs from their presence in neighbors homes. I hate nothing more than the day after Christmas scene -- unbought trees in those "set up just for December tree lots" all sad an unused, unwanted, and waiting to be disposed of. Maybe i'd feel better if i wrote a list of 100 things to do with unused christmas trees? (I know they get recycled) But they worked hard for years to grow big and pretty and then their best wasn't good enough. I feel for them like the last kid picked in PE class.Seriously, it makes me want to cry. I have to turn away. The waste of the trees, it's sad to me like injured animals. (I know, I know, I am anthropomorphizing the trees too much)
Which brings me to the second thing I don't do which is animal movies- yep no Benji, Black Beauty, Lassie for me, even Land Before Time or An American Tail, despite being fictious and animated, they make me cry. I know the animals don't really get hurt in production but it's knowing that somewhere there are other animals in the world that are cold, lost, hungry, or suffering that makes me sad....this is probably also why I cannot commit to any pets beyond brine shrimp.
So Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from me and my fake tree while I always welcome gifts...just don't give me any Benji movies.

sometimes things surprise you

-like my 4 year old saying he really wanted "white paper" for Christmas. Really if there is we thing we don't lack for in this house it's paper in all it's varieties.

-that encouraging youth/young adults to explore careers is actually a controversial topic? (my recent segullah post)

-that when parents bring their kids to "a decorate your own sugar cookie" table they feel absolutely no urge to help their children use reasonable quantities of toppings or feel any obligation about the mess they leave behind. (yes I manned this table for 2+ hours at the school ornament day- encouraging creativity is one thing but downright wastefulness is another)

-that my husbands meeting got cancelled last night a delightful 4.5 hr reprieve

-that you actually want to eat vegetables instead of treats at the ward party (Yes I am that old)

-that someone in Tehran is "google-ing" me? (I really don't think I know anyone in Tehran)

-or how hard it is to clean tracks of glue stick off your dining room table

any surprises for you lately?

Gingerbread Star Wars Ewok Village

Every year our quaint New England town (pop 8000) does a Christmas festival, trolleys take you through the town and stop at all the local farms, businesses, and churches. For some festive local food and activities. The schools do a gingerbread house display. The last two years I've been too busy but I promised the boys we'd do something fun this year.

As an artist, I am not the type to do the regular gingerbread house (I will readily admit a love of kitschy edible things). Honestly though, how fun is it to go to a gingerbread house show where they all look the same. I just can't do the matching candy canes by the door and gumdrop roofline. So I brainstormed with my three boys and they decided it would be fun to do an star wars gingerbread entry so we made an edible Ewok village from Return of the Jedi.

We wrapped a wooden base in drk green wrapping paper and cellophane. The trees were made from rice krispie treats (formed in plastic cups) coated in chocolate. The bunker is made from hershey bars, andes mint cookies, and oreo straws. The trees are made of mini cones and fruit loops. The green candies gummy frogs, Mike and Ikes, spearmint mints, green m&m's, watermelon gumballs, green lifesavers. Also included tootsie rolls, pb cups, black licorice.

The edges are done with mint oreos. The ewoks, R2D2, & C3PO are made of fondant. (C3PO's chair is made or pretzels lashed together with fondant and has a graham seat.

How to Make Edible Oreo Chocolate Mice

Some of our favorite Christmas stories involve mice. Like Gingerbread Mouse, T'was the Night Before Christmas, and Santa Mouse. So we decided to make some edible mice. I have seen them made with maraschino cherries before but I knew my kids would not like how the tasted so I made up these.

How to Make Edible Chocolate Mice

Ingredients:

Wilton premium candy melts- I like the dk chocolate (but you could make a cute family of mice using the white and milk chocolate)

Double stuff Oreos (or the holiday ones)

Licorice

Hershey kisses

Sugar eyes (I get the icing eyes from Country kitchen Sweet art and use them for lots of projects (or you can pipe on frosting dots)

Sliced almonds

Instructions:

1. Melt the chocolate in a glass bowl.

2. Cut the licorice into small tail length strips

3. Carefully cut the bottom 1/4 of the Oreos.

4. Affix the tails by sticking the licorice into the frosting between the two cookies.

5. Use a small spatula or knife to coat the two sides and top curve of the Oreo. Place on waxed paper to set

6. While the chocolate is still melted. Attach Hershey kiss at the base.

7. Place on almond ears.

8. Use a dab of frosting to attach eyes.

They would also be fun for a nutcracker themed party (the mouse king) or Twas the night before Christmas reading or as an homage to our favorite Santa Mouse. We also made mouse cupcakes to go in some T'was the night before Christmas themed designer cupcake sets. We placed them on cupcakes with Santa cupcakes.

Pig Cake and the big 2!

My #3 son turned 2 today. I can't think about his birth without remembering all of the drama and complications at the end of my pregnancy. I still can't believe how blessed and lucky I am to have him!

Today we celebrated with a pig cake. (I could not for the life of me think of something really fun and exotic for a 2 year old. I stood there in the kitchen with cakes baked and frosting made and still had no plan. So I thought what is fairly simple and can be made in less than 10 minutes? I give you the pig cake. (8", 6" and mini round"- stacked) We were also in the middle of selling our station wagon today so that caused a little interference! I love this boy though- He is always good for a hug and lots of kisses! I totally love my cute line-up of 3 fabulously fun boys! What a lucky mom I am!

ironing it out

One more painting done before I start full swing into holiday madness. This makes 7 in the series now, and 3 more in progress. I think I will make a dozen by february. Then on to my next series. Then Number #3 turns 2 this weekend. Then it's a steady stream of Christmas preparations. Decorating. Gingerbread house making. Chain of lights. Ornament Day. Parties. My #1 's birthday.

Monday night we filled a white board with all the things we're thankful for. a wonderful life and friends and family to share it with. Happy Thanksgiving to all.

modern architecture kids style

It's been a while since I have posted about my boys- they are getting so big. I measured all of them this week and they are currently coming in at 55 1/2", 44 1/2" and 34 1/2" respectively. Eek! Sometime its as thought you can feel your mothering years are slipping between your fingers.

#1 is buzzing through 4th grade and just finished making a replica of the National Archives in DC for school. He has been engineering various playground games such as "hill ball". He has been practicing lots of new songs on the piano and knows so many things I don't about fish and the standard model.

#2 loves preschool. I actually went with him 2 days last week and we let the kids grind wheat with a hand grinder. I went back on Friday, big mixer and all and we kicked out 5 loaves of homemade bread for snack. He is helper extraordinaire and has his bed made perfectly before breakfast every morning!

#3 smothers you with loves and kisses. Likes to grab ears, play ball (mean arm) and read Curious George Goes To The Hospital and A Visitor for Bear many times a day. A likes to play with his toy "NA-mas" aka Thomas and race through the kitchen at the speed of light on his plasma car.

Well this week they called me out to the studio to show me their creations with wood pieces. SS#1 designed this modern house complete with solar panelled flat roof and courtyard with fountain (love the detailing- really I would live in a house like that. It looks just like it fell out of the pages of dwell). He then borrowed my camera to take some more artistic shots of his creation. SS#2 then showed off this fabulous modern airport with wood & glass pieces!

How to make lipstick cupcakes

Looking for a glamourous cupcake idea for a girl party? Here are some lipstick cupcakes for a make-up makeover party.

So here is a quick how-to-tutorial

1. Frost the cupcakes.

2. Sprinkle the edges with pastel confetti (I get mine from country kitchen sweet art)

3. Tint fondant dark pink, light pink. and purple.

4. Form a long snake out of the dark pink about 1/2" diameter. Cut into short segments on the diagonal.

5. Roll out purple. Cut into small rectangles. Shape over the lipstick.

6. Roll out light pink. Use a pizza cutter to cut thin strips to add detailing.

(You are probably wondering why I- mother of 3 boys am making lipstick cupcakes... well I auctioned off my services making designer cupcakes at our town ed foundation dinner dance last spring and the woman who won requested something for her daughters party. Hence the pink girliness-- I also used an extra to make a cute little cake for one of my friends daughter who one remarked that I always had soft hair and shiny lips- have to love kids compliments) So "Sister Shiny Lips" came through with a surprise treat today! Moral fo thta story- tell me my lips are shiny and you might get a cake...

stirring things up

The latest in the domestic series I kicked out the end of last week- I was on a roll. (Trouble is after a really good groove, everything else feels kind of tiresome and like a letdown) Sadly even about 24 hrs after finishing a painting the thrill of the accomplishment is gone. I told my husband I think I am an accomplishment junkie...some crazy creativity addiction (constantly needing a new fix, and it just doesn't last like it used to- laughing at myself)

Digging the citrus colors and 10 pts for you if you know which room in my house is actually pictured in this painting!

Incorporated in this are the following interesting items- stainless bowls (wedding gift- and was actually holding all my kids Halloween candy when the photo study was taken, I knew it wouldn't show given the angle) orange canisters from my local salvation army, white dress I bought in Puerto Rico with my husband a few years ago, and a yellow apron I sewed a few years back. Also props to me for my work in assembling the cabinets and helping cut and lay the cool linoleum tile back when the room was being built.

dare to design part two

I was surprised but also delighted this week to hear one of my dresses made the "final 15" in the shabby apple dress design contest. (My friend Whitney's design (#9) also made the top 15). They had hundreds of submissions and many were really fabulous designs. So you can head over to shabby apple's blog and cast your vote for your favorite-

Which will of course be mine (wink wink!) Only one vote per person.

who's there

It's been a pretty productive week. I got my portfolio site revamped a bit so you can go and peruse at your leisure. I also finished two more pieces in the domestic series (both are 30" x40") and I have 3 more underway. My goal is to have an even dozen by April. I think I can do it... (I know I won't have as much time around the holidays and with teaching early am sem every other week. I have to be realistic abotu my time -- even though april seems like forever away! Secretly I am hoping to be done by february) I am really enjoying this series though- and combining my professional training with my art. When this set is done I have two other mini-series I want to do but I am trying to let myself see this series through before getting distracted. Right now I have too many ideas and too little time in the studio. Still I am trying to churn them out before the ideas leave and the groove is gone.