Bare Necessities (a birthday list)

I'm not fancy.  And I have gotten to the point where I don't like birthdays anymore.  My birthday is in a few days and I'm planning on hunkering down and hiding until it is over. 

I do keep an Amazon Wish List of things that would be fun to have.  When I really think about my very favorite things that keep me going day by day, however, the list is small.  Here are my favorite things that are also the first to go when we run out of money each month. Presented in the form of a birthday wish list:

1. Starbucks/Acre Coffee gift certificates

2. Teavana gift certificates (this tea gets me through my workday!)

3. A Girl and Dog salted chocolate chip cookies

4. LUSH bubble bars

5. Cinema West movie tickets

6. Chipotle gift certificates


That's about it!  All those things would keep me happy as a clam.  What's on YOUR wish list?

5 Years

How is it possible I have a 5-year-old? 

Just writing that sentence makes my heart seize up.

I have loved these first five years.  I try to focus on the new things each year brings.  The fact that he can do things now that he wasn't able to the last few years and how fun that is. But it is hard to let go of the baby and preschool years. 

I can't believe Noodlebug will be starting Kindergarten this Fall. 

Our birthday party theme this year was a "Superhero Academy" theme.  I did now allow any licensed characters, weapons, or violence of any kind.  The kids were the superheroes at this party.   I drew on so much inspiration from the internet for this party and I will share the full details later.

In the meantime, here is my Super 5-Year-Old.  I am so blessed.

Heartbroken: RIP Kathleen Ricketson

(image source)

I never got to a part of any playgroup.  I found my community of mothers online.  Blogging has allowed me to meet amazing people who share their creativity in powerful ways. One of those people was Kathleen Ricketson.  Her ACTION PACK ezines provided me with so much inspiration with which to engage my son. I loved them so much I became an affiliate.

Not long ago, Kathleen and her family decided to take on an exciting experiement. They planned a road trip across Australia for a year.  I was having fun hearing about their progress and looking forward to the book that would follow. Their journey just ended.

Kathleen died yesterday in a tragic accident. Her partner has still not be found.  It is so heartbreaking. I want to gather up her children in my arms and hug them. I am just speechless and feel such loss for this woman that I never even met in person but who provided me with so much inspiration for so many years. Her children have had the kind of childhood I would have wished for my own son and my heart aches for them.

I'll be praying for the safe return of Kathleen's partner, Rob, and for comfort for their children and families.

Read about this loss here and here. 

The blogging community has come together to create a trust fund for Kathleen and Rob's beautiful children. If you would like to contribute, please go here.

Crafting a Birthday Party

(I made this on Photoshop)

Sorry for the lack of posting. I am in the middle of crafting a birthday party. Noodlebug turns 5 on the 18th and we are having a Superhero-themed birthday party.  HOWEVER...there will be no licensed characters at this party. No Batman. No Spiderman. No Superman.  Instead, the children will be the superheros.  They'll be attending the Superhero Academy at our house. I am busy sewing gender-neutral capes and painting (cardboard box) buildings. I can't wait to share the details with you once it is all over. It's a lot of work but I'm hoping I can pull it off. 

I have to admit that I am really struggling with birthdays this year. It is really really hard for me to face Noodlebug turning 5. And it is hard for me to face my own birthday at the end of the month. We'll see how it goes!!!

Fruit

Once you start, it is hard to stop.  Maybe I'll try a banana tonight!

(Apple)

(Strawberry)

Make Do and Destash: Needle-felted Orange

My son spotted these adorable vegetables by the Felt Baron at B Street Mercantile.  He absolutely loved the orange but it was $7 and out of our price range.

(image source)

He was really disappointed that we couldn't take one home. And I couldn't blame him.They are so cute!!! 

(image source)

I looked around at home to see if I could duplicate it but I didn't have the right felt.  Then, I remembered that I had some leftover wool roving.  I pulled out my needlefelting supplies and made this:

Not quite the same but Noodle was thrilled with it!!!  And it only took about fifteen minutes to make!  Saved $7 and managed to destash a little bit. I consider that a win!

If you can afford one of the Felt Baron's adorable creations, do it! They are much better than anything I could ever make. If not, it's nice to know there may be resources lurking in your crafting stash!

PICK YOUR PLUM is Turning 2!!!!

On Monday, April 29, beginning at 7am MDT,  PICK YOUR PLUM will be hosting an all-day 2nd birthday party!!!  There will be all kinds of special prizes and games all day long on their Facebook page.  One of the best treats will be a 20% off coupon code that you can find on the Facebook page. Go grab the code now so you can be ready when the special sales go live tomorrow morning!!!  There will be SIX different products to choose from. I've seen a sneaky peeky of a few of them and they are going to be great!!!

Once you have your coupon code in hand, make sure you to be at PICK YOUR PLUM starting at 7am MDT.  I'll be there!  Can't wait to see all the surprises they have in store!!!



(I have found so many wonderful deals at PYP over the years that I decided to become an affiliate)

OH HAPPY DAY Craft Night

I have been wanting to attend one of Jordan Ferney's Craft Nights since she started them but they always sell out before I get  a chance! Jordan writes the wonderful creative blog OH HAPPY DAY. Last night, I had the opportunity to attend a special letterpress night at Jordan's studio in San Francisco.

When we entered the studio, we found amazing goodie bags waiting for us!  There was a fantastic sweatshirt from Hello Apparel. It was even in a size that would actually fit me!

(image source)

Usually, freebies like this are for much thinner people. And I adore this sweet succulent in a magnetic planter:

 

The problem with this planter is that now I want the whole system! You can put up a metal sheet on a wall (or use your fridge) and get a whole series of these pots on a wall.  And the succulant is so sweet! Thank you, Succulence for the wonderful little plant and thanks to Urbio for the awesome pot!

And then there was a beautiful necklace with a message in Morse Code! Mine says "lucky." I love it!!! Now, I want more!

Thank you so much, COATT!  I love it!!!

There was also a lovely camera strap and a set of letterpress cards that Jordan made.  I'll have to get photos of those later.  Jordan's friend, Andrea, made some fabulous food for us and I was so grateful.  I gobbled down the salad, lemonade and homemade oreos. Yum!!!

Once we got over all the wonderful goodies, we started the class.  Jordan demonstrated how to use her remarkable press:

It was really fun to watch her change the ink in the rollers:

Everyone had such a good time printing their very own cards!!!  We used wonderful cards from Paper Source to print our lettepress creations:

I absolutely loved the process.  There is something so meditative about printing letterpress pieces. I could have done it all night. I can't believe I didn't take a photo of my cards!  We ended up making twenty cards (10 of each design).  So fun!! I'm going to watch Jordan's blog like a hawk in the hope that I will get to attend another of her Craft Nights!!!  Thanks for a great time!!!

See the official recap here.

Life Book: Week 12

I haven't shared any creative projects lately because I have been in a bit of a slump.  I haven't been happy with anything that I have been creating. My goal this year was to create some sort of creative work every single week.  Now, I'm behind.  LIFE BOOK is in Week 17 and I just created the Week 12 project.  Still, I'm very happy with it:

Since Mother's Day is coming up, I thought I would create this piece around that theme. I asked Noodlebug what he thought this was a picture of. He immediately said, "It's a picture of you hugging me."

Mission accomplished.

LEGO Head

My son reminded me this morning as I was about to head out the door that today is Crazy Hair Day at school. Yikes!!! There is no mousse, hairspray or spray-on hair color to be found in our house.  Luckily, my sweet friend Kim had already given me an idea.

Behold, LEGOHEAD!!!

I grabbed a box of LEGOs and selected a bunch of the flat ones.  It seems like the square four-peg LEGOs and the rectangular eight-peg LEGOs work the best.  I took two that were the same size and sandwiched Noodlebug's hair in between. Done!

We'll see how long they stay but it looks kind of cute for now.

Mission accomplished.