Science Fair Catapult

In my last post to catch up from a busy week I want to share our biggest design challenge for the week. With my husband out of town it was full for the rest of us with school, work, Boy Scouts, T-ball, after school art and a science fair. I'm exhausted just thinking about it. But the catapult project turned out awesome and the response he had to it at the fair was fantastic. It was a crowd pleaser for all.

Max and his Dad spent Saturday building the catapult before he left and then him and I worked the rest of the week on everything else you see. We worked hard researching and testing and following the scientific method when discussing the Tension Catapult but by far the hardest part of the project was the display. My son had very particular ideas about how it should look and although I cut out the majority of the scrolls that hold the information he made sure that they went where he thought they looked the best. He did an excellent job and we had such a good time that I hope he chooses to participate next year.

 I loved that when we were working on the project I started to explain what a hypothesis was to my son when he stopped me and said of course I know what a hypothesis is. I asked him to tell me what it was then and sure enough he knew. I don't think there was a chance when I was in first grade that I would have known what a hypothesis was.

Polarn O. Pyret SALE

If you love Hanna Anderson you have got to shop with Polarn O. Pyret. I know school for 2010/2011 isn't even out yet but I am already buying clothes for next year because the deals are just too good to pass up. Last week thanks to Design Mom I learned that Polarn O. Pyret was having a super sale. Everything I bought was long sleeves or pants but you can't beat 50% off for their fabulously made clothes. In fact I purchased some leggings for my daughter for so little that I bought an extra pair for junk clothes and now that they are here I just can't bring myself to let her wear them out for messy playtime. I have also visited Nordstrom Rack and hope to make it over to the Nordstrom Half Yearly Sale soon too. I am a big believer that if you spend more in your investment in kids clothes then they will last longer. And except for a few items over the years most of my kid's clothes usually are out grown before they are ripped or torn. In fact I just packed up two more bags of hand me downs from both my kids and I am amazed at how new the clothes still look. 

The clothes shopping scene has changed quite a bit for my house hold this year. I have a son who wants to look trendy but not overdone. He puts comfort before anything else and he hates the inevitable change that comes with one's clothes. I think if we could buy the same tennis shoes in every size and he wore them for the rest of his life he would be happy. The biggest change I have seen with him this year is that he use to be mommy's little shopping buddy and now it pains him greatly to step inside a store to shop (excluding all toy, model, Lego, etc stores). The other big difference is that my three year old daughter is finding her voice and style. I use to just buy what I liked and she was perfectly happy wearing it but not anymore. We have even had to change our morning routine to allow more time for the up to three possible outfit changes. On one hand it drives me crazy and on the other I'm so proud.

My favorite feature of Sara's Fall wardrobe so far is the color palette. Now I know she has no idea of what a color palette is and we have purchased all the clothes below from Nordstrom Rack, Nordstrom and Polarn O. Pyret so we did not buy them all together and she could not see what she was doing. But the girl has started developing her own Fall line with a common thread. Take a look at some of the cute clothes and great deals.

I anticipate the teenage years are going to consist of watching a fashion show walk down my hallway and out my front door everyday. We have yearly photos coming up soon so my mix and match hat is on. I want to be able to look back and say they were so cute and so stylin'. I missed taking last years' photo because of the super move from DC to Seattle so I can't miss one this year. I will post a picture here of my kiddos from 2009 so you can see what our photos are usually like.

As a child my mom always loaded my brother and I up with hairspray, dress clothes, ribbons and lace for family photos but I like to keep it simple. Take a look at this photograph I found on Kristin Merten Photography of my two little monkeys. They both have changed so much in two years. If you live in Northern VA you HAVE to get in touch with Kristin. She is an amazing photographer and a dear friend. What I love about her photography is the eyes. Her photos make the eyes of a child sparkle so bright.

ART Party!!! Invitation

I have missed writing and sharing with you this week (so much!) and it's a three day weekend but I had to squeeze a few posts in before the weekend officially begins. Plus my husband is back from his week long business trip and I have passed the parenting duties off to him, maybe for the whole three days.

The first thing I want to show you is how great Max's seventh birthday invitation is coming along. It is so perfect for him and for the kind of artist he currently is. The hardest part is that I don't get to do what I want anymore. In fact for this year he drew hand sketches before I even started designing on the computer so I could have an idea of what he was thinking. Whew. I have said it before and I'll said it again he is hands down the hardest client I have ever had to work with. I think what makes it even harder is that he is just like me and sometimes that means we don't see eye to eye artistically. 

My favorite element he came up with is the ripping of the paper to reveal what is inside. Then inside the card we are planning on repeating the images with more text around "You're invited" so it feels as though you are simply seeing straight through. I'm also thinking another great idea would be to print this on the envelopes and then have the card inside be a postcard with the repeating image. Hmmm. Any opinions you have or other ideas? Please share with me and Max.

I've also started putting the party together and Max chose a very messy paint activity he saw in the Disney movie The Princess Diaries. I don't know that it has a particular name but you add paint to blown up balloons and hang them across the large mural size paper then you throw darts at them allowing the paint to explode on the canvas. We'll definitely need to purchase some rain ponchos or large garbage bags to cover the kids with. Here is a picture to give you an idea of the process. The image is from Duke University's Intro to Visual Practice, Fall 2010 students, a great blog on exploring, sites.duke.edu/artsvis54_01_f2010/. My final plan for the mural is once all the kids have had a few throws of the darts we'll then take everyone's picture in front of it and I will make Thank You notes from the image.

The party goers will also be using kits that I found at Tuesday Mornings to make giant tube, colored sand ballpoint pens. I couldn't beat the price and it is something that can be taken with in their goody bags. I am also buying individual art smocks for the kids and they'll use fabric pens or paint to decorate the smocks. Again another take home goody. The last idea we have so far is Max wants mom to pull out one of her Elementary School art lessons to teach to the kids. Not sure how that will go at a party but I'm trying to find a crazy one to keep their interest.

I just love planning parties especially kid themed parties. I'll keep you updated as we go and in a few weeks I'll be sure to post pictures of all the happenings.

If you have a terrific idea for the art party please leave it as a comment to this post. Thanks.

Let Them Eat ART Cake

Over the weekend the planning began. We are a month out from a super seven birthday party at our house. My son has chosen an ART party and the invitations have entered the concept stage but that still leaves some other important details...like the cake. I have been searching the web for some brainstorming ideas and I have to admit that after finding these amazing sugar cookies by Rosie at www.sweetapolita.com that I think I might have to make these cookies instead of cake. I can't wait to show my son when he gets home from school today. Rosie's cakes are amazing and you must take a look. I have become an avid follower of her blog and cannot wait to see her new website that is in the works. 

Over the past years the birthdays at our house have consisted of cakes and themes based on pirates, race cars, carnival, a garden party,  Lego, magic, dogs and Ariel. I grew up in a house where my mom always made our birthday cakes and she was amazing. Next time I am up there I will have to take a look in the old albums for some of her cakes to share with you. Thus I cannot imagine not making my kid's cakes although every year I am so tempted to just buy one.  I've included a few pictures of cakes from last year's birthdays that I made. I would post some of my older cakes but I have to say that making cakes takes a lot of practice and I just can't bring myself to share those old images with you.

Elementary School Clay Tiles

The next big project of the day was finishing up the glaze on the clay tiles that my group of First Graders made in class last week. It was my last lesson for the school year so we went out with a bang and got our hands dirty with some clay. It was so fun for me and the kids and I thoroughly loved that they screamed out loud when they saw what we were making, even if their teacher was not thrilled with the loud shout of joy. The best part of the process is that every class in the school is making their own set to compose a mural out on the playground. I've included a picture of what our goal is but only time will tell if we are really going to achieve these results.

 

If you are interested in doing this project at home is is really quite easy even if you don't have access to a kiln to fire the clay. Simply chose some modeling clay that can harden either by air or in the oven, work it in your hands to soften the clay then roll it out with your rolling pin until it is about 3/8" thick. Next chose whatever you want to texture the tile. You can use some amazing items to do this like the bottom of a shoe, kitchen tools, a piece of jewlery or you cna specifically purchase texture plates for this type of project. Once your tiles are created there are so many things you can do with them. Just imagine the possibilities and the memories you can make with your little ones.

Here are the actual tiles the kids made. They did an amazing job.

Monkey Baby Shower Invitations

Yesterday was an amazingly busy day so I thought why not post about everything that consumed my Thursday. A lot of my days are filled with custom invitations but yesterday I was simply a production artist for a friend of mine who was crafting the sweetest monkey baby shower invitations.

I absolutely love the bananas she came up with and grouping them as a bunch on the final invitation is going to be perfect. I wish I had one of the final designs to share with you but in its place I found a few other great baby products to share.

I fell in love with Baby Aspen at www.babyaspen.com and this little monkey gift set for baby is just too cute. The best part is that it is gifted to someone in the banana box the monkey is holding. 

There are so many great things on their site that it was hard to chose just one thing to share with you but if I still had an infant I would buy either the baby chef or doctor. I know you will fall in love too.

 

Growing Your Own Herb Garden

I know a lot of us enjoy cooking and summer time allows such great options for local grown foods and farmer's markets but what about your own backyard? It is currently beautiful weather here in Seattle so yesterday the kids and I got outside and planted our new herb garden. All of this really got me thinking though. What herbs do we need to make a well rounded cooking garden? And how could I grow more things in some of the unused spots in the yard? I found some amazing ideas and although the first picture is of an indoor herb garden it is way to cool not to talk about.

The planter you see above is called the Cocoon and is designed by Måns Salomonsen of Sweden. You can see more of his amazing design work at www.salomonsen.se. I love the look of the Cocoon but my favorite feature is that it is made of a clay that absorbs water from the cultivation. When it evaporates the storage is cooled down keep the fruit fresher longer. All I know is I need to find a way to get myself a Cocoon for my modern home. 
 

I also found some great criteria for how to choose the herbs that make up your cooking garden. It is not so much about selecting the perfect group to make a complete garden but more about you and your family and how they eat. Thanks to www.gardeningtipsnideas.com/ the first MUST I have already accomplished, the herb garden must be close to the kitchen. Now if only I had the Cocoon it would be IN my kitchen. Next is to make sure you plant in full sun. Your herbs will grow in shade but they are not going to thrive there. It should also have variety and the option to grow something different to offer your family some exploration in flavor. Love this idea but I'm not sure how it will go over with my three year old. Finally, make sure you plant enough to give your family enough supply. If there is only two of you then you need a lot less space and herbs than if you have three little ones running around. And MY last guideline was to make it a fun process for me and my kids. Now they are actually fighting over who gets to cut the first herbs for me. Do you think they will still be this excited once they start eating them? 

I also found this great space saving DIY project at More Design Please that I just have to try before the summer is up www.moredesignplease.com/moredesignplease/2011/3/9/diy-hanging-herb-garden.html. Honestly how creative must you be to think of using a shoe hanger for a hanging herb garden AND it looks great. I'll let you all know if I give this one a whirl and if you try it out before me please share your experience with it.

Growing a Pineapple Plant Indoors

Sometimes First Grade homework is hard. We are currently on our second attempt to try and grow a pineapple plant from the crown of a pineapple.

On our first attempt we left the fruit on the crown and let it dry out for two days. When we potted the crown it quickly rotted. I then spent the next two days reading as much as I could on the web about how to grow an indoor pineapple plant. There are so many opinions on this topic that we finally just had to chose.

 
For try two we cut the crown off again and removed all excess fruit from the core of the pineapple. I also pulled the bottom few leaves from the stalk and then placed the core into a cup of water to try for some roots. I'll keep you posted on what we learn but in the mean time if you are looking to try for yourself I found some good tutorials on www.sunset.com under gardening.

A Visit from the Tooth Fairy

Last night was an exciting evening at our house. My son pulled out tooth number three all on his own. Yeah! You can see it in the picture above on the lower left. This also meant another visit from the Tooth Fairy who brings gold $1 coins. 

As a child I remember sharing with my brother the Tooth Fairy pillow case my mother hand made. Embroidered on the case was a picture of Mickey Mouse with the saying "When you wish upon a star" and to the edge of the case was a teeny tiny pocket that our tooth would go in for the Tooth Fairy to retrieve.

I have to admit that once I had children of my own I did not think about the Tooth Fairy and I am so thankful to my father-in-law who gifted Max the First Mate tooth treasure doll that you see up above by North American Bear Company. I can't wait to buy my daughter one of her own when the time comes and every other friend's child that I know.

We absolutely love these little tooth dolls (about 7.5") at our house and their are plenty of others to chose from too. Some of the family includes, the Super Hero, Fairy, Fairy Princess, Pirate Captain, Piratess Grace, Cowboy Wrangler and Babe Tooth. You can find them all from North American Bear Company online at www.nabearstore.com or if you live local in Seattle at SnapDoodle Toys and in the DC area I would suggest trying DoodleHopper 4 Kids as they carry the same style of toys. 

What do you use at your house with your kids? I love family traditions and starting new ones too so if you have a great Tooth Fairy tradition please share.

The Great BIG Minted Blogger Program Challenge

Welcome to my very first post! I am so excited to finally see this blog come to life. For years design has been my life and for the past seven years children have been my life. Recently I realized that my life is really a connection of the two. My kids don't just have birthday parties with cake and ice cream (although those are a major part of the day). They get excited about choosing a theme, designing their invitations with mom and helping set the decor and theme. In the like I don't just go to meetings anymore or design at a desk. I work around drop-off and pick-up, a laptop is my traveling office and meetings now occur at the local Starbucks.

As my very first post you and I are experiencing something new together. I am just starting out on the idea of design challenges. I have been a fan of Minted for years but today I entered my first design challenge with them, specifically a blogger challenge that gave me the final nudge, shove oh lets just call it an out right push to get my blog going.

The basics are that Minted just launched their own DIY wedding programs that specially coordinate with the rest of your wedding stationery. To celebrate they decided to have a challenge to see what creativity  is out there and to sweeten the deal they are offering some pretty great winnings.