Presents.

So my husband and I have been so poor since we've been married.  We got married young, and we have expected and embraced poverty.  Every Christmas since we've been married, we bring cookies or jello to family gatherings and call that our gift.  We're young and poor, everyone understands.  But I love giving gifts.  I can honestly say that I love giving gifts more than I love receiving them.  I usually make stuff, because it's fun.  I enjoy so much, the trick of figuring out what is the perfect gift for each person, and then waiting to see them open it up and declare that it is actually awesome.  Love it!

So this year, thanks to our beautiful, perfect baby, we're even more poor than usual!  But also, this year I wanted so badly to give EVERYONE a gift.  So I started searching Pinterest for ideas.  I'd made salt dough before, for my Primary children at church, so when I saw blog after blog about baby hand and footprints, I knew this was something easy and inexpensive, that everyone would love!

Salt Dough Recipe

1 Cup Salt
1 Cup Flour
1/2 Cup Warm Water

Knead it until it is stretchy, so it won't break and crumble.  Super easy!

I didn't have cookie cutters the right size, so I used a glass to cut out the circles.  Juliet loved putting in her handprints.  4 1/2 months old, everything is fun to touch.  She was only mad she couldn't put it in her mouth.

After the handprints, I used small alphabet stamps to stamp in her name along the side.  Use a straw to punch out the hole.

Bake in the oven (preheated to 100 degrees F) for 3 hours.  We didn't hear the timer, and baked them for who knows how long, but they came out great!

We painted them red, used a fine point sharpie to fill in the name.

Then I got Juliet's Christmas portrait printed (making sure it would fit the ornaments).  I used a smaller glass to trace a circle, a hole punch, and then used modge podge to add the pictures.

I couldn't find my red ribbon, but I think it looks so classy with black!

Sorry about the cruddy photography.  Too sick to pull out the Canon = Cell phone pictures.

Christmas!

It's a photography day!

There are so many things that I love about this time of year, namely, Christmas, and every sub-category that follows.  I love the crisp air (because in Tucson it never gets cold, just crisp).  I love the lights (I ignore that we have to pay so much for them!).  I love Christmas trees, ornaments, and I stinking love an excuse to get glitter on every surface of my existence.  I love racking my brain to come up with the perfect gift for those I love.  That, I think, is my favorite part of the monetary side of Christmas.  It's like a game for me.  After Thanksgiving, I spend the majority of my free time pondering those I love, thinking about our conversations, thinking about recent events in their lives, their recent fashion statements and trends, their likes, and for the perfect gag gifts, their dislikes.   Then I get the perfect idea, rarely is it a purchasable gift.  Often, my brain comes up with those perfect one-of-a-kind gifts that literally has the receiver's name on it, in my handwriting.  I have an urge to share, but I also have a faulty hope that anyone in my family actually reads this blog.

Then there's the proper side of Christmas.  There's the root of Christmas, the entire purpose it was ever brought about.  The reason, tempting as it may be, I will never replace the star atop my tree with that stinking cute owl topper from Target.  Jesus Christ.  He is incredible.  He is perfect.  He is our Savior.  And what a perfect, beautiful time of year to commemorate his birth, than December.  Because in December we get to snuggle up warm, and drink hot cocoa, and read Christmas stories, always reminding us of why we give things to each other.  Because when Christ was born, He was God's greatest gift to us.  That is why it is the season of giving.  Nothing invites the spirit into our homes more, than choosing to serve others.

I have a current experience that is brimming my heart with joy.  Our ward (which we are brand new to, and know almost no one) does a giving tree.  There's a teensy Christmas tree in the church, covered with ornaments, that say something like, "Boy, 7, anything to do with Iron Man," and "Girl, 14, skirts."  As Juliet was unyielding that we continue to pace the halls during Sunday School, I stopped and began to view the ornaments, with a desire to give.  Of course, we have no money, and these were gift requests that it would be hard to make for free, but my heart yearned to participate.  So I continued to skim, every now and then a request from a child would make me laugh.  And then I held up one ornament, a teenage girl's request for art supplies, namely such for pencil drawing.  If there's one thing that inspires me, it's a youth who loves to imagine, and create.  My heart leapt, because, though I am completely poor, I have a stock pile of art supplies, for my own enjoyment, and the fact that my husband was forced against his will to study art for one semester.  His poor soul.  I'm not sure how he survived.  But it just so happened that I had a giant drawing pad I got for a penny, my husband's hardly touched sketch pad from his class, and an entire pack of pencils, with kneaded eraser, rubber eraser, pencil sharpener and nub all untouched!  I was so excited.  I found something I could give.  I have no idea who this girl is, but I pulled a color pencil sketch of a flower from my own sketch pad, and I wrote her a letter, because she inspired me by her request.  Then I wrapped all of the things together, tied it with red ribbon, and next week it will go to the clerk's office and await delivery.  What a beautiful feeling to give so much.  I could have chosen to see those items as the amount of money I spent on them, but the joy of giving fills my heart, and there is no room left for what my mind might choose to think.

I love Christmas!

And didn't I say it's a photo day!  We spent our Sabbath setting up my little in-home studio and creating props for this Christmas time baby photo shoot!  Juliet was amazed by the lights, and mesmerized by her glittering shoes.

Garden.

So we've all seen the cinderblock garden on Pinterest (originally from Apartment Therapy).  I have been unfathomably obsessed with this idea for one main reason: I have two children, with floppy ears, wagging tails and sloppy tongues (oh and did I mention GIANT paws) which love to destroy all things beautful, mediocre or ugly.  We nicknamed the younger of the two DOT (Destroyer of Things), and she lives up to her name with gusto.

Of course the root of this problem, as with all problems with dogs, started with us.  In our search for assets in our life, we discovered that Indiana was the most efficient weed puller.  We got to the point where all we had to do was wiggle each weed, and in seconds it was out of the ground and onto the pile, and we didn't even sweat a drop.  Unfortunately, the habit was much too fun to keep within the realm of garden chores, and suddenly every strip of pipe from the watering system was torn from the ground, every daisy was uprooted, and several beautiful bushes... aren't so beautiful anymore.   We doomed ourselves to having a horrid yard because we were lazy, and Indiana was just having so much fun!

So here I am, in a new house, in a much more urban area, with a cute little yard which I am entirely in charge of, and by all means, it will be able to welcome more than a Mars Rover when I am done with it.

Now that I've shared a little bit of background, I hope it becomes evident why the cinder block garden idea was the perfect project for me, and my only slightly ridiculous family issues.  First, it is the perfect garden for a small space!  It builds upwards, instead of outwards, and only requires a little bit of soil and water.   Second, the majority of the garden is off of the ground, and away from where my cute little Destroyers can reach it.  Third, the idea is entirely customizable.  If you can play Tetris, you can build this garden, and even better, if you love aerosol art, nothing couples that love better than plain cinder block.

So, here's the beginning of my project, obviously it has some major touching up, and planting that needs to go down, but you get the idea.

Finally we finished painting and stacking the blocks.  When you put the wall together, make sure to put Liquid Nails on the tops and bottoms of the blocks, but also the sides.  We didn't start out putting the glue between the touching sides of the blocks, and when we decided to use more glue it became ten times sturdier.  My husband keeps making sure I'm willing to leave this behind when we move someday, because it is a strong piece of thing!

On Apartment Therapy, they suggested to cut down block and use Liquid Nails to stop up the bottoms. Many other bloggers have said they just used wire mesh.  Because of the artwork we added to the idea, I wanted to be sure the dirt would not leak out the bottom and soil (no pun intended) the underlying bricks.  Cutting wood is easier, so we did that.  Just a couple of the scrap boards from Home Depot.  If you buy their culled wood it's only 51 cents a piece.

For the stenciling, I simply cut a few doilies out of paper, just like you would make a paper snow flake. I first sprayed down the blue, then used spray adhesive on the doily.  I stuck the doily onto the blue spot after the paint dried, then sprayed over it with red, making sure not to let the paint pool.  When stenciling, make sure to spray strait on, so you don't get mist under the stencil.  I got a little bit.

Here's the almost finished project, after the boards set in, the glue tried, I touched up some sections of paint, and filled the holes with soil!

Since I'm planting succulents, I'm debating on using some of the gravel from my yard, to ad that deserty feeling, and also to tie the planter into the already existing design.

Will post more photographs when I finally strap up the baby and go on a plant purchasing trip!

Masterpiece.

I have loved this quote for quite some time.  Now I have a child to speak the quote about.  I love my little girl so much, and everything about this quote is true.  As an artist I have always dreamt of creating something beautiful, moving and thoughtful.  I never dreamed that I would feel such a way about a person.  But she is beautiful, moving and though provoking, just as the perfect masterpiece should be.  She is my child, my masterpiece.  She fills me with love, and I wear the honor of motherhood with pride.

Beauty.

Today I am embracing the beauty of pregnancy, and ignoring the discomforts.

Baby Shower.

Baby shower cake!

Decorations!

Letters to Juliet's Mom

Baby Shower.

So we got to enjoy the stresses and joys of throwing a baby shower this weekend!  We burnt the food, and then accidentally lit one of the games on fire, but being as that's a little typical for my family, all went well and everyone had a blast!  My mother-in-law was the host in my mother's house, and so everything had to be fancy and perfect, but somehow I convinced everyone to keep it simple.  However, asking my MIL to keep a cake simple is like the insult of all insults.  This cake was home made by her!  She used a teddy bear cake mold and chopped off it's ears and nose (it got to keep it's tail).  The baby is lemon pound cake, because it's more firm, and the bottom was three tiers of white cake with raspberry jam filling!  My favorite!  The handle on the binky is a lifesaver! Gotta love it!

We hit up Part City for decorations.  The lanterns were the bomb, because they're so quick to assemble.  We were running so last minute when it came to decorating the place, that I was so happy we had chosen lanterns.  We made a bunch of the tissue paper poufs, but they took so much time to properly poof them, that we ended up only using a couple over the food table.  And I fell completely in love with that fan.

Using a variety of different hanging items was perfect, because it almost gave it a bouquet look!  Variety is complimentary.

I saw this activity on Pinterest, and knew from the start that it had to happen! We hung up a hemp clothesline along one wall, and as everyone arrived, they received a onesie to write out their "Letters to Juliet's Mom."

 You can purchase onesie cutouts at Michael's and different places, but it was so much more fun to make our own!  I used the funky shape tool in Photoshop to essentially make my own patterned scrapbook paper, then fed the patterned papers through the printer again to get the onesie outline.  

 This was just a couple of the baby shower ideas, amongst many.  It was so cute, and a total success!

Heirloom.

Okay vintage lovers!  I've been blessed to be handed down an heirloom from my aunt, my grandmother (and maybe her mother?).  I've been doubly blessed to realize that it fits my big, fat, prego fingers, so I no longer have to look illegitimate! (This is rather important to me.)  So here's my query: What era does this ring date back to? And, can you tell me anything about it?

Belts & Shoes.

I thought that perhaps a follow-up on my fashion-friendly post would be fun, considering that I'm actually keeping up with a goal for once!  I have been taking time with myself each day, and not leaving the house until I feel absolutely beautiful!  One thing that has been forcing me to dress up a little bit more, is that my husband splurged for me to have a new pair of shoes!  A new pair of shoes always makes a girl think a little bit more about her getup, I think.  It sure does for me, especially when the new pair of shoes are these!!! Fluorescent pink Chuck Taylors!!! With a little chipped nail polish to match.

And there's nothing better to dress up a baby bump than a cute belt! I'm normally a cotton-only kinda gal, but I'm beginning to think there's something worth while in all these odd "hang to dry" fabrics.

I also replaced my floppy-cotton capris with form fitting black leggings (which I found at Ross for $4.99).  It's amazing how much difference a couple inches of fabric makes on my self-esteem!

Identity.

Who are we on the inside? Who are we on the outside? Where do we come from, and how does that define us? How could our perceptions of race change, when our inner identity is shifted by new knowledge? These are the questions I asked myself when my family history revealed that I was not genetically made by the culture I had always identified myself with. I was suddenly physically comparing myself to a whole different ethnic group of women. I found myself wondering if I wanted to continue to cling to the culture I knew, or if I wanted to learn more about where my family originally came from.

This portfolio is my expression of the inner search that I experienced at this time in my life. Who we are is who we are, but perceptions and ideas are painted onto us, sometimes by others, and sometimes by ourselves. Sometimes this causes individuals to feel separate from others, and sometimes it allows us to embrace each other. Race and culture cause a beautiful intermingling of people, beliefs and ways of life. Who are you?

Inspiration.

So I just threw out a post to all my peeps at Pima, begging someone to take cute pictures of myself with a belly!  I've noticed recently that my friends afar off don't recognize me, so I need a few nice pictures, just to keep up my public image!

I got an email from a sweet girl who said, very humbly, "I'd really love some experience, you can look at my work if you want!"

So I took her up on that and found this image that just struck my eye like a hammer!  LOVE!

Image by Gabrielle Oase.

Absolutely beautiful.

Fashion.

Last fall I was blessed to take a digital photography class at Pima, and I learned all kinds of great things and it was incredible and wonderful, and I got lots of kudos left and right, yay.  The best part, however, is that I met two incredibly fabulous friends, who I now enjoy and cherish!

One friend in particular, has helped me in more ways than she probably realizes!  Let me tell you about the fabulous Sydney, fashion stylist and blogger!  This woman is incredible.  Firstly, she takes such great care of her skin, it made it almost impossible for me to guess her age!  One day when she mentioned her 10 year old son, I had a little mental breakdown.  Secondly, she puts time into herself.  Even on the days when she throws on jeans and tennies, she spends enough time, that she looks radiant!

Let me tell you why this is such a huge thing for me.  I was raised by a practical woman.  Practicality is everything.  If its not practical and fully functional, it doesn't belong in your life.  This idea has been like doctrine for me.  Then there's the fact that I've always been a bit of a tom boy.  I prefer tennies.  I prefer tee shirts.  I prefer pony tails.  Amen.  Fashion has just never been my thing.  Now there's the fact that I've been getting more and more into photography.  I remember the first time I sat down and watched America's Next Top Model with my room mates, they sat around saying, "I want to be her! She's so beautiful and her neck is perfect!" And I sat there saying, "I want to be that photographer! His job looks so fun, and look at that lighting equipment!"  And that has pretty much been my outlook on fashion.  I love to photograph it, I buy copies of Vogue at Bookmans just to study the lighting patterns, always thinking fashion isn't for me.

Now I have a watermelon for a waistline.  I'm not sure if I can properly express how this changes ones perspective.

When I first got pregnant, I couldn't care less how I looked.  When I first started to show, I felt radiant, even in sweats.  Now I feel like a barge, and I cannot tell you how my self esteem has begun to plummet. For some reason, maternity clothing is half past impossible to find in Tucson.  I'm not sure what the problem is here.  There's one maternity store that I know of, and I cannot tell you how out of our budget it is.  So I opted for some men's Tees that I found for $1 a piece at the Deseret Industries.  And my self esteem continued to plummet.  Oh, then I ran out of pants.  And my self esteem continued to plummet.  Then my mother tried to remedy the situation with a pair of 3x stretch waist pants.  And my self esteem was pretty much fully plummeted.

Then, about two weeks ago, I started flipping through Sydney's blog.  She dresses darn cute, and then photographs herself, and then shows to world how adorable she is on any given day.  I remember her telling me, "I used to go all out, and do my hair and everything! Now I just don't have the time for that."  She said she doesn't have time for that?  She's a working mother, and she somehow still finds the time to look fabulous.  And what do I do all day?

So I searched through my closet one day, and tried to look at my clothing with a different perspective.  I found a long skirt, that my mother bought me, that had been much too gaudy for me to ever wear, and I didn't have a shirt to go with it, so I never had yet worn it.  I found a matching tee that no longer covers my belly, and then raised the skirt up to my chest, and tied a belt around my empire waistline.  I felt cute.  I felt so darn cute.  It was the first time I felt cute in a long time.  That day I met my mother for some reason, and she just about flipped.  She was so happy, first, to see that I was wearing something she gave me, and secondly, that I turned it cute.

Two days later she called me, "Come over, I did some shopping."

I didn't look at price tags, so I have no idea what kind of damage she did, but it was all from Ross (love)!  To say the least, she actually found some successful pieces, and I actually have a cute wardrobe that fits me now!  She even found me some sleeved maxi dresses (which have been near impossible to find!) which I can wear like a mumu at home, or dress up with a cute belt to go out!

With new clothing hanging in my closet, new found inspiration from Sydney, and one trimester to go, I decided to make a promise to myself to look fabulous.  I realized with a little bit of time and effort, even if I'm not going anywhere for the day, I need to make myself look how I want to feel.  When my waistline was small, I could totally work the look of a messy tom boy, who just rode here on her bicycle, but when I feel like a barge,  I don't necessarily have to dress like one.

So on Friday we began our early morning walk regimen (waking up at 5:30am before Michael leaves for work) and with an early start to the day, I took advantage!  I curled my hair (haven't used that iron for about 6 months) and reunited with my Bare Minerals.  And I did the same each day, and seriously, I had the best weekend I've had in a long time!

So here's my new opinion on fashion: You've got to dress how you want to feel.  I want to feel like a strong, beautiful woman, and so I will dress like a strong, beautiful woman.  I don't imagine anyone will be catching me in my pumps any time soon, but with a few cute belts, and some sparkly eye shadow, I've gone from being a whale, to a woman.

Thank you Sydney, for inspiring me!

Night light.

Here's a project I've been wanting to do for a long time, and finally got around to it today!!!  I've been tugging this little aquarium around with me since college (which I bought at Walmart for maybe $20).  I refuse to get rid of it, and since it's going to take up space no matter where I put it, I thought I could use it in the nursery decor!  

Here's a close up of the project.  I couldn't live without this blossom!

I fell in love with the Tiddliwinks "In The Pond" bed set from Target, and thought a pond themed night light would be essential for my little one!

I've always been really big on keeping plants indoors.  I'm not sure why, it must be something about keeping my own oxygen supply.  Think about it!  A little bit of love and care, and you've got a little friend who gives you beautiful, clean oxygen!  In your house!  I love it.  So I headed over to the Petsmart aquarium and picked out two lives plants, and two super bright artificial plants, just for fun!

Here's a look from one side of the hexagonal aquarium.  I of course had to choose pink plants to go with the pink accents on the wall... and I'm having a girl!  For the natural bits, I chose a leafy green, which you see in the background. I chose this just to fill the space up a bit, and add that flowy plant feeling, that is necessary in any underwater setting!  I didn't pay attention to the species, just the price tag.  This little guy was around $3.50.

Here you can see the two most beautiful of the four choices.  They're also bigger, so I placed them in the back!  When I saw this blossom I had to have it.  I considered buying three, and placing them at different heights around the aquarium, but sticking to the budget is a much better feeling!  The artificial plant with the blossom came with a ton of rather large leaves, and I definitely wanted the natural plants to fill the space more, so I removed several of the leaves.  I also had to shorten the stem of the blossom to put it at the ideal viewing hight.  The voluminous plant on the right was so beautiful, even my husband got a little excited about the texture of it.  It was so large that I had to trim off about four inches just to get it to float through the water properly!  So I took those trimmings, bundled them together and planted them in the opposite corner.  I got two plants out of that one, and pretty much felt like a winner.

 Overall, I spent about $10 on plants at Petsmart, and $3 on the beautiful, polished river stones (purchased from Michaels).  The arranging was a little difficult, but as soon as the roots grow into the gridded mat on the bottom, they should be quiet permanent!

I just grew rather fond of this image.  

I took a teensy step back to show the aquarium in it's entirety.  I turned on the light, and set the bubbler.  The motor makes a soft hum that might prove to be comforting to the little one, or might not.  Anyway, I've been searching for a unique nightlight for Juliet (and myself) to enjoy, but couldn't find anything interesting within our budget, so for less than $20, I made my own!