jodified

I don't think I can even call it a craft. It's that easy.

I tried this today with Bailey, who is 3.5 years old, and it didn't hold her interest long… but for those of you with older children I think it might work better so I'll share it anyway.

ALL I did was take Elmer's Glue and draw designs on white card stock:

Then I let it dry overnight (it doesn't take that long obviously) and this morning I gave them to Bailey with pastels (crayons or markers or paint would work too) and told her to color over the images…

 

Since it didn't photograph well I colored some…

SO.  My idea was that she would color and the "hidden" pictures would be revealed. She didn't color solid enough to make it work and I think I had too much glue b/c the spaces in between weren't very big for the pastel to fit.

IF. If I do it again I will give her water colors and a big paintbrush. I think that might work better. If I had older children I would let them do the glue design AND color the picture. I might let her do the glue designs anyway and see what we get.

What I love about crafting with my kids is making projects stretch out. My girl's attention span is fairly short so I try to think of things that they can start and finish a few days later with steps in between. So the idea that at one sitting she could glue and the next she could paint makes me happy.

I also think this could be used to make cute cards for people. Cut the paper into 4×6 size, do a monogrammed letter (or a cupcake or any design), let your kids paint (or color but the more i think about it i think paint might work best) and when dry glue on the front of a card (folded card stock is easy and cheap to make cards) and let your kids color the inside too!

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I have a lot of other random photos to share (hopefully tonight) including photos of OUR ABSOLUTE FAVORITE game! I always wonder what a game will be like before I buy it b/c we've bought some serious DUDS and I can't recommend this game enough! Photos+post coming!

"or we run the risk of doing nothing at all." {found HERE}

Love that site, I went to school with the artist and need to remember her more often when I need gifts for the women in my life. Support her. Support women.

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I love that quote b/c I am doing more than what I love. I'm doing many things that I love and am passionate about and how freaking incredible is that? I get to take photographs and design cool things and be a mommy and a wife. Four major things that I love dearly and I get to do every day.

It's just that sometimes there isn't enough time in a day to do all four things. And sometimes all four things are screaming for my attention and I want to tell them all to shut up and go take a hike.

Can you tell I got less than 2 hours sleep?

Parker is still sick, fever spiking every 4 hours on the dot, Bailey wet her bed, Grayson was up multiple times and at one point we had both little ones in our bed. It was a LONG night.

I love my life and I love the fact that I am making a career out of my passions. When I'm this tired though I sometimes wish I could put that dream on hold and just be a mom. Or even more often I wish my kids would disappear and I could work all day, uninterrupted. Isn't that awful?

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I guess today, more than mothering or working, I wish I could simply do nothing at all.

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But as my grandma would have said, I need to pick myself up by my boot straps and get moving.

TODAY:  Debating about who will go to GoGo's house and who will stay with me… she was supposed to have all three this morning, for 2 hours, so I could work, but with Parker sick I'm just not sure. Someone will be heading there around 9am though. I have canvases and prints and proofs and a coffee table book to deliver, which will make Deana smile, and that makes me happy. I have a brochure to stop print on since at midnight I found two massive spelling mistakes.

Can you find the mistakes??? Yeah. Awesome.

I have a website to work on and photos to take. I have a sick kid and a fussy baby and a hyperactive three year old… or maybe she seems hyper b/c the rest of us are so tired and slow this morning. Whether all of this happens or not I know that a king sized mnt dew is in order to put a little spring in my step!

And do you know what will help me get through my day? Grey's of course. They'd better not disappoint tonight! GO!

edited to add: my mom just called and said she was going to QuickTrip… did I need a soda? LOVE HER! Thanks mom!!!

Found this beauty at THIS blog today. It was a good reminder.

So you know that I will be offering portrait sessions in Kansas City the weekend of June 20th right? And can do a few sessions in Columbia or anywhere else along the way? (Did you know I only have a couple spots left? Book now!)

Well did you know that I'm working on a trip to Spokane, WA in July also? Yep! More details to come! Email me if you are near there and want to know more!

And if you and a few of your friends want to commission me to come to your town I am OPEN for travel this summer!

I will be compiling waiting lists so if you are interested in having me come to YOU just shoot me an email and I will get you and your town on a list… if we can find enough people I am there!

I had a few comments on the previous post about how I get my kids to look "good" all the time and the answer is, they don't!  They definitely have days of old sweats with stains and mismatched colors+patterns. When they look like that it's usually b/c someone is sick or I'm exhausted or we're just having a jammie day at home and I rarely have the energy to get the camera out so you just don't see those outfits as often.

BUT.

I do think about their clothes in a new way recently. The criteria?

Are they camera ready?

If you've ever been to my website and looked around you will notice that I HATE the traditional white shirt+jeans photos. Hate them. I'll take them, but I hate them. They have no personality. I love color!

COLOR!

And so I'm starting to dress my kids, as often as I can, in outfits I would love to photograph.

BUT.

I'm not spending huge amounts on clothes either. At all really. The three places I buy clothes for them are Target, Old Navy and the thrift store.

Some examples:

I love this b/c no one matches and yet the photo is pleasing to the eye, aside from Grayson's stinker face! Bailey's shirt, the pink one, and her jeans I just got at Old Navy. The shirt was $3 and the jeans $10. Her high top Converse came from the thrift store, as did Parker's converse. Parker's jeans are old ones of Bailey's from Target and her shirt was $1 at Old Navy! (They are having an amazing sale right now on kid's clothes!) Gray's jeans are Gap from the thrift store and his shirt is Target. His little shoes are Robbies, from my mom for Christmas (those are $25). Cute colorful and CHEAP!

Bailey's crazy outfit here is my new fave! I love how mismatched it is b/c it totally works! The dress was a gift from my dad I got to pick out from a small boutique (and the bow)… it was super expensive, I think about $50+ but it was a gift. Boots: Target. Poncho: Christmas gift from my cousin, I think Old Navy? Anyway, this color combo photographs awesome against the drab winter background!

I am obsessed with these boots this year… short dresses, tights or leggings and brown boots. This dress was $3 at Old Navy, the vest $7 at Target.

SO.

I shop for deals and I put together crazy color combos. It works for me. And when Chris looks at me like I've lost my mind I know the outfit is perfect! HA!

What's so funny is that most people, my mom, my husband, my sister, etc. all think I'm crazy but I love it!

And I love it when my clients hop on board too, like this family!

Can you get cuter? She purchased this print in a 16×24 wrapped canvas! I can't wait to get it back from my lab!

I just put together a "what to wear" guide that I will be sending all future clients to help guide you in what kind of outfits photograph well! It's great and I can't wait for you to see it!

Also, to get us out of the house looking put together I do a few tricks…

- we bathe the kids every night so their hair is clean in the morning and ready to go
- I lay out their clothes at night so I have more time to think about it
- from a very young age I made the girls wear pony tails almost every day so they are used to having their hair pulled… every morning while they brush their teeth I do their hair.
- i don't put them in old clothes for art projects, they just have old t-shirts of mine they put over their clothes to paint in
- all the clothes we buy are cheap so if something is stained badly i toss it (i do cut a 5×5 square out of it if it's something with a cute pattern for a quilt I'll make someday)

So there you have it. Cheap clothes. Bright choices. Random combinations.

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And my announcement?

I've been asked to be on the design team for The Digi Chick!

I am so excited!!!

Mel over at The Hybrid Kid suggested me and Nicole from The Digi Chick emailed me last week asking if I would be interested! WHAT? Of course I would be interested!

I have free access to all of their products and I get to write a blog tutorial once a month explaining how I created something. I've already got some project ideas in mind! I can't wait to get started!

This scrap page I did on Friday was using some of their awesome products (this kit is HERE)!

I can't wait to really learn more about digital scrapbooking!

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Happy Birthday Mr. President! Chris is home today and we're getting things done! The house is fairly clean, the kids are clean, me not so much but you can't win them all! We're headed out to Toys R Us b/c there is a sale on baby food today and we're going to meet some friends! 4 girls running around a toy store? Awesome.

Happy Monday! GO!