One Thousand Gifts - April 19, 2010

Still counting my blessings to 1000. Almost half way there!
392. April vacation393. Night of crochet, chats and a movie with small group girls.394. a successful history fair.395. Sunday afternoon at Mom and Dad's.396. Nursery duty397. a clean house398. Only 2 weeks left of Dad's cancer treatment.399. Chex "Puppy Chow"400. Attentive cats401. emails from far-away friends402. plans403. Finished reports404. blooming Christmas Cactus in April405. new projects406. peace407. opportunities to use my gifts408. painting lessons with friends409. being under the covers410. a whole week of hanging out with my B

What is the Kingdom Worth?

Matthew 13:44-45

 ⁴⁴"The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field. ⁴⁵"Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls.

"Pleasant-Trees"

This week I decided to do some embroidery. I hadn't done it in a while, but as a child, I used to love embroidering little pillows and such. I've been inspired recently by many crafty bloggers who create lovely embroidery hoop art (For example:  SouleMama, Sew Liberated and Contented Sparrow (as seen at A Holy Experience).

I had a cheap dish towel that I never used because it isn't nice and soft like the others. It was perfect for embroidery, so I ripped it into three pieces to use for this project.  I did some sketches in my journal and thought it might be interesting to try something that fit together as a whole, rather than three separate designs.


I lightly sketched this spring-y design on each piece of fabric, then went to work embroidering the design, solely using the back-stitch (here is a great tutorial of embroidery basics if anyone is interested).  After I finished, I pulled each piece of fabric tight and then glued the edges to the back of the embroidery hoop (there is probably a better way of doing this, but this was all I could think to do at the time).  When I try something like this again, I'd like to learn and use some different kinds of stitches, but overall I'm pleased with this little project.  They currently hang on the door to the guest room. 

Per Mr. James' idea and request, I call them the "Pleasant-trees". 

This Moment - April 16, 2010

Joining with SouleMama:

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

Texture and Foliage in Sea Kettle Studios

We continue to add layers on my students' first landscapes in Sea Kettle Studios.  

This week, the kids learned about texture and color in plants and foliage.  Check out the many shades of green in their landscapes and the beautiful brush strokes they used to create "leafy" shapes and textures.  The kids were all smiles this week and I could tell that that surprised themselves at what they could do!

We may have some finished paintings by next week... 

Spring Windows

With every new season, I re-paint the windows of my classroom at school.  Did you know that you can use tempera paint on glass?  I first used this technique on my dorm room windows in college. Tempera is very easy to paint with and comes off very well with water, paper towels and some elbow grease. It's also a very cheap way of decorating, which will make your administration happy, too. :)


These seasonal paintings brighten up our room so much and the kids are always excited to see what's going to be painted next.  Here are my spring bees and cherry blossom trees... 

Kid-Fix

Bri and I love kids.  With none of our own yet, we have to get our kid-fixes elsewhere for the time being. :)

Luckily, we have wonderful friends who let us play with their little guys every once in a while. 

(Of course, Mr. James is always the favorite.  He would bring his banjo. Come on! ...give a girl a chance!)