easter

Easter could not have fallen on a more beautiful day this year.  We spent hours on the porch painting eggs and napping in the hammock. We went for a walk to town. Saya got to look for easter eggs and her easter basket, and we all felt happy.

animal collage frames

There is a local store that I sometimes go to where I can buy cardstock by the pound. I usually keep a big stack of it around, and we use it for all kinds of projects. On a recent day at home I pulled it out and we made these little animal collage frames. We used Sachiko Umoto's book  Illustration School: Let's Draw Cute Animals. I love this book, and have since ordered her other two books--Let's Draw Happy People and Let's Draw Plants and Small Creatures. I am saving those for Saya's birthday. And she has a fourth book coming out Let's Draw Magical Color that is now on my wishlist too. I just love these books. Saya's frames weren't quite finished when I took these photos, but her little animals and clouds are so cute. I love making things with her.

more florida pics

I found some more pictures on my phone. I think that life at the beach really suits Saya. She could swim all day, doesn't mind being covered in sunscreen and sand with her hair blowing free. She tans easily. She had a lot of fun on this trip.

winter break

Somehow we didn't end up with many good pictures from our winter break trip to Florida, but I wanted to post one for a memory of Christmas 2013 at the beach.

handmade gifts part three - spoons

I made a lot of these spoons to give to family for Christmas. I found the idea on design mom. I thought it was great because it is something useful and I like the way they turned out. The wood burning tool was inexpensive and fun to use. I also made some hand-stitched linen napkins to go with them.

handmade gifts part two - animal friends

I made the sheep first because I had this amazingly soft furry fabric. (I also used it for the mouse blanket.) Then I decided she needed some friends.

handmade gifts part one - mouse house

I made this little mouse house for Saya. The small case is from Target--it was plain and I decorated it. (I didn't make the mouse. I splurged on a Maileg mouse. I love their toys so much.) I made a little quilt, pillow and blanket. Finally I bought another small paper box for $1 and painted the top to look like a table. Inside the box can store little foods and accessories for the mouse.