Honestly, our whole summer has been a stay-cation. We've taken at least one day trip a week, even if it is just to the pool or lake. I've tried to have a weekly outing and a daily project for the grand fairies when they are here with me.
But we were able to slip in one getaway, where we stayed at a hotel in Kansas City with a water park.
And spent the next day at the KC zoo.
It's not how far you go that counts.
It's who you go there with.
Kerryanne English is an artist I have always admired, and was an early blog friend of mine.
If you are wondering why I'm talking about Kerryanne and showing pictures of my studio, it is because she has asked me to be in her magazine, Shabbylicious.
She caught me at a good time, to get studio pictures. I'd just finished Birdsong, and was getting the room cleaned up, and organized.
So, the room was actually ready for pictures. This year, I have been in a mood to put things away correctly, and efficiently in a pretty way.
It probably doesn't look much different to anyone else, but there is a world of difference to me. Cabinets are cleaned out, supplies are more sorted and accessable, and I've made tags with labels for things hidden away in boxes.
While working on the room, I found a lot of things I forgot I had and really didn't care about anymore. My garage now holds about 6 boxes of neglected goods ready to go to the thrift store. It hurt just a little tiny bit to do that, but the pinch on my thrifty soul didn't hurt for long. It felt good to have things cleaned out once it was done.
I'm so proud of it all, I should be taking pictures inside of cabinets instead of outside!
Even though the guts of the room aren't very pretty, to me they are quite lovely.
I seriously don't know what got into me. This sorting and stacking stage that I've been in started even before Birdsong. While getting ready for the event, I did a lot of redoing along the way. If I needed a tablecloth for the studio, I pulled out every thing from the linen closet, refolded and restacked it all, sorting them by size.
Seriously, what happened to me? Have I become my mother? She had enviable linen closets. Mine have always been very haphazard.
It's an honor to be in Kerryanne's pretty magazine, even though all you can see is the outside of my cabinets, not my glorious stacking and sorting skills hidden inside of them.
It is an online one that you can look at for free, or order a digital or printed copy for yourself. If you buy a printed version, you get the digi one for free.
I've enjoyed going back through her past issues too. The magazine is very well done, and the pictures are lovely. (you can follow her magazines online too, and never miss a copy)
These photos are not in the magazine, these are some of the dozens I sent to her to chose from. I don't have photoshop, and am not savvy about sizing for publishing, so she offered to edit and foof the photos she used for the publication.
I typically use picmonkey, which I love, but isn't suitable for a professional printing job, they tend to shrink the pixels down too much when you save the picture. These photos I'm showing today, are not edited as I usually do, you can probably tell they are "befores", for example, this second Fairy Dress picture is one that I did edit, the first one was not. Sorry that all are not edited!
She was a real doll to work with. If you'd like to see pictures she chose and edited, as well as the other artists featured in the magazine, please visit her here.
And thank you, Kerryanne for including me in your pages! I've ordered my copy and look forward to getting it in the mail.
PS- I'm working away on the covers for our Nature's Blessing Journal swap. If I could do assembly line style work, I'd be done so much faster, but that is BORING. I have to stop and assemble a few as I go, or stop and make pages of my own to keep sane. So far, 45 are assembled.
If you'd like to buy a journal with blank pages, or swap pages with another artist and receive a full book, details are here.
One of our day trips this summer was to Kaleidoscope at Crown Center.
Where I fell in love with the outrageous decor.
These paper towel dispensers make me want to build one for my studio.
And the place is 100% free.
All of the art supplies are donated by Hallmark.
It was so colorful and fun, we went twice that day. Once before and then after we saw "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" at the theater at Crown Center.
Cute theater! We have plans to go back to see Rudolf at Xmas.
I'll bet that Hallmark has some nifty Christmas crafts in mind for the holidays when we return. Since it is Hallmark, and they pretty much are all about holidays and celebrations.
Crown Center wasn't the only thing we revisited. We have discovered that vinegar and baking soda are a very exciting combo. Over the summer, we've played with it a lot.
We've filled an empty water bottle with it and added a balloon to the top, and watched the gas fill up the balloon. We've made volcanoes, we've just put it in tubs and played with the fizziness.
This time, we filled a pie tin with food coloring blobs.
By the way, after going through boxes and boxes of food coloring this summer, I've discovered that it washes out of clothes and hands with Dr. Bronner's Castile Soap in peppermint (from the natural grocers or Trader Joes)
We covered up the food coloring in the tin with baking soda.
(The wagon in the background holds a tub of water that she dumps the leftovers into when the experiment is done. All the food colors mixed together turn the water swamp colored, and she likes to sit in it and pretend to be a swamp creature. Don't ask me why it needs to be in a wagon, but somehow that was important in the game.)
Then, filled a squirt gun with vinegar and sprayed away.
The more you spray, the more fizzy, frothy, rainbow bubbles you get.
Our 29th anniversary is today, and we've had multiple celebrations for it. A romantic dinner out one night, and boating with friends, enjoying a sunset picnic on another.
Plus, a weekend with Sugarwings while her parents work. We talked about going away, staying somewhere special and taking our little Sprite along with us. Maybe St. Louis? or Omaha? Just a quick trip out of town.
But after the floating picnic at dusk with our friends, and the shining moon came out over the water, we decided that corny as it is, "There's no place like home," is a truthful statement.
What could be nicer than a lazy, relaxing weekend on the lake? We are pretty happy right where we are.
And when I heard that there would be a "super moon" plus a meteor shower tonight, I knew we'd made the right choice!
The lazy days of summer are almost ending. Dang, what happened to school starting after Labor Day???
It has been such a great summer, I dread seeing it end. Usually, by this time of year, I'm longing for the cooler fall days. But this season, we've been blessed with ideal weather. Our gardens have never looked so good.
The flowers have been overly pretty.
Our little hummingbird moth has been enjoying them too. She comes back every year and visits the cleome patch. Well, at least that is how I see it. There are probably bunches of these creatures that are attracted to this flower bed, but to me, it is the same little bird-like butterfly that comes back to visit each July and August.
The weather has been more than wonderful for dining outdoors too. Our friends' have the best patio ever for brunching on and we never turn down the delicious meals they serve there.
Watching these two kittens grow bigger each day, has been like having a daily reminder of how fast time passes. As they morphed from spring time babies to almost full grown cats in what felt like a matter of a few short weeks, I was glad for the visual reminder that we all are changing and growing daily, even if we don't see it.
I've taken time to slow down, watch the flower gardens and grand fairies blossom, and enjoy as much time with the children as I could get. Because, before you know it….
Summer is gone.
Kids are grown.
Kittens are cats.
Oh bummer! I didn't mean this to be sad!! I'm loving it all. That is one of the reasons why I chose the theme, "Nature's Blessings" for the journal swap I am doing.
Noticing and appreciating daily life is something we need to stop and remember to do. I'm looking forward to having a journal to slip notes and photos into, maybe save a handful of seeds in, or a momento from a sweet day.
If you'd like one too, you can either order an empty book with a finished cover, or join the swap. Details here.
2nd grade begins soon, so Sugarwings and I have tried to jam as much fun into the last of the summer days as we can.
Last week, we went to the county fair, in the afternoon before the midway opened for business.
That time of day, is mostly just farm animals and pony rides. Which we didn't mind at all. It's quiet, and peaceful and I'm a big fan of going places when the crowds aren't around.
We had the most fun pretending to be prize winning bunnies, jumping over a ditch. She won the pink ribbon for the best jump.
One of my all time Heros Of Styling is once again back in the brick and mortar side of doing biz. Debbie Dusenberry of Curious Sofa has reopened in the Old West Bottoms in a shop called Top Hat Mercantile.
I've always loved her whites, well, everything about her sense of display and style.
The store shows her attention to detail, what interesting signage.
I was happy to see my friend, Joyce there too. Some of the most favorite things in my home came from her in the past.
Beth, the Other Karla, and I decided we needed a day out. Beth is an accomplished shopper, and is serious about it. She likes to scour out the items fresh to the market, mostly from estate sales and auctions to offer her customers, not just buy something in a mall that someone else has already found and resell that. So first, we went to some estate sales, and snatched up some cool loot.
After restocking her inventory at the early morning estate sales, we took off for the Old West Bottoms for social shopping once her working portion of the day was done.
Not that we didn't purchase items at the vast warehouse style malls that Kansas City has to offer now, but usually the kinds of things we find at those places are for personal use or supplies for projects. And there are such pretty booths to look at that, it is always an inspirational trip too.
Gwen's store, French by Design is a great example of something drool-worthy and inspiring.
She and her sis, just got a container shipped back from France and have a giant sized, second spot at Bottoms Up filled up with old world beauty.
I could have dug through her piles of vintage French magazines for most of the morning. 
That is The Other Karla in the mirror.
We visited Sandee Millet too. Her rustic style and sunny smile always draws me into her booth.
Stopping to say hi to friends, makes the day trip even more fun.
We have such a good time when we go to the zoo in Topeka. For one thing, it is small, and easy to get around in. It used to be kind of sad and run down, but improvements have been made over the years and every time we go, it gets better and better.
Everything is clean. Everyone is friendly.
There is a 106 year old carousel in the park next to the zoo, and I've never seen it busy. Most times when we go, there are very few people there. This time, we were the only ones visiting this gorgeous, old ride, for about an hour or so. The cost is only $1.25, or 15 ride tickets for $15 (includes the train too).
It's so cheap, and there were no lines, so we rode over and over and over. Well, at least they did, I get a bit dizzy just watching it go around. If I'd joined in for multiple rides, I'd probably still be spinning around in my head today.
The attendants are always friendly to kids and since there was no one else there, the young man at the controls let the girls play on the horses, giant chickens, zebras, etc. trying each one out before choosing the perfect steed for the ride.
The adjacent park has rose gardens, a big community pool, a new play ground, trails, and a very, very old play ground made up of giant cement animals to climb on. When my kids were little, there were tunnels, but those have since been covered up. I'm glad the goofy animals are still there to play on.
And play in.
Once you get inside the zoo (only $15 for three of us for the day) it's an easy walk through it. With some interactive sites along the way, like this African bush camp. We usually can play jungle explorer there for an hour or so.
This zoo has had a checkered past, losing accreditation a couple of times. But major changes have been implemented and it is a sweet, little place to visit now and seems to be very well run and kept up beautifully. It is a quick get away for us, only 20 minutes from my house to the gate.
And how often can you find a place where you can hitch a ride on the king of beasts?
My grand fairies love having lions to climb on.
And a "cweepy" (according to Dewdrop) cave where you can visit the cats up close and personal.
Bigger zoos of course, have bigger attractions, but I don't think any of them can beat Topeka for price, accessibility, and pure charm.
Interested in the journal swap? Info here.
This is the easiest, cheapest, fluffiest stuff to make. All you need is shaving cream and corn starch.
I buy both at Walmart, so the supplies are under $2.
You will also need a bucket or bowl, and spoon. Possibly glitter if you like sparkles.
We LOVE sparkles, so dumped in a bunch of it.
I know I mentioned a spoon, but we found that it was more fun to mix with fingers.
I didn't say that it was more tidy to use fingers…
Here is how we did it:
We randomly added shaving cream and cornstarch as we played with it, then dumped in glitter.
Here is how you should do it:
Spray out a giant pile of shaving cream, reserving some in the can in case you need it.
Slowly add and mix in cornstarch till you get it to a good consistency. (about 1/2 to 3/4 box)
Add more shaving cream if needed.
Add glitter, if wanted. (You'll be glad you did)
I'd say you could add some food coloring if you 'd like. But we were going for summertime snow, and singing about Olaf as we made ours.
Sugarwings added some shells to play with after she was done pretending it was snow. This is how it looked after leaving it outside on the table overnight, uncovered. I'd say it would probably be easily saved in a plastic bowl and reused if wanted. But for us, the fun is in the making, so we'll spend another $2 and make some more next time.
Our Summer Of Fun has been going by much too fast.
But we are enjoying every minute of it.
Taking time off to be with the girls, doing craft projects, day trips, swimming, and just sitting on the porch telling stories has been good for my soul.
Probably not so good for business… but I have made time to create and am looking forward to the "Journal of Nature's Blessings" swap. (this photo is from my prototype). And I want to thank everyone who helped me de-clutter the Boutique with the purchases made during the 50% off sale! I went from 10 pages of inventory to 6.
Now, time to rebuild with new goodies.
But not quite yet, I'm going to soak up some more summer fun first!
Interested in the journal swap? Info here.
I've been so pleased with the sign ups for the Nature's Blessing Journal swap! Thanks to those of you who have joined in! There is plenty of more space, this is an open ended swap. I'll just keep making books until I have enough.
Some of the swappers were asking for more detail on how the pages go together. So, I thought I'd snap some pics of the ones I've started myself as examples.
There are a LOT of pages to make. But as I said, at least half need to be usable for the new owner. Such as the one on the right, above. That page is nothing more than journal paper with a border at the top and the bottom. The one on the left is one that I finished myself. (Although, there actually is some space for writing a note, if the person who owned the book wanted to use it that way)
Here is the basic start of each "folio" (single sheet of paper that makes 4 pages when folded).
Fold a piece of card stock in half, decorate each of the four sides.
I will put 3 folios together to make a "signature".
There will be 3 signatures per book, made up of 6 sent in by 6 different artists, and three fresh, blank pages from me.
The book will be used as a functional journal. So, I'd like to see at least half the pages open to be used by the person who receives the book. Like the page on the right here, once again, I've used ledger paper. This time, it is accented with lace trim and a single butterfly.
Since the six folios (24 pages) you send in will go to six diferent artists and you will receive artwork from six different artists. You can make each of your six exactly the same, or do each in a unique way. What ever you like.
The page on the left didn't save any space for future use, but is a completed arty page.
Another way of making the page useful is to add an envelope to hold memorabilia.
My envelope got a bit of foof with some hand drawn daisies that match the paper I glued it to.
Pockets are good to have in a journal too. On the left, not only is there paper that can be used for writing, there is also a pocket to tuck away tidbits in, like the vintage envelope I've added.
The page on the right is covered in pretty paper (I used wallpaper scraps) with a vintage postcard stapled down in the corner, then trimmed in lace.
I've tried to add lace or ruffles on at least one side of each folio, so that when it is added to the stack of signatures in the book, there will be pretty trims peeking out the sides, top, and bottom of the journal.
Please feel free to add lots of trailing ribbons, laces, etc.
On the right hand page, I've added a fluffy millinery bloom to stick out of the top of the book. And the page on the left has luscious, old trim down the side. That page is from a text about flower origins, and has a couple of cherubs and a hand drawn border, leaving the center open in case the person who gets this page in their book wants to glue a photo or something to the center.
Here is a very good example of just how simple making the pages can be. Both of these pages are just covered with wide crepe paper, with a trim at the bottom. (I'll be foofing the one on the right a bit more, I just wanted to show you the basic.)
So, pretty background paper, plain or fancy, a bit of trim or lace, and that page is done, ready for the owner of the book it goes into to embellish it up as much as they want.
This is for my book, so I added a tinted coloring page, to illustrate an option for finishing a plain page.
Everyone gets a page to color and add to their book however they'd like. I'll show some coloring tips in a future post.
These pages are both examples of "usefulness" . The blue one is open to be finished by the book owner in any way she'd like. Photos, notes, scrap glued onto it, etc.
The patchwork wallpaper page has a pocket from an old post card added and it is filled with vintage grafting paper.
These also show some of the variations on the theme. What do you feel nature has blessed you with? Here, I am saying that fluffy kittens, sweet birdies, and flowers are something I am thankful for.
Plus, I found this poem about Spring to add to the page. To me, the changing of the seasons is a magical time of year.
Please feel free to add 3D items, this book should be thick and rich! With lots of trailing trims, like this old lace I've used.
Here is another way to create a space for writing. I've used washi tape to secure a stack of old paper into a tablet shape.
On this page by Beth, she even glued down a mini notebook.
See how pretty it looks on her page?
And oh my! Loook at this one that she did. You open up the cabinet card folder and have space inside to add your own picture.
On the left page, she has add clear envelopes with simple tags for the new owner to finish, and on the right, she supplied a pretty piece of paper to write daydreams or plans on.
I found myself extremely attracted to pockets when I made some folios.
Note that the center of each page is left plain so that I can punch holes to tie the signatures into the book?
I'll show some more examples later on, as well as some more coloring page tips. The finished pages aren't due till Sept. 20th. So you still have time to join if you haven't already. Or you can order a completed, blank book to finish yourself, instead of swapping pages.
Feel free to ask any questions. And more info can be found here.
