Life in Color Photo – Page 116 – Celebrating crafts, kids and the everyday through photographs.

I love to be a kid (at heart)

So the little ones are now back at home. And I miss them and the cute little things they say. It’s fun to be able to be crazy and dance like a nutter and make a mess and have lots of good old fashioned fun. I love the way kids look at things, how big they see everything, how every little thing is a treasure.

It’s fun to see them explore. I know that I want to always be like that, to look around at the little things and appreciate the little things. I think that’s why I love to thrift so much, to get things that are worn, have a history, and will continue to live on. We used some of those things to make some fun puppets the last night they were here:

It was all good clean fun until Sciarrino and I acted out a scene from Grey’s Anatomy (just finished watching the second season, she finally got me hooked!)

"Meridith, Meridith"
"Leave me alone, just leave me alone"
"I just want to make sure you’re alright!"
"Stop looking at me!"
"I’m not looking at you…"
"I can’t breath with you looking at me like that."
"Do you think I want to look at you?"

LOL. We also found a great kids album via Sciarrino: Colours Are Brighter. It’s an import here and not on iTunes so I was only able to download the one song they had for free (Ninja Dinosaur), and then play the other ones featured on the my space page. The Monkeys are Breaking out the Zoo caused quite a commotion around here. "Because today the monkeys are breaking out the zoo!!!" I need to feel that joy again. Hopefully we will be around a lot of joy this weekend, Brian and Melissa, the wonderful accompaniment to Ceara at our wedding are getting married themselves Sunday, and Bj is groomsman. I just got back from helping to make the cake topper, it’s very cool. Which reminds me that I never officially blogged my reception, the thing that took the longest to plan. I just never really got back into talking about it after Bj’s dad died, but I think that I should do it, it’s the last real wedding thing to blog about, and I need to bring the happiness back. What do you think?

When cuteness attacks

When cuteness attacks you stumble upon things like a stuffed puppy on your shipping cart. So cute.

That’s right I have the little munchkins with me, that’s why I’ve been a little lax in updating. Not only do they keep me busy but their parents have a Dell and I’m a total Mac snob (three weeks till the iPhone, whoo hoo).

Karsen is such a chatterbox now. And the things she says are way super adorable times ten. Remember that big picture of Bj and I at the wedding? Well she was looking at it and goes, "ohhh you the princess, you cinderally. Who the prince?" I said, the prince is my husband. "ohhhhh." The next time we came over after dropping off big brother at school she walks into my house and starts calling out, "prince, prince, where are you?" Until she found Bj working downstairs. And then Bj asked her who I was (wanting to see if she knew my name) and she looked at him, then me, and said, "your princess?" So right darling. Melts my heart.

And look at the cute little stud Hogan! We went on a little walk on Sunday while it was still nice (it’s rain city here now). He was brave enough to be hoisted up into the big tree outside my brother’s for pictures, which somehow didn’t load in my post so I’ll put those as the picture of the day when I get home. The cute thing he said? Well it wasn’t so cute as gross. Bj had just turned off the water to work on a pipe and I hear him calling to me from the bathroom. "Amber, Amber." I go over to the door. "Can you help me I had diarrhea and I couldn’t get it all." Ew. And we couldn’t flush it right away, great. But he has seriously been great. He stayed up with me tonight to play playdoh. His sister had to go down early.

I wore her out this morning by letting her monkey around on my bed, but then her daycare never put her down for a nap so she took a major dive later in the evening. You know one of those I-think-I’ll-cry-about-nothing-while-I-laugh-at-something-else rants. Really funny, but I knew she needed sleep.

Camp (In)

Last night I spear-headed a date night between Bj and I. After work I had Bj head over to visit with grandpa while Brent came over to help me with a little surprise. When Bj got home I had dinner all made and I said we were going to eat out back. I opened the back door to reveal:

and a note about the evening:

Which I had a ton of fun making. I really need to get my scrapbooking mojo on people. I digress. So we spent the evening eating sandwiches and chips, playing games (which involved a vetrans, veterans scrabble debate so hilarious that I got a major case of the hiccups) and baked cookies.

Which was, of course, the perfect excuse for a fabulous thrifted apron:

All in all a great night, and so cool sleeping in the tent. I’m going to leave it up for a day because I have Karsen and Hogan part of next week and they’ll flip out when they see it set up.

Find of the Day

Okay so I drove all the way to Stayton (a half hour away) for a block sale that was almost a bust, until I found this fifty cent gem.

Yes, this is the only thing I got today but check it, how often do you find a Bob Ross T-Shirt that will fit your crazy tee-shirt loving husband complete with the phrase "happy trees." In my experience, close to never.

Life is Like

I love them. I was trying to use up paint I have and make them really easy to clean so the risers are painted with exterior paint. They got kicked up by a repair guy so I got to test out the whole cleaning them thing, and it was super easy. The tread is also painted with exterior paint with sand added. I think I might pour a little of this in a cup and add even more sand, it’s nice though, no slipping. Touch ups brought to you by:

This hot little number. Why hasn’t this yellow thing been in my life before? I got it when I picked up another can of Picket Fence white trim paint, and a new brush (ah first new brush since last summer). Next to the stairs I hung a couple of my prints:

I love how light and airy everything is now. I am the destroyer of beige, tan and cream, yeah me! I still have to put the finishing touches on them:

I tore this out of a magazine years ago. Of course I’m going to use different type and stuff, but basic idea. So on to the next project.

Which was the reason I was going to call this post "stripping in a bikini top" but I was afraid of google hits I might get. It’s super sunny again today and I’ve been broken out since the wedding so I have to get some sun on me so… bikini top and skirt to strip in! Now that’s not the smartest thing ever, but I did manage to do it with out giving myself a chemical burn, sa-weeeet. Maybe we will have doors inside this house!

Happy Thoughts

-I painted my toenails. First time since the wedding.
-The stairs are almost done. I splurged on a new brush to do the touch ups.
-A midnight bike ride to Sciarrino’s.
-A super clean house, like seriously as clean as it’s ever been.
-My bathroom is so clean, I could like lick every surface. Yes it’s in the house, but I think the fact that I scrubbed the tile with a toothbrush warrants a mention.
-I found hot pink I love you notes all over the house from my husband. How he was lucid enough to do this at 4:30 in the morning before work is beyond me.
-It was super hot and sunny today.
-I’m writing my wedding thank yous. I finally found more blank cards. They came with these little papers that are supposed to go in with the cards. I was all sweaty (see above) and I realized the little papers are the same as the expensive Shiseido rice papers I use to de-grease. How cool is that?
-I started up my journals again. Very calming. I missed Elmer.
-And probably many more things but it’s 2 am so that’s enough for now.

Outside In

The little cottage that could. Remember when I first got this thing. And then after I hacked away at the front? Well it pretty much stayed in that state for the last couple of months with stumps and weeds doing their things in the front of the house. The lawn was all crazy from where it got ripped up when I had the house waterproofed, and it was growing over all its sides. Bj got a trimmer and went to town last weekend. We had bark delivered and gravel for the side. Oh I feel so much better walking up to the house now when I come home from somewhere. I mean the cuteness on the inside, well you would never even think it existed by looking at the outside, but I think we’re getting there now. We have big plans for the front that will hopefully develop more this summer, including a new porch. Stair pictures coming soon, I promise, have to do a little touch up.

Piano Keys

Well it’s a little bit of progress. Painting the stairs is taking a bit more time than I thought it would. Bj came home from work and said, "Oh maybe you should paint the other ones white and it could be like piano keys." That is not the look I’m going for however. Oh and that pile of laundry in the distance? The washing machine was repaired after six weeks of waiting. I did one color load in cold water. Went to take out the clothes and they were steamy hot. Then tried to turn the machine back on and it’s broke again. Like seriously?

Spick and Span

Is it wrong to be in love with my own ingeniousness? Okay well this idea isn’t mine, but hey I remembered it! I think it was in a Real Simple magazine a few years ago, or something like that. Totally easy. I’ve been wanting to do this in the stairwell since I moved in, but I didn’t want to go to all the trouble before I painted the ceiling and everything, because that is messy.

Step one: Cut a hole in the box. Hehehe, just kidding. Step one is really to pick out some old silverware. The more random the better. And the more actual silver the better, because it bends a lot easier.

Step two: On a hard surface lay down a few layers of fabric. I used a folded up old sheet and that was just the right amount of padding. Hammer out any bends in the silverwares handle and neck.

Step three: Use your womanly powers to bend the silverware with your bare hands. You will feel like wonder woman when you do this and ponder how you eat day to day with out wrecking every utensil you touch.

Step four: Make a dot with a sharpie where you want to drill. Find a drill bit the same size as your screw (I found that the nice rounded headed metal screws look best) and drill a hole into the silver (do this on a chunk of wood and watch your hands as it can skip around!). A drill press would work great for this, but work with what you’ve got.

Step five: Screw into a board, a wall, side of a cabinet, and admire your handiwork!

Who is going to be wearing a pretty little apron everyday? That would be me!

p.s. I sacrificed a few of my favorite spoons. My brother asked if this one was worth anything, and should I be cutting into it. My personal motto, just enjoy it. What’s a pile of silver really worth if it’s stuck in a box that you never see?

Back to Life, Back to the Stairwell

Remember what I was working on before, well, everything? The stairwell, the-15-foot-tall-in-some-places-that-are-too-hard-to-reach-full-of-cobwebs-and-a-nasty-beige-colored stairwell. My friends I will conquer this stairwell! With the help of a Making Memories foam brush, copious amounts of blue painters tape, and a super extend-o stick I will do it! Hopefully with pictures tomorrow. I’m kinda on a paint fume high right now and didn’t realize it was 2:48 am, so um, make that tomorrow afternoon, and and wait, that’s actually today….