Valentine's Day 2017

Helping the kids make Valentine's is one of my favorite activities all year.  I know that sounds ridiculous, but they are so excited to make something for their friends, and I always love a good paper craft.  It is a good combination and a time of a year we are generally looking for something to do.  Without further to do, I present the 2017 Valentine cards.  Fisher went with a travel theme, complete with a mini alfajore brought back from his trip to Argentina with Grandma Jann.  Gracie's celebrated her love of baking with a cookie cutter.  I spent the day in Fisher's classroom helping make beaded bracelets?  Not really sure what those things were supposed to be, but all appeared to have a good time.  And no I did not bring in balloons for all the children, that was a different dad looking for extra credit.

Christmas Card 2016

The blog is not dead.

 I offer our 2016 Christmas card as proof.

Fisher Crafts

Fisher:  "Mom! We had free art day and we could make anything we wanted.  I made this.  Guess what it is."

Me:  It looks like the Sears Tower!

Fisher:  YES!  AND IT HAS WINGS!!!!
__________

Fisher has been obsessed with the Sears Tower (AKA the Willis Tower) ever since Nick took him to the observation deck on Christmas Day.  He talks about it all the time and asks to go there again roughly 4X a week.  He is fascinated by skyscrapers in general.

I complimented the teacher on the craft today at pick up. She gave me a blank stare- she clearly had no idea what the Sears Tower is, or maybe she is one of the three people in America who think of it as the Willis tower?  Maybe she didn't understand me, or Fisher's masterpiece blended in with the other 17 masterpieces in the class. To me it is special.   Even more so now, as I know he configured the signature stair step silhouette on his own from his memory of a special day with his dad.

Oxbow: Art Camp 2015

At the end of July I attended two, week long workshops at Oxbow in Saugutuck, MI with my mom and her friend Margot.  We had a blast.  Oxbow is a one hundred year old art "camp" associated with the Art Institute of Chicago.  They offer classes for all ability levels from kids to graduate level fellowships.  We took an acrylic class in the morning and an oil pastel class in the afternoon with the same instructor.  The other students traveled from all over the country to participate but in general had a "rich, white, wannabe hippy, retired vibe".  You know the type.  The young students taking undergraduate and graduate level coursework had an, "I do anything just to be different so I don't end up as a rich, white, wannabe hippy, retiree vibe".  Just as I remembered from my art school days.  On Friday night they held a party with a DJ in the middle of the woods, where the guests dressed as their "spirit animals".  We didn't attend.  I hate to admit it but I related more to my retiree classmates.  Scary thought.

I loved spending a week away from the kids, playing with paint and oil pastel doing what I love to do.  We shared good laughs, good food and bad art work.  Thanks to Jann/Horacio/Erica and Nick for taking on a week of childcare so I could enjoy this experience. Hoping I can return next summer!  Maybe I will have improved?!

There were tons and tons of old painted chairs around the campus.  

Me, Weze and Margot and our impromptu art show at the end of the week.  All painting by all artists are mixed together

I loved all the hand painted signs throughout the campus

Because when you are almost 70 and you are at art camp of course you hula hoop with a giant hoop.  They were both surprisingly good at this.  I was thankful that I was pregnant and had an excuse not to try.

The campus is on a lagoon that used to be attached to the Saugatuck harbor, but no longer is dredged

Our morning acrylic classes were held in this building

Afternoon oil pastel classes were held "en plein aire" or under this tent

10x14 Oil Pastel on paper by Jane, clearly I need a photography course more than anything ;)

10x14 Oil Pastel on paper by Jane

10x14 Oil pastel on paper by Jane

10x14 Oil Pastel on paper by Jane

8x10 Still Life study by Jane (Acrylic on paper)

12x15 Sunflowers by Jane (Acrylic on paper)

Happy Valentine's Day 2014!

Happy Valentine's Day!  Our biggest plans are Fisher's preschool party tomorrow.  Can't you feel the romance?

I had elaborate plans for his classroom valentines . . .didn't happen.  Instead I marched down to the basement at 6pm to see what I could scrounge up.  Thankfully my paper inventory is still deeper than some paper stores.

I did have the foresight to order little heart blow up balls from Amazon earlier in the week.  A quick google came up with the phrase "Have a ball on Valentine's Day" and here you have it- 12 homemade 

Valentines. 

 Fisher painted the hearts before bed, I took care of the rest.  Far from my best crafting effort, but thankfully the preschool audience is forgiving.  In fact I'm CERTAIN the Walgreens purchased perforated Lightning McQueen cards someone will bring will be a much bigger hit.

We all know I do this stuff for myself anyways.  I'm just hoping no one else brings stickers. . .

Olympic Fever

It's that time of year again!  This house is excited for the Olympics.  We kicked off the events with an Olympic themed playgroup party complete with fruit in the color of the Olympic flag, popcorn flame torches, an international cheese plate, a podium in front of a giant American flag and a future Olympian cardboard cut out for photos.  Attendees dressed like athletes.  Gracie wore an Argentine soccer jersey while Fisher wore his pajamas.  Apparently one of the benefits of hosting a party is you don't need to get dressed.

Adding interest to these games are several local west Michigan athletes competing in everything from Luge to Hockey.  It reminds me I must take lots of pictures of Fisher attempting sports so he has something for his Olympic athlete montage.  Although the fact that his great grandpa was an Olympian wrestler already makes for an interesting back story for Bob Costas.  Thanks Grandpa Bob!

Lobster Bake 2012- the finale

Weze and I planned this year's annual Sagamore Cove lobster bake last January.  Alright all we did was send out the date. . . but still it was supposed to be the best ever.  Cam and John came from Vail, Ali & Adam from Seattle, Emily from LA, everyone was there for the first time in a long, long time. 

And then there was a downpour. 

Serious, serious rain.  That vintage radio flyer is in route to Michigan.  Hooray. 

 Good thing we had plenty of this.

This fume blanc is delicious

But we didn't let the rain (really a monsoon) cramp our style.  Although the drama factor of this tablescape would have increased as one long table by the water, it still worked inside as two tables.  We went for a more neutral, sophisticated look over the traditional red, blue, white lobster motif.  Which side note I love, but have done many, many times in the past. 

I love the votives I made gluing a candle to a large rock.  Next time I would use clear votives, but the silver was all we had on hand and I obv thought of this idea last minute.  Many guests took them home as souveniours

Placecards made from Gram's paintings.

Custom Liz Lowe placecard

Flowers from the garden and homemade candle holders/votives using rocks from the beach.

Updated Sagamore Cove hats (We had a similar blue caps at our 2008 lobster bake).

The most delicious menu.

Great company.

All of Gram's grandchildren together.

Juan, Cam, Alison, Emily, Jane, Marcus, Liz

And a celebration of Gram's 95 years!

It was the best ever.  And the last ever.   We didn't know it at the time, but the cottage sold a couple of weeks later.  It was really better this way. 

When I remember this night, I'll remember the fun of planning the table, the joy on Gram's face and how sweet the lobster meat caught by our neighbor tasted in my mouth.  I might even remember a bright blue sky, my memory has a way of being good to me like that.  And with time I'll forget the (super) sadness that my all time, 60+ years in the making, favorite tradition has forever ended.

Baptism Invites

It looks like Fisher will be walking himself up to the baptismal bowl.  We're starting a new trend called toddler baptism . . . it's somewhere between infant and adult baptism.  Just don't ask me to explain the theological significance of it or you might be disappointed with the answer.  Truth is, we've been busy.

I made the invites with the help of calligraphy from Catherine of Catherine Burke Calligraphy .  I love how the envelopes came out.  My friend Katie thought it was a wedding invitation.  I let her know that baptism and marriage you only do once.  Both deserve calligraphy.

Everything is prettier with calligraphy

Once again my mom helped with the envelope linings- what I would do without her? She is becoming a semi professional envelope liner, even if I had to re-trim 95% of her work.  Cutting is not her creative strength.  

Love this handmade Japanese paper- sort of wave like

We are going with a blue & white, nautical fish sort of theme because:

1.) I have tons of blue and white dishware
2.) Fisher . . . Fish . . . the obvious
3.) A fish was the early symbol of the 1st century church.  In a time when it was life threatening to be a Christian, members of the early church would draw a simple fish in the sand with a stick to indicate that they were a follower of Jesus' teachings.  They hoped the fish would attract other like minded (read this as people who would not kill them) individuals.

Ordered vintage stamps on Etsy.

Made simple wording on Illustrator.  Sadly Catherine made beautiful lettering for the interior invite too, but my printer wouldn't cooperate.  It might be time to upgrade from the free printer with purchase of my Mac in 2008.  

My 30th birthday is coming up. . .

Face Lift

My little place on the web recently went through a minor face lift.  Thanks to my friend Catherine for lending her calligraphy skills to my header. 

Need some fancy handwriting for envelopes, place cards or general miscellany?  Check out her stuff here.  She is super creative and can guide you through any custom project.  So far I have enlisted her help for baptism invites, wedding posters and the blog header.  I almost wish she didn't do this, I can tell it's going to be trouble.

Everything is better with calligraphy.

Painting the Town Green

Katie's Charleston wedding is quickly approaching, but before any wedding comes the bachelorette party.  To celebrate all things Katie we painted the town Green (Katie's maiden name is Green).  I know a little cheesy, but I am a little cheesy.  So it's okay.


THE PAPER
The invitations were "all about Katie".  Sadly I don't have a picture of a finished invite and envelope, but you can kind of see the general idea from this work in progress shot.  Katie likes bling so I added a green sparkly rhinestone, and hand dipped each invite in green paint for an authentic "painting" of the town (a skyline of Chicago).  I love stamps and the black and white Katharine Hepburn stamp was the perfect finishing touch for our bachelorette Katherine.

Invites primed for envelopes- side note I need a studio/work space besides the kitchen table

I combined dinner menus and place cards into one item by making a "Polaroid" of each guest and Katie.  Thankfully the attendees were smart enough to sit where their face was and Katie's extensive Facebook photo library was prime to steal a photo of each guest.  Fonts and overall look were the same as the invite.

The dinner menu/placecard

Each guest received a shade of grey Essie nail polish at their seat, with a green painted tag reading "Tonight we paint the town Green, but tomorrow you might feel a little grey . . ."

Nail polish favor

I wanted the night to be as memorable as Katie's 16th birthday surprise party, where her dad made infamous "Katie" masks.  We still joke about the masks, so with a little help from her dad, I brought the masks back.  I painted the sticks what else but green to update them for the night.

I love how Alexis doesn't have hers up- caught!

THE PARTY
We started the day with tea at the Peninsula Hotel.  I have always wanted to do this and thankfully it was as delicious and decadent as I imagined.

High school friends, Katie, Donielle and Me

Pretty bachelorette enjoying an herbal tea

After tea the bridesmaids returned to our suite at the Sofitel Hotel where we primped for the night ahead filled with good food, good company and several cocktails.

Making a toast- don't worry that necklace is costume not part of my real outfit

Jenny came from LA- I've known Jenny since I was 5 years old

Lots of gals

The bachlorette enjoying her evening, a man taking an exceptionally long time to make some drinks that apparently need to be flamed?

I {think} everyone had a great time, it was special weekend celebrating a special friend.  It is hard to believe Katie and I have been causing trouble together since we were sophomores in high school.  We have traveled the world together, but have the most fun chatting about the {very} minor details of our days.  Only a very good friend can honestly care about the little stuff- Katie cares when the check out lady was mean to me and happily debates the merits of skinny vs slim cut for way longer than you probably think possible.  This is why I love her.

Were my heels short?  I always thought we were the same height

Three weeks until Charleston!