Spent the Whole Day at the Science Museum...

...and my favorite photo is this one...

At lunch today, one of the kids noticed some ant near us, and threw them a corn nut!! They were ALL over that. The kid's science museum was pretty fun too! Don't have any good photos from it, though!! lol
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Coffee in Progress

Still deciding if it's done or not... I think a coat of crackle paint on the mug part would look really neat... but not sure if I want to do that...

I really like the steam, and the funny part about THAT is that I had something totally different there, and really HATED it. So I started to wash it off with a wet washcloth... and as I was doing that... this steam happened. Just a lesson!! Don't let your mistakes take you!!
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Winner, Paint, Gramma's, Pocket Rockets and Knuckle Sandwiches

First things first!! My trusty random number picker says that
Nicole Laird who left TWO links... http://inspiredbynana.blogspot.com and http://scrapitforward.blogspot.com is the winner of the goodies from my three year blogiversary!!
I still need to visit all the blogs that you guys linked me to, and I thought I'd share them all in a post to make it easy for all of YOU to visit them too!! Thanks for the fodder!! A lot of the links you left are links to blogs I visit already, and the ones that aren't, I'm excited to see!
http://hensteethart.blogspot.com/
http://visualchronicles.typepad.com/
www.ournameisblog.blogspot.com
http://danijohnston.typepad.com/dj
http://goodness.typepad.com/
http://knitterings.blogspot.com/
http:/lisathoward.blogspot.com
http://dawnking.interspike.com
http://janalaurene.blogspot.com
http://embers.typepad.com/e/
http://thealteredpage.blogspot.com/
http://www.andersonfamilycrew.blogspot.com
http://fraiing.blogspot.com/
http://eyecandy-can.blogspot.com/
http://swanofdreamers.blogspot.com/
http://meetmeatmikes.blogspot.com/
http://speakwithoutmyvoice.blogspot.com/
http://dneese.blogspot.com/
http://www.patriciaanders.com/
http://www.jlmcreative.com/time2blog/
http://whenthedogsbite.blogspot.com/
Moralia's Weblog
My best friend's Blog
http://scrappin-a-rose.blogspot.com
When I blogged my blogiversary blog, I was at my mom's "scrapping" which these days doesn't happen as much as the OTHER projects I have been loving. I started a project for the coffee house... This is the biggest canvas I've ever worked on. It's 4X4 feet.

I mixed instant coffee into my paint and drizzled some of it too...

This is one of my FAVORITE pictures from that night...

Ian went to a friend's house, who has recently bought a "pocket rocket". It's a teeny bit hard for a person over 6' tall to sit on... lol

I've been cleaning and working at the coffee house getting ready for summer hours!! We've been busy painting and cleaning, and all sorts of stuff. I managed to only scrape a knuckle or two, and then TONIGHT, AT HOME....
I hit my hand and broke a blood vessel. You can't see as well as I'd like, but the thing is swolen bigger than my knuckles!! lol

Lovely, huh?
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Three Years

Three years of this thing called blogging... That's how long I've been pounding the keys and hitting PUBLISH POST. It all started when I was buying a house three years ago... So much has changed since the day I followed in my mom's blogsteps and chose a blog name. To celebrate today, I thought I would give away some goodies I've been collecting!! A while ago, shortly after I got certified to be a Fiskars demonstrator, I got a goodie package from one of the lead Fiskars gals! There was SO MUCH yummy stuff in there, I was able to save a set for myself, send a set to my friend Christi, and save one to give away!! Here's what the bag of goodies look like!!


THEN I found a bag a while ago, at WalMart, that I wanted. I waited and waited to buy it, because it was FULL of papers and chipboard, and all sorts of goodies that I would have felt guilty not using, but totally didn't need... Then we got serious about the Texas TallyRally, and I saw the bag in action at a crop I went to. I knew I needed the bag, and for the price, the goodies were really free. AND by the time I got it, it was on clearance... I promptly bagged the goodies, and set them aside for today!!


SO here's to another year of what's on my mind... In celebration of the connections and friendships that I have unexpectedly come into through this crazy thing called blogging, I want you to give me a link to a blog on line of someone who inspires you. No need to be a big name... just a person that you feel connected to here on the world wide web. If you leave a link, I'll put you in the drawing to win the goodies up above!!
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Did YOU get Some Eight!?

If you know Brian Regan, you'll know exactly the voice I used last night when I told Josh Stay eight! Stay EIGHT! (edited to fit our circumstances...) Happy Eight Day! lol Last night, I snuggled extra hard, and long... because I knew that today, I would become the mother of a nine year old. So I took advantage of that last day in eightland... These are the last photos I took of Josh, the eight year old...

On our latest trip to the beach with family.

Our tradition in our family, is for the birthday person to choose what is for dinner on their birthday. Josh chose hot dogs, and since it's been GREAT barbeque weather, and Travis had the night off, we grilled the hotdogs, and then roasted marshmallows over the fire pit. Yep. pretty good way to usher in a new year with a pretty awesome used to be eight year old, who is shaping up to become a pretty awesome nine year old...

and I've got another 2.5 years before I get to live in eightland for one last time...

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Disintegration Project

Recently, my friend Karin posted about an art project she was doing, with a blogger and artist named Seth Apter who is hosting a project called The Disintegration Project. You should totally read the interview that Seth has on Altered Bits. The idea behind the project is to create something, a bundle of sorts out of papers, put together in artful form, and then placed outside in the weather to allow for nature to take part in the process of your design. I joined a little bit late, the big reveal is on May 1st, but I really wanted to take part even if my reveal is a little later than all the others. I also wanted to collaborate with the boys on making my bundle. I've wanted for a while now, to take markers or some other water soluble materials to draw with, and then see what the rain here on the Oregon Coast does to the art on the page. So when I saw this idea on Karin's post, I knew I had to find out more. Today, I have finally been able to sit down with Josh, and create something.

I used an old book, and some bits and pieces that I love... inside a shadow frame I made by cutting the center out of the pages.

and highlighted Josh and my ages, and the date that we put our piece out. I love the references to our ages, and since Josh isn't QUITE 9 yet, I added almost inside his circles. :)

Josh colored some paper with watercolor pencils and we mashed it all up into the piece that hangs from the bottom of my part of the book. He brought me that rusty washer thing on the bottom of it all a long time ago, because he loves everything rusty and crusty just like his mommy. This was the PERFECT time to finally USE it!! I also had a cuff link with a J on it that I have been saving for a good project.

I'm really happy to be playing along with this AMAZING group of artists!! What a GREAT project, and to be able to share it with my kids is going to be SO FUN. We put our art out on the stand that we hang the bird feeders. It will be interesting to see if the birds make any contribution to our collaboration!!

Thank you, Seth and Karin!! Such a great, organic art experience. One last shot!! Josh with our project on day 1!

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Fellow Disintegration Collaborators

This list, is the collection of collaborators that are also taking part in the disintegration project!! If you have time, CHECK THEM OUT!!

• 4 Rooms and the Moon
• A Bit Tattered Art
• A Journey...
• Alley Art Studio
• Altered Bits
• Altered Book Lover
• Altered by the Sea
• Altering Thoughts
• Art in Redwagons
• Art Propelled
• Art-ticulation
• Artisticaneum
• Artsortments
• Artwhispers
• Bad Cat Studios
• Be...Dream...Play...
• Beelieve
• Bluebirds Living in the Meadow
• Boogie Street
• Bricolage
• BT - The Crafty Gardener
• Bulles Dorees
• Caroline at Coastcard
• Cats Place
• Christi
• Christine Marie Art
• Cinnamon Studio
• Corrine's Altered Art
• Creative Rebel Gal
• Dryadart's Weblog
• Each Dazzling Moment
• Em - no blog
• Encaustic Musings
• Expression Studio
• Fiber Fusing
• Found Memories Art
• Fran Meneley
• Fully Flumoxed
• Gillian McMurray
• Ginny's Chaos
• Hermine's Place
• In the Name of Art
• Ingrid Dijkers
• Ink Haven
• Inside the Ivory Tower
• J...de Santa Fe
• Jazworks
• Jazzgoil Ink
• Jennifer Lorton
• Jo Wholohan
• Joyously Becoming
• Judy Wise
• Just a Note
• Kate's Corner
• Kim
• Kristen's Journey
• Lani Puppetmaker's Blogspot
• Lemoncholy's Studio
• Love Letters
• Lucky Dip
• Lumilyon
• Lynn Getting My Feet Wet
• Magical Musings
• Magpie's Nest
• Marianne's Art Blog
• Marion Nathalie
• Mary Helen Fernandez Stewart
• Memories of Mine to Thine
• Mick Mathers Art Blog
• Mistress Debrina's Diary
• Mixed Media
• Miz Carla
• Morning Sun Studio
• My Creative Soul
• My Ever-Changing Now
• n2theblue
• Nelda Ream
• Notes from Straw Mountain
• One Day at a Time
• Ooglebloop's World
• Openings Connecting
• Out of Hand Art
• Papieren Avonturen
• Patricia Bronstein Art
• Paulien's Chamber of Art
• Pentamento
• POGA Art
• Primfixins
• Prism Trail
• Rambles, Raindrops, Reflections
• Red Velvet
• Remnants of Olde
• River Garden Studio
• Ro Bruhn Art
• Rodrigvitz Style
• Rosa & Josie's
• Scrap Papillon
• Second Nature
• SerenArts and Such
• Shaylasturbia
• Snips and Snails and Puppy Dog Tails
• Something Sublime
• Sprinkles the blog
• Sun Soul Art Thoughts
• The Artful Eye
• The Junkin' Yaya
• The Land of Lost Luggage
• The Last Door...Down the Hall
• The Weaver of Grass
• Theresa Martin
• This I Didn't Know
• Truly Spacious
• Two Blue Crows
• Two Dresses Studio
• Varietist Muse
• What Whitney Made Next
• Where I Talk About Art
• Windows to Me
• World of Joy
• Writing from Life

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The Best Birthday EVER

Josh will be turning 9 in a couple days, and we had a very small birthday for him last night. One friend. He says it was, and I quote "The BEST birthday party I've ever had."
Here's a few highlights from this awesome 9 year old birthday party.
Ingredients:
1 friend
1 ice cream cake
Tons of Root Beer
All the popcorn you can pop
1 tub of Red Vines
Air Mattresses in the living room
Transformers Movie

THEN:
You mix it all up and sprinkle a #8 candle on a cake. (adding a soon to be 9 year old with a good sense of humor helps too)

Make candle correction.

Once the cake is finished, it's time for popcorn, soda, red vines and movies...

Watch till you drop.

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Losing the Boob

I'm seriously considering shutting off the cable this summer... no joke. I have been planning to start homeschooling Josh next year, and TV just cuts into creativity and time in one's own thoughts. We'll still have internet, and videos... still have games. I just don't think we need to pour money into yet ANOTHER THING that sucks time away from having a fun year learning. So. I'm thinking, no TV. Because in our parts, if you don't have cable or satellite, you ain't got any boob. The stations don't reach 'round here so good.
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Playing with my blog!!

The kit on TallyScrapper.com went up for sale today!! I made the layouts above with it, and still have papers to spare!! Check it out!!
The GutterGirlz newest prompt went up today too!! I wonder how many people who are following on Twitter realize that our tweets have hidden meaning in them...?

I played with my BLOG today... I cleaned up quite a bit!!
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Groceries

I went grocery shopping today... only I stopped at the thrift store on my way... and I HAULED.
Got a whole passel of SCHTUFF to play with... as you can see...

Even got that metal basket today!! AND a stapler I didn't get in the picture.
Check out the CAST IRON COBBLER FORMS!!

One of them has markings on it...

I've seen some really cool photos taken with FILM cameras, using a Digital camera held up to the viewfinder of the film camera. I've been on the look out for an old camera I could do that with, and I FOUND TWO today!!

Here's what the pictures look like!! The cameras in the picture are TWO MORE cameras that I found today!! Polaroids. They are for Christi. She collects them! :)
This one is through the top one. I love that the name of it is THE HANDLE. lol

This one is taken with the Instamatic.

I love them BOTH!! Can't wait to play more with this!! Been thrifting lately? Anything good you've found? Link me!! I wanna come see!!
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um. yes. I did it.

Yes.
It's true.
I rock.
Will I ever rock again?
Doubtful.
At least not on purpose...
So, I must say THANK YOU, to the lady who's latte held the FIRST heart I've ever made ON PURPOSE. Thank you, for letting my squeal and run for my camera.
Because really.
If it were you,
you TOTALLY would have too.

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