15.8.10

Arthur's Yellow Submarine Bedroom

These are actually old pictures from when he was very little.  His bedroom has changed a little since (Arthur hasn't slept in a crib in ages).  There are a few newer ones mixed in.

We live in a 1920 Craftsman home, so we have issues with space and making decor fit.  When we found out we were expecting Arthur, we immediately decide on the Pepperland theme.


Justin's dad created this mural for us.  He used a projector to project the image on the wall and sketched it, then painted it.  Justin, who grew up with murals painted by both of his artist parents on his walls, helped with the project.  The rest of Arthur's nursery wasn't put together until several weeks after he came home from the hospital.  Since he was sleeping in our room, we still had some time to work on it.




If you couldn't tell, I am a huge fan of things that refract light from the windows.


Thrifted porthole mirror and Beatles plate.


Album Cover.



Yellow submarine painting done by a relative.




Quilt made by Justin's mom on the rocker I picked up at a garage sale.




That's baby me and a Christmas ornament I picked up at the Tulsa State Fair.


A gift from our doula, Joey Mechelle Stenner.






Those are real drums next to the air organ.  They have been really abused.



Homies collection, chalkboard, papel picado I created for our ofrenda in honor of our preterm daughter and other women who experience preterm loss.

I hope you like it.  It's nowhere nearly as cool as this Yellow Submarine nursery or this bedroom, but we love it.  It makes a fun spot to play.

10.8.10

Ribbon necklaces, floral headband and sequin applique hat, oh my!

Cuteness reigned supreme today at the Collinsville Splash Pad, where super hot mama Jessica was rocking the DIY even in the oppressive red dirt heat.  Check out her fabulous sequin applique hat:



I also had fun showing off this adorable headband. I don't have a tutorial for it...I bought it. But I bet it would be super easy to make.  If you know of a tutorial, hook me up with the link!





But here's my favorite part, a goodie for you!  Really, this goodie is for Jessica, since she commented on how much she loved my necklaces and thought she'd like to go home and try them...

I made these little necklaces on my lunch break the other day.  I still have tons of ribbon left over from that amazing garage sale of dreams where I found it amidst the clutter and chaos of broken toys and furniture and dirty-faced children dancing around in twice-handed down clothes as some Staind-clones blasted from a grease-slicked cassette-radio atop a stack of cardboard boxes.  We were driving by slowly when among the washed-out monochromes of a north side Tulsa summer junk sale, something caught my eye...vivid reds and purples peeked out of a low-lying box like pansies blooming in a landfill.  "Stop the car!" I'd squealed, and manically, almost immediately leapt across the unkind ground, bare feet gliding across broken glass and broken tar, and had with lightning speed shoved my hands into a box loaded with vintage notions and bias tape and ribbons and breathtaking lace...the overheated sellers had told me, "Three bucks.  Fill a bag."  I had to stop myself from having a scoronary.  Breathe.  

When they realized I had every intention of filling the bag to the level of stuffed, they tried to stop me, caught the glimmer that something was wrong with their valuing of the old shop-blackened Levi's at five bucks and what I had for such a price, but I smiled.  The deal was done.  These people were hagglers, just shy of nomads. No need to restate the obvious.  

I grabbed me treasure and jetted.  Arrrrrrrrghhh.

Anyway, I have tons of the stuff, so I made these little cuties inspired by this May Arts post:



Here is another pic.


They were soooo easy to make and took hardly any time.  Love them?  I do!

8.8.10

Table Collage Revamp for Roo

We love our neighborhood.  Our neighbors are amazing, lovely people and constantly doing nice things for each other and looking out for one another.  


Case in point, during the terrible ice storm of 2008, I was pregnant and giant and slipped on the ice.  Although our street was an ice-carved ghost town, three women rushed from various homes to my aid within seconds.  It was astonishing.


One of those women was our next-door neighbor Mary, whose son is former city councilor Eric Gomez, and they are both all around great people. Recently, Mary loaned us a little kid table her grandchildren had outgrown, an indefinite loan as she might want it back if she has any munchkin additions to the family.  Arthur loves it: it's just his size and he loves eating meals there, drawing, even reading the newspaper (we're not sure why or how that works either but he enjoys it nonetheless).  

The table is great, but the kindergarten classroom primary colors, its taped and battered reminders that it's been well-loved, and Arthur's own artistic additions to it were starting to grate on me, as the toddler hub has become a staple in the great room.  If the table was to stay, something must change. 

rough looking table


And then, as I was trying desperately to arrange the back room of the house, which has since Arthur's birth become our communal craft/sewing/music room (literally my violin hangs on the wall above my Singer and next to a giant Kustom amp), the Mod Podge spoke to me.


mod podge


 I popped over to Mod Podge Rocks to see if I could find something similar to what I was envisioning, where I found terrific inspiration from cuteness diva Kristi.  A short phone call to my girlfriend Eva, a couple of Cuba libres and a dozen and a half stories about our adventures in the crazy Jamestown house in the 90s later, we had this in the works:


table podge


We pillaged my wrapping paper, scrapbook paper, paint samples (Arthur picks them out and "buys" them when we go shopping at the home store...he loves it and the checkout clerks are happy to "scan" them...I've been hanging onto them like any good Level I hoarder waiting for the right change to use them) and vintage greeting card collection for colors and patterns and even characters we loved and then mod podged them to the table.  Because the surface of the table is a bit puffy, they kept wanting to peel up, wrinkle, and bubble, so it was something of a challenge, but we were hardcore.


When we finished the job, we attacked our table with stickers and other clip art.  We even hit it with a few inked-up stamps.  After Eva left, I coated the whole thing with glitter podge.


awesomest table ever


Although we plan to coat it with the world's thickest layer of polyurethane, the final project looks like this up close:


more table detail






table detail

I will probably finish the chairs later this week when I can recruit more Eva.  The best part is that it took about an evening and was super extra fun to have the kids help while we sat around chatting it up.

If you try this project, be sure to poly coat it, and post a link to pics for me!!!

Find lots of cool mod podge projects on Mod Podge Rocks.

5.8.10

Free Tulsa Music Festival

Here are a couple of quick tips for taking a little monkey to an outdoor show, followed by a few pics from the Free Tulsa festie as promised.  Remember the most important rule of kids and concerts: safety and hearing protection.  Use ear plugs or ear covers or make sure you are far from the loudness of the speakers.  Arthur loves concerts, and I believe any kid can if Mums &/or Daddos are well-prepared and put the munchkin's needs at the top of the list.  Thanks for reading and cheers!

festie tips more


sleepy boy



festie tips


reading at show


Arthur reading at the main stage



cain's



pilgrim show


Arthur & Daddo at Pilgrim



justin and arthuroo



Arthur and Daddo


festie daddo arthur


delorean 2



delorean 1




FreeTulsa Arthur and Beth with Shrekcicle shirt



IMG_3630



picnikfile_3DSxSZ


lucas and roo


beer tent


cameron and arthur



ghostbusters 1


Sleepy boy