Artistic Moms (and Grandmothers) Group

I ran across this new group starting up soon to encourage moms with artistic tendencies to take a little time each day to pursue their own creativity. The group will work on two-week-long projects from Shona Cole's new book The Artistic Mother.

We'll each link our own blogs to Artistic Creations with Trudy (http://artisticcreationswithtrudy.blogspot.com/) and post our progress each week. No pressure to finish...no one gets kicked out of the group for not completing a project...just a supportive community of like-minded moms who need encouragement to take a few minutes each day for themselves. 


Interested in joining us? Go to the blog above and sign up. Order your book  and we'll get started March 6!


For more info on the book...Shona Cole of An Artful Life, 


List of participants so far. Is your name on this list?

1. Trudy Callan of Artistic Creations With Trudy, group organizer
2. Linn of Peace Living
3. Jenny of All Roads Lead Home
4. Nicole Austin of Life is Beautiful
5. Shannon of Blu-Bambu
6. Cindy of Yapping Cat Studio. She is featured in the book on Page 22. Good going, Cindy.
7. Deb Robertson of Works in Progress
8. Lindsay of Banter
9. Debra of Florentine Lily
10. Joyce of Nanas Little Hobby
11. Stampelot Sue of Stamp Art-o-Rama
12. Marissa Bowers of Art * Design * Photo. Marisa is the book's designer! Didn't she do a beautiful job? 
13. Dani of And a Sprinkle of Fairy Dust
14. Kathryn of Flexie Smit
15. Crafter of Creatively Chaotic Days
16. Kathy Smith of Laughable Life
17. Mandy of Eight Is Enough
18. Jennifer of Coplings Hobbit Hole
19. Angelique of Grace and Space.
20. Lynn Toomey of Let's Gogh Art.
21. Kathryn of KV Creative Designs.
22. bitowhimsey of The Road to Whimsey.blogspot.com
23. Beth of Acorn Pies
24. Diva Kreszl of Diva's Musings
25. Nicks of Nicks Arty Stuff
26. Jeannie of Taking the Backroad

Now we just need you!

Our trip to Emerald Isle, NC - THE KNITTING LESSON

My grandparents, my mother, and her sisters have been together at Emerald Isle, NC for the entire month of February. Early in the their stay, my mom and Aunt Evelyn found a sweet little place called the Salty Sheep Yarn Shop where they began learning to knit. When my Aunt Martha joined them, she, too, took up the habit. They've all been crafty and creative as long as I've known them, often spending hours teaching one of us kids to bake, embroider, paint, decorate cakes...you name it. The three of them have named themselves THE KNIT WITS! 

On the first day of our visit here, they took the youngest girls for their own knitting lesson at the yarn shop. Reeves and I accompanied them but didn't knit. I thought I might be inspired to learn once we got there...I've always loved the hand-knit things offered by my grandmother and at art fairs...but knitting is beyond me at the moment. I just don't have the focus and patience to spare at this point in my life...at least not for counting stitches and casting chores. Maybe someday. I was, however, inspired by all the gorgeous yarns and colors...inspired to encourage my mother to keep knitting her beautiful gifts! Embree and her cousins were happy to sit at the knee of the lovely Knit Wits and enjoy a nice afternoon.

The owner of the shop, actually in Swansboro, NC, began the lesson with each of the girls.

Embree enjoyed casting on. She did a great job listening, asking questions, giving the whole affair a great deal of effort.

After the teacher wandered away to help other customers, the Knit Wits took over the lesson.

Aunt Martha helped her granddaughter, Charley, who learned very quickly and raced through her first few rows.

Aunt Evelyn (know as Effie) helped Embree with her casting on.

Mom (Also known as Nana) helped my niece Emma.

Reeves enjoying the lesson...

A day well spent!

Headed to the beach...

My grandparents, mom, and aunts are spending the month of February at the beach...Emerald Isle, NC. The kids and I have been looking forward to getting away from the snow; to slogging through the sand hunting shells; to sitting in the sun on the front porch looking out to sea. We are headed down this week.

My cousins went this past weekend and sent pictures...WHAT????

No words necessary

Why, oh why, do they grow up so fast?

Brice got his first real haircut yesterday...and went from baby to big boy in a few quick snips. Time to move on and enjoy this stage of his childhood. 

Who do you love?

A comment on the word of the year...

At the beginning of the year, along with many other bloggers, I chose a word to represent my goal for living this year. The word? ENOUGH. I have been trying to look at my life, my family, my commitments, and my stuff and find the parts that are satisfying and enjoy them. I've been looking at the parts that are stressful or unproductive and planning ways to finish the commitment I have to that thing, that organization, that person and move on. In other words...trying to find enough in what I have and what is enjoyable.

In doing so, I have been trying to break free of this need that I have that my house appear perfect before I allow anyone from outside our little family circle to visit. I'm not obsessed with cleaning. I keep too much stuff. On a day when it's just us, I am perfectly content to leave dishes in the sink all day, walk past dust bunnies, and step over a pile of dirty clothes because I'd rather be playing a game with the kids, blogging, cooking, or creating...anything but housekeeping! BUT...if there's the slightest chance someone might be coming over, I race through the house tidying up...putting on a good face! Remember, I am a theatre geek...I'm great at a fantastic outward appearance while backstage is a shambles...in so many ways!

So my goal has been to try to take the middle ground. Keep toys picked up unless they are actively being played with...keep our school materials in some sort of order, even if they are covering the dining room table...picking up the dust bunny the FIRST time I see it. I'm trying to just relax and invite friends in when I've had no notice that they'll visit, invite the kids' friends even when the upstairs isn't picked up...trying  not to stress about my mother-in-law visiting the day we return from a week at the beach. I'm just trying to remember that these people don't come here to see my house...they come because they love us...and our dust bunnies!

So...in looking around, trying to take stock of the beauty that is enough in my home I have rediscovered some of the lovely details of living in a 100 year old house! No matter what we throw on the floor, these beauties are here to enjoy... and they are more than enough. Hope you enjoy them too!

What to do with the gift?

What did we do with today's gift of a couple of extra hours?
After our regular lessons we...

• Began reading Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats by T.S. Elliott and listening to the soundtrack of Cats
• Read ahead in our history book
• Made some pictures with rubber stamps
• Taught Brice how to make mac-n-cheese (granted it was not homemade...it was psychedelic orange easy mac...but he was proud!)

Wash...

Pour...

Stir...

Enjoy!

• Started a new embroidery project
• Finished our Valentines

• Played dinosaurs
• Made chocolate-covered, cheesecake-filled, strawberries

They were messy and lumpy, but how can one really go wrong with strawberries, cream cheese, and chocolate...no matter how they look?

It's amazing how much we can get done in a few unexpected moments.
Hope you receive the gift of time soon too! How would you use it?

100 photos: signs of spring 2: asparagus risotto

100 photos: signs of spring 1: waiting for 50 degrees

the gift of time...

Ahhhhh...twice in the past 24 hours things on our schedule have gotten cancelled. These things both took time to prepare and will have to be rescheduled...but it has been a gift as well. Twice in the past 24 hours, I've been given the gift of time...the gift of slowing down...the gift of finding something more fun and more creative to do with the kids. Perhaps I'll have time to catch up on my blog posts later today. Thanks for the snow day!

Moving on...

So, I've grown bored of my photo project - 100 Photos: Books. It's not because it's a bad idea. It's because my topic is way too narrow to evoke much creativity these days. I am always telling my children's theatre students that they will get more creative work from their kids if they place some boundaries on an idea...but I think I've placed too many boundaries on myself and I've stalled. So, I'll begin working on a new topic this week that excites me...for a number of reasons. My new topic for 100 photos is Signs of Spring. I am ready to move out of the doldrums of February and listen to my internal clock that yearns for spring. And there are so many signs, both natural and man made, of spring. This ought to be more interesting, satisfying, and motivating. Hope you, dear readers, enjoy. Thanks for indulging me. Happy Search for Spring!!

Busy bees

I haven't posted anything about the kids in awhile...we've been busy bees getting back into the routine of things after the holidays. Seems it took all of January for us to get ourselves back into "normal." Now that we finally have our hive hummin' along nicely...co-op started again Friday...we go to the beach in another week...and the spring children's play auditions are the first of March. By the time the play is over, we'll be headed to the Farm for the summer...then maybe we'll feel normal...at least we won't be busy bees then!

Oh well...life passes too quickly so here's a few pictures of what we've been up to this past week or two...trying to slow down enough to remember to enjoy the moment!

We've been making lots of stops to visit the wild kitties behind the shopping center...raiding Clementine's food to take them a treat now and then.

Library visits & lots of reading! We've begun taking Brice to the Terrific Twos program on Thursday mornings. Embree's been requesting trips to the library almost daily for new books on rabbits. She's determined to have one and is reading every word she can find about the little critters.

Making Music & Magic

Peace out Ringo...

Making mashed potatoes...

...from Embree's original recipe

Playing keep away with Clementine

Vegas had dental surgery to clean her teeth and had 5 removed. 

We now affectionately refer to her as 

"The Bumble."

Spring session of co-op started yesterday. 

Embree & Reeves are taking 

Passport to Art (art & geography of six countries in Africa), 

Green Science (Ecology), 

Introduction to Japan, 

History of the Middle Ages, 

and KY History.

Reeves can hardly believe how much fun it is!!

Brice is taking 

Storytime Literature, 

Hooked on Art, 

and Animal Science 

Plus he gets a little one-on-one time with "Miss Nina." 

Because he's a lot younger than the others in his classes, our friend Juanita brings special things

for the two of them to do when he needs a diversion.

Over the break, all the kids in the first session of History of the Middle Ages were assigned a topic to research. On this first day back, they all gave presentations that covered life in that time/place, food, music & art, literature, and favorite past times or entertainment. Embree & Reeves both worked very hard on their projects; gathering information and props for their exhibits. I think they were proud of their work. I was proud!

Embree's project was the 

Medieval Yamato Dynasty of Japan

She gathered items common to an medieval Japanese feast...

learned origami...

learned about the undyed silks of Yamato kimono...

and made a carp kite after learning about Japanese use of kites in warfare and celebration.

Reeves' project was on the Knights of Medieval England

Of course, he was all about the food!

He found a listing of a typical feast of the knights or nobles and put together a tray of everything we could find from that list. He thought the beef stew was disgusting, but enjoyed the cider, cake, bread, butter, carrots & eggs very much. Embree shared all of her food with her classmates...Reeves dove right in and had his own feast after his presentation! That's my hungry boy!

Reeves' learned about stained glass, brushed up on his chess game, and compared peasant and noble clothing. I think his favorite part of the whole project was reading Chaucer's Canterbury Tales (the very, very, very sanitized version!). I had hoped he'd really like the Reeve's Tale and tell it for his project, but of course he fell for The Miller's Tale...lots more "cheeky" humor! Can't wait for him to read the original version some day!

And of course we are trying to take a moment now and then to remember just how lucky we are to have each other...and you, our loved ones! Happy Day Honey Bee!!