Valentine's Week

In spite of the 18 inches of snow outside our front door, it is a lovely day today. However, Jilly and I had some catch-up work to do in preparation for Valentine's Day. We started early this morning finalizing Valentine cards to get in the mail and made a couple of other crafts. I knew that I was on the right track when JillyBean looked up at me, smiled and said, "mommy, I have so much fun with you." It made my heart melt.
First things first, we had to complete the Valentine's cards that we started a couple of weeks ago. I got the idea from the February issue of Martha Stewart's Living. These cards were made by rolling up pieces of corrugated cardboard and turning them into stamps. Martha's idea was that they would look like roses (you can also cut a piece of cork to make the stem), but I thought that they turned out looking like hearts, which was perfect.

Jilly dabbed the stamps in red ink and went to town. Each person who receives one of her cards this year gets an original and no two are alike. As I mentioned, we did these a couple of weeks ago. I don't know if it was the paper that we used or if she overdid it on the ink, but they needed some time to dry before flipping them over to complete.
On the other side, we wrote a personalized Happy Valentine's Day note to each recipient, attached a photo and stuck on a couple of festive stickers. I think that they're cute and unique and will be cherished by each family member and friend who receives one. Plus, other than the writing, the cards were completely decorated and designed by Jilly. I didn't give any suggestions to her about the amount of ink she used or the placement or amount of stamping she did. She was very proud of the final product as well.

In addition, Jilly and I completed our Valentine chandelier that I mentioned last week. It turned out just as lovely as I had hoped and spices up the dining room quite nicely. We decided to hang it in there to surprise Daddy when he gets home tonight. Hopefully he'll notice. Jilly helped glue the hearts together with her trusty glue stick. She is such a pro!

Spending a morning doing crafts with Jilly is one of my favorite things to do. It gives us time to work together and talk about not only what we are doing at that moment but other things going on around us. I treasure mornings like this.

Getting Crafty

I don't make New Year's resolutions, but I have a couple of goals that I have set out for 2010. One is to send at least one hand-written letter to a friend each month. Birthday wishes, a thank you note, or other events don't count. This is my way of getting back to the simple pleasures in life - receiving a little something in the mail box that isn't a bill or junk. Plus, it's a way for me to let my friends know how much I care for them. So far I'm on target with that goal.

Secondly I have decided that I am going to explore the crafty side myself. I have never been all that creative. Yes, I used to make money as a writer, but that was as a news writer/reporter. I simply took facts and presented them in a readable format. I suppose some creativity crept up from time to time, but not much.

I know that I am not very imaginative. I have ideas but don't know how to put them into play. So, to kick things off I will allow myself to become inspired by others.

Since January is in the books, and I now view that month as a time to get back to normal after the fall and winter holidays, Jilly and I are going to get cracking on some fun projects. I also view February as the perfect month to start this since it's the month of Valentine's Day. We have already borrowed an idea for making cards from Martha Stewart and now we're on to some cute decor.

The woman who is responsible for our MOPS blog posted these ideas and Jilly and I plan to tackle at least one today.

I like this banner from Crafting Chicks. I made a cute birthday banner for JillyBean's birthday last year, but I like the style of this. I will probably use this to help create her Thomas birthday banner this year.


And our second project is a Valentine chandelier that is featured on the My Little Gems blog.

I think that this will look cute all year long in Jilly's play room.

Leaf Man

JillyBean has been obsessed with leaves ever since the fall colors began to appear last month. We cannot go outside without her picking up at least one leaf just to hand it off to me to save. "Oooh, mama," she says. "This is a good one." Needless to say, we have quite a collection of yellow, orange and red leaves of all shapes. And I can't bring myself to throw them away. Finally last week I got an idea - let's make a leaf man.

I was inspired by two things: the beautifully illustrated book, Leaf Man, by Lois Ehlert; and our first week's art class where Jilly used glue water as a homemade decoupage.

This morning Jilly and I took a little stroll through the woods near our house to add to our collection and also to find a few other odds and ends to complete our leaf man. I know, it seems strange that we would gather more leaves, but in order to make a proper leaf man you must have a vast selection of leaves.

I made the glue water using one part water and about one-and-a-half parts glue (you need a little more glue for the leaves than you would if you were doing a project with paper). Then we pulled out the construction paper and went to work. First we picked out which leaves would represent which body part, arranged them on the paper, then dipped our paint brushes in the glue water and smeared it all over the leaves and paper to stick. We used acorn shells for the eyes and simply glued them on to the face.


I'm very proud of the way these guys turned out as is Jilly. She simply beamed as she admired the final creation. She finally has a permanent home for her beloved leaves.

Seeing Spots

As I have mentioned several times, Jilly loves doing art projects. She especially enjoys painting more so than coloring. She can sit at her table and paint for hours but tires from coloring after a few minutes.

Several moms that I know are a little apprehensive when it comes to pulling out paints because of the potential mess. Well, here's a great alternative that gives kids a break from the crayons - dot art. Nana bought Jilly some Dot Art markers last week. We got them out after JillyBean got up from her nap and she created all kinds of fun pictures for more than an hour. I finally had to tell her that we needed to put them away so that we could use them another day. There are many projects that you can do with dot markers. On one paper, I wrote Jilly's name and had her follow the lines, dotting each letter. We also experimented with mixing colors - yellow and blue for green, yellow and red for orange, red and blue to make purple. The fun is limitless.

Cre8ive

JillyBean has been exploring her creative side quite a bit lately. She has always enjoyed painting, using modeling clay, and building castles out of blocks, but she is gravitating to these activities more lately. To encourage this, I have decided to enroll her in a couple of art programs this fall as well as our continuation of Kindermusik.

The first actual art class Jilly is taking is through the Charlotteville Parks & Recreation department and is called Messes and Masterpieces. I think it's a quite fitting title. I am really excited for this because it will expose Jilly to all art forms. The second program I enrolled Jilly in is through the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. I had originally gone on their site to find out what exhibits they have on display, only to learn that the museum is basically closed for renovations. However, their monthly preschool program is still in full swing. This class excites me because it will introduce JB to actual works of art while giving her the opportunity create her own.

Teaching Jilly art is something I need help with. Sure, we can color, paint and do projects at home, but I am not a very artistic person. In spite of being a professional writer, I have little patience for dealing with the details necessary to be proficient in art. I don't lose myself in drawing or painting like others do. I was never a big coloring book kid (drew outside of the lines and rarely completed a picture). I want Jilly to have a real opportunity to explore this side of her. Maybe she will bore of it and maybe she will excel. Either way, I believe it is important to grant her some exposure.