Love Is

Love is getting a special piece of artwork, hand-made by a very special seven year old.  As a little girl, I remember coloring for hours- I actually thought, "Damn, I'm probably like the world's best color-er!  Look at how I outline the cartoon character all dark and then color it in all light; tres magnifique!"  And it's awesome to see my niece do the same thing; for seven years old, I think those flowers are pretty amazing.

But what gets me the most is the inscription, "L-sun-ve is nacher," do you remember when you used to have innocent thoughts like that?  I'm inspired by her positivity; that's something that I think you either have or don't, it's really hard to make someone into a positive person.  Being a positive person myself, I'm drawn to her energy and the spelling is just too much.  I mean, nacher instead of nature?  How adorable is that?  The answer is: too, incredibly adorable.

My Valentine's

I spent a few days thinking up a cute idea of what to do for the boys' Valentine's cards for our family and friends... and here's what I ended coming up with.  The boys had a good time and the cards were a hit, so everyone was happy.


The front of the card/email text said:  guess who stole your heart?

This Is Colossal

In light of the fact that I pined about my affection of photography yesterday and longed, via twitter (of course) to be able to draw well- or be an artist of any kinda, which I'm definitely not confusing with being a "crafter," I'd like to share one of my favorite websites ever, Colossal.

Colossal is an art blog that shares stunningly beautiful artwork from around the globe and from across the internet.  Entries feature art of all mediums and artists of all caliber- both professional and amateur.  Here are a few of the recent artworks that I've found incredibly beautiful.  I hope that you have the opportunity to explore the site and marvel at the other featured works, I promise that you will not be disappointed.

I found this portrait, done by Kumi Yamashita using a single sewing thread and wrapping it around hundreds of little nails to be breathtaking. 

And the carvings that Guy Laramee composed using books were stunning.  Utterly stunning.

And not to be outdone, here's something from a little artist of my own:

Hey, for being 1, this piece by Arden ain't half bad.

#17 Set Up A Home Office

One of my 30 before 30's is to set up a home office.  As you can see below, I now consider this: accomplished.  As someone who's always struggled with not being organized, I realized that it was important to at least concentrate our junk and messy activities in one room.  Since it's been about 6 months since I did this and the room is looking quite messy today, as is the rest of the house, I'm not sure how well that worked out, but the office itself looks amazing.

Jim and I dedicated one whole day to cleaning out, then cleaning up the office.  Followed by moving everything in and installing all of the projects (yes, 2 of which were featured on Monday and Tuesday).  By the end of the day, we had a functional and family friendly office that still met the goal of getting more organized.

The total cost of the make over was around $350 ($388.94 to be exact), here's how it turned out:

I don't have a good picture of the desk, but here it is, $135.99 via Target.

The rug we had, but it was about $100 from Pier1; however, it's no longer available.

$16.99 via Target.

I tried to find this online, but it doesn't seem like it's available any longer.  We got this for about $50 via  Target.

This is no longer available either; however, it was about $20 via Target.

I love these simple pictures that I picked up at Ikea for $7.99 each.

The frames were purchased at Ikea for $9.99 each.  This also meets my 30 before 30 #21 since these were the pictures I was referencing when I wrote that goal.

As I noted on Monday, this was about $10.

I love this idea too.  The baskets were purchased at Target for $1 each, then I bought crayons and markers and hung them with 3M hooks so the kids would have quick, easy access to the supplies they needed.  Total cost, about $10.

As I mentioned yesterday, this was about $10.

Tip #3

Here's a quick, easy and inexpensive way to showcase the art work that your children create!

What you'll need: yarn, clothes pins, hooks.

First, you need to install the hooks on the wall- I chose to use the 3M wall hooks that are easily removable.  Next, I cut off enough yarn in order for there to be a little "slack" after hanging it between the hooks on the wall.  Finally, I attached some artwork with the clothes pins I purchased and wha-lah an instant art gallery for less than $10.

** This craft/tip will also be featured in the post on Wednesday that outlines how I made over our office in one day and for under $350.00.

Read Across the Wall

Please note that this was supposed to be published on March 2nd, which will make more sense after you read.  However, due to a technically difficulty because I did not press the right button, that didn't happen.  So, without further ado, here's a post that's being posted in the present but was meant to be shared in the past.


A few months ago, I stumbled upon this intriguing idea: condense an entire book into a work of art- could this be best two combinations going?  Probably?

When done, it looks a little something like this:

 

Now, keeping in mind that I have never seen this in person, I'm just assuming that it's awesome, although probably not actually meant to be read in lieu of the book itself.

So, in case you've been swept up in the current of  Theodor Geisel's Birthday, a.k.a. Mr. Badass himself, Dr. Seuss, and plan on celebrating National Read Across America Day by strolling aimlessly through your local Barnes and Nobles, why don't you dare to be different and visit Spineless Classics and pick up one of these prints of your very own.