Alina's Adventures

Little paper houses on the mantle.

The holiday mantle decorations are packed and put away for next year. Things feel normal again, now that my armless wood statue girl is back in her place beneath the antlers. 

"Why do you love that thing so much?" my husband asked earlier in our marriage. At the time, I didn't have an answer but today the shadow of a reason emerges. I like her because she's not smiling and because she looks as if she's cut from bone. 

A statue carved from bone.... What if death was acknowledged by carving a statue of the each person from their large leg bone? Imagine all the space we'd save only one bone from our bodies was preserved and the rest was donated to hospitals and organ banks. 

The Eldest has been helping Gnome make a paper craft village from the book given to her by Santa this year. Gnome expressed a desire to see her village "grow up" on the mantle. 

Each house has its own set of residents, including pets. Dogs get their own houses but cats are expected to live indoors with their owners.

And here is the book by Delphine Doreau, My Town: A Little World For You To Build. If you aren't sure the book is worthwhile, download a few of Delphine's freebies (posted below) and see if your appetite changes.

Delphine Doreau's Generous Freebies

 Free sample advent calendar house printable
Baby bear wreath printable
Surprise origami wrap printable
Angel ornaments printable
Mini owl paper dolls printable
3-D cuboctahedron puzzle printable
Delphine's dollhouse giftbox printable
Madame Sapin 3-d printable
Black and white matrioshka paper dolls printable
Colorful matrioshka paper dolls printable
Delphine's adorable hanging birdhouse printable
3-D polyhedron ornament printable

The King's cool gift.

It was a surprise. A sign intended to demonstrate when I was grappling with words, trying to write, and therefore better left undisturbed.

The King got the kids to paint it in secret. How much more could I love a dude that understands my need for space and makes every effort to honor it without throwing a messy den or unmade dinner into the batch.

Do I use it? Sometimes.

Though mostly I write on the back stoop-- and in the bed-- anywhere I can steal the seconds. So I'm grateful. For the gift. And for what it symbolizes. 

What St. Nicholas brought this year.

Gnome and Prophet crafted ornaments for their own holiday tree, left by St. Nicholas near their shoes. They've been concocting ornaments from string, floss, and even uneaten cereal flakes and then adding them to the their tree. I'm glad they have a space to create their own version of conventional American Christmas.

In addition to the tree, St. Nicholas left some clementines, Guatemalan worry dolls, and suspenders for each. 

While Prophet appreciated her Tetris-style suspenders, it was Gnome who forged a special relationship with what she calls "my wangs". After running about the yard by herself for at least half an hour, she raced into the house to ask if we'd seen her "flying"-- and how he wings "were flapping".

She insisted on wearing her wangs to the tree lot, under her coat, and even in her carseat. Boy oh boy did the scene get rough when the King suggested she remove her wings for the duration of our tree-hunting expedition.

Pajamas were also a red-letter area. Gnome cried and cried because she didn't want to take off her wangs. We compromised by insisting she change into pajamas and then attaching her wangs to pj bottoms. The kids colored and painted holiday cards while the King made a fire. Gnome slept with her wangs. Thanks for the wacky gift, St. Nicholas.

Holiday decorating at our house: The manger scene and diy versions.

The manger scene is unpacked and put on the piano. There are so many stories lodged inside the nativity-- stories of tribes and discrimination, stories of poverty and tradition, stories of childbirth in which we resemble our animal brothers and sisters.

The wise men, or three kings, carry magic potions and Eastern incense which you can smell on a Sunday in any Eastern Orthodox church. We brought our own frankincense back from Romania a few years ago, and I love to burn it at Christmas.

The angel hangs from a metal rod with a star in the center of her chest. Who wouldn't love to bear the sky and its stars in their torso? Now for a little nativity craftivity...

MY FAVORITE NATIVITY FREEBIES

DIY wooden nativity set (DIY Candy)
Printable coloring nativity set (Marloes de Vries)
DIY lego nativity set (Apartment Therapy)
Simple wooden nativity scene (Dabbles and Babbles)
Felt nativity ornament (Wild Olive)
Christmas nativity tableau (lil blue boo)
Printable nativity scene (Made By Joel)
20 minute felt finger puppet nativity (Little Bit Funky)

30 crafts to try inspire and enlighten kids this summer.

1- DIY summer wall hangings (Handmade Charlotte)

2- Animals made from tape (Carla Sonheim)
Envisioning geometric forms in animal bodies.

3- Cardboard primary color paintings (Art Bar)
Recyling cardboard to explore color.

4- DIY woven wall hangings (Honestly WTF)

5- Nature collages (Picnic)
Nature's shapes and patterns as impetus for art.

6- DIY branchlers (Home Heart Craft)
Each tree is a life and a series of stories.

7- Vegetable stones for the kitchen garden (Playfull Learning)

8- 5 step DIY seed tape (P & G Everyday)
Saving seeds from one season to the next.

9- DIY plastic bag jumprope (Childhood List)

10- DIY berry picking baskets (Captain Crafty)
For blueberry picking days.

11- Spoon oil how-to (3191 Miles Apart)
For telling stories while polishing wood together.

12- DIY twirly garden stakes (Kokstradgard)

13- DIY firestarters for camping nights (3191 Miles Apart)
Each fire begins with a circle.

14- Wooden spoon dolls (Love From Ginger)
For telling stories on long car trips.

15- Geo decorative wall hooks tutorial (Red Thread Blog)
For hanging beach bags, backpacks, and summer outdoor gear.

16- Made with magazines challenge (Journey Into Unschooling)

17- Dye shirts and pillowcases with turmeric (3191 Miles Apart)
Bring sunshine to your pillow.

18- Candied violets tutorial (alina's adventures)

19- Decoupage leaf branches (Lait Fraise)
Inspiring natural headboards for sleeping under trees.

20- Stargazing sewing cards (Kids Activities Blog)
Nothing whets the appetite better....

21- DIY popsicle stick harmonicas (Housing A Forest)
Portable music for strolls.

22- DIY family art wall (Mood Kids)

23- DIY sunprint designs (3191 Miles Apart)
Exploring sunlight and shadow.

24- Embroidered thread notebook covers (The Red Thread Blog)
Handwork for nature journal covers.

25- Branch weaving (3191 Miles Apart)

26- DIY tiny clay planters (Merry Pad)
For gifts of flowers.

27- Simple hot water bottle cover tutorial (Rachael Rabbit)
Discussing the notion of comfort together.

28- Running stitch potholders (Peapod Fabrics)

29- Writing in wool (A Life Sustained)

30- DIY cardboard animals (Small For Big)

Confessions of a bibliophilic bibliomaniac.

The piles of words rise like mountains, obstacles to climbing out of the bed, or reasons to linger and read my way out. Pausing to touch the jacket elicits the temptation to do more.. to read it, to lose myself in the wranglings of another mind, another place, an alternate time.

I can't wrap myself around a digital book in the same way- can't pause in the margin to inhale the scent of printed words, can't dog-ear my way through places so marvelous that the corners rub off. For one who prides herself on adaptation, the digital book barrier remains impermeable.

Yes, pixellation engages the sense with its brilliant colors and virtual reality. But it's the physical reality of books that I can't trade in for the cool mod version. (Anyone who reads this blog already knows I'm not cool or hip or anything that lends itself to fashion.) What I want is the experience of reading in a way that is sensual, rather than merely sense-driven. I want to touch the pages, run my fingers over the coffee cup marks, find a reason for that mysterious marginalia I must have written long ago. My relationship with the text is tangled up in my relationship with the physical body of the book. It's complicated.

The classic bibliophile is one who loves to read, admire and collect books, often amassing a large and specialized collection. Bibliophiles do not necessarily want to possess the books they adore- only to collect the knowledge of their existence.

But there is a sense in which bibliophilia blurs with bibliomania, which wikipedia defines as "an obsessive-compulsive disorder, involving the collecting of books to the point where social relations or health are damaged, and in which the mere fact that an object is a book is sufficient for it to be collected or loved".

Some use the term "bibliomania" interchangeably with "bibliophily". Wikipedia also claims that the Library of Congree does not use the term "bibliophily," but rather refers to its readers as either book collectors or "bibliomaniacs". Perhaps I am a bibliomaniac rather than a bibliophile- it's hard for me to discern the difference. I love books- love love love them. Ultimately, the moniker used to describe my fascination will probably change sooner than my relationship with the books themselves. Now, back to stacking and sorting and, yes, savoring....

How we "survived" the southern Snowpocalypse of 2014.

We played and cavorted in the snow as if it was just another miraculous day on this planet. Since we don't have cable or satellite TV (and we have only one TV in our home), we stayed fairly oblivious to the events of the southern Snowpocalypse.

Snow covers the garden plot.

Two frozen garden gnomes.

Cold and cute go hand in hand.

And so the snow fell, clogging traffic, stranding the King for a hour one drive over 8 measly miles. My sister got trapped at UAB; she and another resident tried to drive home, but couldn't make it through Birmingham's icy hills. Her husband saved the day by driving through the disaster to retrieve her. The King's brother walked three miles through the snow in Atlanta to get to a safe house where he could sleep.

Watching the snow from the front window.

Little B. enjoys a water-less campout by the fireplace with hot cocoa in hand.

Abandoned cars clogged the streets and roadways. Families wept, wondering where their sons, daughters, dads, and moms might be. The stories of kindness and courage continue, interspersed with heartwrenching tales of accidents and untimely deaths.

Students in Atlanta were trapped in their schools.
Helicopters searched the roads for stranded drivers in chilling conditions.
Students in Alabama spent two nights trapped in their schools.
The Washington Post shared photos of what it called "the South's disastrous response to a snow storm".
NPR describes the "rush hour from hell".
In Birmingham, helping others is described as "the way we do things around here".
Tuscaloosa businesses feel the chill.
Two drivers were killed when they collided with a train in Cottondale.
Local resident Brian Howard helped stranded drivers get home.
School bus driver Sylvia Anderson earned accolades for bringing little ones home safely.
City schools closed, and the Tuscaloosa city council meeting was cancelled.
Three Brookwood boys get caught stealing a four-wheeler when a rescue helicopter spots them.

Grandma Vicki called to tell me that Tuscaloosa had made the Athens, Ohio newspaper. She worried about us. I assured her that we were fine.

Of course, I did not mention the fact that our water pipes have been broken since last week- and that the front lawn was flooded by a broken pipe which could not be fixed until weather permitted. That's the sort of thing that would ruin Grandma Vicki's day. And ruining her day would ruin mine as well.

 

All the excavating in the front yard made it hard not to think about the significance of this day- the winter storm and how two inches of snow and ice can wreck an entire region of unprepared cities. We decided to make a time capsule and bury it in the front yard before the dirt was replaced.

 

And so the house gnomes scoured the house for trinkets and tidbits to add to the time capsule. The Eldest suggested we add a large letter "P" as a tribute to the King, who was unable to be with us during the auspicious ceremonials. Since the letter P stands for pedagogical and persnickety and piddle-some, I consented to the tribute.

Milla decided to donate her Hello Kitty lunch box as the vehicle for the time capsule. A few favorite collector's cards were included by the ladies as the Eldest did his best to pen the perfect time capsule letter- one which represented the occasion (i.e. the excavation of our yard during the 2013 snowstorm) as well as his current feelings on various friends, wood trails, dog breeds, etc. 

Finally, the time capsule was ready to bury, just around the time when the plumbing company approached me for a the smallest number that can be called a four-digit sum. I didn't dare disrupt the solemn burial procession with tears over the high cost of home ownership. The procession itself, of course, deserves a post all its own. Forthcoming.

Discovering Christmas decorating ideas along the Tuscaloosa Tinsel Trail.

Earlier this week, after discovering we were too early for ice skating, the kids, Angie, and I took a stroll down the fantastic Tinsel Trail along the Tuscaloosa Riverwalk. Each tree was sponsored and then decorated by different community businesses, nonprofits, or individuals.

Max found a sign that had fallen over. He quickly picked it up and staked it back in the ground. Because, in his words, "Duh, that's what boys DO, mom." I bit my lip and kept the "ideally" from coming out. One should appreciate the ideal rather than demand it. Or so I've read...

So many trees to see.... There were large, bombastic trees smothered in bows....

Angie strolled along, looking relieved that the ice-skating rink would not give her a chance to skate.

And there were many discoveries and inspirations for our own crafting plans...

1. CD ornaments painted with reindeer scenes.

  

2. Little yarn Dr. Seuss-ish ornaments....

  3. Lovely little critters cut from pinecones and brush....

4. A gauze-wrapped snowman tree.

5. Stockings cut from burlap and decorated with paint and glitter.

6. Candycanes also cut from burlap and painted.

7. Recycled aluminum can ornaments.

8. Aluminum soda can tree people.

9. Classic glitter-dipped pinecones hung with rope.

10. Instruments and horns adding glitter to the tree.

11. Laminated sunshine photos of children at the R.I.S.E. tree.

12. A rope garland lined with bells and pieces of bandana fabric.

13. Hand-painted glass globes with black and red backgrounds.

14. A collection of colorful handprints with glitter decorations.

15. A glue-covered and glitter-dipped CD.

16. A tree covered with toys- this was B.'s "favorite".

17. An Eric Carle inspired butterfly tree-topper.

18. Monopoly money and game pieces as upcycled tree decorations.

Our vote for the wackiest, "cutest" tree- the big mouthed Bama Fan?

As we neared the end of the Trail, Milla found a fellow she deemed intriguing. B. stopped to scope him out. Before I understood what was going down, Micah joined them..

The luckiest faux gingerbread man on the block earned a kiss from three little ladies far sweeter than himself.

We headed back to the spaceship with the words from one advice-giving tree still in our minds- "Peace on earth begins at home". 

Trying to make our own frasier fir holiday wreath.

The entire house smells of frasier fir, thanks to the kindness of the young fellows at the tree lot who allowed me to leave with a minivan-trunk-full of fir boughs and limbs. Finally, it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas at the Coryell Castle (you know, that house everyone thinks is just way too small for a family of 5.5).

The king ties twine around the joints of the fir limbs.

"Hey, it's a learning experience," he insists. 

The work in progress continues. Stay tuned to see if the wreath turns out pretty enough to post..

Holiday mantles, crafting, and the usual flurries.

I am behind on the holiday season this year- boxes still sitting in the corridor, always, the books, lining the walls, making it difficult to remember what precisely I was going to do next. Always, the hope that my family understands (despite their possible annoyance) that I am doing my best.

The matyroshka mantle working its way into being.

But I have done my homework- a long list of links to projects for handmade holidays. I hope you find something to use and create. 

Just click on the big image for a gateway in holiday crafting. And savor the season..

22 holiday crafts on my "try it" list.

 So many lovely things to make and do. Roll the dice and try a few...

1 - Winter forest diorama (bookhou)

2 - Christmas tree origami mobile (nurin-kurin)

3 - Paper evergreen trees (Martha Stewart)

4 - Wooden doll family portraits for the mantle (One More Mushroom)

5 - Miss Lolly Dolly (Teawagon Tales)

6 - Snowy forest embroidered garland (Handmade Charlotte)

7- Colorful holiday branches (LBW)

8 - Oak leaf Christmas trees (Seamless Days)

9 - Your own Christmas tea bags (Morning Creativity)

10 - Spring wreath (I'm Breanna Rose)

11 - Toothpick stars (Lutter Idyl)

12 - Plaster painted milkcarton houses (Paper 'n Stitch)

13 - Little cardboard holiday village (Even Cleveland)

14 - Glitter Christmas garland (bellamumma)

15 - Simple white star garland (Kotiliesi)

16- Homemade foodie holiday decorations (JJ Begonia)

17 - Twiggy snowflake ornament (Make It Love It)

18 - Herbal wreaths (Project Wedding)

19 - Magnolia leaf garland (Design Sponge)

20 - Paper pine cones (Craftberry Bush)

21 - Paper bag vases (Alisa Burke)

22 - Felt leaf garland (86 lemons)

The Coryell Castle door-man.

Steve, our door-man, is quite the chap (insofar, of course, as a finger-puppet atop a twig can be called a chap). 

Love letter #93: Things to make in April.

1. Easy tank dress (The Southern Institute)

2. Dita von Teese's wrap dress (I heart Jenny's art)

3. The Leela dress (Innocentia)

4. Alphabet peg dolls (No Time for Flashcards)

5. Tie-dyed sheets in spring colors (Design Love Fest)

6. A few new touches for the kids' room (Jen Loves Kev)

7. Snippy photo mosaic (Photojojo) 

8. Embroidery hoop weaving loom (Living Crafts Blog)

9. Lacey bolero (Joyfolie)

10. Pebbles and pinecones game (Michele Made Me)

11. Doily-print fabric made with photosensitive dye (How About Orange)

12. Personalized family necklace (Willowday)

Learning about 3-dimensional shapes.

We are looking at 3D shapes and figures today, so I directed the kids to one of the paintings on our wall (by a Romanian artist) as an introduction. Since Micah found it simple to see the triangles, I asked her to look for "triangles with storage space inside them". Max quickly jumped in with a lecture on pyramids, which bought me time to prepare for the morning and refill my coffee cup.

Everyone (save Max) was eager to begin coloring and singing, so I borrowed a lovely creation from Lil' Country Kindergarten, a poem-song about 3D shapes. 

3D Shapes Poem (PDF)

As the ladies colored, Max counted all the 3D shapes he could find in the painting. We also talked about the emergent shape- the spiral or circle in which the village is organized with a church at the center. This is a very common development pattern for Eastern European towns and small villages. Usually, you will also find a well or grazing commons near the church, reflecting the historic understanding of public goods prior to industrialization. 

Finally, Max explored an online geometry lesson in which he was asked to "guess an object by its shadow". This allowed him to play with the properties of 3D figures in an indirect manner. He enjoyed it so much that he rushed off to write a journal entry about it.

The architecture of happiness.

One always finds something unexpected in a book by Alain de Botton. When he describes architecture and interior design as appeals to our hunger for beauty, he tells us nothing that the magazines and billboards don't argue everyday. But when he suggests that "the buildings we admire are ultimately those which, in a vairety of ways, extol values we think worthwhile", he prompts us to consider how we assert our values through consumption. 

The perfectly ordered home- the one in which every object is carefully stored and organized- suits the psychology of modern man who refuses to leave any nook or cranny of the cranium unexamined or unexplained. Ironically, it is this type of mind which is most unsuited to the artist, whose mess and disarray signal the act of participation in the creation of something meaningful. Do we clean our homes to hide the chaos inside? Alain de Botton takes a page to thank the aesthetes, "those eccentric figures who must watch over their houses with the vigilance of museum guards, patrolling their rooms in search of stains, a damp cloth or a sponge in hand".

Aesthetes will have no choice but to forgo the company of small children and, during dinner with friends, will have to ignore the conversation in order to focus on whether someone might lean back and inadvertently leave a head-shaped imprint on the wall.

It would be pleasant to refuse in a muscular spirit to lend stray blemishes significance. However, aesthetes force us to consider whether happiness may not sometimes turn on the presence or absence of a fingerprint, whether in certain situations beauty and ugliness may not lie only a few millimetres apart, whether a single mark might not wreck a wall or an errant brushstroke undo a landscape painting. We should thank these sensitive spirits for pointing us with theatrical honesty towards the possibility of a genuine antithesis between competing values: for example, an attachment to beautiful architecture and the pursuit of an exuberant and affectionate family life. 

Dear friends and family, that pile of books and miscellany stacked in the corner promises me that I am welcome in your home- welcome to breathe and live and exist in all my mischief and verbosity. Don't apologize for your messes; this suggests you think I am the sort of person who judges others by such things (which I don't). On the other hand, your immaculate, polish-perfect home stuns and impresses me- "how can something in which people live remain so pristine"?- and I will surely search for a spot of muddle in which I can comfortably sit given that I feel bad upon entering such a museum without having purchased a ticket. 

Alain sums it best: "How wise were the ancient philosophers in suggesting that we exclude from our vision of contentment anything that might one day be covered by lava or blow down in a hurricane, sucuumb to a chocolate smear or absorb a wine stain." Perfection is an ideal for which we may hope and dream- but never covet. Have we abandoned the corset for the miseries of other bindings just as grotesque?

Chase butterflies:

An excerpt from de Botton's book
Video segments from the documentary 
Audio from book on topic of "Coherence" 
The Living Architecture Project prompted by Alain 

DIY painted pinecones with kids.

Another super simple way to add holiday spirit throughout the house while bringing the outside in.

SUPPLIES

fine glitter
glue
acyrlic paints
paintbrushes
tiny helping hands
pinecones from the yard

It's hard to give instructions for such a simple craft. Spread out some newspaper, pass out paints and brushes, and let the kids paint the pinecones as they please. Once they have dried a bit, give them glue to touch to the tips of the cones and then sprinkle glitter over them. Add them in unilluminated corners to bring some holiday joy throughout the house.

DIY acorn wire wreath.

A simple little wreath with a nod to the cleanish curves of a coathanger. 

SUPPLIES

a wire coathanger
5-10 acorns
wax paper
scissors
sewing machine and thread
a few sprigs of evergreen
a few magnolia  leaves 
a little bit of twine 
pieces of ornament hanging wire (optional) 

First twist the coathanger into the shape of a circle and loop the ends securely.

Visit your trusty sewing machine friend and pick a thread color that suits your fancy. Then use the scissors to cut three or four rectangles or triangles which can be folded over to comfortably house an acorn. 

Using a decorative or simple stitch and beginning in the top center of each acorn packet, sew the acorn into its wax paper packet. Leave varying lengths of thread tails (between 5 and 10 inches) on each acorn package.  Do this for 3-10 acorns.

Use the thread tail to tie your acorns to the bottom of the wire wreath.

Cut a few lenths of matching thread (or use the ornament hanging wire as I did) to secure your evergreen springs to the wire. Wrap it around the base and one more time somewhere in the center of each sprig.

DIY tape roll mini wreaths.

We've been going through the rolls of tape recently, and the kids have been using them as wheels in their imaginary play. I snuck a tape roll and played around with it this morning to see if it would give in to its natural calling as an upcycled wreath.

For this super-simple project, all you need is a tapeless tape roll (you can use any size- don't throw away the masking tape rolls, the packing tape rolls, or even toilet paper rolls which can be diced to make lots of little wreaths), a strip of scrap fabric, a bit of twine or string, and some fabric glue.

I cut the front from a torn button-down shirt and decided to keep the buttons as baubles. Then I just wrapped it around the tape dispenser, secured the end with the fabric glue, and added some twine to use as a hanger (though it seemed to bulky so I used an aluminum hanger instead.

There are so many directions and flavors in which you could take these mini-wreaths- and so many ways in which little hands could contribute. I'd love to see your wreath ornaments...

DIY watercolor bough hangings.

To decorate for Isla's baby shower, we decided to keep in the spirit of sustainability and watercolor paper scraps for bough hangings. This allowed the kids to contribute to the decorations for their new cousin. 

To make your own, all you need is:
paintbrushes
watercolor paints
newspaper to cover the floor
scrap pieces of paper cut into rectangles
a hole-punch 
colored embroidery floss or string 
a bough
happy hands

After cutting the scraps into rectangles, let the kids wile away an hour painting whatever suits their fancy. Then let the rectangles dry. Once they have finished drying, fold each rectangle in half with the paint on the outside. Then punch a hole in the unfolded section and thread a string through the two holes. Knot the string to keep the holes together. 

Then make a loop and tie a knot near the paper where the two holes are punched. Your ornaments are ready to dangle. If you'd like a little added sparkle, you can always brush a line of Elmer's glue along them and add some glitter. We preferred to stick to the simple, classic look of watercolor on white.

Micah said, "it looks like little paper leaves for the tree that lose its leaf clothes". Her image stuck itself in my head, and returned when I saw the backyard autumn trees behind the bough with its leaf clothes.

Rather than throw them away after the shower, we brought the decorations home and plan to store them and re-use them again. Max also made a proclamation to the effect of "let's make more of these and sell them to raise money for kids in Iraq". I love it when the day organizes itself like that.

Preparing for handmade holidays....

I'm not as nervouse as I was the first time. There is a pain in my shoulder and arm that just won't hush, but that is the worst of my troubles these days.

A handmade, handpainted ironwood ornament from tornado-tumbled timber.

Craft fairs open a door to exploring new craft mediums and techniques. This year will be the one in which I explored the world of natural wood. The year of the knife, the whittle, the whetstone, and the woodburner. The year of circular saws and tiny black nails that resemble tacks. The year of living in a city that still has large, treeless bald spots from the tornados of 2011.

The pocketbook I finished at Mary's last night.

What would I do without Mary when it comes to sewing for the handmade holiday event this Saturday? I'm not a craft fair person- not the kind who has enough organization and planning to pull off those brief events in which people mill around your "wares".  They pretend to find them "cute" and I pretend to not notice.

The handmade, one-of-a-kind texture and tactile baby book.

Honestly, I would do nothing at all. Not even bother to enter. Mary is the reason for my relationship with my serger and the secret to my audacity at daring to "fair". It's nice to know there is someone with whom I can share secrets as tawdry and tired as wine coolers.

An embroidered handle to match the snaps on a crib bag.

A crib and a small, clean space in the castle.

Finding thrifted tacky cribs and making them even more tacky with a little paint is one of my favorite ways to avoid facing the tragedy of American politics. 

The orange crush crib in progress...

Since most of the house is currently celebrating the "windswept and wild" look, I am trying to stay focused on being happy with the little corners of clean that still exist.

My desk, for example, is tidy. Cleanliness in our home means "currently unused". The more clean the area, the less it is lived.

Addicted to tiny collections.

I just can't throw all these little pieces away.... So there (here) they stay.

Making a craft table from scrap wood.

Since the craft fair is rapidly approaching and I've been lagging on my sewing these days, Patrick and I made a craft table this weekend- a little encouraging shove to help me get my stitches and creations organized.

We used wooden picked up from trash piles along the streets of Tuscaloosa, as well as a few leftover pieces from our fence. 

The frame was the most fun part to build- once you have a frame, it's hard to ignore or procrastinate because it begs to be filled in. We finished the table in less than 6 hours while juggling kids and Sunday afternoon activities.

Max helped Patrick move the table indoors last night. As soon as it's organized, I promise to post a photo.... or two.

All the family members on the mantel menagerie....

Why include only those "family members" in recent history?
Why not stretch back to the beginning of the genus? 
A big, broad family includes even cardboard creatures. 

Max's menagerie of pieced cardboard animals has taken over this week.

"Solution", a poem by Leland B. Jacobs.

This is Max's poem to memorize for the week. It fits in well with all the drilling and painting in the background as I put together a winter coat and hat hanging rack for the munchkins.

SOLUTION

When I went out to play
    The day had just begun 
"Put on your coat," said the wind.
    "Take off your coat", said the sun.

Now who was in the right?
    And which advice was better?
I solved the problem for myself--
    I just put on my sweater. 

My weekend to-make list.

Window screens from old lace

all the luck in the world's plastic cube displays

Ladenlokal's chalk wall illustrations

Andi Potamkin's rock and plank shelf

Antlers, wooden women, and hanging objects.

The antlers above the mantle tend to attract hanging crafts.

Meanwhile, the mantle in general tends to accumulate "found objects" too loved for the floor but "in limbo" with respect to decor.

On the wall in the hall, secured with duct tape and all.

Strands of shells from the beach waiting for something to become.

What happens in the orange chair.

Milla reads to her baby in the orange chair.

Everybody's favorite chair- big enough to swallow two kids and one adult- sits by the big window overlooking our street.

Micah in the orange chair.

Many moments begin and end in this chair- reading moments, thinking moments, drawing moments, journaling moments, doll-caring moments, moments so plentiful that they defy characterization. Even the sorting moments- the instants when I sit and weigh all the influences in our lives hoping for guidance on next steps, big decisions, and tiny co-evolutions which often lead to revolutions.

Vanilla and Milla in context.

As a 90-year-old gentleman reminded me on the phone yesterday, thinking is a dangerous act. It leads to reflection and revision. I'm glad my kids can ask me, "Mom, what are you thinking about?" and I can give them an honest answer. The orange chair is a context.

Tessellations, tangrams, and mosaics: A learning extravaganza.

After picking up Grandma Vicki from the airport yesterday, we dropped by Birmingham-Southern College to stretch our legs, change a diaper, and nibble on clementines.

Upon roaming the campus, we found a star on the map labelled "Ecoscape"- a destination. 

Max counts as the girls and Grandma Vicki scamper to hide.

The metal sculptures and winding trails delighted the kids, who quickly realized that the Ecoscape was an ideal place for a good game of hide-and-go-seek. 

 

As we savored the scattered mosaics, Grandma Vicki and I felt a plan begin to hatch- a plan that involves old thrift store plates, a hammer, and a bag of cement on the Coryell Castle grounds.

Returning to Tuscaloosa led to extended play with tangrams and tessellations. I took photos of the kids' designs and we decided to try and use a few for our mosaic-in-the-making. Tangram pieces are excellent tools for experimenting with mosaic patterns.

Mosaic tutorials for the making

House-number mosaic sign 
 Mosaic planter
 Simple, green mosaics 
Pebble mosaic (This Old House) 
Pebble mosaic (Fine Gardening) 
Pebble mosaic stepping stones (Garden Molds)
Mosaic tile birthbath (Making Mosaics) 

The gray walls and Facetime fun.

Finally the walls of the main room are finished- "porpoise" is the name of the paint color. Milla stayed up late with me last night after chatting with my dad on Facetime. We had fun taking photos with all the different Facetime effects. The lowdown.

Effect: Black and white

Effect: Glow

Effect: Pencil sketch

Effect: Comics

That space between the window and the bookshelf.

There is a space between the window and the bookshelf where nothing ever fits. I've been playing with it and finally decided that Amos Kennedy's letterpress might be the rug that ties the room together. Amos, Gee's Bend quilts, drawings of imaginary animals by Romanian children, war agitprop, and suburban scrawl. We'll see if it lingers.

An afternoon with Patrick's grandparents.

Micah and Grandy take turns smiling for the camera.   

    On our way back to Tuscaloosa, we stopped by to visit Patrick's grandparents, Grandy and Granddad. The kids were enchanted by the house and its many colors and decorations. Patrick and Granddad got lost in a world of their own discussing banks, real estate, investments, and barbeque while the kids and I took a tour of the house and ground with Grandy.

Patrick and Granddad oblige me.

    Once upon a time, Grandy was an interior decorator. She told me that IBM would bring families to Atlanta and then give the "wives" a "decorator's stipend" to help them create their new homes. Grandy thoroughly enjoyed the freedom and opportunity provided by these stipends. Often, she discovered that these relocated wives longed for female companionship as much as they wanted a pretty house. So Grandy provided both.

A little corner in a room.

Grandy's dining room decor.

    We were privileged to see the sprightly side of Grandy when she started dancing in her chair as max played "Alouette" on the piano. Grandy sang along. The girls giggled and joined her. You can see the expressions of surprise and delight on their faces. She showed them how to dance with their hands posing as spiders.

Grandy shares decorating secrets with Micah.

Max enjoys the decorating magazines as well.

Milla's pooping pose.

    We knew the time to hit the road had come when Milla assumed her "pooping pose" on the back porch. Miles to go before sleep, and many more diapers to change before the stars finally claimed the sky.

Suburbia all over the wall.

    In the fall of 1968, Bill Owens began working as a photographer for the Livermore Independent, a paper in California whose daily route brought him into contact with hundreds of suburban families. Bill observed that these proud home owners considered themselves winners of the American Dream, with which they equated material success in the suburbs.
    Bill published the photos he took over the course of two years in his book, Suburbia. I've shared a few of the photos with you because I love them and have them in various places hanging on my walls.
    All the comments under the photos were made the persons in the photos, and they serve as flashlights onto how many middle-class Americans percieved themselves in the late 1960's. 

Love this couple.

Yard work in the days when there was enough rain to make it worthwhile.

She is a proud subscriber to Good Housekeeping.

Perfect kitsch.

This one is a personal favorite- it's framed as a reminder of priorities in life. The more things change, the more they stay the same.

This could be applied to present as well, except now we know the truth about Bank of America.

I'm happy to be nowhere near these two.

"Wild party" indeed- can't help thinking this looks like a girl who used to be named Erin Fitzhugh. Only she could look that good in a polyester dress.

With suburbia came the requirement of a perfectly-tended, martial lawn.

I'm partial to their art and would love to buy a pair of those pants for my husband.

This is the text on the back cover of the book. Who's up for some car-gazing?

"Now", a poem by Wendell Berry.

A night stand at the beach house.

Now

I used to wish for a breakthrough
Now I worry about what into. 

Wendell Berry

What to do with those planks.

Patrick and I have been batting ideas around for how to use our reclaimed wood planks. We've been sitting and stirring the prospects over the course of several months, and a brew has finally emerged. It's a combination of many things with a dash of unquantified zest. We'll see what comes of these inspirations on the morrow.

Reclaimed wood entry table with wooden dowel legs by EdiesLab

Reclaimed wood shelving from Shelterness

Towel or hanger bar from Shelterness

And then this thrown in for a little confusion

Love letter #35: String gardens.

Leave it to string to turn my day into a weaving, twisted, knotty joy. Trying to find the best support for our Atlanta-born snow peas, I was inspired by a fellow community-gardener's beautiful string scaffold. But when I went online to search for "string" and "garden", I entered a different dimension of gardening.

Inspiration comes in spurts. But this dimesion of cool creativity is a mouse-click away. Look, learn, and play.

Kokedama string garden how-to (Craftzine)

 

Suspended string garden (Apartment Therapy)

Coconut husk hanging plant (Dale Mackey)

Hanging moss garden how to (Dale Mackey)

On my bedside table.

A little rose from our garden with a minty trellis- Patrick's "good morning" birthday gift. I love a man that speaks through hand-picked flowers.

When wood calls your name.

This old piece of wood kept calling my name this morning until I finally took its photo. But it still won't leave me alone. What do you see? What IS it about this that fascinates me?

A new bed for the kids: Co-sleeping variation #34.

Some people relish sleeping alone. And then there are some like me, who prefer a breathing body in the bed next to them. Max, Micah, and Milla all seem to have "inherited" (or been trained to appreciate) this "sleep with me" trait.

Enter my sister and brother-in-law. Yesterday, Arthur and Andre pulled up with a large bed in the bac of their truck. Apparently, Carla deeded her full size bed to us, and my mom paid Arthur to drive it down.

Tino helped us move Max's old twin into the garage (pity cause I love that old ikea fossil) and preparations for the new bed began. Max helped Patrick convert the toddler bed into a lounger, while Micah found every excuse under the sun to avoid picking up books and toys from the floor.

Fixing a bed Coryell Castle style.

Max and Micah fixed their bed this morning in hushed, conspiratorial voices. Milla's face was pocked with curiosity. Then the two bed buddies sauntered out of the room together, laughing. Notice Milla's slump in lounge chair? I wonder if this new bond between Max and Micah bothers little Mills.

Tiny size reading corner.

Milla samples the new "tiny size" reading corner which came about by converting Micah's toddler bed into the lounger you see here.

Medium to large size reading corner.

Max attached the whirly-twirly white papers while I was still sleeping this morning. Aren't they lovely?

Scores of sheep and dogs slept with Max and Micah.

Micah went to sleep in her bed early last night, and slept later than usual. Max reported that they both "slept peacefully" because "noises don't sound as scary when you're not alone with them". I agree completely. We are so grateful to Aunt Carla and Uncle Germ for this chance to try out a novel, slightly-retro, and predominantly medieval sleeping arrangement.

31 ways to learn a lot with an abacus.

Albert the abacus wants to play, not spend his life on the shelf all day.

1 - Begin by learning about the abacus and bead values.

2 - Explore the difference between a counting board and an abacus.

3 - Add on the abacus.

4 - Subtract on the abacus.

5 - Multiply on the abacus.

6 - Divide on the abacus.

7 - Explore square roots on the abacus.

8 - Take a minute to stroll through an abacus photo gallery.

9 - Discover Mr. Feynman's encounter with an abacus.

10 - Watch a video showing how to use a counting board abacus.

11 - Make a popsicle stick abacus.

12 - Check out Michael Mode's wooden abacus art.

13 - Make a lego abacus.

14 - Play a game of abacus solitaire.

15 - Share Tamba's abacus with little people you know.

16 - Learn how to teach abacus to younger children. Then share your skills.

17 - Make a bead abacus.

18 - Create an abacus gallery illustrating and describing different types of abacus. Make sure to include your own creations.

19 - Play around with these abacus challenges.

20 - Play a few counting games with the abacus.

21 - Take part in an abacus counting bee.

22 - Create and complete your own abacus worksheet.

23 - Write the numbers displayed on these abacus. (answers)

24 - Compare your abacus to this pre-1850 Chinese abacus and this post-1850 Chinese abacus.

25 - Learn about the lonely abacus. Write a story explaining why it is called the lonely abacus and how it came to be. Then find out what the true story.

26 - Use this computation worksheet to work through problems on your abacus.

27 - Then use this abacus worksheet to draw your solutions onto each abacus.

28 - Now try this worksheet for showing high numbers on an abacus.

29 - Tell a story about 1,000 fish using your abacus as a prop.

30 - Make a mini abacus so you can play all day and any time.

31 - Now for the family craft- make an oversized wooden abacus for your living room.

For those who become infatuated with their own version of our Albert, here is one treasure you might want to print and leave near your finished family abacus...

The Bead Unbaffled: An Abacus Manual created by Totton Heffelfinger & Gary Flo

What I painted on the kids bathroom door.

Does anyone recognize the reference offhand? If not, a little bird points here. The kids seem to love it, and I am always partial to pretention and poetry and sardonic asides to create ambiance while you pee. The photo is awful, of course, as my iPhone has been playing in the mud lately, but you get the picture.

A beautiful gift from Guatemala.

Tino's parents sent a lovely package to our family and my mom was sweet enough to let us keep the placemats while she uses the coasters. Mrs. Diaz-Duran is a woman after my own heart- and not just for loving Tino into life. Nothing could match our home and family better.

Each little doll on the napkin holders is original enough to deserve a name. So we set out to name them. Here is what the kids came up with...

Micah named this lady "Petra". We all agreed it suits her perfectly.

Max named these three ladies "Narcissa", "Coryella", and "Dapplevida". Lyrical, this boy.

Then Micah named this lady "Runnatell", which seemed a little more exotic and perhaps difficult to explain.

A conversation about jellybeans with Micah.

Micah said:

"Mommee?"

Alina said:

"Yes, Mikey."

Micah said:

"Will you paint jellybeans on my wall?"

Alina replied:

"Hmmmm.... what if I make a painting of jellybeans and put it on your wall?"

Micah paused thoughtfully:

"Okay."

Micah smiled. Then remarked:

"Mommeee, your jellybeans are not all the same. That's why you have to make them again for me."

Alina agreed:

"They're not all the same, but I wanted the jellybeans to be like you guys, different shapes and different sizes."

Micah looked puzzled:

"Why you want that?"

Alina looked at Micah:

"Because I love your differences. They make life so beautiful."

Micah nodded:

"That's good. But why you make a white thing touching the jellybeans?"

Alina laughed:

"Now that I don't know...."

(Cross-posted at Handmade Tuesdays, where you will find other intricate and less confused makings by ladies, gentlemen, and various gendered folk.)

Love letter #43: Things to put on the walls that can only make you happy.

From the hands of Katie Daisy.

Placenta art from the Birth Balance blog.

The art of Ryoko Ishii.

Cameron's work of art.

Now framed and hanging on the children's wall as a lesson to the munchkins about what happens when a philosopher king becomes a network manager.

I'm not Catholic, but....

This $5 ceramic holy water basin was too beautiful to resist on our trip home from Atlanta in a tiny little town with a flea market calling my name from the highway. I love beautiful little things made with God in mind...

Ashley's creative Christmas gift: "Coaster face".

The Coryell family Christmas gift exchange was fun and wild, as such things can only be with 6 children under the age of five. All the gifts from the Coryell Castle were handmade- part of my attempt to enjoy a handmade holiday with the munchkins.

Ashley's gift inspired and excited many of us, so I thought I would share her take on The Frugal Girls' photo coasters (tutorial at link). Rather than use a smooth backing, Ashley gave the photos an aged effect by gluing them to stone tiles. Almost too pretty to use as a coaster- we don't have any coaster-worthy furniture in our casa anyway. I think I'm going to use a glue gun and put some mounting on the back so we can gaze lovingly at our coaster faces on the wall.

Where you put your feet.

The Dude would grumble with joy for this is truly the rug that ties the room together. We found it in Gary's garage yesterday and he gifted it to us. Out came the shop vac to whisk away Vanilla's hair. Granted, a few hairs remain as a fond tribute to the ever-mischevious Vanilla, muncher of dirty diapers and thief of table food.

Thank you Ratpaw and Bunica. What a pretty little place for our feet.

A little bit of mantle.

A starry night light for a story corner.

I love our story corner. Last night, we lit the bordello light and our newly-crafted starry night light and read holiday stories as a family. It felt so intimate and special- like the sort of secret which requires a whisper.

The starry night light is a combination of copper wire, a thrifted treasure, a string of white Christmas lights secured in the bowl with copper wire, and a white extension cord procured for us by Tino. I wish I had a better camera than my iPhone 3 to share how magical this light looks at night. Imagine the pattern of stars cast over the floor and the white walls.

Do you have a special place to tell, create, enact, and share stories?