Enjoy Project | Children's Books + Front Royal

"Good night, little girls!Thank the Lord you are well!And now go to sleep!"Said Miss Clavel.  Ludwig Bemelmans - Madeline

"We'll end up hand in hand, somewhere down on the sand, just me and you."  

"We'll drive until the city lights, dissolve into a country sky, just me and you."

For Memorial Saturday we drove over to the Blue Ridge Mountains.  The Skyline Drive starts in Front Royal, Virginia at the Shenandoah National Park.  Caleb smelled good.  He wore his new H&M shirt.

The roads were winding.  The trees were green.  Me and you.

Oh, it was "almost Heaven." We love "West Virginia, Blue Ridge Mountains,  Shenandoah River." "Life is old there, older than the trees!" Older than you and me. 

We have many nicknames.  I call him Slim Jim, Cowboy, Corn Cob, Short Stack, Mister Mister, Cockatoo, Morrison, Lone Ranger, Stallion (and sometimes Mare... but I'm just teasing.)  He calls me Little, Silly Woman, Rose of Sharon (also teasing),  Red Robin, Sweet Elizabeth Jane, Baby Doll, You. 

Sometimes I call him Country Roads.  Sometimes he calls me Mountain Mama.  We don't have a lot of money.  And I'm afraid of mice.

(free - zac brown band // country roads - john denver)

Enjoy Project | Making a Valentine's Banner

"a life spent making mistakes is not only more honorable, 
but more useful than a life spent 
doing nothing.”
george bernard shaw

Well, folks.  Today I come to you from the pits of a creators despair.  The grand idea, the motivated and patient effort, the setbacks that don't phase, the setbacks that make you a *little* frustrated, the setbacks that make you walk away and nearly scrap the idea all together, the hope of a new take at the project to keep it alive... and then... yeah... you just stop.  I am committed to posting according to schedule everyday but this is not my favorite thing I've ever made ;)  

I think the whole thing went wrong when I had an idea (that I STILL think could work!) and I had free fabric samples (from the Alt Summit gift box! Woohoo!), and I forced the two to work together.  I should have just used a different material from the start.  I should have saved the fabric for a different project.  Oh well.

The original idea was to cut out letters, so as to leave the negative space of the fabric, and have the wall color show through the letters (it looks kind of cool on the wood, right?!).  I wanted to create a vertical banner because, as much as I think bunting and long banners are cute, they are quite done these days ;) And I thought I was perhaps being a little different in going a different direction! Literally.

Well, after about three hours, hot glue guns, irons, flopping letters, cardstock, paint pens, and a sad sad Kristen I called this project quits and will try again a different time.  I need to use either felt or cardstock... something sturdier than cotton fabric.  I also need my Craft Angel to cut out the letters for me with his sturdy, perfectionist hand.  I feel like this ended up being a fine.  Not cute.  Not whimsical.  Not fresh.  Not modern.  But if you feel like you could take elements and make it work, I'd love to hear tips!  And I am going to give this a whirl some other day with the proper materials.  

In the meantime, I refuse to let this post be a debbie-downer today! SooOoo I decided that "making memories" counts as "making things"... Can I get an "amen!"?  Last Friday, when mistermisterchickendinner arrived home from a three-week absence we had a lovely date day.  He arrived at my house around 5:21 am (around...) and we stayed up until 7 am.  He finally needed to get some sleep (so did I... it's very tiring blow-drying your hair at 2:30 am).  After a looooong nap until 10:00 am we headed out to Great Falls, Virginia.

There were only a scattered few runners and tourists there, so we for all intents and purposes had the place to ourselves.  So we taught ourselves how to waltz on the "dance floors" (look out points). And we took pictures. Here is proof:

I told him that this was my artsy picture of the day.  He is responsible for the first picture of this post, which is clearly more artsy than my shot.  He told me he could take over my business as an artist if I needed. 

Afterwards we drove around Potomac, Maryland and gasped at the mansions.  I'm sure nobody knew that the two blondies in the scraped up Corolla weren't Potomac natives.  We blent in seamlessly.  After we were fully inspired and mentally broke, we headed into Washington DC.  (Don't worry about it: Virginia, Maryland and then DC all within a couple of hours. We get around.)

I wanted to take a picture of us in the city.  It went something like this:


He: You need to update your phone so you can take a picture with the side button.
Me: I know, I know, I know. I will. But I can't now.
*click*
Me: Alright you're not looking at the camera. Let's try again.

He: Kristen, this is seriously hard to do.  Let's use my phone. It's updated. 
Me: Make sure you look at the camera this time!
*click*
Me: Were you looking at the camera?!
He: I was TRYing to! But it's hard to take a picture with this dumb phone! And the sun is in my eyes! I'm shielding you like a man.
Me (reviewing the last picture): Oh, oops, okay, camera is still on.
(scroll through last two pictures)
He: YOU are a hypocrite! YOU weren't looking at the camera!
Me: Because it takes you thirteen months to push a button!

He: Turn this way, the sun doesn't hurt my eyes.
Me: Excuses.
(He was right.)
*click!*
He: Aw, that one is good!
Me: No, it's not... The Red Guy from The Wiggles is walking into my head.
(He doesn't know what The Wiggles are because he grew up TV-less, so he ignores that comment.)
He: Alright, let's try one more time. Kiss on the cheek?
Me: (apparently really not down with that idea?) No.

We gave up on the perfect picture because Founding Farmers reservations were encroaching.  So we went, studied the menu like a mid-term outline, photographed our food, devoured our food, discussed our food, took home our unfinished food, picked food out of the box, paid and cancelled our plans for the rest of the night (including skipping a couples seminar at church to stay home and watch The Bachelor on Hulu).

On our way to the car I made more art:

It was an add for Vodka.  But you'd never know it.

And then I made my final masterpiece of the day: A complicated sunset landscape of the ethereal Mormon temple on I-270.  Don'tcha wish your girlfriend was skilled like me? Don'tchaaa?

Go make something.  Even if it's stinks.  Because memories are better than perfection.