white picket fence

on making (and breaking) plans with little kids.

I spent a few days last week feeling mopey and unfocused. We didn't really do anything; we watched a lot more TV than I like. I kind of floated through the days, and when I'm disorganized I can tell it affects the kids too. So I made the decision that this week would be better. This week would be amazing and fun-filled and awesome. Every day would be a huge party! (I'm sure you can see where this is headed.)

Okay, so, guess what? That didn't happen. But I did make some plans, break some plans, and learn some things over the past few days. Here are a few things I'm taking away from this week:

Switch things around. I made this fun little felt banner (har har har) and hung some streamers on Sunday night after David went to bed. When he woke up in the morning on Monday he saw it and said "party!" So that was successful. I also took all his art supplies and put them out on his table in baskets and mason jars. Having different and new toys visible and right at hand changed the way he played this week. 

Change the scale of things. We normally draw on small paper. I picked up this big pad of newsprint and David seemed to enjoy making huge scribbles instead of little scribbles.  I also moved the furniture around and spread a sheet out on the carpet. Again, switching things up helped change our routine a bit. (Note: normally when "we" draw, it's really more of "me" drawing. I draw a lot of animals and baseball players, obviously.)

Sometimes pretty things are not perfect things. I was really excited to make our own play-doh and used this recipe from an image on pinterest. Play-doh made with jello! It comes pre-colored and smells nice too! Plus the recipe suggested adding glitter near the end, which I did, and it turned out totally cute. However. It was so sticky it's almost worthless to play with. Maybe I'll find a different recipe to use but I was kinda bummed at how this one turned out. 

Don't be afraid to change your plans. I think this is one of my strengths as a parent actually. I never try to force anything that's just not working. I had wanted David to try acrylic paints (and had other plans to paint sticks and make leaf prints this week). But as you can see, he painted about three stripes and then turned the paint palette into some kind of bug train (I think that's the scenario he made up?) Which wasn't what I had planned, but hey. . . that's pretty cool. So we played bugs instead. 

And finally: Know your kid. So some of this stuff was fun, but really. . . David is not a crafts kid. He is an outside kid. I have to accept that. By Wednesday morning I scrapped most of our plans for the day and we went to the baseball field instead. Afterwards I noticed a HUGE turn around in his attitude. Thursday morning it was about 50 degrees but we played at the playground for almost 2 hours, running and swinging and chasing geese and playing in the sand. I think it was the happiest day we've had all week. 

Maybe by next year we'll decorate pumpkins and make bubble paintings and have storytime in a fort. But for now I'm going to take advantage of the rest of the nice weather this fall and do active David stuff and have lots of fun anyway. 

Renegade Craft Fair Chicago, 2011

Ah! Yesterday was a really beautiful day for the Renegade Fair. Every year I go, I am so, so happy to live close by and be just a short drive away. 

I finally jumped on the Instagram train, too. I resisted for so long because I definitely don't need another distracting technology thing in my life, but I buckled and downloaded the app yesterday morning; I wanted to take photos but didn't want to lug the new (huge) camera around. I'm pretty glad I did and now I can totally see the appeal of it. 

Top left: We parked right next to my old apartment on Augusta Boulevard in the Ukrainian Village. Another reason I love Renegade is it gives me an excuse to visit my old neighborhood. I wouldn't say I miss living in the city, but I have such fond memories and wish I made the trip back more often. 

Top right: my cappuccino from Intelligentsia! I think I was the first customer of the day (we were earlybirds) and the barista took such special care and time making my foam art. It was really cute. 

Bottom left: the entrance to the fair. 

Bottom right: Just some of the many business cards I picked up along the way. Lots of new favorites added to my etsy wishlists and internet bookmarks. 

I was primarily shopping for prints, and I bought a few I'd had my eye on for quite a while now. I'm thinking I'll share them here once I get everything framed and hung up. Knowing myself that might take a while... so maybe I'll do a links post sometime in the next few days. 

And my pals for the day! My great friend Renae and her daughter Cyan. Any time I spend with Renae is quality time, and even more so at an event like this. I think we've been discussing the possiblity of having our own booth at a craft fair for about 4 years now. Some day, seriously! And 5 year old Cyan did amazingly well on a hot day in a crowd full of big people, though I think by the time I took this picture she was ready to go home. ;)

The day was filled with friendship. So nice to see my internet-slash-real life pals Robyn and Kimberly. I had the chance to chat with Rachel from Red Velvet Art (and her blog Smile and Wave) and she was super sweet, just like you'd imagine. I enjoyed meeting Kate from The Little Things Studio. Sarah from The Small Object was so friendly and cute (just like her artwork!). Really, every encounter we had was so pleasant and the whole thing just gave me a giant crafty warm fuzzy. So: yay. Such a happy day. 

loving: vintage bed linens

What is it about these that I can't get enough of? There are so many floral patterns in vintage linens that seem to have such a perfect color palette and sweet design without being too twee. Of course there's an element of nostalgia too. In my searches I keep coming across a few designs I'm pretty sure my parents had, back in the day. 

Dream collection! (source: jenib320)

I recently tweeted that if I actually bought every piece of vintage fabric in my etsy shopping cart or favorites list, I'd have to go on Hoarders. And my behavior with the vintage fabric I do have? Very Hoarders-y. Do you know I make color photocopies of it so I can use it in collages and not dwindle my stash? It's true. See here:

Yep. The blue and white floral. . that's a photocopy of fabric. I actually kind of like using thick paper instead of fabric in collages, it has a nice weight to it and cuts a lot cleaner. 

I keep coming across other projects and products using these kinds of fabrics and I thought I'd share a few of my favorites. 

Ah! Perfect summertime fort. (source: Rachel Denbow)

I love these scalloped garlands. Of all the ones I've come across on etsy, this seller's was definitely the best. Sadly, I don't think they're available anymore though. (source: sweetjessie)

Vintage Fabric Deco Tapes! Cute. (source: littlecumulus)

My ultimate goal for all the fabrics I have saved up is to make Norah a big patchwork quilt. Since I just finished David's baby quilt a few months ago though, I'm not giving myself a deadline anytime soon. Whenever I finish (or, you know, get started) I'm sure I'll update here.