Garden Craftiness

There is a chill in the air today so my garden craftiness will happen in my studio. Em is bundled up working in our yard and playing with the pups. I've headed downstairs with the fireplace and pulled a blanket on me. I have a garden craft I started two weeks ago, today is the perfect time to finish it. 

It all started with this jar full of wine corks! I have run out of those little white sticks you write on what you've planted in the garden so you remember what is growing in each row.  So I was looking around the studio for something I could make my own sticks from. 

So I labeled the wine corks with some of the things we will grow this year.  This is where the project stopped a couple weeks ago. I've been thinking and thinking about how to put them into the rows. Of course, during this time Em ordered the white ones for me so I could just go with those. But these would be so cute in the garden! Today when I came down I wandered around the studio wondering what I could use for a base to slip into the ground. Good thing my friends always send the things they don't know what to do with my way! 

These came from my dear kindergarten teacher friend. She used them for sorting with her students. Perfect! 

I found enough of the brown golf tees to use those with corks. They looked much better than the white ones! Just a drop of hot glue and ta-da!

Oh my goodness! Love my kitchen herb garden. When my dad comes this week I'm getting a few more herbs but this is a good start. 

I couldn't wait to see them in the garden! Love! 

Happy Spring! 

My Summer "Off"

I learned yesterday that we have only been on summer break for two weeks. It's amazing that it feels like it has been two months! Well, at least a month anyways.  I'm sure other teachers have done this, probably on accident or regretted it as soon as they did it, where they think about how many weeks we actually have off. I did this today as the puppy took her afternoon nap in my arms. 

There are lots of links I'm stumbling past about the top five, ten or nine reasons we have our "whole summer off" and attempts to explain why it's so important for teachers to have the summer away from school. I'll jump on the bandwagon. Hey, it's summer and I actually have time to see the bandwagon AND jump on it! 

Here are how my ten weeks off this summer will be spent: 

Week 1- I cry because school is out and have a crazy weird feeling I'm forgetting something. I reflect on if I did enough for my students and make notes for next year. I wrap up any loose ends from my classroom which usually means playing Tetris with odds and ends so I can start vacation. I eat lunch without methodically planning out every minute for the next three hours. The dogs play so much because mommy is home that they are exhausted by 8:00pm. Win! 

Week 2- I rediscover my beautiful porches and all the other amazing rooms of my house. I relax in the quietness.  I blog, make art and garden. I potty train a puppy and snuggle lots with the dogs. I also pin lots of ideas for my classroom on Pinterest and read a book about writer's notebooks. 

Week 3- I miss school so much I take a week long training. I'm so lucky to work in a district with amazing technology training during the summer. I work a full day every day this week at my local high school and come away with a crazy to-do list! During this time, I learn about new curriculum, redo and update my classroom website, dream about the cool techie toys out there. 

Week 4- I spend every day with friends! So many I've missed during the year so I'm be booked for coffee dates, luncheons and dinners. When not with friends, I work on that to-do list I created last week for my classroom. Oh, and there's this great book by Ron Clark I've been wanting to read! 

Week 5- Fourth of July is already upon us. I host friends and that means all those projects I neglected during the school year must get completed before company comes! Oh, and I'll read books I've picked up for my classroom library and complete one of those projects from the to-do list for my classroom. 

Week 6- I get to travel to see my family and spend time with the littlest niece! 

Week 7, 8, 9- I take a class to learn about the new science curriculum.  I get to develop lessons for the NGSS (next generation science standards) so my students have hands-on, student centered activities. Collaboration with other teachers and dreaming big for what we want for our students is nice during this summer class. 

Week 10- Time to prepare my classroom! The students come back in a week and I have tons of boxes to unpack, a library to reorganize and all those ideas I gathered all summer get to take flight now!  

When you know a teacher "taking the summer off," realize that means we are recharging our batteries while preparing for our next school year! 

This Beautiful Life: 2015

The current collection at Kelly's Bakery & Cafe is titled The Beautiful Life: 2015. It has been awhile since I put my artwork together as a collection but they were all coming together so perfectly this time! I really enjoyed using some old letters that I bought when Blooming Grove Academy closed to create different sayings. I've used the letters on top of my upcycled cabinet and utilized various filters and editing features to get really cool images. 

I also used the letter to create parts of words in my collage pieces or to create negative space. 

{this piece has already lived several lives- it was a Christmas piece that I re-upcycled again into this! I love the square frames so much!}

This framed collage piece is one of my favorites (I know, I shouldn't have favorites but this one really hits my favorite colors and techniques).  Most of my frames come from estate sales, garage sales, friends leaving things on my porch or from roadside finds. However, sometimes stores have crazy sales on pieces. This had a horrifying pig picture in it so I got it for just dollars! Luckily, there were like three horrible pigs! I'll have to stay on the lookout for the wolf now! 

Rainy Days and Mondays

It was a rainy week here in Illinois. We finally got some snow today but when I started this piece earlier during our winter break, it just kept raining. 

I found some paint that I had painted a cabinet with years ago! Probably nine years ago! So, when I opened the cans the paint had separated and made these wonderful colors. The density and texture of the paint was really interesting and I loved watching it on the canvas. 

At the Bloomington High School Craft Show

Come see us today and check out the newest creations! 

A Show For Lukah

The summer show at Kelly's Bakery and Café is on display now.  I'm excited to share this with you but needed a bit of time to find the right words to share about the show.  You'll notice the pieces look much different than my previous pieces...that's because I had a lot of help making this show!!!

 This year my class was very responsive when they heard about others in need.  They were a chatty class but they loved with their entire hearts. It was a pleasure guiding their learning during the 2013-2014 school year.  As part of our social studies work throughout the year, we had written Christmas cards for the local cancer center, collected food for the food pantry, organized the Easter Seals money collection and collected canning jars for a dearly loved teacher at our school.  As we wrapped up our final social studies lessons the kids asked if we could do one more community project.  At our career day in May, an artist came to share her artwork and poetry.  That got me thinking! I had also been thinking a lot {A LOT} about Lukah, a former softball player I had coached, whose family was raising money for a service dog.  So, this show was born!

The kids created one of a kind artwork pieces. I had a lesson on collage making and using various techniques to create depth all prepared to share with them.  One hand went up as I started teaching, "Can we draw?"  I nodded yes and went back to my excitement to share with them collaging.  Another hand went up, "But is it okay if we draw?"  Again I nodded.  Back to stippling paint and getting the edges of a torn piece of paper to disappear into the artwork. The hand that went up this time belonged to one of the best drawers I have ever had in class.  I said, "Do you just want to draw?" I already knew his answer.

We started passing out paper and explaining how to plan out your piece to allow for margins with the frame and/or mat.  The kids didn't want the mats that were in the frames. They wanted more room to DRAW! So, we just let them go. AND they created amazing pieces that reflect who they are!!! I love them all so much. This has definitely been one of my favorite shows to hang.  We finished the artwork on a Friday and then I hung the show over the weekend.  Watching their faces as I showed them the pictures of their artwork on the walls of a local restaurant was incredible.  I hope that you'll stop by the café, if you are in Bloomington, and check out their work. It will be displayed through July...or until it is sold out! The kids' pieces are for sale for $5. In addition to the kid's pieces, I am making small pieces that are $10 a piece and all proceeds from the small pieces and kids' pieces go towards Lukah getting her service dog. .

So now I get to share WHY this show is so important to me.  For 12 years, that's a long time, Emily and I coached softball for the Clinton High School team.  We loved the community and family and especially the student athletes we got to work with each season.  Emily also coached for the junior high school team and I helped with pitching when I could {my first priority has always been to my classroom and fall was a hard time to get away}. 

Our final year of coaching brought Lukah to our team.  She had worked with Emily in junior high and we absolutely adore her.  She brings a light and a spirit to everything she does. Her smile and that dimple bring happiness to the saddest of souls.  So when the seizures started, we were devastated.  Of course we feared we had pushed her too much during try-outs week. You see, Lukah wanted to make the team and wanted to do it on her talent and not that fact that we adored her. So she worked so hard that week of try-outs.  Challenged the upper classmen and gave the underclassmen a run for their money.  It wasn't only her amazing heart that won her a spot that week...it was her talent.  We were so excited by her reaction and enthusiasm to be a part of the team, we drove home on cloud nine. However, those clouds turned dark and scary very quickly.  I can't imagine the terror the family was in as the seizures started. One here.  One there.   Another one.  It is all such a blur.  She would come to practice on the days she was seizure free and cheer on her teammates.  Then more seizures. And fear came.  How in the world do we keep this child safe? What can be done? How can we help the family? What do we if she starts seizing and we've taken her with the team to Podunkville for a game?  It was decided that she could not travel with the team unless a parent came with her.  The seizures kept coming and we watched Lukah's high school life drastically change.  Through it all though, you can still find that beautiful smile and that adorable dimple lighting up the world for others.

So, when I found out the family had found a possible solution for helping Lukah get a bit of her independence back, I kept wondering how I could help them fundraise.  If Lukah gets a service dog she will have a companion with her at all times that can protect her from the seizures. There doesn't seem to be a solution of stopping them totally but the dog will be a miracle for her and allow her to return to things she's enjoys. 

 

 Please check out the blog that Lukah's mother is using to share the story.  She writes from the heart and, as Andi explained to me, "I write it from a mother’s perspective looking in.  Goal is to raise awareness about the disorder (and it also is cathartic for me to write to get the feelings out J).  My wish is for someone else who is suffering to stumble upon it and find it helpful."

 

www.lookingforlukah

 

Here's the story {part two}

When your life changes you usually have absolutely no idea that a life altering event, person, conversation is about to be introduced to your little world. So going to pick raspberries and strawberries with my berry picking ninja friends seemed like a normal day. Until my friend started sharing about these classes she was going to in order to get her foster care license. She told of friends that had done this and now were on the path to adopt. Tears were steaming down my face as I listened to her knowing that this car ride, this conversation, this door standing wide open for me to walk through was not an accident. I don't remember picking berries that day but I was the berry picking ninja of the day as my mind raced. 

A research mission was launched when I got home and by September we were to start our foster trainings and home study and licensing agents being in our home and preparing our home for a little one to come. The official word came in June that we were licensed. And we waited. 

And as we waited there was this nagging little seed inside my brain that maybe we shouldn't give up all hope on having our own baby. That maybe there was one more doctor we hadn't seen, one more procedure to try, just one more prayer that needed to be said. So we jumped and gave another a try, completed one more procedure and were once again told that our chances didn't look any better. 

Over a bottle (or two) of wine we decided to give it to the garden. We have seen (a dozen times) The Odd Life of Timothy Green. Time and time again I've said, "let's do that! Let's make our list and give it to the garden." My passion for cheesy movie cliches and grand gestures isn't shared and I often get a confused, blank stare. But on this night, after a bit of wine and lots of talk, the agreement was made that we would give our responsibility in the bearing of children up. We wrote an agreement that we would no longer force ourselves through infertility treatments or discussion of what we would 'do' next in regards to completing our family. Instead we would turn over all trust to God and what was to be, would be. So we wrote the agreement. We signed the agreement. We gave it to the most stubborn, yet strong, plant in our garden- the oregano. We agreed that from that moment if one of us started to panic and think...I'm a chronic over thinker!...we would remind each other that we gave it to the oregano to protect and to be quiet and wait for God's plan. Then we turned on the sprinkler, after digging a hole beneath the oregano and dropping in our agreement, and danced in our garden. 

And peace came. A beautiful, wonderful, amazing peace entered my heart and soul. And I knew that we had so many blessings and having children to care for in our home would not make me a better person. I started to forgive my body for its imperfections and I began to love myself. I routinely counted blessings (friends, family, nieces, experiences, faith, safety, good food, the opportunity to teach, a school I love, all things small and big got counted). 

One morning, as I was leaving to teach summer school, I looked in the mirror and was genuinely happy. I was confident, loved and enjoyed the things I was doing in my life. My aurora was aglow and all was right with the world. 

If I could have known that moment was fleeting and just a short-lived moment. Two days later, our life would change.