watercolor map

i wanted a map for my craft room, but wanted something i made rather than purchasing one. i used a world map i had torn out of an atlas as my template. i used most of the atlas pages for this project. using my exacto knife, i cut out all the land on the world map.

once all the land was cut out, i laid a piece of watercolor paper down and then laid the world map over it, taping it down.

i chose to use only one color and brushed the paint over all the areas where i had cut out the land.

once it was all painted, i removed the map template and let the paint dry.

it's simple and will make a nice addition to my craft room.

our adoption story...part five

after about 9 months of paperwork, classes, and visits with our social workers, we received a phone call on a wednesday afternoon. actually, a message was left on our answering machine. neither one of us were home. my husband had been at work and i was at church, preparing for a special event that was coming up. my husband got home first and checked the machine. he listened to it and called me on my cell phone. he told me that we had received a call from our social worker telling us we have been matched with a child. the only details they gave us was that the baby was a girl, 6 weeks old, her birth mother had relinquished her at the hospital, she was in a foster home and she was caucasian.

i left the church right away and went home. we called our social worker back right away. she told us to come in friday morning and they would present us with everything they knew about the child. we were excited about the possibility that this could be our future child. we prayed a lot together before the meeting...asking God to give us clarity if this was the child He had for us. we decided to clean out the spare bedroom just in case. we hadn't prepared a nursery, the room was still being used as an office. actually, we didn't have any baby things.

on friday morning, we met with a team of social workers and they presented everything they knew about the baby, birth parents, etc. they gave us a few hours to think about it and a couple of pictures of this baby girl. could this be our child?

there wasn't any information that scared us or we weren't unsure about. we were surprised that the baby was white. we lived in a very diverse area and were told you will never get a white baby. which was ok with us. we were also told that there is a higher probability it would be a boy too. which we were ok with that too. we also had prepared to probably foster a couple of kiddos first, until we would finally adopt one. it was just the kind of program we were going through...kids come into the county system for lots of reasons...neglect, abuse, etc. and we knew that it could be awhile before we would be able to adopt one. we weren't using a private adoption agency. we knew that we would most likely be foster parents for a bit before we would became adoptive parents.

we both felt walking out of that meeting that this was the child God miraculously intended for us.

i guess God wanted to defy the odds...
we were told you won't get a girl...we got a girl!

we were told that the child won't be caucasian...she's white as can be!

we were told to expect to foster some kiddos before you will be able to adopt one...we got a little baby girl, ready to be adopted right away.

to be continue...

melted crayon art

when i saw this idea, i knew i had to do it. i'm not exactly sure where i first saw it, but it has been pinned all over the internet.

it's a perfect project for the beginning of the school year. even though my little lady has started school, we will still be doing arts and crafts together.

i just hot glued the crayons to the canvas.


then took my blow dryer, since it never gets used on my hair, and melted the crayons.




if you want to try this...wear an apron and put something down on the counter before you start melting the crayons; or you will have to stop midway, like me, and grab an apron and wax paper, to keep yourself and kitchen from becoming a splattered mess!

blue plate special

when my parents came to visit, my mom brought me this...
a blue plate, bowl, napkin and journal.

"the blue plate special" is to be used for any loved one when there has been an occasion that there is cause for celebration. the person whom is being celebrated gets to use "the blue plate special." the journal is to document each time it is used and the reason for the celebration.

our first time using the plate was the other night.

our little lady began kindergarten, so she had "the blue plate special."

thanks mom and dad for creating a new tradition in our home!

first day of kindergarten

my little lady began her first day of kindergarten yesterday.

the day began with breakfast and a decorated dining room to celebrate her first day.

i didn't spend a dime on the decorations, just pulled out things that i had...construction paper, butcher paper, notebook paper, art supplies, books from the library and one of my globes.





she wanted to practice writing her numbers before we left for school...too cute!

we took a few pictures before we hopped into the car.


new shoes!

dropping her off at school.

picking her up.

she told me as soon as i saw her..."it was absolutely perfect!"

back to school wreath

i love rulers and have always wanted to make something out of them. since my daughter is officially starting school this year, i'm trying to make the house festive for the occasion.

here are my supplies...
the only thing i bought was 30 rulers at my local walgreens for $.19 each and the hoop. all the other school supplies i pulled out of my drawers.

i began by gluing the rulers onto the hoop using my hot glue gun. i glued 2 layers of rulers on.

after i had glued on all the rulers, i tied a piece of ribbon around it so that it could hang from the wall.

then i added all the embellishments. i made the pinwheels out of scrapbook paper. i used all kinds of school supplies from rubber bands, paper clips and pencils to decorate.

i also tacked on clips to hang the sign 'back to school' and will also hang school pictures of our kids from it too.

happy school year to you and your family!

linking up with...
tatertotsandjello
kojodesigns
sunscholars
bedifferentactnormal
underthetableanddreaming

mommy daughter day

i wanted to take my little lady out for the day before school starts next week.

it was just the two of us.
we bought her new sneakers for school.

ate lunch at her favorite place.

read books at barnes and noble.

we ate frozen yogurt for an afternoon treat.

then we came home and i gave her a pedicure and we watched a movie together.

paper plate sunflower

i found this great idea at the crafty crow.

first, we painted the back side of a paper plate. we let our sunflowers dry and then glued on the yellow petals.





next year we are going to plant sunflowers in our garden!

abstract art

for this art project we used 2 different mediums...watercolors and pastels.
i had her pick her favorite color pastel and draw lines all over the watercolor paper.


i usually demonstrate what to do before she does it on her own. it helps a ton!

i chose to use a black pastel and i drew circles that overlapped. then we used watercolor paint and filled in all the different areas with different colors.



here's my little lady's art. i liked the look of hers better than mine.

and here's mine.


linking up with...
tatertotsandjello
kojodesigns
sunscholars