• Bug,  Family Matters

    How to have more fun: Add cousins!

    SuperChic thinks Baby Bug's kitchen is pretty cool

    Guess where the money went from selling Mandolin Girl? To CC so she could put some gas in her car and bring her kids out to visit me and Bug! Unfortunately things are really tight for them right now and driving an hour-and-a-half to visit family falls into the “luxury” category. And that is why pal pal was invented so I can instantly wire money to my family! So THANK YOU pay pal and Collin for buying my painting! Sigh…Art: it brings a family together.

    smiling for me

    We’ve got all kinds of fun things planned. First up was sugar cookies. Baby Bug and I have been talking about how much more fun it would be to make cookies with Rapunzel and SuperChic. “That would be better,” she always says. I think that’s my favorite phrase of hers these days. She says it all the time.

    all for one

    It was better. This is one time when more cooks in the kitchen (or in this case the dining room) is way better… in a fun messy flour-everywhere sort of way.
    Sheesh, that seems to be a theme around here these days. Mess=fun? I promise I’m not trying to push this, it’s just a coincidence. When Toby gets back I’m totally going to be neat and clean again.

    meanwhile on the couch...

    But until then let’s PARTY!!!

    p.s. photos from the decorating mayhem coming soon to CC’s blog.

  • artsy fartsy,  Bug,  painting

    Painting again…

    brush brush brush

    I was very brave today. I let Baby Bug paint with real acrylic paints on a real canvas. It wasn’t part of the plan but I was so into my own paintings I just wanted to buy a few more minutes so I could finish up. Of course that was the ONLY thing she wanted to do so I let her. Anything to keep her quiet for ten more minutes.

    Normally, I wouldn’t even think of letting Baby Bug touch my paint. For starters: “grown-up paint” doesn’t always wash out of clothes (or the couch or the rug or anything else that might happen to be handy). I’ve ruined so many of my favorite outfits it’s not even funny. Also, it’s expensive! Every time I go to the paint store to buy one tube of red or yellow or green, I always walk out of the store holding my heart because I why do three tubes of paint cost $100!!! Yet I can’t sell a painting for more then $50? Why is painting such an expensive hobby?!! And lastly, canvases aren’t cheap either. Thankfully I’ve finally figured out I can order them online for a significant discount. (I just want to add that I hate our local art store and will boycott them whenever I can.)

    getting the edges

    I’ve let my nieces paint with my paint and canvases before and regretted it because they covered the canvas with one color and then covered it again with another color. I think they would have kept on painting the canvas over and over again if I didn’t call it a day. In a way that is kind of cool because painting really is about the “process” and not the end result but I just have a hard time letting go of my paint and canvases. I’m greedy I guess.

    slippery sloopy paint

    But then I thought… this is my daughter. She’s going to paint. She wants to paint. Who am I to stop her? If I want her to grow up to be a great artist I have to give her all the tools. Who cares if she’s only two.

    adding some green!

    Also, I just wanted her to stop whining! Anything! Here, have the keys to my car! Just let mommy paint for a minute.

    asking price $1000

    But she did really well. She didn’t make too horrible of a mess and I kind of like this painting. I think I might even hang it on the wall. I have a feeling she has quite a career ahead of her… it’s going to be fun anyway.

    it is finished!

    messy!

    Thankfully everything washed off and the couch made it through without any hand
    prints… this time. The mess was totally worth it because I got to paint too!