Past my bedtime

Yep, up past my bedtime last night....but look what I finished!

And why you might ask? Well, I'm glad you did.

I have this wonderful friend named Kendra,

and she helped to "inspire" McKenna's first American Girl doll

and you might remember I bought a new sewing machine this summer

and you may recall McKenna has shown interest in this machine as well. In fact, she made these yesterday; big one for her, little one for Andrea.

But McKenna asked me to make this

and I was going along okay, but this collar, it was a bear!

almost there

but I got it done


and here is "Amanda" in her new robe!

Holy-Toledo Batman!
Can you believe it?

I'm not sure if I'm amazed because I actually made it, or because......
I started and finished something in the same day!

More to come (soon I hope)
Melle

"Somebody Stop Me!" and other stuff.....

I bought some stamps today.

Aren't they pretty?

I knew Andrea would love them.
They made me think of her.
I wonder why.

I've been wanting to do this photo from Andrea's 16th birthday on a canvas and have been waiting for the right inspiration....I think I found it!

But then I bought these

And these too!


But I bought these the other day

and they inspired these....

So why stop me?
Cuz' I bought this today too!

Oh my gosh.
Help!
No, I haven't won the lottery or even found a money tree.
But,
(nothing good can start with "but")
I've been in need of a new point and shoot camera for so long now. I even finished the yearbook last year with a camera that worked sometimes and sometimes not.
I've so loved my EasyShare camera, but I've had it so long that they don't make the same model anymore. Spent an hour on the phone with Kodak, and this is the one I've decided to try. I've ordered it, but I don't think it will be here in time for The 4th....too bad.....but there will be plenty of other opportunities to break it in. :o)

The other stuff.....

Well, most of you know, I LOVE the artist Donna Downey and thanks to She Scrapbooks, Donna was in town last weekend. It was my third visit with Donna, but I was more excited because it was McKenna's first.
Donna had all of us inky in no time.

I loved it.
McKenna loved it.
Donna loved it.
McKenna loved Donna.
And Donna's youngest daughter Payton loved McKenna.
It was the coolest experience.



Here's what we made.

Mine is on the left, you can tell cuz' it's not finished and McKenna's is on the right, all done and even has Donna's autograph on the back.

Studio. love me my studio.
I avoid the house and come straight to the studio every free moment while at home.
I also love that McKenna enjoys it as much as me.
We have room for Andrea and sometimes she comes and sometimes not. At 16, I'll take what I can get.

You may recall that I got a new sewing machine this month (Honest,I have not pawned my great-grandmother's wedding ring.) and McKenna has enjoyed breaking it in for me.


I just love this, cuz' I can so remember when I was 9 and my mom taught me how to run the bobbin, thread the machine and gave me paper towels to sew on and I spent hours "playing" on her sewing machine.
This is also beneficial to me, for I plan to sew these pieces together to make a patchwork curtain with (yes to hide some clutter) and McKenna is sewing the decorative stitches for me. Cool!

One more McKenna story to end on:

Andrea did very well on the FCAT, so Daddy treated her to a new PlayStation2 and some new games (she did have to pay half); McKenna also did very well on the FCAT so I treated her to a shopping spree at Build-a-Bear in Gainesville (she also had to pay half).
We had such a nice time. After a new bear, we looked at some shoppes for me, went to Claire's, had lunch at Chick-fil-a, had chocolate chip cookies with lots of gooey icing for dessert and hit Michael's on the way home.

I think it's safe to say, I wore her out.

Off to play with my new stamps!

Best wishes everyone.
Melle

It's a good day to be a parent!

It was a day of "firsts" for my Broaderick girls;
It was a day of accomplishments!

What is it they say?

"All good things come to those who wait"

"Better late than never"

Well, if that's the case, Andrea has got that nailed!
It may be a year and a half past her 15th birthday, but today she finally was ready for me to take her to the DVM and take the test for her learner's permit.

And, she passed!!
Woohoo!
Woohoo, one more teen driver on the road.....

I do wish the photo was better. I'll try to stage another one.
I mean, she looks great, but you can't see the license :o(
but trust me, it's there.

Then, earlier today, McKenna mastered the flip turn during swim class today and then did the knee dive off of Miss Perry's diving board all by herself. Both feats were not only done completely by herself for the very first time, but flawlessly.

I was so proud.
I am so proud.

All report cards and FCAT scores have also finally arrived this week.
Both girls did very, very well.
Whew.

And me?
Well, I celebrated by avoiding the Halloween/Christmas/Easter clutter that still sits on our hearth and played in the studio this afternoon. :o)
Here is a small sample.
I forgot a pile of flowers I painted.
I'll share those next time.


I just felt like playing and you can't go wrong with a tag. Flowers are in acrylic paint, background in watercolor, which reacted differently than I expected on the manila tag....

These tags McKenna helped glimmer mist and color wash stencils onto manila tag. I then stamped and embossed in the Cuddlebug.

More color wash, stamped and embossed....

And these were inspired by artist Christy Tomlinson (her link is on my blog list). I made a larger one in my Inspiration Journal several weeks ago. This time I tried four smaller ones thinking I'd put them on the front of a note card....still could, but now I don't want to give up the originals....I could scan them, print them and then attach to cards......not sure yet.

Yep, a good day to be a parent.
Yep, a good day to be me.

Thank you God.
:o)
Melle

Things are lookin' up.....

Well, you know it's been a recent philosophy of mine; it is difficult to appreciate the good without goin' through a little bad.....
So if the last week I posted about was Heavenly, you can fill in the blanks and know that I mean the week I just finished was He--!
As mentioned, the yearbooks had arrived and all in all, their arrival (and box opening) wasn't as stomach wrenching as I thought it would be......however, the delivering and distribution of 500+ yearbooks was. For the sake of this post, it doesn't matter why (although I will keep good notes to myself and make major improvements for next year).
Wednesday was to be the day books were delivered to teachers and Thursday the books would go home with students.
Well, Wicked Wednesday was wicked because our school sprayed some pesticide for snakes!!
It's not the snakes that upset me; it was the PESTICIDE. Oh my word, the smell was so very strong. It was so very strong in our special area building! I had a headache w/in about 10 minutes and the kids were beginning to have reactions; nose bleed, difficulty breathing and dizziness......
Well, of course we went outside......but.......but......I only had 3 lessons left with these students......I was hellbent on watercolor painting......move a class of students suddenly outside.....outside and do what......well, lots of creative things......but not watercolor painting......not spur of the moment anyway.......
Anyway, I managed with pencils and paper and we "sketched" for about 30 seconds and then it was "Mrs. Broaderick, I need my pencil sharpened." "Mrs. Broaderick, I have to pee." "Mrs. Broaderick, save me I have a spider on my paper" (a spider that took a microscope to see).......we then moved on to sidewalk chalk drawing and that engaged them for about 60 seconds more.....my classes are an hour long.........

It was a rough morning.

Then, my precious planning time on Wednesday was meant for moving yearbooks from my Primary building to the Intermediate building only I hadn't been in my room during the morning to arrange for custodial help.......

You can see how this was going......

Well, books got to the Intermediate center that day and they got delivered to the teachers.....once with teachers.....well, that was another circus.....again, for the sake of this post I won't explain here.....but oh the notes I will write to myself for next year.......I was in my toxic classroom until almost 6pm taking care of "yearbook issues" and then I finally went home......I even wanted a beer with dinner but was paranoid of the adverse effects the alcohol might have with the pesticide chemicals that were in my system.....crazy I know......but it was a traumatic day.

Well, the title of this post did say, "things were lookin' up" and they were, finally, by the weekend. I never slept very well the rest of that week, so I really was grateful to sleep in Saturday. I also played in the studio and went to the movies.....you know how I love to escape at the movies.......
Lookin' up even more, I had time to work in the studio again on Sunday and worked on one more page in my Inspiration Journal. Scott and I also went to the movies again, this time for a spontaneous "date night".

Can't remember if I've mentioned Christy Tomlinson's blog that I came across but I so enjoy her "style" and her latest post inspired me on my Saturday morning.

(sorry for the color quality.....I took them on my cell phone......)

I've got a few other ideas in my head.....perhaps they will be the art on the front of note cards? Not sure, doesn't really matter for now, I just got to play and it was wonderful.

Love you much!
Melle

Easter Weekend

Here are a few "non-traditional" photos in honor of a "non-traditional" Easter Sunday of sorts. Actually, we did get to go over to Aunt Ellen's for a yummy lunch with ham, turkey, green beans and many other treats, but our Littles* are so much older and the New Littles** couldn't be there this time......so, since McKenna is in the "I'm probably too old to hunt Easter Eggs, but it's still a lot of fun" stage, I hid eggs for her in the front of our yard. Turns out Andrea is in the same "stage" and hunted eggs with her. It was fun to watch them.
*Our Littles were first Logan and Dalton, Andrea and McKenna, then Emily
**New Littles are Nicholas and Layla and now new little Aydan....who'll be ready for next year :o)



Fortunately for us, Easter Weekend included Good Friday which also meant an extra day off of school. A three day weekend allowed me a long overdue chance to just play in the studio. Artist (that I adore) Donna Downey encourages us to "just play" in our Inspiration Journal at least once a week....so I caught up on 5 weeks worth!

Okay, if I really was any kind of a "real artist" it would have occurred to me that I could use watercolor and acrylic paint together with the acrylic resisting the watercolor. So I played....
Liked the flowers until I added the black marker, but liked playing with the green and blue watercolor.....green was too high, but still fun.....it's just play :o)

I was still struggling w/ stems, but I liked this one okay. It is still only the first layer and is ready for more when the inspiration hits me.

With this one, the background had been done earlier....waiting for inspiration. I was very happy with these colors and the stems are better......I did do the marker first this time.

The red fabric was left over from a previous play date, but I totally had lots of fun with the stems this time....in fact, so much fun I used the same technique to make the grass. I started with green card stock, stamped it with a text stamp using StazOn and then watercolored that with 2 to 3 different shades of green......again, lots of fun on that......did the watercolor in the background and got the right height for the green this time.

And finally, this was my favorite and my last piece of the weekend. The hand is all wrong and it's not an original idea, I saw something similar in a magazine, but I still love it. The blue and green watercolor in the background was just right; I stamped the flowers; used acrylic in the flowers; I watercolored on the cut flowers; stamped on the paper for the dress; and used pink tissue paper for the dress ruffle......This had several layers and that's the way I like it.
Here's to another play date in the future!
Love,
Melle

Was just thinking.....

This morning I was just thinking about how Wal-Mart doesn't sell exercise equipment.
Then I was thinking about how the junk food such as chips, sodas, cookies and candy are all so cheap.
Then I was thinking about how the fruits and vegetables at Wal-mart are awful.
My eating is an addiction, I am a junkie, and Wal-Mart is my supplier.

Then, while I continued to worry about me and my family's weight gain and poor eating habits, it has always been uncomfortable, but I can't help but think of the visions of obese people in the Disney movie WALL-E.........and then, then is occurred to me........WALL-E.....Wal-Mart......
I knew WALL-E was full of subtle messages, but that one didn't hit me until today.

So, on that note, I've now confessed to you all that I hate my weight gain. I hate that my kids are overweight. But I obviously don't hate it bad enough to do anything about it, right? It's not true. I try. Thus the addiction. The more the stress, the stronger the urge to eat.

Thankfully, the stress of our school yearbook is behind me for now.
The stress relief is temporary though. Next is the student art show, however, that might seem like a walk in the park or even like riding a bike, since I have a few of those under my belt.

With the relief of that stress this weekend, I found myself with a new energy.
I tackled a few piles of clutter without frustration.
I bought fruits and vegetables (at Publix) and made sure Andrea AND McKenna had salad (well lettuce) with at least one of their meals.
I did not buy McDonald's for breakfast for myself AND the girls today. (McKenna was crushed.)
I did play 4 games of tennis with Andrea this afternoon and I held my own.

So yes, the yearbook's last page with submitted at 2:44 on Friday afternoon. I experienced a new emotion for the first time. That one where you feel like screaming "woohoo" and throwing up at the same time. Oh my gosh. I don't even want to know what I feel like when they are passed out to the masses.

With the submission of our last page, I treated myself to a trip to She Scrapbooks AND to Hobby Lobby. I treated myself to an afternoon of crafting time in the studio.
This is actually the one I finished last weekend, which I love.

This was with one of my new stamps and green....green is out of my comfort zone.....but yellows and oranges, definitely give me comfort.

This one ain't really nothin' special, but I like the flowers. It's the first chance I've had to play with the new Tim Holtz die I've only had for about 2 months.



Coming up this week is McKenna's big debut as a munchkin (and a jitterbug) in the high school's play of Wizard of Oz. I anticipate we'll have a lot of fun, but it will make for a very long week.
I'll update next Sunday.....on both my addiction and on McKenna..... :o)
Love,
Melle

Spring Break 2011 in review...

WARNING, it's a long one....
Hello Readers!
Before I recap our week, can I just thank the Heavens above: this week's weather was absolutely BEAUTIFUL! It was amazing; it was perfect! You can bet that any spare moment I had this week was spent in the studio and the garage door was open making last year's purchase of a sliding screen door oh so well worth it!

Ok, well, as I reflect back on the week, with all that I got accomplished and all that I got to do, can you believe that knot that begins to grow in the pit of my stomach when I still have so much to do before I go back to work feeling has already started....yuck! Go away! I refuse to pay attention!

Just before we left for break, I didn't get to share that the high school had their student art show. Andrea had 3 pieces in the show! One was a pencil drawing, another was a comic strip and the other was a piece the students were asked to draw a chess board and illustrate people on it. Andrea really wanted to do Beauty and the Beast characters, but her teacher said no (i imagine because of the disney thing...she wanted something original?), so Andrea did characters inspired by her favorite Manga drawings. But in the end Andrea said she didn't like the piece because "Manga isn't supposed to be in color".....anyway, I loved them all and think it's so ironic that she doesn't want to pursue art when she has so much support around her to do it! (Unlike her Nana and I.)(which I should clarify - MY MOM (Nana) was VERY supportive of me. It's just other "factors" were not.) .... oh my goodness, I digress.....

Anyway,
Andrea had 3 pieces of art up at the student art show. I am so very proud.

Andrea's is the one on the very top. I believe you can click on the photo to enlarge.

Okay, Saturday, March 12th began with a full plate. McKenna had a skate party with her friend Kaycee at noon. She got to hang with Kaycee after the party for a much anticipated play-date while Andrea and I attended a surprise party for Uncle Paul.

Uncle Paul is Gail's brother-in-law and he admitted "he was surprised" (thus why he wasn't dressed up for the occasion....but in the end, his hunting camo was exactly what we loved seeing him in!). He is pictured here with Gail (my mother-in law) and the newest addition to our family; sweet baby Aidan, Paul's great-grandson.

While at the party, I did snap this photo.

Emily, Paul's great-granddaughter, is on the left. The other two little girls were guests at the party. This photos just sums up so much. Can you remember what it was like to meet a new friend and then play for hours like you'd been best friends forever? And again, the weather was so beautiful. No sweating. No mosquitoes.

Andrea and I then left this party a little early to take McKenna to another party. Here it would be a sleepover, Scott was at work, so Andrea and I high-tailed it to the movie theater. She wanted to see Beastly. Which was a modern day version of Beauty and the Beast. It wasn't too bad. I mean, it won't win an Oscar and I knew how it was going to end, but it wasn't Twilight (sorry Twilighters!! And it wasn't Rango! Rango - I'll get to that in a minute.)

Sunday, March 13th began with Daylight Savings Time, and me draggin' my behind over to pick up McKenna from her sleepover. That went well and she said she had fun. Once we got home, we quickly got ready 'cuz Nana was treatin' us to a Special Day! Gotta love that! She gave each of us a very special and thoughtful gift, (a book bag filled w/ school supplies for an American Girl Doll for McKenna, iTune gift cards for Andrea and a beautiful new art teacher type blouse for me!). She then treated us to lunch! A Special Day indeed. We made it home in time from that to pick up daddy and head back to the movies. Ya'll know how I love going to the movies and getting to see 2 movies in 2 days....well, Spring Break couldn't be anymore perfect then that....
Grandma and Grandpa were even available to meet us there.....well, Rango, I couldn't wait to go see it....I mean the lead character's voice was narrated by Johnny Depp! and it was a western, how cute is that? Well, it was just weird. Weird and disappointing. I mean $37 in tickets, plus $30 in popcorn and soda, well, it was disappointing. I will say, almost as disappointing (and almost the same cost) was our dinner out to Kotobuki's. That hardly ever happens. And although we were seriously ready to complain (I mean, share our constructive criticism), I'm glad we refrained. Although the chef and the waitress (who disappointed us) had nothing to do with the owners, we did learn that the owners Ishi and Susan have family in the Northern area of Japan. Sunday had only been about four days after the worst earthquake, tsunami and now nuclear fallout ever in history just happened. We haven't been back yet; we don't know if they have heard about their loved ones, but our prayers go out to them.

Monday, March 14th meant yearbook time for me. "Yearbook time", hours and hours; not difficult, but hours and hours......hours and hours......hours and hours......
luckily for me, later that day, I would be rescued by the opportunity to go camping!

Yep, camping the only way I'd ever consider it.

One, with a family member. Hmm, hmm, McKenna will do and her American Girl Doll, Chrissa.

Two, in the backyard of Kendra's house.

Three, with an experienced outdoors person like Karen. She figured out how to pitch this unique tent (it has two small "rooms" with a "courtyard" in the center) and was super kind in letting me think I helped!

Four, by watching a movie on the big screen, in Kendra's backyard, with freshly popped popcorn drizzled so lovingly with real melted butter and perfect weather, a little cool, but still perfect.

Five, with plates and plates full of the goods needed for perfect s'mores.

Six, with a bonfire, perfect for roasting marshmallows, perfect for taking the chill off of the night air and perfect for keeping away the one or maybe two mosquitoes who ventured our way.

You know my amazing friend Kendra. I am, we are, so blessed to know her and I am so grateful she is part of my life. She has these wonderful get togethers during the summer for our girls. Activities that are inspired by the American Girl Doll books. We had hoped to have gotten to this camp out and movie about Chrissa last summer.....well, God works in wonderful ways, because I think this past Monday was the perfect time for it. Thank you Kendra. It was so much fun.

Tuesday, March 15 meant waking up and having a yummy breakfast in Kendra's warm kitchen. It also meant about an hour of just us mommies talking. That felt good.
Once we got home and showered (oh my heavens, how did the pioneers ever make it without a shower), I headed off to work in my classroom for a few hours and Nana came over to play some Monopoly with the girls. Thank you Nana!

Wednesday, March 16 meant Spring cleaning and......sneezing....
McKenna's room; Andrea's room; the laundry room.....the rest of the house looks like this too, these were the 3 we worked on this time.
BEFORE


AFTER


McKenna's dollhouse:
McKenna's American Girl Dolls:

Wednesday's efforts were well rewarded. Grandma and Grandpa came over for dinner; I provided the food and Grandma cooked chicken and dumplins', yum, yum. Thank you Grandma!

Thursday, March 17 meant some more cleaning for the girls, but I was able to get an early start on the yearbook and the yearbook Gods were with me 'cuz I was able to get the book just about finished. The deadline is in 3 more days. However, the yearbook rep told me we really have until the Saturday after our "deadline". I told her she never should have told me that, but she said she didn't want me to spend my whole break on the yearbook. (Funny, traditionally I spend my whole break on the student art show. Sure glad break fell earlier this year......course that still means I gotta find time to get ready for my student art show.....I digress.....again!)

Friday, March 18th finally meant some real play time for me in the studio. I didn't really care what it was, but I was paintin' somethin'.

This one was created in my Inspiration Journal. The one Donna Downey encourages us to work in as often as possible. The red poppies were inspired by her too. It is a favorite flower of hers and she makes them look so easy. It is just a red blob, how hard could it be? But she makes them better. I got lucky this week! She has provided her fans with a weeks worth of Inspiration. What a treat that has been to wake up and watch a new Donna Downey video each day. I did also realize tonight while working on another canvas piece, that she has been at this (this being multi-media) a whole lot longer than me.....of course her poppies look better! Just wait. I haven't finished practicing yet!

This is where I was last night after some play on a canvas.
Tonight, I've sort of combined these two ideas.....so far, I'm not sure.....I had hoped to include the finished product in this post.....however, this post, along with crafting and fixing dinner has taken several hours (I'm sure it's taken you several hours to read it!)......and it is late, although on vacation for one more day, it looks like we might head down to Orlando early tomorrow for some putt-putt and one more Braves game at Disney's Wide World of Sports......

man, I never did grades.
man, I never did come up with teacher appreciation gifts.
man, I never did print those yearbook pages i finished.
man, I never did see Sue....or Michele.....or Barb.....
man, I never did get to shop at Kohl's or Ikea or She Scrapbooks.....

but man, I did have a wonderful week, and am so grateful to the dear Lord above for all of my blessings.
Night, night ya'll.
Love you.
Melle