my funny Valentine

We were kind of off the hook for Valentine swap this year with the homeschooling, but not to be completely left out, Hannah decided to send Valentine's to a few friends through the mail. She colored in some cute little cards and sent them off to her closest friends and grandparents.

She got an awesome giant valentine from her Auntie Joleen and a couple of other goodies but to me the best one was from her friend Nathan who came over to play for awhile after school. He brought her this clever Valentine that he made with his crafty Mom, who happens to be my friend Bridgette.
It reads "I mustache ( must ask) will you be my Valentine?" and the mustache peels off to stick on your face.

Now my little chickie is also a self proclaimed "nerd" so she has a variety of nerd glasses she likes to pull out. Yesterday while finishing up some math with her dad, I caught here sporting this get up and it cracked me up. I think her sense of humor is so awesome. I am also so thankful she has such fun friends...

How was your Valentine's Day?

Home Schooling

What home school looked like today. :)

So I never posted about this on my blog but the sh*% really hit the fan at Hannah's school back in November/ December. Lots of stuff went down with teaching and with the guidance my child was (not) receiving in the classroom and on the playground.

As Christmas break drew closer the feeling in my gut that it would get better went away and I began feeling that the school we had loved was not the right place for us anymore. I started researching other schools in our area, both public and private. I knew that since she was mid-term it was going to be hard to find a spot that H was comfortable in and I was concerned that she had fallen behind in math.

Trying to get her tested proved fruitless. Our district seems like a disorganized mess. I still get different answers to my questions depending on who or what office I talk to.

I talked to a couple of friends I knew that had home schooled or were currently and was lead to the Monterey County Charter Home School. I signed up for an orientation meeting and we all attended. After sitting through the meeting and then speaking to the presenter (a teacher) we "knew" this was the right fit for us right now. We signed up on the spot and Greg called her old school and dropped her while standing outside the office. BAM! We were home schooling.

They sent us off with some worksheets and a workbook and scheduled us to meet with our teacher ( we meet with her 2x a month) and we were off. It was a difficult beginning. The resources online are overwhelming, the load of books they gave me was overwhelming and the hardest of all was I had no idea where H was in the CA State curriculum.

I learned that not only was she behind in math (as we suspected) but she wasn't even getting some of the subjects. The upside is that she seems to be rockin' along in "language arts" and reading/ reading comprehension. Her 1-2 grade teacher managed to pound quite a bit into their brains while she had them.

This last meeting our teacher brought us retired questions from the CA Standards Test so we could better evaluate where she was. Well we're knee deep in math. Ugh. She has a lot to catch up before 4th grade. I am afraid she is going to follow in my math footsteps, where I had to have tutoring to pass my math classes. Math does NOT come easily to me. I have hopes that her Dad's math genes will kick in and she will buzz right along. Fingers crossed.

So, anyway, overall, home schooling.. while not a long term option for us has been pretty cool. I am trying to wrap my brain around the fact that I get to make up the lessons and curriculum. We can take a day and just go to the Tech museum or the zoo or the aquarium and it counts! We can gather pond water and look at it under a microscope and it counts! Our trip to Hawaii in Jan.??  We took pictures, learned about the landscape and geology, snorkeled and learned about fish, journaled, did puzzles and IT ALL COUNTED toward school.

While it sounds like quite the life.. shorter days, fun adventures, alternative learning. It does have its downside. The social portion is missing completely. I have to work hard to set up play dates with her cousin and friends. I have to make sure I get in the car and take her places and don't get wrapped up in computer work/ projects.  My work has really changed. I have had to take a leave from the office of our family business and just work on specific projects at home, but the upside of that is that I have gotten a nice handful of design work all of a sudden too. Thats all work I can do while she is reading or after "school" is done for the day. The other thing that is a bit of a challenge is that we are kind of sick of each other sometimes. We essentially spend 24/ 7 together and I know both of us need a break. When Greg is home sometimes I will go hide in the studio or just leave the house to go wander around the store or something.

Right now I am trying to look at it each day as the gift of being able to teach my child and be with her while she is young. I can't believe how fast it is going by and I hope I can look back and have a bunch of fond memories of her at home.

in with the new...

I have been missing. It has been calculated, as I have been contemplating the future of my blog. I am trying to find out whether my heart is still in. I am trying to learn WHY it exists..

For now I am still here. I have't decided to close the doors yet..

It seems that with the new year, has come some new design business. I had all but hung up my "gone fishing" sign when a bunch of emails showed up in my box. I am at a turning point in my life.. I was not sure if I wanted to tackle more design work but one of the emails was from the sweetest past client so when we got back from our trip I jumped on her work. I loved working with Michelle and was excited to find out that she had started a new business with her daughter making/ selling cookies! Looking at her Etsy shop (and card) makes my mouth water. (Maybe she will send me some samples) Here is the new card, I am working on a new Etsy banner and other things next..

Then I got a frantic text from my BFF Joleen who needed a new blog STAT. Since I had done all her new branding for her photography business, I already has some ideas on what to do. I jumped on it last night and ta da: Love, Joleen Photography Its pretty clean and simple.. we both love it and I can't wait to see her add more of her fab photography.

So.. there you go. What I've been up to.. lots of thinking, some design work and life...

notes for the new year

Source: knackstudios.blogspot.com via Heather on Pinterest

shop update

Hi all, In the spirit of supporting independent artists and crafter and shopping Small Business Saturday, I am linking to my album of available works on Facebook. Etsy has locked me out of my Short Attention Span Studios shop for some unknown reason so I loaded everything up on Facebook for the time being. You don't have to be a member to look :)

There are mostly frames but also a couple of chalkboards and mirrors. All were created by me of polymer clay with a smattering of commercial tiles. I create each tile by hand, add pigments or paint and some are embellished with austrian crystals for a little bling. All have been sealed with clear acrylic to help resist dust and each is signed and dated by me. Every piece is one of a kind and unique.

Hope you enjoy looking. Happy Holidays...

Thanks...

Yesterday was a wonderful day. I stressed over hosting a big Thanksgiving and how I would fit 13 people around a table in our teeny house. Somehow, things worked out, as friends said they would. It always seems that we put more pressure and higher expectation on ourselves than others do. I am thankful for the bounty we have been shown. I am thankful that my family has grown closer through the trials of this past year and that we are able to sit and enjoy each other without stress and worry. We are a lucky and fortunate bunch. Yes, I am thankful. 

Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving as well.

home SWEET home

Because I didn't have enough to do to prepare for 13 people for Thanksgiving in my tiny house, (in addition to working and watching the little who is on vacation) I made up a couple of last minute projects. Fortunately I FINISHED them all today and I also whipped up this little "frame filler" while I was at the office waiting for the phone to ring this morning (it never did... oh well).

I have been working on our "collage wall" in our new and improved living room. This particular wall is in the "dining" area where I have a distressed black hutch and a white table. I wanted everything to go on it to be shades of black and white so it didn't get too overwhelming. I am adding punches of color in other places.

With Thanksgiving approaching I had DH bring in the drill so we could hang up the things I had been collecting. I had tried putting in nails but we have the weirdest walls EVER and they essentially repel nails so screws were the only way to go :)

Well one of the things we had hung up was this cute scrolly frame that was the UGLIEST gold ever so I sprayed it white and we put it up for a place holder. The back is missing so I had to hang it with a little piece of seam binding. It was bugging me that it was empty so today I made this cute little "Home Sweet Home" sign to put in it.  I just LOVE how it turned out and I think I might get some nicer paper and make a few for friends too :)

Above you can see my "collage wall" in progress. I keep adding things and didn't do any planning so I am pretty pleased with how it is all flowing :)

Here a list of the things and where I scored them:
From top left:
• cute picture of Hannah ( taken by Joleen) in a frame from Michael's.
• thrifted, made over frame and sign
• Black letter B from Target Dollar Spot
• Super fun "The Bluhms" photography prints I got Greg for our anniversary from Fritts Creative on Etsy
• "shabby" tin B sign from Hobby Lobby
• "Romantic Paris" clock from WUSLU (warning, don't EVEN come whining to me if you get addicted.. I warned you!)
• cool iron "element" from Goodwill
• Framed picture of my daughter and niece when they were about 3. I never had one out but always loved the picture. This one happened to be framed in black and I brought it home after my FIL passed.
• Little shabby mirror from a thrift store.. I got a bunch of them for .50 each and painted this one white.
• The platter is a PERFECT ironstone platter with pretty leaf design.. NO crazing, no chips and the perfect colors. Thrift store score!
• and the big ornamental thing on the left is a resin "ornamental thing" I got at Goodwill. It needs a little repairing and touch up paint but I like how it looks.

So.. this has been the latest thing I have been working on in our living room redo.. that's new in your home??