rach and david

my students rock

2012-01-26T15:16:00.000-08:00

I had to share the mural my students made. I had to help a little along the way filling in spots here and there, but for the most part they did it themselves. I taught them how to paint and it paid off. This shows a huge improvement from what they were able to do at the beginning. They were my 9th grade advanced class. Each year we add a new mural to the walls in our cafeteria. They line the walls, and this one by far is the best one up yet. If I had pictures of the old ones, you would see how crappy and lame they are. This one will shine =) If you haven't seen "the great wave of Kanagwa" by Hokusai it's at the end of this post. They chose to reinterpret and render that woodblock print for our mural.

The mural, about 8' x 5'. They added waves to the side to fill the space.

they changed the japanese writing to say our school's letters.

And because of where we live, they put a "Y" on mount Fuji and added a snake since that's our school mascot.

The original artwork by Hokusai

Some ponderings...

2012-01-24T17:05:00.000-08:00

I think I have failed to see all the blessings that are poured on me each day. Our life, which is filled with insecurities about our future (and therefore scares me sometimes), is pretty dang awesome. I'm at the "everyone I know is pregnant" stage of life. So fun! I remember thinking, how strange all my friends and family decided to have kids at the same time? That's weird. But turns out...I'm just that age. Almost 26. Holy cow. How did this happen? I still feel 18.

But something I've been made very aware of lately is how blessed we are to be expecting a little boy, who so far appears to be totally healthy. Many of my friends have lost children or are struggling to have children.

One day David snapped me into reality and said, "Rachel you'll just have to accept the possibility that we could have a stillborn child." You might think, why would he say something like that?! Well David likes to be a realist and consider all sides of an issue. However depressing that thought is, he likes to be the one prepared for anything. I love that and many other things about him. But just imagining that all this wait and excitement for our son could be over in an instant crushed my heart to oblivion. I can't bear the thought of losing this child, EVER. And I haven't even met him yet. So I have tried to look at every single aspect of this pregnant as being a miracle. Things that might make me uncomfortable like bending over, the baby having hiccups, sleeping, or peeing every 5 seconds...well bring it on! I am trying not to complain and just be in awe every time my baby moves or I feel a jab somewhere because I know there are others who want to be uncomfortable and pregnant but haven't been successful!! It truly is a miracle that a few short months ago, he looked like a gummy bear. And now...he is a functioning little human being. Amazing.

I am so blessed.

YES

2012-01-16T16:23:00.000-08:00

I love this diaper bag. So getting this. From babiesrus and it's only 22.98! Schwing!

on the brain

2012-01-16T16:10:00.001-08:00

Lately all I can think about is all the fun I'm going to have putting together our new place. I can't wait to be in a place with more space! Looking around my living room right now makes me feel a little claustrophobic. There are boxes stacked by our window, piles of newspaper and bubble wrap, and lot of random items hanging out because I don't feel like putting them away when I know they'll be packed soon anyway. Sigh. I'm learning to live in a mess, which might be my life after the baby comes. In the meantime I'll dream of a cozy peaceful bedroom like this one:

And for baby chinn...he deserves a rad pad too. But I'll go more for navy, orange, yellow, and grays. Warms my heart! (this from laybabylay) I love the color scheme here, but I probably will not do the whole "admiral" deal.

And I'll be hanging this free print on baby chinn's wall too =) I love it. From irocksowhat

rumbly in the tumbly

2012-01-12T20:03:00.001-08:00

The last few nights, david and I have stayed up late watching my stomach roll and do strange things. We stare at my stomach and when it starts moving, I can't help but giggle!! However that makes it difficult for david to see him moving =) What a change to go from david feeling him kick to SEEING it. He's pretty big now!!

It was several weeks ago that the "kicks" changed to whole body parts sticking out of me. This morning as I walked into school, I could swear that his butt was sticking out straight above my bellybutton. I rubbed over it a few times, which he didn't seem to like because he quickly returned to the cave. This has got to be the funnest thing about being pregnant. If he moves this much now...I wonder if he'll be all over the place when he's here!!!

Moving on

2012-01-08T16:32:00.000-08:00

That apartment I was hoping we'd get last post? We got it! Signed the contract yesterday. It has worked out really well. It worried me trying to coordinate ending our contract here and signing one somewhere else because we did NOT want to pay 2 rents in one month. That's expensive! It worked out perfectly though so that we will be moved out and done with Wymount by February 1st and pay February's rent at the new place when we move in. Yay!

I'll post pictures once we've moved in, this place makes me feel like a grown up. We will have to arrange our own cable, internet, and trash pick up. Boo. I admit living in Wymount has made living easy in that regard, no dealing with utilities. It had to happen someday. We'll miss living here. We've made wonderful friends and feel at home here. It is the first place we lived together so it's hard to leave it!

Baby progress: I no longer feel pokes and kicks, now when he moves it's a strong wave of a some body part across my stomach. I love how many changes he and I have gone through in such a short time! It's incredible. The human body is divinely created. It amazes me to think about him growing and instinctively doing things that no one has taught him! God truly has created all things and I see His hand in my life.

I am so grateful to become a mom. It is truly a blessing. I have friends who have had miscarriages or are unable to have children. Thinking of losing this little boy breaks my heart, just to think it! I am excited for him to get here and to finally meet him! We love him already.

packin' it on

2011-12-31T14:44:00.000-08:00

We're packing here in more than one way. I packed on the pounds during Christmas break. It's so hard being pregnant during the holidays! So many goodies everywhere. And hopefully we will literally be packing soon to move into a new apartment! We found an awesome place today that is so so perfect. I'm praying we get it. It has everything on our wish list, it's close to the provo river trail and campus, has place for a garden, laundry room, split level, 1 1/2 baths. There was another couple looking at it the same time we were there, but we know the current tenants and they're going to put in a good word for us to make sure we get it =) If we don't get it...I will definitely be sad.

We need more space for this big belly that I've got!

29 weeks

Baby boy is busy up in my ribs most days or stomping on my bladder. He was showered with gifts over Christmas, he will be one spoiled little boy. David's step-dad does not want to know the gender of the baby until he comes. However the rest of David's family knows, including his mom. So while we were with everyone, we had to try and censor our gender references. But we all said "he" or "him" about a thousand times accidently in front of his step-dad. Plus I opened some pretty "blue" gifts that had to have given it away. He's still playing dumb though =) Maybe he really didn't pick up on all the clues.

As time nears closer, I realize we still need some keys things like a carseat and stroller, a crib mattress, and lots of other little things. Only about 1o more weeks and he's here!! Better get crackin!

it's beginning to look a lot like christmas

2011-12-02T16:15:00.000-08:00

It's the most wonderful time of the year! Using this tutorial, I made us a little family set of stockings =) I love them. Mine is the blue one, david's the white and red one, and our little boy's is the grey houndstooth. They literally took me not more than an hour and I got the fabric at Joann's on black friday, mega discount! Pretty, quick, and cheap makes a pretty happy girl. Plus they replace my awful red velvety ones I got at the dollar store. If only I had a mantle to hang them on....

Using this tutorial, I made a wreath which I have yet to take a picture of. I will though. I love my wreath, plus it only cost me 5 bucks total. =) And here's our puny tree. I ran out of lights at the top.

hugemongous

2011-11-30T19:48:00.000-08:00

I am officially feeling large. Feel stretched to the max. I know I have a long way to go, but seriously can my skin handle this?! Baby boy is very active, especially around 9 o'clock at night. He's pretty consistent. Today I felt the first wave of movement across my stomach rather than the usual poke. Every night around 9pm, he wakes up and jostles around. I have to admit I love it. I can't wait to meet him! Most nights I wake up from really strange dreams with him already here and talking to us. I wonder if they'll stop when he really does show up.

21 weeks

2011-11-09T13:59:00.000-08:00

I'm sick. It's very bad timing. However, being sick and pregnant has inducted me to the pregnancy wall of shame...or fame. I have a nasty cough which makes me convulse so hard that I actually pee my pants. I have to stop moving when I cough and keep my legs as tight as possible. Thank you baby chinn for letting me know what it's really like to be pregnant.

This is pretty long overdue since the world knows already, but baby chinn is a boy! Definitely. a. boy. I knew before the ultrasound tech told us. So nice to know! I love to look at the ultrasound pictures. He was moving like crazy in the ultrasound, kicking and flailing his arms. It was truly amazing to see and think about there being a little person inside me. That's is simply incredible! We found out on Halloween and I had planned to buy stuff for baby boy as soon as we knew, but now almost 2 weeks have gone by and I haven't bought anything.

I'm almost 22 weeks now and starting to realize...we don't have much yet. We got a free crib, check. We have some longhorn bootie socks, check. And...that's about it. I had planned on making a lot of stuff myself, but that was when I thought it could be a girl. I can make bows, dresses, and all kinds of girly things. Boy crafts are not my forte. I'll have to learn. Still on my list is a jogging stroller and carseat of course. I have my eye set on a Phil and Teds stroller, they are expensive, but awesome! I need a jogging stroller with a swivel front wheel. Most I've looked at don't have this, but phil and teds does! Me want.

babies babies babies

2011-10-18T17:11:00.000-07:00

Amaya is here! Last week my little niece was born and she is beeeeautiful. I miss her right now! We were lucky enough to be the first ones to see them in the hospital =) She makes us soooo excited to meet our little one. I'm so happy for my little sister and her hubby Ryan. They are such great parents and they love her so much. I love to see parents loving their children. It makes my heart melt. Congrats to J & R! I love you guys!!!

17 weeks

2011-10-08T18:15:00.000-07:00

It's october already?! For that I am glad. Especially because on halloween...the actual day...we will know if it's a little me or little david. So. excited. I keep seeing things I want to buy, but alas, until we know boy or girl I need to refrain. But David jokes that since we'll get the ultrasound on halloween that they will trick us. But surely not! It will be a treat! a BIG one. I'm 17 weeks now. Strangers are noticing I'm pregnant. Proof it's grown for sure. I am almost positive I can feel baby chinn moving...but then I still am not sure. I seriously don't know what I am supposed to feel. It'll be obvious I'm sure when there is something more substantial than a "boop."

It seems "trendy" now to do gender reveal parties or have some cool way to reveal to the world what you're having. I admit I probably won't go all out, but some ideas intrigue me. Like filling a box with pink or blue balloons (having someone else put them in there) and then you open it up! How fun is that?

Another cute idea I heard about was asking the ultrasound tech to write the gender on a piece of paper. Then take that paper to a baby store and then ask a clerk to pick out an outfit for whichever gender it is...and then wrap it. Then open that present later with friends and family. That would be cool if we were finding out around Christmas time, but I don't think I could wait that long.

15 weeks

2011-09-26T15:48:00.000-07:00

A little belly is forming. In this picture...you can't really tell. But I promise it's there =) Baby #1 is the size of a softball according to my "books." Every once and I while I swear I can feel it move. But then I tell myself it was gas or something cause I am not positive really what it is supposed to feel like. I'm sure I'll get where I KNOW that it was the baby and that will be exciting!

I have a doctor's appointment Wednesday. I honestly get very excited about going to the doctor. Although I know he's going to poke me and such, the doctor's office makes it feel real. We'll know in a month if it will be a mini-me or a mini-david. The appointment will be set on Wednesday. YAY! Can't wait to buy some baby clothes!

We got a free crib. Score! A friend of my sister Jessi was getting rid of 2 cribs. She bought bunkbeds for her kids and had 2 awesome cribs with all the fixins that she wanted to get rid of. So my sister got one and I got one =) It's a nice cherry wood, but I desperately want to paint it. David says no...but would it really be mine if I didn't paint it?! I'm thinking painting it yellow or aqua. We might end up staying in our little one bedroom for a little after the baby comes. That means the baby will live in the corner of our living room. But I would love a nursery like these!

13 weeks

2011-09-10T17:51:00.000-07:00

Ok 13 weeks along now. Still not much to show for it, although the baby is the size of a peach apparently. For some reason all these last weeks the baby is compared to some sort of fruit. Peach size does help me imagine how big it is. Pants are getting tighter and I'm still sickness free! I guess I have good genes.

I had a goal to work out 4-5 days a week. However the last few weeks I've only worked out 2 days a week. Better than nothing? My little sister jessi gives me hope for lookin' good through pregnancy. She's been working out 4-5 days/week her whole pregnancy! you go girl. I honestly don't think I'll look as good as her, cause she basically had a six pack before being pregnant. I was not blessed with such a feature.

I took some pictures of her a few days ago to try my hand at photography. I'm no professional, but it was so fun! Here are my favs. I posted these on facebook and people thought it was me...I wish! I don't mind people thinking I'm her =)

the BIG enchilada post

2011-09-01T19:48:00.001-07:00

This is dubbed the "big enchilada" for a couple reasons. One...hubby and I are expecting baby numero uno! Most people know already, but how could I not mention it here? I'm 12 weeks and according to my weekly emails, baby chinn is probably 2 1/2" long and has little arms and legs, a big difference from 10 weeks when it looked like a gummy bear. They grow so fast! It blows my mind. For now I'm due March 19th and we are so excited! It's absolute perfect timing for the school year. I'll be out on maternity leave and when I have to go back to work, David will be out for the semester to take care of the "himher" fredette (that's what he calls it). Then I'll have the whole summer in a bigger apartment (fingers crossed) with the baby. Awesome.

Also big enchilada because I haven't posted in ages. Once I went back to work...I seldom have the energy or time to sit down and write a post for the blog. It kept me occupied over the summer, but I have a feeling I won't be posting every day. I'll do my best to be frequent and provide baby bump photos once that shows up. I'm full time now teaching art most of the day and two periods of Spanish. Spanish is stretching me to my limit. I've never had to give tests! I admit I am learning a lot of what TO do and what NOT to do.

And now some pictures from recent happenings with my mother dearest and my sister's baby shower. My family is da best.

Jessi and her presents. It decorated with rainbows...David said it looked like I was supporting a different cause, but I love rainbows!

Delicious cake recipe courtesy my sister Erin

our little apartment was kind of packed to the max...I'm glad not everyone could come or we would have had to go outside.

Congrats to jessi again!! I can't say it enough! My sister, my sister-in-law, 2 cousins, and TONS of friends of mine are all pregnant. It's so nice to know my baby will have friends =)

making stuff

2011-08-05T13:24:00.000-07:00

invite assemblage

drew an albino moose...watercolor background, acrylic and sharpie on top.

drew/painted one of my new favorite things: painted elephants. same process as moose.

Not sure what to do with these but I like them =)

I start teaching again starting August 22nd. Alas, my summer is almost over. I have to get in my "fun" time making projects while I still have a head to make them.

baby showering

2011-07-31T17:18:00.000-07:00

I tried my hand at some "graphic design." I admit I can't remember a lot from my classes in college that taught me how to use the sophisticated programs of indesign, illustrator, and photoshop. Dang I wished I would have paid more attention!

I love those programs and need to get them, but right now I try to make do with my free dinky version of photoshop: gimp. It's a free download and does a lot of what photoshop does, not as user friendly, but once I tinkered around for a while I made sense of it. I managed to make my sister's invites, yay! I know she is into elephants from her pinterest boards...so I put some on there =)

I wish it wasn't pixelated on here and I messed up some things for privacy purposes, but you get the idea. Yay for jessi! She is beautiful and will be such a good mommy.

gramps camp

2011-07-26T19:44:00.000-07:00

My parents are such hip grandparents. I'm so excited for our future children to get to know my sweet mom and dad. A few years ago they started a thing called "gramps camp" where the grandkids who are over the age of 5 (or out of diapers) get to come to the grandpappy's house for a few days to play with cousins and do cool stuff. This year their theme is "Adventures under the sea." I sort of volunteered to make their t-shirts which was a task since there were 10 to make. I decided to use the freezer paper method which is simple and yields good results. I forgot to take a picture of the front...but I got pictures of the back and all the kids names: girls' names in the shape of a dolphin, boys in the shape of a shark.All you do is use an exacto knife to cut out the parts you want to be painted on the shirt and then put the SHINY side down to the shirt. That's the part that sticks to the shirt when you iron over it.

I added some bubbles

Yay for gramps camp! Wish I could be there to play with all of the little ones. Hope the sharks and dolphins play nice with each other =)

the bib

2011-07-17T20:52:00.000-07:00

and here is the bib I made..not perfect. but functional!

succulents

2011-07-17T20:38:00.001-07:00

At bed bath and beyond they sell this beautiful painting of a succulent plant of some sort. I never really knew what they were until seeing this and realizing it was beautiful! Apparently they're like cactus sort of maybe? but like lovely green gushy flowers. They would do well in my house in our window. I'd love to plant a garden and be all self sustaining! We live in an apartment with no yard but according to a valuable source: if there is space in the flower beds outside our buildings...we can take it! Gardening is a skill I have yet to tackle..I need my older sister to help me =) She is the master! For now I like looking at these photos.....

feelin' crafty

2011-07-15T11:38:00.000-07:00

My friend Ciara is having a little girl and her shower is on Saturday. I've been dying to try my hand at some actual baby "clothes" so this was the perfect opportunity. I admit I am no Martha Stewart and my sewing is not perfect, but the website Make it and love it has been very helpful. She puts things simply and you don't have to be an expert to do what she does. Lots of tutorials on everything.

I've made a little dress and some flowers so far. Next I'm gonna make a bib. These tutorials proved useful:

Repurposing: ti-shirt to a dress

Catch all laminated bib

Felt flower spiral

I kind of made my own version of these things so they're how I like them. Here they are voila!

Here is the dress I made from a onsie (no I did not make the shoes, they are just so perfect though!)

I basically made a little skirt to sew onto the onsie. I put a couple of pleats in the front for fun and sewed on some extra ribbon we used in my wedding.

Ahh these shoes kill me! I found them at Target, last ones on the shelf. They're sized for newborns and yes I know newborns can't walk, but so what? They can look stylish too for all the thousands of photos first time parents will take of them.

I also made a bunch of little felt button bows. Simple really. I am not a tutorial master but this is what I did:

Need: hot glue/gun

felt

scissors

buttons

scrap fabric

First I measured and cut out 5 circles the same size: 4 for the petals, 1 for the based. I used my husband's acid reflex bottle to trace.

Once I had them all cut, I cut 2 slits in one for the base. The hair clip will slide through there later.

I picked some of my scrap fabric to cover a button with. Can you tell I love green and yellow?

Then I put some hot glue on the top of the button to attach a little square of fabric. Then on the back I gradually added hot glue and spun it around to make the fabric lay flat on the front of the button.

Then one by one I folded each of the 4 circle petals in half, then again so it was in 4ths.

I put a dab of hot glue between the folded 4ths and held it til it dried. Then it looks like a fortune cookie. Once each of the 4 circles looked like fortune cookies, I glued them down to the base so it looked like a fluffy pie. I slid the hair clip through the back slit, cut earlier, and put hot glue under the ends to keep it in place.

Then I glued the button down in the middle of the petals. When you press it down it make the petals stick up on the edges.

So I made several of these. I found you can easily clip these onto clothes too. Ahh making baby stuff is so much fun.

baby on the brain

2011-07-12T18:28:00.001-07:00

No I'm not trying to tell you something. haha. With my sister expecting and as well as everyone else around me, I can't help but love the baby craze. I'm just in that stage of life I guess =) When that time comes for us, I would love to do something like this I found here a while ago (except I doubt I'll have any of my belly skin showing):

2011-07-07T16:36:00.001-07:00

Haha as in funny

2011-07-07T16:30:00.000-07:00

Saw this image online today from here. Upon seeing this my husband would say: "Funny as in haha or funny as in odd or unusual?" Well honey, we're not quittin' at death. Love you forever!

2011-07-02T15:22:00.000-07:00

This is trippy cool. Believer, Jen Stark - Stop Motion Animation Limited Video Edition of 10 - Audio by Dan Deacon

Jen Stark - Believer from Show & Tell Gallery on Vimeo.

Baby showering!

2011-07-01T12:41:00.001-07:00

My adorable little sister will be the cutest mom of the cutest little girl in a couple months. It still freaks me out a little, but not enough to not have a baby shower in the works!

Despite what my sister thinks, she is tiny. But tiny will this shower not be! It's gotta be epic! This week I went to my sister-in-law's cousin's bridal shower (sounds distant I know, but I am an adopted cousin =) and the theme was so great I've been trying to figure out how to make it work for babies. Each guest at the bridal shower got an invitation giving them a theme in which to bring a gift; mine was: first kitchen. I thought that the whole shower was first kitchen but turns out everyone who came had a different themed gift. Ex: first home, first night away from each other, first meal, first time entertaining, first game night etc. How cute is that? So for babies...would that be first diaper change? first portrait? first outfit? Not sure. There are a lot of firsts with first babies but I don't know what they are really since I do not have a first baby of my own.

Any thoughts? what other firsts that would make feasible shower gift ideas???

Image from this website

If she were having a boy, mustache binkys would be so appropriately hilarious. From here.

I very much like this elephant invite, adorable!! courtesy of hostessblog

What shall I do what shall I do...

Adventures in Tonga

2011-06-27T11:56:00.000-07:00

I've been away with no access to internet (decent internet) for 2 weeks while away on the Pacific island of Tonga. I can't lie having no TV or internet for 2 weeks was blissful. Life in the pacific is sloooow paced. Least stressed people on earth. Have to be somewhere? Don't worry, they are in no hurry. Tonga was a fantastic trip and I THOROUGHLY enjoyed myself. It is nice to be back where I'm not sweating all the time though. Being smelly 24-7 is not exactly ideal. But I learned some great things about the people, the culture, and how much I love being with my husband. We spent our 2 year anniversary there and it was fabulous. Some pics from our trip...

We found some incredible shells and coral while swimming/snorkeling through finding nemo worthy waters. The people in our group probably thought I was strange for swooning over the different types of broken coral, but they had such great texture! No one else seemed to appreciate them as much as I do. My husband also picked up 14 WHOLE beautiful sand dollars just hangnin out on the ocean floor. Each had to be washed and bleached cause they STUNK. I intend to draw/paint all of them and maybe have my advanced art students draw their beautiful twists and turns next year too.

I painted this artichoke before leaving for tonga. I admit the purple swirls around it were probably a mistake...I will fix them. But I loved painting it. I was inspired by Kal Barteski.

Teacher time

2011-06-02T19:50:00.000-07:00

Image from Kal Barteski

This girl rocks. I love her blog. I love her art. And this print of hers explains my current thoughts.

Today I was feeling rather bored and disappointed with the lack of things I’ve accomplished in the past few days. As a teacher I am pleased to enjoy to benefits of summer. I thought, oh yes I will have so much time to make and do what I please. However I’ve been sick all week and that’s kept me from doing all the art I had dreamed about making with all my spare time. So today…while sniffling and sneezing...I arrived at a studentless school. To my surprise the principal (my boss=) was there and needed to talk to me. Over the last weeks of school he came to me several different times to tell me he had found one more class for me. Each class meant a bump in salary and more time for me to get to know peeps at lunch!

On the last day of school I left thinking next year I would be 83% meaning: one class short of full time. And, I was happy with that. Today he told me I will have a full schedule next year!!! Wahoo. I’m a real teacher. Even though, yes, technically I was a real teacher this year…I was only half day. So when people would hear that they’d say apologetically…oh but that’s ok. Being half time I felt like people were thinking…oh she's just HALF day no biggie. So now I am SO SO SO excited to have my classroom ALL to myself and be teaching the 2 things I love to teach: Art and Spanish. And yes I know teachers don’t make squat, but it’s more than I’ve ever made in my life and as the saying goes….having dreams is better than having money.

Doodle for google

2011-05-31T13:17:00.000-07:00

A professor at BYU (Ryan Woodward) did this doodle google that was on google's homepage May 11th. You may remember it.

Google - Martha Graham from Ryan J Woodward on Vimeo.

The news release about it can be found here. I love his gestural animation style, it's beautiful. And his thought of you video is awesome, i've watched it several times. Here is the making of it

Thought of You - Making Of from Ryan J Woodward on Vimeo.

=) And here it is for your viewing pleasure (it's only 3 minutes long)

Thought of You from Ryan J Woodward on Vimeo.

Summer is my friend

2011-05-31T12:43:00.000-07:00

It's finally showing signs of summer here. Today Provo has sunshine! This red table and mosaic wall from Elle Decor magazine makes me want to sit outside and drink lemonade. In two weeks I'll be enjoying summer from the pacific islands of Tonga with this group. Until then I just keep looking at pictures of tonga and try to remind myself it is NOT a vacation exactly...we're going for humanitarian work. But who says I can't enjoy the view too? Enjoy your own summer adventures while I dream about some Tongan awesomeness below....

Rainy days

2011-05-25T12:10:00.000-07:00

Today is the first sunny day we've had in a while. Any time it rains...all I want to do is curl up and read a good book, especially if I had this beautiful reading nook. I dreamed about big cushy window seats when I was a kid. One day when I can control things in my house... I must have one. Now I need a nap.

Pinterest has my interest

2011-05-24T21:21:00.000-07:00

I have spent the greater part of the day having fun on pinterest. I was drooling over everything. I've got my pinboard now so you can follow me if you so desire. I've found some great stuff in my time hunting around online. Visit often =) Happy pinning.

My boards (they're growing...hey I just started!)

A is for Apron

2011-05-15T15:11:00.000-07:00

I have really wanted an apron lately. It seems adorable aprons are for sale everywhere that could easily be dresses they're so cute. Like these from Anthropologie I saw hanging in the store:

But rather buy one...I made one. I looked for a while for a good free pattern off the internet...but alas I did not find one that was exactly what I wanted. So basically I just made mine up. A long time ago when I was like 15 or so I made one so that gave me a sprinkle of confidence. Plus an apron isn't meant for public viewing exactly, so I wasn't too worried about its perfectness (and perfect it is not, but thats OK). So I just kind of made it up as I went. I love my new apron and I find any excuse to use it.

I started with these 3 fabrics, I love love the green stripes.

I wanted the ends to have that ribbon shape, but MAN those are hard. Anyone know an easy way to do that?

I wanted to use lots of the lemon fabric, but by the end I just liked the stripes and didn't want to ruin it. I did however add a little lemon detail.

I gave it some pockets too

Ta da!

If anyone knows of some great place to find cute patterns too, I'd love to know! I think my next sewing project will have to be some sort of skirt. Summer is coming and I have to be prepared =)

Diaper bag magic

2011-05-06T12:58:00.000-07:00

My beautiful sister Erin had a baby boy in March so I wanted to try my hand at making a diaper bag (made the bag in march...she has it already). This was a FIRST. In the past I've made quilts, hemmed shirts, made skirts, shirts, and other random things, but they were all flat. I had never made anything that was supposed to have shape. So to try my first bag...I figured my sweet sister wouldn't mind the imperfections that were sure to come, and they did. I got this free diaper bag pattern and picked out fabric. Her little boy's room is cowboy themed; so browns, rust, and blues, were the colors of choice. I struggled little through this process because: WARNING the steps are not all explained EXACTLY. There are a couple things missing from this tutorial. So if you decide to do it, take it slow. I wish I could remember now what I messed up and had to do over so I could tell you...but I can't. Maybe if I make another some day those fixed mistakes will come to the surface again. But for now...this is what I did! YAY!

Olive oil and art

2011-05-02T15:07:00.000-07:00

David and I went to an olive oil shop at the Gateway in SLC. The store is very close to Urban Outfitters and I wanted to go peruse while my husband checked out oil (honest? my original thought: seriously, olive oil? how boring). Boy was I wrong! Each container was beautifully arranged in rows with pretty silver spouts for tasting on little pieces of soft bread (my kind of store!) It's Mountain Town Olive Oil Company. They've got skill. I was surprised to see the prices. I don't know what I was expecting, but almost all of the oils and vinegars were priced at 14.99. Not yo'momma's olive oil, but worth the extra bucks! My favorite was the Traditional 18 year Balsamic. Pretty much a party in my mouth.

Olive oil wasn't the only treat. On the walls were art from artist Gretchen Papka. In this olive shop were a series of 3 assemblage pieces. Gretchen, I dig it. I stared at these for a while. Wish I had money to buy them.

Memory No. 1

encaustic, paper, oil pigments with objects
in vintage box on wood panel
31 x 17 x 2
Available from Gallery MAR, Park City, UT

Memory No. 2
encaustic, paper, oil pigments with objects
in vintage box on wood panel
31 x 17 x 2
Available from Gallery MAR, Park City, UT

Memory No. 3
encaustic, paper, oil pigments with objects
in vintage box on wood panel
31 x 17 x 2
Available from Gallery MAR, Park City, UT

the great salt lake

2011-04-30T21:29:00.001-07:00

Yesterday morning we said...hey baby lets go to salt lake city. My David looked up where Guy Fieri has been to on Diner's Drive Ins and Dives so we could eat dinner there, because of course, if guy fieri goes there, it's gotta be good!

On the list were:

We've been to pat's bbq and its SO tasty, I highly recommend it. Somehow we ended up not going to any of them at all. We went to a friend's recommendation for an authentic pizzeria= Sicilia's pizza. The Italian born owner greeted us in a thick italian accent and asked "is this your first time here? I'm sorry" ha! Such a great big menu to choose from. We got the amori and the meat amori (half and half) with mixed sauce (alfredo and marinara). My body told me, rachel you are full. But I didn't listen. I had to finish my plate. It was dreamy sauce and topping goodness.

We stumbled upon some groovy downtown hotspots with furniture, galleries, bookstores, and artists trying to make it. I wouldn't mind living on 300 south, there is so much to do there.

Artwork in Kayo Gallery

Cool shop staircase (everything in there is organized by color, love it!)

Retro Rose

Frosty Darling Boutique (connected with Kayo Gallery)

Sam Weller's bookstore 3 stories of books and a section for rare old and used books, totally awesome to get lost in.

I turned my pictures into polaroids using the polaroid project download. EASY and so fun.

Drawing blindly

2011-04-29T11:20:00.000-07:00

I love blind contour drawings. Yes. I do. They are freeing. I love the off-ness of it all. The swirls and twirls of a true blind contour are awesomely fun. I used to hate abstract art. Everything I used to draw was so detailed and rendered as perfectly as I could do it. Although that has merit, I honestly don't feel the need to do that anymore. Somehow over time I've gotten less and less representational. And. I'm. Happy. So here is something I drew up and painted for a commission sketch. I love black, white, and transparent brown now.

Secrets from the Sketchbook

2011-04-20T14:23:00.000-07:00

I have a plan to update this often. Since I'm an art teacher, I thought, why not share some things I teach as we go here?

Sketchbook 101

If I don't write down my ideas immediately then it will fall out of my brain and be lost forever. So sketchbooks have become so very useful and an escape for me. I used to only draw with pencil in them. Then one day I realized I could do whatever I wanted to! Now I carry a sketchbook with me where ever I go just in case inspiration strikes.

If you are a budding artist like me, maybe some of this tips will be helpful:

1. Choose a sketchbook you LOVE. If you've got a rockin' sketchbook, you'll be more likely to draw in it. I have several books I started but just wasn't really feelin' the juju of the pages or it wasn't aesthetically pleasing...so they sit on my shelf untouched.

2. That reminds me...Cost. My favorite sketchbooks are ones I made myself. Collect unfinished sketchpads, scrapbook paper, tracing paper, gessoed paper, and any lonely paper scraps hanging around the house. Cut them to the same size and take them to a store to be bound. All you pay for is the binding (which is cheap!)

2. Cover. I prefer hardback, spiral bound like this one. Spirals lay flat. They are user friendly. I used to decorate my sketchbook covers as seen in the 3rd photo, but now I prefer the hard black covers.

3. Size. Choose a book not too big or too small. My personal size preference and shape is square 8"x8". It's small enough to carry with you and just big enough to have room to draw. Too many pages can be overwhelming, so stick with around 100 pages.

4. Inviting. Treat your sketchbook like a best seller to sell to yourself. Sometimes I do intro pages for myself or make a little table of contents when I'm done with it. It should be beautiful to look at and make you happy! I LOVE LOVE LOVE this book of artist/illustrator's sketchbook pages and could look at it all day.

5. Other options. Rather than use a blank page sketchbook, pick up a cheap hard back book at a thrift store or one you have laying around. Then it will become an altered book like these examples.

And here is some sketchbook eye candy from around the web:

and check out this post on the design files with some sketchbooks.

best week ever

2011-04-18T17:05:00.000-07:00

My spring break came and went, but like my candy comes and goes...it was sweet. The sweetest part being my new website! La la la I am happy. I'm adding things to it daily. I've finally got a better layout than the beginning and that is something I am proud of. Check back often because it keeps evolving! So here is where I will continue to post things I love and things I do. A lot of my online time is spent looking at interior design things and art. Why haven't I shared what I've found here? Well now I am going to. First of all...I love these flowers:

I took this picture a while ago on my phone as I was out on a walk, anybody know what they are? I love them.

at work

2011-03-21T18:27:00.000-07:00

text!

2011-02-28T16:24:00.000-08:00

So I was feeling sort of graphic designy a little while ago and wanted a way to display one of my favorite quotes "Come what may and love it." -Joseph B. Wirthlin. So I painted over this:

it turned out like this:

(simply done: I printed off the letters from the computer to get the text that I wanted, then I just eyed it and traced out the font and then painted in the letters, the "love it" part on the right is just pencil)

and the end of our hallway has now ended up like this!

Folding

2011-02-12T17:43:00.000-08:00

Foldings, oil on canvas

My latest painting child was born today. I keep getting on these kicks of subject matter...it was birds, now I just really want to paint like this, it's refreshing for me.

inspiration

2011-02-12T11:31:00.001-08:00

I was looking around blogland yesterday and came across this artist whose paintings make me drool and give me some sort of aesthetic experience. Michelle Armas does abstract paintings and they are beautiful. After looking at her work I picked up my oils again and starting slapping away at a canvas I've had laying around. I'm still working on it, but I love love these colors. People would say I need to limit my palette, but these colors just make me so happy.

new acquisitions

2011-02-08T12:51:00.000-08:00

While on my bird painting kick...I found this cute poofy fat hummingbird and I couldn't resist painting him...or her. And I finally finished a painting for my friend Rachael who I have yet to give it too. Rach when you gonna come get it?? It's been sitting in my living room! I got my two paintings back from the Springville museum so now I have 2 more pieces that I do not know what to do with, my walls may be the most covered of any apartment in our complex. My brother is going to help me get a website going sometime in the future to sell my stuff. He is a stud and I love that he knows how to do that kind of stuff.

Painting for Rachael

Hummingbird close up

Hummingbird

And here is mom and dad's painting of the manti temple which is in the works....

Birds

2011-01-13T08:53:00.000-08:00

I have a ton of small wood panels that I'm gessoing today and I'm gonna try to pump out a painting a day. I have time now and I'd love to start selling some things on Etsy but I want to have enough to put on there first. Here is what I made yesterday:
I love birds. They are so beautiful! I'll probably paint some more.

i love pomegranates!

2010-12-17T08:34:00.000-08:00

this is the season of many pomegranates at the store and I love to eat them! As I was peeling open my last snack, I couldn't help but admire the little seeds! They're so beautiful! So I painted them. This is in my kitchen now =) Sorry for the crappy image, I need a new camera!!!!!!

fed ex day

2010-12-02T20:41:00.000-08:00

So my mentor teacher has his students do "fed ex" days where they have one day to deliver an artwork and they can make whatever they want. It's been really successful and they have made some awesome stuff. I want to do it in my own classroom. Today while they worked, I made something too. I have decided I LOVE watercolor and ink.

oh and my two paintings i submitted got into the springville museum exhibition. =)

Wax museum

2010-11-14T15:21:00.000-08:00

At the high school, we have a heat gun that blows really hot air. You can use it to melt wax like crayons and such. I have been playing around with it and I love melting wax! As a kid I think I got crayons for christmas ten years in a row. I wish I had all of them now to melt and make things out of. I've made these two things so far:

On both I used a sharpie to go back and outline all the cool swirls that happened. The second one I went over it with watercolor.

Transfers

2010-11-07T13:32:00.000-08:00

In student teaching, I've taught the students how to do gesso and gloss/varnish transfers. I made some examples to show the class and am really LOVING doing transfers. It is SOOO fun and easy. If you yourself would like to do a gesso transfer, there are lots of online tutorials on how to do it. This next painting is acrylic. I started with a gesso transfer as the ground base and painted over it. I'm still going to paint some more, it's not totally finished. The assignment I gave the students was to paint a memory. This is my memory.

Treehouse, Acrylic on board, 11" x 14"

This image makes the transfer above look really crappy cause of the reflection. But it's actually really cool! Instead of having white behind your image, if you use acrylic gloss medium and varnish, it will dry clear! The saying "happiness is a journey, not a destination" has been on my mind a lot and I wanted a place to see it all the time. I'm all about being happy now and not waiting til some other stage of your life to be happy.

The above painting is having some growing pains. I love it but also am struggling with it. My husband is not fond of the colors, which happens to be my favorite part. I'm not sure what to do it. Any suggestions? I notice now that all of my paintings have that BRIGHT blue. I just love it. After living in the caribbean blue waters for a year and a half, I just really really love that color. I reminds me of good people and the most beautiful places on earth.

Exploring....

2010-10-17T16:15:00.000-07:00

I have a done a little bit more on my earth/body painting. I also had a day off this week and wandered around provo taking pictures of cool corners on the old buildings in downtown. I combined a few and hope to paint them soon. I'm thinking about a theme of turning points...

New and old projects

2010-10-10T21:56:00.001-07:00

On the way home from my sister's wedding in August, my husband and I were driving through incredibly beautiful areas of the US. We drove past HUGE fields of sunflowers, saw rainbows, saw rainstorms from a distance, and lots of windmills in the middle of texas. My husband was asleep so I had time to think and stare at the landscape. I have always struggled with how to make art including all the things that inspire me. I've been wanting to pursue some "medical" art, if that makes sense...but also be able to express my faith in God. It dawned on me driving in the middle of New Mexico what I could do...ideas just started flowing and I had to make my husband drive so I could sketch them. I appreciate the body and the earth so much because of who created it. So combining these two concepts really appeals to me. I got started on a piece today, it's looking a little like camoflauge but it won't when it's finished.

I also took extra paint and returned to my old GIANT painting from my oil painting class. I've changed it some more and will continue to, it's an old friend I can't decide what to do with.

I'm back!

2010-09-11T12:23:00.000-07:00

I'm posting! I kind of of left this blog a while ago, but I've been doing art so much with these little kids at the elementary school, I can't resist not doing some art or thinking about it all the time. I decided to post a recent oil painting done for jessi and ryan for their wedding present. I was pretty happy with the results. I've painted temples in the past, but I discovered it's hard to make it perfect. I discovered a new method that made the temple just right. Anyway, I think I'll paint more of these, but maybe when student teaching is over and I have more time to do what I want with my art.

Don't kill creativity!

2010-02-10T08:05:00.000-08:00

I absolutely love this TED talk by Sir Ken Robinson. He's hilarious and makes a good defense of why the arts should be taught in school and why we need art in general. Watch it, it's totally worth it.

fire power

2010-01-24T12:13:00.000-08:00

I haven't posted in a while...mainly because of technical difficulties in getting images of my artwork and such. Well here is a a video of an artist named Cai Guo Qiang. A lot of his artwork his does with fireworks. Just goes to show you that art isn't just painting anymore =)

final print project

2009-12-15T17:26:00.000-08:00

This was my final for my intaglio class. It's done with aquatint which is basically this longer process where you etch a copper plate with acid. It took FOREVER! But I really enjoyed the class, I'll post some more pictures soon, I've scanned all my jar paintings and will get those up asap.

Recent

2009-11-28T12:13:00.000-08:00

I'm in Intaglio (printmaking) and an oil painting class. In painting I'm working on a huge 40"x44" painting, the biggest I've ever worked with. It's given me some trouble compositionally but I'm hoping for the best! This one below is a print I did representing broken glass:

2009-11-18T22:44:00.000-08:00

Ok so I wondered what ya'll thought about this artwork. I did it in response to the artist kara walker who I did a report on. She deals with a lot of issues about racism, sexuality, power, etc. I really enjoy what she does even though it's kind of intense and if you're not careful, pornographic. Anyway, she uses silhouettes to narrate a story, often about some sort of power struggle. She does large paper cut outs and adheres them to gallery walls. So her image is located below and mine above. She is an african american artist and I am not. So is what I did racist?

It's not in my defense, but just my reaction to the racism I felt living in Lumberton, Texas. I felt like children thought racism was a game and they would wear confederate flags as superhero capes and wear shirts that said "the south will rise again." I surely did not enjoy or think this was right.n So in mine, if you can't tell, there is a little girl blowing bubbles that have the opposite race floating in them that will soon be impailed by knives. Gruesome? Yes, so is Kara Walker, WAY worse than mine.

What do you think?

art history

2009-10-23T12:46:00.000-07:00

So this page is intended for my art and the art that I am discovering and artists I admire. =)

So one thing I've become very interested in is racism. And mostly the human experience, but the way we experience it differently. Last winter I did a collaboration with 3 other art students. We made "Amernica" after picasso's famous Guernica. We used his symbols and imagery in our own 4 panel pieces. Each of our's had to do with issues and different "wars" in America. One was about abortion, the other military, one was on economics, and mine was about immigration.

Amernica

But I chose to show immigration from the side of those trying to immigrate, especially from central america. I heard horrible stories from my latin companions on my mission about people who had tried to come to the U.S. There are coyotes they can pay who will take them to a certain point or take them across the border. Some are really evil coyotes and they take people's money and then leave them to die in a desert somewhere. Most of these people are just trying to escape the oppressive conditions in their country, or their trying to provide for their family. So my piece was called Dying to Live made with gessoed masonite board, newspaper, acrylic paint, and aluminum wire. the lighting in this picture turned it yellowish but it's only black white and red.

Dying to Live

and it begins

2009-07-06T18:46:00.000-07:00

So I created this for a place to dedicate some of my art, other people's art I love etc. And a place where people can check out my stuff and maybe buy it! I'm all about sharing!!! =)