let's paint...

it's snowy and very cold out here in ohio... so i got out the paints this morning... it was the perfect time to let the girls create...

a sweet friend of mine liked the polka dottie heart art that maizie and her friends made at her birthday party... maizie was excited to make one for her so that's what she worked on today...

let us show you how...

make a heart template and lightly trace the shape onto watercolor paper {even though we are using acrylics, i still like to use watercolor paper because of the texture and thickness of it}...

 select the colors that you want to work with and put a small amount of each onto some paper plates {makes for an easier clean-up}...

 get started filling in the heart with random colored polka dots... using the eraser end of a pencil as your paintbrush...

 keep going and going until your heart is nice and filled in...

{love}

maizie can't wait to get to the post office... this little bit of happy mail will be heading off to someone special very soon :)...

while she was busy with her heart, marina decided to paint a flower... {still working with acrylic on watercolor paper}...

 i love to watch her little hands creating... she concentrates so hard on what she's doing...

 she said... "look mama, do you like the details on my leaves?"... yep, i sure do!...

 {beautiful}

 i decided to work on a little something, too...

i painted a flower first... using the acrylics... and then i did a little series of connected circles...

 

while that was drying i gathered up some of my tie-dyed crepe paper that was left over from the simple valentine garland that i made...  i ruffled it up and sewed it down to a sturdy piece of card stock... then i stitched around and around the center of the flower... finally i used my tiny stamps to spell out "create" in the circles... and i tacked that part down... 

{create}

 i think i'm going to use this as part of the cover for my creative journal that's in the works... a place to store all of the ideas that i have floating around up in this noodle of mine...

it was a fun morning...

so tell me, how did you spend yours?...

have a happy day...

angie

celebrating maizie

today we celebrated maizie's 11th birthday...

oh my goodness... look at how little she is here... where does the time go?

dressing a little girl can be so much fun... this little cherry dress and hat was so sweet...

if only i could turn back time... i'd scoop her right up... look at those little baby teeth...

 one thing about miss maizie... she almost always wore a hat...

unless, of course, the focus was to be on her other accessories... fancy earrings, don't ya think?... {that one makes me smile}

she had a love for "rella"... so much that we went to disney two years in a row... 

always smiling...

and kind to others...

 artistic...

and smart...

 a great big sister and role model to marina...

 i'm so proud to be her mom...

{she's a true miracle in my eyes... before her, i had a miscarriage... it was devastating... then i had her and everything went great, although i never fully relaxed or enjoyed the pregnancy for fear that something would go wrong... after her i had another miscarriage... and then another... each miscarriage brought me so much sadness... but also made me so, so thankful for the one, healthy, happy, beautiful, little girl that i did have... how she made it into this world, i'll never know but what a blessing she has continued to be...}

so... today there were new polka dot pants... {thanks, grandma connie}

and presents...

 there was time spent with friends... and cupcakes... and dinner at chili's {because it's her fave}... 

she was so happy...

it was a great day spent celebrating our girl...

have a happy day~

angie