Mom of 3 Crafty Kids

We had an amazing date night for our 17th wedding anniversary. What made it so special to me was that my hubby agreed to do a painting class with me. He never does things like this with me. Well part of it is I usually do my own painting at home. But we have been looking for alternative date ideas. This painting class was the first one I signed us up for. But unfortunately there was a blizzard the night it was supposed to be. That pushed the class out about a month. Ryan had a blast at the pottery class but was now second guessing this class idea. He told me on the way there he would paint a banana taped to the wall as that is supposedly art now days. He really isnt too into the different types of art out there. But that's okay as he supports me in my art and wishes I would do more of it. It is hard to take the time to do art as I get lost in my projects and could paint all day long. It's trying to balance your needs and the needs of your kids, family, friends and work in o...

Pico de Gallo 4 Roma tomatoes 1/2 red onion Fresh cilantro 1 jalapeno  Fresh lime juice Salt Instructions: Dice up the tomatoes, onion and cilantro and mix together in bowel. Dice up the jalapenos and add them in. Next add the lime juice and salt to taste. Serve immediately or chill a few hours. Lasts a few days in the refrigerator.  Best pico de gallo I have ever made! Well to be honest it's the first time I've made it. But it was delicious.

Ryan and I did our first clay for couples class at the Plaint Art Museum. We have been working on doing different date nights and not the same thing all the time. You know dinner and a movie, just dinner, then it turns into grocery shopping or something as your date. So last year I started getting tickets to the FMCT (our local community theater that we have.) That's a lot of fun but I finally was able to talk Ryan into doing something artsy/crafty. So the clay class we did is our first of 3 nights I have scheduled for us.  The class was a lot of fun, great teacher and simple project to make. We made one wine chiller and two glasses out of clay. Ryan had a lot of fun....but I'll tell you something....dont bring a guy with OCD to make a clay project. He could have spent days there trying to make his cup perfect. He did agree to leave it alone once the class ended. Phew, thought I would never get him out of there LoL.  I had forgotten how much I missed doing things like this. Br...

Jaxon came home and needed help with a school project. He needed to draw the famous person he was doing a report on and needed help. He first tried to convince me that I could draw it for him however that didnt work for him.  I taught Jaxon that the trick to getting started drawing face was to turn the picture you are looking at upside down. Now I got a pretty strange look from Jaxon after I said that. I explained to him how by turning the picture you are drawing upside down you dont concentrate on the overall picture/likeliness you need to draw. It makes you concentrate on the features of the person. What did Jaxon do in school the next day....he put his paper over his computer monitor and traced the guy. 🤣🤣🤣 At least hes got great problem solving skills.  This is my quick sketch I did with the picture upside down. 

We had a talented lady come to Microsoft and give us a painting class. I couldn't not do it as her paintings she has in our commons area are so vivid, colorful and just beautiful.  I love my job and the amazing things I get to do, learn and experience through Microsoft. This one was a perfect fit to my passion that has been buried deep under the responsibilities of family, children, work and just plain life. But this is my second time doing a painting class through work in the past 2 years so gotta use the opportunities you are provided.  This painting was done with only 3 colors. It all has to do with blending of the colors. It's a great technique to use. Only took us about an hour and 20 minutes. I learned a new way to splatter paint from the teacher. That was a neat takeaway from the class.  My creativity is flowing more than ever now and I just want to concentrate on my art, not all the other crafts that I work on different times of the year. Would be nice if I could ...

What does every 5th grade boy ask to make for their valentines day box? A toilet full of poo. That's what mine asked for this year. We were hesitant to let him run with that idea. Not too sure what his teacher would say about it. Once he got approval from his teacher we worked hard over a few nights and hot it done. He has such great ideas of the design he wants and how to use the materials we had on hand or bought for it. It turned out great. All you need is a white trash can, bowl, cardboard and some colored duck tape. I wish I would have taken pictures as we made it for instructions.  Then his valentines for his class are made out of brown construction paper, a marker and a snack sized candy bar. They turned out great but we forgot to buy extra candy bars to snack on as we made them. :-(  Good luck in the box contest....I heard there is a large poop also entered from a classmate of his. Oh By...gotta love this age.