Maternity photoshoot on the beach

One night last week, after dinner, we decided to head to the beach at sunset to take some quick belly pictures. I've had this idea of taking more pictures of the end of my pregnancy this time, so off we went to capture the golden light.

We had no idea that the sight that would greet us there on the sand would be truly out of this world. Jasper shouted, "there's a rainbow!", and we all turned to see this HUGE, double full ark rainbow stretching from the sand out into the ocean.

As we stood there the light was changing every second and with it the rainbow changed, parts of it getting brighter, others fading.

Glorious is the only way to describe those moments. Just such a treat for us to share as a family.

 

These will be pictures I will always treasure!

Tutorial: Wrist Ribbons

These wrist ribbons are one of the fun things that I have made for some of the kids in the Stocking Stuffer Swap, and they are so easy and fun that I wanted to share a tutorial with you so that you can make your own. Maybe even to stuff in a little one's Christmas stocking?

The supplies that I used are three different colors of ribbon all the same width, thin elastic (about 3/4 inch wide), needle and thread, and also a hot glue gun.

I measured my children's wrist and then cut a 6 inch strip of the elastic. I make this into a circle with about an inch of overlap,

I like to begin by putting a line of hot glue on that inch of over lap,

and then press together until set.

Here are my freshly glued elastic wrist circles,

Then I take my three different colors of ribbon, cut into about 1 yard long sections, and stack them lining the cut ends up. I've got my needle and thread ready to sew. If you don't have a glue gun you can begin at this point and just secure everything with your needle and thread.

I place the stacked ribbons against the part of the elastic that I just glued,

and sew, crisscrossing the thread on the side that will be visible when worn,

so that when I am done sewing the stiches look like a little star.

Now they are done and the fun begins, they get put on the wrists,

and away we go!

They seem to make dancing, running, spinning and even gazing just more fun!

Tree Skirt

 Making a tree skirt for the base of our Christmas tree is a project that I've had in mind for a few years and finally this year, after being inspired by this tree skirt, I thought it would be fun to make something similar. So, I pulled out the felt and got to work. The rainbow theme is just one that interests me and the project came together as I laid out the dots.

The most time consuming part so far was pinning everything in place. Now, I'm starting to sew the pieces on, I'm wishing that I had a sewing machine for this one, I'm sewing them all on by hand in the evenings while Frank and I watch past seasons of Survivor (our guilty pleasure). I'll post pictures when its done!

Also, I just wanted to mention that tomorrow will be the last day to order from my shop before the holidays, in case you had your eye on something. I'll be closing my shop for a two week holiday break as we leave for our trip to celebrate up north.

Double Rainbow

This video makes me so, so, happy. I want to cry with him...

In Rainbows

Yesterday I posted the picture of our staircase rainbow that I love so much I wanted to wrap myself up in, and then this morning a magical thing happened. Jasper and I were out on the deck watering with the spray hose when suddenly, to our delight,  we saw this...

As we moved the hose we realized that the double rainbows continued...

and continued...

Until eventually we saw that the rainbows continued all around us forming a perfect circle of glowing color that we could only see in pieces by spraying the hose in a circle around us on one section at a time. We stood transfixed, the hose felt like a portal to another dimension as it revealed the rainbows that we would otherwise not have seen.

We were wrapped up in rainbows.

And that my friends was a perfect thing.

{this moment}

{this moment} - a Friday ritual for the spring and summertime. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. Helping me to slow down, take notice and enjoy these long warm days.

*inspired by soulemama

Bits of beauty

Bits and pieces from my recent trip, all swimming around in my head.
So much beauty to nourish the soul.

Golden light.

The HUGE yellow full moon.

L.A. stretched out before us.

Those black birds against that dusky sky, something about it makes my artist heart beat faster.

The little feet of my friend's baby in the sand.

A mysterious cave on a cliff side hike.

Jewels in the sunlight.

waves in the sky

The clouds looked like breaking waves yesterday. If you look closely you can see a faint rainbow in some of the pictures. We lay on the grass and watched for a while. Take some time where you are to lie in the grass and watch the sky, I highly recommend it.

Message

Message

I was in the studio a lot this past week! Finishing this painting in 2 days. It came together so easily and almost seemed to be painting itself...well almost. I love it when that happens, it is as if the painting is telling me what it needs in each layer. I am thrilled to be getting back into the studio after a few weeks off for travel, with a mind that is bursting with ideas that have been percolating. In all 4 paintings that I've been working on since Santa Fe the blue of that sky (its there!) and the brown earth are working themselves in as the dominant color schemes. From vision to thought to canvas.