PTI Card + Amy Tsuruta = Flashback!

Amy, Tsuruta Designs, posted a Flashback Friday challenge and asked us to join her in posting our first cards posted on our blogs.  Yikes!  So, I'm being a Brave Girl and digging mine up from February 6, 2009, when I began blogging. 

Isn't that scary photography?!  Actually, I took a cue from Amy and lightened the pics up as they were even dreadfully darker than they are here! 

Thankfully, not only has blogging been a fantastic adventure, I've learned so much along the way....from fellow bloggers, friends, and all of my favorite search engines.  Many thank yous to all sources of information & learning (and old & new friendship & connections!)!!  Hopefully, it has led to picture taking that doesn't require me to be a Brave Girl. :>

What's in your mailbox?

Hi Friends!  What usually greets you when you open your mailbox?  When I open ours, there is the usual assortment of bills, junk mail, and maybe a magazine or two. 

But, the other day, I was greeted by some Happy Mail.  There was a manila envelope with my name handwritten on it and I had no idea what it could possibly be.

Then I opened it and found...

...a pretty little package containing these sweet felted ball earrings from Draya.  She had sent them to me for a giveaway I had won on her blog, Say Anything! 

Happy Mail is most definitely {smile} worthy! 

Today is my son's first day of school and minus the 5:40am alarm clock & the shock that he's gotten so big, it kind of felt good to get back into the routine again. :>

Hope you are having a wonderful Wednesday.  What's put a smile on your face today?

Creative Yarn {To Go}

Wee girl loves to write her letters & draw her tales while I'm driving and she's cruising in her carseat in the back.  She used to be limited to a pencil, as a box o' crayons made me nervous...a kind of "Oh, I don't want to clean melted crayon off my car!" kind of nervous.  But, not anymore.  Ya wanna know why??

Grammie found a free knitting pattern on the Lion Brand Yarn site for a cute little crayon caddy and began throwing blue, green, yellow, and red to quick work.

Unrolled and open, she has enough colors to work with (in this case a few Disney Princess crayons, of course! lol) and when she's done, its easy to see that she has all of them in her crayon caddy and not leaving any behind to melt!

All rolled up, its self contained and small enough to slip into a bag or purse to give wee girl oodles of creative entertainment.  And since she sings as she colors, while we drive, I get my share of sweet entertainment too!

    

A Special Day...Five Years in the Making

Some time ago, at a regularly scheduled Girl Scout meeting.....four teenage girls, bred, born, lived in different cities, states, families, schools and yet, when the four arrived in the same locale, at the same time, the Four Musketeers were born.

Twenty years later, four women are still known by many as the Four Musketeers, who are still the best of friends, Aunties to each others' kidlets, sistersinlaws to the husbands, family to each other, and respond to the Girl Scout camp names Woodstock, Gizmo, Fishey, & Snoopy.

Today is quite a special day...five years in the making. 

The Four Musketeers are all meeting up, together, at the same time, for the first time in almost five years.

One of them lives on the East Coast these days and what was weekly gatherings during their teens years, quarterly visits during the college years, and at least yearly gatherings during the rest of their twenties, has been reduced to gatherings of two or three whenever they were in the same town at the same time...but, not all four women at the same time...until now! 

Post high school, the Four Musketeers have gathered at some choice Southern California universities for sushi, a party, a concert, or some dorm time;  Tahoe for sushi, cozy fires, skiing, or chill time;  Northern California pads for sushi, pool play, BBQ'ing, or chatty time; a Northern California retreat for seafood, sight seeing, cooking,  or game time; and weddings for celebrating, toasting, dancing, brides maid'ing, giggling, chatting, smiling, and pretty sure they managed to work some sushi in there too!

Oh yes, and their favorite locale to gather, where their names are etched into a brick that thousands' feet step upon...the place where every person can feel like a child, no matter what their age...Disneyland.

A favorite tradition Snoopy started was to take a group pic in front of each of the letters of CALIFORNIA...one letter per visit, in order.  Above, the last complete Four Musketeer gathering, late 2005. 

Gizmo (in blue) was pregnant with her last child and so she did her good Mama duties and rode the cement bench while her favorite roller coaster, Space Mountain, whispered fervently in her ear.  And she told the Four Musketeers to live, love, and enjoy that dark, star lit, whirl air whipping past their faces ride.

However, the Four Musketeer never disappoint each other and they went on as many rides as they could, both big and small.  Woodstock & Fishey smile for Snoopy's camera on Heimlich's Chew Chew Train and Gizmo was smiling too because the wee ride in the bugs' big world was one she could climb aboard for.

Gizmo couldn't be too sad though.  With every step down Main Street, through the happiest place on Earth, she remembered so many other fun filled trips to Disneyland when she could ride those roller coasters....like Splash Mountain with Snoopy braving the front of the log with her.  This is the only time Gizmo has ever ridden in the front seat of the Splash's wild log ride.

And of course, there are more letter group moments of the younger years to enjoy.  The letters "I" & "L" have been brought to you by the year 2004.

Its a bit comical that Fishey & Snoopy are on the bottom here, since they are the ones who would usually climb a letter & get their goofy on for a great shot.  But, its the letter L's turn and the Four Musketeers are, as always, Four.

Each Four Musketeer gathering has an abundance of hugs, smiles, laughter, and of course, some sushi.  The girls, technically women...but, on a Friday night, just hours after gathering, with sushi and maybe a cocktail in their bellies, they feel like girls again, chatting and giggling, maybe even laughing until their eyes tear and sides hurt....began as teenage friends who met in a local elementary school library for a Girl Scout meeting, have grown, and weaved lives with many & mighty stories to tell. 

Wonder what threads Snoopy, Woodstock, Gizmo, & Fisheys' looms will weave in the years to come?  More children?  Career highs?  Home successes?  Creative journeys?  Grandchildren?  Gray hair ladies shuffling around Disneyland, living with the joy they have brought each other throughout their years? 

Maybe.  Probably.  Thankfully.

Get Your Paint On!

Get your paint on, get your paint on, yea, yea.  Show 'em how you do it now. 

As I was uploading the pics of the kidlets' art, I couldn't get Peaches and Herb's discolicious "Shake Your Groove Thing" out of my head and since its still playing itself over and over and over (so much so that I just had to pull up the whole thing, so that the kidlets could get their groove thing on while I put the pics of them getting their paint on onto the computer!), it just had to work its way into this post! :>

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In our backyard, the kidlets went from loud play, to very quiet - a few whispers could be made out, to a space full of giggles.  And that would be my cue to check up on them.  Yup, yup, they were getting their creative on.....they were full of excitement as they were painting...on the picnic table...with mud. 

Before I needed to pull the hose out, I offered them up a more colorful, but just as creative option that I knew they would jump at.  I offered up my dozens of craft acrylic paints and yes, they were thrilled!  My wee girl asks me to paint almost every day...water colors or acrylics, just give that girl a brush, paint & paper and she's a very happy camper.

My boy slathered on the orange, used two whole pours onto the paper plate, palette and then moved on to the other colors he had chosen. 

Turns out he was creating a space ship....see the windows?  The red on the left would be the thrusters and on the bottom is either more thrusters or landing gear.....he had quite an elaborate story to share and I might be missing a detail or two.  I do remember that the green on the top is a video camera though and I have no doubt that his elaborate story was being played out on the big screen in his head.  Now, that's a movie I'd pay to see!

Wee girl had many colors dancing on her canvas right away, but after her big brother's announcement that he was painting a ship, suddenly she was too.  She even made windows for her main ship, "just like brother".  Apparently, they are all ships, except the brown spot on the right side.  She tells me that's a rock. 

Whatever it all may be, I love watching both of them paint.  He focuses so closely, literally, that his nose almost ends up a tool as he leans in close to put down color, just as he wants it.  And as she concentrates, the sweet little tip of her tongue slips out and tells me how totally involved she is in her process.

My favorite moment of this particular kidlet creative session was my son's exclamation to his sister, "Man, we're really artists!"

Mama's side note:  Yes, you both are.  Live with your hearts, live with color, live with play, live with expression, and may you love it.

I hope you all can find time to live with a little creative fun too!  While they were painting, I painted right along side of them and added more paint to the canvas I'm working on.  What creativity is playing in your life right now?

Here's where I'm going to click my way to some inspiration: