Farm Girl Studio

This Moment...

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. 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. - Amanda Blake Soule

 

Making Valentine's

  I got inspired from this blog to print on our Valentine's envelopes. I purchased some sweet blank cards at our local Paper Source. So far we have painted the heart shape cards and last night we printed hearts using old paper towel rolls.

 

  We used Acrylic craft paint and spong brushes to apply the paint.

  Our envelopes...

 

  Our hearts painted...

 

  We will share with you some of our finished cards. The paper towel roll idea is so easy and lots of fun. Happy Heart Day to all of you!

Painting with Children and Keeping Your House Clean

 One of my favorite things to do with my son is to paint. As a former elementary art teacher, I found that parents are too scared to let their children paint. Fearing that the child will get paint all over the house, and it is too hard to clean up. This is so sad, that children today are not getting creative time. We have found some simple tips to help keep the mess under some control.

 

  We live in rentals due to my husband's job in the military. So the need to keep our house extra clean is very important since we do not own it. Our last house we painted on our sliding glass doors in our kitchen. I attatched paper with painters tape on the window. In the summer we paint in our undies and in the winter older clothes. I use Crayola Finger paints and I usually have not trouble with colors not coming out.

  In our current house I roll out a big roll of brown craft paper on our wood floors. Again I use painters tape and lay our our paints on paper plates.

 

 

 

  Tomorrow I will share with you our Valentine's Card Craft, very fun and super easy with supplies you should have in your kitchen!

Favorite Photos...

 

 I have been enjoying my project for 2012 a Picture a Day. I am finding that my favorite camera tool is Instagram on my I-Phone. I can also downlaod my photos on the Postal Pix application and get them printed in cute 4x4 or 5x5 prints. The grandparents are also loving all the fun prints that we are sending them!

 

 

 

 

It's All About ORGANIZATION!

 Becoming a momma and a wife almost three years ago, I struggled on my new role. Finding peace/harmony and calmness was key for me to succeed. I asked advice of other new Mom's and my Mother to find out where they had their success. The biggest suggestion was to find a routine,and and some order.

 One of the many of my issues was meal time. It seemed I never had what I needed to make our dinner. At that time the nearest grocery store was 15 minutes away,and we lived in Northern Michigan. Not a fun place to drive during the winter. Lake Effect snow can change at any moment!

 

  I also struggled with keeping our home clean and clutter free. Something that always bothered me. I hate clutter and chaos!

  The biggest issue I had was finding quiet time, finding time to create. My background is art, and I needed to make art. If I didn't make art, I wasn't happy.

 

  I realized that I needed to get myself ORGANIZED. I read many books, asked alot of questions and cried alot! Honestly, it wasn't until my son was about one year old that I finally felt like I was getting into the groove of my new role.

  Life can be funny, as soon as you think you have your whole life figured out, you get thrown a curve ball! My husband is in the military, and as everyone knows with being in the military we move alot.We found out we were being transfered from rural Northern Michigan to Washington D.C. Moving from a four bedroom house, 2 bath, and basement was going to be difficult. I tried to look at the situation as a good thing, or as an adventure. They key was to be ORGANIZED yet again. Purge, and keep the things that we truly needed and made us happy. My husband and I become de-clutters. We went through our book collection, sports equipment, extra furniture, my art supplies, old baby stuff, and etc. We had a huge moving sale and sold literally half of our home. At first it didn't feel good, it was scary, I also felt a sadness in my stomach because we owned so much stuff. Anyhow, we did it! Yes, finally it did feel good. I felt I could breathe easier. At our huge, super sale I found our customers excited about our things, and it was neat to see that they were going to be loved yet again and shared with someone else. It felt good! 

 

  There are many things that help me be a happy, healthy and organized Momma

but my most helpful to me are:

 

•         A housekeeping routine, you can get your pdf                    here through Beauty that Moves.

 

•        Organized Simplicity by Tsh Oxenreider

 

 

                     

 

•                    A Goddess Guidebook/Calendar

                                       Working on my 2012 Goddess Workbook

 

•                 the book, The Experts Guide to Life

                               at Home by Samantha Ettus

•  Creating Inspiration throughout my home  

                    our family fridge

 

                   Creating an Inspiration book- Things

                   that make you happy, things that you

                   would like to do, see, etc. Goddess

                   Leonie mentions this in her 2012

                   Guidebook and Calendar ( see above.)

                   

                  Inside my 2012 Inspiration book

 

•              Handmade Time by Kathy Stowell  

 

Photo Winner for Janaury 13

   Here is the photo that all of you suggested that I pick for Friday January 13th. What a sweet photo of my little man walking to the Puppet Co. in Glen Echo park, Maryland to see Peter and the Wolf. A very special day! Thanks for all of the suggestions via typepad and facebook! Warm hugs to all of you!

January 15

          January 15- Walk into the Woods

Embracing 2012

  I have been so excited about getting organized in 2012. Trying to get into a rhythm of a daily routine again after the holiday chaos.In the next few days I will share with you photos, schedules of my life,ideas, inspirations and how I try to find a little quiet Momma crafting time.

 

Here are some of my inpirations:

Elise Larsons inspiration book 

Heather's Housekeeping Routine

Kathy's vlog on her yearly routine

2012 Goddess Guidebook and Calendar 

 

Date Day

                 Georgetown Starbucks

 

                 Brooks Brothers

                

                 Oldest Building in DC, 1766

                 Date Day

 

                 Walk Downtown Georgetown

               

                 Downtown Georgetown

                  Downtown Georgetown

                 Gallery Window

                "               "

                      

                     Us

Help me pick out the Photo of the Day

   I didn't know how I would do with taking a picture everyday. I thought by now I would forget to bring my camera out. With having a 2 1/2 year old that is a non-sleeper it can be challenging just to put on matching shoes! 

               January 13- Happy Shoe Day

   My creative goddess is coming out! I am finding that I am having a hard time just putting the camera down. There are so many special moments, so many beautiful moments, and so many interesting things to see!

          
               January 13- Hidden Treasure at Glen Echo

  Please leave a comment, and next Tuesday I will pick out the winning photo, for the Photo of the day for January the 13th. Thanks for joining in the fun!

 

 

               January 13-Glen Echo Park

 

                January 13- Walking to the show

 

              January 13- Peter and the Wolf at Glen Echo

 

               January 13- At the Wild Tomato

 

                January 13- All Stitched Up