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Customized Sketchbooks | DIY idea

September 18, 2012 By Laura 15 Comments

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The kids and I are well into a new school year here, and things are going really well so far.  Our oldest is a high school sophmore now, and the 3 youngest (triplets) are fifth graders.  So naturally, each year has gotten more academically involved, deeper and serious for all of us;  myself as the teacher, and they as students.  But I can freely admit that I am learning almost as much as they are, and enjoying my re-education as we progress with each year.  I love finding new ways to keep their homeschooling experiences fun.

One new idea I came up with this year, actually came about as I was brainstorming a gift idea for a special-little someone-else in my life.  While that gift is more elaborate and expensive, and personalized from me, it occurred to me that it might be fun to incorporate the general idea into our schooling, on a more budget level, for my own kids. So I mentioned the idea to them, of keeping their own sketch books throughout the year, and was not prepared for their level of excitement about it! I also wanted them to customize their very own a little bit, so they treasured them more.

The intentions for these sketch books are for the kids to just use freely whenever they want to, to practice drawing, write a little poetry, journal some thoughts, or even just doodle as they feel like it. But I did let them know I may ask them to use their sketch pads to express their thoughts or feelings in any way they’d like, following field trips or other home schooling or life events worth noting, in an artistic way. These pads are for dry medium only, but naturally you can adapt the general idea to any kind of pad, as well as customize the cover using any material you’d like. But today, I’m just sharing with you what we did.

Here’s the basic supplies we worked with:

  • customized-sketchbooks-idea-1 Inexpensive spiral bound sketching pads
  • Modge Podge
  • Foam brushes
  • Scissors or an X-Acto type blade

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And, 12″ x 12″ patterned scrap booking paper.  These are the sheets my kiddos picked out for themselves.

Now things are about to get ever-so-slightly-messy. Especially with kids. So I thought I would tell you my cheap little trick I use for protecting the table for all of our craft happenings . . . . . .

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TIP: Plastic party table covers, from the Dollar Store!  One usually lasts us for many, many projects. When we are done working, we make sure any paint or glue on it is dry, and then we just roll it up in a ball and put it away for next time.  (You could fold it, if you really need to. I know some people are like that. Hey, I have my own weird issues, but they are different. I’m not judging! lol)

customized-sketchbooks-idea-2 So the first step is putting a quick layer of Modge Podge on the back of the patterned paper.

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You don’t want to put any excessive amount on, or go over and over it, or the paper will get kind of soggy, and buckle.
But you do want to go right to the edge of the paper.

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Then also put a layer all over the cover of the sketchbook.

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Then carefully place your Modge Podge’d paper, onto your Modge Podge’d sketch pad cover.

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You can line up your paper evenly, by using the spiral bind as a guide.
Be sure to smooth out any air bubbles in the paper.

Now, the paper was not cut to size on purpose. You could figure out and prepare the exact size paper you needed ahead of time. But it just seemed easier to me to just put it on their, and then either trim off the excess, or just fold it over into the inside of the cover.

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These particular sketch pads were conveniently 12 ” tall, but only 9″ wide, so we had 3 extra inches to fold in.  The putting Modge Podge on both surfaces is just a preference, and may not be necessarry.  I just know with my kids, these sketch books were going places, and going to take a traveling beating. So, I figured the more secure the paper was adhered, the better.

customized-sketchbooks-idea-8 Granted, not all of them came out with the paper put on perfectly straight anyway, because they are kids, and doing the best they can. And perhaps not as particular and picky as I am! (Which really, has got to be a nice feeling, sometimes!) They just had fun making them, and were really excited about the whole project. Which is really the best part:  Kids being proud of what they made, and caring for those things that much more, because it is their own creation, from start to finish.

customized-sketchbooks-idea-9 I’ll tell you, it’s been weeks now, and these sketch books have proven to be a really great idea for my kids. They have really used them, on their very own whims. Regularly! Every day. It’s a beautiful thing to catch your kids sketching this or that.  Sometimes really working on a particular one over time, trying to make it come out just right. This is how all of my illustration skills were born!

As you can see, we further personalized their sketch pads, with their initials. Those were all cut in vinyl for them, but they each specified the exact initials they wanted, colors, design and arrangement. I think they all came out so great!  And each cover really does well express their individual styles and personalities.

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 I hope this idea inspires you in some way. I know that for me personally, any notebook or sketch book full of blank or lined paper, gives me the butterflies.  IS there anyone else out there, who understands what I mean? The opportunity for expression just laying before those two covers, is exciting!  So consider making yourself a special one of your own, and just let whatever wants to come out of your head to your hand, come out. See what happens inside! You may be surprised, and you may just enjoy every minute of it. Everybody should just take time to chill and doodle, sometimes.

Thanks for coming over. Please share this idea if you are so inclined.

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Filed Under: Budget, Crafts & Creations, DIY (Do-It-Yourself) Project, Homeschooling, Kids Arts and Crafts Tagged With: Catholic-families-Catholic-blogs, customized-sketchbooks, doodling, encouraging-imagination, homeschooling, illustrating, journaling, journals, sketchbook-ideas-for-kids, sketchbooks, triplets

Part II: A Day of Celebration Fun! | Our Triplets’ 10th Birthday

September 10, 2012 By Laura 1 Comment

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 I told you Part II was coming!  There could be a Part III but, I can let it go. It was a big day though, and I took a lot of photos of so many special moments. (If you missed it, you can find Part I here.) But listen, here’s the truth of it all:  You know I (we) love to share with you our crafting ideas, house projects, decor, recipes, and all of that. But our kids . . . . . . They are our greatest creation of all! Well, God’s creation, of course, of ours. They are the reason we celebrate, every day. And they really love to see and read the posts on our blog!  Especially the ones about them. It’s their childhood memories recorded, for them to hold onto. So if you want to skip it, we won’t hold it against you.  : )

So, after their big water balloon fight at the park, we came straight to the beach for just a couple of hours, before dinner and their birthday surprise.  Of course they had already been in the sun for some time, so birthdays or not, it was time for sunscreen! Confession time:  Over the past 15 years of raising my 4 kids, I have realized there are only 2 ‘mom jobs’ I have really hated:  1) When they were very little, putting on and tying all of their shoes! Uuu-Gh. 2) And the other is putting sunscreen on them.  (OH!  And the wiping in the bathroom while potty training too! But gosh, that one’s a given. Isn’t it?)  Sometimes, Michael and I can still hear in our heads, the little voices yelling from the bathroom, “I’M DONE!!”

What you should know about me is, when I really hate doing something, I’m going to find a way out of it! So all of the shoes and boots thing got to a point with the triplets where I just announced one day “OK! That’s it. Today, we are going to spend the whole day just learning how to put on and tie your very own shoes, all by yourself! Isn’t that exciting, Guys? I don’t really care if you are only 9 months old.”  (Kidding.)

For the sunscreen applying, here’s my trick.  First I just spray them, and then I line them up like a train . . . . . .

sunscreen-tip-for-moms-of-many-kids Am I a mean Mama, or what? Turns out, they don’t like putting sunscreen on any more than I do! Imagine that. They just had no idea the fun they were missing out on. For the rest of their bodies, I spray it where it needs to go, and the rub it in themselves. But for their backs, they need each other.  What do you think of that?

Personally, I think I’m a genius.

Something had to be done. We practically live on the beach.

triplets-10th-birthday-beach The ocean is like our backyard.

triplets-10th-birthday-beach-1 They are all serious water babies.  Probably most of all Olivia, who is difficult to get out of the water. She even asks to take a shower at really odd times; and I know she just wants/needs to get into the water.

triplets-10th-birthday-beach-2 Probably least of all, is Shane. The boy cannot take the cold water! Look at him!  Its like . . . . . . excruciating for him! They were trying to all put their feet up together and next to each other, but he just couldn’t stand it any longer, and bailed.

triplets-10th-birthday-beach-3 But Olivia and JackMichael managed.  And that got me pondering one of those little weird life questions . . . . . .

triplets-10th-birthday-beach-4 How can the bottom of 2 little people’s feet, be such different colors?  They are siblings. ‘Super-twins’, even.  I do know that JM’s feet sweat and stink more.  Maybe that is some kind of clue to this mystery. But I’m not sure what to do with it, to figure this out.

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Oh; this one.  I’ve got to catch you all up on her. She’s got a lot of exciting things happening in her life. Especially for a just-turned-15 year old.  And I’ll tell you what else:  I think I’ve been warned 1,000 times over in life, about what a nightmare being a parent of a teen is. I’m here to say, if this is as bad as it gets with any of our kids, we’ll be getting off easy! I’m thanking God she’s our ‘trail-blazer’. (That’s what I call her. ; )  That’s my little hot reminder to her, that she is setting an example, every day! Hoping the littles are taking notes!

Not to say she is perfect, by any means . . . . . .

triplets-10th-birthday-beach-5 ( Taunting her sister with seaweed. )

triplets-10th-birthday-beach-6 Remember doing this as a kid? There’s a sure way to get sand in your shorts.

triplets-10th-birthday-beach-7 Sometimes, I love to just watch them.

triplets-10th-birthday-beach-8 Olivia senses the Mamapaparrazzi is watching.

I’ve got to tell you:  My most favorite photo of the day, I can’t even show you! It’s almost killing me, too. But my boy asked me not to please blog it or put on Facebook.  (Actually, he said, “You better not!”) And, I would never go ahead and do it anyway. I try very hard not to embarrass my kids, or ever disrespect their privacy, online.  When I think of it, I’m pretty happy my mother wasn’t blogging and all over the internet while she was raising . . . you know . . . . Cain. (Or is it…me, who was raising cane? Well, whatever.) But back to the photo of my boy – I’ll just tell you that it involved losing his bathing suit shorts a bit, on his backside.  Oh my goodness. It’s just the sweetest shot. When they were little toddlers, and losing their diaper a bit, I thought it was so cute! I would have thought that my gushing over it would go away as they got older but….nope!  Still wicked cute. (Ask me again when they are teens. I promise you; There will be no “lookin’ like a fool with their pants on the ground”. ; )  Not cute, and not happening, when they are older.

triplets-10th-birthday-beach-9 Anyway. This day was going by too fast. It was time to get home and take showers, before heading to dinner and their big surprise, which would be Part III. But as of this posting, those photos aren’t even processed yet.  So in case I never get to it, after dinner we went to our favorite park, and gave them their gift: Razor Scooters in their own colors, and gear. (Helmets, pads, etc.) Boy were they happy! It was awesome to see them so excited, hop right on them and go racing off and racing each other, around the park.

I know most of you have your own joys and blessings, in the way of children, as well. And for those we know, we love to watch your children grow up, in various ways as we can too.  It’s nice to share the special (or difficult) moments of this parenting gig, with each other. Kids. They don’t always make life easy. But gosh, they sure do make life worth it!  God is so good, and we are so thankful to Him, for blessing us as He has.

Thanks for stopping by. And please say hi. Hope you didn’t get any sand in your shorts while you were here. : )

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Filed Under: Celebrations, Parenting, Photography, The Big Picture Tagged With: Catholic-blogs, Catholic-families, family-celebrations, kids-beach-fun, multiple-kids-sunscreen-trick, triplet-birthdays, triplets

A Day of Celebration Fun! | Our Triplets 10th Birthday: Part I

September 3, 2012 By Laura 3 Comments

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We have yet another furniture refinish coming up, as well as more fun & easy crafty ideas to share with you all! However, for the sake of those who also like to follow our family’s more personal antics, for this post and a Part II coming up, we are giving a peek via (many) photos into the day of our triplet’s 10th birthday.  It was a day jam packed with fun for sure, from morning until bedtime!  As the Mama of these 3 babes, I just wanted to really enjoy watching them have fun all day, and casually get a lot of photos of them being 10!  Here just some of them from the first part of their day. We hope you enjoy them, if only to realize what a crazy family we are. : )

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Michael, their Daddy, needed to run out in the morning for a bit.  He was sure he would not be home when they got up in the morning, so he left them a note.  (He’s a clever one, with a pen, too.)  This got the morning giggles on a roll, and the day’s chaos into 2nd gear, anyway.

triplets-10th-birthday He was home before we knew it, and the birthday trio were able to have their traditional birthday number pancakes.

triplets-10th-birthday-1 Speaking of 10, I think that’s about how many they each usually eat.  I don’t know where it goes.

004_water-balloons We decided a great water balloon fight was in order!  So we filled 180 balloons, tied them off, and collected them all in a big plastic bin.

As excited as they all were, we suddenly had a whole knew idea for the water balloons:

We wondered which would be more fun:  Having the water balloon fight that we planned?…..

or……..

005_hedgehog Putting our hedgehog, Pixel, in the bin their on top of all of the water balloons, and watch her freak out as every move she made popped another balloon, with her razor sharp quills!  We got laughing pretty hysterically, just imagining the sight of witnessing that. But, we decided that was probably too mean to do to our beloved little pet, and stuck with our original idea.

Our yard is simply not the best area for a balloon fight of this manner, in terms of open wide space. So we hit the great grassy green park, just down the street.  Had the whole place to ourselves too!

LET THE WATER BALLOON FIGHT BEGIN!

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010_ Alexis hit her target, alright!

011_ But pay-back, was IMMEDIATE!

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Run, O!!

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JackMichael tried to re-arm himself quickly, without getting hit. But he wasn’t quite fast enough.

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This last photo cracks me up, when I look at Shane, on the far right. He often gets laughing so hysterically, he becomes unable to fully function.  I am just like he is. I’ve almost drowned more than once, laughing too hard out in deep water. I just sink! Seeing my kids laugh makes my heart so happy. (As long as their not in deep water, of course.)

There was a lot more fun on the agenda this day, including the trio’s big surprise!  We hope you enjoyed this post, and look forward to coming back again for Part II!

Have you or your kids had a good water balloon fight this summer?  What are your favorite childhood memory activities? Share with us your stories. We’d love to read about them!



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Filed Under: Celebrations, Photography, The Big Picture, Traditions Tagged With: Catholic-blogs, Catholic-families, family-celebrations, triplet-birthdays, triplets, triplets-10th-birthday, water-balloon-fights

Blessed, Blessed, Blessed | Our Triplets Turn 10!

August 30, 2012 By Laura 4 Comments

Today, on this last day of August, we happily celebrate our triplets’ 10th birthdays.

triplets-10-2012 JackMichael, Olivia Faith & Shane Jacob.

Ten years ago today, they doubled the size of our family, multiplied the love in our hearts, and became three of the greatest blessings we have ever known.

Filed Under: Celebrations, The Big Picture Tagged With: 10-year-old-triplets, blessings, Catholic-blogs, Catholic-families, celebrations, multiple-births, multiples, multiples-birthdays, triplets

3 Little Garden Chairs | Refinishing

July 2, 2012 By Laura 9 Comments

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There’s been these 3 little chairs, sitting in our basement for years now.  One of my husband Michael’s clients offered them to him, knowing we had triplets, and thinking maybe we could use them.  They are about toddler size. So he brought them home, and they’ve been in the basement ever since. I’ve never been a primary-colors kind of girl.  I thought maybe I would repaint them or do something with them at some point, for the kids, or maybe as available props for my photography studio.   But, I was just never inspired to ‘have-at’ them.

Until of course, I was.

001 I know these are ugly. Please don’t leave! I promise you, it gets much better! We were hauling out all kinds of things out of our basement that needed to GO, for our yard sale. Michael put these chairs out there, and when I saw them I said, “Hey! We’re not selling these! I could make them into cute little garden chairs!”  Well then….there was my inspiration.  The idea hit me for the first time, and flew out of my mouth. (As most thoughts do, if you must know. But I’m getting better.)  As so as it was, I was finally inspired to do something with these 3 little chairs.

The challenge was the primary colors of paint that was already on them.  Yes, I was going to paint them anyway, but I was NOT going to NOT distress them. And I sure as heck was NOT going to strip them.  They didn’t mean enough to me, to work that hard.  I mean, I love to paint, and to sand, and even to wax.  But stripping off paint? Not so much. So the primary colors underneath were staying, and I was starting to imagine, they were going to look pretty cool when I was done!

I’ll say right here, that I didn’t take photos of every step of the process.  But I think you all know what painting and sanding looks like. I DID take a whole bunch of photos of the chairs all done though! Lots. Those are the more fun photos you all like to see most, right. Because there was no special complicated process. I will tell you just how I did it right now, which was easy as 1-2-3, and then you can see so many photos I had so much fun taking as well, simply to show you.

Since I had 3 chairs, I thought it would be perfect to use the cans of the 3 colors of Annie Sloan chalk paints that I still had: Provence, Versailles, and Paris Grey. So, 1) I painted each one those colors.  It was actually very scattered painting sessions over a period of a few weeks, and my girls helped some too when they wanted to.  2) Then I distressed them to my liking. (That means, a lot of sanding. ; )

002_annie-sloan-waxes 3) Lastly, I waxed them with my Annie Sloan waxes.  It was especially important for them to be waxed, because I knew they were going to be left outside in all kinds of weather. So they needed some kind of protection, to preserve all of my efforts, of making them into cute little garden chairs around our homestead.  I did wax each chair one at a time, from start to finish.  First I did the clear wax all over a chair, let it set up a bit, but before it was completely dry, I worked in some dark wax where I wanted it, to give them a more antiqued, aged look. It kind of has to be done that way, because the dark wax is potent stuff. It only takes a little bit, and if the clear wax is too dried, it is hard to rub off – or even rub around, the dark wax. So that is always the little bit tricky part, as well as wicked messy and sticky and stinky. But I’ll tell you what, this point in my project process really proved even to me, how much I love furniture refinishing! Because it was also sunny and hot this day.  But I was out on our deck working away in the sun, sweating my a*# off (but wouldn’t you know it, it’s still all there!), but singing and rocking out to the music, with that nasty sock on my busy hands, and having a ball!

Or I might of been high on wax fumes. Hard to say. But it was fun! That much I’m sure of.

Not much chatting left. Just a ton of photos, and some tidbits I think you might like to know.

003_chair-antiqued-with-dark-wax Here you can see a couple of things, that really make these chairs beautiful to me. Knowing the primary colors underneath were going to show, I was careful in deciding which paint color was going on which chair. So here is the (Annie Sloan) Provence, on the dark blue.  You can also best see in this photo, the dark wax work, that helps make the chair look more aged.

 And a bunch of photos, where I have this one right now . . . . . .

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009_repainted-furniture Do you love it? I do!! I love the color, and I love where it is, with the daisies and the white picket fence there.  What I don’t love, is our yard. You may have noticed the lack of real grass. We pretty much just have crabgrass, and fine sand. I don’t much like the cement steps either. But, we have decided to hold off a bit and not invest in our grounds anymore, until we make some other pretty big decisions.  So, we make due, with making ugly . . . pretty, best we can for now.

Next up, is the one that was yellow chair, which I painted Versailles.  It’s out front with the garden beds, next to the covered bench and potting bench . . . . . .

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Again, you can really see the paint underneath, where I excessively sanded, just the right amount. : )  You can also see the dark wax work, which only adds some character to it, to me. And do you see where the paint dripped? Some may think that is some imperfection. But I see it, and it makes me smile and feel happy. Because it reminds me of the memory, that my little girl was helping me paint this chair.

 And lastly, is the red chair, that I painted Paris Grey! I really wasn’t sure where I was going to put this one. So I just stuck it under the apple tree, and it seemed to look like it was at home there. Funny thing is . . . . . . it’s not at our home. (Yikes!)

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The apple tree is not actually ours, nor on our property of course. Just over the line, but we pretend it’s ours. The owner is not usually around at all, and Michael does manage the property. (My excuse to take such liberties.) But she’s coming tomorrow for a week, so we’ll see if I get my hand slapped, or she kicks it back to our side, along with the birdhouse. And if I get arrested or anything, I’ll surely let you know. Because we’ll need to collect some bail!  (You all would help me get out. Right?!  Say yes.)

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Care to sit for a spell, in the cool shade of the apple tree?

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See? I really go to town, with my sand paper!  This one even has a little broken piece. Again = love.

 I always say . . . . . . it’s the little things, that make me so happy.

016_three-little-garden-chairs Thanks for taking a stroll around my gardens with me. (We literally, walked around the garden beds.) I always love when you visit us here, so please come again. We invite you to join us on Facebook too.



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Filed Under: Furniture Refinishing, Furniture Refinishing, Gardening, Home Decor, Photography, Refinishing, The Homestead Tagged With: aging-furniture, annie-sloan-chalk-paints, annie-sloan-wax, cute-garden-decorations, distressing-wood-paint, garden photography, garden-decor, garden-decor-ideas, how-to-antique-furniture, little-garden-chairs, making-furniture-pieces-look-antique, painting furniture, photography, re-painting-furniture, refinishing-chairs, refinishing-furniture, still-life-photography, triplets, weather-proofing-furniture

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