happily clicking away

I check out Shutter Sisters each morning for a little photographic inspiration. One photo is selected each day from their flikr pool to be the highlighted "daily click". Today it was one of mine with the above shot, titled Dusk. I can't tell you how fantastic it makes me feel to be recognized for this new love of mine, taking pictures! I've always loved photography, but am completely self-taught and wing it most of the time. In the past, most of my photos revolved around children, but I've been branching out to nature and stills. Whenever a great shot happens, I tend to think it's just luck. My confidence is growing, as more people are enjoying what my little camera and I are producing. Blogging has motivated me to use my camera every day... so many bloggable moments and I don't want to miss out on capturing things to share visually. My introduction to flikr (thanks to great friend, Pat!) has been the most exciting part of my new hobby. How fun to share how you see your world, with others...from all over the world. I had this huge and out-dated clunker of a digital camera up until two months ago...then I bought a new one (sony cyber-shot 7.2) with prize money from the Sew Green Contest, and it's become one of my best friends! Here are a few of my favorite shots in the last week:




I'd love to hear about your relationship with your camera and what role photography plays in your life.

unpacking our life

It's taken me all weekend to sort out how I want to approach the chronicling of this first phase of my mother moving into her barn. It was so easy when the barn was empty. We put a couple of chairs in and I shot some photos. Your response was tremendous...thank you! The past week has been daunting and exciting. Somehow, I hadn't anticipated the magnitude of what unpacking a life would entail. As a single parent and renter, my mother moved at least twenty times ( I was with her for fifteen of them). This is the first time, as an adult, she has had a place to truly call home. For years she has collected things she found interesting from flea markets, yard sales, and markets from all over the world. These, along with our humble family heirlooms, have been in storage for years. The barn is a home worthy of these treasures, and we feel giddy and weepy as each box is unpacked. I am excited to share the final design shots of the barn. I know it will be stunning, but I don't want to rush this lovely unfolding of my childhood and my mother's soul. Her hard earned dream is finally a reality and we are very blissed out. So here's my plan...no one wants to look at a room of scattered boxes, but I'd love to share the contents of them as we settle in. Let's zoom in together, starting with her hayloft art studio.

I can only imagine that these delicate floral paper cuts were decorative materials used for family scrapbooks long ago.
A Mexican paper mache doll that I remember from my grandmother's house, sits in a wire basket filled with multi-colored paper snack trays from Java.

My mother helped start a nursery school in Jakarta, Indonesia ten years ago. One day, she went to a local market looking for interesting paper for the children's collages. Paper ended up being an expensive and hard commodity to come by. She discovered these beautiful paper snack trays and cones that food vendors used for little bites to eat. My mother bought all that she could for the children, and some to take home for her own future projects.

This large primitive armoire was made by a 93 year old local woodworker from recycled barn wood and rusty pie safe cut-outs. It will house art supplies and tools. It's flanked by vintage wire store display racks. We're still deciding what they will hold.

I couldn't resist filling one up; it was calling out for my mother's antique rag balls. She popped in some of her dolls from around the world...one was hers from childhood...others joined the collection along the way.

My mom has a weakness for old drying racks. The vintage linens came out for this photo, but most likely the racks will dry prints in the future.


LOTS of vintage toys coming up soon!

cool jewels

My son had a fantastic idea for keeping cool on hot and muggy days...ICE NECKLACES! His little sister was ready instantly..."Can we make them now?" she begged. We filled an IKEA ice tray (you can find the trays here, also) with flower petals and herbs and gently covered it with water.

(Note: I recommend using all edible flowers and plants, so that you can say "yes" to any inevitable licking from younger children.)


Next we lay 30 inch lengths of string along three soon-to-be ice cubes...pushing the string in deeply and gently.

The hardest part was waiting for them to freeze ...overnight. When we pulled them out of their tray, they were even prettier than we had expected and sooo refreshing to wear.



Choose to wear them against bare skin...with lots of squealing, or over your shirt for a cool, steady soak.
On a hot day, they melt quickly...we loved watching the flowers emerge. These were so fun and easy, we'll definitely be be making ice necklaces again...they'd make great summer party favors or just a little surprise to bring out when a friend comes to play.



Note: Tuesday morn: Thanks Crafty Crow for sharing this with everyone!

lots to share

There are so many things I want to share with you...some deserve a whole post, but time is short these days, so here it goes:
I'm loving:
1. My mother's shed... the best darn garage sale I've ever been to! Yes...it's adjacent to her barn...more soon, thanks for your kind patience. All of the wonderful responses let me know how excited you are for me...2. Flowers everywhere...buckets, beds, vases, containers of all kinds!
3. Little red shoes! These have been, feet down, the best children's shoes we've ever experienced. see kai run is a small, family-owned children's shoe company based out of Washington. They have an amazing selection of unique styles for boy/girls/unisex and are as soft as butter. If you're in Ithaca...just stop by Mama Goose to check them out.


4.My mother's latest vintage puzzle piece collage...where will it go?

5.This stunning doorway in a nearby village...

6. Local artist,Fernando Llosa. I'm a long time admirer of his Stone Poems...he creates with raw materials found locally and used to live right next door to the barn. Amazing, isn't he?


7. Our baby cucumber plants...I can't wait!!

8. Nina Invorm...how didn't I know about her? Nina is a young Dutch student/designer/artist/creator of anything and everything..including an incredible blog...check out her flikr photostream, too...I can't get enough! If you don't recognize her name...I urge you to visit her..be prepared to get lost...

9. The chairs I've been looking for, found by the side of the road...yesterday...2 for $30!

10.Ice necklaces for a hot summer day! Tutorial coming soon...

berry bandwagon

Strawberry season finally came to the Northeast, and I feel compelled to jump on the berry bandwagon in the blogosphere with this post. We are fortunate to have a u-pick farm down the road from us...and are big on freezing, short cake, jam (when we're feeling ambitious), and ice cream. I've included our extremely simple recipe for homemade strawberry ice cream. If you don't have an ice cream maker, try this fun method with your children or a friend.
Strawberry Ice Cream
Ingredients:
-1 cup fresh strawberries
-1/2 cup sugar
-1 pint half and half
-2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
-1 teaspoon lemon juice
-a few grains of salt
Mash the berries and mix with sugar. Let stand at room temperature for an hour, then mix with remaining ingredients. Chill, crank according to your machine or method...eat!

Here are some shots from our first strawberry day. We tend to go multiple times during the season...

Driving down the road... corn is shin-highpassing a local dairy farm...
The berry farm's only rule is: you must eat as much as you pick!



Grandma came too...
This farm is also one of the places that we buy our eggs...since our own chickens flew the coop. They are such a beautiful color...different shades of pale blue... and the yolks taste richer than any other eggs I've ever tasted.I love June!

come on in...

I'd like to welcome you into my mother's barn and share some of its history and what makes it so special. My mother has never owned a home... until now. Two years ago, she bought this little barn (just over 1000 sq. feet) built in 1888 a couple miles away from me. It had been originally inhabited by farm animals on the main floor, and hay in the loft upstairs. There was no running water, heat, or electricity and it stood on 4 cement blocks instead of a solid foundation... birds swooped in and out of the broken windows...raccoons/squirrels/mice had been nesting in the walls for decades. The floor where the animals had stood in their feeding stall was completely rotted out, the hole, covered by an old door. Despite its age, everyone from structural inspectors to contracters, marveled at how solid and well-crafted it was. We were all excited by its potential. My mother, being the brave, daring pioneer that she is, knew this was home. Her vision was to convert the barn into a live/work art studio and make it as GREEN as her budget would allow... recycle, repurpose, reinvent was our guiding motto. All flooring is original wood planks, with the exception of the bathroom and a small area in the kitchen, covered in retro linseed-based linoleum. The top photo is a view of the main room from the front door. We had just brought in a few random chairs and stools from her metal chair collection. When the exterior wall was cut for French doors, we brought in the "cut-out" and used it as housing for the staircase (white-washed) and kept the floor beams overhead exposed. I will have many more photos to share as she moves in over the next few weeks. These are from our first day...this is the soundtrack my mother put on for our first few minutes:)

Here are the steps going to the upstairs art studio, formerly the hayloft...note the industrial influence with the corrugated metal and stainless steel fan from The Modern Fan Company.

Here's a portion of the almost empty studio...many new windows let in natural light, as well as the vintage shop lights...the huge maple tree outside makes you feel like you're in a tree house.

Old hot-water radiators are combined with a small and efficient European boiler, by Baxi.
Vintage cooler will make a great compost recptacle.
An antique porch glider will be brought inside to be used as a couch...

So until the next barn post...


...I'll be back soon with more fun summer activities to do with your children!

she's off to australia!

I just finished this elephant for "Softies for Mirabel", a charitable auction for an Australian organization. Mirabel supports the children of families affected by substance abuse, and to find out more about them go to www.mirabelfoundation.com. My elephant's name is Ella Bella, and I will be sending her off on an adventure to Australia. She will go directly to Meetmeatmikes and live in their window display with so many other wonderful softie creations, as they await to be bid upon at the end of July. Click here to see the increasing group of softies arriving in their flikr pool. Ella Bella is made of oatmeal colored linen with polka dot (Amy Butler) accents on her blanket, ears, and feet...and two little felted wool circles. She was the first sewing project in my new studio space. I haven't made an elephant in months and it felt great to make one for a worthy cause.

You were all so enthusiastic about my mom's barn in the last post...thank you! I love being able to share such a fun and exciting project...I promise not to disappoint. We stopped over yesterday with a couple of odds and ends (that she had stored in my garage this winter) and I'll try to post some initial interior shots...before we begin to unpack.