New Year = New Projects.

After a looooong absence from my blog - I am pleased to say "Happy New Year" - to any and all who still check in!!
Thanks so much for all of your attention and lovely comments and support this past year. Blogging still feels a bit foreign to me - but so much more comfortable than one year ago - thanks to everyone who have welcomed me.

We at Camp Graeff have had a fun, busy, exciting, family-full time over the Holidays. I feel truly blessed!
Yes, and totally exhausted - but very satisfied - and ready to begin the new adventures in 2009.

My little peach received a very sweet sewing machine (Hello Kitty by Jenome) for Christmas and a ton of scrap fabric from Santa's dress workshop. She and I have started a simple quilt for her to practice using the machine. I truly hope to spend more time creating with my children in 2009.

2008 was all about reviving my own creative juices - and now I am hoping to be more "effective" with my stuff - so I can spend more time not thinking about work - and more time with (read: truly engaged) with my little people.

So here are a few pictures showing the organizing of the patterns and marking the squares for the quilt.



I wish all of you a wonderful and "Project Filled" 2009!!!

I miss bloggin'.

I can't say enough how much I enjoy communicating via blogging. It is great - I love all of my "everyday" blogs that I visit. It has been so hard these past few weeks with the new job and the new house and the new schools -( can you believe the amount of paperwork that comes home every week - day? - Oh the school communications should be a whole discussion in itself. I write more checks (all be them small) to my children's schools than I write to my regular expenses!)
I have been completely swamped. So I thought I would put up a few photos of actual fun we have been having a Camp Graeff.

1st - F found a monarch butterfly caterpillar a couple of weeks ago. Into the terrarium he went - with milkweed (favorite food) and some water. He was crawling around for a couple of days - and then it seemed as if he was lost. The kids were quite upset - until we looked in the top of the terrarium (old fish tank) and saw a beautiful bright green chrysalis hanging from the smallest cord from the top. It was a miracle. The children then watched it's progress. 9 days later the skin of the chrysalis was very dark - then turned clear - so you could see the butterfly all tightly wrapped up. He came out of the sack yesterday and began filling his wings with fluid.

At this point we found out that He was a She (you can tell in the photo that her veining is quite large and there are no large black spots on the wings that males have.)

So even though I have been in my little world of "crazy" - the peeps are having fun; growing butterflies, hanging from vines, playing in the new hammock and witnessing rainbows.





It's all good.

Inspiration from Iittala

I was lucky enough to have gone on a trip to Helsinki a number of years ago for work (my previous life). These little glass dishes were for sale at the Iittala factory, where I went on a tour and even got to blow some glass. These were for sale in their 2nd hand area. I guess people put things on consignment that are no longer in production. In any case - I just fell in love with these little dishes. I use them as a sugar and creamer.



I also used the pattern as inspiration for the mural I painted on the wall of my little girl's room. She loves it and thanks me for her "garden" all of the time. I am working on some ideas for a new design for her in the new house. So, here are some photos - before the garden has to be painted over.

Treehouse Excursion.

Last Friday we took a really fun day trip to the Tyler Arboretum ( just outside Philadelphia). Now that the kids are a bit bigger we are trying to go on more fun excursions as a family. I saw something about the "Totally Terrific Treehouses" exhibition and it peaked my interest. We are in the conceptual phase of a design for a new treehouse at our new property - so I thought this would be fun to see what 17 artists and designers came up with.


I guess I was thinking more of the traditional type of structure- (imagine exploring in the leafy tops of the forest - little Swiss Family Robinson dwellings, etc, etc.). There were a couple of this type - and some others that were very different - but also cool. So here are some photos of a few ( and a some tree shots too). A really nice part of the trip was seeing so many different species of trees. They were really beautiful( and incredibly maintained) - and each had a tag with the name.


A very useful way to explore potential additions to the tree-scape of the new house as well. Really a fun day - and I recommend a couple of hours for young and old :) alike..

Puppy Cake and Coconut Milk.

Up early having tea on the porch with my sweetie. She really did all of the work; slicing, baking, preparing, pouring – it’s nice to be waited on!


So, I have been in a discussion with my children for the past week or so about coconut milk. They have the idea that it is some kind of treat – and have requesting (every five minutes) that I buy some for them to drink. I usually have some in the cupboard anyway – but just was out. It doesn’t taste like candy – I try to tell them – but to no avail. This morning, with my “tea” I opened up the can of C milk. (I figured tonight I would make some kind of Tai dish to use it up). I poured for a very excited little face. The drum roll, please – and a smile – but then, disappointment.

I think pride kept the liquid in her mouth for a full swallow– but no seconds for sure.

(Let’s have Nutella instead).

Lemonade.

When you have lemons.

I inevitably have problems with some of my prints. Especially when a block is new – the ink sometimes will not adhere properly – or a funny texture develops. I don’t have a heart to just throw them away – and in any case they make great coloring pages – as you can see here. I do need to add to the image selection or I might not have any takers next time!


Great work from the peanut gallery!

Home Sick.

I don’t know how your houses are this winter – but mine seems to be full of little sickies. Well, one little sick person in particular. My son has gotten every type of cough/cold – flu and earache for the last three weeks. So today, he is with me at home recovering again. I needed to make a few new prints of The House Next Door, so he decided to try his hand at creating his own print.

This is a really fun and easy activity to do with kids.

First he drew his idea onto the rubbery stamp material. It’s good to leave a bit of space between the elements so that the cutting tool has enough room to delineate each clearly. (please note PJ chic)


With smaller children ( and even big ones) it is important to show the proper way of holding the block while you cut– Behind your cutting hand. It is easy – even on these soft blocks to have the cutting tool get away from you and slip forward – this can make a nasty cut if your hand is in the way.



So here he is cutting out the negative space ( those areas which will not have ink).

Ok – all inked up (put on with rolling brayer for an even coating – nice and thick). I use an old picture glass from a frame that broke - watch the corners for sharp edges.



Try a test first to make sure that all of the areas look right – if not – then you can go in again to cut away more. I use water-based ink so cleaning up is really easy. The ink does stain clothes.


And here are the final prints – with some mixed media (crayon) embellishment. He is ready to open his own shop – what do you think?? They are titled "Rocket Off".