Week 51-Decor & Celebration

Watching our sweet little Em get excited about decorating the Christmas tree tugs at my heart-strings! Especially since this year we only used ornaments from mine and Coup's childhood--brought back lots of great memories!

Tradition: Help dad finish of the tree with the star topper! Pure essence of the Christmas Spirit! We loved sharing the Nativity story with out two-year old and having her get so excited about Christ's birth.

We also enjoyed sharing other Christmas traditions like 'Rudolf', 'Frosty the Snowman,' and 'The Grinch.' Em was excited to have the light-up candy cane re-appear to decorate her room. The candy cane and the Rudolf were both Couper's favorite Christmas decorations as a kid...and I think it's safe to say they are now hers as well! (side note: she now calls 'eye crusties' "Crusty the snowmans"... there was a little confusion on words at some point, haha!!)

We enjoyed other Christmas traditions with extended family throughout the month as well. Making and decorating sugar cookies with Gramma Nec was a hit!

Gramma Nec and Papa Gregg also treated us to a Utah Symphony family Christmas performance that included Santa helping conduct. Favorite conversation of the night: "Who's that?" -It's Santa, he's a nice guy that comes around at Christmas time. Want to sit on his lap and talk to him? (Wide eyed, serious response:) "NO! No lap. He a nice guy. Noo lap, no lap."

Most large, Kartchner holiday family gatherings include loud, all inclusive rounds of rock-band. Em is hooked. Clearly her favorites are singing and the drums.

We definitely filled our month with happy memories! Glad Em is so comfortable around family so she could fully enjoy it all!

angel fish

angel fish

Did you know the scientific name of an angel fish means "winged leaf?"

So, long ago, (2 or 3 years) on one of the trips I made to Arizona to visit my brother and his family when one of my nephews was born, I recieved inspiration. Whilst there he took me to IKEA (they LOVE that place). In one of the kitchen layouts there was an amazing, very modern and line oriented, abstract drawing/painting of a bull dog pieced together similar to what I display below. Of course, the lines were much more crisp, and only two colors were used. Ever since I saw that bull dog I knew I needed to create my own version of something that cool. (I can't find the picture I took of the bull dog!!)

So, it all started with thinking of WHAT I wanted to draw. Our bathroom is blue and brown, and kind of nautical themed. So I knew I wanted to do some kind of sea creature. I changed my mind quite a few times...a sailboat, a dolphin, a sea turtle....I settled on an angel fish.

Next, I whipped out an old sheet that we weren't using any more. I wanted to try something new, so I decided I was going to paint my angel fish on fabric. I then searched and searched google images for the perfect angel fish to have as a reference.

After I had found my fish, I sat, and pondered. (This project took a LONG time, mostly because I sat and pondered a lot.) I imagined in my head all of the many ways I could cut up my angel fish to fit into frames. While pondering and imagining, I took several trips to D.I. trying to find my ideal frames. Finally, one day, I found them all in one stop. (The only cost of this whole project was the cost of the frames, which I think came to a whopping $5 or 6).

I took the frames home, made all of the appropriate measurments, then drew the shapes and sizes of the frames in the positions that I wanted, onto my fabric. Then, the drawing of the fish began. And more pondering. I didn't know if this was really going to work. I didn't know if I wanted simple and exact lines like the bull dog, or to just go with it...Mostly I had to keep the "just go with it" attitude throughout the whole project.

With drawing complete, the painting could begin. The painting of the fish, and the picture frames I found at D.I. Then of course, the process of carefully cutting apart my drawing...that was one of the most difficult parts. Not because I don't know how to use scissors, but because most people don't work on a drawing for weeks just to cut it up...

The finished product:

Super funky and abstract. Most days I'm still indifferent about it. However I'm grateful for something fun to be on that big, bare, white wall. Probably not (hopefully not) my best piece of work, but I tried something new, and "just went with it." I actually finished angel fish in August, but the "pondering" and "imagining" have been in the works for long before that!

What animal do you think would be cool in a similar design?

angel fish: all for lack of something better to blog about...or something at all. :)