Couldn't Resist Posting

This is a picture Jaden recently brought home from school. He said it was from kindergarten. Maybe it was something his last year teacher found and sent home with him. However it got it home now, I was tickled when I saw it. The translation for the words... "I want to go upnorth." It was nice to see his plans for the summer and that he loves upnorth-the place we go for a week each summer. The two main components of the picture (besides his family) are the cottage and the fire pit AND the wood wagon we use to get the firewood from the woodpile down the hill to the pit. How cute is this that he included this! The yellow light is coming from a big round sun that didn't scan. But I loved how the sun goes into the house and illuminates it as evidenced by the yellow in the windows! This picture provided a little light into who he is and what he loves. I love it.

Making Salsa

My wonderful gardnerer neighbor Bob, gave me a load of his beautiful tomatoes - all kinds and colors. To use these ripe little guys before the fruit flies overtook them, I made salsa. Here is the process...


First, the tomatoes - lemon boy, green, red plum and lovely orange. Fresh flat leaf parsley and a bit of fresh basil.




The tomatoes, cut up and oh so beautiful...















All the ingredients mixed in - including garlic, a bit of onion and a splash of fresh lime juice.

Delicious.

101 Posts and Latest Korean Drama I'm Watching

I now have 101 posts on this blog! Kind of a celebration, I think.

I am watching a Korean drama online (no more buying these expensive DVDs any longer!) now that I have found a site where I can see so many! This one has my favorite Korean actor/singer - Rain or Bi. He is so young in it. It is called, Let's go to school. I like that the episodes are broken down into 2 or 3 sections of about 20 minutes each. Just enough - during lunch break or for a short mid afternoon break!

Our Korean Daughters - All Grown Up

Here is a picture Kyung-Yeon sent from Korea. It shows our three lovely (and oh so missed) Korean daughters. Yoona, Kyung-Yeon and Eun Yeong!

Me and My Kids

Jim and the kids took me out for brunch downtown on Mother's Day. Here is a picture from that day. A nice one of me and the kidlets!

Our Ballerina

Happy Ballerina


















Silly Ballerina

Easter Blessings

We had a wonderful Easter yesterday. It was low key, as planned. The kids were up by 6:30, anxious to see if the Easter Bunny had come. He even put some eggs with candy in them upstairs and in the bathroom so of course the kids found them as soon as they were up. J peeked in the tub and found his Easter basket right off the bat.



C was so excited running around the house loudly yelling. We got it on video. It was fun watching the kids' excitement. Had dyed hard boiled eggs for a quick breakfast.

We went to church - a beautiful service with trombones and trumpets and great hymns. Beautiful flowers at the altar - I had donated in memory of my my parents - after the service the bouquets were broken apart and we all could take some of the flowers home - our kitchen table has a vase of pussy willow, tulips, Easter lilies and yellow forsythia. Gorgeous.



Since we were all dressed up so nice (C with an Easter bonnet and matching purse) we took a family picture in the yard. The sun was gorgeous with a cold nip in the air - not even 50 degrees.


We went to the park and played ball, frisbee and climbed on the playground equipment. It was fun and good exercise for us all! Afterwards at 2:00 we had our "brunch" of Jim's awesome french toast, bacon minus nitrites and a fresh fruit salad. J then said, "I want to go outside." So we played outside in the front yard (the kids pulled out all the outside toys, including the croquet set we got Jim for father's day last year) for the rest of the afternoon - about 2 hours. Warm in the sun and everyone was happy! (Surprising since they were up so early and C didn't have her regular nap.)

At about 7:00 we watched the new DVD J got from the Easter bunny - Bolt. It was really cute. About half way through C began to lose it... she was so tired. We had popcorn (dinner) and were lucky to finish the movie and drag the kids to bed exhausted.

It was a great family day - laid back and fun, just as I had imagined it would be. I am glad we had the day together, just us. It was really special.

Some pics from coloring easter eggs the day before... tie dyed!

Weekend Getaway

Spent a few days at a waterpark with our good friends. The kids all get along swimmingly (pardon the pun). Here they are mugging it up for the camera.

Trip to Phoenix

Returned last week from a few days in Phoenix for the IRA (International Reading Association) conference. I presented on one day about altered books. Jim came along with me. It was our first trip alone since before we had kids, 6 years ago. It was a nice stress-free trip to a warm (85 degrees) place. Here are a couple of pictures.

Clean Eating

Been eating clean since the beginning of January. Here are some photos of food that I have made for dinners since then. All are officially clean! I've not been hungry at all eating clean - We all are feeling and looking better from this new lifestyle change!
First up - Polenta with mushrooms, tomatoes and spinach, Baked zucchini strips with parmesan cheese and French Onion soup.

Yummy Pizza with tomatoes, spinach, broccoli, black olives on an organic wheat crust.

Baked tilapia on a spinach, strawberry, pine nut salad. Mini bow tie pasta with peas, carrots and corn and steamed broccoli.

Korean Lunar New Year

Our family, celebrating Korean Lunar New Year - January 2009

IVLA Upcoming

Getting ready for my presentation at the International Visual Literacy Association Conference in a few weeks. Spending time putting together my powerpoint with my students' and past students' altered books. Great motivation to keep creative myself everyday!


This is a page from my student Mark's altered book - he describes what many people need to get over when beginning to alter books - or even consider the notion. Love it.

Busy Busy Summer - Now School Begins

Hard to believe summer is already over and school has begun. Here are the kids - the boy's first day at five year old kindergarten. Excited, nervous, anxious. The little girl back to the daycare, preschool, new teacher. Excited, confident and happy.

Little Girl - Almost 3

In about a week our little girl turns 3. Both hard and easy to believe, all at once. She seems much older than 3 already. She thinks she is ready to get on the kindergarten bus with her brother in the fall - and I think she'd do pretty good academically. Thought this was a cute picture of her watching Dora the Explorer in her jammies. Such a beautiful little girl, isn't she?

New ATCs - "Time" Swap

I finished 9 ATCs for a swap. All are a bit different, only in the photo I've used. Otherwise, the techniques are the same. I began with a background of tissue paper with clocks on it. Patterned paper on the left, swiped with brown ink. The ornate embellished "arch" is from a brown frame I cut apart to make at least 9 parts. Vellum vintage photo. Embossed stamp with words. Lastly - the finishing touch - tiny watch parts.

First day of Spring - Weather Warning!

I love the weather alert I received today... especially the line that reads, "A winter storm warning is in effect - heavy snow (6 - 9 inches), sleet, freezing rain - to combine with strong winds ...to cause major impacts to society."

Funny - I think it the major impact it will have on society here in the Midwest will be squashing our morale and thoughts of the weather warming up and spring REALLY coming!

Baggie Swap ATCs from Others

The ATCs from the swap I was involved with have arrived. They really are cool. I love seeing what others have done with my "stuff." I especially love the "WILD" atc - very clever use of the stuff I sent. Cool to think that the leaves are from an old placemat I loved and the animal print wrapping paper came from Julie on a present. The "Tea" atc lower right is very similar to the one I created for this person. We both used the tea flower, words and heart clip similarly. We even used a similar color scheme. Very fun and a big thank you goes out to all the women who made these: Alison, Caroline in CA, Jenny in TX and Judy.

ATC Baggie Swap

Here are the ATCs I created for the baggie swap. Looking forward to getting the ATCs made with my own materials I sent. Will post those when they arrive.

One World One Heart Winners

We have two winners:
Rita and Geri
** Still waiting for Geri to contact me so I can send out the ATC! Congratulations

New ATCs

I enjoyed some stolen moments this evening and created some ATCs.
This ATC is titled, "On Strike."
My Bird Series (thinking of spring)

One World One Heart

I am a participant in the One World, One Heart Blog Giveaway. Thanks for visiting my blog. I am giving away an Asian ATC I created. There will be two lucky winners. Please leave a comment and I will pick two winners on February 14.


Please check out the rest of my work on my blog - just click on the header. I've recently made some new ATCs. Thanks for looking.

Baggie Swap

Joined an ATC yahoo group that does a lot of swaps. I just joined a "baggie swap" where you put four things in four baggies for someone else to use to create and ATC. Then you get four ATCs back, using the stuff you sent. Love it. Here are two of the baggies I am sending. Includes such things as: animal print wrapping paper, botanical print napkins, silver stars, fibers, netting "paper" small, flat rocks, feathers, fabric leaves cut from an old placement, etc. Looking forward to seeing what someone does with my "stuff." Had fun filling the bags. Looking forward to seeing what I get to create from someone else's stuff.

Art Doll

Feeling in a funk this morning and didn't want to do scholarly work. But my studio was calling and I thought I'd enter, guilt free. I pulled out the materials I've been saving for quite a while to begin an altered book on my literacy... something I've had students create in the past, but never did myself. Well, I have a start... I chose a book and began preparing it - taking out pages, gessoing pages.

I also made an art doll focused on my literacy - been wanting to do this for a long time. She is done. Isn't she great? I think I could get into making art dolls. She will go in my altered book.

{Snow Day - December 28, 2007}

Holiday Pictures

Here are some highlights of the holiday:

Christmas - The kids always pose with Grandma's Santa to see how much they have grown since the previous year. Both now tower over him!

Here is the delicious Christmas morning brunch we had. 2 different egg dishes (a la' Peg), Potato Parmesan Pave (a la' me), Salad, Coffee Cake. Beautiful plate.

We also had Eun Yeong spend Christmas Eve and Christmas with us. It was nice to have her. She now is in Korea spending the break with her family.

Studio Friday - 7 Random Facts about My Studio Habits

Stolen Moments Studio


1. Pieces of my creative past - This little guy is something I made in kindergarten that sat in my dad's office at work all his years. When he passed away a few years ago, this creation finally came back to me. I love that my dad kept this among his things at work.

2. I always have something piled on my studio table. Sometimes it is art related, often it is clean laundry that needs to be put away. Chester, my cat, climbs on my table every night in the middle of the night and purposely bats at things to try to wake me up. (My studio is in the corner of our bedroom.) It would be best to have it cleaned off all the time so he can't do this to me, but this is near impossible.

3. My Mom - I have a photo of my mom on my shelf above my table. She was the one who helped me to free my creative spirit. I miss her and love that she watches over me here.

4. I use materials from passed on loved ones in my artwork. Here is my Mom's button box that I remember fondly from when I was a child. The little box of "oddities" contain all kinds of things I didn't know where to put, so this box contains them. Many of the things inside come from my husband's grandma's craft stash that I happily helped to pilfer (er, I mean clean out).

5. This is my official sign that I made that hangs in my studio. It is not the most eye appealing to me and it took me many months to finally complete it. This will stay until I get a better idea.

6. I love to be organized - but things don't always work out that way. Here is a peek into one of my drawers, but also you will see the piles of stuff that lay on the floor that need a place to go. I would love to stay on top of putting things away instead of having this PILE that never seems to go away.

7. Random Studio Habit 7 - I so hate to admit it, but I am thoroughly challenged to find any moments lately to work creatively. This frustrates me so. Hopefully I can get back soon.

Kim Bap - Korean Sushi

Can you believe I helped to make this beautiful Kim Bap?? For the international potluck at the College, our current Korean daughter, Eun Yeong and her friend (Kyung Hee) and I made these to take along. I have to say that they were the best Kim Bap I have ever eaten.




Here is Eun Yeong (on the right) and Kyung Hee (she calls herself Willy) in their hanboks at the dinner. J and C wore their hanboks too.

Inspiration for Daily Living

Love this song and lyrics!

YouTube Video

We Live by Superchick

There's a cross on the side of the road
Where a mother lost a son
How could she know that the morning he left
Would be their last time she'd trade with him for a little more time
So she could say she loved him one more time
And hold him tight
But with life we never know
When we're coming up to the end of the road
So what do we do then
With tragedy around the bend?

Chorus:
We live we love
We forgive and never give up
Cuz the days we are given are gifts from above
Today we remember to live and to love
We live we love
We forgive and never give up
Cuz the days we are given are gifts from above
Today we remember to live and to love

There is a man who waits for the tests
To see if the cancer has spread yet
And now he asks, "So why did I wait to live till it was time to die?"
If I could have the time back how I'd live
Life is such a gift
So how does the story end?
Well this is your story and it all depends
So don't let it become true
Get out and do what we are meant to do

Chorus

Waking up to another dark morning
People are mourning
The weather in life outside is storming
But what would it take for the clouds to break
For us to realize each day is a gift somehow, someway
So get our heads up out of the darkness
And spark this new mindset and start to live life cuz it ain't gone yet
And tragedy is a reminder to take off the blinders
And wake up and live the life we're supposed to take up
Moving forward with all our heads up cuz life is worth living Chorus (to fade)

Baby Me

Was cleaning things out and found this baby picture of me... one of the only "baby" pictures I have. Thought I better scan it and keep a copy on my computer. And why not share it with the world too ! Aren't I cute?

Horsey Ride Dad

Picture taken late summer upnorth during our yearly week-long trip to relax and hang out. The kids loved making Daddy give them a "hersey ride, dadda"!

Update on kids

Two recent pictures of the kids. Both adorable. J and his friend S, both with their identical fish even though S's fish is like new, and J's fish is chewed on, dirty and well loved. The picture of C is her sitting on a chair in the garage, trying to escape our neighbor's new puppy Rudy who she is afraid of. She just doesn't know how cute she is - the little lady with her purse and hat.

First ATC and First Swap

I made my first ever artist trading cards! I saw a swap with an Asian theme and knew this was a great thing for me with my asian interest and my many asian related materials I collect. Here are the results. I made 11 cards that are almost identical - a few variations here and there. I'll send them out this next week and get new ones from other artists. I like the way these turned out.

• Background - asian themed napkin (bamboo)
• Origami paper (red and green)
• Mesh like "paper" from Loose Ends
• Leaves that fell from my neighbor's tree
• Off white Korean writing - from a tea bag - "Korean traditional tea"
• Seed beads

Finally Another Post

Finally stealing a moment to update my blog. Wish I spent more time on it, documenting the important moments. Maybe now that I have a new job and seemingly a bit more "free" time. Hard to believe a new full time job will allow me to have some me time, but that is exactly how it sounds it will be. Back to my artwork... need to get the inspiration flowing. This photo is our boy on our summer vacation in a park by a lake in a small town. Loved the tree, J loved the freedom of bike riding like a madman!

How He Has Grown

Awesome picture that Jim took of our boy! Four years old and getting so big - he is so adorable and is beginning to know it I think. Had to post this and brag of his cuteness.

Bathroom Vignette

This is a view of one of the walls in our tiny, tiny powder room right off the kitchen. All the pieces here have significance. Although the room is small, it is decked out in things that speak to me.

The paint color is "Stone" - I love the color and name. The shelf I painted myself years ago after we had the bathroom redone. I used green acrylic paint and wiped on some gold paint. To make a towel holder, I attached two hooks which you can't see well from this photo - but a gold beaded tassel hangs from one hook and the handtowel from the other.

The hanging clay piece of artwork has wheat sheaths embedded and pulled out to leave an impression. Jim and I bought this piece years ago at the Cedarburg Wine Harvest Festival - a yearly event for us. I love the naturalness of this piece. The topiary came from my brother in law many years ago at Christmas. He had it decorated in a holiday theme, but I dismantled it and attached many, many paper rose heads and leaves.

The wire basket includes a variety of pears made from natural items - not all of them identifiable to me. I think I bought them at Pier 1. The natural feel of this vignette in my bathroom is very calming to me. I'll have to post a picture of the leaf print/poster I made based on a project I saw in Martha Stewart Magazine years ago that hangs opposite of this vignette.

Paper Beads

It has been a long time since I posted anything here... but have been on a bit of a creative run. I tried out a "new" craft - paper beads. I read about them in Cloth, Paper, Scissors magazine I now get in addition to Somerset Studio, as well as saw a tutorial online at Go Make Something. Here is my first run - using a decorated paper of a neutral pattern and color. I added some glitter glue, stamp pad ink and some wire. I added a few extras as well.

Take a look at the bluish bead near the top center that is wrapped with turquoise wire. Do you see the blue bits of things that are embedded in the UTEE? These are fragments of a robin's egg that my kids and I found in our yard. I'll have to use this bead on a bird themed piece of my artwork.

Here is what the beads looked like before I used UTEE on them to make them "bead-like." Very easy to do this stage - and fun. I'm not as excited about adding the UTEE, because I was trying too hard to be perfect, and this medium does not allow it when you add many layers of the goopy stuff. Overall, a fun project and one I think I may use often to add a personal embellishment to my work.

Bi - Rain

My husband and I have been watching this fun Korean drama - Full House that I bought online. Of course it is English subtitled. The two main characters are so cute and funny - this is the male character Young-Jae. He is an actor and singer and famous in Korea and calls himself Bi or "Rain." Is it wrong for a 40 year old woman to think such a young guy as this is HOT!! I wonder if my Korean son will be as handsome as this young man.

Quote of the Day

Define yourself by who you are, not the roles you play.

Appropriate today - I need to focus on who I am, not the roles I play. I am a mom and a teacher, but who says I need to be a college professor anymore? Can't I just be a teacher in other ways and find satisfaction as well? Can't I teach altered books and feel the highs I teach when teaching teachers to be? I need to focus on this.

Spring Perspective Journal

I decided to finally do something with the children's book on "perspective" that I have had for a while. I love the size and square shape and the pictures are all about how you look at something. Why not use it as a journal for spring - it's short and with spring just peeking out, I have myself a new project! Something that will have an "end." So here is the front cover and the back cover.

I like the cover because it includes part of a discarded book jacket from a children's book, "Seeds and Leaves." It is from the book my Auntie Joan used when I taught her how to "do" altered books. She had me keep the jacket - as she quoted me, "Keep everything - you never know what you will use with your altered books." And I did - it was the perfect starting point for my journal. Also layered on is printed tissue paper and some "garden" ribbon from the $1.00 rack at Michaels. Rub ons used for the title.

The back cover includes some "scrap" paper I used for a scrapbook page ions ago and a great leaf cut from a magazine. I just don't use magazine pictures enough - there are some great things that can be had.

The inside of the book is altered as well, ready for my journaling - which I did start this week. Maybe will post some of those spreads when the writing is done.

My Gang - How I Love Them

These are the kidlets and Daddy. This picture taken as they were eating string cheese. What a cute bunch, hey?

The NO TRAINING WHEEL bike King!

Well, J has now conquered the "no training wheel" step in his life. One day last week he asked Daddy to take off his training wheels. Lo and behold, with just a few times up and down the street to catch him if he fell, off he went, all on his own. He has awesome balance. Just as these pictures show, he is proud as punch! The first picture shows him wearing bunny ears he made at school - as it was right before easter. He just turned 4 only a few weeks ago and LOOK AT OUR BIG BOY! Very exciting.

Spring Thinking

A fresh day, lots of rain and water in basement. But the buds are on the trees and daffidils are sprouting everywhere. Spring brings such a newness. This "mental health" day has turned out to be very cathartic for me.

A picture of the cool dude on his skateboard on his birthday. Will need to get a picture of him riding his bike without training wheels! That is his big accomplishment - just four years old and riding like a pro!

:: Quote::

Do not act as if you had a thousand years to live.
-Marcus Aurelius

eVer HAd a DAy LiKe tHiS?

Three More Books Read - Cards Finished

I've finished three more books and finally have gotten around to making the cards to document my reading. I definitely have not had time to be as fancy as my first few cards, however, I AM making the cards so that is good. I'm trying to make the fronts a bit more decorative and give a picture into the book themes a bit.

Princess June is an adult novel that I enjoyed quite a bit. I read this for the Korean book club and unfortunately not enough of us read it completely to have a good discussion. Kira Kira (Newbery Medal winner last year, I believe) I listened to on tape in my car over a period of two weeks. Really enjoy books on tape. Even if I only get to listen to a few minutes each time, I love to "live" the lives of the characters throughout my day.

The Best Bad Thing is a book by Yoshiko Uchida, one of the Asian American authors I am writing about for the encyclopedia entries I signed on to do - I really must get to the writing part! I've been enjoying her books, as I do of many of the Asian children's book writers.

Card Generator

Great new website that I can see myself using all the time. Love the look. Catalog Card Generator. This was our breakfast conversation. I wasn't awake enough for it, but think I answered his question pretty good. His response to my answer - "So I pushed out like poopy?" How do you answer that??

I feel the "need" to create - especially on weekends when I have a chance to breathe. Kids napping, sun shining, a day with nothing that really HAS to be done (except pay bills, do the dishes, do the laundry, walk the dog, begin my entries for the Asian encylopedia...) and I stole away for a while in the stolen moments studio - more like a couple of hours!

I made good on my new year's resolution to do more scrapbooking of our families memories - after a few minutes with altered booking :) I am proud to say that I made 3 new scrapbook pages - 2 of J and 1 of the family on father's day 2004 biking. Feels good. Off to do the things I don't HAVE to do, but really need to for the sake of a happy, healthy family.

Oh, and the "g" is my playing around with a photo program of a letter from a scrapbook paper that has the entire alphabet.

Orange Leaf

This is an orange leaf, nestled among the pine needles on the ground - upnorth, Wisconsin 2006.

*** Happy Valentine's Day ***

Happy Valentine's Day - Red Velvet Cupcakes. Why cupcakes? I ask myself that question too. There seems to be a cupcake craze lately, don't know why.