Painted Stones

A couple of months ago my Mom found an old book from when I was a kid called The Bear's Bazaar: A Story and Craft Book, by Michelle Cartlidge. It's about a family of bears who make a bunch of crafts to sell at school. I immediately remembered the detailed illustrations and all the craft ideas. I Googled it and I'm guessing my edition may be worth a pretty penny as I couldn't find one like mine! But I'll save it for Lucy to pass along :) A few weeks ago I saw a picture on my Instagram feed of some painted stones. One of the crafts in the book that I wanted to do first was to do this. And then I started thinking how very British this all seems...

Let me back up, for those who don't know, I'm actually British and moved to the US when I was five. This book from my childhood was written by a British author and the photo I had seen that further inspired my was by Xanthe Berkeley--a British photographer. Also saying "stone" instead of "rock" is pretty British, righty ho?

Here's the illustration from the book of the bears painting their stones:

And one I still have from my childhood:

So the craft itself is as easy as 1, 2, 3.

Clean the stones:

Paint the stones:

Embellish the stones:

This was a really fun and easy project and it was really nice to share an experience with Lucy that I associate with my own childhood.

xo Becky

P.S. Please click on over to read about a really important fundraiser for kids taking place this September. Be brave!

Our Week in Pictures

It finally feels like we are getting somewhat of a schedule going again with school in full-swing. I really can't believe this time next year I will have a Kindergartener!

Pretty soon she won't have training wheels, sniff.

On our walk back from the park I challenged Lucy to find everything yellow. It distracted her from complaining about how tired she was wonderfully!

And these are the bugs we spied.

Always play with your food. Always.

Boom boom, pow! New kicks from Target.

And here is Lucy as a teenager.

She's my sunshine.

And if you can, please considering making a small donation to my Flittering fundraising page. I'm raising money for Pediatric Awareness Month in honor of my friend's daughter, Jennifer. The facts about the lack of funding for helping our babies is heartbreaking. Consider even a $7 donation for the 7 families who will lose theirs today.

xo Becky

The August Break: Week 4 (Plus a special message)

I can't believe August is really over and we're headed into Fall. Jerks keep posting things on Facebook reminding us there's only 17 more Fridays until Christmas. Yipes! Here are my photos from the final week of The August Break.

Here's a sneak peek at a gift I made for my baby nephew, Logan. After several failed attempts I discovered a new technique for doing lettering by pinning down twine and then shellacking it into a semi-solid form. I think I'm onto something!

Ironically on "lines" day both Lucy and I ended up wearing stripes.

On "nature" day for some reason I really wanted to photograph a dandelion, but I couldn't find one and Lucy wasn't in the mood to go hunting. I settled for the sun setting over our front yard.

Look what I found on "soft" day!

Goooooooood morning. We were all out of real milk at work again and I just cannot bring myself to use the powdered creamer.

And the final day was "love." I love that they put up with me and all my photo shenanigans.

The photo prompt this week for my self portrait class was "my heart." Here she is with chocolate on her chin.

And I can't enter September without mentioning its significance and why so many more people need to know... September is Pediatric Cancer Awareness Month. I know it is an unbelievably sad topic, but that's nothing compared to the sadness experienced by the families touched by it.

The thing people need to know is that pediatric cancer is in desperate need of research funding. Like so many others I always turned away from what was too sad until I couldn't. It was no longer a St. Jude's ad I had no connection to. The flaming wrecking ball that is pediatric cancer hit the beautiful daughter of a former co-worker of mine. Jennifer was diagnosed on her 6th birthday and died just three and a half months later. What I dug out of the ashes was glitter. Facts that stuck to me in Jennifer's honor and because of my heart, my Lucy.

• Cancer is the #1 cause of death by disease for children in the US.
• Pharmaceutical Companies fund 60% of all adult cancer research, but less than 1% for childhood cancer BECAUSE IT'S NOT PROFITABLE.
• In the past 20 years, only two new cancer drugs have been specifically approved for pediatric use. By contrast, in one year (2012), a total of 23 drugs were approved for adults.
• The American Cancer Society only gives one cent of every dollar raised for pediatric cancer.
• Less than 4% of the NIH cancer research budget goes towards pediatric cancer.
• The average age for a child diagnosed with cancer is 6. For breast cancer, it’s 61, and for prostate cancer, it’s 63. Average number of years lost for the adults that die is 15 years… for the children that die, it’s 69 years.
• 46 children a day are diagnosed with pediatric cancer
• 7 children a day die from pediatric cancer

If you are still reading, if you haven't looked away because it is "too sad," please help. I'm not asking you to dump a bucket of glitter on your head. If you have the means, donate. Perhaps if more funding goes toward finding cures for the most difficult to treat cancers--pediatric cancers--perhaps all cancers might unravel.

Spread the glitter.

xo Becky

Much of the private funding comes from parents and family members grass root efforts

The August Break: Week 3 (plus more!)

I'm really loving the photo prompts for The August Break. I've also connected with some really talented photographers on Instagram the past few weeks. I think I've really been testing myself creatively through these prompts, and for that I think I'll have to send Susannah my own love letter. So let's start with the cute right off the bat.

As hard as she tried, this was the most impressive jump shot I could get. I need to teach her to kick her heels up, like in the old Toyota commercials.

This shot was fun. I wish those nail decals had lasted longer...

My phone is full of these amazing sunrise pictures from my morning walks (which lately have involved bursts of jogging and running up and down stairs).

Treasures: Rocks, shells and beads. I took this with the same method used to shoot my nail polish last week.

Can't resist those morning shadows.

It's fun to say "adornment."

She's building memories every day. I hope I'm making them colorful for her.

Appreciating the small details.

In other news Lulu started back at preschool this week!

As a special treat I did her nails with Jamberry Juniors. (I used the rice application method if anyone is interested, it worked really well!)

My bub has grown!

XO Becky

The August Break: Week 2

The week's first prompt was "handwriting." Lucy has been practicing her letters and is getting very close to writing them all correctly.

Daddy made a special dinner. I think it looks like a monkey.

I was really happy how this picture tuned out even though my neighbors think I'm crazy. I know glitter is hard to photograph, so I brought a desk outside and set this up where we get some really nice light as the the sun goes down.

I took this while on a walk during work, alone with my thoughts.

For "blue" day I went into the movie theater at work and let the details from The Wizard of Oz project onto me.

Looking down at my bub in the bath.

My bookshelf model.

This year I'm also taking part in 52 of You. Last week's theme was negative space. I love my new shoes from Target!!!

xo Becky

The August Break: Week 1

Here's my photos for the week!

What the August Break Means to Me

I first became aware of Susannah Conway through my friend Tracy. She thought I might really enjoy one of her photography e-courses. I did, and ended up taking almost all of her courses! “Taking her courses” isn’t even a really good way to describe it. It’s more like participating in one of her creative gatherings. Through them I was able to connect with a whole network of artists, writers and photographers online for which I am eternally grateful. The August Break 2013, Day 10: Red

A few years back Susannah wrote about The August Break which was simply a time for bloggers to take a time out from their schedules and have a collective reset. The following year when she wrote about it again she added the fun component of a photo-a-day challenge, a way to keep creativity going. I wasn't really a blogger, but I sure do love a photo-a-day challenge!

The August Break 2013, Day 17: Touch (photo taken by Lucy)

For me the August Break is a way to reawaken my creativity. I love waking up with a mission, especially a collective one. I love knowing that all these people are walking around trying to find the same thing, and yet at the end of the day we all end up with something unique.

The August Break 2013, Day 6: Diagonals (I miss those shoes!)

I hope some of you will join me and everyone else taking part! I hope you will also take some time to get to know the lovely Susannah. Her blog is a beautiful place. Here’s the list of daily prompts:

I'll be posting my pics here and on Instagram @beckycat1

XO BECKY

1.2.3.

1. Pick out awesome nail color and apply to nails.

I used Sinful's "24-7" because wearing fluorescent makes me feel like I have a secret super power.

2. Use those paper ring sticker things to cover the lower half of your nail.

I used Avery hole punch reinforcers and you can reuse them for other fun nail projects... or to reinforce holes in paper.

3. Apply an equally awesome top color, peel stickers and enjoy.

I used Sinful's "Dream On."

Office supplies and nail polish, a match made in heaven.

xo Becky

A Quick Upcycle Project

I was looking at Pinterest for ideas for a project for Lucy to make using some wrapping paper tubes that were lying around and taking up space. Instead I came across variations on this project, so it became MY art project! I'm not big into "trash into treasure" types of crafting, but I had all these materials on-hand and the project was super easy. The worst that could happen is I throw it in the recycle bin at the end of the day, so why not?

The materials I used:

• 2 wrapping paper tubes

• hot glue gun

• spray paint

First I pressed the tubes flat and cut them into varying sizes between 2 and 3 inches. Pressing them flat made cutting them easier and also formed them into these ellipse-shaped pieces.

I sorted them all out and arranged them by size to get an idea for how many I had in each variation.

I didn't premeditate a design, I just started with a symmetrical middle and built it out from there. I used a hot glue gun to attach each piece and secure all the touching edges. The paper tube was thick enough that I didn't burn my fingers and it as way more quick than using liquid glue.

After I had them all glued together I trimmed away any curly bits of paper and glue gun spider webs. Then I took it outside for a quick spray with silver paint.

In my head before I started making this I thought it was going to turn out HUGE. I should have saved up like 10 wrapping paper rolls for that. Good news is it was so light I could hang it up with a single thumbtack. I could also VERY easily keep making it bigger and bigger over time.

I put it in our bedroom between two large framed pieces of poster-sized paper to make up for the small scale.

Not bad for a brown paper roll!

xo Becky

P.S. This is my 100th post. Thanks to everyone who reads, comments and shares. This has been really great space for me to share creatively and connect with other people, so THANK YOU!!!

2014: Week 19

Well, last week was a bit of a haze. It still lingers this week as I try to wrap my brain around a new reality. While I wish it were easy for me to compartmentalize work and life, I'm hopelessly compassionate and can't NOT form an attachment to the people I spend 40+ hours a week with. Unfortunately we had a staff reduction this week and it hit HARD. I was just walking around looking at the already grey aisles of cubicles feeling beyond lonely. I know I should be happy that I made it through, but it's just so strange.

This goofy girl keeps me going.

P.S. I love you... And other reminders the keep on keeping on.

My fur baby, Normikins gives the fluffiest snuggles.

Can you see the bunny?

We've been playing "restaurant" lately, which consists of making a menu, then dressing up fancy and being waited upon. Here is a menu from "Watercolor Café."

We also went to the Los Altos Pet Parade! Here's all the dogs watching.

Pug life.

This lady and her dog (omg her glasses and the dogs eyes!)

I was too close to get a full shot, but this guy's dog had dreadlocks :)

Pop Pop and Lucy cleaning strawberries.

I made something for you... Stay tuned.

I scored some quartz at the art faire. Time to make some magic.

xo Becky

Hello!

I was doing so well after the New Year keeping up with my weekly posts! I got derailed suddenly then one week led to another and soon it felt like I had dug a hole too deep. A self-made roadblock. I also noticed I'm several posts away from my 100th post to this blog. That got scary, too. WHAT DO I WRITE ABOUT??? It's spring cleaning time and a few months back I bought the mother of all books, Martha Stewart's Homekeeping Handbook: The Essential Guide to Caring for Everything in Your Home. This thing weights 4 1/2 pounds. I looked up a standard Bible on Amazon—they weigh about a pound and a half on average. To say I broke out the "big guns" would be completely accurate. As I open this behemoth, I know it's time for an-around kick in the pants.

So, without further adieu, here a quick photo roundup covering these past few weeks. And you better believe there is some more Life as Martha in your future!

I've been continuing on with my 52 of You class, exploring 52 self-portrait projects over the course of one year. Our recent assignments:

Week 18: "Hands"

Week 17: "Motion" (taken with a self-timer, camera on the floor at work)

Week 16: "Big World, Little Me"

Week 15: "Black and White"

We went on some family adventures during Spring Break, like to the zoo:

Lucy is finally not afraid to ride the carousel anymore.

We went to Gilroy Gardens and enjoyed cool plants and kiddie rides.

Visiting a book store. Is there a word for the wonderful smell of books?

We have been singing and acting out Frozen constantly. I'm always Elsa.

We experimented with liquid watercolor, glue and salt.

And then I took about five thousand pictures of this girl:

Here she is sitting through a three and a half hour dinner with a bunch of adults. She was amazing!

Snuggle bunny.

It was early in the morning and she stopped me and said, "take a picture of me with the sun." I love how sleepy she looks.

And then this past weekend I got spoiled for Mother's Day, as one should.

Ok, now that we got that out of the way we can resume our normal schedule.

I'm also wanting to get back into more crafting posts. Let me know if you have any projects you'd love to see!

xo Becky

2014: Week 12

The work week went by in a blink last week. Luckily we had a really fun weekend to make up for it. Still life at Target.

Birdhouses reflected.

Best friends forever.

On Friday night we headed to Oakland for dinner with Dave's band On Telegraph and all the lady wives.

Chalk painting.

MEGA BUBBLES.

Original MacBook.

We visited Harley Farms again over the weekend, a goat farm over in Pescadero. We went last year as well. Between the adorable piles of baby goats and the cheese, I think this will easily become a tradition.

CHEESE.

Farm kitty.

My big girl...

Last year at the farm...

And this year...

DEEP.FRIED.BRUSSEL.SPROUTS.

Gorgeous produce.

Afterwards we drove over to the beach.

Perfect weather, perfect weekend!

xo Becky

2014: Week 11

Eleven weeks into this wonderful year! Here's a T-Rex with a beard.

Spring hath sprung over at Pop Pop's house. Also it was 86 degrees at one point this weekend!

 

I've been very into this brown/silver combo lately.

I got my first Stitch Fix this week! I only kept one item this round, but am already super excited to se what I get next time. As a working mom who usually does all my clothing shopping while at Target getting cat food… it's nice to get some quality pieces as well as advice on how to dress like an awesome lady.

Too cool for school?

This week's photo assignment--DETAILS.

Speaking of details, here's a nice one from Lulu's room.

She's looking very grown up these days.

The blossoms are still thriving!

Playing outside until dinner because it's so warm!

My bulbs are almost ready to burst open.

And inside the house a pack of tigers have invited the plants.

All the kids got together for some water fun.

And then I busted out some shaving cream and the kids were stoked for some clean/messy fun.

And quickly this happened.

xo Becky

2014: Week 10

A regular week around these parts with the exception in the sudden burst of Spring. We've been having sunny 76 degree days and blossoms like crazy.

On Wednesdays my Mom takes Lucy to dance class. Here she is at Granny's in the early AM when I dropped her off on my way to work.

Bed hog.

I got some liquid watercolors and we had fun trying out all the Pinterest ideas, like spray bottles in the bath...

Mixed with shaving cream...

And soaked into coffee filters...

We have weird square coffee filters because we use a Chemex...

Cut and folded into flowers...

And let's not ever forget these oldies but goodies.

Out for sushi.

Hope you had a nice week!

xo Becky

A Day in the Life...

On Monday I participated in another "Day in the Life" Photo Challenge, this time hosted by my sister's friend Rebecca (great name!). This one was interesting because it fell on a very nontraditional day. Every year we host an Oscar Party, and every year I take the following Monday off to clean the apartment (it's a huge ordeal; we decorate, move furniture, cook  a bunch of food…) This is why I slept in (!!!) and why Lucy is absent for a large portion of my morning.

For those interested, this series I chose to shoot entirely with my Samsung Galaxy III and many are edited using the VSCO app.

8:30 :: I woke up to only minor cleanup damage. The lingering dedication to PSH.

9:30 :: Editing photos from the night before. Amazing.

10:30 :: Snack as I continue to cleanup and straighten things out.

11:30 :: Picking up Lucy at my parent's house. She was a "good girl" spending the night AND got to go see Frozen again and eat a bag of popcorn with Grampy.

12:30 :: Next we went and had lunch together at Whole Foods.

1:30 :: Then, because it was Mommy's day off AND Target is next-door to Whole Foods, we went to Target.

2:30 :: Project planning with Lucy.

3:30 :: Playing with her new sentence reading cards.

4:30 :: Dinner prep.

5:30 :: Watering the plants. This one is a jungle.

6:30 :: Working on my bullet journal with a glass of wine as Dave cooks dinner and Lucy watches Diego.

7:30 :: Bath time! These two guys, "Billy and Joey," have seen many adventures in the ocean.

8:30 :: Editing the bloggy poo for my weekly look-back-in-photos.

9:30 :: Watching Walking Dead. OMG.

       

And then I went to sleep EARLY. BOOYA.

Hope you take a day off and  go to bed early one day soon. It's awesome. You're awesome.

xo Becky

2014: Week 9

Rainbows! I saw three this week! This one is over my parents house, the house I grew up in, the house Lucy spends her weekdays.

Rainbows means rain, which mean puddles, which means FUN.

This week's portrait assignment - EYES. I love that you can see the reflection of my camera.

Looks like it's time to clean out the desk… Seriously, cats will sleep anywhere.

We had our annual Oscar Party. Some of us dressed 70s themed in honor of American Hustle.

My BFF and her fiancé totally rocked it. We're definitely going to start some new traditions next year, starting with a Best Dressed Award!

Bradley Coop-cake, adorable!

Part of the awesome "Red Carpet Cupcakes" by our friends Drew & Michelle.

Dave and Lucy posed by the daffodils at Pop Pop's house. This is the third year in a row that we have done this. Last year Dave noticed he was wearing the same shirt as the year before, and so the gag has begun. He said he's already looking forward to doing this when she's an angry teenager.

xo Becky

2014: Week 8

Last week I didn't take very many photos. Weird how that happens sometimes. Here are my faves. Our theme this week in 52 of You was "props." I found these awesome glasses at Target.

I made Lucy heart-shaped french toast and strawberries, just cuz she's the awesomest.

She also painted this amazing picture of my parents dog Jack who died a few weeks ago, because she "wanted to remember him."

A co-worker made these adorable cupcakes at work. Someone asked if they were supposed to be Mount Rushmore. Um, no. MINIONS!

I get weird looks at work in the parking lot all the time in the morning taking pictures. I can't help it if the wet asphalt looks amazing bathed in golden sunlight!!!

Watching and listening to kids pretend play is so freaking cute.

Feets.

And Lucy got a hat, inspired by her cutie pie cousin, Lila who rocks hats like no other.

xo Becky

Family Date Photo Series

I took this first photo about a year ago. Seeing itty bitty toys juxtaposed with our "grown up" drinks just looked so sweet to me. Maybe because I love our "family dates" so much. Just the three of us out together having fun. Lala Loopsy and chardonnay.

Tiger brothers and chardonnay.

Prince Eric totally cheating on Ariel with Cinderella (and probably chardonnay).

Baby Norman, beer and sake.

Truck hauling markers, Daddy and beer.

Stickers and sake.

Bo-Jack and beer.

Half of the Calico Critters Buttercup Cat Twins and sake.

Crayons and chardonnay.

xo Becky

2014: Week 7

Dave and I took Lucy to Hakone Gardens where we got married. I simply could not resist taking this shot. I might get a big print made of this.

Bamboo grafitti.

Looking so grown up sometimes...

Meow.

At the end of every 6 week session, I get to go and see Lucy in dance class. She had improved SO much since the last time I had seen her. It's really cute hearing her say things like, "grande jeté."

Valentine's loot! Lucy had a school party, I made jigglers that stressed me out way too much. I'm glad I made  a test batch!

My valentine.

Yes! We came home to a farmer's market surprise thanks to Pop Pop. ROMANESCO!!!

"WHY?"

We made a fairy house, inspired by Tinker Bell and the Great Fairy Rescue.

A peep inside through the roof—candies, flowers and a bed made out of tissues and washi tape.

Hope you had a nice week, too!

xo Becky

Easy Hearts, Two Ways

It's Valentine season, and with Lucy being in school for the first time we needed to increase the typical volume of cards being churned out. We used two easy techniques.

The Good 'Ol Toilet Paper Roll

A simple process of squeezing the roll into shape and using it as a stamp.

Tip: Cupcake cups make for an easy cleanup option with paint.

Lucy easily churned out 24 of these for her class.

Washi Tape

We covered big pieces of paper with washi tape. Lucy is very precise. I wonder where she gets that from?

Afterwards I cut the paper into strips to run through a paper punch. You could also easily just hand cut a bunch of hearts, but I happened to have this heart punch already. Also, Lucy can't really cut well yet and she could help more this way.

Cute little hearts.

Then we glued them onto folded paper stock.

The "scraps" made for a nice card, too.

xo Becky