fresh picked whimsy

One for the baby book...

G had an assignment to interview a family member about the longest trip they ever took.  Questions like...how did you travel...car, plane, etc?....what unusual things did you see?...where did you go?  So, G interviewed me and we talked about my trip to Europe, where i visited Buckingham Palace, the Eiffel Tower and the Vatican (I explained to him that this is the home of the Pope).  This is what he turns in...priceless! 

(It took much restraint on my part, not to name this post title..."Holy shit")

Happy Friday, friends. =D

the new neighbor...

A most unexpected animal has come to live in our quiet neighborhood (I swear,it really is usually very quiet...).  This particular animal species is not found in Indiana...except at the zoo.  So, you can imagine our surprise, when we saw him arrive...   any guesses?

 

NOPE

NOPE, but you're getting close...

 

YOU GUESSED IT!

Allow me to introduce you to the coolest thing (I think) to happen in our neighborhood in a very long time...maybe ever!  This is Ben the Bear. 

He was hand carved by an incredibly talented artist using a chainsaw!!!! 

It's quite a story...one freezing cold Saturday in January, I was looking out my studio window and saw our neighbors across the street were taking down a huge tree.  The odd thing was that they cut it down to about 12 feet high and were stripping the bark off of it.  I shrugged and walked away and got involved in something in the studio...only to check back at my window a few hours later.  Now, the bark was gone and the tree had taken the shape of what looked like a pencil (point up).  I wish I had taken a picture of it, but I had no idea this was going to be a work in progress.  At this point, I just thought my neighbor was completely off his rocker, but again, I had to move on with my day.  The next day, we heard the chainsaw at work again and I looked out the window to see this...

I couldn't believe it.  I grabbed my coat and camera and had to go check it out. 

I met the artist, a man with the last name 'Blaylock'.  This is his passion and his work comes strictly via word of mouth.  Amazing.  I am blown away by his talent.  The man made this with a chainsaw! That day he had discovered that at the base of the tree, by the legs, the tree trunk was hollow...an unforseen roadblock, which he was able to repair using a chunk of wood from an unused piece of the tree.  So cool.  You can see it here...

and maybe a litte bit better here...

My neighbor, Bill, who commissioned this work on his property, has done a beautiful job staining and sealing him.  He told me that his 2 year old granddaughter was frightened by Ben at first.  Then, they explained to her that he wasn't a scary bear, but a laughing bear.  He does look like he could be laughing.  I think he has friendly eyes.  Don't you?

Bill's granddaughter is the one who named him "Ben".  I think he's awesome and i couldn't be happier that he moved into the neighborhood....and that I can see him from my window, too! 

Love notes

Ever since K went to pre-school (10 years ago!), i have been tucking little love notes into lunchboxes.  There's almost always a joke, riddle or silly made up poem inside, but i have found ways to get creative, that i thought i would share with you.  NO, you don't have to be an artist.  K and R have graduated from Mom's little messages for the most part ( i wouldn't want to embarass them...that would be so not cool ), but they do allow me to get creative for holidays and special occasions.  For the most part, it's just G, that is on the receiving end of these little notes.  His friends at the lunch table have come to expect it and wait patiently for his daily joke.  I never said he needed to, but it warms my heart that he saves them all and keeps them in a zipped pocket of his backpack.  That...is...cute.

Some ideas for you:

• write your joke or message on a paper airplane...you can use a small piece of paper so that it won't get squished in the bag
• write a silly little poem like:  Roses are red, violets are blue, when you come home, i'll have a special snack for you!
• surprise your kid by having Dad or a sibling write the message every once in a while

• tuck a few m&m's or skittles inside a folded note

• Let them know how many days are left until...their birthday, Christmas, summer break, etc...

• fold the note like you did in jr. high or high school...don't remember how?...ask a teenager!

• write in code...(ok, this one may take a little more prep time, but work it out and supply the code with the message)

This is my favorite joke book for kids that i have been using and recycling jokes from for the past 8 years. 

Here are a few that were a hit with G:

• Why was the car embarassed?.....It had gas!
• What city do sharks come from?....Shark-ago!
• What do good students eat their burgers on?....Honor rolls!
• How can you keep cool at the ballpark?....Sit by a fan!
• Why did the shark spit the clown out?...He tasted funny!
• What do you call a pickle that draws?...a dillistrator!!!  (my personal fave)

I keep it in the kitchen basket handy for lunchbox packing.  But, there are also a ton of great websites for kid jokes and riddles here, here and here....oh, and here.

I have doodled a few little lunchbox notes for you to download for free.  Click here or click on the free downloads for you button to the left.  Just print, cut, add your message and tuck in your favorite kid's lunch.  It was so much fun making these, i think i may have to make more and add to the downloads periodically.  Enjoy! 

under the weather today...

 
head feels like a balloon about to pop

achy body

chilled to the bone

and that annoying nose thing when one side gets stuffed up and the other one is clear...i hate that!

under a blanket...using an un-eco-friendly amount of tissues...thinking unkind thoughts about old man winter and Puxatawnee Phil.  But, i have counted...only 25 days until spring.  oh, hurry up....

Apparently, someone stepped on a crack...

Because, my sweet boy, R, broke his back.  Seriously, I'm having a hard time processing those 4 words...R broke his back.  It's been diagnosed as a Pars stress fracture.  It was explained to me by the pediatric orthopedic doc that a stress fracture is an injury that occurs over time from over usage.  He's 12...over usage?  If that's the case, I should be in a full body cast.  Anyway...his back had probably started weakening months earlier and wrestling most likely sealed the deal.  Ugh.  His pain first surfaced 4 weeks ago, and his coach, the school trainer and we, his parents, chalked it up to a muscular strain (have you ever seen the positions those wrestlers get into?). 

  
 We allowed him to "work through it" for 2 weeks...even participating in a meet, before we decided to take a break from practices to allow it to rest and heal.  He just wasn't improving, and was still in pain, so we took him to see a doc.  Check out this AWESOME full body bone scan...we were all huddled around the computer oogling R's very impressive skeleton.  I may have to blow this one up poster size for Halloween...

One bone scan, one CT scan and a custom $1300 back brace later...it's broken.  I feel so terrible that we allowed him to continue wrestling as long as we did.  We never dreamed...NEVER. 

God is good...this could have been disastrous...so much worse.  He is healing now...in good hands...and, in good spirits (despite the fact that wrestling season is over for him and the upcoming baseball season (his true love) is a no-go, too. 

He is still totally mobile, although he will be wearing the back brace for 23 hours/day for 3-5 months.  The bummer is...no sports, PE, or strenuous activity...but, on the bright side (for a 12 year old)...we're talking about lots of video games, tv, movies, and books. 

Mom's prescription...lots of TLC....

Yards and yards of bubble wrap...

And, maybe one of these...

Hubbub in the 'hood

This quiet neighborhood was abruptly wakened from it's sleepy winter hibernation last week by a wind and rain storm that uprooted trees and left us in the dark.  It wasn't your typical black-out, however.  The wind evidently took out a neighbor's elderly pine tree, which toppled over on top of power lines and ultimately caused a transformer to explode.  It was early evening last Wednesday as we were all finishing dinner in the kitchen.  There was a fantastic boom that shook our house, turned the lights off on us, and produced a flash of light in the sky to rival the sun, accompanied by a cartoon-like "electric shock" sound effect that lasted for about 10 minutes. 

The culprit:

 

For the 2 minutes it took to determine the source, our minds drew all kinds of crazy scenario conclusions.  But, let me tell you...even after we figured out what had happened, it was still a scary situation.  The explosions from the transformer continued for a solid hour with brief breaks in between...while the fire dept. tried to contain the flames in the 50 mph wind gusts that were blowing.  We live in a heavily wooded neighborhood and that, really was our biggest fear.  Fortunately, the rain had sufficiently soaked the area and kept the fire from spreading.  It was a pretty crazy night.  Kudos goes to the fire department for keeping it under control, the police officers, who kept homeowners safe from downed power lines, the power company, who restored our power by 2 a.m., and the water company who restored the water supply, which had been cut off as the result of the transformer fire on the ground, which melted the water pipes under ground.  My neighbors are all safe, there was no damage to anyone's property, and our bed is warmer now, thanks to the 8 year old who has been climbing in the middle since then! 

My heart is full...

Happy Valentine's Day, friends!  This is how my day began...I left the top lipstick message for Mark on our bathroom mirror this morning, and he left the bottom one for me...

G created his very own illustration for these bag toppers for each of his classmates...it's the Valentine Express!!!  He filled each one with candy...

I used some of my own Valentine illustrations for the goody bags for my kids and my niece and nephews...

The doorbell rang late in the afternoon today.  It was sweet little Mary, my neighbor and young friend, who delivered this darling Valentine to me...

it doesn't get better than this...

but, wait, it does...

And, finally, the icing on top of this love fest of a day...today is the national release date of the book.  And...the book is, as of right now, #18 on the Amazon.com Hot New Releases List in the Children's Books section under the category of Values...HOLY MOLY...Mark was monitoring the list tonight, and when he realized i was taking this picture, so of course, he poses...

Friends, thank you, so much...this wouldn't be possible without your support and encouragement.  If you have purchased a book and you happen to have a few extra minutes...it would be AWESOME if we could get some customer reviews of the book on Amazon, Borders & Barnes & Noble.  You all ROCK and have stolen my heart forever!!!!

Book signing No. 2

My good friend, Jill, has a sweet little store called Westwood Paper Co.,  where I have worked and sold some of my custom canvases for the past few years.  She graciously invited us to have a book signing in her store and is selling our book, too.

She had everything set up so pretty and had invited all of her customers to come.  We had a steady stream of people coming through.  We made some new friends, and visited with some little ones...specifically, this one...little LeeLee.  How cute is she?

LeeLee's talented mom is a good friend of Jill's.  Jill took a little time out to read our book to LeeLee:

After the signing, Anne and I went to lunch at Serendipity; a lovely tea room in Carmel's Art & Design District.  They are selling our book there and at their sister tea room in Zionsville, IN, called Serenity.  The owner, Karin, sat with us and told us the history of the building that Serendipity is located in.  It was orignally a bank, in Carmel's early years, and the vault is still there.  She told us it was once the sight of a burglary by notorious gangster, John Dillinger.  Fascinating, right?!  We dined by our book on display.  Way cool!

All I can say is...WOW!!!!

What an incredible weekend we had.  Saturday we had a launch party for the book and it was so much more fun than I imagined it would be.  I was a wreck for a few days before {I was afraid nobody would come!}, but in hindsight, i don't know what I was worried about.  It was held at Anne's incredible house...and more specifically, in her ballroom.  Yes, that's right, I said ballroom. 

A few people told me when they got the invitation that they thought I was just being clever with the wording when it said "ballroom"...like it was really going to be in their living room.  :-)  I'm still waiting to receive pictures from family and friends, but I wanted to show you just a few from the festivities.  Anne's home has a theater and a ticket booth(!)...so, we turned the ticket booth into a "compliment booth". 

Our kids took turns running it.  People could walk up to the booth, ring the bell, and receive a compliment.  The compliments got a little, um, shall we say, creative, as the day wore on, but they had a lot of fun running it. 

We had put together a small, homemade movie about the making of the book and it was running on a loop in the theater during the party.  We will have a link to the movie on youtube on our website this week, if you're interested.  A very good friend of mine, Jane Summitt, who is a professional clown, generously offered to come and make balloon animals for the kids...that was a big hit! 

Everyone was in such a festive mood.  My family and Anne's family got to spend a lot of time together this weekend getting to know each other and that was really special, too.    All of our sisters and my mom baked their hearts out so that we could have lots of sweets at the party. 

 

We had a display with some of my original sketches and Anne's original manuscript.

And...we sold quite a few books, too!  People came to our table with 5...6 books at a time for us to autograph.  Some bought them for themselves, or for gifts and there were lots of books purchased as gifts for school libraries, too, which I thought was so sweet!  I felt like a rock star giving out all of those autographs...

Thank you everyone, for your sweet emails, messages and notes over the past week.  Thank you to everyone who came.  A very big thank you goes to my family and Anne's family for everything they did to help our day go smoothly.  It was such a wonderful day and a fantastic way to kick off the publication of the book.  Thank you, thank you, thank you!  The book is now available locally (in the Carmel, IN area) and at www.bloomingheartbooks.com.  It will be available nationally this Saturday...Valentine's Day!

Finally, today is my blogiversary.  One year ago today, I posted my very first blog entry here at fresh picked whimsy.  Wow...what a difference a year makes.  Who would have thought a year ago, that my life would be filled with booksignings, a launch party and the title of "published children's book illustrator"!...certainly, not me.  As I reflect back over the past year, I have 2 words for you, friends...DREAM BIG!

And so, it begins...

I can't believe this week has come.  On Saturday, the book will be released locally.  It will be released nationally on Valentine's Day.  Anne and I have been very busy working on the launch...Anne has been working tirelessly promoting and we are starting to see the results.  A newspaper article, the magazine feature, booksignings, school visits, reatailers who have signed on to carry our book...it's all very surreal.  One year ago, I hadn't even met Anne yet.  It's just crazy the way life unfolds.  Crazy!  If you are in the Indy area, we will be having some booksigning events.  Here are two in Carmel...

Westwood Paper Co. on Wednesday, February 11th from 11-1

Border's Bookstore on Saturday, February 21st from 1-3

I'm also getting ready to celebrate my blogiversary!  I feel as though my creative wings were spread wide open when i began blogging a year ago.  So much good has come of it for me.  I'm so happy to be a part of this community of creative people. 

Finally, i wanted to share with you the good news about the status of the CPSIA.  I got this from Etsy yesterday:

The CPSIA Mandatory Testing & Certification Proposed 1 Year Suspension

We are so excited to announce that the Commission has voted for a "Stay of Enforcement of Certain Testing and Certification Requirements of CPSIA" — which means that they are proposing a 1 year suspension of the burden of lead testing and certification while they take more time to review the rules and plan enforcement!  All of your hard work is paying off (for the time being at least!).  You wouldn't have to pay to do the certification and testing, though you are still liable if your products are found to have lead. We are so pleased that artisans and vintage sellers got their voices heard. Your hard work is not over; we must continue to play a role in advocating for small business people throughout the coming year.

"The action taken today provides breathing space to get in place some of the rules needed for implementation, but it should not be viewed as a full solution to the many problems that have been raised." —U.S. Consumer product Safety Commission