Home, Sweet Home

Home, Sweet Home

About a year ago we wrapped up our biggest home improvement project so far.  We have been in our house 10 years, and my husband and I both agree this project made us feel like real grown ups!  Ha, we are on the threshold of 40 so I guess it was time...  Expecting our third baby, we tossed around the idea of moving to a larger home.  But, in the end we decided it was just too hard to give up all those memories or this house, and we really like our house.  Let's face it, we have made improvements to every room, and most rooms are pretty significant changes, we would be starting over even in a new house.  We decided the room behind our bedroom, which served as a closet, storage space, and a small sewing table and no natural light, would be transformed into the nursery. You could only stand in about 1/3 of the room because of the slanted  roof line. We have now gotten to enjoy this multipurpose room for a year.  It is Lucy's nursery, 2nd TV and living space, and serves as my craft space, lovingly dubbed the Mom Cave, by my sweet hubby.  But, we all know that having three children, one under a year, working full time, shuttling kids to ballet and tap, choir and karate, well not a lot of action in the crafting part of the room.  One day, one day!!

 One of my favorite features of this room is the window benches.  They run almost the length of the room, provide lots of storage, and extra seats.  One day...I will tackle making seat cushions, until then a pillow will have to do.

Aboriginal Art

Aboriginal Art

Many years ago, in my first few years of teaching, I got a book with our text book adoption.  It was called Brown Bag Ideas from Many Cultures.  I used it a lot those first few years, and I still reference it every now and again.  With some of these I was experimenting with ways to make the dots.  Some are done with q-tips, some with the backside of a paint brush.  The next time I do aboriginal art in paint I will definitely try the pencil eraser method.  Little hint...don't use the q-tip, they grow with every dip in the paint, before long the dots are the size of dimes.  Oh well, had to try, someone donated 3 enormous boxes of medical swabs.  Just trying to be resourceful!!

Recycled Monet

Recycled Monet

 

One of my favorite artist is Claude Monet.  Years ago I saw a Monet exhibit in Las Vegas, of all places!  It was then that I saw the true magnitude of his art.  I've done artist studies with Monet

in different ways, but I love the way these turn out.  I use recycled calendar pictures.  When these go in the artshow, I always get comments on these pieces.    So, if you are looking for a project for Earth day, this is a great option.  I let the faculty and parents know that I am in need of calendars, especially those depicting nature at the beginning of school and before Christmas so that I have a good selection, I also hunt at the dollar stores for bargains.

YAM 2013

Youth Art Month Show

Isn't this Sorry game cool.  Another art teacher in my district, and friend, Roisel Ramirez did this with a club.
How fun is that!!

It is so cool to see artwork from the entire school district.  There is so much diversity and creativity among these kids.  Last night we had our annual reception.  We always have tons of people, but this year was the best so far.  There were lots of great activities at the make it take it tables,  a silent auction for senior scholorships, university representatives, musical performances, community artist, living statues, and art cars and bikes.  

Spring Break 2013

SPRING BREAK FUN

MANITOU SPRINGS, CO!!

 

This spring break started out a little rocky for us and all the other Texans headed to Colorado.  It took us four hours to get from Raton to Walsenburg, in a blizzard.  Part of that trip was a white out and I was helping my husband drive from the back seat, no really, he actually asked.  I'm sure that will never happen again, but I was guiding him helping him keep on the road on the right side of the car, while he looked out the left, since nobody could see out the front wind shield.  Once in Walsenburg, rooms were booked, so we decided to spend the night in the mini rather than try to go any futher in that mess.  Luckily we hung out in the lobby of a Best Western just long enough, the receptionist called someone holding three rooms and we were the lucky third family to get the very last room. 

So that was how we started out our vacation, luckily the rest of the week was much better. 

 

Manitou Springs, CO is one of the prettiest places I've ever visited.  It has great charm yet everything you need is right there.  There are great places to eat, wonderful parks, hiking, and a slew of day adventures to experience.  Plus, this is a wonderful little community that supports the arts, and it is obvious as soon as you drive into town.  There are sculptures along the road, flags with children's artwork, and artist studios dot the main avenue.  I guarantee you will fall in love with this place.

 

Here is just a few thing to do while you are in Manitou.  Manitou is home of the Cog Rail that goes to Pikes Peak, The Garden of the Gods, Seven Falls, Cave of the Winds, The Cheyenne Mountain Zoo is very close (best zoo ever!), The Ghost Towne Museum, Cliff Dwelling, and of course lots of trails.

And if you are really fit or just into torturing yourself you can always tackle the incline! Here is more info on Manitou, http://manitousprings.org/.

 

 

The day after the blizzard.

All ready to go on a hike.

Beautiful walk down to all the shops.

Manitou Avenue

They have an old arcade, great way to spend a few hours with the kids.  The best part is the horse derby...so much fun!

Home and art studio of C. H. Rockey. 

 

http://lovesongsbook.net/2.html

 



One of my favorite places to go in Manitou, Commonwheel Artist Co-op.



Functional art bench, with a couple of cuties!

 

One of several of the natural springs right on the Avenue.

Love this shop, eclectic culture :) Love it.  This is where my girls and I went for our first Mehendi designs.

Miller art studio.

 

In my opinion, the best pizza in town! 

The best place to stay!  It is beautiful and just walking distance from Everything!

http://www.vrbo.com/430334

Another artist Co-op.

Goodbye Manitou...see you in July!!



El Dia De Los Muertos

I love the celebration of the day of the dead.  While it sounds very morbid, it is a very beautiful celebration of life.  This is actually a day that is recognized by the church and you might know it as All Saints Day.  Some people shy away from doing this cultural piece because of it's link to the church, but it is also a deeply rooted in Latino culture.  I often tell my kids, if you celebrate Halloween, you are celebrating something much scarier than el dia de los muertos.  This day is an occasion of celebrating the life of the people you have loved the most.  The alters are filled with pictures of those loved ones, as well as their favorite foods and drinks.  Marigolds and candles adorn these alters along with other items that might have been important to that person.   

Metal calavera with sharpie, 5th grade.

Kinder and first grade calavera.  We bravely used sharpie and construction paper crayons, and you can see not all art teachers hate glitter!

A must have book for doing milagros.

Paper bag calaveras, 2nd and 3rd grade.

Shrink art milagros and nichos from metal tooling scraps, 4th and 5th grade.

Styrafoam print of nichos with shrink art milagros, 4th and 5th grade.

Scratch art milagro and watercolor nichos, 4th and 5th grade.

Paper bag ofrendas, done with 2nd and 3rd grade.

Balsa foam skulls, this was done with 5th grade.

Collage offrendas, typically I do these with 2nd and 3rd graders.