December 2010

One Homemade Gift

The others are probably still en-route so I cannot post yet. Yes, Christmas mailings are always late… sorry.

This was given to India’s teacher who visited Japan a couple summers ago and has incorporated their culture into the classroom. The kids bow every morning to him, they sit on the floor at super low tables, drank tea (herbal, just in case you were wondering), etc.
India did this mostly by herself. I had to do the boat late at night since when she tried she and I were distracted by two screaming boys. It happens.

More from Arapahoe Acres

This house is stunning. Please refer to my previous post for more comments.


These stairs are so beautiful. I’ve got a neighbor wanting to revamp her stairway which is very bland. Maybe something like this?


The front room with its built in couch along the wall. So cool and so great for entertaining.


There are several different wood treatments in this home. I tried to capture them all.

Inspiration from “That Artist Woman”

I posted of Facebook how I had been inspired by a blog called “That Artist Woman” several weeks ago. She does some really amazing work with here elementary school kids (she’s an art teacher). Since the art program at India’s school is lacking, I have been frustrated by the fact that art is yet another thing she needs to have supplemented after school. As the years have passed, and homework takes longer, the time we have for art at home is dwindling. India loves art, she loves to create things. So my goal is to do more with her. This blog has helped. Here is the result:

This was a gift for the kids’ cousin. He loves Batman… although he has a Iron Man b-day party. My kids (and I) don’t know Iron Man, so we opted for Batman. I hope he likes it. If anything, it was great to get something together that India was excited about. She wanted to work on it every night. We googled Batman coloring pages to get the images and then worked on the story. India wanted a much more complex story line, but as with many things in our life, this was all done very last minute. It was drying in the car ride to the party. Humph. The inspiration can be found here. She had put in many different movable pieces that we just didn’t have time to do. Maybe you’ll create something similar… if you do, please share!