Tuesday, January 31, 2012

A Few Old Friends, Part 2

When I try to get to know people, one of the questions I tend to ask is, "What is the best gift you've ever received?" Hearing the answer often gives me some insight into what's truly important to them. These next few posts are about the best gift I've ever received, a dollhouse filled with homemade furniture that I received from my parents for Christmas when I was 4 years old.

I recently went back to my childhood home and brought back a few of these treasures for my little girls. Here are a few of the gems from the living room.



 If you look closely at the drawer pulls on the furniture, you'll see that they're actually the heads of pins with the pointy side clipped off.



I still have vivid memories of watching my dad cut these pieces out and my mom staining the wood.

I'll show you the bedroom furniture in the next post.


Sunday, January 29, 2012

A Few Old Friends, Part 1

I had the opportunity recently to go visit my dad back home.

While there, I saw a box in my old closet that contained a few old friends. These were some of the toys I played with when I was a little girl, and I decided to bring them back for my little girls to play with. 



Not only does the drawer come out of the cash register...


...but the crank actually turns the little record on the phonograph.


I used to play with these "old friends" with my Barbies and also in my dollhouse (more on that in the next post!)

Needless to say, A is fascinated by these little guys.

Friday, January 20, 2012

Ohhh, Ohhh, Godzilla!!

One of my favorite things that I picked up for A was an activity book of cardboard punch-outs that made all sorts of fun things--games, finger puppets and scenery. I found this book and A loved punching out all the little characters with me.

While my family was visiting over the holidays, we worked on one scene in particular--a cityscape, complete with skyscrapers, a roadway with little cars, a cute little mountain and lots of trees.

Of course, a certain uncle of A's got in on the action, and before we knew it, our fair city was being attacked, one cardboard building at a time. (Bob the Dinosaur, how could you?!?)





I'm not sure what was more fun--punching out the scenery with A, or watching her--I mean Bob--trample our fair city.

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Back on the Creative Wagon

It's been some time since I last posted. To be honest, this has been a particularly tough holiday season. But with each end comes a new beginning, and I've started to feel creatively energized again.

A asked me to make a flower for Little Lammy, her stuffed animal. She was about to have her lunch and she needed a flower in a vase to set the table just so. It was just the request I needed.


I think it's going to feel good to get back in the creative saddle.