Blue Yonder

New In the Shop!!!!

Good Morning Friends!

Well the day has arrived. I'm giving my little speech tonight. It's just a group of 30 or so moms, and I'm sure they don't bite or anything, but I feel an awful lot like it's book report day at school. 

I'm going to try real hard not to hide under my desk. 

Wish me luck!

I also wanted to let you know that I'm slowly but surely making some changes around here. I have a few surprises in store for you in the coming weeks, so don't wander off too far, okay?

First up, some new printable items in our Ranch Shop! There are three different styles, each with stationary, cards and gift tags. Print as many as you want and have a swell christmas!

Here's a little peek at one of the sets: 

I hope you'll go on over to the Ranch to have a look at the rest. 

Alright, off to give my self a shot of caffeine and a very serious pep talk!

Happy, peaceful, joy-filled Thanksgiving preparations to you all!

Man Bags, Xtreme

First, we'd like to give a big "HOWDY!" to folks who have moseyed over from the Pioneer Woman. As you can imagine we were pretty stinking excited that the amazing Ms. OMSH had such nice things to say about our book and we're also so dang excited to have some new friends visiting. 

So, welcome! Pull up a chair and make yourself comfortable! Feel free to poke around, just don't open any closets because something's sure to fall on you!

Now if you've been around for a bit, you no doubt remember the Man Bags. 

I thought y'all would get a kick out of seeing how they are evolving. You just never can tell what you'll get when you've got an 8 year old boy with some mad sewing skills and some flame fabric :-) In his hands a sewing machine is a means to an end, a tool, not something you use to make things pretty as it is to me. To him, it is something you use to get the job done. 

It's funny too... I thought that since I didn't have any girls I'd never have to worry about my kids getting into my things, but no. Around 10 AM each morning the same scene is repeated:  I'm walking around the house, looking, fruitlessly for just ONE ponytail holder. I'm cursing the heat, hollaring about how, "that is IT! I'm going to get all this hair chopped off!" and wondering why, WHY in the name of all that is holy, do they have to use the 14,000 hair thingies that I have accumulated, for goodness knows what. 

Apparently ponytail ties make the perfect McGuyver go-to ingredient. 

In this case, my oldest has sewn them onto his belt for holding film canisters (begged from our local camera shop) ammo belt style. It's pretty ingenious really. He uses them for carting home bug specimens from our walks, but now he's thinking he needs another set so that he can carry Band-aids and matches. (Um... hmmm.... that's around about the time that I began talking about how real men don't need matches and he said, "You mean I can have a lighter?" Uh, no.)

He tells me that next to pony tail holders, one can't have enough safety pins and caribiners. In the photo you can see that his knife and jeweler's loupe are held on by safety pins, and his water bottle is attached with the caribiner. 

That water bottle bag there in the back? It was gift wrapping ... a gift to ME and I had thought it would make a sweet bag to carry my art pencils in, but before I knew what happened it was on the sewing table being chopped and repurposed. Gah!

Oh well... As important as art is, hydration is pretty essential too. 

 There's still a few inches of belt real estate remaining, so I'll let you know how he fills it :-)

The gang and I are going to head up to see Granny this afternoon. We're anxious to surprise her with a copy of the magazine, and also there's a blueberry festival in town! 

My middle man thinks he's going to participate in the pie eating contest, so wish us luck. All I can think of is that horrible pie scene in Stand By Me. Is it seared into your memory too?

I wonder if there's room for some handiwipes on that belt? 

Have a great weekend folks. We'll see you back here on Monday!

Man Bags

You might have guessed that we go on lots of walks and hikes. 

For a while there I was carrying one big bag with all our snacks, collection jars, notepads, magnifying glasses, field guides... etc. Then I tried to make small bags for each of my guys. 

Mostly, that meant that if we went on long walks I just ended up carrying one big bag and three small bags. 

So I had this idea for some tough, manly pouches that they could wear on a belt. 

Essentially, they're just little pockets with extra long tongues so that they can warp around the belt before they snap. It works out well because they don't alter the belt at all. You can snap them on for hiking or pop them off to go to Sunday school. 

I just made one for each boy to see how it went, and they LOVE them. They wear them everywhere, stuffed full of essential bits like lip balm and florist wire :-)

They have requested that I make two or three more for each boy so that they can wear them ammo belt style.  I think our nature walks just got a whole lot easier for Mama!

I thought it was official, but now it's REALLY official (and a giveaway!)

I caught some flack last year about how my kids never appear in photos fully clothed. 

It's true though... my wild things pull off their shirts and shoes the first chance they get. And so yesterday when I found them all shirtless in the yard I knew that we'd crossed that last line. I thought it was officially spring when the bluebonnets  and popsicles appeared, but no, it's not REALLY officially spring until the Blue Yonder boys are half nekkid. :-)

Oh, and when the chickens are all laying again... and they are, accept poor Sadie. My little chicken farmer has been lamenting the fact that "Sadie's eggs are missing." Almost daily, we get 4 eggs - one pale brown (almost pink) two greenish blue, and one white. We miss the dark chocolate milk-colored eggs that Sadie used to share with us. Now that they're all laying again, we're feeling her absence all over. 

I made him this silly little painting to remember all the eggs she shared with us, and also to make him laugh when he's sad. 

It works pretty good, he giggles, HARD every time he thinks of Sadie on the beach. 

*****

And now, I'm very excited to tell you about Fat Matter Letterpress and Design. I love Fat Matter for the pure, lovely design of their stationary. I love them for the way they are embracing and reviving a traditional art. I love them for their passion, and I love them too because behind the company is a family who felt the squeeze of this economic crunch and saw it as a opportunity to turn to meaningful work, and to pursue their dreams. 

I have personally held Fat Matter stationary in my hands and really I can't bring myself to write on it. I want to just hang my cards up on my wall and stare a them. 

Lucky you, you're going to have the chance to win some of your own! One lucky winner will receive their Royal Sampler PLUS their choice of one other set of cards. All you have to do is visit Fat Matter and then come on back and leave a comment telling me which of those sweet cards you'd like to find in your mailbox!

I will draw a winner on Sunday night!

*****

One last thing - I have the distinct honor today of joining Amy for her "It's Friday I'm in Love" series where she invites people to come and share about what inspires them. Amy is So. Much. Fun. It was such a treat to be asked to hang at her place a while. Run over and check it out!

Mr. Chicken Says Thanks

I think I told you a while back that my guys got a Speedball cutter for Valentine's Day. We have enjoyed it immensely. And when I say WE, I mean that um, the mama likes to pull it out after they go to bed so that she can have a turn playing with it too!

I used it to carve a little chicken stamp for my birthday boy/chicken farmer. I stamped all his birthday wrapping paper with it, and it gave him a sweet surprise... What could be better than waking up to gifts all wrapped up in chickens? 

He loves his little chicken stamp, and has stamped her on every solid surface for a 10 mile radius, including his brothers, who spent the better part of a week covered in wee red hens. 

Lordy. 

Anyhow, it's also had a unintended, and awfully sweet use. He used his stamp to write thank you notes for his birthday gifts.

 

Ordinarily, he is not such a fan of writing thank-yous, but the stamp made it kind of fun for him. 

I think this could be the beginning of a new tradition for us. Mama makes the birthday boy a special stamp and then he gets to use it to make his thank-you cards. 

I might better look into some washable stamp pads though. 

In case you've missed it, there's some great information on carving stamps and using them with kids here and here