a mom and her camera

are you in mesa, az?

If so you HAVE to attend this awesome event with this awesome photographer...

Seriously people. She's awesome. If only AZ was a bit closer... go HERE to see her blog and HERE to see her website.

Go there and then go sign up. AND pass the word onto your friends that live in the area!

Thanks.

the four year old.

Wednesday Bailey turned four. We STILL haven't planned her friend party so we made it a fun day with family! Most of it I was able to capture, although of course, just remember the photographer hat DOES NOT FIT ON MY HEAD when my HUGE mommy hat is shoved on there. Just remember. Because these photos SUCK and this is my job! HA!

Hello big girl. This was taken on Tuesday. Her last day of being three.

We started her birthday off with a trip to the grocery store at 7am so she could pick out her favorite breakfast food. Then at 8am my parents came over for her birthday breakfast...

Donuts. I love that there is a bite out of it b/c she just couldn't wait!

 Halfway through the birthday song she started singing! It was so cute. Later she said to me, "if you sing happy birthday to me again it will make me so happy!"

We sang it ALL day! HA!

Parker was so good about "helping" Bailey with her gifts... she wanted to help but didn't get upset when we told her she had to let Bailey open some too!

I love this photo of my dad!

And the little man. He was so excited all morning! So cute!

Most of her gifts from us were art supplies or projects. I think I might just be DONE buying toys. Still working hard to simplify our life and the STUFF is out of control. So art supplies seemed like a great gift idea, especially b/c I knew my mom was getting her two great Discovery Toys games.

They LOVED these paint stamper things!

After G napped we headed to tot time at the pool. It was the first time AND LAST TIME THIS YEAR I took the camera. Totally stressed me out to leave it in the bag and totally stressed me out to have it in the water. Reiterated the fact that we need a little point and shoot to capture the family sometimes.

Parker, looking like she's walking on water, has become fearless this summer. It's awesome. She will jump and go under water and float on her back and go down the slide and everything. We are so proud of her b/c she was so timid a few weeks ago when we started going!

And the bubba. Who took 5 steps in a row yesterday!

After the pool we went to Bailey's favorite restaurant for lunch, Llywelyn's Pub in Webster. Naps following then Chris had soccer camp so I had his parents and brother over for her birthday dinner (Imo's). And they were so sweet that we loaded car seats into their cars and went to get ice cream.

It was a FUN day.

Anticlimactic since her and Grayson ended up with fevers that night and barely slept. Yesterday I was running on 2 hours of sleep and didn't do very well to say the least. It was a long day. Kim and I had a GREAT newborn shoot for Fresh Art in the morning (go check out the FA blog to see his sneak peek! SUPER cute!), I had lunch with family and then since C had camp I was on mommy-duty all afternoon/night. Two sick/crabby kids and a long HOT day with no car (even sick I would have gone and walked through Target just to GET OUT) made me HOT AND CRABBY too.

But today is a NEW day and after B's 4 year old check up and after C and I go pick up a car my AWESOME friends/clients are letting us borrow for a couple of weeks we have sitters coming so we can go MINI VAN shopping. Oh man. Chris wants to just buy something today but COME ON. It has to be harder than that doesn't it? We're just getting pretty tired of sharing a car!

Wanted to mention, briefly, that my fall is starting to book up... earlier than I expected (THANK YOU!) so please think ahead for Christmas this year and get on my calendar!

Also, we'd LOVE for you to spread the word about Fresh Art to all of your pregnant friends (we're even willing to TRAVEL if you're out of town!)... here are our current promotions...

And just in case you don't have our info...

Thanks!

And thanks for humoring me with the Bailey birthday blog post. Since scrapbooking is FAR from happening at this point in my life I need to document the details here!

Enjoy TODAY!

the spread sheet.

I had a really fun family session tonight and although I will give them a sneak peek, I just HAD to start this post off with the BEST IDEA AROUND for number-oriented moms!

So Angie, with her super cute red hair, mentioned that she journals about her two boys while at work on a SPREAD SHEET! She's in finance so she has Excel open all the time anyway so it's just easy for her.

I seriously think this is brilliant! She said she writes little notes and things but she is also able to track their height and weight with charts and other things I am really stupid about!

I love this b/c not all women/men like to write which rules out journaling/blogging and not all are creative thinkers so scrapbooking might be hard but some of you out there I know are sitting at a desk all day with excel open constantly and now you can "journal" about your kiddos! Great idea Angie!

And now on to the sneak peek!

Hello handsome.

They are so cute together!

 I love that if you look close you can see the sand from his sandbox on the bottom of his feet!

They live in the most BEAUTIFUL place! Isn't this amazing? Love it.

More to come from this session b/c it was SO fun! I followed them through their evening routine... playing outside, dinner, baths, jammies, books and bed. LOVE THAT! What a great time to capture the details of life that someday will be so easy to forget... thanks you guys for being open for a TRUE lifestyle session!

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It is 1:14am and my baby is officially four. 4. FOUR. Oh I can't believe it. I'm heading up to cuddle with her in bed and say some big fat THANK YOUS to God for bringing her to our life. She has changed me as a person and molded me as a mother. She is truly a gift.

Fun birthday photos to come soon of course... but tomorrow we MIGHT Unplug for a bit. Or the whole day. Or I just might cancel cable and toss our tvs b/c WTF? Who cares? We barely watch tv and the only show I will die without is Grey's and I can get that on my computer. So anyway. All that to say... if I don't get back to you right away let it sit for a day and I will get back to you on Thursday! Thanks!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BAILEY!!! We Love You!

the car wash.

Yesterday I spent 4 hours at a local car wash. Not washing our incredibly dirty cars but taking photos of other people washing their incredibly dirty cars. And photographing some people washing their already perfectly clean cars which just made me realize how much I love a clean car. Knowing full-well I will just never be one of those people will a perfectly clean car. Never. It's just not in me.

At this point it's not even in me to keep a clean house so forget about the car!

Anyway.

So while I was standing outside this car wash for four hours yesterday getting totally sunburned I got to take some pretty fun photos!

I was hired to take photos for their new website and although I really do love photographing babies and families MOST, a random project like this every once in a while is JUST what the creative doctor ordered. I love being able to brain storm ideas with a client and just STRETCH my creative muscles. It feels good. And it's fun. And it just gets me all pumped about this awesome job I have!

Hands down my favorite image from yesterday. This just makes me smile. He is one of just a few men that work there and couldn't have been any sweeter to me. So nice. But this photo, to me, is just hilarious. The sign (that has been there FOREVER and is so utterly a part of the tradition of this place it will never come down!), the face, him holding the bubble brush! All of it!

These are the two families that own the Brentwood Car Wash and I thought we really needed a family shot for the website b/c THIS IS IMPRESSIVE people! Two families with that many young children! Love it!

And, see the CUTE lady right up front? Sara? Well, she and I have some CUSTOM ART pieces we're collaborating on that will be announced in time for Christmas gifts! Can't wait to show you all the craftiness coming your way!

Oh, and speaking of Sara, this next photo is JUST FOR HER:

Her daughter, G, who was just sitting like this on the Jeep. In perfect model positioning. Just begging for me to photograph her. Who looks WAY more like a teenager than either parent is ready for!

She's gorgeous.

I have a few other projects coming up for this company soon! Thanks Bart and Michael for trusting me with your car wash! I can't wait for you to see the rest of the images!

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TODAY: We have ALREADY (it is not yet noon) returned my mom's van to her which we borrowed while she was out of town, gotten sodas, picked up the DYING Rodeo so it could REST IN PEACE in our driveway until we TRY to sell it, painted, played a game, done laundry, cooked breakfast, made two snacks, answered 28 emails and blogged. Oh and that doesn't count the THREE poops Chris took care of or the emails he answered or the fights he broke up or the vacuuming or the installing of the new cable box or the five phone conversations. The funny part is that it doesn't even feel like it's been a busy day! Nice!

Chris has soccer camp this afternoon and I have a family session at their home... excited for this one! Grandma will play with the kids, feed them dinner and pop them in bed for us while we work. Thanks mom!

AND... TOMORROW MY BABY TURNS FOUR. Oh man. It does feel strange to write that. If you have been reading my blog from the beginning, when Bailey was not even 2 yet, does it feel strange to you too?

And with this birthday comes a pretty big milestone. We will no longer have three kids ages three and under. We will have a four year old. Elated and sad about this milestone all at the same time. Is that odd?

It is TODAY. Get out there! ENJOY IT!

the parade

Yesterday we started our day off at the Webster Groves 4th of July Parade. In the rain. But who doesn't love a parade? Wet or not.

We had a great time, the girls especially, (thanks JoJo and Mr. Ian for hosting such a GREAT party!) and since today I woke up feeling like I never slept (what is with my complete and total exhaustion lately?) I'm not going to talk anymore and just show some photos (event he really bad quality ones b/c IN THE END this blog is to remember my life!)...

Ok, quick back story... JoAn and Ian (who hosted the parade party) are our best friend Kevin's parents. Kevin and Angie, along with JoAn and Ian plus my parents are going to Florida together in August. My parents and Jo and Ian are best friends. We all go to church together and at this point our kids are so intertwined it literally makes my heart swell every time we're all together. We couldn't be blessed with better friends.  

It was POURING when we got to Jo's house and so we had the girls take off their boots and put them next to Kate and Lauren's shoes... JoAn, who is an INCREDIBLE painter, said I just had to take this shot and I am officially printing this BIG for somewhere in our house!!!

I about died when I saw this image! This is Gray's future wife, Kelsey... OMG this photo cracks me up! It's so stinkin cute!

Here's the Allen/MacBryde clan...

Kelsey 10 months, Grayson 12 months, Parker 2, Bailey 3 (she turns four on Wed!), Kate 4 and Lauren 6 (almost 7)

I've never written it out like that and it kind of freaks me out that we have three kids between two of theirs! HA!

 When "Big Kelsey" walked by she was mobbed by all the kids she babysits! I LOVE Parker's face here! We love Kelsey!

We kept shoving candy at Gray to keep him in the stroller! Yes. We are AWESOME parents! HA!

Angie and her new Rebel!

 It really was a fun morning!

TODAY: We are laying low. The kids weren't in bed until 11pm last night but RIGHT ON THE DOT they were up at 5:30am this morning. UGH! I can barely keep my eyes open this morning which means I either need to go beg C to let me nap or get up, get dressed and go get a Mnt Dew! We'll see. If the rain holds off I have a family session at their home today... I LOVE shoots at people's homes so I'm excited about this one. And just WAIT until you see where Fresh Art is heading tomorrow! I can't wait! OH, AND I have a SUPER fun family session in the morning too... can't wait to show you were we're shooting! SO much fun stuff coming up!

Have a great Sunday!

because nine hours is a long drive.

Last night I did two shoots in one with a family that traveled all the way from Atlanta to have me photograph their family!

Going in I had no idea they had traveled JUST for ME and when I found that out the rain and dark freaked me out more than it already was b/c I mean, COME ON, the PRESSURE! That's a long drive just for photos! I am kind of kidding. They stayed with friends they have that live here, also clients of mine, but I'm not kidding that when I found out the MAIN reason they came was for me (and saw it was raining and getting dark SUPER fast) I think I almost lost it!

But whatever. Rain. Dark. You just deal with it and move on!

Luckily, they couldn't have been sweeter and their son was AWESOME. He's right between Bailey and Parker age-wise, which can be CRAZY difficult, but he was perfect. Literally perfect.

Well, perfect until he kicked me and told me to lie down again so he could swing over me! HA! I almost died when he kicked me in the shin and said that! Luckily Crocs are pretty harmless! HA! SO funny!

Then Amy came and picked him up so Jennifer and Kyle could go on a Love Light with me! We grabbed some dinner first and once it was officially dark we headed out.

Of course I am a complete and total idiot who forgot that St. Louis has the biggest 4th of July fair downtown (The V.P. Fair) and so shooting where I wanted to shoot was a nightmare. We ended up in two totally different locations b/c there were thousands of people walking around, making it hard to get a good shot of them ALONE!

LOVE that we got there right as fireworks were starting!

They were such troopers b/c people were cat calling and yelling and honking at them the ENTIRE time!

 This is a bit fuzzy and I wouldn't have saved it except that Kyle kept wanting to go the opposite way I was giving him directions! I'd say right and he's veer left until Jen or I corrected him! It was pretty funny!

They just couldn't be cuter!

And I love meeting people for the first time but feeling like I've known them forever! We had so much fun chatting at dinner and had LOTS in common! Love that. Makes my PERFECT job just that much better.

THANK YOU Kyle and Jennifer and Jacob for traveling so far to come here! I hope you enjoy your sneak peek! Next time we'll work it out so I can come to you!

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It is 12:30am and I am officially wiped. But really fast I just HAD to tell you all, b/c you know, since no one's awake it's like chatting with my bff(s)! Anyway, I had to tell you about our night...

Fireworks in Webster (our town) weren't starting until 9:45pm which is exactly 3 hours after the kids bedtime. But we really thought they could be pushed for ONE night so we decided to brave it. Gray went to bed and we just woke him up but the girls watched movies in our bed until it was time to go.

We just assumed the noise and how late it was would be hard for them ALL but seriously, our kids rock! No one cared about the noise, they all were enthralled and Grayson was the cutest of the bunch! He kept holding up both arms extended towards the fireworks and yelling, "OOOOOOOHH!"  It was so sweet I wanted to bottle him up and open him on rainy days!

I didn't bring my camera b/c carrying one more thing in the dark was too much so you'll have to trust me that Gray would have just broke your heart with cuteness tonight!

Photos from earlier today coming tomorrow!

Happy Birthday America!

one for mary.

Just got home from this beautiful girl's senior session and had to post one photo for her before I run out to my next session... she is breathtaking don't you think?

why i love blogs.

Just kidding.

If I went through every reason why i love blogs we'd be here all day.

BUT one reason I love them is finding GREAT new ideas, emailing the creator of the idea to ask permission to USE said GREAT idea and getting a response like this:

go for it, i "stole" it from kim!  ha!

SO funny!

One of my photog friends, located in Austin (if you are in that area you HAVE to hire her... she's awesome!), Lyndsay Stradtner, had this idea on her blog last night and has "given me permission" to use it!

CUSTOM WALL LETTERS...

 

 I am in LOVE with this idea!

I am sending some in to print today so I can photograph the samples for you! Styrene is basically a kind of plastic so these 5in x 10in images would be perfect to set on a shelf or you can even use velcro to adhere them to the wall! I'm going to print smaller ones and clothespin them to the girl's curtains in their bedroom!!! SO CUTE!

The best part is that the color and the font is totally customizable so it's easy to do one with your family's last name to hang in your living room or one that says something simple like "family" or "love" or "laugh".

If you are a past client and want one with your images I will be offering a 25% discount for three days only! If you email me by Sunday July 5th you are able to receive the discount!

Email me for prices!

SO FUN!

the best night. the greatest family.

There are some people that come in to your life and you just know God sent them. Do you know what I mean? The friends that just get you and you can't live without. Your husband. Strangers that were there to help when you needed it most. 

I have some people like this in my life but not many. I don't think you can have that many people like that. They are there for a reason. They fill a void. People God just knows you need.

What is so interesting about my session tonight is that this family feels this way about ME. They feel that God brought me to them when they needed me most and that I was the perfect person for them at that time. (I say this only b/c they've said it to me, not b/c I am a huge ego-maniac!)

The best part though? It is really the other way around. 

They are truly an incredible family. And not just one part of them. ALL of them. I feel as if I've known them my entire life. In fact, if I could just be sucked into their family and be the fifth sister it would be so awesome. They are the most loving and giving family I have ever met. When one sister needs them they all drop everything to do her laundry or clean her bathroom or do her grocery shopping and care for her house or her husband or her dog or whatever. They buy each other make-up and clothes and furniture b/c they know each other so well and trust each other so completely they don't blink to hand over the credit card. 

It really is awesome.

And the blessings they have bestowed on me are still raining down so hard that I can't help but feel utterly undeserving.

I have seriously fallen in love with this family and felt so honored to be able to capture these four girls and their mom tonight... laughing. And happy. And joyful.

Maria, Sharon, Lisa, Julie and Barbara... thank you for tonight. Thank you for everything. And thanks for the ice cream!

  

My favorite! I am seriously in love with this photo! The lines are SICK! LOVE IT!

Thanks ladies! Truly. Thank you.

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Did I mention how many sessions I have this week? OMG. Seven sessions in six days. And maybe an extra one tomorrow of the daughter of one of the ladies from above!

I need to write a post soon about my life. About how two years ago we were barely surviving and just how much this business has blessed our life. About how I'm working really hard to find balance in my life and by hiring Angie I think I'm on the exact right path. About how AWESOME blogging is. Seriously. Awesome.

But that will all have to wait b/c it's 11pm and I have more work before I can call it a day!

shayne+dan

Thank you all for today.

I was up almost all night between work and not feeling well and the kids so when I started the day on 2 hours of sleep I wasn't sure how I'd make it, but the emails and comments and tweets and follows were seriously so amazing it carried me. I even showered and put a dress on b/c the day just felt special!

Fresh Art is so incredible for me and it was so great to finally share it with everyone! Newborns are where a lot of my passion lies and this is going to be the best ride of my life! Thanks to all who spread the word to their pregnant family and friends! Word of mouth is a seriously powerful tool and I'm blown away by what my awesome blog readers can do in a day!

Kim and I booked three sessions today! It was awesome!

And to end my awesome day I had a great session with our cousin Shayne and her fiance, Dan. I guess technically Shayne is C's cousin, but whatever. Details.

Shayne and Dan were up for anything so it was great b/c I could kind of play around. And they let me take them to one of my new favorite urban spots! And although they felt un-photogenic they TOTALLY weren't! I mean, how sexy does she look here?

And how cute is she fixing his tie?

And hello gorgeous!

LOVED that I found DAN on a wall!

The light+shadows here was perfect!

We found this B.... the start of his last name... and of course I made them stand next to it! I mean, duh! 

Thanks Shayne and Dan for tonight!

Oh wait.

I forgot my ABSOLUTE HANDS DOWN FAVORITE IMAGE from tonight...

I just love it!

Ok, thanks again everyone!!! Watch for lots of changes on the Jodified end of things too as I take away my newborn and maternity galleries on the website and add in a few new ones... Love Light anyone?

Good night!

the big announcement.

This has been a while in the making and I am SO excited to finally be able to share with you all what I've been working on!

Go HERE to check it out!

want a hint?

a peek at what's to come tomorrow!

summer.

BIG news coming tomorrow. I'm SO excited to finally announce my new endeavor!

In the meantime here are some random summer shots from around here...and I hate to admit that I really haven't taken many of my own kids b/c I've been so busy shooting clients...but I hope to change that in July!

Playing in the yard.

Parker hasn't changed since Christmas!

 

Modeling their 4th of July shirts made by the awesome Allison! (NO she is STILL not online so I can't link her!)

Such a funny face... but every time I manage to SEE her two different colored eyes it just floors me.

Since the Rodeo self-destructed we're down to my old car... can you believe we can SQUEEZE three kids on that seat? Anyone have any car shopping secrets? We are total IDIOTS when it comes to things like buying a car/mini van!

I love capturing the girls in outfits they've picked out themselves!

Just those crazy faces and awesome eyes again!

Yesterday at Daddy Day Care... I got home from a sweet newborn session to find Chris alone here with our kids, our best friend's kids and two neighbor kids! SEVEN TOTAL! Apparently he called my friend Angie and said, "I'm setting up the slip n' slide if you want to drop off the girls and go run errands or something..." HA! Angie didn't blink before running the girls over here! It was incredible! I mean, I would take anyone's kids if they needed me to, but I'm not sure I would willingly add more kids to the mix just for fun! He was amazing and the kids had a blast though!

This little man. He had his 12 month doctor visit yesterday and had FOUR shots and one finger prick for lead testing! I brought the girls along to give C a break and to help distract Grayson... during his shots they stood in front of him singing at the top of their lungs to drown out his cries... it was SO cute!

His stats, for the Grandma's... 23lbs,  60% in weight and 97% in height!

He also took ONE unassisted step this morning! Just one but that's a big deal in his little life! Way to go buddy!

TODAY: Chris has ALL THREE KIDS at the grocery store and although I feel kind of bad working here at home while I know he's in a tiny bit of hell right now, I did it so many times this year I couldn't help but let out a small evil laugh as they all walked out the door! HA! Today is the one day this week i don't have a session so I am working ALL DAY LONG until my Bible study tonight. It will be nice to catch up a little. A LITTLE. And check back here tomorrow for the BIG reveal! SO excited!

Have a great one!

laura+dane married.

The sweet sweet couple gracing my banner right now were married yesterday WAY out in the Missouri countryside at a beautiful location and even though it was hotter than hades I had an amazing time capturing their wedding day for them!

Thank you Laura, Dane and all of your family and friends for making me feel so welcome!

I will fill you in on more details later... for now the sneak peek before my eyes close for good tonight!

Oh tilt-shift... how I love thee.

This old motel was awesome!

I love this shot of Laura's mom and dad. And this next one of Dane's...

So cute!

Ahhh tilt-shift. Seriously.

Oh man. I might just really be loving the whole WEDDING part of my job lately!

Hope you all had a great weekend!

ps... I really hope all the blog lurkers i met yesterday comment tonight! HA!

our atelier.

We love our house. We're renters but we love this house and all of it's quirks. It's an OLD farmhouse in a great area. Because it's OLD the layout is totally random and although it looks quite big on the outside, b/c the layout is so funny there really isn't that much space to work with.

So even though in the beginning we set up the house like normal people, over the last three years I've started to really USE our space instead of caring what is NORMAL. Like you know, having a table in your dining room and things like that.

I also want to mention the fact that we have never bought a regular priced piece of furniture. Actually, we've only bought one piece of furniture ever and that was a massive coffee table from Pottery Barn right after our wedding when the $1000 gift certificate was burning a hole in our pockets. It was on sale and it was big and it was awesome and now it lives in our basement. Anyway, I mention this b/c we don't have a lot of money so I have been forced to become seriously creative with my decorating. The biggest purchase I have made for decorating in the last three years was just this week and I bought some frames and a couch slip cover. Wow. So as you look at the photos today take into account that everything was either a yard sale purchase or given to us or picked up on the side of the street for free!

Anyway, so now that I don't think of our rooms as they were intended it has been amazing b/c we USE our house. Every single square inch for something useful. And the biggest thing to go was the dining room. It dawned on my one day that we NEVER used it. Oh, we have people over for dinner every once in a while and we also have beautiful china I used to have on display but it was, for the most part, a big room that was used rarely. And I like to LIVE in my space so about a year ago we took the table out and made it a craft room. And finally yesterday I finished some projects for that room that have been on my TODO list for far too long.

AND I took photos this morning and will walk you through the pieces of this room, our ATELIER if you will, and explain my thinking or planning or thoughts behind all of it.

So take this as a warning... this is a BIG post with LOTS of photos!

This is looking at one side of the room from the living room. This room is between the kitchen and living room. It has a beautiful bay window and gets GREAT light (too harsh this early in the am though!).

To the right of the kitchen door. I hung the chalk board low so the kids, even gray, could color at will. The paint palette is my old one and i just love it. The little blue bookcase was mine as a child and is now their writing center.

A better photo (kind of since the sun was streaming in, sorry) of the writing center... this has everything for WRITING. Next to it in that white container are Gray's balls to play with... it's nice to have toys for him in there.

My buffet and most coveted piece in our house. It came from a hundred year old house and was the garage work table. I painted it years ago and this HEAVY thing has been in every dining room... can you tell I actually LOVE the shabby look? HA! Anyway, storage underneath, the drawers hold random things and unfinished projects, the tray on top holds mail and my writing/cutting/punching supplies. We use this for drying artwork too.

Ok, maybe THIS is my most coveted piece! Again, taken, for free, out of an old house and painted+distressed. It looks beautiful with our china in it but it makes me happier holding my craft supplies!

Looking back towards the living room, this cabinet was bought for $3 at an estate sale and holds all of our paints.

I got this idea from my friend Sara and bought cheap 5x7 frames at Walmart to frame the kid's artwork. LOVE this addition to the room!

I labeled what I could b/c Bailey is working on letter recognition and reading will come next. It also helps baby-sitters know where things go!

Art supplies I don't mind them getting into themselves... foam stamps for paint, glue, glitter glue pens, markers, playdoh, crayons, foam stickers and colored pencils.

My supplies easy to get to... and I want to mention the mail on the cake plate. YES I could just put the mail on the tray, but I need things to be cute and to me this makes all the difference. I literally live for using things EVERYDAY that I love and I mean seriously, how many cakes do I make a year?

 This little metal envelope I found somewhere for $5 (the sticker is still on the back!) and it's hanging next to the writing center so they can play MAIL, a favorite game!

The writing center...

Holds loose leaf paper, pens, pencils, #2 pencils, card stock, lined notebooks, stamps/stamp pad, stickers (lots of letter stickers) and little notebooks.

Bailey can write all of her letters and both girls LOVE to "write" in notebooks... as they get older this will evolve into hand written story books and journals I hope.

 A random corner next to the big buffet table... the bottom box is literally thousands of photos printed and loose. This is a project that will haunt me for years! The red container is one I love and has no use right now and the black box holds all our ribbon/string/twine/hemp. Poster board is behind and big construction paper is next to it.

The shelves in my "china cabinet"... random things+my glue+things for the girls to glue.

Binders full of ideas or kid's artwork (by year), my journals, baby books, quote books, etc. The brown box on the bottom shelf holds my permanent markers... lots of randomness in my cabinets.

 TOP: baby book STUFF and the plastic container holds cards for the kids... for every holiday/birthday I buy each kid a card, write them a note, seal it and label the outside, "Grayson's First Birthday, 2009" and when they are older I will give them all to them.

MIDDLE: My paint brushes, shaving cream (used for lots of painting projects), contact paper, tissue paper, paper dolls, paint tins, Magic Nuddles (we LOVE these), etc.

BOTTOM: Felt, embroidery floss, pipe cleaners, clay tools and my old TAPES I just can't part with!

Last cabinet... sand paper in one of my favorite pitchers (AGAIN, how often am I going to use a Pottery Barn glass pitcher around my three kids?), the girl's paint brushes and other paints, random projects.

Because this post can't get any longer, I'm going to share some of the projects in there...

There are ten of these papers, one for each number...

and the girls have to match the correct colored heart to the square. Great for Parker right now as we're working on colors AND counting.

  Black paper in a baggie with chalk... great for doctor office visits!

I glued sticks to make a square and a triangle... they have to recreate them using the loose sticks... both girls like this but it's more for P's age (2).

An old muffin tin holds Boogle and Scrabble pieces... we use them to talk about letters and make up little games.

Things to glue.

We use the old Boogle container for button sorting!

I love garage sales b/c I find the most random things.. this bag of lollipop sticks for $0.25! We glue and paint with these.

 

Just had to share one last thing... this was an antique spice rack we got as a wedding gift and since I DO NOT cook enough to have this amount of spices I decided early on that we would collect sand or rocks from every trip we take and keep them here. Sad that we haven't been anywhere... but there are some rocks from Mount Spokane we got the day before we moved away to remember our time there and in August there will be Florida sand! Wanted to share this idea b/c I think someday it will be really fun to look at... if we can ever afford to travel!

Oh, and if you were wondering about the numbers.. I am kind of obsessed with letters and numbers that represent our family... we have a lot of A's in the house for Allen, tons of the kid's first letters and I've started collecting the number FIVE since there are 5 of us. Anyway.

OK! WHEW!

Did that overwhelm you? HA! So that is our dining room/art room/creative space/school room/ATELIER... which is a term I learned HERE (a blog you should all check out if this kind of thing interests you!)

I love it. Just BEING in there makes me happy. And I love how much the girls love it... how it allows them to just CREATE whenever they want. I hope they end up loving art as much as I do! Does anyone else have a space like this in their house?