Family Update

Now that I am on facebook, I tend to make my annoucements there and neglect my blog. I know not everyone is a "face-booker" so here's an update:

We sold our home recently. We went several weeks with plenty of showings and then one weekend got three offers with a rumor of a fourth. Even with that many offers we still didn't get quite what we had hoped but were relieved that the process would be nearing an end.

As for a new house, we are purchasing a house around the corner from us actually. It is very similar to our home, (almost the exact same floor plan upstairs) but has a full, finished, walk-out basement. The basement is really what sold us. It is spacious and light-filled, has a huge playroom among other things. The new house is 5 years older and is clean and well-kept but will need some TLC as far as the cosmetic things go. We'll have to wait a while before tackling a lot of that stuff but that is okay. We'll have more important things to worry about - like a new baby.

As far as the timeline goes for us, we close on our new house on June 1st. Then, the baby is due on June 22nd. It'll be quite a crazy period where I know I'll need tons of help since I won't be able to do a lot and won't want to risk going into labor early from over-doing it. But luckily, I have a lot of family and friends who have offered their help. We'll need it for sure.

So that is the update for our family for now. Lots of changes! We are definitley happy though to at least know now what the plan is. The time we spent wondering what was going to happen was a bit stressful...(okay a lot!)

Until next time...wish us luck on the move!

$5 Wall Art Tutorial

As part of our efforts to get our house ready to sell, we took down a lot of our more personal wall art like family pictures and decided to put something else up. One of my favorite things to do was to take ordinary art canvases and wrap them in fabric - wallah - cheap wall art....adds color and interest without being too personal and the best thing - it's quite easy and inexpensive.
If you want to make some inexpensive wall art - it's quite easy. I'm going to show how you can use the popular "freezer paper stencil" method to make your wall art. You can also skip the freezer paper stencil and just use preprinted fabric of your choice.

$5 WALL ART TUTORIAL!
Supplies Needed:
artist canvas (can be a cheapy one since you'll be covering it)
fabric (cut 2 inches larger than your canvas on all sides)
staple gun

if doing a freezer paper stencil design - add these items:
freezer paper (I purchased mine at Walmart by the waxed paper)
a design of your choice (you can find one or draw your own - or cut one from your Cricut - I found that you can cut freezer paper easily on your Cricut)
craft knife
cutting mat or thick cardboard
paint (I use plain acrylic)
iron


Cover your canvas with your pre-ironed fabric by putting the right side of your fabric facing the floor/table with the canvas face down. Make sure to cut your fabric 2" larger on each side. I bought a value pack of 16x20 canvases at the craft store so you would need to cut your fabric to 20x24. For this project, I used 2 16x20 canvases, wrapped separately.

Using a staple gun, start with one side of your canvas and put a staple in the center of that side. Then, pulling tightly (but not overly tight so that you over stretch your fabric) put a staple on the opposite side of the canvas as well, being sure to staple in the middle of the border line. Continue to staple on the two sides you started with until you have done about half of those sides, turning the canvas over every so often to check how things are going and make sure there aren't any ripples. You'll now want to repeat the intial steps with the top and bottom edges, working your way from the middle out until all you have left to staple are the corners.
There are lots of ways to do corners, but this one is my favorite because it seems easy and gives a good result. To do this corner, you basically make a right corner with one edge (like wrapping a present) and then do the same with the 2nd edge as you pull everything towards the center. Staple to secure.
Here is the finished wrapped canvas. I trimmed the excess fabric and it's not perfectly neat - but who cares because you won't see that when you hang it up. If you don't want to do a freezer paper stencil design...you would now be finished! Super Easy!


If you choose to add a freezer paper design:
A note about freezer paper - If you've never used freezer paper before - don't hesistate to try it. You can purchase a roll of freezer paper usually in the same aisle where you'd find waxed paper. Freezer paper is waxy one side and paper on the other. Someone figured out that you can iron the waxy side down to fabric and it sticks very well (but peels off neatly when you are ready), creating a great stencil method with sharper lines than traditional stencils.
Find a design that you would like to use. I did a google image search to find my design. I wanted it to be larger than what I could print on my desktop printer. You can either go to a copy store and have your image enlarged or if you have a Wii, you can access the world wide web and put it on your tv which acts as a projector of sorts. You can see here that I carefully taped my freezer paper to the tv and traced the image I wanted with pencil. (FYI - you want the pencil lines to be on the non-shiny paper side.) Otherwise you would take your print (either from your printer or the one you had enlarged at the copy store) and would trace the image onto your freezer paper. Holding your paper up to a light or window can be extra helpful when tracing. Carefully cut out your design using a craft knife. Be sure to use cardboard or a cutting mat underneath to protect your surface.
Here are my covered canvases that I am using for this project. You'll want to iron (on low-medium setting) your freezer paper to the canvas, waxy side down. It didn't stick as well as it would had I ironed the image onto the fabric first, before I wrapped it to the canvas. You could try doing that - but for me, since I was using two canvases, I wanted to make sure the image lined up the way I wanted. I did carefully go over, with an iron, the important design areas.
A
After you've ironed your freezer paper down, you are now ready to start painting. You can use more than one color of paint (I'd do one at a time and let each color dry before starting a new one) but for this, I'm just using a dark grey. The trick is to use just a little bit of paint to lightly cover the design. You want to avoid gloppy paint that will dry thick and possibly crack later when the fabric is stretched (especially if you or your kid is going to wear it). You can always add another coat. It is also important to work from the edges to the middle so that paint doesn't get underneath the edges, makes your lines less sharp.
After your paint has dried you are now ready to remove the freezer paper. You won't be able to re-use your paper stencil because it will likely come off in sections. But as you remove your paper, it will reveal your design!

Here is the finished design hanging on my wall...inexpensive wall art! Below are some more examples of the wall art using preprinted fabric. This was a great way for me to stage my house with some art and not break the bank.



Here you can see the giant canvas I have over my bed (my first fabric wrapped canvas I did a few years ago), and also a small square in my bathroom.

We're on the Market

BUY OUR HOUSE!

Life has continued its crazy course around here. I keep asking myself why I tend to go from one crisis to the next when I often roll my eyes at people who are "crisis-livers". Might I be a hypocrite??? No, no...Might I be in denial? Of course not! ;-)

Anyway, with the interest rates as low as the are, and with our being qualified for the "repeat home buyers credit", $6,500 tax credit if you buy a new home after being in yours for at least 5 (it'll be 7 in April), we started looking into purchasing a new home. I called a lender and got pre-approved to see what kind of $ we were looking at. Then, we started looking at homes and thinking about how to get our home ready for sale. One other reason to sell now is that there are more first time home buyers out looking, hoping to take advantage of the $8,000 tax credit.

Well, the last month has been nothing but getting our house ready for the market. Painting, organizing, going through things, replacing fixtures, cleaning, etc, etc, etc. And as Chris puts it, I'm only at a "30% capacity" with being pregnant and tiring easily, etc. With lots, and I mean LOTS of help from my family, we've been able to meet our goal of having our house on the market by Feb. 1st. It has been incredibly stressful, tiring and overwhelming.

Call us crazy, but we're going to give FSBO a try. That's how we bought our house and it went smoothly. I realize there are quite a few things to think about come contract time so luckily we have at least one offer to help us with our contract. The other overwhelming thing is that we have no idea where we are going. So far, I don't love any of the homes we've looked at so we're putting a lot of faith in this and hoping/praying that everything will work out.

Marketing is the number one thing we have to do since the local MLS is not an option. We've put ads in the paper and online and I've created a blog to direct people to to get more info and to see pictures.

Check out our house blog and let me know what you think! Also, feel free to wish us good luck as we try to get this thing sold. 1808 Goodell Ct

Spilling the beans

October was the busiest/craziest/most painful month I can remember.
Here's what I'm saying:
Since the "cat's out of the bag" I might as well "spill the beans" and let everyone know that we have a "bun in the oven". Come June we'll be a family of 5.

I'm a couple months along but through the course of the last couple weeks of being in and out of the hospital and needed the support of others, the news has trickled out. I might as well share what we're going through. The "in a nutshell" version: Had my gallbladder removed - baby is doing fine.

The longer version:
October - I had tons of photo sessions booked and was doing 2-4 or even 5 sessions a week. Way too much. Then I started getting horrible pains off and on for 3 weeks. In the middle of all of this, we traveled to OKC to visit my Grandma and go to a U2 concert - more "attacks" along the way. We couldn't quite figure out what was going on. Got home, made an appointment with the docter (again). Found out I was pregnany. Had our annual Bunko party the day after that, then lots more stuff to keep us busy that weekend. Two days later, even more horrible pain - went to ER. The admitted me but then the surgeon said he'd rather not operate until further along in pregnancy or even all the way through. He was hoping we could control it. Two days later - the most horrible pain in my entire life - worse than labor, worse than anything I could imagine.
Chris had just left for work. I called him before he even got out of our neighborhood and told him he better come back. Called my sister in law, Gaia, over and we rushed to the hospital but didn't make it. We got a few miles and I couldn't breathe, was in worse pain, vomitting uncontrollably. I called 9-1-1 to ask what they thought we should do and they wanted us to pull over. We stopped at a fire station that happened to be nearby and they had been listening to the radio and were already on their way out. Waited what seemed like forever for the ambulance to get there. Chris said I sounded like a drug addict because I kept begging them to give me something for the pain. I knew which drug I could have during pregnancy and kept asking for that. I even told the paramedics to stop talking to me - they kept asking me questions and stuff and I couldn't take it. What an ordeal! We made it to the hospital, got the pain relieved, consulted with the surgeon and OB and I was admitted and scheduled for surgery the next day. They took extra precautions for me since I was early in my pregnancy. I'm actually very thankful I have the OB I have and also thankful for my great surgeon. He even got teary eyed talking about how he wanted to make sure everything went well in my pregnancy. We really had no other choice but to operate. I couldn't go my whole pregnancy with this pain - and it would actually but my pregnancy and my health at a higher risk of infection, becoming septic, etc. if they didn't do the surgery.
It was horrible being in the hospital but I knew I didn't have to worry about my kids - they were in the good hands of my family. I'm so grateful for that. I had to cancel three photo sessions and felt bad about that - but soon realized it wasn't that important and everything would have to be okay.
Life is starting to get back to a new normal but I have to take things slow for obvious reasons.
I'm so thankful to be blessed with this pregnancy. I know some people wait until much later in pregnancy to let the world know but considering the circumstances I feel I might as well share what we're going through. If something were to happen, why not have support to get through it, right?
Anyway, that is the story for now.

Fall Photography

It's been a few months now since I officially "launched" LGP, aka Lori George Photography. Above is what the front of my business card looks like - printed on a cool pearl paper.

I'm offering a Fall Booking Sale since fall is such a perfect time to take pictures. I've been learning quite and bit and realize that it definitely takes a lot of work - but the payoff in terms of working with great people and families and seeing how happy they are to see their photographs is all worth it!

How am I doing so far? Check out my site if you haven't been there in a while - become a fan if you'd like and I think it will keep you posted on updates.

Labor Day & Butterflies

We spent our Labor Day relaxing (well, actually I think we cleaned the house in the morning - but whatever) and went to a local farm to check out their Butterfly Bio-Villa.
Here's a slideshow -click to make bigger.

Finished Projects & Inspiration

I've finished a few projects in the last few months that I thought I would document. Here's a shirt I made for Ava - it's been sitting almost done for a while now - finally got it completed. Here's the pattern I used: B4176 from Butterick.

The wood block projects below are ones I made recently to take to a Super Saturday or Craft Day planning meeting for church. The date of Super Saturday is going to be later than I thought (mid-Nov) so the "spooky" and "harvest" ones won't really work but the "joy" should be okay. Click on the words to see where I stole my ideas from (thanks to Kathleen for making me aware of them).

Here's a little something I made a few months ago that has already been getting some use. It's a crayon roll. I used this tutorial and made them for our preschool graduating class.

Here's a quilt I made for myself after wanting one for a long time. The backstory: My grandmother in Oklahoma has a super-soft flannel quilt at her home. On one of our trips I discovered it and used it to sleep with. I fell in love with it - so soft and comfortable. I swore I slept better just by having that quilt. I put the idea in the back of my mind to make one. The inspiration: (Ava's all snuggly and cozy after a nice bath).

A couple years later, I finally did it. I've been enjoying it for several months now and it's ALL mine. The kids want it, the dogs want it and even my husband has tried to steal it a few times. Sure, I'll share it sometimes, but really - IT'S MINE!!! ;o)

And if you read my poorly updated blog - you've seen these. Ribbon rings for my girls.
I made these - very cheap, very easy.

Here's the inspiration: rings at the Children's Museum in Denver (although I'm sure others have seen others). My girls loved playing and dancing with them so I snapped a picture and thought, "I could make that"...and I actually followed through (a year+later).

I like working on projects, sure...but I like completing them better. Sometime people like the process...I tend to enjoy the product more. (well, usually) ;)

Photography

I've finally updated my photography blog with pictures from my last few sessions - be sure to check them out and let me know what you think. Like what you see? Become a FAN by clicking on the FAN link on Lori George Photography.
Later...more of my own family updates to come.
http://lorigeorgephotography.blogspot.com/

Cute or What?

Something New

Don't you hate it when people NEVER seem to update their blog?? Here's a pic from this week - I made the girls ribbon rings - may they dance like princesses and ballerinas.

Also, my youngest brother, Eric leaves next week to go on a 2-year mission for our church. Before he leaves, we wanted to get a family photo. It'll be interesting to see how this photo will compare to the next one in two years.

10th Anniversary Getaway

Ava's 4th

For Ava's 4th Birthday we practically had a birthday BONANZA! For breakfast, we all went to the "Donut Store" for a birthday donut. Then, we said goodbye to Daddy as he headed off to work. We swung over to Grandma's house, picked her up and went to toy store downtown. Ava got to pick out a couple of things. After the toy store, we went to Ava's favorite bakery for some "chip bread". We had lunch and watched a movie at Grandma's.

Mommy's back was hurting so we had some rest time and then headed back home. Mommy got a few things done and then we met some family and Daddy at the movie theater to see "Up!". This was Ava (and Elise's) first ever movie! Ava was so, so, so excited. The girls did great in the movie. Elise was wiggly and Ava scared at times but it was a great experience overall.

After the movie, we went to the "pie restaurant" for dinner and some pie. We invited Grandma and Grandpa to meet us there. I then won Ava a teddy bear, first try, out of the mechanical arm toy. If you hear about this last year, you'll know that now Ava will likely expect a toy every time.

Talk about over-indulgence! Oh well -what else are birthdays for?

10 YEARS!

Happy 10 Year Anniversary, CHRIS!

BLOG-A-THON

9 NEW POSTS! (10 if you count this one).
A lot more than photography has been happening around here so I thought I'd try to do some major catching -up...at least for me if for no one else. :) I think I'm caught up for the most part - YAY!

Our Backyard River

MAY 15th, 2009 - this is what our backyard looked like today during a major downpour. It actually got worse than this for a little while.

I know there's a name for it but I can't think of it - but it's when a channel is cut by the water to create a new path. That's what happened in this picture. The water was flooding in through from our neighbors yard through our strawberry patch - the channel actually doubled in size a few minutes after I took this picture.

We had hail also but the water is what mesmerized us. The river in our yard is actually a good thing because it keeps the water flowing right out of yard (and into our neighbors, right? - but then to the street and drains). We'd just never seen it quite like this.

Deanna Rose Farmstead

(MAY 2009)
This past week for playgroup we went to Deanna Rose Farmstead for a fun day with kid activities and farm animals to see. It was PACKED. I've never seen so many preschoolers and kindergarteners in life! I got panicked a few times when I couldn't see one or both of my children. I about lost my mind (which I know isn't that hard for people who know me to imagine.)
Overall we had a fun time with friends. The ultimate best thing we did was feed the little baby goats bottles of goat's milk formula. It was so fun watching the girls figure out how to feed these goats while managing the other goats moving in on the one getting fed, etc. Check out the slideshow for more. Click on it to enlarge.

Elise on Wheels

Even though we've told 'em a hundred times that the stroller is for baby doll's - they still can't seem to resist going for rides. This was too funny not to take a picture of. When I first saw Elise, it looked like she was in a little wheel-chair.

:o(

Preschool "Tea" Party

For the past two years, we have been participating in a Mommy's Preschool where each of us three moms takes turn teaching preschool once a week at one of our homes. This day was a special day. We decided to have a tea party where the girls could all dress up and have "fancy" foods. Siblings and mommies were also invited.
First, Amanda taught the girls some table manners.

Then, they got to have some finger foods: little cut-out sandwiches, fruit on toothpicks, pickles, olives, deviled eggs and cookies for dessert.

They didn't care so much about the food - but LOVED the "tea" - which for our purposes was lemonade. They got to pour their own from mini-teapot and then drink up. Elise looks so grown up in this picture.

Elise was particularly excited about the lemonade and drinking from such a big cup. It took her a while to figure out which side of the cup to drink from - hence the "bib" and completely soaked dress underneath. ;) Oh what fun though! We went through lots of "tea".

Ava had a fun time too and enjoyed wearing her pretty dress.

I think the tea party was a success - look at all of those pretty girls (and one handsome boy).

Easter 2009

April 2009

With Easter approaching, the kids participated in a few egg hunts - the first being a Mom's Club one that my neighbor friend invited us to.

Aunt Gina came down one day and we colored lots of eggs.

Elise was pretty amazed. She did a great job of making a mess - a trademark of hers.

This became known as the "monster hand". It stayed fairly green for a couple of days. We'd ask her to show us her monster hand and she knew just what we were talking about and often included some "scary" sound effects.

Ava was a little more into the process this year so we got some stickers and other things out to personalize our eggs.

Gina hid some eggs out in our front yard for the girls to find.

Elise is particularly attached to Aunt Gina and was very sad when she left. She kept coming up to me and saying, "Gina gone!" and was sad.



EASTER MORNING
Easter morning was nice - the girls woke up and saw that the Easter Bunny had indeed rememebered to hop by.

The Easter Bunny knows how to keep it real and not go overboard at our house...although the girls got some fun things including a movie, books, ONE thing of candy each, and a few little toys.

DRESSES

I don't care what anyone says - I like to dress my little girls in matching outfits. :) I made these dresses for them as part of a sewing class by my friend Kathleen and finished them in time for them to be the girls' Easter dresses.
Easter Sunday we went to church in the morning, came home for some rest time and then celebrated with extended family in the late afternoon/evening.

We were able to snap a few pictures of ALL EIGHT of my parents' grandchildren. Can you tell which ones are from the same family? Four sets of parents: one with three, two with two and one with one.