Summertime is Playtime

Childhood is lived for summertime at least that's how I feel about it. The carefree simplicity of it, gosh what I wouldn't give for those kind of lazy days. For now it's off to work, but first I have to drop Liberty off at day care then on my way home I have to swing by the store because Liberty is out of milk again. It doesn't stop there, once home I have to straighten up the house a bit, make sure the dirty dishes are in the dishwasher, then finally I get to go through the mail and at least once a week write out a bill or two. When that's all said and done then I move on to getting Liberty ready for bed and I don't know if you know any two year olds but I'm here to tell you that you are not going to tell them anything, it is all in their own sweet time, so getting her to bed is, at this point, a chore. Then, oh yeah there's more, if I have anytime in my two very short days off that doesn't involve running a half a dozen errands, I still have to get the laundry done, get the house 'actually' clean and still manage to get me, my daughter, and my husband some sort of dinner; all the while trying not to lose my mind because I couldn't find anytime left to do some scrappin'. Chaos I say but is there any other way in this day and age? Maybe but in the meantime I have visions of Liberty with her curls caught up in pigtails, running through a field of wild flowers, laughing as we play chase. I catch her in a clearing and we roll tangled up to the ground. Once down we settle and play 'I spy' in the clouds, back dropped with the brillant blue of sky.

I am a midwestern girl married to a midwestern boy but if ever given the chance I'll make a break for the coast. Water flows through me, it's in me bones, deep in me soul. I ofter wonder what it would be like to live on the coast, would I be more or less frustrated knowing that the beach is right there and still not be able to get to it that often. I can see Liberty & I walking along side by side collecting sea shells and sharing easy conversation, or maybe takin' a quick dip and then letting the sand warm our toes, who knows. Maybe one day I'll take her to a special place on the Oregon coast where Bill & I made a simple promise to each other. Until that day, we try to live in the moment and create our own fun. Liberty loves her new but very tiny toddler pool and I of course live to scrap so here's a few pictures to show how we like to play.

Liberty is all smiles as she stomps to make a splash - such fun!

The water was a bit cold even for June!

I think I scored big with the pail even though the water's to cold to get in, it is not to cold to play with

As for me, I worked on this project towards the end of June and I think it turned out great. I have wanted to try the cigar box thing so this was my take on it. I used a wooden cigar box purse that I bought @ Hobby Lobby then I painted it with gesso so that if I had decided to paint further it would go on equally. After the gesso dried I decided to stick with the beachy look and just altered it from there with stamps on the top of the lid and some paper embellishments; then on the inside lid I used a cork sheet and made a mini bulletin board. The colors are teal blue and almost a brick red and not my typical style of mix but it works well together, the final outcome is that it now holds a lot of my mini books.

This is the beginning of the process still, the top of the lid was done but not attached yet with the hinges, and the inside of the lid wasn't complete yet

This is a look at the inside of the lid, the red square you see is actually cork board that I dry brush painted with red acrylic paint.

This is what the top looks like. I have it displayed set open with mini books so the top is not visible but if ever I need to take it with me, I can because it is actually a purse.

Now here is what the final product looks like put together. I had originally planned on putting the handle back on but the one it came with ended up in the trash and the one I bought to replace it didn't fit in the holes that were already there so I improvised and filled the existing holes with silver mini brads and I think I like it better this way, makes it more of a storage box than a purse. I'm ok with that! That's it for now.