Fiskars: Family Shadow Box

i recently had the pleasure of creating my version of a family shadow box for a Fiskars assignment and the final result makes me ridiculously happy! 

the project started with pieces from the Tim Holtz Idea-ology Printers Tray. you can read more details on the process in my tutorial over there (Family Shadow Box tutorial), but we are limited to the amount of photos that can be shared in a tutorial, so i wanted to use this space to share all the detail shots of the shadow box.

 i had gobs of fun shopping my supplies to come up with a unique collection of things that represent and are significant to our family. lots of symbolism in my choices.  like above, you see the W4 scrabble tile = W for Willis, 4 for family size. you also see the 'a' and 'e' = my girls' initials and a pink #2 = 2 girls.

4 corked bottles, again, symbolism for our family of 4, with three paper roses for myself and the two girls.

and a more masculine flower standing strong to represent my husband.

i wish i would have taken a photo of the tag holding these roses before cutting it to size to fit in this compartment.  it was a sweet manilla shipping tag with some lovely white lace wrapped around and the paper roses on top. something my friend special friend sherry handmade and gifted to me.  so it's extra special knowing it will live forever in this little spot to represent my family.

even though the base of my project is constructed from the boxes that rest inside of a Tim Holtz Idea-ology Print Tray, you don’t need to use this specific tray as your shadow box base. these are just heavy-weight chipboard/paper mache type compartments. if you prefer something with more stability, antique stores and flea markets are both great places to hunt for wood based printers trays or knick-knack boxes that will be perfect for this project.

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photo share: celebrating freedom

we kept with our usual 4th of July tradition again this year and headed over to Groveport to enjoy the mid-afternoon parade.  we weren't entirely sure that all the festivities would continue as Groveport had been without power for a few days prior because of the storm that blew through.  and actually part of the town was even out as the parade went one.

but, this parade is by far our favorite and wouldn't be missed unless it was officially cancelled.

some of the girls' cousins met at our house and followed us over while other cousins met us there.

doesn't this photo just melt you?  this is my step-brother Greg and his oldest daughter who is just ADORABLE!  she's quite the pro at this parade stuff by now---waving and collecting candy is her speciality.

it looks like a beautiful day, but it was HOT, HOT, HOT!  any more hot we would have poo-poo'd tradition and just stayed home.

when the cousins arrived to the house, i had just gotten done fixing the girls' hair into messy buns and spraying it with hair color that i stocked up on for 10 cents a can after halloween.  even at 7 and 10, my girls still love to dress up and find any excuse to dig into their costume bucket.

so, of course, the cousins needed a makeover too and aunt tania was happy to oblige!

only thing was.....it was so hot at the parade that when they were sweating their spray was melting off and dripping down their faces. it was a hot mess!

not sure what i did differently for my girls because for the most part their spray stayed put. i'm thinking maybe i sprayed theirs with hairspray afterward?  i dunno.

anywho. whatever it was that kept it in their hair, i'm thankful for, because this photo above is my new favorite!  i'm determined to get it printed on a large canvas before too long. the colors are so vibrant and their personality really shines through.  and spidergirl's big brown eyes just melt me! (click the photo to see it bigger!)

suzi lives in town and snagged us some super awesome seats, then spoiled the kids with goody bags filled with glowsticks, necklaces, sparklers, ring pops, and bubbles.  she's awesome like that.

and this little girl is my husband's sister's little girl.  she's quite shy when it comes to having a camera in her face, so i was extra giddy to have captured this photo of her!  for those of you who have been readers for a while, you think what we all think-----boy does she ever look like ashlyn did as a baby!  it's really unbelievable how much alike they look at this age.

and this is the same little girl up above waving at the parade passing by. gosh, she's beautiful!

of course, ya'll know, this is spidergirl!  sporting zebra sunnies and two missing front teeth.  she really wants her teeth to grow in before vacation.  i'm quite fond of that gap and hope it stays a while longer.

this is another one of doug's sister's kids....her oldest.  he's 6 weeks older than spidergirl, but she has about 20 lbs on him and a good 5".

my blonde beauty looking a bit like Marg Simpson, LOL.

these days, spidergirl is quite annoyed by my camera for the most part. she'd much rather blow bubbles than smile for me.

well, hello, suzi-Q! 

okay.......i have more, but my blogging time for the day has run out and i have to tend to some other things.

more soon.....

gorman heritage farm sunflower festival...

as i mentioned in another post, we like to spend a good portion of every saturday outdoors during the month of october. a few weeks back we spent our time 90 miles south of here at the gorgeous Gorman Heritage Farm tucked away in the middle of a busy town in Evendale, Ohio.

we have a favorite local heritage farm closeby that i've blogged about many times before called Slate Run Historical Farm, but what lured me to this particular farm was their annual Sunflower Festival. i loooooooove me some sunflowers. they're my favorite flower, for sure.

the farm has several areas of interest and is fun for all ages. had it not been so cold and windy, i know my girls would have spent much more time in the Children's Garden, digging and planting, picking and pulling. they love that kind of stuff and this area was perfect for that.

but the wind was bitter cold so we made sure to keep our bodies moving up the hill and around the cornfield to find the farm and other activities. that's when doug and ashlyn found the popcorn stand and emma became fascinated with the cloggers clogging to one of katy perry's songs. but then they gathered all the kids that were watching and did a round of the chicken dance.

emma loves to dance. ashlyn, not so much.

after dancing and stuffing their faces with popcorn, they headed over to the chicken coop and got to hear stories from my childhood about collecting eggs at grandma's house. they learned that the blue spotted ones are those that are laying eggs.

but really, they were just interested in polishing off that bag of popcorn. LOL.

this one seamed to follow us every where we turned.

then we made friends with the billy goats. well....three of us did. spidergirl wanted nothing to do with them as you can see. which is so odd because she's normally not my fearful child. these sister reversed roles for the day, i suppose.

with permission from the farm hands, ashlyn lured them over to her with handfuls of popcorn, telling her the whole time..."see they won't hurt you....they won't bite."

spidergirl got brave and had her own handful of popcorn ready to feed them, but just as they started to eat from her hand, she tossed the popcorn.....

and stood up tall wanting them to get away. (this photo of her is a new favorite! irresistibly CUTE!)
but ashlyn, she was like the animal whisperer during this farm visit. she has such a sensitive and tender heart. i'm so thankful that we're seeing more and more of her personality and less and less of her anxiety.

after spending a fair amount of time with the goats we made our way to the barn where ashlyn romped on the bales of hay and made friends with the horse, while spidergirl was obsessed with hulling and grinding corn to make feed for the chickens.

and then............
we made our way over to the ginormous field of sunflowers. and my heart skipped a beat.

we grabbed ourselves a pair of snippers and started picking out our favorites and snipping them off for just 50 cents a stem! 50 cents! AWESOMESAUCE.


we snipped a bouquet for home and then the girls picked their favorite bloom to take in to their teachers.doug snipped sunflowers while i snapped photos. it was breathtaking. i seriously have never seen anything like it.


there were two photographers there honing their technique that i had a nice little conversation with. you better believe i asked one of them to take a family photo. :)

i couldn't get over how beautiful this not-yet-bloomed sunflower was in the midst of a field of blooms. there's a deep life analogy just hidden in this photo......late bloomer.....bursting with potential......ya know.

the rest are just some of my favorite photos.........um, EVER. i look at these and see just how truly blessed we are. despite all the trials, and despite all the medical crap we've had to deal with. despite all the shortcomings and despite all the failures, we still press on and put one foot in front of the other. with smiles on our face, even. the resilience we've been given is nothing short of amazing.




don't get me wrong.......life is still crazy! but these weekend outings are nourishment to my soul and keep reminding me just how blessed we are.

(ps....if you're local and you're looking for sunflowers, i found out the day after we went to the farm that there is a sunflower field (4 acres big, i think) at Circle S Farms in Grove City....it's actually a sunflower maze---like a corn maze, just through a sunflower field instead. not sure if they let you cut stems though.)