Today, Raine and Ezmah joined me. It was good for all of us to get some quiet, still air, after our busy weekend.
Archive for the 'family' Category
Yesterday I made my first batch of homemade laundry detergent and it’s awesome to say the least! There’s been a lot of talk about this incredible recipe and I’m always on a perpetual hunt to save money and live minimally, so I found myself grating a bar soap like a piece of cheese in my studio. It’s truly so so easy. I think I’m going to teach my kids and have them do it next time! If you’re interested in making this lovely concoction yourself, here’s what you’ll need:
- One 4lb box of Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda (found in the laundry aisle)
- One 4lb box of Borax (again….found in the laundry aisle)
- One bar of Fels-Naptha soap (from the laundry aisle)….you can use ANY bar of soap…this one just works best for laundry.
- OPTIONAL: 1 box of baking soda any size. I only add this if I have it!
The most time consuming part of this entire process is grating the bar of soap. Simply use a cheese grater (don’t be afraid to get it dirty because….well…it’s soap!). All you need to do is combine the ingredients into a 5 gallon tub of your choice. I transferred mine into a smaller (read: cuter) jar for my laundry room.
Simply add about a tablespoon to your load of laundry and voila! I’ve heard rumors that this stuff will last you anywhere from 8-12 months. And I can vouch that it cost less than $15 for the ingredients. Let me know if you try this OR if you have a better recipe (that I will have to wait 9 months now to try).
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Here’s a link for a liquid detergent that’s very similar to mine. Except that it seems to stretch even farther! hoozah! Thanks Christiana for the heads up.
It’s December and it’s nearly sixty degrees. So my children will play outside. all. day.
I’ve equipped them with a basket that contains the following:
1 old quilt1 drying rack
3 dowel rods
4 clementines
1 sling shot 1 rain stick 1 pair of sunglasses
3 planks of wood
1 plastic microphone
1 ball
We’ve had a pleasant holiday season in 2011. With friends, family, and belgian waffles, it couldn’t go wrong. We’ve vowed to not give our girls an abundance of toys and plastic, and this always results in a fun and cherishing Christmas morning! I hope your day was cheery and bright.
I’m having my first ever GIVEAWAY! If you go to my facebook page, Art by amberperrodin, “like” it and leave a comment, you will be entered to win a super cute, handmade OWL PILLOW of your choice!
BONUS: Get an extra entry for every friend you refer! Just have them state your name when they leave a comment on the page somewhere.
Winner will be announced Wednesday August 10th!
GOOD LUCK!
porcelain ornaments made from crepe myrtle branches!
{click the images to see prices}
a new etching {with watercolor}.
ezmah and i went for a walk this morning.
{with my new Nikon D3100}
i think we’d both agree that fall is our favorite time of the year.
two photos from the beach. i didnt take as many photos as i would have liked while on my recent trip to texas, but these were simple and beautiful to me. so, here i share.
{a play on words}
my beautiful baby is two today.
one of my newest etchings. i am quite fond of this piece because of the time and energy that it took to make it. I colored the children’s clothing with chine colle paper….5 pieces to be exact and then editioned it to 10! I have been holding out on showing this until the right moment….which i guess is now? hm
meet “boy” griesse whom has recently moved into the perrodin house. he actually belongs to our friends who just moved to germany and were unable to take him at this time. though a temporary move, we sure love him.
here is a drawing I completed several months ago. thanks to my husband introducing me to this about 5 years ago, I now appreciate and prefer the delicious taste of french press coffee.
OH, and if you haven’t noticed. I now have a “shop” tab here on my webpage.
we began our trip with a hike...
stayed in the sunshine...
swam in the stream...
made surprising discoveries....
explored abandoned mines....
took time to watercolor....
made plenty of camp fires near the cabin....
watched the wind blow....
checked out the area's public library...
discovered new species of plants....
roasted marshmallows......
and had our fair share of naps.
one spring morning.
pin the beard on the president. designed by raine.
cake made by mimi {& raine}. table cloth made from 25cent bandanas found at a thrift store.
raine wanted to have pies thrown in her face.
the donkeys, elephants, and independents all showed up to celebrate Raine’s seventh year of life! Raine picked the theme of “president party” {not sure where it came from} for her birthday, it was fun making this happen for her.
jonathan thought that making a coffee cup out of bronze was a much better idea than a cassette tape. i disagreed, but made him a coffee cup anyway and surprised him for christmas.
this is a starbucks cup cast in bronze. it weighs around 15 pounds.
i know its well into january now, but i have yet to show you all of our handmade christmas. this was raine’s gift to jonathan, her own version of a prayer book. she wrote three prayers for each day. i helped with the cover design, its a mock up of a page from the book of kells. jonathan says that this was his favorite gift.
here is a clay remnant of my portrait bust. i couldnt bring myself to simply trash my face along with the rest of the clay that it took to make myself.
a bust of myself. now what to do with it?
here it is! raine’s first published book, including 4 stories written and illustrated by herself.
this turned out fantastic. shes says that she would like to make more. so perhaps this is merely the beginning. im proud of her and inspired by her stamina…she worked diligently to make this book happen.
and of course, a special thank you to the papa that spent endless nights making this book happen!
a gift for jonathan.
he recently attended a performance (if you will) by michigan-based pastor, rob bell called “drops like stars”. at the end of the night, they passed out bars of soap encouraging individuals to essentially create a work of art with the soap.
so for christmas, i carved jonathan a tiny olive branch out of the soap he received, loaded with christian symbolism. the scroll beside it explains some of the connotations often sited with the branch.
kiki, ezmah's doll, is on the left {named after the incredible artist kiki smith b/c her hair reminded me of hers}, and libby on the right, was made for raine {jonathan named her}.
front
back
these toys were not only made with tons of love, and no money whatsoever, but with 100% recycled materials as well.
all the fabric, rick-rack, and ribbons were hand-me-down scraps from a gracious soul {probably circa 1980ish}, the dowel rods were simply found, the dolls are stuffed with plastic grocery bags (they remain really soft and you can’t hear the bags), the inside of the wands are supported by 6 circle cardboard pieces cut from the bottom of my canned chicken broth package (this was really nice because the perfect cirlces were already made by the indentions that the cans left).
and to boot, the girls love them, though raine has renamed her doll “sam”….