Life as we go it

I created Liam's 1st birthday invitations on Shutterfly this past week. I found a template that let me use all of the "month" photos I've been taking of him. It's pretty amazing to see how much he's grown over the past year! And I was able to put some of our favorite random photos of him on the backside.

Back side

Here they are, ready to be mailed out to family.

He was pretty serious today...

...until he stuck his tongue out!

We're going to make simple valances with this fabric...

...and simple curtains with this fabric.

After we're done making the curtains we're going to head over to my mom's house to eat her famous home made chicken noodle soup. And after dinner they can ogle over Liam for a few hours. 

My pastels have been waiting patiently, for three years.

I love picking out the colors I'm going to use.

The photograph that my friend picked out.

Mood lighting.

I broke out the good ol' pencil, eraser and ruler.

I drew the flowers onto a textured pastel paper.

All ready to start "painting" the chalk onto the paper with my fingers.

Butterfinger Bites make my work go smoother.

Wisconsin's weather has been very bizarre the last few days. It's late January and we're getting rain, thunder, lightning, wind, sleet and snow. One day it's 55 degrees, and the next day it's 9 degrees.

We actually had a small tornado whirl right through our living room this morning!

We are HUGE fans of eating soup in the wintertime. It's fairly easy to make, it warms your stomach on a cold night, and it warms your soul.

We made this soup a couple of weeks ago, and I've been thinking about it ever since. It's one of those recipes that makes my mouth water a little bit each time I think about it. 

In fact, we enjoyed it so much, I think we're going to make a big ol' pot of this for dinner at Liam's birthday party next month.

It has bacon in it. Need I say more?

I got this recipe off of a blog that I follow, so I need to give this lady props. The blog is The Gourmand Mom. Here's a link to the recipe: http://thegourmandmom.com. 

This soup is the perfect balance of salty, earthy, creamy, smoky goodness.

Here's a photo of the soup we made, and a 'Bremser' version of the recipe:

We made it in a dutch oven...

• 1 pound bacon, chopped
• 1 small onion, finely diced
• 1 teaspoon garlic, minced
• 1 (15-ounce) can kidney beans, drained
• 1 (15-ounce) can garbanzo beans, drained
• 1 (15-ounce) can black beans, drained
• 1 (15-ounce) can cannellini beans, drained
• 2 (15-ounce) cans chicken broth (we used veggie broth and it turned out just fine)
• 1 bag (approximately 4 cups) baby spinach (we added extra spinach to make it healthier)
• Salt and pepper, to taste

I enjoy reading. At any given time I have about 15 magazines and 3 books sitting on a pile, ready to be explored.

But it's hard to find a solid hour to just sit down and immerse myself in a book or magazine.

I suppose I could crawl into bed right after Liam's asleep at night and read. But I choose to spend that quiet time with Matt.

And I could probably get some reading in while Liam takes his afternoon nap. But I choose to do laundry, pick up the house, shower, eat and do whatever else I need to do during that time.

Those books and magazines...they sit. Lonely and calling my name.

But I've devised a plan! A plan to open those pages.

Basically, I've started to place magazines everywhere in the house. On the kitchen table. On my nightstand. In the bathrooms. Near every sitting area. Everywhere. Yes, it looks a little messy and it can be annoying at times, but it works!

When I have reading material close by, it allows me to read little bits and pieces whenever I have time:

When Christmas rolls around every year I look forward to wrapping and decorating gifts for family and friends. About a month before Christmas I go out and buy new paper, new bows, new ribbons and tags. It gets expensive and I feel guilty for buying paper that's just going to end up in a landfill after the holidays anyways.

For the last few years I've thought to myself "I should really try green wrapping next year."By "green" I mean using household items that are laying around as my wrapping paper, ribbons and tags. I could use newspapers, comic strips and magazines for the paper. Old leftover ribbons, thread and buttons for decoration. And homemade tags using pieces of Christmas cards from the year before. Then I could finish the gifts with spray glitter, paint and stickers that are sitting in my crafting boxes.

The idea sounds fun, economical and green to me, but I highly doubt that I will actually do this next Christmas! You know how it is...you have every intention of baking cookies, putting up more lights than the year before and hand writing Christmas cards...but it's hard to find time to do it all.

So I did something ahead of time to help me with my "green" wrapping next Christmas. Liam and I sorted through our stack of received cards this week. About half would have ended up in our paper recycling bin, and the other half (the photo cards) I save in hopes of looking (laughing) at them in the future. But instead of half of them ending up in the recycling bin, here they are:

Liam's first trip to Florida

I think it's fair, when writing a blog, to allow a little bit of self-promotion!

I have limited edition giclee art prints for sale! They are high quality reproductions of two pastel paintings I completed at my art studio in Florida. Both are professionally printed on a lightly textured matte velvet fine art paper.

Both of these prints look nice above a couch, fireplace or bed. One of my customers has the tulip print hanging in their kitchen and it really brightens up the room.

These do make nice Christmas gifts. They are unique, made in the U.S. and you'd be supporting a local business/artist :)

If you're interested in purchasing one or have questions, please email me at pastelsbyerin@mac.com

'Two Roses' Print is signed and numbered. 16in x18in, can be framed in a standard frame $55 + shipping

'Reaching For The Sun' Print is signed & numbered. 17in x 28in, will need custom framing $75 + shipping