I am constantly, annoyingly-to-some-in-the-house taking photos of everything we do. Project-wise, I'm always intending to post them here...and y'all know how often I actually post. So many goatgirl projects never shared! (I know, you're dying...). Tonight, I'm actually taking action:
A quick synopsis of what living with the Goates is like. Or was like today.
**and then I went to sleep**
So,
yesterday...We add handwriting practice to our usual "practice time" (guitar for Audrey & reading for Marian), and the girls insist that I practice handwriting, too, and get me some calligraphy pens. My quick efforts do not impress me & I have plans (recommended Christmas presents: dip pen & inks. I don't need a kit: I have manuals & such...)
I also spend some time sketching ideas for my foray into block printing. Olive branch and flying dove.
Audrey (who usually shies from my crafty obsessions on principle) actually
asks if we can have craft time after practicing, because she wants to build a beach volleyball set for her Olympic seasonal table set up.
It's awesome.
(and she says she's not crafty! "Well, except for origami...")
Marian works on her
Wall-E and Eve sculpey figures, which have been sitting amid bits of Sculpey on the kids' craft table for over a week.
And takes photos of me. She did start to use the tripod after a couple of clicks, but...more practice.
I've been borrowing a friend's scroll saw for, um, a bit too long, and have yet another burst of wood-project-finishing so I can return it. I work on plans for a shelf I want to build for the nursery. I pull out the birch branches I brought back from a trip home to Idaho a couple of years ago and lay them out on the lawn with the Lowe's-aquired poplar plank that has been gracing our back porch for a week in waiting. I'm birch mad & have planned to use the branch segments for shelf supports for years.
Nathan gives me an engineering consult on my shelves' support issues. I head out to Lowe's to buy another poplar plank, and am now on my way to FRIDAYS ON THE LAWN. The others ride their bikes. Our family joins a couple of others for field fun, including Marian's favorite: kickball. Everyone plays, and she's totally wild about it.
(look closely: you can see Audrey on base in the background)
Las chiquitas and I did our first stamp/block carving yesterday. I bought some for-real linoleum blocks, but decided to start with a grayish sheet I bought from Dick Blick that is easier to carve. We each tried out our technique on the fancy erasers I bought at KMart first, then I tucked into my olive branch print. The carving was easier than I anticipated, but going back and trying to smooth out edges, especially on the tighter rounds of the olives, didn't work as well as I would have liked. The material "gave" too much as I pressed into it. I think the stiffer linoleum material will be nicer for that. But long curves were like butta' :). 
This particular material is supposed to be thick enough to carve stamps on both sides, but since the image I carved is so big, I mounted it on wood to give the stamp stability. I used a stamp pad to mark the pretty aspen, and the image was fairly clear, but the ink absorbed into the carving material almost too fast to use, and didn't wash off, either. I do have some lovely screenprinting inks to try when this transforms my new cloth napkins...
I think these might be inspiration for our next set of kid carvings. I think my ladies would love a bunch of stamps that can be used together in a scene (from the most recent angry chicken post).
(look closely: you can see Audrey on base in the background)
