The Small Fancy’s theme this week is “favourite song lyric”. I’m sure there is a lyric out there that is more of a favourite than this one, but this is what jumped in my head and wouldn’t get out.
Category: Life
my days
february fox sightings
In our backyard…
In books we are reading…
and at the Confederation Library.
letting go
Pretty much every week I wish I had more time to work on my Small Fancy comic. Some weeks I don’t think there is any way it will get done in time. This was one of those weeks. There was a car accident, a 5 year old with an ear infection, a baby with some sort of nasty stomach flu and bark-y cough, throw in a sick husband and there was little time for drawing.
This is what I managed to get done this week. It is far from what I had hoped to do, but I am trying to let go of what I think things should be and just be happy with what they are. I’m finding each week my Small Fancy comic is a lesson in this.
iron-on fun
This year for Sosi’s birthday party loot bag we decided to do something a little different. We set up a craft table for the kids to each do a drawing. We scanned each drawing, printed it onto iron-on transfer paper and then ironed them onto a t-shirt for them to each take home (luckily we had my folks here to lend a hand to the assembly line).
It turned out to be so much fun. In all the mayhem I totally forgot to take pictures… which is really too bad because each kid’s t-shirt turned out so great! All so different and unique. I think they were all really happy and proud of the results.
I’ve been a little obsessed with iron on transfers lately. I’ve had a package of them for probably 10 years that I’ve always wanted to use, but never got around to it. This year I took the plunge! We made t-shirts for all the kids on our Xmas list. I forgot to take pictures of those too, but they were similar to this one here.
Now that I’ve started, I can’t stop! Here is one I did today. I was trying to cover a stain on one of my favourite shirts. I really like how it turned out, but I can still see the stain…
old photos
I love old photos. I found these yesterday while I was searching through pictures for this week’s upcoming Small Fancy.
Up until now, we haven’t been able to figure out who Ila looks like. I think this first picture solves the case. She looks like me! (I can’t explain the joy this brings me… Sosi is little a miniature Paul, minus the beard)
This one is of me and my sister. I think it could just as easily be a picture of Sosi and Ila. They look very similar to us.
she’s 5
I can’t believe she’s 5… how did this happen?
sunday morning
I don’t usually let Sosi use my camera… but I was trying to buy us some reading time. It worked. It kept her busy (and quiet) and we got this great portrait of ourselves.
little lily and the lentil soup
Katie asked me to post my lentil soup recipe. The one I make on New Year’s Day is made with brown lentils and whatever is in my fridge. Nothing to write home about at all. However I do have an amazing red lentil soup recipe that I got from my dad. It is ridiculously good and easy to make. Everybody around here loves this soup, most of all me. I can throw it all together in a few minutes, put it in on the stove, forget about it, and it is ready in no time.
Yummy Red Lentil Soup:
1 1/2 cups dried red lentils
2 tbsp olive oil
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 bay leaf
1/2 cup diced ham (i use whatever left-overs I have… ham or spicy italian sausage. you don’t need a lot)
3 cup water
2 cups chicken stock
1 tsp salt
Wash and sort lentils. Heat oil in a large pot over a medium high heat. Sauté garlic, onions and bay leaf in oil. Stir in ham or sausage. Cook uncovered, stirring frequently for 10 minutes. Stir in lentils and remaining ingredients. Heat to boiling, reduce and heat to a simmer. Cover and simmer for 1 hour, stirring occasionally. Remove bay leaf. 4-6 servings.
Here is another recipe because we all can’t be good and eating lentils all the time. My best friend Magda proved why she is my best friend with this recipe. She passed it on to me the last time we talked. It involves an Eatmore Chocolate bar and nothing else. Don’t let that put you off, it’s soooo good. A perfect quick and yummy dessert. Sosi loved these and named them “Madames”, which seems a little fancy for a dessert made from a second rate candy bar that not many people seem to like, but it strangely suits them.
Sosi’s “Madames”:
Cut 1 Eatmore ( i think these are only available in Canada…) into about 6 or 7 little squares. Place them fairly far apart on a parchment lined baking sheet and heat in a 350 degree stove for about 10 minutes. Once they have melted down into bubbling thin waffer-like circles, they’re done. Let cool, and enjoy!
I just finished this custom piece for a sweet little Lily in Vancouver. So happy to be back working with fabric. Hope to do some more real soon.
surrendering
I finally finished Ila’s Christmas gift. In the days leading up to the big day it became more and more clear to me that it wasn’t going to be finished in time. There was just too much to get done. I decided to just let it go.
I’m finding this is the key to happiness these days. Plans change, things I want to get done don’t get done, time to myself never seems to happen. Instead of fighting all this, I’ve decided to surrender to it.
Sosi added a little scribble to this piece on a particularly naughty day. My first instinct was to get upset with her, but then I thought about it more and I thought what a sweet contribution to her sister’s gift. It certainly speaks of our lives these days. There are no boundaries between my life, art and these children, it is all one big messy imperfect pile.
Happy Holidays
Wishing you a very happy holiday! See you soon.
last minute gifts
4 years ago I made these pieces for Sosi for her first Christmas.
Wanting to keep the tradition alive, I decided to make one for Ila this year (although it is technically her second Christmas). Over the few past weeks I have been planning, working, reworking and staring at this piece for her.
I can’t think of any other way I would like to spend an afternoon than sitting in a pile of fabric scraps, cutting and stitching. Maybe that’s why it has been taking me so long to finish, I ‘m drawing this out as long as I can. This feels like a gift for me as well.
Hope you are all enjoying these last magical moments before Christmas.
quiet moments
I have a little 4 (almost 5) year old home sick with me. We made crayon cakes with her old crayons that have been sitting around for years. They were a bit hit, except for her hurting herself cutting the crayons (see the bandaid).
These little cakes are great for making big messy fun drawings. I think we need to be making more things like this. I’m trying to teach her not everything has to be perfect. She can be really hard on herself sometimes. I wonder where she gets that from?
weekend away
I snuck away to Ottawa for a little best friend weekend. I had such a relaxing wonderful time, full of big laughs and good food. I window shopped and wandered aimlessly (and slept in!!). Things I haven’t done in such a very long time. Everyone here got along famously without me. I’m already dreaming about my next solo get away…
You can see a painting of mine on the wall (at the head of the bed) of one of the winners of the “small kids, big color” contest at ohdeeoh! So exciting. I love that site. Thanks for the link Caralyn!
what i wore this week…
Head on over to The Small Fancy to see what lame and boring things I wore this week. Man, I need some new clothes…
Make Your Own Mini Photo Album
I often find Sosi tucked away in her room alone leafing through the 1 photo album she has. Since I rarely print up pictures from my computer, the only pictures she has are random ones my mom has sent us over the years.
I figured it might be time to make her some albums of her own. I got the idea for these little felt photo albums from Martha Stewart’s Encyclopedia of Craft . I printed my favourite photos from each year of her life and put them together in separate little books. She loves them!
This was such a simple and fun project. They would make fantastic Christmas presents. I made a little tutorial, you can download it here, if you’d like to make some too.
Lori Joy Smith 
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