Displaying Preschool Art

I've waited a long time for this day ... the day when my daughter goes to school and comes home with brilliant artwork. Brilliant, I say! And then I put it up proudly and we all wait for her next great work which is surely to be her repainting of the Sistine Chapel ceiling. 

Haha. Just kidding. She's only in preschool, after all. I'm pretty sure her teachers do 90% of it. But, still, it's fun to have something colorful to display that she had a hand in. 

I wrote this post a few years ago about my favorite display technique for kids' art, the trusty clothesline, but I didn't have a horizontal spot for that in my house. There was, however, a lonely, bare, vertical corner in her room that needed something. 

So, I introduce to you the clothesline concept without the line. 

 I stuck the clothespins on the wall using cheap padded sticky tabs, cut to fit the narrow back.

 The clothespins themselves would make a bigger splash and be so much cuter if they were painted yellow or some other color but that didn't occur to me until I was nearly done fastening them to the wall.

 Oh, well, too late. Plus, the color on the artwork gets to stand out on its own.

 "S" is for spot. "M" is for ... I really couldn't tell you. This preschool art is too deep for even my comprehension!

 

It's Time for a King Sized Bed

Our next move will bring with it a king sized bed, of this we are certain. And so, I have been thinking about making it an official bed instead of just a frame and a mattress. Making a decision like this kind of makes me panic. It is one of those huge purchases that I know I will be stuck with for many years to come. So I figure I'd better like it. Here are some headboards and beds that I love.

This grey nailhead upholstered headboard from West Elm

This white tufted headboard from Craigslist.

This grey tufted headboard from Craigslist.

This bed from Crate and Barrel.

This bed from Crate and Barrel.

And another Crate and Barrel woodsy number.

I realize these are all super boring, but I'm not interested in it being a focal point. It just needs to anchor the bed and I need to be able to switch out bedding and other room colors easily.

Of course, if I changed my mind and wanted to make it a focal point I could go the DIY route. I've done it before, I could do it again...on a much larger scale.

Here's a fancy DIY headboard from Young House Love.

This mustard tufted headboard has always been one of my favorites.

I don't know, it's hard to say. Good thing I don't have to make a decision for awhile... Do you have any advice? Things you love about your bed, things you hate? Do tell!

Phoenix Eating, Part 2

Barrio Cafe - We went on a double date with our Phoenix-native friends here. It was really yummy, I'd recommend it to any serious Mexican food lover. We got the guacamole for starters. Worth it, just like every Yelper said. I tried mole for the first time, enchiladas with black mole sauce. My friend ordered the enchiladas suizas. You cannot go wrong with enchiladas plus cream. They were amazing; I'd get those next time. My husband got fish tacos but finished them too fast for me me to try. My friend's husband got pork tacos and those were really good. The pork was sweet and salty. Can't go wrong there. Then we finished it off with goat milk caramel sauce on churros and vanilla ice cream. The caramel was really, really, reallly (yes, 3 l's good) and I scraped the plate all by myself. Good job, Barrio. Live music, turn yourself down a bit next time. Otherwise, great place.

Cibo - Adorable, renovated house took me straight to Seattle. It's all about the pizza here. I got the Tartufata. It had prosciutto crudo, white mushrooms, and truffle oil. Super good. Adam got something with arugula on top. He loved it. We laughed about the fact that all the desserts except one featured Nutella. And then we got one. Crepes with bananas and nutella, never a bad choice. I'd definitely go back here. Loved the atmosphere and loved the pizza. If they got creative with the desserts, all the better.

Cibo Part 2 - We went again with my mother-in-law and it was even better than the first time around. We started with the cheese/meat plate for an appetizer. Probably the best one we've ever encountered, and we have had quite a few. I got the Tartufata pizza again, but the other half was something else with pears, goat cheese and arugula. Tartufata is the way to go. Forget everything else. It's my favorite. My husband didn't like it, though, when he had a bite. So there's two opinions for you. He's a red sauce pizza kind of guy and the Tartufata is white sauce. We shared a crepe with Nutella and mascarpone cheese and whipped cream for dessert. It tasted like caramel somehow. I could've eaten three.

Morning Glory Cafe at The Farm - We had brunch here with some friends. I had the hugest and best Monte Cristo sandwich I have ever had. I want it again. Very soon. Be ready to eat outside if you go. It's the only option.

Sushi on Warner Rd - I have no idea what this place is called. It's been bugging me for weeks that I can't find it online. Anyway, it was our favorite sushi place here so far. And I seriously cannot find it. I'll get back to you when I do. UPDATE: This place is called Sushi Kee. Phew. Also, and weirdly enough, the spicy tuna roll was our favorite. There's a lot to explain here, but I don't feel like it. Just know it's the best sushi place we've found so far in Ahwatukee.

Ruffino's Italian - We meant to find an entirely different restaurant (Bell'Italia) but got lost and ended up at Ruffino's.  I had seafood stuffed house made ravioli with lobster sauce, really yummy, but not hot (as in temperature) enough. Adam had some kind of large tube pasta with bechemel and bolagnese sauce. It was good. I had creme brulee, he had tiramisu. I loved mine, he didn't love his. We probably won't go back, but it was a fun night. There was live music and the 60s and older crowd seemed to be enjoying the whole experience.

Fuego Bistro Part 2 - This place is good enough and quaint enough and accessible enough and just overall delicious enough that we wanted to go again. Plus, we had a Groupon. I got the seafood stuffed chile rellano and my husband got the short ribs. The chile rellano was good but a I was turned off by how giant and overwhelming and rich it was. He had the short ribs. They are our collective Fuego Bistro favorite. I think we shared a chocolate torte for dessert. It was amazing.

In Tucson - The Grill at Hacienda Del Sol - I'm taking a little diversion from Phoenix and reporting on some great food in Tucson. This place is part of a hotel and pretty fancy schmancy. We didn't plan ahead at all and only got in because someone didn't show up for their reservation. I had the beet and mozzarella salad for starters, then short ribs with gouda macaroni and cheese for the main. My husband had lobster bisque to start with and snapper for the main dish. We shared an apple crisp cheesecake for dessert. There were nice touches throughout the meal when the server would bring a little plate of something "compliments of the chef."  We liked everything well enough but the short ribs were not as good as the ones at Fuego Bistro and the snapper tasted like a basic fried fish. I wouldn't mind going there again and trying something else.

In Tucson - The Abbey Eat & Drink - We came here for a lazy Sunday morning brunch, and when I mean lazy, I mean we got there at 1 pm. It was awesome. It was another place we needed reservations but luckily got in at the bar instead. Good enough. I ordered The Abbey Breakfast which was eggs over easy atop duck confit, spinach and raisins, plus a few scattered breakfast potatoes. Oh, and rye bread toast. It was incredible and I inhaled it. The over easy eggs made me a little uneasy but I went for it anyway. My husband got eggs benedict. Super good. I'd love to go back there again someday and try everything on the brunch menu.

MOCA Visit

I was in Tucson this past weekend for a short birthday getaway trip. It was lovely, and one of the best parts about it was our visit to the Museum of Contemporary Art. I don't make it to museums nearly as much as I'd like (except the Phoenix Children's Museum, that place is the bomb .... for my kids), but I want to make it more of a priority in the future. Especially when it comes to modern art museums, for they are my favorite!!!

We got to the museum just in time to join the artist himself while he gave a tour and talked about each of his paintings. How serendipitous was that? We didn't plan that at all ... because we didn't even know who he was. 

Behold, he is Peter Young. 

 And I would put up any of his art in my house. LOVED. IT.

He talked about his dot period.

He talked about his folding period, or mandalas. 

These ones (the grid period?) blew my freaking mind.



Up close.

 Can you even??!!
OCD going on here.

 Ellipses period.

 This one belongs in my house.

His minimalist period. Or what he called ironic minimalism...to make fun of the other minimalists? 

Whatever, I loved it.

 
And the artistic eye in me jumped out in the bathroom when I saw these green tiles. Have I got an eye for this now or what?

And finally, Twister anyone? These two paintings are identical except for one dot. Peter, you trickster!

Temporary Decor for My Boy's Room

This is a temporary apartment for us (we're moving before the end of the year), but I still wanted to do a little something in each room to make it look at least semi-done.  I didn't want to spend any money, especially since we might be moving into a smaller space and I might literally be taking stuff off the walls and tossing it into the trash instead of lugging one more thing to the moving van.

Here's the room BEFORE I did anything (except one wall hanging).

Why does my camera make everything on the walls look so tiny? I swear in real life, the blue balloon canvas is much bigger and better scaled to fit the wall.

INTERLUDE...

My first idea was to use white poster board. You can see how that ended. They fell off the walls because they were so flimsy and I gave them to my daughter to rip to pieces. She enjoyed that immensely.

And now AFTER...

I ended up buying two grey foam boards for $5 each. I did an irregular/imperfect chevron with some orange paint I already had, plus a cheap foam brush. It took maybe a half hour. Boom. That's my kind of project.


On the side wall I put up two strings of bunting that I made from blue poster board I already had plus tiny clothespins I got from Michaels.

 What's better than tiny clothespins?!! So cute.

Again, the bunting looks too small on the wall. Be assured that it is not that small.

 My kids were playing so nicely. I had to document that rarity.

 And, yes, my son, you will be stuck with the pink polka-dotted sheets. I am too cheap to replace even those. May you not be scarred for life.

Abstract Art for the Office

The master bedroom and office in our apartment are the same room since we caved and let each kid have their own room. (It's heaven around 8 pm, though, so it's all worth it!) Since we are going to be living in this apartment for less than a year, I have been trying to come up with simple, affordable wall hangings to make it still feel like home.

Since my first hoorah with foam board went a little downhill, I decided to try it again and see if I could make it work.

Presenting .... my version of DIY wanna-be abstract art.

I studied this tutorial on DIY abstract art and followed it very loosely.

Here are my two foam boards from Hobby Lobby at $5.50 each (used a 40% off coupon for one).

I did buy extra yellow acrylic paint for $3, but didn't use it, so I'm taking it back. Instead I used this eclectic group of paints I already had: acrylic craft paints, Krylon Short Cuts (small bottles of Krylon paint), and, yes, even my kids' Crayola finger paint. All of it worked fine, couldn't really tell a difference among them. But then again, I am no artist. As you will see...

I began with yellow....

 then pink...

 then forgot to take pictures for awhile .... and suddenly: grey, dark pink, light pink, and purple!

 I mixed each color with white to tone it down, make it less loud. This is for a bedroom office, remember, so we're going for serenity. Kind of. As you can see, the above paintings kind of scream: ACK!

 Anyway, I layered on more colors, consulted the tutorial and realized I didn't have enough white. So I added a bunch of white. You'll see.

Here's the before shot of the office corner. Disheveled, sad, lonely, bleak and barren wasteland are all words and phrases that come to mind.

Here are my paintings.

 And here they are together.

 

Here's the other side of the room. Yellow ombre canvas, meet your new canvas-wanna-be friends that you get to look at now.

They are kind of a hot mess, and yet I liked them enough to hang them.

What do you think, real artists, am I ready for the MoMA?