Caleb's Nursery Mural and Letters

If you know me, and have heard me rattle on and on about my nephew, Caleb, you may wonder why I am writing about his nursery, after all, he just started first grade. He's a big boy now. And as things naturally go, his bedroom is about to get a face lift. Which made me nostalgic about the mural I painted... to match that jungle themed shower you might have read about in a previous post.

It was a monkey, dangling from some jungle vines. It was a simple design, cute, minimal, but not lacking in charm. He was lifted from the design on the crib set that my sister-in-law had picked out.

He didn't take as long as some murals I've painted. But it makes me happy to think that my nephew went to sleep with that monkey looking over him. And eventually, when he was able to talk, he used to have conversations with it. I don't remember what they talked about, but the idea of those intimate talks between Caleb and my painting makes the upcoming removal of it a little sad.

His nursery letters, luckily, will last several houses and many years in storage, and maybe if there's a Caleb Junior one day, they'll be pulled out and hung up again...

The letters were also inspired by the crib set. I had a really hard time fitting enough of the animals and other details from the blanket on the letters to make it obvious that they were even related. In retrospect, bigger letters would have been a lot easier to paint, but I made them work.

Comments

Applique Evening Cape

When we got invited to RJ's cousin's wedding, it was decided that the family would wear black so that we would all be coordinated for family photos. Now I normally wear quite a bit of black, but usually not in formal wear, and especially not for a wedding. It's the one time I like to get super girly and pick out bright colors or florals and go all out with the jewelry. In fact, before learning about the black palette, I had pictured wearing a ballgown with an illusion style bodice embroidered all over with flowers. After a few sessions of trying to find a black dress that wasn't boring or unflattering, I decided that maybe I would try to put together what I wanted. So I spent a few hours combing Amazon and found a sheer black cape and several beautiful appliques in the craft section. I ordered several, most embroidered flowers in various colors, from cherry and magnolia blossoms to orchids and roses. In the end, I skipped the flowers and went with peacock f...

Caleb's Sketchbook

Like all kids, my nephew loves to draw. He scribbles and colors. And every so often I get a present of a drawing made just for me. I wanted to encourage the hobby, and also give him a way to keep it collected and see how his drawing improves over time. So I bought him a sketchbook and decided to decorate it and make it feel special, like each of those wonderful sketches that he gave to me. I had picked the hardback black sketchbook because it was sturdy and durable. But not as expensive as some premium artist sketchbooks can be. Unfortunately, the black color made it near impossible to draw on, so I had to track down some metallic Sharpies, which come in limited colors. I contemplated the design for a while, and because of the metal shine of the markers, I ended up getting inspiration from the stars. I thought it was appropriate, after all, art is only limited by the imagination, as boundless as the expanse space and filled with wonder.

Bakery Themed Wooden Cooking Utensils

My good friend, Danielle, is a master baker of cupcakes. When the Cake Expo came to Orlando last year, we went together to attend some classes, watch some live competitions, and view the amazing entries into the decorating contests. So when her birthday rolled around this year, I wanted to do something bakery themed. Perusing Pinterest for some unique gift ideas, I came across images of wooden spoons with designs burned into them. Quieting the voices in my head that told me I would just end up burning my skin off, I looked into what it took to do Pyrography. Basically, you need a wood burning tool, some tips for the tool, and something to burn. Control of the tool involves managing how long the tool touches the wood. Pressure shouldn't be used to burn the wood because it just causes the tips to bend while they're hot. Some tools allow you to adjust the temperature that they heat up to. It seemed rather simple. So I bought some inexpensive bamboo cooking utensils, a rather...

The Crafty Red Rabbit

Search This Blog