Sunday, August 11, 2013

Glam Up Fido's Gear

To the dog lovers out there:

Have you ever said to your dog "wanna go for a walk," only to realize you have no idea where the leash is and the poor dog is left ferociously wagging his tail?  This happens to me all too frequently.  My dog's leashes seem to get tossed on the entry table, or on a coat rack buried with cold weather gear, or on our laundry room counter that serves as our perpetual catchall.  So, in the spirit of organization, I started making little personalized plaques that can hang fido's leash.  Problem solved!

When my student recently brought home a new puppy, I thought they might enjoy this little plaque. Here it is:

Also in the spirit of organization, I picked up a container to store my pup's food.  I had been using a plastic container, but it kept cracking and I was getting tired of picking up little food pellets all the time. The product is actually sold in the trash can section of Ikea, but I think it works nicely for this purpose...the food stays in the container and it stays fresh.  Double win!  Naturally, I spruced it up just a bit:


Tuesday, June 11, 2013

ABC...Cute Letters Please!

I love, love, love, decorated letters!  I think they are so cute and they can really add some color to a room.  Here's a pic of the letters I made for Miss O's room:

These were fun to make...and easy too!  Scroll down for a tutorial.

We painted the walls a muted gray so that we could accessorize her room with lots of color.  We have stuck with pink, green, and white for the most part and I like the way the room is shaping up.  And check out the flower lamps that I found at IKEA...absolutely perfect!



Tutorial:

If you want to create your own project, these letters are really easy to make.  Plus, they are pretty cheap!

Supplies:

  • Large chipboard letters (you could use wood, but chipboard is generally cheaper.  It is also lighter and is easier to hang with the ribbon).
  • Scrapbook paper
  • Mod podge (pick up the kind that is specifically made for paper - you'll be glad you did!)
  • Sponge brush for applying the mod podge 
  • Embellishments (I kept mine simple, but you might try things like buttons, flowers, ribbon, etc.)
  • Ribbon for hanging your letters
  • Staple Gun


Step 1:  Trace the letters onto scrapbook paper and cut them out.
Step 2.  Brush your mod podge onto the letter directly and set your paper on the chipboard (you'll need to move quickly).  Be careful not to load the chipboard with too much of the liquid adhesive or you'll end up with a soupy piece of paper.
Step 3:  Allow your adhesive to dry (fully!).  You can seal it with another layer of mod podge, but I skipped this step and so far my letters are still looking sharp.
Step 4:  Measure out the ribbon for each letter and start stapling it to the back of the letter.
Step 5:  Hang your letters!  You might have to get creative depending on the weight of the letter.  In my case, I had an issue with the "L."  It wanted to slope and I had to put an extra nail in the wall to hold it up.

See?  Easy peasy!

Monday, June 10, 2013

Race Medals

If you are a runner, you most likely have a few too many homeless race medals and/or bibs.  Maybe they have been tossed in a drawer, or maybe they continually do the "desk shuffle," as you debate the perfect way to display them.  Since my husband seems to have formed a new habit, and loves running half marathons, we had the same problem with his race medals.  He wanted a way to display them that wasn't lame or cheesy, so I came up with a more manly craft.  It lacks a little luster for my taste, but it also matches the stain of other pieces in the room and looks good in the space.

I stained the wood and started measuring to evenly distribute the hooks
First hook placed!  Yes, this involved some drilling...
I did it without the hubby's help!  

4 hooks for the 4 marathons

Here's the final product.  If I had my way, I would have added a saying -
maybe "runner," or "marathons."  But, after all, they aren't my medals!
Now my husband can look at them everyday and continue to be inspired to keep on runnin'.  We will keep adding more hooks for every new marathon.  I think it will be a nice tradition!  


Monday, June 3, 2013

Diapers can be Cute!

Okay mommies and soon-to-be mommies - someone needs to have a baby shower or a gender reveal party so that I can print these invites.  Of course I can't wait to help you celebrate your expanding family, but my crafting crazy is a little overwhelming right now, so get on it!  

Diaper Invite/Card
As for the super duper cute card, I made it with the help of (yep, you guessed it) my silhouette cameo.  It was SO fun!  And really addicting....

So, for those friends of mine that are already preggo, watch out, I'll be nagging you to have a party incessantly.  And for those of you that haven't had your first yet, we will be having several "let's talk about your future" convos soon.  You have been warned!  

Wedding Bliss Isn't Amiss

Just last weekend my husband and I celebrated our wedding anniversary!  We had a blast.  To start, we traveled to the town where we tied the knot...Tulsa, OK.  We hit many of the spots that are special to us and had a great trip down (a not too distant) memory lane.

The weather was gorgeous so we grabbed a drink at a restaurant alongside the Arkansas River.  And by the way, we must truly be getting rain in Oklahoma, because I couldn't begin to see the bottom.  I can't remember the last time that it actually lived up to its name -"River!"
Downtown Tulsa with a full Arkansas River.  Pretty eh?
Photo from virtualtourist.com
We spent the rest of the day lounging at our favorite shopping mall, Utica Square, and had a lovely dinner at Juniper.  We topped off the day at one of my new fav venues, Guthrie on the Green, and caught some great bands playing at the Tulsa Music Festival.

Guthrie on the Green
Photo from inhabitant.com
And for the grand finale....check out the gift that I received for our anniversary....
Photo 1:  Sorry the picture is a bit wonky...
that's the best I could do with an iPad.  
Photo 2
For those of you that might not know this scene, this a section of the gardens at the Philbrook Museum of Art in Tulsa.  The hubby and I got married there and it is just incredibly GORGEOUS!  It is hands down my favorite place in Oklahoma and quite possibly my favorite place in the US.  My husband had a picture of our wedding site turned into an oil on canvas.  Isn't that the best?

So here's to one year of marriage and many more to come!

Friday, May 31, 2013

Welcome Miss Heidi and Miss Annelise

Last Valentines Day my sister gave birth to two amazing girls, Heidi and Annelise.  These little sweethearts have two of the greatest parents in the world and my sister, a first time mom, went all out on their nursery.
They already had the wood beams so a nature themed nursery was fitting

I wanted to make something for the room, but given the gorgeous mural and the limited real estate, my piece needed to be compact.  Here's what I came up with:


Instead of spelling out their entire names I thought I'd keep it short and emphasize their first initials.  Unfortunately, I had to choose between a wreath that spelled out AH or HA (this didn't occur to me until I was too involved in the project - oops!).  I decided to embrace HA...hopefully they will laugh at it someday!  Aside from this, I love the way it turned out!  

Thursday, May 30, 2013

Studio 155



On April 28th, the legendary cellist, Janos Starker, passed away.  He made such an incredible impact on this world and he will be missed and remembered by thousands.  So many of us are eternally grateful for the gifts he shared as a player, as a teacher, and as a mentor.  I was deeply upset to hear of his passing, and I began writing as I reflected back on my studies with Mr. Starker.  Below is an article that I wrote on April 30th.  It will be published in the upcoming edition of the American Suzuki Journal.



Studio 155:  Remembering Janos Starker, the Teacher.

Some years ago, I found myself standing awkwardly outside of Janos Starker’s studio, room 155, at Indiana University.  Completely awestruck and intimidated by this musical powerhouse, I nervously pressed my ear to the door.  It was the start of Mr. Starker’s teaching day, so I had anticipated that he’d be working with a student and I could easily slip in to observe the lesson.  When I didn’t hear anything, I felt a wave of anxiety as I realized that he could come around the corner any second and see me compromised with my head glued to his door.  I quickly stood back and opened the door.  Much to my surprise, his student had not arrived yet and I found myself alone with the legendary, larger-than-life Janos Starker!  While Mr. Starker was actually quite personable and funny – hysterical, really – I couldn’t think of a harder task than making small talk with someone I revered and respected so much.   In my mind, he was the authority on cello, and he may as well have been some kind of demigod.  I managed to muster up a meek “hello,” and I quickly found a seat.  We were alone for a second or two as he sorted mail from his swivel armchair, and in that moment, I remember looking at a picture of David Popper that hung on the mustard-colored wall.  I thought of Starker’s incredible CD, Romantic Cello Favorites: A Tribute to Cellist/Composer David Popper, and as I was in the middle of promising myself I’d start practicing more, his student arrived. 

For those of us lucky enough to have a lesson or several lessons in room 155, we have countless memories that we hold dear to our hearts.  For many of us, Mr. Starker was a teacher first and a player second.  Of course we will never forget his celebrated Grammy Award-winning recordings or his hauntingly inspirational performances, but as he himself stated in a 2006 interview for Strings: “No matter how great the ovation is after a concert, the people eventually sit down and stop applauding. But if you teach, you may affect generations.”  Fueled by his commitment to teaching, Mr. Starker taught at Indiana University for more than 50 years, instructing hundreds of young cellists.  His work has had a ripple effect, as his students have themselves become successful teachers who spread Starker-inspired principles and philosophies of cello playing to their own students.   Surely all of us in the music world are connected to Mr. Starker with far fewer than the proverbial six degrees of separation. 

There was something special about Mr. Starker’s daily routine as a professor at Indiana University.  At 12:30 on any given weekday, he would come into his office, hang his jacket on the coat rack, and make his way over to his desk, checking to see who had been penciled in as his afternoon “victims:” a nickname he affectionately gave his students.  He’d then proceed to teach three students over the course of the afternoon, and we would gobble up every word and suggestion as fast as our mortal brains could digest his teaching.  At the end of his day, in a collegial and loving spirit, Mr. Starker would usually visit with his cello colleagues.  He’d say hello to Tsuyoshi Tsutsumi and Emilio Colon, just a few doors down, and then make his way over to see Helga Winold in Merrill Hall. 

I think part of the specialness of this routine rested on Starker’s open-studio policy, and the accessibility it provided students.  Cellists – in fact, any IU student – knew that for three hours, five days a week, we could always learn from a truly exceptional player and teacher.  Starker’s open-studio policy followed a master-class model in that the student would prepare and play through their entire piece before he gave any feedback.  Some days there might just be one or two other students in a lesson, but that was rare.  More likely, there would be a small crowd sitting just a few feet from your “hot seat” as you “entertained” the room.  

In this respect, Mr. Starker’s teaching philosophy was pivotal in fashioning a very unique environment.  He, alongside his colleagues, Helga Winold, Tsuyohsi Tsutsumi, and Emilio Colon, created a place unlike anywhere else in the world.  They encouraged collaborative learning, in which studying with multiple cello teachers was not only tolerated, it was encouraged!  In fact, over the course of my two degrees, I had the fortunate opportunity to study with all four of these exceptional minds.

While there are many facets of Mr. Starker’s teaching I appreciate, one of the unique challenges I faced was to meet his expectation of bringing a new piece to every lesson. I believe this particular expectation stemmed from a number of goals, one being his desire to foster experimentation.  Mr. Starker encouraged his students to learn various techniques in the repertoire and then discover how they could be applied in different scenarios.  While this fast-paced and high-pressured approach proved to be difficult at times, I am confident that it exponentially benefitted my work as a student and continues to help me as a professional today.  

Like so many of his other pupils, I think of Mr. Starker daily.  Often I hear his voice echoing phrases that he repeated during lessons: “Be the beat.” “Not at the frog.” “Create excitement, don’t get excited.”  I will carry these reminders as well as his larger pedagogical ideas with me for the rest of my teaching days.  As a teacher, I cherish the high standard he set for his students, and in keeping with the goals set forth in studio 155, I will work to create the same kind of drive and ambition in my own studio. It is impossible to acknowledge everything that Mr. Starker did for me as an individual, and it’s even more of a challenge to recognize the indispensable impact he had on the music world.  While there are several stories of Starker’s brash or brazen demeanor, I knew a teacher who was truthful, brilliant, humble, and warm.  I knew a man who wanted to make a difference and leave the world a better place.  And that is exactly what he did.   Thank you, Mr. Starker.