On November 20th, I organized a get together with some friends at a local paint-your-own-pottery place. I’ve been there before, more than once, and they were going to have later hours in honor of Twilight’s New Moon movie on that particular Friday night. The later hours made it perfect for our monthly Moms Night Out event with my MOMS Club.

I’m not into Twilight, but I am into painting pottery.  I love it.  I could do it every day, if given a chance.  I’m not into vampires, but I couldn’t make fun of the people who painted pottery in honor of Twilight…especially since I put my twitter name on my mug.

I mean, both Pot and Kettle were sitting at my table, so I had to be nice.

I love how it turned out!

I love the plate I painted there (it was the first piece I’ve done there!), and I wrote down the numbers of my glazes, because I knew I’d be adding to my collection eventually.  There are so many colors to choose from, and I knew I’d never remember the exact numbers.

See?  It matches!  The differences in the backgrounds make them look slightly different, but the colors are the same.  Trust me.  The Perfectionist is SO glad I remembered my glaze numbers, and the Casual is SO glad she doesn’t have to listen to the Perfectionist complain.  It’s a win-win situation!

I wonder what I’ll make next time?

~*~

Just over a week ago, I was invited to a pottery painting party at a local pottery painting place by one of my friends (that I met through my blog!).  We got together for an afternoon of laughter and artistic expression.

It’s been years since I’ve been able to lose myself in a piece of artwork, and it felt so good.  Claire was spending the afternoon playing with Daddy, and I got to relax and unwind, my cares of the week dripping down my hand and losing themselves in the paint at the tip of my paint brush.

While we were working on our masterpieces, Lori asked if this experience was more about the process or the product.  I won’t lie; I’m all about the product.  I’m a perfectionist, how can I not be!?  In fact, the thought of waiting a week to see the final product threatened to eat me alive.  But, when she asked that question, I realized how important the process was to me, too.  I need this time to myself.  This casual atmosphere was the perfect balance to my perfectionist side.

And, speaking of the product, I was thrilled with the outcome.

(Click to enlarge.)
I can’t wait to add to my collection!

I was able to pick up my piece on Friday, and that made my day!

Click here to see a “before” photo of my creation on Lori’s blog.

~*~

I love my husband, but he has a way of digging himself a hole and then falling right in.  He’ll stand at the bottom of it, shovel in hand and wonder what happened.  Luckily for him, he accidentally falls right into compliments too…so I suppose I’ll keep him around. 

Case in point…

My husband and I were folding laundry yesterday.  I’m working on Claire’s, and he’s working on ours.  He keeps tossing my panties over to Claire’s pile.

“You can just toss mine into a pile over there,” I said, picking them up and pointing to where my clothes were on the bed.

“I would, but they’re both so small.  I can’t tell which are hers and which are yours,” he said.

I told him that what he’d said to me was quite possibly the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me.

And, then I reminded him that hers have way more princesses on them than mine do. 

Click photos to enlarge.
Clicking a second time will show more detail.

Cute as a Ladybug Button

Ladybugs on the sweater and the hat

It’s beautiful.
It really is a work of art.

In January of 2007, Claire was finally big enough to wear it. It was still a little big on her, but we got some great pictures.

Ladybug Sweater Set

Well, I’m happy to report that it still fits! I think this may be the last season for it, though.

When photo shoots go wrong…

Take Two!

Isn’t it amazing how much she’s grown!? Or, is that sweater set shrinking? Surely that’s gotta be it…

The teacher had written Claire’s name and the word “person” on the paper.  The task that day was to draw a person.  Claire was so proud when she told me that she’d drawn me.  She’d drawn a picture of Momma!

Click photo to enlarge.
Clicking a second time will show more detail.

Claire drew a picture of Momma!

So…here I am!  And, if you must know, it looks almost exactly like me.  It’s such a great rendition that I was afraid to post it in a public forum. 

It’s a full-body portrait, from the tippy top of my (apparently messy?) hair to the bottom of my shoes.

And, now that my true identity has been revealed, the odds of being recognized out in public are so much greater than they were before.  So, if you see me walking around the lake, be sure to stop and say ‘hi.’ 

]]> http://thecasualperfectionist.com/2008/10/my-true-identity-revealed/feed/ 5 http://thecasualperfectionist.com/2008/05/hallmark%e2%80%99s-got-nuthin%e2%80%99-on-this/ http://thecasualperfectionist.com/2008/05/hallmark%e2%80%99s-got-nuthin%e2%80%99-on-this/#comments Sun, 11 May 2008 18:35:48 +0000 JoAnn http://thecasualperfectionist.com/?p=919

Here is a picture of the card that Claire made for me today.

She and Daddy were up before I was, and he helped her with this project.  It’s on my favorite colored paper (lavender), and according to the artist, there is a self-portrait in blue.  She told me she’s the blue circle with the eyelashes.  (If you click on the photo, you can see more detail.)  To the right of her is “a green giraffe with a pink head.”  And, to the left is a green elephant.

The font used in the message looks curiously like my hubby’s writing. 

I love it!

I had wanted to leisurely make handprints with her to use in some holiday projects for our relatives. Well, as what sometimes happens with a toddler, things did not go as planned, and certainly didn’t look like the good ol’ time they were having on the outside of the finger-paint packaging.

False advertisers! Tricksters! Filthy no-good liars! If I still had the packaging, I’d show you their smug little smiling faces as they sit at the table not getting paint in anyone’s hair or on anyone’s faces or all over anyone’s clothes in an attempt to escape from the kitchen table. No one is screaming in their pretty little marketing pictures.

Maybe I’m being a bit too harsh. I’m sure there are parents out there who wish their child wasn’t into finger-painting. I’m sure there are toddlers who like to get their hands slimy while painting with their fingers. My princess daughter is just not one of them.

So, here is the result of our struggle:

Click on the photo to enlarge. Clicking a second time will show more detail.

I’ve added the above arrow and note you see on the photo using Gimp. (“Bring out the gimp…”) And, just between you and me? There is evidence of a struggle all over that paper. NONE of the marks on that page were made voluntarily and without a lot of screaming. Ugh.

After nearly crying over my failed project, I decided to suck it up and figure out a way to make it work. I did not get paint in my hair for nothing! That’s when I totally altered and rearranged the plan in my head (that’s the good thing about plans in your head…you can do that pretty easily…and it’s much easier than moving furniture), and figured out how to cut around her handprint so that the sixth finger was no longer visible.

I didn’t want her growing up thinking she was born with six fingers on one hand and that she’d had it removed in a surgical procedure before she was old enough to remember. (Not that there’s anything wrong with having six fingers on one hand, mind you. Well, unless you’re an acquaintance of Inigo Montoya…then I’d watch my back if I were you!)

Here is the finished project:

See? No evidence whatsoever of the six fingered toddler or the struggle required to get her handprint. And, I had her color a picture, especially for PaPa, to go along with her handprint.

Needless to say, my hopes of going into business by creating cute little handprinted projects for people (let alone making any more holiday projects) had been dashed. I wonder what Claire would have to say about helping me with some Papier-mâché?

I can really see the giraffe, and that’s pretty good for a two-year old! And, for some reason, the Snowman & Elmo is another of my favorites…probably because she was so adamant when she was drawing them. Gotta love it.

Giraffe

Snowman & Elmo

You can click on each image a couple of times to see more detail…

Here are some of the ones she completed:

You can click on the above picture to enlarge it and then click on that bigger version to see even more detail. I told her to draw whatever she wanted to, and then I made sure to write it down, so that the recipients didn’t have to guess.

In case the above picture is hard to read, here are the descriptions I’ve written on each of the 11 cards:

First row (left to right):
1: Big truck

2: Butterflies

3: Elmo (at the top), and a skunk (at the bottom)

Second row (left to right):
4: Giraffe

5: Bathtub and Merlin

6: Bat (the animal), Merlin, and Jasper

7: Elmo, Jasper, Merlin, and a baby bat

Third row (left to right):
8: Snowman and Elmo

9: Jasper and Merlin

10: Giraffe and a baby bat

11: Chair and Merlin & Jasper playing

I think they are pretty cute! I especially like the giraffes and the baby bats. And, the one of Merlin and Jasper playing is a pretty realistic rendition.