A Baby French Fry Lives Here.

Okay, Baby French Fry is sleeping. For now.  I've got T minus probably 10 minutes until she wakes up.  So here goes nothing. Or something. Let's stick with something.

In the past, I shared a sneak peek into my Art Room's ever-changing decor here and here, but now I thought it'd be fun to take a peek into the little Fry's room.  Let me forewarn you, it's like Crayola exploded up in here.  But, I am an art teacher after all, right?

We had a whole lot of fun putting together her nursery with a mix of thrifted, Craigslist-ed, homemade, and mid century mod decor.

I wrote about my homemade mobile here.  It was a fun nesting project pre-Baby French Fry.

 

The beautiful vibrant colored paintings in the nursery were done by my father-in-law.  He makes beautiful watercolor and acrylic paintings on whiteboard.  The pictures seriously don't do them justice.  They are AMAZING.

Baby French Fry cannot get enough of these paintings.  

I think we've got a little artist on our hands!

DIY Mod Mobile and Table.

Is that a watermelon under your dress or are you just happy to see me?

Well arties, it's true. It isn't a watermelon under my dress, but it is a growing Little French Fry, due December 25.

One of my 2nd grade classes has started to come up with names for Little French Fry and every week before I gather them on the rug, they can't WAIT to share their baby names.  For example:

Student 1: How about Princess?
Student 2: No no, Princess Sparkles!
Student 3: How about Ruley, Mrs. Donelan?
Miss FF: Ummm, Ruley? Why?
Student 3: Ruley, like RULES. Because you like RULES so much Mrs. Donelan!


Ya got me kid.  Ya really got me.

I've been having lots o' fun decorating the nursery for Little French Fry and finding thrifted stuff to decorate it up.  A few weeks back I picked up a table from Goodwill for $2.50 that definitely had a modern vibe about it.  The crazy thing seems to be made of broom handles for legs.  The top was really chewed up and water stained though.

But, it was nothing a little sanding and a can of glossy spray paint couldn't fix!  Perfect for a mod side table.

And as for the mobile.  I've made mobiles for my gal pals in the past (see here and here) and really wanted to make one for our dear little French Fry.  I had my eye on a few through Etsy, but when one of them didn't pan out, I gathered my energy and got to work!

I bought a bunch of bright colored cardstock from Michaels and used my die cutter at school to whip out a bunch of different sized circles.

Then, while multitasking and catching up on some Homeland, I got to work threading the circles together to get a random assortment of sizes and colors.

And below is the final product in baby French Fry's room.  The hubs tied on a fishing swivel so it could spin around (like a record baby, right round, round round).  It is truly mobile-y; the slightest breeze gets this baby moving! 

More photos of baby French Fry's room to come.  And I'm sure, more awesome 2nd grade names for baby French Fry to come as well...

Mad About Mid Century Mod.

(Foreword: I wrote this post below on Sunday afternoon.  It is picture heavy with quite a bit of writing.  You won't hurt my feelings if you scan the words, don't worry).

I am writing this second post about my Cali trip as I sit in the United Airlines customer service line at the LA airport with 150 other sweaty people.  As our plane was taking off on the tarmac, a baggage cart came disconnected and hit full speed ahead into our plane and damaged the plane's engine  So much for assuaging my fear of flying.  And now hear I sit. And sit.  And wait on hold. Seriously United, get some better hold music...what's with the Yanni-esque smooth jazz?

So to keep me from flipping my lid, I thought I would share some images from the second part of my Cali trip.  I am a huge fan of all things mid century mod, and Palm Springs, Ca is the home of all things MCM.  Seriously, Don Draper would lose his mind.  So that is where we went.  The mecca of mid century mod.

Our trip started with a visit to the Palm Springs Art Museum which boasts an impressive collection of permanent exhibits, multiple amazing sculpture gardens, as well as, an outstanding collection of loaned pieces like a selection of Matisse's Jazz pieces. Seriously, if you ever get to Palm Springs, hit up this museum, it is AWESOME.  I felt like the museum curators read my mind and put all of my favorite contemporary artists in one place.

Some of my faves below...

An Andy Warhol Brillo dress...GET IN MY CLOSET!

Joan Brown, After the Alcatraz Swim #3

A Louise Bourgeois Spider Sculpture, eeeek!

A Chihuly glass sculpture in one of the outdoor sculpture gardens

Deborah Butterfield horse sculpture, who just so happened to be the keynote speaker at the NAEA convention in San Diego!

As we toured the town, I couldn't get enough of the color palette on the doors of both residences and businesses.  So, being the art teacher hoarder that I am, I collected them.

 

There are still many more pictures.  Maybe I will do a post solely on my door hoarding in the future?!

We also stayed within walking distance of the Moorten Botanical Gardens and had to take a visit.  After all, they boast the "World's First Cactarium!"

Moorten Botanical Gardens is brimming with beautiful desert plants, cacti, and succulents tucked in every single little corner of this garden.

 

While in Palm Springs, we also checked out Joshua Tree National Park.  This place is an amazing park featuring a HUGE variety of desert life.  Driving through the park felt like we were driving through multiple mini ecosystems.

Cholla Cacti at Joshua Tree National Park

The cholla cacti are super fun, Dr. Seuss-y plants, but beware, their prickles are nastay.  The hubs and I both wandered off the advised path (story of my life, always wandering, almost always lost)  and ended up with many a barbed cactus prickle in our legs and feet.  But, we did find some super cool skeletal cholla remains!

After seeing soooo many different cacti and succulents, I'm thinking I smell a project in the works, so please stick around like a Cholla Cacti, eh?