A Sharper Focus Blog is now at: www.asharperfocusblog.com
That’s right, I’m moving! Last fall I took a web design class so that I could customize my blog more and expand my web capabilities. After a summer of working on the new blog, I’ve moved the blog from a wordpress.com site to a wordpress.org site and am ready for you to join me. Come on over and don’t forget to press the Follow button on the bottom right to stay connected!
This past spring I decided I wanted to make a tent for my nephew’s birthday. After looking around the web a bit I decided on a simple A-Frame design. The frame was very easy to make.
I purchased two 1x2s that were each 8 feet long and I had them cut in half at the hardware store. Also, I purchased 3 dowel rods, 4 feet long and 1/2 inch wide. I then marked two spots on each 1×2, one about an inch one end, and another about 4 inches from the other end. I then got out my 1/2 inch drill bit and got to work!
For the covering I had an old navy twin sized sheet lying around and then I also purchased 3 yards of star fabric. I ended up cutting the sheet so that it was 3 yards long to match the fabric, and 50 inches wide. I then turned both fabrics so their right sides where facing each other and sewed them together on both long sides. Next, I turned it right side out, creating a long tube. Since the sheet was wider than the fabric, I ironed the tube so that there was an equal border of blue on both sides. I then folded the tube in half and sewed a pocket to slide the top dowel rod through. I put the tent together and then marked the bottom of each side to know where to sew the bottom dowel rod pockets. I just folded the seam over twice to make it look nice.
After I made the tent I realized that in grass or on carpet it was pretty stable, but on wood or tile it would just slide open and collapse. To remedy this I cut pieces of parachute cord the width I wanted the 1x2s to stay apart. I then burned the ends of the parachute cords so they wouldn’t fray and then added a dab of kraft glue to a finishing tack so they would stay.
I’m excited about how it turned out and my nephew seemed to like it too! It makes a cozy place to read a book.
Physically I’ve been back from our yearly family trip to Gulf Shores for almost a week now, mentally I really want to stay in vacation mode. It’s been hard to snap out of it and get some things done, like work on this blog, think about the up coming school year and so on… And, to make matters even harder, it’s been wonderfully rainy. All I want to do is read or think about craft projects. Is that so wrong?
Oh well. I have little less than a month left before I have to go back to work, so hopefully I can relax a bit and get some things checked off my to-do list. The month of May was busy with finishing up the school year, some fun photography sessions and the garden finally started to produce. We got a late start because of an abnormally cool spring, but the green beans seemed to love the cooler weather!
My kids did at great job at this year’s Spring ISD Spring Art Show. Four of the entries received the Judges Merit Award! I was so proud of all of their hard work. Above are a Matisse inspired fish bowl work done by a 2nd grader, an awesome neon tiger portrait by a 5th grader, a Jamming Giraffe by a 1st grader and winter birch trees by a third grader.
If you where checking in around May you probably saw some of the senior sessions I did. I also did some prom sessions and I got to document beautiful handmade quilts by a local Houston artist! If you want to see more prom photos check this post at A Sharper Focus Photography!
It was definitely a busy and fun month.
This past April I got to go visit my friend and “neighbor for life,” as we call it, Allie, in Chicago! She was my next door neighbor for almost 20 years and is like the awesome little sister I never had.
I had never been to Chicago before and really liked it. I was only there for an extended weekend and definitely need to go back and see more. We spent some time in Millennium Park and it snowed big wet fluffy flakes on us.
Since it was cold and kind of wet there weren’t too many people at the park. Here’s the middle of Cloud Gate looking up from underneath.
Can you tell we we’re chilly!
In other news, I decided to see if I could find myself an art teaching position a little closer to home… and I did! After six years of teaching at Burchett, I will be moving to a school about ten minutes from my home. I’m really going to miss my kiddos and awesome teammates and co-workers at Burchett, but I’m also excited for a new adventure.
Stay Tuned!
I was able to spend a lot of great time with my family this past March. One of my nephews, Corwin, had his 6th Birthday Party! It was at The Little Gym.
If you’ve never been to a Little Gym, they are pretty cool. There’s gymnastics equipment, everything is padded so the kids can bounce around, and for parties they get to play lots of fun games. I’m pretty sure Ian had a blast too.
In March by brother also got married! Weston and Danielle had the wedding in Baton Rouge at Mt. Hope Plantation. It was built in 1850 and was a beautiful backdrop for their wedding.
It was a wonderful wedding and a great time with family and friends.
And what’s a wedding without an awesome dancing nephew,
And, cake (and/or) cheesecake!
Check back soon for an April update!
A Sharper Focus 