Margot Mondays - Advent calendar part I

Monday is the one full day of the week that I have with Margot. She is in preschool the rest of the week and so it's a precious day. However, like many of you, I also have work to get done, groceries to buy, dishes to do, laundry to wash, and email to check. Many Mondays are spent doing far too much busy work. I have missed connecting with my kids through art making (one of the original ideas behind this blog)  and so I thought - let's make Monday all about Margot. 

I know it's Tuesday and I'm a little late getting this Margot Monday kicked off, but to be honest I didn't think of Margot Monday until the wee hours of Tuesday morning! So here we are, and I want to show you what we did yesterday. 

Margot loves art projects just as much as I do, and so we came up with a fly by the seat of your pants Advent calendar idea. This week we used stamps, ink, and glue to make envelopes for each day of December and Margot painted clothes pegs to hang them up with. Next week we will do the really fun part of dumpster diving (or walking to our local grocery store and asking) for a palette to break up and use for the back of the calendar.

Come back next Monday (or probably Tuesday) for the next installment.

Sunday studios - flat files

Hello!

I'm pining after some flat files. Do you have any? Are they useful? I've twice been offered some, and have missed both opportunities. I'm kicking myself now. I'm salivating over these wooden ones I saw on Blissful blog, 

Photo: Diana Lovring

and this set that looks a little worse for wear, but very loved and still functional.

  

I have a  feeling I may be more in the Ikea budget range, but you never know what you might stumble on. I love this use of multiple files to create a large work space. The photo is from this interior design firm, but it looks like a possible Ikea hack to me. 

I will leave you with this exquisite set of drawers. They are part of the collection of Alketas Pazis, who runs a  prop house in Greece.  Follow the link to see his exquisite showroom. The collection is extraordinary.

sunday studios

Jenny Saville in her studio

 ‘Motherhood has also taught me to cut the crap. I used to come in and make coffee, read the paper, have lunch. Time was fluid and I probably wasted it. Now I come in, take off my coat and start.’ -taken from royalacademy.org.uk

Irene Lagut in her studio, Paris, 1922

One of Picasso's most famous works, The Lovers (1923), is based on their relationship which began in 1916 and continued, on and off for many years.