Summer chalkboard sale!!

In honor of the first day of summer I am kicking off my summer chalkboard sale on my etsy shop Chalk it up!

All 8"x10 unframed chalkboards formerly$ 9.99 now $6.99
All 11"x14" unframed chalkboards formerly $14.99 now $9.99
All 16"x20" unframed chalkboards formerly $17.99 now $14.99


These prices will run through the end of the month of June! Stock up for school and gift giving season!

During these summer months we will be restocking the shop with new beautiful framed chalkboards, as well as, plenty of unframed! Don't forget we also do custom sizes by request. Come back and see what we've got as we fill up Chalk it up!


Stay cool and have a great summer!!

Seeing a red sofa!

I'm thinking of taking a big step. I'm thinking of getting a red sofa! This is the one that I'm thinking of getting...


And if you remember from an earlier post the walls will be tan. What do you think?Is red too limiting? I think it will give the room new live! Do you have a red sofa? Do you love it?!

A new favorite blog of mine Colour me happy tackles the question of sofa color in her latest post. You may want to stop by to hear what a professional color consultant has to say on the topic:)

Happy Father's Day!

This was last years Father's Day Collage! We had the man of the hour around a lot more than, due to being unemployed. Some people would say to me "I bet you can't wait for him to go back to work.!" And yes a job is always a good thing but we loved having him with us everyday. In a strange way it was almost one of the best years ever! (Not that I want to go back to the uncertainty of unemployment. Way too scary!) But having him around was such a joy for all of us!

This year it was much harder to find enough pictures to put together a Father's day Collage. He has been at his new job for almost a year. For that we are soooo thankful! However, now we rarely see him. But we try to make the most of the few days we do have together as a family. And as usual, today Daddy is working, making other dads father's day a happy one.



This year we're hoping for a happy medium of work and play!

Happy Father's Day! to all the devoted dad's and husbands out there. Put your feet up and take a well deserved rest!

Summer activities begin!

Today began our first week of summer vacation!
The boys started on the summer team today and loved it! I hope the enthusiasm lasts:) As I mentioned in an earlier post, they will be swimming 5 days a week for one hour. Should be great exercise and discipline!

I am also trying to sneak in a little learning. This is where chalkboards come in handy. Great visuals. If I ever go back to teaching I think I will give every student an 11"x14" unframed chalkboard as a learning tool. I think a teacher of any subject could use individual chalkboards as a valuable tool. Think of the possibilities!

Everyday I write the Spanish word of the day. Today's word is evitar meaning to avoid or prevent. I also added el verano (summer) and la natation (swimming). A couple of relevant words sprinkled in here and there can't hurt. And crazy mommy like to sing them- Swimming, Swimming la natacion... I'm using SpanishDict.com for translation.

Well, day one was a success! How's your el verano going?:)

Learning Maya 2008

Here's my finished train



I was so proud of myself when I completed this last week before class. Then... we moved on to NURBS! The teacher was giving a demonstration for what we needed to do for the next project and I looked at my screen to do something that he was going over and in that time I missed the next step. Since that point I felt clueless!! It's amazing how you can go from patting yourself on the back to wanting to wear a dunce cap:( I have been trying to figure it out all week and am having very little luck. Hopefully I will get some answers this week. The lesson I learned from last weeks class is to keep my eye on the teachers screen and scribble down notes quickly than try what he did after the demo!

In the meantime I have been going over the chapter on NURBS so that I am not completely clueless in class this week.
Here is a fun thing I learned (from reading the chapter on NURBS)
How to make a glass using the revolve tool

1.Click on the side view window
2.Change menu to surfaces than click on create-cv curve tool and create a curve for the profile of your object
3.Click on surfaces-revolve
4.View your creation in perspective window on shaded w/wireframe to view.

I have so much to learn and sometimes if seems like I'll never get to the point of knowing enough to use it professional. Baby steps...that's what I keep telling myself.
Hopefully my next maya update will be of a finished subway station and a red rocket.

Summer Vacation is here! y Palabra del dia es...

Today is the kids first day of summer break! We have some activities planned, like swimming everyday! They will be swimming one hour everyday at the local high school pool. It is a huge Olympic sized pool. Each lane is 25 yds. They will be training with a coach. I think it will be a great experience for them.
Another big plan of mine, for summer enrichment, is to teach the kids a little bit of Spanish! For now it will just be in the form of The Word of the day!
I found a great website that gives a word of the day. They will deliver the word to my email everyday and than I will write it on the chalkboard for the kids to see, read, learn and speak!
I thought it might be fun to post La Palabra del dia here on Chalk it up!

El Barrio
the neighborhood

I hope we can keep this up through the summer:) It's just one word a day, how hard can it be?!

Come back tomorrow for the palabra of the day!:)

If we think of other fun things to do this summer I will share them with you here:)

If you have any fun simple, cheap:) summer ideas, I love to know!

Black n' Tan...

A natural choice!


It's time to repaint the main living areas in my home. Currently the kitchen, livingroom and hallway are a sunny yellow faux finish wash (yellow ochre), the free standing wall separating the kitchen, living and family room is a faux red brick and two walls in the familyroom are a faux rag finish in terracotta. I think the faux finishes still look pretty and have held up very well but nonetheless, it is time for a change.

My home is an open floor plan, meaning one room flows into another. You can see the whole living space from the front door. This makes it difficult to pick colors as one area relies on the other.
With that in mind, I have decided to paint all of the walls TAN with white trim(the wainscotting will stay white) and black accents. With some wall art, I will pull a couple of other colors into accessories, such as, pillows, lamps, throws, rugs.
Here are a few pictures that I found on the internet to get inspired. If I can retrace my steps I will include links to the sources.

Here's black and tan with a punch of color! I love the framed mirror. Wouldn't that frame look great with a chalkboard in it?


Love this series of sketches.


This black wall reminds me of, what else....chalkboards!

Now to find the perfect tan. If you know of a good tan paint color, maybe one that you have used in your own home, I would love to hear about it. I could use some help:)