Adventures in Chalk

Supergirl to the Rescue

2012-09-04T13:43:00.000-07:00

Kailey is a natural subject for our adventures. She’s creative, she loves imagining things, she usually has quite a bit of patience, and she cannot wait to see how the pictures turn out afterwards. Our very first adventure in chalk was Kailey as Supergirl. The idea was straightforward and came from a Pinterest posted idea. I saw the idea and immediately fell in love. Little did I know that my venture down Supergirl lane was going to lead to many more new adventures with Kailey.

I learned a few things the first time we used chalk.

I learned that it definitely makes sense to buy washable chalk since the chalk easily wears off onto her clothing as she’s laying smack dab on top of it.
I learned that it is hard to take pictures of Kailey with direct sunlight overhead. Depending on the time of the day the sun positions over your drawings, there are optimum times for picture taking.
I learned that Kailey didn’t have as much patience as I thought. Some of the poses are hard for her to maintain. It becomes that much more important to snap pictures quickly before she loses interest and gets uncomfortable.
It is easier to have another person pose her while I take the picture.
I always use a ladder or another object I can stand on to be able to take a picture high enough to get the entire landscape of my picture. Side note: I tried using an unstable cooler, which didn’t end up well for me or the cooler.

After viewing the results of our adventure, I quickly decided that I needed to continue. My initial goal was to create enough landscapes that I could create my own calendar for friends and relatives at Christmas. Little did I know that our adventures had just continued and would not stop with a calendar.

Why Chalk?

2012-09-04T13:27:00.002-07:00

I have fallen victim to the Pinterest craze sweeping the nation.

I can say that I’ve been pinning for over a year and I love it! Pinterest is my little creative oasis away from my daily endeavors. I love spending time planning my next new recipe, craft project, or home decorating idea.

One day while I was pinning I stumbled on a pin of a little boy flying in the sky with a bright red cape. The landscape was drawn in basic shapes with chalk. The little boy looked so happy. I was immediately struck by the three dimensional look of the drawing. I knew at that moment that I wanted to try to do the same thing with Kailey.

That evening we recreated the same drawing on our driveway. I was in love! I love drawing and having the freedom to be creative. Chalk drawing seemed like a natural way for me to spend time with my children while we were living out our own story. Even better, our stories live for a short time and then are washed away with the rain so we can begin our next adventure.

About Me

2012-09-04T13:26:00.001-07:00

When my husband and I started having problems conceiving our first child, we started to being changing the focus of our lives. We knew we wanted to have children. We didn’t know how many, but the perspective of not having any children in our lives didn’t seem like what either of us had planned for our lives together. Over the course of a couple of years we did everything we were asked to begin our family. I will never forget the day I spoke to a fertility doctor over the phone when he told me that I should start thinking about adoption. It wasn’t until that moment that it really hit me. I may not be able to have any children. It was heartbreaking.

My husband assured me that we needed to regroup and take a break from concentrating on starting a family. We took a much needed vacation with each other and 9 months later we gave birth to our miracle baby, Kailey.

Kailey was the miracle we had hoped and prayed for. She is our angel. Even in the moments she decides to have her own opinions about bedtime, or what she wants to eat for dinner; I take pleasure in knowing we’ve created such a sweet and special little girl.

As Kailey’s mother I can say that I’m biased to think that she is a gifted child. I will qualify that statement by saying that I’ve heard comments from strangers to confirm my own thoughts. Kailey is very intuitive, very sensitive, intelligent, inquisitive, and imaginative. Even though she is now 4 years old, I have to constantly remind myself that I’m not talking to an older child when we are having a conversation. We have raised Kailey to know that she can be whatever she wants to be in life. She can do anything she wants to do, and there is nothing that will stop her in life.

We constantly have imagination sessions to pretend we are astronauts in space, or princesses trapped in a castle waiting for our prince charming. Kailey is used to imagination, and our Adventures in Chalk seemed like the natural progression. With Kailey’s imagination, and my artistic background it seemed like a natural fit for us to dream up our own adventures.

Each day we talk about our next adventure, or what we would like to try next. Then, I work with her to create that reverie with chalk. We hope that you enjoy our adventures, and can take away your own piece of childhood wonder. Kailey inspires me every day to see the world from the perspective of a child, with the innocence and wonder of a child.