Autumn Fun: Leaf Art Project for Kids and Adults

It's that time of year again...YAHOOOO! The leaves are turning colors and are beginning to fall from the trees.  Why not grab a few of them next time you are outside for this fun sensory project?  You can go also on a nature hike to gather leaves/weeds which is what we did.  Leaf art can not be any easier to do with your wee ones.  Eugene dipped the leaves in paint and went crazy.  We leaf-stamped, used the weeds as a paint brush and got messy with the paint.  The point of this project is to use different textures to create a design and introduce your child to using nature as a tool.  The end results are always awesome.  I ended up framing Eugene's work and he is so proud of himself! Enjoy 

Oh Darling, Let's Be Adventurers

We happened to catch a perfect fall day yesterday.  The sun was shining brightly, the trees were still holding on to bits of color + the temperatures were tolerable enough to frolic in outside.  After taking a drive through the country + fueling up on some Intelligentsia coffee it was inevitable that my camera would find its way to my hands.  We went for a hike in a great southern Wisconsin park where I immediately starting taking pictures.  We unintentionally matched the scenery + also unintentionally matched each other. I wait all year for this season to return + 2013 did not disappoint me. 

When the bleak of winter starts to wear on me I will have to find these pictures + revel in them to remind myself that color will once again reign as king.  The forest was full of vivid shades of yellow-orange leaves, back lit with endless sunshine glowing through the trees upon which they were resting. It was breathtaking. 

Eugene had so much fun playing in the crunchy leaves + then attempting to eat them when we weren't looking.  I am quite certain he would have stayed all day if we would have let him.  

I hope you have gotten the chance to be out in nature to enjoy this lovely season.  I am going to try to hold on to autumn as long as I can.  The holidays will be upon us shortly, we will find ourselves ringing in the new year + before long there will be another baby joining this little family. There is so much to be grateful for!

Heat Wave In Wisco

 

Hello from Wisconsin, where it is so hot I can't even breathe if I step outside.  Who's with me in wishing for autumn?  Summer really takes a lot out of me physically so anytime the temperatures want to dip back into the 80's or 70's that would be great! I would even take 60's, gladly.  Anyway, I took some photos of the babe a few days ago & thought I would share them with you. Little Eugene is 7.5 months old already.  What a little gent. Hope today is a good one!
 

Xoxo,

Heather





 

My Nature

I love to be outside & especially when I have my camera in hand.  I was overly inspired the other brisk day here in Kansas so I grabbed Cali, my pup, my Canon with the larger lens, my stocking cap & some winter-like cheer.  I walked slowly & aimlessly, aimless only in the sense of oncoming cars & people, as I was captivated by just about everything.  It was one of those magical photo shoots- as they are not all this way!  My heart pounded as my fingers started to freeze.  I was in a race against the falling temperatures & the setting sun.  My dog was getting irritated at her very short leash, necessary so I could hold the camera (sort of) steady, long enough to get the shot. 

I was getting the feeling my neighbors thought I needed to be carefully observed with such a long lens- I did look a tad suspicious aiming the lens at stranger's windows.  This didn't stop me. . .it rarely does.  I remember one winter back in Milwaukee when I had stopped in my truck to snap a shot of a glorious, picturesque, winterized street & the owner of a house nearby followed me to my own house in his car where he sat, parking me in & waiting for me to emerge.  I was a little freaked so I stalled my exit- feeling less vulnerable on the inside my Land Rover.  Finally, I stepped out as the snow fell.  He proceeded to ask me what I was doing.  Me, I thought?  How about what are you doing, sir?  I live here, I informed the bloke.  He said he saw me taking pictures of his house & wondered if I was casing the joint. HA! Me?!  Casing him? I assured him I was not- that I was a photographer, simply taking pictures of 'his' street that was so beautifully blessed by nature. 

I returned home with a bushel full of photographs & a quieted spirit.  These are the results of that day: