Count Down to April Vacation - First Installment

Trip to Southern California: April 2015

So, here's something a little different from my usual creative posts. I will be traveling with my son in April. We're going from Boston to San Diego and this will be his first plane ride. Here's the catch, he's autistic. I'm so stressed about the trip that I'm afraid my anxiety will rub off on him and make him freak out more and then neither of us will enjoy the vacation. Not good.

Itinerary
4/19 - fly from Boston to San Diego
4/20 4/22 - stay in San Diego (Sea World and San Diego Zoo)
4/22 - pick up friends at San Diego airport, drive to Carlsbad to stay at Legoland Hotel
4/23 - 4/25 - Legoland and Sea Life aquarium
4/26 - fly back to Boston

In preparation, I've been over-planning our trip. Going over every detail again and again and trying to guess what his sticking points will be. In some ways he's easy because he falls into the mild to moderate part of the spectrum and he's such a happy kid. He likes to say hi to everyone and he has a big vocabulary, so he'll name everything he sees and some things he doesn't see...like dragons, cows, and monkeys. Where he's delayed is in his communication skills. He can't tell you if he has a headache, if he's tired, if he has a leg cramp, or if he had a bad dream. He will go through a litany of things trying to name the one thing that's affecting him. Like if he wakes up in the middle of the night, presumably from a bad dream, he'll ask for cookies, music, milk, the cat, blankets, Nana/Poppy...you get the idea.

My strategy is to keep him busy the entire trip. My next few posts will be about the things I'm doing to try to alleviate the stress we'll likely both be feeling.

Months before leaving...

Flight
I've read both sides of the argument for and against direct flights. On the one side, people say that breaking up a trip will allow a child not to have to be contained for an extended period of time. On the other side, breaking up the trip will uproot a child and perhaps cause more stress. I went with a direct flight because I figure once I get him on the plane and situated, I don't want to break that up. We may have to walk around the plane or he may want to sit on the floor and play in his seat, so be it.

I'm a big JetBlue fan and even though the cost was ridiculous (my son is too big/old to sit on my lap and needed his own seat,) we're going direct. The TV at every seat was a big plus as well as slightly wider seats. Boston to San Diego will be a 5+ hour flight and I probably don't know what I'm getting into.

Wrist leash...
Since I will be lugging bags, typing into kiosks, talking to gate agents, waiting in the terminal, and going through TSA, there's no way I could hold my son's hand the whole time and do everything else, so I purchased the Gripsterz wrist leash (http://vivevita.com/gripsterz.) What I like about this is the velcro strap that goes on his wrist and the fact that the length is adjustable. There is a plastic ring for a child to hold onto, but my son would never hold it, so the strap on his wrist is preferable. Just in case, I didn't want to wait until our trip to find out this is just a gimmick, so I tried it out. While it doesn't keep him from grabbing things close to him, it does keep him from running off and that is what I really need.

CARES harness (http://kidsflysafe.com/)...
My son is little for his age, like really little, but I didn't want to lug a car seat and I didn't want him in just a lap belt, so I purchased the CARES harness from Amazon.com. It cost maybe $70, but it's one of the only ones that is FAA approved. I think he'll do better in a 4 point harness as that's what he's used to in his car seat and stroller.

Car rental...
I reserved a mini van for when we're in San Diego and Enterprise has a car seat rental that can be included (for an extra cost.) It's a bit more expensive, but worth it so that I don't have to lug one with me and we can just get in the car and go once we get the car. I also went with Enterprise because I can pay with a debit card. While other car rental companies have better rates and cars, I don't have an unsecured credit card, so my choices were limited. I've rented from them numerous times and I've always had a good experience.

Stroller rental...

Here's another area where I was trying to limit the amount of stuff I'd have to lug around with me, so after some research, I found a company called Toddler's Travels in San Diego (http://www.toddlerstravels.com/.) I rented a stroller from them called the City Mini. The weekly rate was $45, but with delivery and taxes and such, it was around $85. Well worth it so I'm not struggling with an umbrella stroller in the airport, if you ask me.

Those are just the first few things I took care of. Like I said, I'm completely OCD about planning this trip. More to come...

Part 2

Part 3

A Few New Tiles

I've been working really hard at trying to find a new apartment as well as a job, but when I'm in my studio, I can get lost in creating things and thus alleviate the big stressors in my life.  Here are a few new tiles I made.

6x6

4x4

4x4

4x4

6x6

6x6

6x6

These were all made by painting alcohol inks on plain white ceramic tiles from Home Depot. Once the ink in on the tile, I use canned air to create the petal look and swirl the inks around the tile. You have to do it quickly because the inks dry almost immediately. Lots of fun, like creating art in a speed round. It is absolutely impossible to make two tiles the same.

My next challenge is going to be to create a 12x12 tile. Yikes!

New Cards

I attended CKC Manchester on May 2nd and 3rd and definitely got inspired to create more cards. Here are a few of my latest creations.

While at CKC, I bought a new butterfly stamp set and matching dies. Love them!

Butterfly stamps and punch from Stephanie Barnard Stamps for Life.

Best day evah...so Bostonian.

Fly high in the sky.

I also got a new penguin stamp set and matching dies. So adorable!

Penguin stamp and die cuts from Stephanie Barnard Stamps for Life with the butterfly behind the penguin.

Penguin and balloon stamps and die cuts from Stephanie Barnard.

Sometimes, less is more. I love my cupcake punch.

Last year at CKC, I bought the banner punch, but it's gotten really tough to use. Still, I like the way this card came out using the little pendants.

I made this card with a stencil I bought. First I did the background in a silver/grey and then the outline of the city in black. I really like the way it came out and I'm always looking for new ideas to make cards for guys.

 

I made these three cards when I got back from CKC using Julie Nutting Prima Doll stamps I already had. Apparently there are now smaller card-sized stamps, but I didn't see them at the vendor fair.

 

I used a page from an vintage music book.

Before I left, I purchased the envelope cutter, petal punch and hexagon punch from Stampin' Up. The hexagon has really come in handy for making a variety of cards.

It's a real book!!

As I posted before, I've written two books that I am self-publishing. Well, I got the hard copies in the mail and they look and feel like real books. When I said this to my Mom, she corrected me saying, "They ARE real books." She's right. I guess I felt that way because I did everything to get them published.

Here's the first one - Ten Little Birds.

Ten Little Birds by Kimberly McCullough

It's a really cute counting book that rhymes each number with a watercolor picture to go with the words. It's very simple for kids just learning to count and learning their colors.

Here's the second book - Banyan and the Green Bee King Save the Bees

Banyan and the Green Bee King Save the Bees by Kimberly McCullough

This story is about a mythical Fairlet named Banyan who teams up with the Green Bee King to help save the disappearing bees. It is great way to teach kids to plant bee-friendly flowers that will help save the dying and disappearing bee population on the planet. The colorful illustrations keep them interested and the language is easy enough to young readers to read the book themselves.

I'm really proud of these two books and hope that this is just the beginning of my children's book author adventure.

Ordering info:
The books can be purchased on Amazon.com as well as my website: www.kimmico.com/books. 

If you purchase the books in Amazon, they are available for immediate shipping. If you order the books on my website, they take about 2 weeks to ship, but will be autographed by me. The Banyan book also comes with a packet of wildflowers for kids to plant and watch grow. The cost is about the same no matter which way the books are ordered.

OMG, OMG, OMG...my book!

I've been tinkering with the idea of writing children's books for a while. I always felt limited and stifled by all the information out there about how difficult, if not impossible it is to break into children's literature. Well, I never thought about becoming the next JK Rowling, just an author of children's bools. I wrote and illustrated one for my 2 year old son and decided to put it into print. I can't say how exciting it is to see an actual printed copy.

The cover

Two inside pages

The back cover

 I got this one printed on CVS.com as a photo book and just loved it. The cost is prohibitive ($12 each,) so I found an Amazon company to print it cheaper (<$5) and post it on Amazon.com. I'm in the process of setting that up and will post the final results when I get them.

Today's Project - Pattern Weights!

I've been doing a lot of sewing lately and as such, I use a lot of paper patterns. The problem with that is all the pinning, which tears the paper. I like to have all my patterns on template plastic, so I can trace easily around the pattern, then pin and cut it. However, I've been doing projects that are too big for template plastic and have been forced to use large pieces of paper.

I know I'm behind the times, but I recently discovered pattern weights. I've seen them in the fabric stores all the time, but they are so expensive and you only get like two and I needed more. I looked at a bunch of pictures online and in several Etsy shops and came up with my own.

SO easy to make. I bought a box of 25 of the biggest and heaviest washers at Home Depot (maybe 2 inches across with a 3/4" center for less than $8), wrapped ribbon around sets of 3, and tied the ribbon in a knot. A lot of the ones I saw wrap ribbon around the washers so that you don't see any of the washer, but I didn't find that necessary and I kind of like the look.

So, if you're in the market for pattern/sewing weights, just make them yourself. These worked awesome.

Varnish Comparison

If you are planning on making alcohol ink painted tiles, here is my take on the varnishes.

First, the worst.

This varnish completely ruined a set of tiles. I bought it hoping that the smell of tolulene and xylene would be reduced when I sprayed the tile. I never expected it to lift the inks off the tile and flake them off. Here's the result of using this spray varnish. You can clearly see flaking of the crystallized ink. Do NOT use this varnish to seal your tiles.

The second varnish is the Triple Thick Crystal Clear Glaze.

It isn't as bad as the Low Odor Varnish, but still not great. It gives a really nice glazed look, thick and clear as a baked finish, but it blurs fins lines. As you can see in the top picture, the circles have thick lines around them, those lines were thin as if drawn with a ballpoint pen and after spraying, they look as if they were drawn with a fat marker. If you want the high gloss look, use this spray, but if you have any fine lines you want to retain, this varnish will not do that.

I use the Krylon Kamar Varnish.

It is made for art, so it's gentle on the inks. It takes a few coats and the finished product doesn't have that glass clear finish, but the results are great. It retains the fine lines and there is no flaking or damage to the ink surface.

Bottom line...

Low Odor - No redeeming qualities, ruins your image entirely: Thumbs down, huge NO
Triple Thick - Okay if you want a high gloss finish and don't have any fine lines: Neutral
Kamar - Not as high gloss, but retains the painting of fine lines: Thumbs up