Science Projects!!

We love science here at the Duffy house! The kiddos were so excited about conducting some experiments in order to enter the school wide science fair this year. K grew egg geodes in order to see what would happen if we used plain tap water in one group and lake water in another group. We found that the lake water and tap water created interesting crystal growth but, the lake water seemed to create more interesting crystals. The chemicals were made into a "super saturation" and poured into clean, empty eggs about 4 weeks prior to the results were documented. If you want to know more details about the project..........send me an email and I can send you the process in length. Now, L (with my help) colored chicken scratch in order to see if chickens could see color. Most of all she wondered if they had a favorite color, a question she asks most people upon meeting. For five days we placed the colored scratch in pie tins and placed them out where we usually feed the chickens. At the end of each day we collected the tins and measured for the results. We found that chickens liked the regular scratch (variable) the most because that's what they were used to eating. Although, they ate more of the green out of all the colors, L determined that they liked green because it looked like grass! She's a smarty girl!! Best news: we are going to the county wide competition in a couple of weeks!! Yay Duffy scientists!! UPDATE: L TOOK 1ST PLACE AT THE COUNTY WIDE SCIENCE FAIR! AND K TOOK 3RD!!

Just the four of us...........

Portrait puppets made by my wonderfully talented baby girl..........also, known as Bugga!

Happy Valentines Day!

Handmade cards and homemade treats!

In the Corners

Bunnies, Birthdays and Busy

The pictures tell the story.......shortly before Christmas I found out I got a job teaching adjunct for the Paducah School of Art, four sections of Into. to Art! Pretty exciting but heavy, since I was just gearing up for Christmas and my etsy shop was super busy plus I had birthdays on the brain. Both my kiddos have birthdays right after Christmas and I just run out of steam to say the least. So, I had planned my daughters tea party with the help of my mother in law! It was everything a six year old could ask for........although, the girls were monkeys instead of princesses, who would of thought? My son had a family party with bowling and pizza and he is planning to have a big outside party in the spring with a scavenger hunt and lots of boys. While all the planning and prepping was going on we had a litter of six sweet bunnies join our family! If you have been wondering why I have not posted since November, well this sorta sums it all up! I have been a bit overwhelmed with all the planning and teaching this semester but wouldn't trade it for the world! I hope to make some art one day soon...............

Halloween 2010

Hope everyone had a fantastic Halloween! We certainly got some use out of the costumes this year.........we celebrated all weekend long, whew! Just thought I would share some pictures of my sweet ones.

COLLECTING............

New Work

Just added in my etsy shop!

Featured in Stitch Magazine

Hello all! Long time.......since I've seen you here on my blog. Life is keeping me hopping to say the least! Just wanted to pop in and let you know about some exciting news........... I was contacted about a month ago by the editors of Stitch Magazine to send them one of my totes to get photographed for the fall issue. I just received a copy of the issue and there I am on page 18. This is such a cool magazine! The photography is beautiful..............plus... it's packed full of all kinds of stitchy information..........besides the fact that I am featured inside, I highly reccomend picking up a copy!

The Slow Days of Summer........

Summer is slipping by before my eyes and before long both my children will be in school......then I begin the internal struggle of a mom and teacher. The desire to home school and the need to have time to make art will flow through my mind a million times over and over....... the summer is slowing to an end but not without making lots of memories....

>>>>We joined a local organic co-op this summer that has become the highlight of our week! The kids have experienced life on a farm by milking cows, chasing piglets and feeding the horses. Each week our basket is full of fresh organic blackberries and veggies of all sorts! We have made some great friends too.

>>>>Our chickens are growing up and we check every morning for eggs.....not yet. The bunny has decided to live under the chicken coop and amazingly enough the chickens don't mind.

>>>>We all have been playing golf together in the early evenings after the temp. has cooled a bit. It has been a little frustrating for me since I haven't picked up a club in about 8 years. I'm hanging in there.

>>>>We have had time for lots of craft projects and I have been working on making my kids lunch Eco-friendly by making re-usable snack bags and napkins. Time has allowed me to make some new clothes for my children and work on some domestic sewing too!

>>>>Weekend trips to Louisville to see what traffic is like and enjoy some time with family!

>>>>Started a butterfly and moth collection. Which is sometimes sad for my sweet L.....she has to spend time with them before we put them in the freezer.

>>>>Weekly trips to the library to get out of the heat! (oh, and the occasional snow-cone after)

>>>>In the fall, I will be teaching a class for Murray State......Elementary Art Ed. which I am very excited about!! Now I am planning my projects and working on my syllabus.............

Hope you are enjoying your summer making memories too!!