Steph Langdon

  I recently had a birthday, so it feels timely to post on this topic. Gifting has changed in my family over the years already. My brother and I no longer exchange gifts (with our spouses either), but we do give gifts to our nephews. This year my mom suggested that we stop birthday gifts, and I was definitely on board with that; she did still send me a card though. With an increase in consumerism and disposable income, I find that we often don't know what to buy for a gift, because people already 'have everything'. Over the years this has led me to focus on asking for and giving experience/consumable gifts when I can. We do still buy things that our kids need or want, but we also try to not overdo it.  Gifts are meant to tell the person that you were thinking of them, so it's strange to think that they've become somewhat mandatory with certain holidays. We do feel that the conversations with friends have been easy and we often ask for no gifts at our children's ...

  In 2023 when we stayed home for the summer due to my cancer diagnosis and treatments, we started learning about artists together. We continue to learn, as there are so many artists. Learning this way inspires us to create our own pieces, get outside our comfort zone and learn new techniques.  We don't have a firm schedule, but recently had time, so we learned about Franz Marc. He was a German artist known for painting animals and using bright colors to express emotion. It was fun to think outside the box like Marc and create blue horses.  Typically we watch a few videos on the artist, such as this , and then decide on a project. Websites like Artsy Crafty Mom have been great for providing many options relating to a single artist.  We found a technique online (I can't find the video to share right now), where they picked a horse outline they liked, printed it off, and traced it. Then used colored crayons for wax resistance but also colored markers to outline the ho...