Dreamish-y Day

I've spent the last few weeks pondering many things, and I'll admit- worrying about some of them. In so many ways and through so many people I heard God tell me to stop worrying, stop trying to control everything- just let Him deal with it...hands free. But I couldn't quiet my own thoughts for long...so my busy mind led me around  in circles a number of times.

Today I set aside all morning and early afternoon to really pour my heart out, and listen to God instead of my noisy noisy thoughts. It's not often I am so very intentional about my time with God. I rarely take the chance to spend a whole morning to really let it all out and then listen to God's responses, feel Him move, and allow myself to be renewed. I tend to find all the important things I have to do...being dragged around by my need to achieve or perhaps if I'm honest, my chance to waylay having to hash out things with God- or myself. Looking at it now I have to wonder why I choose to be dragged around by desires (working to fill the emptiness), rather than being led calmly by God (living out of fullness).

By this afternoon everything inside me felt calmer than they have in months. As I watched my son play in the sprinkler in the quiet, hot, late afternoon haze of Virginia summer I walked barefoot through the wet grass next to the pond Vander created under the tire swing...big restful sighs...finally allowing myself to be led beside still waters.

10 things you may not know about me

1) When listening to Double Fantasy I fast forward past the John Lennon songs to get to the Yoko Ono
tunes.

2) Every morning I run in place for 15 minutes while watching the Muppets YouTube channel.

3) My husband and I never really dated before we decided we wanted to get married.

4) Each of my 3 kids have 2 middle names.

5) When eating Reese's peanut butter cups I eat all the chocolate first so I can taste the peanut butter reeeaaally well.

6) I HATE the feeling of ketchup on my skin.

7) I have always felt called to be a healer.

8) If you add up the amount I have spent on all the furniture in our entire 2 story house the cost would be around $100.

9) Peace signs make me wince.

10) I love the smell of Philadelphia pavement, gasoline being pumped, freshly lit cigarettes, and the fumes that sometimes sneak out of our neighbors surfboard repair studio.

2 little things

The two most important things I did today:

1) Had coffee and conversation with a friend.

2) Contemplated how little of reality I actually see/understand vs. the fullness of what God sees/understands...and thus decided to trust Him even just a little more.

.

Faking a Garden

One of the things I had to let go of in my life in order to pursue more time with family and art was doing less in my gardens. Okay, who am I kidding, I never did much with my gardens! I have many a green thumbed friend and when we daydream of banding together and becoming a commune, I remind them that I will be the one that provides freshly spun wool and sweaters, hot cups of store bought coffee always, and gluten-free cupcakes (just not so much fruits and veggies). I figure we'll need someone with a backyard free of food-growth in order to have playspace, a fit pit, and maybe a hammock or two. For now a few Costco sized cans that I tossed some seeds in and an upcycled beer bottle with the only sunflower that sprouted. Color me happy. We all have seeds to sow, some literal and some proverbial. 

(Disclaimer: I do have some tomatoes that are growing nicely without much attention.)

Proof that Selfies attract Elfies...

I was trying to get a shot of myself in my new more-on-the-orange-side-red lipstick, freshly pinned maiden braids, and my Vintage Jane birthday necklace...when the elves attacked! Like a cat to the sound of a can opener they came running! I look better covered in children and kisses anyways. :)

My sweet little monkeys. Happy Monday!

Postin a Letter

In an email-centered world I did the unthinkable...I sent a letter to my cousin.

 I was so inspired to do something tactile and beautiful. It used to be a pretty common thing for me to do in high school...write a letter in a ridiculously artistic fashion, sometimes a painting would serve as stationery, sometimes a magazine cut out...or even candy wrappers if I was in that mood.  

Now it's few and far between that I do this so it was fun to go fancy.

To make the envelope I used some back issues of Martha Stewart magazine (you can't go wrong using the pictures in that publication for artistic projects...always so meticulous and lovely) and I taped together the envelope in the following fashion:

(Here's a small tip: use glossy tape for glossy papers and matte tape for matte papers so it's not so noticeable.)

I used masking tape cut with pinking shears to make the labels...and Voila!

Now go send someone a smile!

(More posts on writing letters.)

in with the new

So I laugh at posting this after my past blog post, but guess what...? I got studio time! It's funny, I started getting frustrated as to why I even had a whole room dedicated to my work in my home when it wasn't hardly used. I started thinking about changing it into a spare room or renting it out. Then my brilliant sister-in-law said,"Why don't you just pray about it?" (Something I hadn't thought of.) So I did. I stood in the middle of the room and prayed. The moment I opened my eyes inspiration hit and I started working. I guess that was His answer. So here' s a few new items that I recently posted in the shop. Let me know what you think!