With Eyes Wide Open

As a child there are people around you that you don't always see clearly. Neighbors or friends of your parents. You know their name or that they live in the blue house at the end of your street, where you always get peanut butter cookies.

As an adult with my own thoughts and concepts, I've had that veil be removed. The relationship with some of these people can alter and shift into the path it was meant to form all along. One such relationship jumps to mind for me and never fails to make me smile.

This is my Godmother, Pauline.

Growing up, behind my childlike veil, she was just my mother's best friend.
She was the daughter of my Grandmother's best friend.
She was the sister to one of my aunts.

We would make sure to visit her and her family when we'd come back to Bear River for our vacations. I can remember a wood stove from one of her homes. I can recall how she hung a ladder from the ceiling of a living room and that a jungle of plants grew from it. I always said I'd hang a ladder in my home when I got bigger.
She was......Pauline.

As the years passed away, things in my life shifted and that veil slowly drifted away.
She became someone different in my eyes.
Nothing had changed with her but something great had changed within me.

I saw how incredibly soft spoken she was. The sound of her voice has become a very calming element to the chaos that sometimes surrounds me in life. Her touch when she hugs me brings me peace.

With my eyes wide open, I could now truly see how her spirit was artistic and spoke strongly to my own.
In the back of my mind, I could recall artwork hung in the homes I'd visited with faint whispers of "oh Pauline drew that".

The other day, I took my camera to her home.
Asking if I could capture a few images to share and she said yes and then teased me that she would have cleaned better if she knew I was going to take photos.

Artwork that she has drawn over the years that hang on on the wall leading you upstairs.

The emotion that washes over you from her pieces is incredible. Her work pushes me to keep trying. To continue to hold a pencil or piece of charcoal in my hands. An inspiration when she didn't even know she was.

Over the years, I've watched her creative passion shift thru different mediums. Pencil, pastels, onto clay for jewelry and now we share another passion. She was introduced to the world of felting.
On one of the many joyful visits to her home, I surprised her with an array of spun wool. Every color under the rainbow. Watching her eyes sparkle with light and seeing the concepts forming in her mind with how she was going to begin to use them was very intoxicating. I tend to feed off her excitement. She fuels me like no other.

I started felting my miniature landscape necklaces and Pauline took felting in a whole different direction.
She blew me out of the water. When she showed me these pieces, I was speechless and in awe.
She has fanned the desire to attempt a larger piece of art.

The motion she has been able to recreate with the wool is amazing.
The texture is soft and yet so realistic.

When she first showed me this autumn tree, I jokingly told her she was to leave it to me in her will.
(Alright.....I wasn't really joking! ) She did a few other pieces of work for her daughters that were wonderful as well.

Then she began to really play and experiment with the wool.

Look at these!

Incorporating real bird feathers, dried grass and even a small tree branch that she felted a birds nest around.
The birds she felted with dimension and they look amazing.

Then I just walked around her home snapping photos while smiling. Her knack for placing items and conveying a mood makes me envious. I look forward to someday placing my own items around the farmhouse and having such moods of love, harmony and comfort flow from them.

Her home conveys her soul. Her spirit and her loves are showcased in every corner of her home.
Earth colors float out from everywhere. Pieces of mother nature whisper to you from nooks and crannies. Dried flowers, driftwood gathered off a beach from a family vacation,amongst book shelves covered with hours of escape. Old wooden frames hang on walls surrounding art that she either did herself or that somehow spoke to her heart. Family heirlooms reveal the connection to the past and done with love.
You tend to notice something different each visit that has a wonderful tale of love attached to it.
A visit to her home instantly makes my heart smile.
Knowing my day is going to include talking and visiting with her is immediate joy.

She hadn't finished this latest felt piece but she indulged me and allowed me to take some photos.
It is going to be a wedding present for someone she knows. I jokingly told her I didn't know I was getting married again ;)

I am beyond blessed to have this incredible woman in my life.
Pauline encourages me to try anything. She fully believes in my talent.
She loves me and that can be a rare trait in some folks. I cherish that I know she does.
Laughter is in my life because of her.
Artistic desire is fueled from her.

A level of just unending joy is brought into my heart from her.
Thank you for always being in my life and waiting for the childlike veil to fall so I could see you with my eyes wide open.
I love you!
xoxoxox

 

{Love Yourself}

Inspired by a post that my friend Jeanne Oliver just wrote and shared on her own blog.

Since discovering how much enjoyment I get from capturing moments of time, it is usually a rare sight to find me without camera in hand. Photos of anything that catches my eye will be snapped.
My primitive dolls, the latest painting being worked on, the newest plant to poke thru the dirt in the garden. Day trips to the beach or to discover an old headstone in a cemetery. Countless photos have been captured thru my lens.

To be on the other side of the lens tends to make me feel a little nauseous.
Instant scrutiny erupts in my mind.
Some days are better then others. My youngest niece LOVES what she calls our "spontaneous photo shoots". Indulging her in this joy has given us incredible memories together filled with laughter. A few of the photos have even turned out awesome. Bonus!

Jeanne shared photos of herself in her post that took my breath away. She shared thoughts about herself with them. She asked to have folks share photos they took of themselves.
In the same moment that my heart jumped and said "I'll do it"..... the rest of me screamed NOoooooooooooo.

Woke to rain this morning and caught myself sighing with relief; giving into the quick option of cancelling.
HOLD UP!
Nope.
I can do this.
I thought the idea was fantastic when I read her post yesterday and I still did.
Putting on my big girl panties and grabbing my camera, outside I went to capture a few photos and then when the rain became too hard, finished off inside the farmhouse. A tiny wee "freaking out"dance may have occurred at the beginning. I caught myself wanting to peak at each photo taken and delete. Took a deep breath and started snapping.........

Who knew that only a few years ago so much would change for me? Being outside in torn clothes and ripped jeans, swatting bugs out of my face would make my heart smile. Hair tied back and hardly any makeup on. Planting and playing in the backyard area of the farmhouse. I still do the other things that I did....but THIS makes me happy.

My big green boots have somehow become my "go to" footwear. I am madly in love with these foolish things. When he first told me he was going to be buying me a pair of boots, my first thought was something knee length in a soft leather, that I could wear with jeans or a dress. Ummmm no.
He walked me right past that style of boot to the "work" section. I may have actually been a bit speechless.
Then I started wearing them for working around the farmhouse and fell in love.
I wore them all winter no matter where we were going. He laughed and teased me so much.

Wrinkles. Sunspots. Natural hair color.
It's all part of what makes me who I am.
Each of those wrinkles has been earned.
They came from laughing and living life.
Why fuss about dying my hair and trying to keep up with trends?
Is it clean? Does my husband like to run his hands thru it when he tells me he loves me?

I could focus on the crows feet and how my eyelids seem to "move" more when applying my eyeliner.
What a waste of energy though. Does it change anything? So what if I seem to wake each morning with more grey hair? So what if I happen to have a chin hair?
Ok......no...... that chin hair has to be plucked each time. Who am I kidding?!
I have imperfections but I refuse to send my energy there.

I'm almost 42.
Not every day is wonderful and without moments of wishing something was different on my body.
Overall, I am content. I don't jump on every bandwagon to lose weight. Working the farm and eating the food we grow has helped me lose weight and gain a healthier body which I am grateful for. I don't push myself. If I want something naughty, trust me, I eat it!
I don't beat myself up over having eaten it either.

My life makes me happy.
I'm at a place where I can smile.
I'm loved.
There is no pretending going on.
I've managed to get to a place in my life where I am comfortable on so many levels.
It's not perfect and it's not meant to be.
I'm living my life and enjoying the journey.

DIY Jewelry Display Makeover

Just a little while ago, my folks surprised me with a display piece for when I'm taking photos of my needle felted necklaces. They had seen one of those black velvet displays and scooped it up for me because it was on sale. You've all seen them before. They look pretty much like this....

While the style was fantastic , it didn't quite work as I hoped because I have to take such close up photos of the felted landscape. I swear every fluffy, fuzzy and stray piece of floating cat hair STUCK right to that black velvet. No matter what brush or cloth I took to the velvet, it wouldn't go away. I was not amused.

So while the snow was falling yet again (could have swore the calendar said it was Spring!), I took my display downstairs by the heat vent in the floor and started to apply layers of gesso. The first coat just seemed to get sucked into the velvet and I was beginning to think maybe I had ruined it. As each coat dried by the heat of the vent (I'm not the most patient crafter), it was beginning to look like it was going to work.

This is what it looked like with 4 coats of gesso applied with just a sponge brush. I didn't do the bottom section of the display. Just the neck and chest section. It was quite rough in sections but the good thing about gesso is that you can take sandpaper to it.
So out came my handy piece of sandpaper and I smoothed all the rough sections down.
Placing a necklaces on it, I found the color of the plain gesso was too bright.

I flipped thru my paint collection and found a bottle of Martha Stewart craft paint called "Lake Fog" and covered the gesso in that. I loved it! I was playing around a bit more and painted the word "postcard" in a light caramel ink.

I liked how it turned out but the more I thought about it during the evening, the more I wanted something different written there. So I took some paint and covered over the wording. Let it fully dry and placed a thin coat of ModPodge on it as well. I didn't want the ink at some point to maybe bleed up thru the paint. I painted yet another coat of paint in that spot and let it fully dry again.

This time, I just took a Sharpie fine tip black marker and wrote the message I whisper to myself all the time when I get nervous or anxious ... Just Breathe.

I am quite pleased with how my little DIY jewelry display makeover came together. It really was quite simple to do. No more fuzzies in my photos! heehee
I'm thinking I'll be keeping my eyes open for a few more display pieces and doing this again.

Primitive Folk Art ePatterns

Whew.
I am finally able to come up for a bit and catch my breath. Now I am well aware that this wouldn't have happened if I had been creating patterns as a design came out. Why I thought it was easier to do a batch of them at once is beyond me. I will say this though..... these primitive folk art downloadable patterns sure do bring a smile to my face and I hope to yours.
Look at all that has been made into an ePattern just waiting for you to order and download.

All of these primitive folk art epatterns for raggedy dolls, fox, witch and so much more can be found here

Thru the Attic Door at Patternmart

All are $5US each and will instantly arrive in your inbox once you pay :)

ENJOY!

Custom Embroidery

Haven't been able to wipe the smile from my face since this all started to fall into place.
I am so excited about my new hat. Sounds silly but it's the little things that make me smile.

This is a photo of me snapped the other morning. The weather was rainy and just blah. I wanted to be silly and have some fun. Notice the hat???  It's my husbands. Due to all the construction that is happening at the farmhouse (as you can tell by the lovely background in the photo), it can be a bit chilly at times even inside the house. We wear these lightweight hats to keep the edge off. We laugh and call them "house hats". Well he usually wears this one and I'm stuck wearing one with a construction company logo or tool company name. YUCK. They work. They keep the chill off but it doesn't suit me or my style.

SO EXCITED NOW!!!!!

My friend Karrie of Briar Rose Embroidery.,she is coming to my rescue and I have been doing the happy dance ever since. She is going to be making custom embroidered patches to sew onto my own hats. I have picked a few hats up and have them stacked on my craft table. I bought a cream color, a pink and a black.

Look at the design she is creating for me into a patch.
How perfect, right???? I can't stop smiling.

I am thinking I need one of the patches to be sewn to a crafting apron to match.
Seriously so many ideas raced thru my head. I'm going to have a blast using these.
She has numerous designs that she can create a custom embroidered item with.

Look at these embroidery designs. Think of the fun and unique items to be embroidered for yourself or your crafty friends. Karrie does amazing work and is really wonderful to work with. I can't speak higher of her business.

and

I am going to have a few "extra" patches stitched and then slip them into cards to friends. Wouldn't it make you smile to open a note and have one of these designs fall out to sew onto something for yourself??
What a fun easy thing to send a friend, right?? Think of the possible smiles that would happen.

If you are crafty.
If you have friends that are.
Scoot yourself right over to Briar Rose Embroidery
Have something custom embroidered for you and send a smile!

She also does custom embroidered baby bibs, burp clothes, blankets, embroidered key fobs, tshirts, tote bags, and just so much more. Go check all her custom embroidery out! You can not go wrong by having her create something for you.

It's a Creative Challenge

While a few friends and I were sitting around my kitchen table chattering about crafts, life in general and sipping our coffee......... oh how I wish that is really how this all came about. *SIGH*
Truth of the matter is two friends were talking about a challenge to get their creative juices flowing and I sort of jumped right in the midst of the talk and ran with the idea. (None of you are shocked by that, are you? ) 

This time of the year can give you the feeling of standing in two feet of thick mud and just spinning your creative tires. The same items get created by many and it can be a wee bit frustrating. Sometimes it's fun to have a little push. A little bit of a shove in a different direction so it can recharge you. Get you thinking outside the norm of what usually appears on your crafting table.

Some different ideas were bantered back and forth and a vote taken...... NURSERY RHYMES!!!!
We've given ourselves ONE MONTH to come up with something using that theme.
Some of us are doll makers. Some of us are artists. Some are doing....well....I won't give all the details away just yet.

Will share who is taking part though :)

Sherry Marrero of Anniescupboards!!!!!
You can take a peek at her Facebook FanPage 
She also has a blog you can read and follow

Niki Jackson of The Vintage Artist!!!!!
She has an Etsy Shop.
oh and make sure to read her blog

Nicole Campbell of RaggedyOldAnnies!!!!!
 You can take a peek at her Facebook FanPage
This is her website

Cindy Markovcy of Homespun from the Heart!!!!!
You can take a peek at her Facebook FanPage
This is her website


A few other friends too but they don't have their FB Fanpage created yet to link to.
I best go poke them with a stick and get them working on that ;)

Oh and of course ME!
I'm actually going to be creating two different items for this challenge.
I'm doing a doll and a painting. Figured I'd really push the envelope and challenge myself :)

You can find my Facebook Fanpage here and this is my website.

I hope you'll swing by and *LIKE* everyone's fanpage and check us all out while we take part in this Creative Challenge.

Melody Ross makes you BRAVE

When first entering this "world" of fellow artists, you tend to stay back along the wall and spend time just quietly looking around. You are drawn to so many expressions of art, love and soul. Some whisper softly to your heart. Some share their own heart and soul so loudly that it stops you in your tracks. You listen and instantly begin to think that you too want to sing loudly.

Melody Ross of Brave Girls Club, is one such artist, and has an incredible tale of Life that she bravely shares with all who read her blog.I was introduced to the work of Melody Ross when she was a guest artist in a creative eCourse. Her energy seems endless and she showcases LOVE in all she touches. I quickly signed right up for "Daily Truth" emails to arrive in my inbox. Little snippets of light and love to encourage daily. Some days while fighting my own demons, that email is a great light in fighting my darkness. I've fallen madly into her intoxicating world of art and creative bliss.

While making folk art raggedies will always be a strong calling to my own creative side; playing around with strands of multi colored wool fibers and needle felting has been something occupying my mind for a while now. Miniature felted landscapes came out of that creative play.

One morning, I got brave enough to share a peek of this art form on Facebook. Imagine my surprise and sheer delight when Melody left a comment under the photo. She wanted to buy it and be my first customer for one. An artist that I have sat and admired for so long was liking something I had created. I pinched myself all day long and broke into silly giggles of happiness.

Since that moment, something shifted in me. Whispers were speaking and pushing me to do something.
Be like her light. Be brave.

Melody Ross recently went to Manila with Full Circle Exchange to start working with survivors of human trafficking. Human trafficking is one of those topics of conversation that you don’t actually want to talk about. You don’t casually bring it up around the supper table. You may read books on the subject or watch a documentary on it but what happens after that? It's something you can't close your eyes to once you know about it. Most don’t pack their bags and go experience first hand the horrors for themselves…but that’s just what Melody Ross did.
(You can follow more of this incredible journey here.)



In honor of these incredible young girls being given such an incredible second chance.
In honor of Melody Ross and the size of her love and heart.
Because she saw a necklace I'd created and shared such encouragement and joy about it.

With each of my felted landscape necklaces that I sell, I pledge $5 to benefit Melody Ross and her campaign with Full Circle Exchange to help change and better the lives of these women in the Philippines, as well as other women around the world.
I will honor this pledge for the whole year of 2013.

May these incredible young woman continue to draw deep strength and light from Melody Ross and the incredible folks with Full Circle Exchange.