seeking peace...

lots of big sales this weekend.  but i'm staying in.  i'm turning off the tv.  with all the blaring commercials.  about how there's still time.  to buy more gifts.  you can shop until 1 am or all night long if you wish.  not for me.  i'm seeking peace.  and i'm pretty sure i won't find it at a store.  i'm making little gifts out of leather for my nieces and nephews.  i'm finding time to splash some paint in my journal.  i'm thinking about hot cocoa.  with little tiny marshmallows.  and hanging out with my kids.  watching Transformers and Water For Elephants.  eating homemade pizza.  yes, this is where my kind of peace is.  if you're seeking peace, i hope you find yours too...

number 321...

this one is for my favorite postal clerk, who I have been seeing a lot of lately.  i made it from an old envelope, postmarked 1944 to Cuba, Alabama and I cut out the stamp and hung it from the bottom.  cool.

the breathings of your heart...

i just love this quote sent to me by my blogging friend Ellen.  she's a quote lover, just like me and she takes the loveliest photos.  i made this pink journal for someone i don't know.  there's this thing at our church every year, where you take an ornament off the christmas tree and buy a gift for the person listed on the back.  only, i always pick a tag that has something i can make.  this one was "a fun gift for a 16 year old girl".  i hope she likes pink...  my own 16 year old daughter came up with the idea of using the pink leather for a journal - i only had one smallish piece.  my favorite parts are the quote and the tiny little brass heart that i attached to the front.  i included a few of my favorite supplies, i wrapped it up real pretty and put it under the tree.  i really do hope she fills it with the breathings of her heart...

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turn your face to the sun and the shadows fall behind you.  maori proverb

ruminating...

as you can see here, i've been busy creating promised wumpies and bunnies.  the only problem is, my little wumpy got claimed before i even had a chance to sew up his side seam.  maybe it was his greenish, nubby skin or perhaps it was the little green velvet wishing star in his back pocket.  so, i'm sorry to disappoint you, but he has already been adopted.  and my sweet bunny?  well, let's just say, velveteen bunny making did not go as planned.  and that happens sometimes.  you see - as i was creating this little velveteen bunny, i realized that her skin is really quite delicate and that she probably would not survive too long being loved in the way that she deserves to be loved.  and being the perfectionist that i am, i have decided that i cannot send her into the world in such a delicate state.  but don't worry, she will have a cozy corner to live here in the studio.  so, for now i am going to sit down with a fresh cup of tea and ruminate over these cozy red snowflake socks.  when, you look at them you probably think, "oh, what nice christmasey socks".  but i am thinking more along the lines of a christmasey sock monster...  i'll get back to you on that.

black friday and holiday joy...

i didn't participate in any of the black friday activities.  why would i need to.  i have my very own black friday and he's just so cute - right?  no middle of the night shopping for this girl.  nope.  i spent the day with my favorite people - decorating the tree with white sparkly lights and glittered pinecones and decking the halls with boughs of holly - literally - we hiked into our backyard forest and cut some fresh boughs of holly, complete with little red berries.  this morning i woke up to these delicious bagels, freshly baked by Cassidy (she really is an amazing cook).  and as this day unfolds before me - with nothing special planned - i am filled with a deep joy.  love for my family.  happiness.  a calm, that i will try so hard to keep in my heart for the next few weeks...   

grateful...

  ...grateful for the beauty of the world just outside my door and the warmth of the love just inside it...

hideously ugly and gloriously beautiful all at the same time...

if you read this blog at all, by now you know that i frequent antique shops and secondhand shops.  nothing is more exciting for me than finding that perfect item that nobody else wants.  the other day i was out and about and decided to stop by one of my favorite shops.  as i was sifting through a rack of women's plus sizes - i'm not a plus size, but you never know - anyway, a flash of hot pink caught my eye.  upon further investigation, i discovered a pair of pants that were not only hot pink (a really good color in my book - not for wearing - but for creating), but also velvet and also really large.  which equals a lot of pink velvet for very little money.  my first thought was that this was probably the most hideous pair of pants i have ever seen, but then - i don't know if this ever happens to anyone else - but all of the sudden, my hideous thoughts turned beautiful as i thought about all sorts of possibilities for these pants.  did i say, they really are quite large.  so, i plunked down my money and returned home with the most hideously ugly and gloriously beautiful hot pink velvet pants that five dollars can buy.  and right now, i'm thinking a cute bunny or two or three or maybe even four or five.  i recently made the sweet bunny pictured above out of some wool i found in gray and hot pink.  come to think of it, that hot pink wool used to be a hideously ugly and gloriously beautiful coat.  that i actually wore.   once or twice.  so stay tuned for pink velveteen bunnies.

getting to the other side...

sometimes the only way to get to where you're going is to cross the bridge...  no matter how rickety...  you just gotta have faith... 

the best kind of story is the kind you write yourself...

i usually don't like pictures of myself, but i kind of like this one.  it looks like i have a secret.  i am clutching my new journal.  one i actually showed you a few posts back.  i made it to sell, but as soon as i was finished with it, i hugged it to my heart and thought to myself, "this one is mine".  a nice fat, leather journal with thick watercolor paper.  i've managed to fill the first signature in just a week.  with snippets of poetry and inspirational quotes.  and splashes of paint and blotches of ink.  and glued bits of paper and fabric and lace.  i am learning to let go.  of old insecurities and untruths.  i am expressing my passions.  not just with words, but with colors and textures and things that make my heart soar.  and as i turn the pages, i think it is turning out to be the best book i have read in a while.

268 down, 732 to go...

because sometimes you have to give yourself wings...

taking a deep breath or two...

i put my shop in vacation mode this morning, packed up all my stuff and sent it off...you can find it at the Holly Daze 2011 34th Annual Show in Roanoke, VA this Thursday, Friday and Saturday.  as i was packing, i snapped a few pictures of some books that i hadn't previously listed in my shop.  the last book i put in was the black one - finished at the last moment - something i've been wanting to try - all black - soft black leather, black paper, black tie.  i made a little sample page that i tucked in the front - the black paper looks awesome with prismacolor colored pencils and gel pens look pretty cool too, especially the white.  i've been completely focused this last few weeks on making things for this show and now that i'm done, i've taken exactly two deep breaths and i'm back to work.  there are wumpies to be made for christmas and new styles of books and collages to be created... 

do you have any idea...

...how hard it is to photograph a fish?

some words to ponder...

...a small cup of light...

the post i wrote yesterday had a lovely piece of writing and this morning when i awoke i suddenly understood the words "a small cup of light"...

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"But tomorrow, dawn will come the way I picture her,

barefoot and disheveled, standing outside my window

in one of the fragile cotton dresses of the poor.

She will look in on me with her thin arms extended,

offering a handful of birdsong and a small cup of light."

-William Collins-

old, tattered, wrinkled and stained...

...but so, so beautiful.  some recently acquired old stuff.  i love it.  you'll probably see it again, made into a collage or a piece of art.  but first, i have to love it a little bit longer.

i'm smarter than you...

oh yeah, well i was born 8 minutes before you...  yeah, well, i'm 3 inches taller than you...
and so it goes.  twins are sometimes competitive.  but the good thing about it is, when one of them found out the other was going to go for National Honor Society, well, of course the other one had to do it too.
as their mother, i couldn't be more proud of them...

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light as a...feather