New Blog Home

I've moved.
I would love it if you visited me here.
And if you are linked to me, I would be ever grateful if you updated the link.
Thank you. :)

August Break Day 1- Labyrinth Walking

Susannah Conway's August Break seems the perfect way to ease back into blogging so I think I will give it my best go. A big thank you to Susannah and to Jeannine and emma tree for linking.
A photo a day, if you can. Words or not. No rules.
It's late so I'll let this be a post of few words and share a photo from our morning, labyrinth-walking with friends.




"Your life is a sacred journey. And it is about change, growth, discovery, movement, transformation, continuously expanding your vision of what is possible, stretching your soul, learning to see clearly and deeply, listening to your intuition, taking courageous challenges at every step along the way. You are on the path... exactly where you are meant to be right now..." ~Caroline Adams

before the show and then after the show.

I don't have pictures of the actual performance this time as I was a backstage helper and didn't actually get to see the show (Alice in Wonderland) myself. I had to make do with sneak peeks from the wings during rehearsals which was hard for me as I like to capture every. single. moment. It was definitely one of those times in life when I wished I could be two places at once because I also love everything about being backstage- the excitement, the last minute sewing and bun-pinning, nerve-soothing, the rush of seeing of things coming together.

I hope to remedy this blog neglect real soon. First it was due to extreme busy-ness and then it was yet another flu bug I picked up.

Hope everyone is well and up to creative goodness.

Yesterday's found poem and today's bookplate winners

Her father liked sorrow freely given
passed off and down
in shining robes of
blood
and
sin
and
blame.

Not the happiest of my poems, but it is what fell into place as I clipped and rearranged.

Today I was able to spend time with a dear, dear friend I hadn't seen in a while. It was a great way to start the day, connecting with this soul I have so much in common with. I spent the rest of the afternoon picking through my box of old photographs, looking for images to restore and offer as digital collage sheets. The bookplates are going to offered as digital downloads soon too. And speaking of bookplates, sweet Olivia, who is on the couch with an ice pack-she fell while on a field trip today and hurt her ankle-drew two names for me. Out of the hat came the names "anonymous rebecca" and "jayne." congratulations! just email me with your pick. :)

One other tidbit of happy news---after having bandages of various shapes and sizes for 14 months, I am now officially bandage free. My wound (from a failed skin graft) has healed completely. There is another surgery in my future but not for a while yet. I am enjoying the freedom. :)

Wishing you a happy and creative weekend.
xoxo,

a small show and tell

taking the bookplate image onto the top of a pine box.


it's still a work in progress. for a minute there i thought it was done but after seeing it with fresh eyes, i see a few things i will try and adjust tomorrow.


this is my little sweetheart at school, right after a lovely conference with her teacher. this image makes me smile. there is a photo downstairs in an album of olivia when she was 9 months old, holding her head in the exact position and also wearing pink, with the light landing on her in that very way. i will find it and scan it. it would be nice to frame them together, don't you think?


and see this GORGEOUS book cover? it arrived in the mail yesterday and is here on the desk beside me as i type this. a birthday gift from the talented and so so kind and thoughtful pilar. thank you sweet friend, i love it so much!!!

shop opening and bookplate giveaway

The Oddest Owl is officially open!
While I didn't reach my goal of 40 bookplates, I do have 25 with many more coming this week. There will be more mythological creatures, some circus themed plates and ones that will be great in cookbooks. I am working now on a collage involving a tightrope, a fox, and a penny farthing.

Leave a comment suggesting a bookplate you would like to see to enter for a free bookplate set of your choice. I will draw 2 names on Friday.

"a spirit of thrift"

[Here I am with my cousin Mason. Oh, how I would love to know what I was thinking in that moment! :)]

"I wish I'd known from the beginning that I was born a strong woman. What a difference it would have made! I wish I'd known that I was born a courageous woman; I've spent so much of my life cowering. How many conversations would I not only started but finished if I'd known I possessed a warrior's heart? I wish I'd known that I'd been born to take on the world; I wouldn't have run from it for so long, but run to it with open arms." ~ Sarah Ban Breathnach in her book "Something More: Excavating Your Authentic Self"


Yesterday I read two things that were still at the front of my mind this morning. The above was one of them.
The second-jotted down from a friend's copy of Selvedge magazine. Just a few words from the article on Lucy Boston's home. (Lucy, who had her first book published at age 60 (!) was the author of the Greene Knowe children's books, of which we have read only the first.) In the article was a description of Lucy's decorating style. I love the phrasing---" a spirit of thrift, of make do and mend....haphazardly bohemian." I've always prided myself on the same spirit as this. I thought about those words this morning as I cut pieces of some new thrift store fabric to sew into a curtain. Much more fun, most times, than just going and buying something new, don't you think? Also found at the thrift store the other day, my first trip in a long while, was a 48 inch Friendly children's tapestry loom. I stood with the ticket for a while, debating spending the twenty bucks. At the time I had no idea how much they cost brand new. In the end, I decided to buy the loom because of the lovely visions passing through my mind of Olivia and I weaving side by side. Turns out it was a great purchase. Olivia was thrilled, planning scarfs and dog collars and belts. As we progress with the loom, we will share pictures. Any of you have any experience with a loom? We have a great book on weaving so I think we will start there.

After a make up dance class this afternoon, (the kids are actively preparing for the Alice in Wonderland ballet at the Jefferson Center next month) I plan on getting the bookplate shop ready to open in the morning. Hopefully sprinkle a bit of yard work and a walk in there somewhere. What lovely, lovely things are you up to this Sunday?