Seeing and Celebrating

On this very day back in 2017, I assembled this rainbow wreath.

I was a few weeks into my first Conscious Creativity class with Philippa Stanton...and I was collecting a rainbow of nature colors and textures. 

Little did I know how this one class would change the way I see the world.

It was a beautiful day in September day on the porch in Lexington....and I remember feeling such a sense of excitement as I started this new way of seeing and celebrating.

And it was during this class...when I started picking up found objects on a regular basis. 

This was my first grouping in rainbow order of grungy objects I found for the class. I'm pretty sure I still have them all. 

Here's another favorite wabi-sabi rainbow arrangement during that same fall. Seeing...and celebrating is one of my favorite things to do.

Inside Cover

The tulips in the Mother's Day bouquet are are starting to fade....but they are going out in style. I'm enjoying watching them dance around as they wither into wabi-sabi wonderfulness.

That's what I hope I do when I start to fade.

But these beauties are just as beautiful as they were the first day!

We're back into a rainy stretch...so that gets me in the studio. A good chunk of the day I worked on the various journals...and I'm getting close on all of them! 

Just a few more pages to go in Brenda's altered journal...and I love the way it looks from the side. It's been an interesting challenge curating her papers and creating flow....and I'm pretty happy with it so far.

Here's the glimpse I promised of the inside cover of Lynn's patchwork journal. 

This is the first page which includes a graphic black and white print Lynn made..

Here's my process for patching the backside of this highly textured print.

I folded a flap over for an inside pocket.

Using the scraps left over from assembling the patchwork pages I just started glueing and piecing it together.

I mostly left the scraps they way they were...with just a little cutting and tearing.

I folded the flap in before I stitched so it created the side pocket...and ran a zig zag stitch around the outside to finish it off.

This also secured the pieces I folded around to the front. 

If it were mine to play with...I might coat the inside with transparent zinc white paint to unify it. But that's a decision for Lynn to make! 

It will be hers to play with once I get it to her.

Lipstick

"It was one of those March days when the sun shines hot and the wind blows cold: when it is summer in the light, and winter in the shade." Charles Dickens

The sun was shining today....but the wind was howling all day long reminding us that winter is hanging on.

I took this photo late yesterday afternoon looking into the foggy woods from the patio. It was warmer than usual so felt a little like spring.....and we're starting to see actual ground under the snow and the birds seem to be celebrating.

This back and forth is so typical of March...and rest assured there will be more winter. But we also can feel the anticipation of spring. 

I love the layers of moody grays created by the fog.

All the blooms on the second amaryllis stem have come full circle and are in total wabi-sabi glory. I have loved watching the process.

I cut the last of the blooms off...and will keep them for a while as a reminder of the beauty of the circle of life.

And I noticed something really intriguing that I didn't notice with the first stem.

Sorry for the blurry photo...but this is the TOP of the stem where I cut the blooms off. It's interesting on its own. It's thick and sturdy and hollow like an oversized straw.

And this is the BOTTOM of the stem that was sitting in the water.

Somehow the very end of the stem that was sitting in the bottle of water turned bright cherry red. Looks like lipstick. I would have thought some of the color would have transferred to the water...but it was clear. 

It seems like the stem was pulling the color from the blooms as they dried and trying to transfer it back to the bulb....which wasn't there anymore. 

Mother Nature never ceases to amaze me.

Parade of Stamps

I'm guessing I'm not the only one with a stockpile of out of date stamps from before the Forever Stamps. And I have plenty of 1 cent...and 2 cent that we used to need to fill in the gaps.

I was so excited when I came up with the idea of puzzling these odd stamps together for my tag mailings. In some ways it's going to feel like the mailings are free!       

Here are my current stats:

256 pairs of underwear ordered.

30 kits mailed or delivered as of today.

Approximately 150 tags distributed.

I'm so pleased.

This little parade of stamps on these envelopes tickle me pink.

Do you know what else tickles me? I cut off the blooms from the first amaryllis stem today. They are as dry as they're going to get...and just look how beautiful they still are. 

As is the color combo that landed on this tiny hope tag. They just make me happy!

Joy Stuff

 "Our purpose is hidden in our joy, our inspiration, our excitement. As we act on what shows up in our life our purpose shows up." James King

Yes! 

This project showed up in my life at just the right time....and was hidden in my joy. 

Speaking of joy....looked what showed up at my door yesterday. Cinnamon was literally on my grocery list...and Becky had me covered.

And it came with Tasty Tips for Joy. My favorites were: 

Understand what connects us is far more important than what separates us. 

Through cooking, we discovered real strength comes from welcoming others in. Through cooking we discovered the JOY found in caring about others. 

Thanks Becky!

And....Becky shopped her stash for a couple projects I'm going to do for her. 

This is just the top layer...there's a whole lot of goodies in this stack of ephemera and you'll have to stay tuned for what's to come. It may take me awhile...but I'm excited about getting my hands on this joy stuff. 

It's Time for Blues

I couldn't love this one of a kind Colour Collection puzzle from Philippa more!

I remember having a conversation with Margie about how we both thought the reds were always the toughest part of a full color spectrum puzzle.

I started with the reds at the top....but now I'm going to work on the blues...and it feels like a reward! 

Oh how I love a gentle wabi-sabi curl.

Comforted

Even the browning is wabi-sabi beautiful!

And the way this bit of red and orange landed on this tiny peace tag is beautiful too. It's just random strips of greeting cards...but it became a precious little art piece.

Sometimes there is magic on the back of the tag....one of you might recognize this handwriting.

And this sentiment landed perfectly on the back of one strip just by chance. There seems to be a lot of loss these days.... 

....but I continue to be comforted by this process.

Moment of Magic

I continue to spend a few minutes every day looking my wabi-sabi amaryllis blooms from every angle. Some of the petals on those first blooms are completely dry...but still very beautiful. 

This 4th bloom on the first stem is just starting to die back. Do you see the little moment of magic? If I hadn't taken the time to look closely....I would have missed it. 

I hope you had a moment of magic today.

Late-Night Thinking

My wabi-sabi amaryllis photo of the day showcases the beauty of fading petals where the intricuit patterns in the veining become clearly visible.

I often lay awake at night thinking about my projects....both new and old. It's both a blessing and a curse....but seems to be part of my creative process. 

Late-night thinking is what helped me move from just random art tags with Words of Encouragement (which I loved)....to tags that literally weave together cards from the community that encircled Margie and our family. I love the symbolism of these tags!

But what was I going to do with them all?

Late night thinking kicked into gear again a few days ago....and I had an idea largely inspired by the Heather Cox Richardson quote I shared a few days ago. 

"Whatever those things are that you bring to a community, do them, and do them with joy. And don't stop doing them because you are scared."

I came to realize that I wanted to turn this project into something that built community....and it occured to me that maybe I could do something FOR the community at the same time.

So.....I'm starting to put together Words of Encouragement kits that I hope will help others create community and share words of hope and joy. I hope to sell them as a fundraiser at the local Handiwork store and donate ALL of my proceeds to Maine Needs, where I've been volunteering. More on that in another post.

Each kit contains four tags, a treat bag to fill and share, and one handmade card to send to someone who might need it. Until I run out...I'm using pieces of Margie's original coloring to stitch onto the cards. She would be pleased.

I am encouraging people to attach or include the tags to share some Words of Encouragement with someone else.

Using Margie as my inspiration...I am telling the story of how these tags are made and am including the background story in the kit. You know it...but here's what I wrote:

In October of 2024, Margie, my 92 year old mother-in-law fell and broke her hip. I put out a call to her community to shower her with cards with Words of Encouragement for her recovery and upcoming birthday. The cards came...and they just kept coming. Unable to face the long rehab road ahead, Margie passed away peacefully on November 6th, the day after the election, blissfully unaware of the outcome. Then the sympathy cards with words of condolence started coming...and they just kept coming. And I kept them all.

In honor of Margie, I've been turning these cherished cards into Words of Encouragement to share with others. By cutting them into skinny strips and mixing them up, each tag becomes a symbol of her colorful community of hope and joy. Margie was a woman of faith, committed to promoting peace and joy, and she would be pleased that her values continue to be shared through Words of Encouragement.

It took me a couple days to figure out the nitty gritty like the layout and wording. But I'm happy where I landed and now I can just focus on making tags...stitching cards...and assembling kits. 

I have lofty goals...and we'll see if they are realistic. But whatever I can do...no matter how big or small will be a positive result of my late night thinking.

I also hope to offer kits and or just tags here to this blog community.....because so many of you answered my call with beautiful cards and notes. I continue to be so grateful. 

Stay tuned....I'll probably lay awake thinking about it tonight.

Sneak Peak

I love when there's a sneak peak at the fall colors in the late summer landscape.....especially when they're a bit wabi-sabi!

 There's such beauty in imperfection!

I usually tackle a couple house projects while Paul is away. I make bigger messes than usual and pretty much spread out all over the first floor leaving a trail of scraps and tools as I jump from one project to another. I'll clean up everything at the end....I have a few more days.

Some of the projects are fun....but others are not....but just need to be done. Last year while he was gone I re-caulked the undermount kitchen sink....which was a much bigger job than I could have imagined.  This year I re-caulked the bathroom shower...which was a bit easier but the only joy was when it was done.

And this morning I finally finished making the last valance needed on the first floor to cover the quilted roller shade in Paul's room. 

This is the second valance I've made out of this table cloth I got on clearance at Pottery Barn a very long time ago. I just love this bold stripe....and I have enough fabric left to cover a pillow or two.

I wanted the stripe to be vertical and the tablecloth wasn't quite wide enough...so I hid the seam in a pleat in the middle.

It was too dark in the room to take photos...

but I used the same strategy as I did for the others....stapling fabric to a shelf that I installed over the window with brackets and a board. 

And here's a sneak peak at some prep for a fabric project I've been thinking about for a very long time. 

I'm filling in the color gaps of my hand dyed fabrics with fusible webbing....and these are some of the cutoffs from the trimming. 

The project I want to do is fairly large...but the question is do I try a smaller one first. Time will tell.....stay tuned.