Love and Kindness . . . and Prayers

This is a post that shouldn't be difficult to write, but for some unknown reason, I am having trouble getting the words on the screen. Since early December, I have been housebound, recovering from surgery. When I first came home, my activities were quite limited. I wasn't supposed to lift, push, pull  . . . pretty much do next to nothing! Thankfully, I am blessed with a husband who is the best caregiver I could hope for. I really mean that. Paul took care of me and everything else, including all the things I used to do pre-surgery. He ran errands in some of the snowiest and coldest weather we've had in years, shopped for and cooked special things for me to eat, cleaned the house, finished the Christmas shopping, wrapping and mailings, helped me in and out of my chair, stayed up all night with me on many nights when I was anxious or could not get comfortable, and the list goes on. Imagine being helpless. That is pretty much how I felt for about the first four weeks when I returned home. Since my surgery, I have been out of the house about a handful of times. But, if you follow me here on my blog, you already know I am content to stay inside my nice warm home in the winter!


The highlight of my days was getting mail, and in January there was some very special mail that made its way directly to my heart. Several of the friends I have made in the quilt guild and artsy group that I am in sent handmade gifts to me. I was so touched, and am still, and forever will be. As the gifts arrived, I felt so cared about. My friends made beautiful prayer flags for me. I get very teary when I consider the time that each of them took, during what is an already busy time of year, to make something for me by hand. I know that I was being thought of and prayed for by these special friends and that just touches my heart to its' very core. Each flag reflects the maker and I can't express how special I feel to own them. I know from having been on the other side of this kind of project, what it feels like as you design and create something for a friend who needs to know how much they are thought of and cared for. I have been deeply moved during the process of making things for someone to where the feeling of prayerful meditation becomes part of the process. Those prayers are sent while making things and then again when they are received. That is what this has been like for me. I feel the prayers when I hold the flags, look at all the meaningful expression that they hold and when I look at them from across the room.


I strung the flags on a ribbon so I could look at all of them together. They are a wonderful lift when I walk into the room. We've had the snowiest and coldest winter in a long time. The nicest thing about the piles of snow outside is the light they added to the landscape. It made the rooms brighter so our moods didn't succumb to the often gray skies, and these precious prayer flags seem to light up when they are illuminated from the window.


If you would like a closer look at the photos below, you can click on them to enlarge them and see the beautiful details in each prayer flag.

My beautiful gifts strung on a ribbon to make a banner.

Made by Mary Ellen Casey

Made by Chris Kuehl

Made by Lori Anderson

Made by Tracy Jachimowicz

Made by Susan Rathbun

Made by Elaine Ross
Elaine has a blog where you can see her other work.
http://quilterelainesblog.blogspot.com/

Made by Connie Grimsley

Made by Martha Lorshbaugh
Martha has a blog where you can see her other work.
http://bitsofmerth.blogspot.com/

I think you can see why I was overwhelmed by love and kindness . . . and prayers. These prayer flags are cherished gifts that have made the days I have spent at home recovering from surgery brighter.


Thank you for stopping by to read my blog today. As always, your questions and comments are welcome. It is my hope that you and those you love are safe, happy, and healthy. And until we meet again, may the Lord hold you in the hollow of His hand.


Emmy

Be Mine!

It is Valentines Day! As I mentioned in a previous post, my mother made a pretty big deal out of Valentines Day when I was a little girl. Even on a school night, we had a special supper with red Jell-O in heart-shaped molds and a heart-shaped layer cake with pink frosting for dessert. I still like to carry on her tradition and make the day special at our house, too.


Not fans of going out to dinner on Valentines Day, although the TV ads for restaurants are very enticing, my husband and I opt to stay home and celebrate in our own small ways. A pretty card, a funny note left on the fridge, watching a favorite movie together, and a home-cooked meal are more interesting to us than going to a crowded restaurant. And as much as we like Hallmark cards and the Hallmark Channel, my husband always laughs and says he doesn't need Hallmark to tell him that it is time to let his wife know that he loves her! I am a lucky girl because he lets me know I am special and loved in a thousand ways all throughout the year.


When I was able to get back into my studio in January, I decided to actually be ahead of the game for once, and made a Valentines Day banner for our dining room. Instead of a card this year, Paul gets a banner that he can look at when he is having his morning coffee. I wasn't sure how fancy I wanted to make it, but I had a little box of supplies just for the occasion; so I dug around in it and pulled out what I thought would make a cute banner. I kept it simple. I am fully aware of how I can get carried away sometimes and make things rather fancy and involved; but the goal was to get it finished ahead of time and hold it for the special day, not to embellish it until every inch of it was covered in lace and roses!  ;-)


I snuck downstairs early this morning to hang the banner across the mantle and now I am waiting for Paul to descend the stairs. I tend to get excited like a little kid on Christmas morning when I have something like this to unveil. I'm pretty sure he will be able to tell when he notices my excitement about the day, my sense of urgency for him to get downstairs for his morning coffee, and my boisterous mood thanks to a lot of caffeine; so it shouldn't be too long a wait until he sees the it! In the meanwhile, I will have more coffee, pick out a movie for later and plan a nice home-cooked meal.

♡♡♡ Be Mine Banner  ♡♡♡

I hope you and those you love are enjoying this romantic holiday. It can be as elaborate or as low-key as you want to make it. Have fun and make some memories. When all is said and done, the memories we make are what are most important. ♡


Thank you for stopping by to read my blog post today. As always, your questions and comments are welcome. And until we meet again, may the Lord hold you in the hollow of His hand.


Emmy

Getting My Art On . . .

It is time for me to get my art on. I say this because I want to learn new things,  and use many of the materials I have accumulated. And what better time is there than now, when I am still pretty much staying home and only venturing out when absolutely necessary. Between the winter weather and the threat of the flu, I am perfectly happy to stay home and take up residence in my studio.

After reorganizing my work table to provide more surface area for work, I set out to use my new watercolor paper. I didn't know what size I would need, so I picked up an 11" x 15" tablet. It might be a little big, but I can always cut a paper down to a smaller size, should I decide to.

Another trip to the hardware . . . and a shoe shelf that my husband assembled for me.
It helps to get the clutter up and out of the way so I have some surface area to use.
There is an issue with clutter on the right side of my table, but I will deal with that later!

On Sunday afternoon, with Valentines Day on the horizon, I decided to work on a multi media piece that had a little romantic theme. I quickly pulled a few pieces of ephemera from my stash, pulled out some paper that I found last week in my miscellaneous papers that looked like it could pull off a bit of romance, and a few paints, inks and rubber stamps. I wasn't sure if I should use gesso on the paper first, but I did. I like to use gesso because:
1. It makes me feel like an artist. and . . .
2. I like to say the word "gesso". It sounds so . . . artsy! ;-)
Gesso was one of the first things I learned about when I started to do paper crafting. The artists I watched on YouTube were all referring to it, so I researched it and went to Michaels and got the biggest bottle of it they had. I like to use it because it gives surfaces some "tooth" for paint and other things to adhere to. Now, don't I sound like I know what I am talking about? Its all because of gesso!


Trying not to think too hard about the piece I was about to make, I taped the paper down to my work surface and started to place bits of that found paper on it.

Torn paper.
Its a start!

Pleased with the placement,  I removed it and painted with a mixture of a few paints and a bit of the gesso that was left on my palette. I liked the color and after it dried, I glued the papers down with Mod Podge did some stamping. I added a couple paper doilies to the page.

Some paint, some stamping, some ephemera and a couple doilies, but it lacked something.

I thought there was too much blank space, so I added free-form painted hearts. I added too many, but I left them there and hoped they would grow on me. They didn't.

So . . . I thought I would add a few free-form painted hearts to it.
Hmmmm. . . .

I decided to cut some paper hearts from some scraps I had in a bin, and didn't worry too much about color or pattern. Once they were glued to the page, I liked it better. But I wasn't finished. From a distance, the piece just faded and the hearts couldn't be seen. I got my glitter glue out and painted them and that helped. I am happy with my first experiment and I plan to journal a little bit on the back. I will probably make more of these and keep them in a portfolio, but for now the plan is to put this one in a frame and hang it in my studio.

The photo is a little dark, but I think I managed to salvage the piece with some hearts and an old standby . . . glitter glue!

I continued on my art journey this morning. I really didn't have a plan, but realized in order to paint, I needed to learn to draw. So, I went searching around in YouTube to find some videos about sketching and drawing. I watched a few and pulled out a sheet of drawing paper. I began to sketch a tree that I look at every day right outside my studio window. It was actually fun. I think I will put my sketch in my portfolio. Now, doesn't just saying that I even own a portfolio make it sound like I really am an artist?

The maple tree right outside my studio window.

My drawing of the maple tree outside my studio window.

This pursuit gives me a lot of joy. I hope you are enjoying learning new things . . . or renewing a former hobby or interest. It is never too late to learn something new.


Thank you for taking the time to stop by and read my blog. As always, your questions and comments are welcome. And until we meet again, may the Lord hold you in the hollow of His hand.


Emmy

Feeling Sentimental

It just washed over me. The sentimental gush of emotions from faint memories of my childhood. Not that I am totally surprised, since I am a rather sentimental soul. It began when I decided to look through the boxes I keep stacked on a shelf in my studio that hold a lot of things that I received from other crafters in online swaps, along with things I have made for challenges or just because I wanted to try a technique, or . . . whatever. As I peered into the boxes and went deeper into the layers of altered tags and Altoid tins, handmade cards, button fairies and decorated boxes, my memories of Valentines Days of my childhood carried me deeper into my heart. I must have stopped for quite a while. I don't actually recall. But I found myself daydreaming about 2nd grade and my one of my favorite teachers, Mrs. Adams. She was so nice. I thought she was very cool, too. She was young and pretty and sometimes she wore what looked like white majorette boots. It is funny what we remember about a person. She made learning fun. When it was getting close to Valentines Day, she asked us to each bring a shoe box, with a slot cut in the top, to school. She showed us how to cut out paper hearts, gave us red streamers and paper lace doilies, big sheets of newsprint paper, construction paper, crayons and paste. We decorated our shoe boxes for the big event . . . the card exchange.


At home, as the day approached, my father set me up at a card table in the living room, along with a mimeographed list that Mrs. Adams sent home from school, so I could get my little Valentines ready to take to school on February 14th. The cards were adorable. We bought them at the 5 & 10. They came in a cellophane pack and a thin cardboard tray that was so flimsy, it couldn't really hold them. I poured them out on the table and sorted them, making sure the one marked "teacher" was put aside for Mrs. Adams. The prettiest ones would be for my little girlfriends and I made sure I didn't give any mushy ones to the boys who used to try to kiss me in the cloakroom. Ick! Equipped with a pencil, I printed my name on the back of each card and then went down through the list and addressed each little envelope. I'm pretty sure there was some parental supervision, but I don't recall. As an 8-year old, I'm sure I didn't have it all together, even if I thought I did!


On Valentines Day, the classroom was decorated in red and white and there were treats, as I recall. Mrs. Adams, or more likely a classmate's mother, provided frosted cupcakes or cookies and there may have been a few conversation hearts in a dish, too. When it was time to exchange our little cards, we delivered them to the decorated shoe boxes on each classmate's desk and slid them into the little slot in the top. At the end of the school day, we took our decorated boxes, filled with cards, home. It was fun to open them and giggle over the cute little scenes on the cards. Some even had glitter on them!


My father and mother seemed to really enjoy Valentines Day. I'm not sure why, but perhaps because they came from a generation that was raised by Victorian parents. The Victorians elevated the holiday to a new high with lace, sentimental postcards, candy and romance. My father bought a big red lace-decorated heart-shaped box of chocolates for my mother . . . that I ate more than my fair share of; and my mother often made a heart-shaped layer cake with pink frosting and red Jell-O in little heart-shaped aluminum molds. It was very festive for a school night!


With a smile on my lips and a blank stare across the room, I snapped out of it and focused on those boxes of handmade things. I was actually rather surprised at what I discovered inside. Since I started paper crafting in 2012, I have accumulated more pretty little "makes" than I thought I had. In fact, after being inspired by watching several craft room reveals on YouTube over the past few weeks, I decided that these gems shouldn't be cooped up and stashed away in boxes. I have drooled long enough over other people's creative spaces. It is time for me to step up my game and make my studio a place that inspires me and reflects my creative journey. By doing so, I hope to stop devaluing the time and effort I expend when I create things. Let me think on that. That's fodder for a future post. But first, I will decorate our living room mantle for Valentines Day and make a plan to start redecorating my studio in a few weeks.

The mantle is the perfect spot to display the special finds from my studio.


PLEASE NOTE: I don't know why there is such a big gap beneath this photo.
When I tried to fix it, it grew even bigger!
Please scroll down.
Thank you!



From Left to Right:
A multi-fold Valentine I made a few years ago, an altered Altoid tin made by Gretchen Lont, an ATC (Artist's Trading Card) from Margaret Sallee leans on a explosion Valentine box I made a few years ago. A beautiful button fairy, one of a pair, made by Traci Savely, sits atop a pink gift box I made.

Altered Tags
From Left to Right:
"What's Love Got To Do With It?"  made for a challenge.
" O O O la la love" made for a challenge.
"Valentine Clown" made by Traci Savely.
"Be my Valentine" made by me just for fun.
"Red and Black Valentine" made by Yolanda Taylor.
"Absence Makes The Heart Grow Fonder" made to try a couple new techniques.

Left to Right:
Lace-covered book page pocket with pearl trim made by Tiffany Heggs Morrow.
Heart-shaped box painted, but not trimmed yet!
Handmade cube with designer paper (made by me).
Button fairy, second of a pair, made by Traci Savely.
Gift card made by Linda Kuniyoshi.
Chunky Mini Album made by me.
Altered shoe figurine made by Amber Cade.
Stick Pins by various makers, including me.
Tent-style Valentine I made a few years ago.

With Valentines Day a week away, there's bound to be another Valentine post. But, in the mean while, I thank you for taking the time to read my blog. As always, your questions and comments are welcome.


And, until we meet again, may the Lord hold you in the hollow of His hand.


Emmy