live . craft . learn

creative therapy : my dream home

i long, as does every human being, to be at home wherever i find myself. - maya angelou

this weeks catalyst and the maya angelou quote i chose was perfect for me. perfect for where i am in life right now. perfect because for the last year of my life i lost myself. lost myself in ways that i didn't realize until a few weeks ago. i centered my life around something that shouldn't have become more important than my family, than my children, than the life that i lead, right here in this house that i live in. and yet, even though i know better i lost parts of me and i lost sight of the most important things to me.

when i was younger, before having my littles. before i fell in love with mike. i thought my dream home was huge. a wrap around porch. lots of pretty things inside. decorated and perfect. like a magazine. but it isn't. my dream home isn't filled with things and objects that i purchased at target or pottery barn. it's filled with laughter. it's filled with love and trust and support. it's filled with tears and struggles and lessons learned. it's filled with 2 children who love me because i am their mama and they need no other reason. it's filled with a man who has been by my side for 9 years. a man who knows who i am at the core of my soft heart. a man who will put up with my silliness and sometimes crazy expectations because he knows that eventually i see the truth, and i am not afraid to change my path when i am unhappy or when i am wrong. it is filled with my friends who trust me and can be trusted, because they see me, the real me and they ask for nothing more because it is always enough.

so this house. my dream house. it is being built on a daily basis. it gets tattered and worn. it needs strength and support. it receives laughter and love. it spills tears and sadness. but it is real. it is mine. it is everything to me. it is perfect and i will never, ever, leave it untended again.

happy wednesday.
xo

love market friday

urban prairie magazine : refueled finding maddie's self portrait on her new camera new vintage treasures for a new vintage project kit thursday night audible wars with jayney

it felt good ...

last night to spend a few hours making things. completely inspired by gigi's class last weekend {which was brilliant!} i took this old vintage book and made a sewn page mountain. to be filled with the everyday thoughts that i write down and always have floating around on itty bitty strips of paper. to hold the daily inspirations that i cut out of magazines. to hold whatever my heart and my creativity desires. bound together, it will be a collection of new beginnings.

happy thursday.
xo

swallowfield

i've got four new digital collections up in the sistv boutique. swallowfield digital collection + bows + an amazing tin ceiling alphabet. and.. a handmade birdcage sticker trio that i adore. and remember if you're not a digi girl you can always print these out for hybrid projects too. enjoy!

de creatie : gdt june : sneak peek

some sneak peeks of work i did for my spot as the de creatie gdt for june. so excited to do this because i adore marcia, who i met for the first time irl at w-cha, but had chatted with quite a bit on sis. kit goes on sale tomorrow at 10am i believe. tons of really cute papers and the most wonderful stamp sheet ever!

these are the first two of a dozen i want to make with it all. i'll show you all the full size tomorrow... after the kit goes live.

happy friday!
xoxo

vi scrapper

so a few months ago vibeke contacted me and asked if i was interested in doing an interview for the amazing norwegian scrap magazine vi scrapper. of course i said yes, after i closed my mouth from the shock. and although i know the answers i answered i can't read the article, but i hear from mari that a translation is coming... right??!? ;D

i sent in about 10 layouts and they used all of my favorites, including two that i created for october afternoon for winter cha. see... there's becky & becca & gi & me hanging out in omaha on silver bella weekend.

and my two littles. maddies layout "i would" was created for my mmm submission last year. it still hurts a little knowing i don't have that layout, but at least it's here, and that makes me happy.

and my favorite cup of coffe, a soy flat latte.

thanks vibeke. it was a pleasure doing this!

*sigh*

i love norway.
xoxo

*poof*

i feel like i have so much to say sometimes, but i think about it too much. think about it over and over and over until i beat it dead in my brain and then it never shows up here. and i always think, when i'm thinking these thinks, that its something i need to share. but then it's gone. poof.

so today. today i'm gonna leave you with this lo {my sweet bama and my maddie bean, at 10 months} and then a freebie. cause if your thoughts go poof what better way to cover it up than with a freebie element your sweet readers can download and then use on their pages & projects. right?? right!

see those three tags there in that lo and in that pic posted above? i made them especially for you sweet blog readers, my friends, my encourage-rs of all things. as a little thank you of sorts. for the encouragement. for the special words you say to me. for your friendship. just click on the tag picture to download the pdf. it will open in a separate page. then just save to your computer, print, cut, use.

just a little token of my love for you. all of you. and, btw. they go fantastically well with my honeychurch digi collection. just saying. ;D

 

also... the winner of the pemberley paper pack is :

Love these papers ;-)
Posted by: Marianne | May 15, 2008 at 10:43 PM

send me your addy via email marianne. i've got a scrumptious little paper pack for ya.
;D

happy saturday!!
xoxo

happy birthday sistv!!

i went from making 3 layouts to apply to be a sistv fashionista to designing these beauties which i am SO proud of. who would have thought all this year with sistv has brought me. teaching in norway {hi girls!! i miss you SO much!!}, teaching at suzy's, october afternoon dt, a passion for sniffing vanilla infused papers, incredible friends near & far & in between, a creative outlet i adore and over 10,000 sisters who are incredibly talented, funny and supportive.

so... to celebrate sistv's 1 year birthday i'm giving away a paper pack of my pemberley collection + some vintage yumminess to go along with it. just a leave a comment by midnight friday pst and i'll pick a winner saturday morning.

happy birthday sistv!!!
xoxo

it's demo time

so nikki and i sepnt all day saturday down at picture me perfect scrapping and doing demos for nsd. and i was lucky enough to have nikki film my little demo, sewing fabric strip flowers that i then added to an altered canvas made with the new sassafrass papers {um. LOVE!}, a jenni bowlin bingo card and some tim holtz crackle paint.

i think i'm going to start doing this more, little vblog entries. wouldn't it be cool to see a layout created fast frame from start to finish?

thanks nikki for filming!! and make sure you check her video out too!
love that cute perky redhead!

happy monday!
xoxo

ahhh.... that's better.

i spent the evening redesigning the site. new banner. new tabs, new links & new linked content all around. feels so much better now. *sigh* i love a good site facelift.

i've also got a rockin' soldered charm tutorial up over on the sistv 365 fashionista blog. walks you through the whole process + i made you all a downloadable pdf to reference when your iron is hot and you shouldn't be distracted by your computer. you can thank me later. ;D

happy may day.
xoxo