10 THINGS

Here's a quickie update- short and sweet...

1. The house is coming along. I grouted tile in the new bathroom for the first (and hopefully last) time. Kinda fun, kinda not. The walls are primed, ceiling painted. I am hoping that the house is listed in a month or so.

2. I also painted the ceiling in the room right outside the bathroom. It's a strange room, about 10x10, in the middle of the house, at the top of the steps, kind of like a square hallway... it could be a cool little library- but then again, with this gigantic house, why pick a small room?

3. Paniting is hard with your non-dominant hand. My right should is sore with tendonitis, probably from all the crap work I've been doing around the house. I have a hard time putting clothes on, sleeping on it, etc. I absolutely cannot roll paint with it. To say my left side got a work out today would be an understatement...

4. Red fox has been helping himself to my hens, I am sadly down to three. My roo was re-homed to a new flock, and I am happy about it. I love my chickens, and hope to have more later.

5. My pony is getting better- yay! Soon, hopefully, they will be heading back to PA, along with us!

6. The first three layouts of my Soul Book are done- just the background, not the actual page. They were fun! It would be a lot easier of I had pictures of myself, but they are few and far between. How is it I have so many pictures of everything else but me?

7. My supplies from Stampington came, along with some new magazines. Oooooh, so much inspiration! I really want to try encaustic medium. It looks amazing.

8. I planted a bunch of plants, including lupines from seed. Lupines grow every where up here. I expected a nice, leafy plant with flowers for the new owner to enjoy next year, but DANG, the plant is tiny! Darn.

9. My kids are almost done school. Wow- I can't believe it! The time has flown by. Summer vacay should be interesting- childcare is such a pain in the arse.

10. I have tons and tons of supplies to get rid of. I should get to snapping pictures and listing stuff on my new WePay account. Keep your eyes peeled- there are some bargains to be had!

Enjoy your weekend!

Soul Book

I was going to title it "part 1" but that would be pushing it....

hehehe

I just got a box full of stuff from Stampington, including some pretty paper tapes. I hope to
put them on the rough edges, as well as some fabrics. Off to raid my messy studio.

A New Site for Twigs & Feathers

I have decided to try another selling venue called WePay.com. At this time I don't have any plans to close the first Twigs and Feathers over at Etsy, but there are lots of issues over there... resellers pretending to make their wares, the ability of Etsy to freeze your funds or shut you down with no recourse, listing fees, etc.

WePay is not perfect, but it does allow me to sell things that aren't vintage- like the tons of ephemera, ribbons, art supplies, and all kinds of stuff that I need to purge before moving.

WePay takes credit cards! You can use it to sell tickets to an event, or take donations for a cause. You can send bills or invoices. There are no contracts, monthly fees, or listing fees. They do take 3.5% of the sale price, with a minimum .50 cents.

I urge you to go check it out! I will be adding more stuff this week!

Twigs & Feathers 2

Alpha Tags- E and F, and E

Man oh man, I am soooooooooooooooooooo far behind over at Paper Digital Arts. I think the group is on JKL maybe??

I have not been in my studio in well over a month. There are cobwebs on my desk....
This house reno is kicking our butts, we just want to be DONE.

Anyway, I am waiting to start the Soul Book project after I receive some things I ordered from Stampington. The last two times I was published I took a gift certificate instead of a check--- otherwise I wouldn't have spent it on myself!!

So, here are Jason's:

Here is Adam's:

No "F" for him yet- no word has popped into my head yet...

Enjoy.

I WON- Brave Girls Soul Book E-course

You know, there are tons of blog giveaways out there. I cannot even begin to count the number I have entered... and not won!! But lately some great things have come my way. I won a beautiful Christmas tree from my BFF Tammy. I won a spot in Jeanne Oliver's Creatively Made E-course.

Yesterday I received an email telling me that I won one of 30 spots for BRAVE GIRLS SOUL BOOK!! Melody and Kathy held a giveaway for 30 course slots and 30 copies of Melody's new book. I am a member online and get daily inspirational thoughts on email and FB.

Simply write in the comments what the daily truth messages have meant to you…..whether you read the daily emails or read them on Facebook or our blog….we want to know what they mean to you…..

 I left a comment, and out of 1490 (!!) Melody and Kathy chose mine. I tried to go back and find it to copy, but I think it's somewhere around 750...

Basically, I re-interated what it's like to sit in the quiet of the morning, check my email, and set the tone for the day. I have been writing a lot lately about remembering to choose my attitude and to be thankful for each and every day. I write about it to remind myself, 'cause the good Lord knows I need constant reminding. BUT- as Melody and Kathy constantly remind us- I am JUST FINE the way I am.

I would imagine Melody's book will be amazing:

Your soul is beautiful…so it has to be beautiful food for your beautiful soul. You will find 120 pages of full color beautiful hand-painted, hand made art wrapped around the birdie’s beautiful messages of soul truth, healing, encouragement and joy…….. this is volume one….but new volumes will be released regularly so that ALL of your favorite daily truths can be read and re-read…….and so that you will have a beautiful collection of beautiful books that will speak straight to the deepest part of you……….and so many of you have wanted to give the truths to others……so this is the most perfect gift too.

Keep your eyes peeled- they stated they will be taking pre-orders soon!!

Stream of Consciousness

painting painting painting

new rugs

laundry laundry laundry

sick pony = vet bills, blacksmith bills, time spent in barn

sick pony inside = stalls stalls stalls

working

kids playing

rain rain rain- ALL this week = boring

also = green grass and flowers

green grass= sick pony. grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

chickens = perfect yummy eggs.

painting painting painting

In the quiet of the rain...

I am blissfully happy. The morning is slightly overcast, in the way that makes me want to curl up infront of the woodstove and read all day. The kind that made my silly ponies actually come into the barn (usually they stay out in the rain). Rather than letting the day be gloomy, I have decided that it's just quiet. I like that.

My two boys are the greatest blessing I have ever been given, aside from but equal to the love of my husband, but sometimes the constant chatter gets to me. Is that true for you too?

I know, what good Mom says they are tired of listening to the sound of their kids- real ones!

I was watching the series Oprah's Lifeclass Tour. It's pretty profound. I am a firm believer that God, or the universe, or whatever you choose to call it (I call it God), lightly whispers in your ear, or taps you on the shoulder, from time to time. You can choose to listen or not to listen. My point is, I could have changed the channel, but I didn't. Lots of profound work there- but one quote stuck with me:

Life doesn't happen TO you,

It happens FOR you.

Just another reminder for me to be thankful and grateful for everything I have. I could lament about the fact that my should and wrist hurt from painting, but instead I am thankful that I have a house to paint, and arms and hands that allow me to paint.

There was great insight about scripting- about not labeling yourself and falling into that trap.

There was a great conversation about loss. For instance, like many of you, I had a miscarriage. So, rather than be sad about the baby that I didn't have, I can choose to be happy for the experience of being pregnant with that child and the happiness it brought- no matter how brief. See?

What do you have to re-think in your life?

So, today, I am choosing to be grateful:

Thank you God, for the rain that waters our plants,

for the arm that hurts, because at least it is a working arm,

for my children, who are messy and loud, but healthy as horses.

How about you?