Homegrown Hospitality

"A Chicken Named Faith"

I just placed a HUGE order for supplies to create kits for my classes at Inspired, ArtFull Horizons and Scrapbooking Made Simple and I am excited....excited to get the boxes of supplies and....MOD PODGE in gallon sized containers...hello!!!!

and..I am REALLY excited to "proof" the final artwork for BRAND NEW STAMPS that go along with these classes.....

hint:

 
(that's a BIG hint)

anyways....last night I started editing photos and typing instructions for my "Online" version of the classes (with different projects, duh!) and thought, I should show you a little peekity peek peek peek...cause they, yes "they" make me so happy (looking at them now as I type!) and maybe, if they make you happy...then shoot...we can allll be happy! 

 
Look at that one closest to you....she is a "Chicken named Faith" funny, huh? That's me.  Reminds me of sitting in the airport in Atlanta waiting to board a plane to Africa and thinking "It is much easier to have FAITH then to be BRAVE"

anyways...it is all part of Doodle 201 "Paint...Paper..Ink" and if you want to get the info on this class make sure you sign up for the newsletter...

okay, another look at Faith...the chicken.

 

Lost in the Clouds

Speaking from experience, the occasional feeling of be "lost in the clouds" is  very frustrating, even scary at times BUT part of the process in life because without those feelings, you would not be able to recognize how clear things really are or can be...until they are.

 
psssttt..it's called FAITH.

Love.

If you want to change something and are not sure what to start with...think about healing your heart and then opening your heart because there is a whole lotta love to give and receive and you do not want to miss it!! (it is tough work but totally worth it....)

 "My words affect my heart...and my heart affects my words..."

 
Always remember to refer to these often forgotten rules of LOVE...

"Words BUILD up and TEAR down so THINK before you speak..."

T - are you being TRUTHFUL..Don't be brutally honest, be CLEARLY honest. (there is a difference!)

H - make sure that your words are HELPFUL

I - are you being INSPIRATIONAL

N - is what you are saying NECESSARY

K - are your words KIND

  
LOVE people with KIND words because KIND words transform worry into JOY (yippee!) "Worry will rob your happiness but kind words will cheer you up" Prov. 12:12

 
LOVE people with HONEST words...because honest words make us feel loved. "Speak the truth in love.." Eph. 4:15

 
LOVE people with CAREFUL words...because if we use communication as a battle field, we will always loose."Watch your words and hold your tongue.  You will save yourself alot of grief" Proverbs 21:23

 
LOVE people with BUILDING words because building words encourage learning..."Pleasant words promote instruction" Proverbs 16:21

 

Something Old..Something New...

45 years ago today, my Mom & Dad got married.....Happy Anniversary Mom & Dad...We LOVE you!!!

 Dancing in the kitchen at my sisters on Christmas Eve...
 
I LOVE love...

and speaking of Love....I came across these cuties I made from Valentines Day two years ago..and I kinda love them..they are easy to make and just for you...

 

 Download Idea Sheet No. 2 Be My Valentine

 Download Idea Sheet No. 2 Valentine Download

Have FUN...Happy Weekend Before Valentines Day....

Creative Recap & Roll Call

Today is all about a whole lotta this, that and the other.

I am heading up the 5 Freeway North to class tomorrow at Scrapbooking Made Simple in Valencia, CA! The Valentine is going to be my carpool partner and car unloader...lucky him!!! Here is the project we are crating using all of my Sizzix  dies....

 
and speaking of dies...

I am working on a brand new collection due out sometime in 2012...so until then we will continue to play with these

 
 
and speaking of new collections...

even though I had to set aside my paints to kit for class, I sent off a new set of ideas to my favorite place in the USA (besides Maui!) and we are working on dates now...oh, alright...a little hint...

 
and I have pretty much created a whole new font (seen in the photo above) that will be part of Doodle 201

and speaking of Doodle..

there is ALWAYS time to get down the basics of how I doodle with Doodle 101...it is a self paced, work when you want kinda class...all right there for you...click HERE for the details

and speaking of details..

Donna Downey gave me a great, quick little surprising shout out on her "random blathering" the other day and mentioned that the mini workshops for Inspired are now up...go there and check them out...oh, okay...here it is too...

 
 
I kinda LOVE these and I think that you will too...

and speaking of love...

I LOVE love.

 
and Maui!

As seen in...

Inspired Ideas...a doodle just in time for Valentine's day...

 
and a download of doodles for YOU to print out...cut up and tie on to little bags of treats

Download HappyValentinesDayTags2011

 
and speaking of doodles, it is never too late to learn the basics of "doodle" before it is time for Doodle 201....Click here to get the details...

http://homegrownhospitality.typepad.com/homegrown_hospitality/2011/01/doodle-101last-call.html

Happy Almost Valentine's Day!

Life is like a box of....

We live in a world jam packed with opinions, media, culture (and a truckload of other things) that subliminally works away at our authentic hearts and often leads us to conform to TRYING to live like this....

 
Perfect..in place...keeping up...looking good...just right and eventually, whatever we focus on ends up controlling us.

DANG IT! 

and then just when we are fooling ourselves(and everyone else) that everything is just peachy,

the bottom of everything drops out...

the sky starts to fall,

the stock market crashes,

gas prices go up,

the price of gold goes sky high but we only wear silver so we can't "cash" anything in...

you get the picture...

and we are faced with the bottom of a pit.  

When we "seem" to have failed at what the "world" thinks we should be doing, we are so consumed with disappointment, fear, guilt, bitterness (another truckload of "fill in the blanks" here, too!) we find that we have lost complete focus in everything, or just about everything.

"Anxiety in a man's heart weighs it down..."Prov. 12:25 

and life looks life this:

 
broken, messy, mixed up, spilling out (insert big "sigh" sound effect)

BUT

listen....right now, I am the BOSS of YOU.....When you have gotten to this point, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE (speaking from experience here) YOU have just GOT to STOP and jump off of the merry-go-round (don't worry, it is sand underneath so you are not going to get hurt...stop "him-hahing around" and just jump)

and yes, "him-hahing around" is a word, I think my dad made it up!

anyways...

STOP thinking about what the world thinks and START listening to what GOD is saying, duh. (it really is that easy!)

Once you have jumped and stopped....now you can LOOK, LISTEN and make a commitment for yourself to CHANGE! (kinda like stop, drop & roll in a fire! this was a Public Service Announcement from me). 

YOU can not do this for anyone else but YOU.  If you are doing this for someone else, um, it ain't gonna work. YOU need to be READY....

and it is time to get READY.

It is time...to change your thought process for YOU..to change your mind for YOU and by all means change your focus for YOU, because YOU are worth it. it is TIME and YOU can do it...because

"God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of POWER, LOVE and Self-Discipline" 2 Tim 1:7

whew!

p.s...back to the watercolors, I thought I loved the way the colors all looked, pretty, untouched, all in the right spot..until I created with them...and now, honestly, because of a change in focus...a change of heart, a change in mind, I REALLY LOVE the way they look now...and YOU will get there...it takes time, effort, focus and faith, but YOU will get there!

  

 

Inspired Ideas Spring 2011!

 
I have been creating a little more than I had lead you to believe, but I could not tell or show you what I was up to..until now!

Last fall, after the last Inspired Ideas came out, I immediately contacted Amy Powers of Inspire Co. to tell her how much I loved loved loved it...and well, one thing lead to another and I am THRILLED and blessed to be part of the new Spring 2011 issue!!!!

Click here to get a sneak peek:

 

Happy Spring, kinda..almost!

Cultivating Affirmations & Creating with Them

Creating a Life that reflects my Dreams...Living A Life that Defines my Purpose"

  The past few months I have taken alot of time to just play.

I have been trying new creative things that have put me way outside my safe creative box

 
and have been experimenting with techniques.  I have even added in a few new colors to my "life color" wheel besides Barn Red, Sage Green and Liberty Blue.  Best of all, at the end of each day, I have either LOVED something, painted over it and started completely over or just simply thrown it away....It is part of my process and I am really embracing it.  I think I even invented a new technique but sometimes I think that and then I find out that I didn't..anyways, it is kinda fun, SUPER messy and might be part of my Inspired 2011 Mini Workshop...just sayin.

 
I am so thankful that I have taken the time to slowly "CULTIVATE" my creative heart, taking time to understand, learn and either LOVE or hate the process.  I have a ton of new ideas, I am working on new products, am continuing to make huge messes (and then cleaning them right up!) and loving each moment.  The best part of going slow is being able to enjoy each messy, paint filled, die cut, felt trimmed moment.  

I  am a blessed girl to be able to do what I love for a living, for a purpose that I am able to focus in on and I am thankful for YOU. 

That YOU are here each day, putting up with my blah blah blah's, honest about what you love and do not love, open to my changes, discoveries and the occasional mess ups!

 
Today, take some time to think about YOU..your direction, your dreams, your desires, your passion, your purpose..and then....

CREATE something!

 

Cultivating Change

I posted this over on the Brave Girls Soul Restoration Forum a few weeks ago and after a request or two..I am sharing it here too!

This is a REALLY good reminder of what it REALLY takes to change. 

 
Remember..WE have to CHANGE our minds AND our way of thinking to be able to successfully make a change, duh!

Just "Saying" that we are going to do something is way different than actually doing it...WE all gotta "walk the walk AND talk the talk" and it is sometimes harder than we think...BUT we all CAN do it....if we want to!

so, who wants to "walk AND talk" with me towards CHANGE???..come on..go put on your shoes and lets go!