Homegrown Hospitality

Creating a Life That Reflects My Dreams...

Living a life that defines my Purpose...

I hightlighted in The Seed that "..knowing your purpose is one challenge, but a bigger challenge is finding the courage to follow it and live it in the face of adversity and naysayers." 

While it only took me 35+ years to identify my purpose of sharing, teaching, encouraging and inspiring through creative arts, I  had to learn to recognize, feel and live the truth of that statement above by standing up,stepping out and sharing my faith, through those creative arts. I had to be brave, take a leap of faith and share because HE is the reason for my ART (and why you will always see a heart in my work)  When you do what you are supposed to do, it just feels right and you know it in your heart.

I have taken some giant leaps of faith in the past 8 years or so and I know, for sure, without-a-doubt, that I would not be where I am right now without my faith, trust and love for God.  

Yes, I would have done things differently blah blah blah, but I do not dwell on those things anymore, in fact, I have learned from every.single.thing. and now I am able to look back and say...." ohhhhhhh...okay......" and what I know for sure is that you can not get through things without going through things. 

I have spent a majority of every day this week creating (well, and doing laundry!) and while I cannot share the projects I am working on right now, I can tell you that my creative heart and soul are very content even though my surroundings are the most messy they have ever been...ever. 

I have been given a creative license to just be me, to create from the heart and this allows me to stay centered, stay focused and create like I have not created in a long time. I am blessed to do what I love to do for a living and I feel really good to be able to say that even though my work surface looks like this right now x 10,  I am creatively content.

When you do what you are supposed to do, everything else falls into place right where it should be, even if it feels like it is a mess!!!

Idea-Ology Fragments

Distress Stain - Antique Linen

Tim Holtz Distress Markers

District Market Tissue Wrap - Terminology

Tim Holtz Idea-ology Chit Chat

InLinkz.com

Whatever You Do...

 

Distress Ink - Barn Door	Distress Stain - Antique Linen	Idea-Ology Grunge Board 12 x 12	Tim Holtz Distress Markers	District Market Tissue Wrap - Terminology
Tim Holtz Idea-ology Chit Chat	Distress Ink - Antique Linen	Glue-N-Seal	Idea-ology Paper Lost & Found

InLinkz.com

I am...

and so are you!

Handcrafted Originals

I am still getting through the book, Only You Can Be You and am really looking forward to the upcoming study that starts NEXT THURSDAY evening at Saddleback.  My poor book has more highlighted areas than any other book I have ever read and I find myself constantly wanting to create based on the topics....

and the only reason YOU can be You is because you are a 100%

and it is time to 

Here is a little more info about the study, you know, in case you want to join me.  

Now let's say you are not in Southern California and you can not get to Saddleback on Thursday evenings...well, you could move here because ya know, we must :

duh...or I discovered that there is a "Only You Can Be You" website, tadah!!

I hope to see you next Thursday so that together we can remind ourselves to 

okay..back to reading and well, creating!

" I am Bored..."

We are only a week and a few days into summer and I have heard " I am bored" way too many times. Take a look at my Ben, on a beautiful Saturday afternoon (look beyond the roses)

I have very active, sometimes over active boys, and if they are not skimming the sand, jumping jumps, kicking goals "olly-ing" over a curb, eating or sleeping....they are bored

and Saturday...they were so bored they could hardly live...ugghhhh...."Nobody knows...the trouble I've....."

So, I had a thought...

Because of the launch of my new class earlier in the day..I invited them to the table for a doodle lesson and low and behold....it was an amazing idea and for about two hours, I wanna say, I felt like I had soothed their bored little souls and saved the day from being a complete waste.

and as we all happily doodled, the sounds of ice cream man drifted through the air just in time for a little "mom-can-I-have-some-money" doodle break...and all was well with the world!

"A Whole New Doodle" Registration Now Open*REVISED*

" A Whole New Doodle" Class In A Brand New Home....The wait is finally over and registration is now open!  I am excited to share that I have joined forces with the amazing team over at Scrapbook News and Review where together, with several other teachers, we will present our online classes at "The Art Studio" @ Scrapbook News and Review.

 

My first class,"A Whole New Doodle 2012"  is a new revised and updated version of my popular Doodle 101 class and it just launched and because it is a " self-paced" course it means it is available for immediate download and you can work on it whenever you want, where you are...any time of the day! 

 

You'll start with basic lettering: doodling up and lower case letters from your own writing that will be ready for detail, color and shadows and because you'll be learning and doodling so much, before we can move on with the class, you'll create a workbook/practice book from a regular ol' composition notebook that will be divided into sections to hold all of your art, doodles and fonts.

From there you'll get into adding details and dimension to your doodle art and will learn where to add additional details like borders, boxes and scallops, and how to work in shadows to give your art that extra pop! Step-by-step color photos and practice sheets will be available for download for you to just print out and practice, practice..practice.

                                                                                                                         

In the last part of the class, you'll watch a short video of me crating from start to finish on a piece I call "Home Sweet Doodled Home." Again, there will be step-by-step photos that will lead you through the entire project as well as some of my own "Funky Folk Art" doodles for you to be inspired by.

The supplies are simple and  most likely, things you already have:

• Mechanical pencil or #2 pencil
• White eraser
• .03 and .05 black liner pen and Paper Mate Flair M
• A composition book (lined, or if you can find it, graph ruled)
• Paper - regular ol' computer/copy paper, white cardstock/heavyweight paper
• Assorted markers, crayons, colored pencils

This class is priced at $24.99 and includes a 20 page color step by step instruction PDF, 9 PDF Practice Worksheets for you to print out and practice on and a step by step video of how I sketch,doodle and color.  To find out more about my class and Scrapbook News and Review, please click the links below:

The Art Studio @Scrapbook News and Review

" A Whole New Doodle 2012" 

I look forward to seeing you in class! 

    

 

 

Summer Weekly Recap No. 1

First week of summer down & I stuck to my summer plan pretty good.  It feels good to accomplish my to-do's as well as the regular ol summer stuff like dropping off here, picking up there and doing laundry, of course!

I have been creating up a storm and am getting ready to list some "Art For Sale" so watch for that to post soon and...

my "Whole New Doodle 2012" class is launching.....TONIGHT so stay tuned.  As soon as I have all of the information, I will break in like an "Emergency Broadcast System" and let you know.   THANK YOU ALL for your patience with the launch of this class...

and lastly, today I added a new sidebar button called "Create @ Home" that will have project tutorials for you to be inspired to create.  The first project is one of my favorites which is a Configuration box that has been altered and embellished.

I will add projects as I get them typed out and will send you the info via newsletter, so make sure to sign up for that if you have not already.

Happy Summer and Happy Friday!

Ten Buck Salad Season

Blog reader Aubien asked about my salad from last weeks post so I thought it was time to post about it being "Ten Buck Salad Season." 

First, the name "Ten Buck Salad" comes from the fact that you can create a salad at home that you would most likely pay $10.00 for at a restaurant (which I realize could also be called "Trailer Park Martha Salad )

anyways....my friend Carly (who was my next door neighbor for a long time) and I even had a special bowl that we would eat our salads out of when our kids were young and we would spend many an hour curbside watching them play...(which could be a whole other post...) anyways, there are many versions to "Ten Buck Salad" which makes it like a whole new dish every time.  The ingredients I always try to have on hand for a TBS (Ten Buck Salad) are:

• Lettuce - usually 2-3 kinds
• Cucumber, little tomatoes, black olives, carrots & celery & Feta cheese (because everything is beta with feta) oh and avocado, because it is "earth's butter"

Then you can add in special ingredients like:

• Mango's
• Mushrooms
• Watermelon
• Strawberries
• BBQ Chicken
• Cilantro
  

and, if you have leftover spaghetti noodles from the night before (like we often do) you can add several of the same ingredients and a little balsamic vinegar (or italian dressing) and make a ten buck spaghetti salad:

to go with your ten buck salad with bbq chicken on top off it like I did last night....

A few weeks ago I made veggie shish-ka-bobs and bbq'd them

and topped my ten buck with a few of them.  This very well might have been a $12.50 salad...

and yep, I often take photos of preparing my food.  My family is totally used to me toting a camera around almost everywhere we go...I said...Almost.

yum.

Little Reminders

Number 2 and 3 on my summer list are to stay on a schedule and well, make a schedule because without one, I am totally un-focused and out of balance and right now, at this very moment, as I sit and type this at 12:29 in the afternoon, I am completely out of focus and slightly off balance and honestly, I do not work well this way and when I get this way, all I want to do is sit down and read one of the three books I am reading right now...which reminds me that this is coming soon and well, reading always leads to a nap...which is maybe what I will do after I finish this long run-on-sentence-blog-post and cross a few things off my list...

I did however, start off this morning with coffee and laptop in hand and headed to the ol' shead-teau and created away for almost 3 1/2 uninterrupted hours.

Just me, my coffee, talk radio and creative-ness..

I created the smallest mini book ever and I love it, a lot.  I made it to fit into a little cubby like the one shown below in the upper right hand corner. 

It measures about 2 1/2" 

and is little but holds big reminders...like this :

which happens to be the name of one of the three books I am reading right now and is also a new women's summer bible study at Saddleback that I would highly suggest you check out and join me, if you can...

okay, I need to go make a schedule, get a few things done on my list and go do this:

Note to Self: Today, make a list, create a schedule and stick to it!

13. Learn Something New

Before I start, this is a true story...in between "steps" in what we were doing yesterday, I sat down and opened a Williams-Sonoma catalog (my sister ALWAYS has the best catalogs) and saw this....

THIS is how God communicates with me.

okay..moving on...I need to add a # 13 to my summer list and then cross it out because yesterday, I learned something new.  The art of brewing beer and it is quite the process.

It instantly reminded me of this quote from Soup, by Jon Gordon. 

Here are a few things I observed from the process that go right along with the quote above. First, obviously by the first photo above, you need a big pot, a big spoon and long arms to stir the pot (whew!) well, and all of the right equipment:

Seriously though, you need way more than equipment.  You need all of the following which I have taken from the book quote:

1. Love - Now, I do not love beer, but I love to make things so I was all good with the ten thousand steps it takes to brew beer.  The boys on the other hand LOVE beer, so all of the SWEAT put into this craft is worth it and that is what makes every batch special (okay, not the sweat, but you know what I mean...)
2. Optimism & Trust - Regardless of the outcome (taste) you put in 110% into the time,energy and $$$ into what you are creating, in this case, beer. (no pun intended)
3. Vision - I am going to assume convinced by observing the entire brew process that these boys are seeing the end result.  A batch of beer that has been hand brewed, hand bottled, chilled and best of all, something special, which is time spent together (They may not have realized that last one, but I did)
4. Communication - Constant communication on time, temperature and ingredients.  It takes a team, especially if you are brewing two different batch's at one time..
5. Authenticity & Appreciation-  To brew beer, you must have appreciation for it because the first four hours were done outside...and it was 91 degrees.  Also see #2 & # 3
6. Passion - You have got to "love to make things" in this case, beer, to do something like this. (especially standing over a HUGE boiling pot of beer when it is 91 degrees.)

I have about 212 more photos to edit so this will be a continued post through June and probably into July as I read Soup, which could now be called, Beer.

p.s. I wanted to take these home to make something with but I knew how important these are to the ENTIRE process...

Dang it!