Homegrown Hospitality

2014 Online and Instore&**Updated**

I guess I should say, Happy Black Friday!  I am spending my day after Thanksgiving finishing up a few projects here and working on my 2014 plans. 

Speaking of 2014, which is now only about 32 or so days away, is going to be a CRAZY good year with a teaching schedule that updates weekly, LOTS of new things that will pop up here and there through the year and an Etsy shop that will be filled with original, one-of-a-kind art.  With that said, December is my calm before the creative storm and as much as I will be enjoying and documenting the moments, I will constantly be preparing, planning and gearing up for a TRANSFORMED year.  TRANSFORMED creatively, physically, spiritually, relationally, mentally...hey, whateverly and I am so glad that you are going to be along for the ride.

January 1st is the kicks off my second year of my online workshop, 52 Pickup. 
Both the 2013 and the new 52 Pick{ME}Up classes are open for registration, can be taken together and never close.  For more info on these two classes, simply click on these links:

• 52 Pick Up
• 52 Pick{ME}UP 2013

January is also the kickoff for my instore workshop schedule.  Here is a look at my everchanging travel itenerary. If you have a store or know of a store that would like to host a workshop, please email me homegrown1@at)att(dot)net:

• January -      Art At The Beach
• February -    Right @ Home Scrapbooking, Boston MA             
• March -        A Work of Heart Studio, San Jose CA                                                                   The Crafty Scrapper - Texas -  details soon
• April -         My Heart's Fancy, Oklahoma
• May -          Donna Downey Studios, North Carolina
• June -          Announcement Soon..UTAH!
• Sept. -         Art is You, Petaluma, CA
• Oct. -          Announcement soon..
• Dec. -         The Ink Pad, New York City, NY

and lastly, keep a watchful eye on my ETSY store as new items are added... Hope to see you online or instore soon!

 

Thanksgiving List

Thankful for...

• HIM.
• for my life.
• for you.
• for them.
• for us.
• for her.
• for him.
• for this time.
• for that place.
• for love.
• for forgiveness.
• for family.
• for moments.
• for light.
• for dark.
• for warmth.
• for history.
• for veterans.
• for friends.
• for relationships. 
• for failure.
• for memories. 
• for long distance.
• for emotions.
• for a clear sky.
• for a south African sunset.
• for wishes.
• for dreams.
• for defeat.
• for cozy warm sock.
• for flipflops.
• for early mornings.
• for reminders.
• for many many things...

I am grateful to all of my blog friends who continually read,comment, email & support this little Homegrown way of Life that I lead, and I appreciate all of our thoughts..always!

I hope that each and every one of you have a Happy Thanksgiving..Whatever your plans are...big, grand, lavish, comfy cozy....enjoy them. Capture them, absorb them and remember to pratice gratiude.

Wednesday Words - Play (and a giveaway!)

I have been re-reading The Gifts of Imperfection by Brene Brown and read this excerpt out-loud yesterday to some of my pals: 

"A critically important part of Wholehearted living is play" There are several pages (pg. 99-110) on the subject of play and how important it is for all of us  so in honor of today being Wednesday Words here on the ol' blog, I chose PLAY and took a little time this morning to play with the brand new doodle/note pads of mine from A Joyful Soul.

I played with color markers and just a black pen on this pad... adding a little dot here, a line there and just enjoyed the process with these padsbut the play didn't stop there..in fact, it sparked an idea.  I got out my "Barney Purple" Purple Cow laminator and laminated them, duh, cause why wouldn't I??? they are stinkin cute.... now I just need to go buy a dry erase pen but before I do that, I want to give a few sets of these away but I need ya to do a little somethin' please.

I just need ya to go on over and Share my new page with your FB friends....and if ya wouldn't mind, just click that little "like" button, too! new fan/business page on Facebook and I will pick a few "sharers" on Friday.

Now go on...go play!

 

 

 

Tuesday Tutorials - Patchwork Birdie

Today's tutorial is still about stitching.  This is a really easy way to make a cute little birdie ornament.

Grab a bunch of your fabric scraps, rip (or cut) them into strips (no measuring needed), lay them onto a piece of muslin and pin into place.  NOTE: if you tear/rip the strips you get a little fringe on the edges! Now stitch up and down each edge of each strip. Once you have your piece of fabric created, print out the birdie pattern, pin to the fabric and cut out a body and a wing.  I decided to cut the back part of the birdie out of denim. Now it is time to stitch.  Pin the wing on and stitch onto the birdie body.  Use a little scrap of felt to cut out a tiny heart to add to the wing or add coordinating buttons. Now stitch the front of the birdie to the back of the birdie leaving a little opening to stuff with filling.  Stuff the birdie, stitch up and add a little extra embroidery floss or a ribbon to the center to make it an ornament for a gift bag, present or your Christmas tree! Happy stitching!

Download Birdielarge

Download Smallbirdiepattern

Monday & A List - Thankful

This past weekends message at church was about being thankful as this is Thanksgiving week here the the US, but more importantly, how to be thankful even in bad times.  Naturally, it is easy to be thankful when things are sailing smoothly, but it is more difficult to remember to be thankful then that ship seems to be sinking.

Something important to always remember is that even in the darkest days, there are things to be grateful & thankful for and so today's  Download Thankful isn't really a "list" but an open space for us to write, doodle and note the things that we are grateful for NO MATTER WHAT the circumstances are right now.  It might be hard but here is something important to remember:

"We can have joy even in our troubles because we know that these troubles produces endurance.  And endurance produces character and character produces hope." Romans 5:3-4

Happy Monday!

Plan Ahead

Do Something - Brave Girls Truth Cards

Fridays are going to be dedicated to sharing ideas on how to help others and today I am kicking it off with a call for Brave Girls Truth Cards.  I love this idea that Kathy & Mel (and the BG crew) have developed and this is a really easy way to share with others that they matter and they are loved..in fact, I am planning to host a BG Truth Card Making Party for my friends and want to encourage you to do the same.  Here is a look at a few cards I made right after Kathy made the call for more cards... If you have taken my 52 Pickup class then you already know exactly what to do when it comes to creating cards, but if you haven't, there are easy instructions on how you can create cards by clicking here

If you are local (LA/Orange County, CA) and want to join in on making cards together, please email me at homegrown1(at)att(dot)net and I will let you know about my BG Truth Card Art Party!

We can do this together for others!

 

 

Radical Gratitude

Maybe it is just me but it seems that so many people practice sharing their gratitude only during this time of the year.

Here I go throwing myself under ye' bus...I am just as guilty of this.  It is not that I don't practice gratitude, it is just that I will be the first to say: "it's freezing out here!" instead of thinking that I am grateful for my warm coat or answering "I'm fine" instead of answering "great, how are you!" when someone asks "how are you?"

junk like this...do you know what I am talking about?

I am thinking that when I share it more online and in person it will create a habit for me and I hopefully will be able to influence and remind others to practice gratitude on a daily basis throughout the entire year....and guess what?

YOU can do this too, in fact, how about if we do it together!

My word for 2014 is going to be PRACTICE and I am starting now by setting good habits and one is practicing gratitude more verbally, publicly, mentally, spiritually, physically, relationally and I want to encourage and invite you to do it too.

Let's do this together, not only during this time of the year..but everyday.  Who's in?  Leave me a comment so that I know!

Wednesdays Word - Practice

Practice is something we always need to do and something we often forget to do.

 p.s. today I added these to my ETSY...the perfect reminder card for you..and for others

Tuesday Tutorials - DIY Printed Fabric

I did this a while back but decided to put it back up for today's Tuesday Tutorial, DIY Printed Fabric

Supplies I Used:

• Canvas fabric/material
• Clear Stamping Block
• Heat Dryer
• Double-sided Adhesive Tape
• Tim Holtz Grunge Board Letters
• Tim Holtz Distress Paint-Black Soot

1. Start by spelling out a word that you want to stamp out using Grungeboard letters on a flat surface: 2. Place two-three strips of double sided adhesive on your clear stamping block and gently place straight down onto the word that you laid out: 3.  Now flip it over and gently press your letters down to make sure that they are stuck down onto the tape : 4.  Apply a generous coat of Distress paint onto your letters: 5. Gently flip it over and "stamp" your word onto the fabric: Now, I continued to stamp a word, remove the letters, add another word, stamp it out..etc. and then I wised up a little and decided to layout a bunch of words and stick them onto my block: Repeated the process by adding Distress paint onto the words : and stamped away : when I noticed that I forgot the "s" in soar so it read "oar."  I just grabbed an "s" and added it on: and then grabbed another block and spelled out a few more words to fit inbetween the words I had already stamped :and kept going..and going and going...Make sure to dry thoroughly.

Tip - you can use your alphabet stamps instead of the Grunge Board letters, it is just that I have a TON of the letters so I wanted to use what I have (not that I don't have a ton of alphabet stamps...oh, nevermind!)

So now what???

Stamp out names on canvas, trim or die cut in the shape of a tag, add a handstitched edge, punch a hole & attach to create one of a kind tags for your holiday gifts or...may I suggest using the "Basket of Happy" Heart pattern and making a little ornament for the tree?

Happy Tuesday!