Homegrown Hospitality

Tuesday Tutorials - Basket of Happy

I "used" to have a basket that held a bunch of little pillows that I stitched. I say "used to" because over time, I have given them all away for one reason or another.  I called it my "Basket of Happy"

Now I have a whole bunch of Fall colored hearts in my basket. I betcha you are wondering what the heck a Basket of Happy is and what its for?  Just to look at I suppose, but really, the cute little pillows just, well... make you happy and 9 times out of 10 produce a smile.

I have taken my basket of happy with me to different events and have shared my thoughts on having a basket of happy.  I have even been known to throw the little stuffed lovelies at people that seemed to need a little happy.

They smiled when I did...some even laughed.

Insta happy.

Last year I had made a "Casserole of Love"  which held a bunch of  hand stitched hearts that I gave out to the ladies in my bible study group.  They smiled too.

so, with the RIDICULOUS amount of fabric, felt, floss, buttons, beads, etc. I decided that these would made the perfect Tuesday Tutorial.

First, I created a pattern Download Happybasketheartpattern and cut out several hearts from an old pair of jeans that I had in the stack with my other fabrics.

Then I grabbed my stash of Tim Holtz trim, pinned the pieces in place threaded my needle and started stitching. It seemed to need a little more of something so I picked out red seed beads from a baggie of 10,000 beads I have and added those added a few french knots trimmed off the edges stitched it up with a blanket stitch leaving a spot to stuff it and stitched it closed. then...

I could not stop.

I cut up a cotton tea towel and grabbed my jar of buttons and picked out the clear seed beads from my baggie of beads and the random gems and jewels I had in the baggie too, and stiched those on stuffed it and stitched it and now I find myself looking at it and smiling. This is where the Tuesday Tutorial should conclude, but I couldn't stop cutting and stitching and now have a pile of happy hearts that need to be stuffed and shared.  Please feel free to Download Happybasketheartpattern, create a happy basket of your very own and share a little happy with those around you.  If you are inspired to create based on this or any of the Tuesday Tutorials, I would sure love to see and hear your story.  Please email me your photos to homegrown1(at)att(dot)net and I will share them with upcoming Tuesday Tutorials!

 

Unexpected Happiness

Right before New Years, we hooked the ol' Mallard up and went camping for a few FREEZING days.  I am a warm/summer camper so this was a new adventure for me and was excited (& also confused) on what we would do without the amenities of summer, like a pool, lake or river, but I packed up my markers, papers and blankets and we hit the road.

Just as we pulled up to our site, it started to pour but because we are campers, we were not shaken..infact, just as we finished running around setting up camp, we received a welcome gift:Us "adults" (that my sister and I) found it very easy to just sit in chairs (under EZups because it was raining)  and ask for campfires (after they thought they could move the fire ring closer to us)
Nope, it did not budge, but an "A" for effort Anyways...When it wasn't raining, we took hikes through the dry riverbed and Auntie Steph (that would be me) was probably the COOLEST AUNTIE EVER by breaking the law and passing over the signs that read CLOSEDSuch outlaws Trailblazers....look at how happy they are...sorry Jen!

Anyways..as mentioned in a previous post, we "looked" for heart rocks, which meant you did not really look for them, you just let them pop out at you and we all agreed how much more special it was when you come across something unexpected...and the fact that you don't always have to take what you find.  Sometimes it is just as special to leave it for the next person so that they can experience unexpected happiness.

Then I got an idea..

On our next hike, in between campfires and rain, before we left, I grabbed a handful of Sharpies and put them in my pocket and we headed out.After we "trail blazers" crawled into a drainage pipe to get a photo
I handed each one of them a Sharpie.  

Without any real "instructions" (and the simple explanation that this was not graffiti because we were writing one small word) I reminded them of our last conversation about how little things we see and find along the way can make us happy and I told them to think of "happy words"

That is all I said....and for the next 30 minutes or so (because it started to rain again) I felt an unexpected abundance of happiness because they just knew what to do...

and because we all felt very happy (because doing happy things makes you feel happy) I placed my camera on a piece of wood, set the timer and got a happy shot of Unexpected Happiness and then ran back to camp because it really started to rain!

Today, do something that will allow others to feel unexpected happiness.

Don't Strain Your Eyes

When it is dark,

When you can not seem to focus,

When things never seem to change,

When you feel like there is a dark cloud floating over you,

When you keep looking for a sign.. for a change... for just a glimmer of something..

Don't strain your eyes.

 

 

Remember, just because you can not see it or feel it, there is HOPE and a future because HE is there, He said it and it is a promise.

It's called Faith.

Yay!

For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart."  Jeremiah 29: 11-13

Happy Valentine's Day

Remember this from a few weeks back?

Well, my intention was to post a picture of a cute little bag full of chocolate kisses tied with ribbons and then attach this cute little valentine to it..

but we ate all of the chocolate kisses before I could put it together...DANG IT!

so...

I bought another bag of kisses with the same intention...and then we ate those, too!!!

Hey, at least I am honest!

So, Download Valentinecards...go ahead, buy the kisses, print out the valentines and good luck!
 

Two Things..One Word

One word & two simple things, that we as human beings completely complicate:

"Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself." Matthew 22:37-39

It is a new month...Happy February...let's do this..together...as much as we maybe do not want to..

push through it and do it...

Let's create a domino effect of Love.

Doodlin', Sharin', Teachin' & Knowin'

I arm wrestle with myself about my doodling "art" on a daily basis. (That is the "Simply Complicated" part of me, which for the most part, is completely unnecessary.)

The thing is, I love doodling because I love the way I can relax while coloring something, and that seems a tad selfish, because, really..it is not about "me"..duh....but I also love that I can take a plain piece of white paper and turn it into a picture by adding colors, lines,  shapes, a thought and usually a heart. 

I do not know it it is the thickness of the black lines, the colors of the pens I used, the phrase, or a little of all three, but I kinda love this little lost doodle (I have alot of them, lost doodles, that is)

This is another part of my self-arm-wrestle competition...the fact that I have a HUGE, bulging, over flowing file STUFFED with "little lost doodles" and the confusion of what to do with them.

For now,

I will just keep doodlin' what I am doodlin', sharin with you what I am sharin, teachin you what I am teachin and knowin (with out seein) that I am goin in the right direction...

That my friends, is Faith. 

The "P" Word

One of my things, you know, the "P" word (PURPOSE) is to "inspire" others.

BUT but the other "P" word is PINTEREST and the inspiration that comes from that PLACE is something I can not describe.

Actually, I can use the word "Over-Stimulated" to describe myself when I am on the PINTEREST site, which usually results in  falling off my axis, losing all focus and ending up a bigger Whirling Dervish than I already am...

anyways, in my quest to only visit PINTEREST in 15 minute increments (75 times a day!, just kidding) I came across these which I instantly wanted to make, like right then because I knew I had loads of the PERFECT fabric from the napkins I made almost five years ago (can you believe it has been five years, eeek!!!) ..

anyways.....
in my PURSUIT of PRACTICING all kinds of things this year, I waited...until yesterday, which really was only two days since the day I saw them, but, I did not POUNCE on them as if I was Tigger. 

 to be continued....

A "Sorta" Mission Statement

My faith, beliefs and everyday life of family, home, life, love, & laundry inspire and fuel my creativity. I share it here with the hope that you will be inspired to share and create for yourself and for others.

With that said, I have developed new techniques to go along with new classes based on mixing faith and creativity AND adding back in "the element of being together"  Getting together with others to create is becoming a lost art and I for one do not want to sit and watch it happen.

I have taken almost an entire year off of teaching in-store, except for a few trips and I am almost ready to get out and teach again, with several changes to the way I teach.

I am hoping that you will have an open mind to my new ways and that you will consider taking some time to be together with other women to create, to experiment, to create a mess, to be inspired and to relax.

Corner!

I have never worked the job as a waitress, well wait, I mean "in a restaurant and with a paycheck".  I am a mom, so I have been and continue to be a sorta waitress...

anyways...my point is, I like the way they yell "corner" as they are buzzing around the, um...corners.  It is a great way to let people know what is coming so that they don't crash.

I wish GOD would yell "Corner" a bit louder so that we could know what was just around the corner..

or maybe we should just sit down...shut up and just listen, duh.

The fact is, we need to be quiet and just listen.  It is not going to be a thunder-and-lightning-clouds-streaming-across the sky-moment where we hear something...sometimes, it comes in the form of a beautiful rock that was hiding and buried under millions of other rocks, just waiting to be found and listened to.

                                        photo taken by blog reader & another sorta mom waitress, Kendyl