thoughts from the deep recesses

I desperately wish I could give you a link for this project... at some point I printed a template for these cut-out birds from the lovely shop Fawn & Forest ... but now I can't for the life of me find it on their website. Be that as it may, I decided to use the template to cut some book-page birds this morning. While I love end end result, it definitely falls into the "Gosh that's cute, but what do you do with it?" category. Right now I have it hanging above one of my kitchen windows because it makes me smile. But it's fragile and cannot support it's own weight - so draping it anywhere, bunting style, is out of the question. A nice idea... little birdies cut out folded-paper-gingerbread-man style... but it leaves me a little perlexed and I'm not sure it will stay up for long. It feels a little out of place just resting there atop the window moulding. So, you win some and you lose some. I'm not ready to call it a Creativity Monday failure...

This is a hard post for me to write because I have to admit a few shortcomings and struggle to put words to one of the hardest things I've struggled with as an adult. So bear with me... I don't think I'm going to cry. But it's an ongoing issue. And it seems to have struck a chord with a few readers because there were several comments about it when I just barely mentioned it awhile back... so here we go. Thank goodness we're all works-in-progress. Because I've changed in so many ways over the years, hopefully most of them good. As a child, there were probably two things that stand out the most as distinctive, character issues for me. One - I had an inordinate amount of self-confidence. Not sure where that came from - but I believed I was the smartest, funniest, coolest chick around. I knew I was good at stuff. And I believed I could accomplish anything I wanted. Even through junior high, I held myself high on my own personal pedestal and never struggled with...

I've been trying lately to frequent the occasional thrift store... most of you know I'm religious about my summer Saturday morning garage sales, but in the winter, my bargain hunting seems to fade. So this year I've been making the effort to stop by a local store to keep the bargains flowing... and it's been worthwhile - I found a 'tags-on' , never worn pair of jeans for myself the other day that fit perfectly - for $12. I also found a really ugly metal "I-Do"-on-the-cover wedding flip photo album. Silly me - I forgot to take a before picture of it... but I knew it could be repurposed... so I snatched it up for $1..99. I am the least organized person when it comes to recipes... I wish I could say I had a fabulous system of keeping track of them, but I don't. I have a mess of a cupboard where I throw in all the magazine pages I've ripped out, the recipes I've printed off the internet and a handful of handwritten notes to myself about meals....

Haven't been blogging lots lately... winter seems a quiet season. Not a lot of interesting or exciting things happening - each week feels so similar to the last. I've modified my walking resolution for this year and instead have decided to log at least 500 miles of activity this year. That means I can take a day off here and there, but that on the days I DO move, I have to move considerably more than I did when I was simply walking every day with no distance requirements. I have to log about 9.5 miles a week to get my 500 miles in. Not a ton, but certainly something I have to stay on top of. I don't want to get to July and only have 100 miles done... then I'd be in big trouble. I'm pushing myself and actually starting to run. I want to run a 5K this year. I've always hated running, but for some reason feel compelled to do it this year. I ran a full 3 miles without stopping earlier this week. And I didn't die! Who knew? Kyler turned 16 last month, which h...

I've recently discovered a new inspiring blog called Under the Table and Dreaming ... love Stephanie Lynn's clever and do-able projects. This is where I saw her darling Recycled Sweater Vases ... I really thought they were lovely, but I've been wanting to do something with a bright pink wool sweater I picked up at a garage sale last summer... I had already felted it, so all I had to do was cut off a sleeve, slide it over a dollar store vase, fold over the top and add some sparkly trim. It looks lovely with my other valentine decor and makes me quite happy. I love how it snugglies up the cold, sleek vase. Now I'm dying to get to the thrift store to find some other sweaters to use!

Inspired by the lovely Jessica at How About Orange , I set about cutting snowflakes sometime in December... and hanging them on my sliding glass doors. And now I have a confession... I am completely obsessed with cutting snowflakes. If I have a spare minute here or there, all I want to do is grab a piece of paper, fold and snip, snip, snip. There's something magical about unfolding them and seeing what you've got after all that snipping. Trees, holly, butterflies and tulips... I LOVE cutting snowflakes! And in the process, I learned that antlers belong on the inside of a deers ears... but I couldn't throw these cute little fellas away just because I didn't know that when I cut them... Snowflake cutting is addictive. I highly recommend trying it. (And if you have time to come over and help me sweep up all the teeny-tiny white paper pieces, I'd make you a cup of coffee. But then we'd probably cut more and need to sweep again. Wouldn't it be fun?)

Lately Asia and I have been working with a lot of people who are struggling. Marriages that are failing... long term relationships coming to an end... husbands and wives that are tired of the work and disenchanted with the dream of happily-ever-after. In looking through this lens of hurt, disappointment and brokenness, I cannot help but be forced to take a good hard look at my own marriage. I'm so blessed to have been married to Asia for the past eighteen and a half years. I'm not sure how we've managed to keep it all intact. We're no better than those folks we know who are watching it all come crashing down around them... Perhaps I can attribute it to the prayers of my mother and grandmother... years of asking God to provide me with a husband who would love me. (No small request there, as I can be quite a stinker.) However we've managed to stay together, I will never take it for granted. This man, who nightly rests his hand on my hip as we drift off...

I've been looking forward to today ever since I decided to challenge myself to do something creative each Monday in 2011... Of course, because my studio also serves as a dumping ground for anything I can't find a place for elsewhere in the house and because I did a fair amount of last minute crafting for two sales I did in November and December, I spent the better part of my morning putting things away and finding space to actually work in... So by the time I actually began creating, I really should have been moving on to other things on my to-do list. The nice thing, is that I don't have any sort of requirement for Creativity Mondays. I just want to be creative. And so today, it meant that I made this happy little wall hanging out of goodies I've had stashed in my supplies for ages. A little cardboard wrapped in vintage sheet music, some velvet ric-rac and some paper flowers... add a breezy beaded butterfly, a vintage milk bottle cap and some scalloped details for...

We enjoyed a lovely little snowstorm on Wednesday this past week that dropped about a foot of fresh snow. Then on Thursday, the temperature plummeted and we've had nothing but really cold, beautiful blue skies since then. I'm blown away by the beauty of these crisp, sparkly days and wanted to share their beauty with you... Happy New Year from snow covered Spokane!