Garden Party collection... fast and so beautiful

Delinda had never gotten into crafting. 

She's more the hands-in-the-soil kind of friend, the generous neighbor who sends me home with a head of lettuce that looks like a giant bouquet or some fantastic heirloom kale.

 

Until now. 

Delinda's mom is having a milestone birthday and the entire family wanted to gather for a big hee-haw of a birthday party. No cheap ordinary party goods would do.

Delinda's mom must have the best. 

But what would it be?

And then she saw the samples for my Garden Party Collection from Sizzix.

It looks so intricate Delinda initially thought it would be too complicated,

but I kept telling her, "it's so easy! You can do this!"

And WOW. Just WOW.

Aren't her invitations beautiful?

I can hardly wait to see what she's making for the party itself!

Stay tuned... I'm going to show you lots more fun with these dies.

The Garden Party collection of crafting dies will ship to stores near you in late March or early April...

WOOHOO!

Fresh art

There have not been enough hours in the day for all the ideas demanding to be made.

Art is emerging in our little house early in the morning... 

fresh inspiration shines through the lit up windows of my tiny studio in the garden.

I've been cutting paper and lettering and painting for hours,
and enjoying every moment again.

As always, the cut paper starts with a sheet of plain black,
which I cut with scissors and scan, then I often spray paint the original.

You can see how I snip the paper freehand above, and below the way it looks when layered into a final design.

And coming soon, an Etsy shop where you can get my original cut paper and calligraphy and prints, too!

Inspiration and exhaustion

 "Where does your inspiration come from?" she asked.

I get asked that a lot.

"Everywhere!" I told my new friend. "Inspiration is all around us. Just take a quick walk and open your eyes and you will awaken more ideas than you can use up in a month!"

But that was before exhaustion hit me, and dried up my creativity.

FATIGUE.

 It's modern society's big killer of creativity and confidence.

And I've been dealing with it.

After running day and night and coping with a number of unavoidable crises, I found myself bone tired, utterly exhausted.

And I am so very, very grateful to have been forced to learn from it.

The answer is REST

(and yes, you really can climb off the merry-go-round of busy-ness. You can stop.)

Sometimes we have to stop. 

For plenty of sleep, 

for allowing ourselves not to be productive all the time,

for long hours of quiet without guilt.

Let's admit it: it's hard to stop.  

But I am so grateful I was forced to rest.

I am finally recharged and rested.

Ideas have flooded back.

Creativity is surging again like a river of joy.

The first hints of spring are emerging in our little valley and with them a fresh wave of joyful inspiration is filling my heart and studio!

If you are feeling sucked dry, bone tired... if you are feeling exhausted and wishing the creative fountain would flow freely again, gift yourself with grace and simply stop. Rest. Wait patiently as long as it takes for your body and spirit to be revived.

You'll love what happens when the exhaustion subsides and a short walk again brings more creativity than you can handle.

Where does inspiration come from?

A rested place that enables you to look around you and enjoy the world around you.