The Present Moment

Sometimes I find it hard not to be constantly in multitask mode.  I juggle a lot of things - I am sure you do, too.  We also live in an age where we have information and communication constantly at our fingertips.  Don't get me wrong - I think there is a lot of great things about technology.  But I think it can also make us disconnect as we become engrossed in what we falsely think of as "connecting."  Meanwhile we've tuned out to the people physically present with us.

I've been challenged to really try to slow my mind down and be present when I am with others.  You might recall that "Presence" was one of the words I selected to focus on this year.  One Sunday afternoon a few months ago, I had the chance to experience presence with my 2 year old in a way I had not before.

That day, on a whim, I asked Elaina if she wanted to help me make some muffins.  I have many fond memories of cooking and helping my mother and grandmother in the kitchen and she's getting old enough now to really be interested in "helping."  But it's hard to find the time and well, I don't like messes.  So this was a first.

For some reason, on this day, I didn't try to be efficient, or to rush her.  I slowed the pace down, and involved her in every step.  I explained each ingredient, and showed her how to measure and stir it in. 

Honestly, I expected her to lose interest after 10 or 15 minutes.  But she did not.  It took a whole hour and she was absolutely with me for every second of it.

It was all so new to her, and so ordinary to me - but I was struck by her wonder and excitement.  It was a gift to see her confidence and pride in herself as she did a step, and looked at me and said "I did it, Mommy!" 

It was an ordinary moment but it felt extraordinary.  I was so grateful that I was able to put aside my list of to do's and be with her in this activity.  As a friend shared in response to my story, it is a beautiful picture of how God probably views the joy in involving us in his work in the world.  He doesn't have to, and it's messy and takes a lot longer than if He did it himself, but so much more worth it in His eyes.

This experience made me more acutely aware of the times I spend "with" her - as in, we're in the same room.  But am I really "with" her - as in, at her level, in her world, seeing the ordinary as extraordinary as she does?   What am I missing when I can't slow down and be "as a child" for a few moments?

How about you?  Have you had a moment like this as a parent, teacher, friend or spouse?  Do you find it hard to tune out distractions and be engaged in the present moment?  I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Inspiration is everywhere

Where do you get your ideas?

People have often asked me this.  Like many who create arts and crafts, it is usually something ordinary that catches my eye.  When I worked in a hospital, I would often think about a colorful scrub pattern that I had noticed during the day and as I fell asleep that night, I'd think about how I'd use it in a card design.  (Really, I don't make this stuff up.)  More than once I've designed a card because of a dress or outfit in my daughter's closet - because, let's face it, baby and toddler girl clothes are stinkin' adorable and much more fun and colorful than my own!  A few weeks ago she wore this darling daisy dress (which was a hand-me-down, as most of her clothes are!) to church and it inspired me for a Mother's Day Card design.   Here is the result:

 

Other sources of inspiration for cards have been a colorful scarf, or a photograph of flowers.  And of course, much of the framed wall art I have created has been inspired by children's bedding or another decor item.  Home designers will often tell you to start with an item that you love, whether small or large, to choose color and design theme.  I'm in the process of updating my kitchen decor, and one of my sources of inspiration is this fun sunflower fabric I purchase on Etsy for curtains:

 

 

Kitchen plans are still unfolding, but I'll share pics when I have them! 

 

Inspiration can be found everywhere - next time you see a colorful piece of fabric, a magazine ad layout, or some other item that catches your eye - take note!  What is it about it that you love?  Can you incorporate this design appeal into your next project? 

 

Theresa Cifali shares some great places for color inspiration in this recent Bella Crafts Quarterly article.  Great ideas, here, Theresa!   I love the one about wrapping paper, will use that one soon, I am sure!

 

So - I'd love to hear, where do you get your ideas?  What kinds of things have inspired you?  Do you have a photo or post about it? Please share it below! 

Gratitude

Gratitude

It’s been on my mind, and on my heart. 

I chose it as one of my words for reflection in 2013.   Along with Simplicity and Presence, these are my attributes for attention and focus this year. 

Without knowing this, my dearest and oldest friend gave me the book One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp for Christmas.  Isn’t it great to have a friend who often knows what you are thinking, from miles away, without you saying it? 

 1: Perfect gift from your dearest friend

Ann writes about her journey in discovering more fully joy, and life, and the love God extends to us as she struggles to open her eyes and heart to embrace gratitude in her everyday, mundane, and often messy, painful life.  She’s a mom.  She’s real.  Her words are raw, are deep.  This is one of those books I can’t quite take in on first read.  Also – full disclosure, it’s not a warm and fuzzy, self-help book.  It’s about the struggle of life and surrendering to grace, and allowing Jesus to spill out between the cracks and holes of our lives.   She weaves throughout her story tidbits of the 1000 things she records to be grateful for.  I’m about halfway through, truly, so I cannot tell you if she exceeds this or starts over, but I'll keep you posted.

But it reminded me of a little notebook I had started once, in about 2001, someone had suggested this very thing.  So I started writing in it.  Not daily, no, definitely sporadically. 

I pull it out and from numbers 1-599 I see highlights of my first few years as a working professional, as a single woman, as a youth mentor, then…meeting my husband, falling in love.  And I see that it stops at #613….which seems sort of pathetic given that it spans about 5 years.  And it’s just about 13 items after #599 Elaina Grace Maners, who is my now 2-1/2 year old daughter. 

Ann writes early in the book about her first insight into this act of giving thanks.  She encounters in her Scripture study the Greek word “eucharisteo” which means “he gave thanks” from Luke 22:19 “And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them….”  And then….this is the part that grabbed me, I think you’ll see why:

“The root word of eucharisteo is charis, meaning ‘grace’.  Jesus took the bread and saw it as grace and gave thanks.  He took the bread and knew it to be gift and gave thanks….Eucharisteo, thanksgiving envelopes the Greek word for grace, charis.  But it also holds its derivative, the Greek word chara, meaning ‘joy’.” 

Yes.  YES.  The reason for the name I chose for this little business adventure I’m on.  The story behind it.  This is it.  And now, a deeper understanding of what the word, and the act means. 

You see, these things – Gratitude.  Thanksgiving. Joy.  I am from the bottom of my heart filled with thanksgiving for being thankful.  What’s that?  Yes, I am grateful for gratitude.  It may seem simplistic, or cliché, but let me explain:  

Without making this a story about depression or mental illness, let me just share a bit about dysthymia.   If you have not heard of it, dysthymia is a kind of chronic depression, with less severe or dramatic symptoms, although at times those with dysthymia may have an episode of major depression.  Because of its less dramatic manifestation, it can go on for years before being diagnosed.  In my case, probably 10?  Or more?  Beginning in about 2007 and culminating in the months after the birth of my daughter in 2010, however, my symptoms did progress to – a turning point.  Or breaking point.  Or truly, a split-open-fall-apart-and-let-Jesus-patch-you-up point.

The birth of my daughter brought me to a point of facing my depression diagnosis, and finding my way to the right treatment and care.   I owe much of that to coworkers who know how to recognize these symptoms, and could help connect me.  And that I responded well and without side effects to the first medication I tried.  

 2.      Help to get help
3.      Zoloft.  Oh, yes, thank God for Zoloft! 

Over the past 2 years I have been utterly amazed to remember what joy and gratitude feel like. I had forgotten.  And this joy is wrapped in respect and tender appreciation such as one might feel toward a tiny baby bird that needs to be protected and guarded and may  also slip away if not guarded carefully.  Knowing my diagnosis means also an understanding that it’s not gone just because I feel better.  I wonder, what then?  What happens if the cloud envelopes me again?  What happens if I pass this on to my daughter?   What if I stop responding to Zoloft?  What if we have another baby and I have post-partum again?  What if?....

But, then too, I am grateful for what I have now that I didn’t before:

4.      Relief and confidence and freedom brought by naming something

The simple act of labeling my diagnosis and understanding it is something I am deeply grateful for.   And helps me calm the questions and the fears. 

Anyway, this story is not really about that.   But it helps to open the window to all that “Charis” represents for me.

There’s more to this word Charis, “grace.”  My daughter – her middle name is Grace.  This is not a coincidence.  I know more fully how true that is. How becoming her mom and reaching a point of crying out and stumbling toward help -  that motherhood itself is  high on the list of  the greatest eucharisteos I have ever witnessed.

6. The beautiful mess of motherhood

When I think about it - twice now, really, that God has used a helpless infant to save me.  To rescue me from a miry pit.  As Elaina learned to pray over Christmas:

7. For the baby Jesus

So….

The launch of my business is one outward symbol of this transformation – to do, to make, to connect, to initiate, to reach out, to appreciate, to promote, to create, to network.  These things that I now do – I could not do them 3 years ago.  So this, this little adventure in creativeness and entrepreneurship, it means a lot.  It means SO MUCH.  It means everything. 

For those of you who might be reading this because you’re interested in my handmade business and you’re thinking “Whoa….wait, this is about JESUS?  I thought it was about papercrafting and making stuff!”  I want to say 2 things:

1. Don’t worry, I don’t plan to use this forum to preach or promote an agenda; this is probably a rare post that looks so deeply at my heart.
2. But yes, it is.  It is about Jesus.  I hope that you can appreciate that even if you don’t understand it, and that you’ll stick around to hear also about papercrafting and making stuff!

8 Gifts for 8 Cousins

In this post, I want to share photos of my favorite custom order project thus far.  A friend of mine, with a lot of nieces and nephews - 8 currently, with more on their way.  She requested custom framed wall art pieces to give each of them for Christmas gifts this year.

The reason this was one of my favorites is that  love to create wall art for kids and babies.  I can customize these based on pictures or details about the room decor, bedding, or ideas about their favorite things to do, favorite animals, hobbies, or favorite colors.  So, the variety in interests for the 8: 4 boys and 4 girls, was a nice challenge.  I also kept in mind that 2 pairs of the cousins are siblings and share a room, so while I wanted each piece to be unique and special for each child, I also wanted to coordinate those sets to match in some way.

So, here is what I came up with, with input from my friend, who consulted with her sisters/sister-in-law and also shared some photos of rooms and bedding with me:

These were for 2 brothers. They have a dog, named Deuce. We puzzled a little about the second one, but the boys also have a tree house. My friend asked "how about a monkey in a tree house?" And so....this is what I came up with.

 

This is for the other set of brothers, I worked from the interests and the picture of their bedding, below:

 

Now for the girls: 

This owl is for a baby, and I worked from a photo of her quilt, which features an owl, and the nursery, which is painted in hues of purple.

 

 

This one is for a young lady who is a little bit older, so I wanted something that she wouldn't grow out of too quickly. I kind of liked the white picket fence!

And for the other two lovely ladies: a lady bug and a bunny (with a mini lady bug!).

The lady bug was the first to be made, and we later decided to go with white frames for all, so it was switched out, but I don't have a photo of it in white.  

For each of these, the frame opening is 5 x 5 inches and it can be hung on the wall and also has an easel a table/shelf display.   I've also made this type of thing in a matted frame, which is especially nice for a wall display.  See photos of these in the Nursery Wall Art Gallery. 

Thanks to the whole family for helping me with the inspiration - hope all the kiddos enjoyed their gifts!  

Would you like a personalized decoration for your child's room?  Contact me - I would love to design something for you!