Theme Thursday

Here is my entry for this weeks Theme Thursday.
"The Key"

Alice bookmark

Here is my "inchie" entry for
Small World of Inchies and Twinchies".
This weeks theme is Alice in Wonderland.
I decided to use the inchies to make a

bookmark. The picture is a little blurry.

Swap Joy

This is an affirmation ATC, the words behind are very loving and supportive of relationships. I have two wonderful sisters, and this ATC is about my younger sister.


I am relatively new to blogworld and swapworld. I began earlier this spring. I didn't even know what a blog was in February! Now I know that and more, like how to make an avatar, how to create your own signature, how to post photos, I have even learned how to edit in Photoshop! All this new information and more has really broadened my life experience! It has even whet my appetite to keep learn and go further.... oh, I have some fun things planned...

One of the things I am really enjoying and am so thankful for is SWAPS! I have met many wonderful artist because of swaps. Another benefit I value is that I try things I would have never done, I really love that part! I sometimes wish I hadn't signed up for so many at a time!!! But, I haven't done a swap I regretted, and learning to meet deadlines hasn't hurt me a bit. In fact, it has given me more confidence in myself. Wooohooo!

Here are images of two recent swaps....one is a fashion cuff I did for Marie Antoinette Mail Art. The other is a ATC for the monthly lottery over at Paperwhimsy. Both of these forums are filled with magnificent people who love crafting beautiful things, and the forums give them plenty of inspiration to do so!

So thank you MAMA and Paperwhimsy and all the other swaps I have participated in! Thank you lovely artists who have swapped with me!


I was trying to take a photo of the cuff and my two little ones decided it was a photo op! They insisted on being in the picture. So here they are....Betsy and Emma, two good eggs!

New Paths

This is a gate that I passed while walking a beautiful trail towards Beatrix Potter's Hilltop Farm in the Lake District of England. I had never seen such pastoral beauty before this. The path meandered across farms, past sheep, under gnarled old trees resting next to equally old stone fences. Every now and then I would pass a little stream of such tranquility that I would stop and rest with it. I remember there were huge cotton ball clouds drifting high up in the sky. It was such a breathtaking day! I felt so alive and excited about the discoveries of life!

This is how I want the next phase of my life to be, like this path felt to me on that day two years ago....and this gate represents the new path I am about to enter after many years of joyous full time mothering. My two youngest have left for university and I find myself here in my house, a very quiet house, pausing and feeling the change. Pausing is good, I want to feel this and then feel the shift as I move on. My intention is to see beauty everywhere, everyday. I don't have to be in England or anywhere else, I might be in my kitchen....and I will experience the beauty in the moment. I also want to feel the excitement of living a creative life! To feel fully alive and expansive.

So this is it....this is now and I am about to turn my creative energy towards my own life. I have to say it is exciting. Who knows what I will do next....I have some creative ideas....I have some pretty big plans....it's time to open the gate...

HOME

This is my twinchie for this weeks theme of "home" over at Small World of Inchies and Twinchies. The old saying "home is where your heart is" is absolutely true for me. When I am connected to my heart I feel positive, loving, safe, generous and creative. So my true home is in my heart.

Vintage Buttons

I have a little candy dish I picked up a an antique store in Selma, N.C. It has such a lovely shape and I wanted to put something special in it. Then one day I came home with some buttons that were so pretty I knew they needed to be displayed in a beautiful way, the candy dish was just right. Here is a close up of some of those buttons. They are so pretty to look at!