~Creative Treasure~

These are the two pages I did in my art journal proclaiming my style statement ~Creative Treasure~ and defining each word. The first word is my foundation (the 80% that is your first nature and your roots) and my creative edge (the 20% that expresses your outer image and persona). Hope and I continue to inspire one another as journal buddies. Now that we have both come up with our style statement, we are examining it a little bit deeper. This is what the book as to say...."creative is a life-affirming explorer. Creatives will seek out originality-unique people and experiences, abstract thinking, and fantastical, whimsical notions...They feel most useful when they are inspired or inspiring others. They live to express themselves in their own way. Creative feels a deep sense of harmony and synchronicity with positive forces that keep life moving forward." Treasure is defined as "to keep or regard as precious, value highly. Valuable or precious possessions of any kind." Abundance, appreciate, cherish, discovery, find, preserve, relish. Treasure trove. Hidden treasure. Treasure the moment.
I then went on to create two more pages about what it means to me and how my statement fits into my daily life.

Why I love springtime...

Bluebell's form a carpet in our neighbors lawn. *Edit: Thanks for the correction, these are actually Scilla siberica, not bluebells. A tromp in the woods and we find clumps... ...then the motherload of blooming bloodroot.
Absolutely stunning!

Blossoms on trees all around.

The lovely magnolia just about to flower.

Ah yes, it's springtime!!!

May Baskets delivered...

May Day is fast approaching and today is the mail out date if you are participating in the May Baskset swap on my Year of Color blog. I wanted to share with you the packages that I mailed out to my three partners! On May Day I will share the goodies I received from them.

My first partner is Valarie, whom I met when I taught at Sweetpeas last March in LA. She was so kind to spend her birthday with us and here is my blog post from that day, including Valarie and I together:)

This vintage card container filled with springy vintage supplies went to sweet SugarJen. My goodness do I adore the amazing hand-dyed supplies she makes. Her etsy shop is like a candy store!

Finally, a basket with a little different palette went to Sandi The Victorian Gypsy. She said she liked darker tones and "anything vintage" so I went with a gypsy theme and showered her with vintage lace. Hope she likes it!

Happy Earth Day

Earth Day

I am the Earth

And the Earth is me.

Each blade of grass,

Each honey tree,

Each bit of mud,

And stick and stone

Is blood and muscle,

Skin and bone.

And just as I

Need every bit

Of me to make

My body fit,

So Earth needs

Grass and stone and tree

And things that grow here

Naturally.

That's why we

Celebrate this day.

That's why across

The world we say:

As long as life,

As dear,

as free,

I am the Earth

And the Earth is me.

Jane Yolen

Hello Sunshine...

I {heart} yellow!

If pressed, I may even say it's my favorite color. Definitely at this time of year. The forsythia and the daffodils are in full bloom.

Especially when it's paired with the most beautifully tender shade of pink.

Here are a few yellow pages from my art journal recently.

The big news is, I figured out my style statement..... (drumroll)

*~CREATIVE TREASURE~*

Very exciting! More on that soon. I know there are others of you working on this as well, please share when you find your statement.

Hope there's sunshine in your world today.

Gettin' crafty....

My mom and I went to a really fun and inspiring craft show this weekend in St. Paul put on by the American Craft Council. It was really fun to see so many different styles and mediums throughout the show. One of my favorites were these pieces (above and below) by Susan M. Hinkley, a wool artist. Here work is whimsical and fun and very detailed. She also has an enjoyable blog called Small Works in Wool.

Flinn Designs also had a bright whimsical style. She uses paper clay on canvas and builds up and etches away the scene she creates and then paints with acrylics on top. They were wonderful!

The woodwork and ceramics were spectacular, including artist Jan Bilek (above).
Other favorites were: Axiom glass
Nature's Creations
also OddestGoddess has some quirky little characters.

Danielle Desplan creates the most gorgeous mixed media collage on paper (above). They looked like old Italian paintings with the layers of depth and goldleafing on top. Stunning!

The American Craft Council is hosting a conference here in the twin cities in October called Creating a New Craft Culture. The goal of this conference is to investigate the inherent contradictions between craft as a lifestyle and craft as a business. These contradictions are not new to craft. For many, making is a meaningful way of life, but the question is—How can the core values of craft play a role in future marketplace models?

Sounds interesting!

One last hurrah...

Ok, you're all going to think all we do around here in the spring is throw parties, eat cake and wait for the flowers to bloom. Well, you only turn four once, so let's go for it!

We had one last party for Chloe today with her little girlfriends. She had one last cake, polka dot this time around. I was able to put out all my sweet decor one last time. Much fun was had by all!

Here's to a great fourth year, sweet Chloe! xoxox

Spring has sprung!!

We are thrilled to see the first tiny shoots of spring pop up out of the ground this week as temperatures flirt with 70 degrees.

We planted seeds renewing our hope for a new harvest.

The tiny flowers along with the sound of the spring peepers officially mark the end of winter. It's like a treasure hunt each day seeing what new growth is bursting forth.

Such a glorious time of the year!

Colorful fun....

Thanks so much for all the birthday wishes for Chloe yesterday. She had a great day! Spring has definitely sprung here in Minnesota. I have taken many photos of the flowers starting to pop up, but first I wanted to share with you a wonderfully colorful park I found near the kids school. It makes me think of a carnival with it's vibrant, fun colors. Who wouldn't want to play here?! We are thrilled that the snow has melted and we can go play at the park again! YAY:)
Oh yea....YES...I'm there!! Are you??

Happy Birthday Chloe!!!

My sweetie pie turns four years old today!I decorated with this adorable "girl with balloons" piece I recently bought from Caitlin over at Nice. Also the sweet as candy banner from Analise at Sugar*Sugar. Love this series of photos showing the true enjoyment of a birthday cake.

I love you Chloe!

Pssst....it's also Hope's birthday today. Be sure to hop on over to her blog and wish her a happy day!

Eggs galore...

Hope you're having a wonderful Easter weekend! Chloe and I decorated Easter eggs before having a celebration for her 4th birthday. More on that as her actual birthday approaches on the 14th of April.
Chloe enjoyed coloring the eggs and then adding some egg glitter for extra sparkle. She then had to admire her lovely work.
I received my eggs from Outrageous Afternoons egg garland swap. I actually hung them on a little Easter tree that I had. They were wonderfully fun. These are the eggs that I made for the swap. I received this adorable creation from Robin Sanchez. Christine Edwards made the gorgeous blinged up egg. This happy egg is from Jane Palmer. These last two didn't have the artists name on the back.Thanks to everyone, this swap was a lot of fun.

Happy Easter!