winding down

hi friends - i hope that you had a wonderful christmas. mine was so nice, spent most of 2 days with the fam in brookings. lots of sitting and chatting. lots of eating. lots of dreaming. i can tell i got my love for home improvements from my mom, she likes to imagine new spaces, too. we have plans to rework a couple of HER rooms in the new year. something to look forward to.

as for me, i'll be in the basement for the next few days, painting and singing and dreaming. i love love love this week off. so much peace and rest.

thanks to all of you for faithfully visiting the back forty for over 6 years! at times, i've been at a loss for things to blog about, but really, this place is like an old friend. whenever i revisit the past here, i'm reminded that i want to keep it going.

happy day after! hope you are having peace and rest, wherever you may be today.

looks like we made it!

schwew. made it to friday. this week was so nice, i almost am sad it is friday already! people do really become softer on the week before christmas, i think. me included. i think it's because we have Jesus on our minds. very excited for the things He is speaking into me lately.


i also have my craft room on my mind. here are some thoughts:

I ordered two of these from amazon last night. now, I'm looking for some bins/baskets to put on some of the shelves....I kind of wanted cabinets with doors, but these are more budget-friendly, and will work.

I also want to get some kind of curved track light (ahem, Anne). It's a dimly lit space, and I have lots of lamps, but I think this would help.

I've been thinking about wallpaper. but it might be an orange accent wall instead.

You may remember this table from mabel's kitchen. i still have her, and she will become my sewing table.

this is completely 100% fantasy. sigh. but in my dreams i would have this.

Also fantasy. probably a little more realistic to find something like this, however.

so there you have it. all i want for christmas, and more! it feels so good to be making fern better. i think she will like this next step :)


happy friday!

craft.

sigh. thursday....always one of my favorite days. this time around, the end is in sight. i have a couple of client things to take care of today/tomorrow, but nothing pressing. just like the past couple of years, i plan to take the next week off, coming back to work on january 2nd.

i see myself leisurely enjoying the week, but don't want to ipad/nap/pinterest it away. so yesterday, i started looking around the internet, and decided it was time to create a craft room in my basement.

my basement looks bad.

i guess that is part of the thrill of it. I won't be able to do much with the linoleum flooring, but otherwise I should be able to clean up/clear out and paint....to make room for some bookcases of some kind of hold all of my craft items, and a place to put my sewing maching. also need some better lighting.

i'm not sure how fun it will be to craft in the basement. i'm not really a basement fan, i love light too much. but in all of my years, i have NEVER had an organized space dedicated to crafting. thus, i have stuff that is completely MIA whenever i need it. it would be so nice to be organized.

i've learned that organization is a great peace-maker. the more that you know where things are, the more you can release them and not think about them anymore, until you need to. i know there are people who take this too far, and are obsessed with organization, but there is little danger that i will ever be one of those people.

i'm just happy to have a fun task in front of me for my days 'off' :)






happy thursday y'all!

lots.

it's like the world has changed so dramatically since the last post. on friday morning, i was playfully thinking about cookies and baking, and by friday afternoon, a rock moved into my heart and i was in mourning, along with what seems like the whole country.

i wish you all could have been at church on sunday to hear my pastor talk about living in the face of evil. i have heard this position from him before, but it is so much more powerful in light of REAL hurt and REAL evil.

i have not commented much amongst the myriad of viewpoints that have been around about the shootings. but a couple of things DID strike my heart almost immediately.

maybe we cannot control guns totally. maybe we cannot change the downward spiral of our country because of sin. maybe we cannot keep mental illness from being a leper that is mostly ignored or mocked.

but maybe.

maybe there is ONE person in each of our lives that we can encourage, or even just notice. maybe there is life to be breathed into SOME ONE person by our actions, instead of our inaction. maybe. maybe.

who is that one person for you? ask God. ask your God. ask the Lord your God. if he is not your God, ask Him to be. ask Him. ask Him. do not ask God why he did this, because he did not do this. He cannot do this kind of thing. not for our good. not for some good in the long far off away.

what he can do and does is allow each of us the free will to choose good. what we cannot do is choose good and consistently BE good without his power. please ask. please ask.


:) love you guys. hope you are having a good week.

taking its toll

Looks like it's shaping up to be a toll house kind of weekend over here again. Lord, help us all ;)

in moderation...

we're only 11 days into december, and already i have eaten my month's limit (possibly 2 or 3 months) of sweets.

yikes. even chocolate does not sound good right now.





but that picture above?

yeah. that has me drooling :)











ps. i finally got to bizness and turned OFF comment moderation (which was set to 'sometimes' - but not by me!!)

so go ahead and comment - pretty please ;)

whatcha doing?

hi all! I hope you are having a pleasant monday morning. brrr. just stepped the toes out the door, possibly glad i am not going anywhere for awhile.

but just look! beauty. full.

sun and snow mixed together. a pretty perfect combo....


life is good over here, lots going on. i am happy to say that i've been fairly busy up until now, and have a couple of new projects heading into the new year. once again, my business lives. isn't that seriously crazy? every time i think it's about to be over, somehow things come up. sigh. so glad for that.

i spent some time yesterday making those fleecey tie blanket things. it is actually kind of a fun activity. i'm making them to bless a family i know that is having a hard time financially this season. but i have to tell you, EVERY SINGLE PERSON in the world must also be making them, because the cutting line for fleece at the fabric store was INSANE. who knew? the inventor of fleecey tie blankets should be a millionaire!

:) but i bet she is not. i also bet she is a she...although i saw a couple of men buying fleece, too.

i have spent a ton of time staring at this vignette this season. it's funny how i am so drawn to sparkly things. i have seriously gotten the christmas decorating bug BADLY!

what is great is that i already had most of the stuff i decorated with. i'm just cramming it ALL up there this year, which i haven't done really before. i think i am set until february, when i usually take my christmas decorations down. ha.








i hope you all are having a great season - wishing you a happy, happy week!

treasures

so, late last summer, lou and I were driving back into town after a thrifting excursion.

we stopped at a thrift store on the edge of town that was having a parking lot sale.

i was kind of on a thrifting high, as i remember. whenever that happens, you pretty much love everything you see.

one of the things we saw was an old, old, broken children's christmas book. it was hardcover, and the front cover was actually separated from the rest of the book.

basically, it was junk.


but the cover was SO SO compelling.

especially to two girls who love christmas, who love vintage, and who love beautiful design.

i think we bought it for 50 cents. or less. not even a dollar, i know that.


here is the cover:

there are so many things that make it special. the coloring is soft and so well done. go ahead, zoom in to look! lou really likes how the reindeer go from full color to silhouette - genius idea! i like that santa is jolly and friendly and sweet. we both love the graphic design elements, especially the 'complete with whirly twirly toy - ready to assemble' notation!

lou was able to scan the cover, touch it up a bit, and output a copy for each of us to hang on our walls. i love mine soooooooooooo much.

today, when i realized i wanted to post about it, i googled it just to see if i could find anthing, and here is what i found:

A search for "the night before Christmas" on Amazon.com, brings up 3,500 matches. Artists' interpretations come in board books and coloring books, pop ups and heirlooms. The most expensive is a 1952 hardcover version "complete with a whirly twirly toy ready to assemble" for $850. Most affordable are a handful of paperbacks that can be had for a penny.

even though i did not see a photo of the description above, pretty sure THAT is our beautiful old book, now preserved for two silly art girls to enjoy every single christmas season.

sigh. and THAT makes me very very happy :)

happy Tuesday!

sigh.

my party was fun :)

now on to the business of the 'rest' of the season. which also involves parties, albeit OTHER peoples!

happy holiday week!