I'm following in His way

Baptism.  

Today Miley has chosen to be baptized.  It's a big decision and I'm proud of her for how much time and thought went into it.  She wants to follow Jesus' example and be baptized.  I can't think of a better example to follow.

I am proud of the beautiful girl she is, inside and out.  Her kind heart amazes me.  She cares so much about everyone and everything.  I want to keep her wrapped up in my arms and away from the world, but then I remember that she has a purpose, a good work to be done in this life and I must let her go out and do it.  She is strong.  I may not be, so much right now.  ;)  I know she will do great things though, and that gives me strength.  

To my beautiful, silly, generous, creative, ambitious girl. . . all my love on this day and everyday hereafter.  For always.

Photos by the awesome: Brittany Stucki,  Framed Photography

uplifted

We are soon to celebrate Easter, and here are a couple articles I've read recently that have filled me up and a couple videos as well.  A much better read/watch than the news. . .

The Difference between Heaven and Hell

Bread or Stones

wordy some more

a little inspiration today from my pinterest quote board. . .

authenticity

. . . and a little unsolicited advice. . .

I am no genius. . . wait, ok it's true, but don't tell Dave I ever admitted this.  I do not have magical powers.  I cannot turn things into gold.

I thought I would show or explain how my process of creating stuff works. . . see the following quote;

That's right, I'm a thief. . . in a sense.  Even the ideas I believe I come up with are probably a culmination of things I've seen over time and smashed together in my brain to form something else.  It's just how it works.  My favorite painting is one of a red poppy hanging in my bedroom and it has a slight ring of O'Keefe, not that I am O'Keefe, just the subject matter speaks of her inspiration.

I devour all sorts of magazines, catalogs, ads, blogs, books, life.  I judge a book by it's cover.  All things lend to inspiration and make for interesting ideas.

The ideas I get I write down in a sketchbook.  I can't always trust the filing cabinet in my head.  I have lots of leftover ideas that will never come to fruition, either because I've moved past them or they are just ridiculous.  As some very wise men once said (or say everyday in a catchy little song) 'there are no bad ideas when you're brainstorming'.  Grrr, now it's stuck in my head.  Stupid kid shows.

Some ideas are only good for the entertainment they provide when I go back through and read them.  What was I thinking with that one?  Oh well.  Others I never remember putting in there are are excited to try it out or combine it with something else.  I also bookmark things on the internet that I find interesting. . . much faster than writing everything down, but these are just starting points, not my take on them.

I truly believe anyone can do this.  Here are some things that are inspiring me right now. . .  This store/website/catalog. . . Anthropologie.  Just look at the design of the inked flowers with patterns interspersed.  Love it.

I love how they display their jewelry in these ads.  Gave me an idea for a canvas piece.  Love the curly bed frame. . . the idea it gave me was to buy it.  ;)  Except I don't need a new bed, I know honey.  Love the little hanger on the towel, the ruffles on the shower curtain, all the white on white on off white.  So much inspiration so little time.

Check out my visualize page for more things I've bookmarked for some reason or another HERE.   You may not be able to tell what it was that I liked about the pages, but it might be fun to try and guess.

Another idea for a mini book I found on a blog:

This was a good idea. . . making a book of those little moments that changed or inspired your thinking, your life.  I love the idea, not so much the presentation of it however.  I really do appreciate the sentiment on the page above as well.  I will remember that.  Inspiration in more ways than one.

My advice:  sign up for catalogs, find freebies on the web, blog surf.  I may never buy another thing from anthropologie but I will look through every catalog I receive and every email they send.  Find things that resonate with you, but don't forget to look at things that may not be your style either.  Style stretches and grows.

And last of all, remember that anything you see me make here is just the stuff that I feel ok about posting.  There are many other projects that just don't make the shelf.  ;)  I have closets filled with attempts, paintings partly finished, colors that just didn't pan out, and more of 'what was I thinking'.  It's fun to try though!

This post was to burst your bubble (those of you who have given me more than my due of back pats, and for the rest of you it was just more nonsensical posting).  Now that I've put my Clark Kent glasses back on you are free to look around and steal any idea you like.  Take it and make it your own.  You can be sure I'm doing the same.

idea lifting

I found my next mini album project! Thank you Liz!

and isn't this the cutest camera bag you've ever seen? I think I'm in love. It's red, I'm smitten.
Just a couple of finds on the internet today. . . a project and a present for me. . . time on the internet totally paid off today.

It's hot

. . . so I'm indoors of course, and enjoying some time scouring decorating blogs/sites. I'm looking for ideas to nix my guest room in lieu of a play room. Anyway, I'd thought I'd share a couple fave sites of inspiration at the moment.

First, I found this site today and I am excited to use it. . . it's called Spoonflower! It's a site where you can design your own fabric and have it printed. How cool is that? I'm loving this idea.

Casasugar gave me a great idea to use the frame wallpaper I've been coveting from The Land of Nod. However, Dave won't let me do it until our next house. . . sad. Oh well, I don't really have a place to implement it now anyway.

Home workshop.com led me to the fabulous Spoonflower site, so they get a big thank you for that little bit of inspiration. They also had a site for making your own housewares, but I'm not sure I'm ready to take that one on.


Decor8 has lately been tormenting me with pics of beautiful white rooms. Oh, how I wish I could have them all. I'm not loving the off white walls encasing me at the moment. Well not at this exact moment, I'm loving the orange here! My love of white and those pics did help me to get an awesome white butterfly mobile for the new playroom though!





Speaking of butterflies, Royal Buffet, on etsy inspired me to make some butterflies out of paper for Miley's birthday and also for her room. Ummm yeah, I didn't buy anything, just stole the idea.



Design*Sponge is inspiring me to refinish some furniture, but I haven't convinced Dave that this is necessary for anything we actually own. Oh well again.



I love looking through the vi.sualize.us site. It's an awesome place where you can save all those pics you run across on the web that inspire you and then go back and look through them. You can even categorize them for easy location, and of course look through everyone else's finds. The problem I find with sites where people add pics is that you get a lot of smut. However, this site filters images with the help from it's users so they are blocked out unless you want to see them. Thank you vi.sualize.us!




A couple more. . . Creating Cupcakes has all sorts of ideas for DIY items and great taste in items that are not so much home made that I'd love to purchase. She makes her own vinyl wall art as well. Pretty cool.





And finally, I enjoy reading Ali Edwards blog. She's a scrapbooker for Creating Keepsakes. I love her style and have lifted many ideas from her. . . including some of her fab mini-albums.




Ok, that's enough inspiration for now. I really should vacuum. . . but crap, M's awake, now. I guess I'll have to put it off again, oh well.

Advertising inspiration

I love the website Designer Digitals! They take ads and website design and us them to inspire things for scrapbook layouts. Genius. I love getting their emails with their newest freebies.

Anyway, I am a person who looks at the ad design just as much as the actual content of the magazines. . . and then of course there are those catalogs that I devour as well. I'm always looking for good new design and when I find it I rip it out and keep it. Here are the latest finds and the latest projects resulting. . .I don't remember which mag I got this from. It looks like Crate and Barrel or West Elm to me. Either way, I love the layout and I'm using it (sort of) for a new look in my kitchen.
This one is complements of PBteen. I like the art on the desk. The colorful square motif will totally work in my guest bath, but I'm going to do it in a triptych.
And finally, this is from a West Elm ad. I've got a shelf for the nursery and this painted wall vase idea is going to girly up the room. Think flowers in a vase, basic outline, with the petals in the three colors of the room. So fun.

A delicious read. . .

While enjoying a bubble tea smoothie at The Orange Peel (by the way that place is delicious) a few weeks ago I made an amazing discovery in their magazine rack. A fabulous new magazine for me to hoard.

So I'm a bit of a magazine junkie, more specifically art/craft magazines. I have subscriptions to a fair few, but this one was different and when I got my very own issue of it in the mail today I couldn't have been happier. Creative Techniques!

This was the issue I found while enjoying a little piece of smoothie heaven. And I've got to admit, I judge a book by it's cover. . . literally I mean. Good cover art or illustration and I'll totally check it out. I wonder if Dave will allow me to disassemble our mighty mouse and decoupage and ink away the boring whiteness. Yeah, probably not, but it was a fun thought.

This was just the creative boost I needed to finish, or possibly start, many of my overdue projects. I'm sure Dave will appreciate that, even though it does mean more of a magazine stock pile. Yep, there's a pile, well more than one I guess. They are one of the only things I allow myself to hang on to. My dirty little clutter secret. Gasp! I know. This coming from the person who can throw away anything. My kryptonite, I guess.

This whole blog idea has been quite revealing. I don't know if I'll be able to face anyone now that they know so much about me. Freaky. Oh well. . .

~mindy