Shame and fear

You have heard me talk about the Soul Restoration class. The lesson this week is about reconciling the two entities within us-strength and weakness. Stumbled across this talk by Brene Brown in the forums. NO don't go watch it now, finish reading...(did you know I'm kinda bossy?) It is full of amazing truths but the things I am focusing on are to:
1. Let myself be SEEN
2. Love with my whole heart
3. Practice gratitude and lean into joy
4. Remember I AM ENOUGH-I even made myself a necklace with the statement on it awhile back.

I have to tell you that as I try to live a real, vulnerable life I have found it is infinitely easier than the one I was living. The shame filled, Satan ruled one just wasn't any fun. I am thankful for this class for getting me back on track and for each of you. My friends and family who have loved me just as I was and am. I am sorry I didn't see it before and live fully.

THIS is what joy looks like on me...a little photo from my birthday last year.

May you all have a great day and if you can-let's get together soon!
OH and you can go watch the video now!

Soul Restoration

I've been taking an online course from my favorite inspiration site-the Brave Girls Club. They send daily prompts to my email that remind me to keep moving forward. The class is called Soul Restoration and they promote healing through weekly video chats, journaling and art therapy. Oh and we use lots of Mod Podge!

Without going into details about what we cover, I will say that although we are only into the middle of the class...I have already noticed some changes in my attitude and outlook on life.

So here is some of what I've created...

my journal cover

my Truth book

my lifeline folder

and my Truth cards...little pieces of art with words to encourage...

I hope you enjoyed looking at what I've been creating. They will be running the classes again and even have a second series of lessons coming up. Check out the site if you want more info or give me a call, I'd love to visit.

Friends and renters

I have a friend who had a really wonderful thing happen in her life and then a crushing blow. When Gary and I were visiting with her a few weeks back she mentioned needing to move. This was right after we were explaining that come the first of the year some things were going to be changing with regards to my dad...the man fell off a ladder again about a month back! One thing led to another and she has a new start. She moved into the daylight basement apartment at my dad's. You probably remember me talking about the space before in regards to Nick moving in there a few years back.

The rooms we didn't paint then had to be painted so Amy helped us out and we finished in just a couple days. We bought Behr's paint that they advertise as one coat because it has a primer in it. Nope took two and some places should be touched up with a third but I'm done with that! Her bedroom is now caramel color and the office is asparagus. We set up the room Nick used as a bedroom as a guest suite...it just doesn't have a bath.

Dad's house was built around the 70's and had room intercoms-which don't really work anymore but are UGLY. So I got some canvases and painted them up with inspirational themes. She seems to like them a lot...oh and I made her a little welcome sign.

for the living room

for the bedroom

for the guest room

for the office

and a little something in the kitchen

I got all my inspiration from things I saw at etsy.com. Her family has made her promise not to move in the near future...something good for both of us!

An epiphany

EPIPHANY

a sudden, intuitive perception of or insight into the reality or essential meaning of something, usually initiated by some simple, homely, or commonplace occurrence or experience.

The biblical Epiphany fell this year on December 6. My epiphany came about on the next day...
You see, after all the decorating and baking and cooking and visiting and close to a month of just surface cleaning - my house felt like a pit. Well I don't actually know what my house felt like- but I felt like it was d.i.r.t.y. With all the stuff out on every surface I couldn't really dust,etc.

On Friday, after baking 8 dozen cupcakes for Magenta- these times 24...

and organizing my dad's birthday party I set up a plan. A plan to get the rest of the Christmas stuff organized and stored away for another year. To clean and scrub and put up the everyday decor again. As of about 7 pm that is DONE.

Then I looked at the back room closet that has had stuff shoved into it over the last few months. Not enough shelves have led to disaster. So off to Costco we went for a shelving unit and boxes.
I'll take before and afters tomorrow of the project. It will be so good to get that accomplished.

The online class I signed up for with Brave Girls Club begins tomorrow so I'll probably have updates to share from that in the next few weeks. It's called "Soul restoration" and should be a great way to begin the new year!

My dear friend who is renting my dad's apartment will be moving in this weekend and I have a few treats up my sleeve for that to share too.

a Christmas present

A while before Christmas I was a Tuesday morning shopping and came across some solid color dish towels. I figured I could doll them up so I picked up 2 stacks of them. Along came December and I began trying to figure out what to do with them so I could give them to Amy and Gabriele. I looked on etsy.com and some other stores online. I popped into the Anthropology shop online and found some really cute towels for $18-24 each!!

So now I had some inspiration...so I checked my fabric stash. I found a fabric with images of sweets. I cut the images out and then stitched them onto the towels. Going around all the outside edges and also stitching in some of the details.
Then I thought about how owls have made a comeback (my granny collected owls in the '70's). So I took some coordinating prints, drew up a pattern, cut them out and stitched them together.

The rest just got bands of some cute fabrics and trims...I think they turned out really cute. Maybe I should make some up for myself!

They definately have the handmade look that Anthropology charges so much for!