Rambles and Reminders.

Whoa. I was NOT expecting such a great reaction about the giveaway! Honestly, I almost erased that post after I posted it because I thought, "How embarrassing will it be if nobody likes my work comments?" I guess I don't have to worry about that. So, I'll have to plan on more giveaways in the future. Yeay - I am just so glad you all are excited about it! Also, since I am technologically lame, I will most likely be putting your names in an actual hat, and drawing one out old school style. Thanks for the suggestions!

In the meantime, if you are in southern California, don't forget about the Uganda Boutique happening this Friday! Check out the facebook link to see the cool things they will have (plus prices there too!). And, if you are not in So Cal but see something there that you like, they would be willing to work with you! I've totally already ordered something, and have a few more purchases in mind... All the proceeds go towards their trip to Uganda next year, so it's for a great cause!

I sent the ladies a package with my contributions on Monday, so hopefully they will recieve it today sometime. I sent these 2 paintings and a printed "gift certificate" for their silent auction. The certificate is for a custom painting. I think the way silent auctions work is that people bid on the item by writing down their name and price they want to pay, and then the item goes to the highest bidder after a certain amount of time... right? So each item can be sold for just one dollar, or a lot of dollars! Not sure if that's how this will work, but I just know I will be working on a custom piece sometime soon - sweet!

We decorated our Christmas tree last night and I am ready to go on the rest of the house! My favorite part of the house in December is our mantle... I get so excited about greenery and lights and candles...sigh. I hope I can get going on it today, because we leave for California in a little over two weeks and I really want to enjoy my home all decorated! Love this season! I also have a few Christmas-y and winter-y paintings in mind to work on... and new pages for my art journal, which I kinda of forgot about with last week's break. Whoops. 

Giveaway!

In the spirit of this new season, I'm feeling generous today... let's do a random giveaway! I've never done one, but I'd like to try. Since today is "officially" the Christmas holiday season, and I am changing everything over from fall to winter... Let's have one last look at a little fall fun! The goods: This little tree on a 6x8 canvas...

If you'd like it, leave a comment here and then I'll find some way to pick at random (anyone have ideas on how to do that fairly??). Winner will be announced sometime on Friday!


Hope you are having a fabulous day!

Heed.

Vintage Fabs

I hope you all had a fabulous turkey day yesterday. We had a great, low-key day with LOTS of yummy food (we're going to be eating leftovers for weeks), funny movies and lounging on the couch. 


Ok, so remember how I keep talking about vintage fabric and then keep forgetting to show you?? Well, the pics are finally here...

Here is the story: A couple months ago my grandma was cleaning out a bunch of stuff that belonged to my great-grandma, who used to collect dolls and hand sew dresses for them. Needless to say, there was a TON of amazing fabric left over in old boxes! My mom was going to keep a little bit and then send the rest to a friend, and I was like, "Mom! I want this! And this! Oh, and this too!" And that was that. Now, as you all know, I don't sew, but my dear friend Holly does and I think she is up for making me some pillow covers or something. Yessss. I am so excited. I can't get over how beautiful they all are...

Maybe a Christmas table runner out of this one?

Cute red and blue!!

LOVE the... pleats? folds? Whatever you call those...

This one is really silky. So fancy!

And the best part... the labels. 

Not sure what I will do with them, but I looove them.

Have a fantastic day! We're thinking about going to the Christmas tree lighting ceremony in downtown Seattle - might be fun!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth! 

Serve the Lord with gladness!

Come into his presence with singing!

Know that the Lord, he is God! 

It is he who make us, and we are his;

we are his people and the sheep of his pasture.

Enter his gates with thanksgiving,

and his courts with praise!

Give thanks to him; bless his name!

For the LORD IS GOOD;

his steadfast love endures forever,

and his faithfulness to all generations.

Psalm 100

I'm still in my pj's and Daniel is still asleep. I'm reading all these blogs and Facebook updates about what people are thankful for, and it reminds me of everything I have to be thankful for. I am blessed beyond belief with an amazing husband, family and friends, a city I love living in, and a church that teaches about Jesus. But most of all, I am thankful for our gracious God who takes me back when I've ignored or avoided him for so long, and who gently reminds me of who I am (and WHOSE)! I'm so thankful for that, and humbled at the thought. 


I hope you all enjoy your days of rest and thankfulness. We are making the full on feast to share with my cousin Katie and our friend Josh. Since there are just 4 of us, we'll be eating turkey and stuffing for days... but Daniel loves that! What are your plans today?


Happy Thanksgiving everyone! 

Just for fun.

Elsie over at A Beautiful Mess just posted this... cupcake toppers! So funny and so fun! Not sure that I will use them for Thanksgiving, but maybe a different fun and funky project. We'll see... Click over to her blog to download if you'd like.

Safe.

This is the last "installment" of my options for page #2 in my art journal. I'm telling you, I had so much fun working on these. After class last week I was feeling this quite a bit, so I wrote it out on my pre-painted page, and then colored in the words with marker. I actually really like how it turned out and kinda want to hang it up... but if I keep hanging all my pages, I'll never actually bind a book together. Ha! We'll see I guess...

Today I am continuing to clean the house and settle in, set up for our low-key Thanksgiving, and get out of the house for a bit (groceries and a walk, please)... oh, and probably work on some art. Also, I haven't actually written in my journal in MONTHS so I might give that a go. I'll let you know how that works out. 

I am feeling very thankful for my life - I'm blessed beyond belief! Looking forward to making phone calls tomorrow to the people I love the most, and thanking them for their presence in my life. Have a great day!

Cozy and Warm.

How is is the EVERY week is a crazy week? We are fully moved into our kitchen (minus the official counters) and now are working on cleaning up the rest of the upstairs. Gosh, we have a lot of stuff! And a lot of DUST! I am in cleaning and organizing mode for sure...

Anyway, I started doodling this coffee mug at the Cafe last week (did I tell you they have different barista each day who serves lattes and mochas to everyone? SUCH a cool gesture to give a fancy coffee drink to those who normally would not treat themselves). I ended up bringing it home, finishing the lines, coloring it in and I love it! I'm not sure I want to bind it in my art journal, but we'll see. 

Have any of you started your journals? I want to see some pages! And to those of you who are new (Yeay! Thanks for following me!),  we are creating art journals of our own as I help facilitate an art journaling class at the Recovering Cafe here in Seattle. I'd love for you to join us!

I'm really looking forward to a relaxing Thanksgiving day with a couple friends - there will only be 3 or 4 of us, but I'm going to make the whole feast! Then we'll sit by the fire in our pj's, watch movies and play games. My kind of day! And I'm looking forward to a relaxing weekend too - We have a few fun plans in the works. 

Uganda Fundraiser

A few of my California friends and fellow blog pals are going on a trip to Uganda in April 2010! My nephew's mom and mother Grandma are attending and I'm really excited about this adventure for them! The trip is through a group called Unchanging Truth and they will be ministering to women and children there. To raise money, they are having a boutique! They are putting together some super cute crafts -- I'm already planning on buying a few things from them! 

Besides buying some of their cute crafty goodness, I'm donating a gift certificate for a personalized, commissioned piece for their silent auction. I am also donating a painting or two - TBD. The girls "have been working like crazy to create some unique Christmas gifts" that will help to begin to raise the funds needed for their Uganda mission trip in April. If you are in the Ventura area, go check it out! It's a great cause and is bound to get you some cuteness for your home. 

They will be selling handmade: bags, hats, rings, scarves, necklaces, wall hangings, stationary, headbands, hair pins etc...Here's a sneak peak of some of the super cute items:

Change of plans.

So, class at the Recovery Cafe on Thursday gave us a little realistic idea of what to expect... basically, people will come in and out, stay a while, leave and then come back... they might not show up for a couple weeks, or... they might. Most are really uncomfortable with the idea of a specific theme they have to follow each week, and they are even more uncomfortable with the idea of learning a new technique each week...


SO. All that to say, we're making the class more of just a safe place to create whatever comes to mind! We'll still encourage everyone to make a new page each week, so at some point we can put them together as books, but for now, we just want everyone to be comfortable expressing and experimenting with that materials. With that in mind, I think I'll still try to make a page (or two... or three) each week and just tell you my inspiration? Or, you all can make whatever you want and we'll just share as we go. 


I actually made 3 pages... here is the first! During the class, I just cut out pretty things and then put them together later. Not sure what I think about collage verses paint and ink, but it's new and different, so I enjoyed that!

Like I said in the last post, last week crazy! We are moved in to our almost finished kitchen -- that was a lot of work to get back in! It looks amazing and I am so excited. Somehow all my time got away from me and I spent a lot of the week playing catch up with errands, cleaning, etc. I didn't even have a page ready when I went to class on Thursday - I've really got to plan that out better. This weekend has been fairly relaxing, which is always helpful. 

Still have lots more to update you on - stay tuned!