another peek: hand cut natural moonstone. beautiful gleam. shimmers so nicely….

and a  very happy weekend to you!

{day 6 of august break}

i love the world of crystals and gemstones. slightly over three years ago, i began to study their scientific properties and folklore- and i am deeply intrigued by their elemental energies and chakra correspondences.

amethyst and malachite (pictured above) are two of my most favorite semi precious stones. there is not a day that i am not wearing one or the other in a piece of jewelery or simply strung on a a leather cord around my neck or ankle-  i am deeply drawn to their beautiful colors and benefits-they also look amazing against my dark skin.

stones and their magic  are the inspiration for my current project. i will be sharing more soon…

here’s a peek into my other project.  i stopped working on  sophia, the sunshine when i became pregnant last year and have just recently picked it up again……..

(more…)

thank you to milena of  von herz und hand  in switzerland! the angel, your beautiful piece of art, is home. we love it very much and have found the perfect place for it. von ganzen herzen, vielen dank.

…and my winged messengers arrived on thanksgiving day-  thank you, thank you  susanna! i am thrilled to take part in your wonderful  project!

i  have been daydreaming of the possible places they may land but until then, they are hanging above my desk, being admired.

currently i am working on my annual calendar gifts for the omas, opas, and papa. this is super easy, and such a treasured  gift by all who recieve it. i add captions, and try to correspond the months to certain holiday pictures or of people that have birthdays in that month photographed with our kids. it is a huge hit every year.

last christmas my friend claudia s. recieved a really nice christmas gift from her sister: a 2009 calendar with a weekend marked in each month to keep her kids overnight- so claudia and her husband tom had a year’s worth of scheduled in advance date nights each month.  i was so jealous! i wanted someone to give me one too! and i loved the idea so much, i wanted give it to someone too- it truly is one of the most thoughtful gifts from the heart.

this weekend i recieved an early christmas gift from my friend claudia w. , a  bookmark calendar from korsch verlag . i love it! the perfect gift for a bookworm! it is a booklet of bookmarks with beautiful african art for each month. 

i have already started using the january bookmark for the book i  started reading yesterday,  siri hustvedt’s  sorrows of an american.  it is hard to put down.

go ahead and delight someone, give a calendar this year.

limitless love by semhar

i have a girl crush on semhar. i love to watch her recite her poems. it is the fervor, the warmth, the agony, the devotion, the feeling…it is her passion, spirit, and dedication to her art. i just dig that. 

it is almost as delicious as tim siebles reading one of his pieces.  

tim is  a brilliant poet, current professor of creative writing at old dominion university, and happens to also be my former tenth grade english teacher. i remember when there would time left at the end of class, he would read one of his poems to us.  it was such a treat.  my three all time favorite are  big mouth ,  the ballad of sadie la babe, and trying for fire. 

got a girl crush?

for the art trade, a spill your drink artzperiment

perhaps it was streching it a bit but i kept seeing a bird in the spill after i dropped my  bag of sweet love

i am running out to the post office- a little birdie told me is finally on it’s way to lilie!

i am conducting an artzperiment for the occasion of an art trade which is going to lilie in france.

this all started last week when tinker was goofing off after she spilled her drink  and then decided to launch an art spill  challenge  an artzperiment because she had had so much fun. interesting, i thought and it was  just in time for the art trade which is currently going around the world. 

so i brewed some sweet love as i can only drink tea at this time and sat down to start my artzperiment. the only problem was, i could not figure out how to casually, and purposely knock over my cup of sweet love. i left everything at my work table all morning and afternoon until it occured to me that i could just pick up my bag of sweet love and drop it right smack in the middle of the canvas (i hope that counts for spilling).

so the fun begins.

thank you to jenny who was kind to include me in on all the art trade fun this week! this work of art will soon be on it’s way to lilie .

thank you too to my friends who are joining in on the fun (those who considered it too) i am looking forward to all the art that i will get back in return!

when i took a three month sabbatical from work almost nine years ago to travel around europe with my now life partner, one of my oldest and dearest friends presented me with a gift of ten cards in sealed envelopes. she told me not to open them all at once, i was to open them throughout the summer. some had special instructions written on them:

open for a laugh

open on the fourth of july

open when you miss me

some i was allowed to open anytime.

in one she wrote “…i miss you every single day, and i can’t wait to hear the stories and happenings of your adventure- we’ll for sure laugh long and loud until late in the night…”

filled with humor, and heart warming messages it is one of the most thoughtful gifts anyone has ever given to me-

and years later, instead of spring cleaning, i am stuck sitting in the middle of my office/studio reading each one smiling, and cracking up laughing to tears.

i treasure the memories of that summer,  of spreading out all the envelopes to decide which one to open,  and making sure i let so much time pass between opening the cards because i did not want them to end!

+  delight someone will be a new section on my blog featuring thoughtful, fun, and charming gift ideas- some which i have    been fortunate enough to recieve    

+ we have had the strangest spring weather, abnormally cold and very wet- although the sun has made occasional appearances to which we immediately respond by going for a walk. speaking of outdoors, we are on our way to the alps  for a week of hiking and i hope the weather is good to us!

+next week when i return: garden art, love, and tips

have a good week!

surprise in the mail today- all the way from texas. i hope yaya who sent this beautiful gesture of love and her family are safe this evening

i have never lost anyone so close to me before and for so many days i did not know how to take my next breath or even live to see the next day. it is with the help of friends and family that we are having  bearable days. it is a relief but the relief itself comes still with a void in my very core and it’s okay if it never goes away.

i have been trying to find words to express how it feels to be surrounded with so much love. it is deeply touching to know that we are not alone. our neighbors, friends, family- everyone near and far is grieving with us, thinking of us, and praying for us.

i am grateful for every email, card, letter, and call we have recieved to comfort, every offer to just say what can be done to help us. i am grateful for my friends that take me along to walk their dogs in the evenings, out for ice-cream, coffee, brunch, and send emails to just let me know that they are thinking of me. i am grateful for the care package from sun’s kindergarten with handmade candles, precious stones, and drawings of her ascending into heaven- in one where she is covered in gold. i am grateful for her little friends who are a constant reminder of her and the ones who still come over and play with the moon just like she played with him everyday. i am ever so grateful for the moon who makes us laugh until we cry at unexpected moments.

and i am truly grateful for all our friends and family- thank you, thank you for the outpour of support that has carried us through this tragedy, our difficult time.

her golden spirit has gently made us understand

that even a happy life cannot be without a measure of darkness that the word “happiness” would lose it’s meaning if it were not balanced by sadness

and bestowed a precious gift - gift of knowledge that love grows , it grows to expand your soul, love grows

created especially for the sun- our sweet daughter- visit the rest of the polar festival attendees here or here- have fun!

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i’ll be back in spring

i will be away with access to email- goodbye for the winter.