Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Relief for Baby Fever

Can I tell you that the last thing I need to add to my crazy life is another baby? I don't know why but for some reason, friends having babies makes me think I need one. NO, NO, NO. So, I have started doing all I know......knitting. I bought A LOT of Cotton Classic (only natural fibers will do) and I am making hats and booties. Hat number one is almost finished. It has a Dr. Seuss theme. I can't say who it is being made for just yet, but the theme may give it away. Here is some of the yarn that will be adorning the heads of my friends little angel's.
Here are the invitations, thank you's and gift cards I made for a friend. I was pleased with how they turned out. However, the invites came back with my logo upside down. Of course, the one with a time restraint is the one that is messed up. So, I did the best I could and took them to Kinko's and said I wanted them reproduced as close to the ones printed as possible. They wouldn't do it because of copyright. I guess it looked too professional. Are you kidding me? I finally had to go home, get my computer, take it up there, and prove that I had created the document and that the logo was mine. This stuff only happens to me. :)

Monday, February 23, 2009

The Amazing Faiths Project

I rarely talk explicitly about my faith on this blog. If you know me, you can probably tell that my faith is not absent....it is just not out in the way many from the Bible Belt share it with quotes, italics, and scripture verses. I don't really have a problem with this type of openness, but I have always been a little more discreet. My issue with this began when I skimmed through the 2007
Oklahoma Blog Awards last year. Nearly every blog was drowning in Religious Cliche. I couldn't decide if this is just what makes and Oklahoma Blog an Oklahoma Blog or if you could only receive a nomination if you wore your faith on your sleeve. Not to mention the views shared were all strangely similar. Last week I found the link to the 2008 Okie Blog Awards.....same thing....REALLY? I read a lot of blogs written by people across the country. Many, many of them are people of faith, but few of them fill their posts with scripture and personal testimony's the way they do in Oklahoma.

Let me digress a moment. Last week I went to an event hosted here in Oklahoma City called The Amazing Faiths Project. It was publicized to the community as an Interfaith Event to bring people of all faiths together to share their experience with faith. We walked in, filled out name tags, and received pieces of of paper.  The paper was color coded and represented our faith tradition.  The Rabbi talked about the sanctuary and a little about the Jewish tradition.  Then we had the opportunity to go into the next room and form small groups.  The idea was to get in groups with various faith tradition.  We set a date to meet for dinner and answer questions based on our personal experience with our faith.  I found this event to be eye opening. Although there were not a lot of people there, a fair number of faiths were represented.  This is something that does not happen very often here in Oklahoma.  What I found especially refreshing, was the openness everyone was with one another.  People seemed very open to deepen their faith by learning about the traditions of others.  

Here is where these two situations collide and it hit me.....I need this type of environment for MY faith to be strengthened.  I don't mean strengthened in the "now I feel closer to God or Jesus" kind of way.  More the "I have a clearer sense of God and the many facets of God's love, and compassion through history."  This is where a small piece of clarity came.  It is comfortable for me to share my life through the lens of my faith as long as it focuses on what is generally acceptable around here.  Unfortunately, this story is only part of my story.  I suppose you want me to tell you what I believe.  Well, I am not comfortable with that now.  I hope that eventually I will be at a point where I can be more open, but for now....if you want to know, lets do lunch.

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

FINALLY......Some Art

One of my "New Year's Resolutions" was to get on top of some organizing before I got back into the "studio". This is an easy escape for me, and I found some of my "chores" were being neglected. I planned on this taking about a week, but since I always underestimate the time things take and then I started two new mini-jobs.....I am just now at a good place.

I have really missed this time. So, yesterday I played with an idea I had of making a bird pillow. You all know I have an obsession with birds. I had been looking for a pattern, but never found one, so I made it up. It turned out okay. I am thinking about perfecting it a little and making it for a promised baby gift. The one I will make will be pink and brown with green stitching.

I also made a list of baby gifts I would like to make......really. I need 9, 3 boys, 3 girls, and 3 TBA.

Today I played with some oil pastels. Again, another bird. I really need to move on, but birds or so cute and they remind me of spring. I loved playing with the colors.....mixing and blending. I think I can improve my skills, but if not....it was a lot of fun. By the way....my favorite part of art is making a mess. Crazy....I know for my type A personality, but it doesn't seem creative without a mess.

I also did some creative shopping. I love vintage fabric....especially when I find it on sale for CHEAP. And, I decided to start a collection of vintage/antique spools and spindles. I found one for $6.00. LOVE IT!

I was also commissioned to do some birthday invitations, thank you's and gift tags for a friend. Lot's of fun.

Enjoy and more to come.

Friday, February 13, 2009

Inspi(RED)

I have been inspired by the girls I have come to know at Emerson School over the past few years. They are all going through so much and are working very hard to make a better life for themselves and their children. It has been an honor to get to know them. Thursday we had our annual Valentine's Day party for the girls. It was so much fun. I really enjoyed hearing about their lives and thinking about how different all of our experiences are as mothers.

We are also working on a knitting project. The girls each started a Traveling Scarf and we are all knitting on them. As we knit, we journal. We can journal about whatever, but it has to be true and give detail on something in our life while each particular scarf is in our possession. I can not wait to find out how it turns out.

Is it really just February?

Tuesday was a fairly nice day here in the metropolis of Oklahoma City. I got a lot done and just before I picked up the boys I ran out to pick up the "supplies" the oldest had asked for to make Valentine cards. I pulled onto the highway to head to their school and the Tornado Siren started to go off. Really? It is February. The radio starts telling people to get out of their cars....this is the last thing I am going to do. I have lived in Oklahoma all my life, and I still a little unnerving when you hear those words. Now that I have kids, it is really upsetting. I have no confidence that anyone but me can protect them from danger.....I know, this is why I am going gray. So, I make it to school, rush in, rush out, and we get home. It is not until I turn on the TV that I realize the storms are way north of me. So, we watch the weather and made our Valentine's. It was a great time. I even let them use glitter....by themselves. This is BIG for a Type A like me. They turned out great. The little one worked and worked on his first card. The older one plowed on through and made several. I kept trying to take the little one's card and get him started on another. This was to no avail. Finally, after four or five attempts he said, "here Mama." I guess he was finished. Precious.