From Chaos Comes Happiness

Welcome! Welcome! Welcome! Oh, I'm so glad to be back . . . creating . . . sharing ideas . . . having fun! This weeks "Crafty Schmafty Fridays" idea is in honor of Earth Day , and something I am so very excited to be sharing with you.  Before we begin . . . a little background for you . . . For those of you who know my Ella, you probably know that she is rarely seen without some sort of pad of paper and pencil in her hands. This child has, since she first learned how to hold a crayon, been obsessed with doodling. We can't make it through a quick trip to Michaels or Target without stopping at the $1 section and picking up a little notebook for Miss Ella to use. And as the $1 section at Michaels is really now the $1.50 section . . . I wanted to come up with a little handmade goodie to substitute all those little $1's that have flown out of my wallet the past few years. I also wanted to try and use some materials in my home . . . with spending as little ...

Oh . . . love . . . . it's a wonderful thing, isn't it? To give it. To receive it. To spread it all over the world.   Welcome, dear friends, to     Here we are . . . gathering for our weekly festival of inspiration and fun. As always - I am thrilled to have you. And as always - I have a story to tell.   I don't know what it is . . . call me kooky . . . but I've been feeling the need to Spread LOVE  in the universe lately. Maybe it's all those darn episodes of "The Bible" that I've watched on the History Channel (ok . . . there is something wrong with the fact that I am calling the episodes of "THE BIBLE" 'darn episodes' , don't you think? Ah, please forgive! I digress.) Whatever it is, I decided it was time to spread   love out to our  teeny little neighborhood in the great big world .   Because my friends . . . it all starts right there. And if we want to change the world, we better start at ho...

Welcome dear loyal Crafty Schmafty Friends!!! Yes, yes, I skipped a week. I have no excuses - other than this thing called life that sometimes gets in the way of doing what I really want to do . . . and that is, of course, CREATING!!! So, please forgive me . . . and hold on tight . . . because this week we have a WONDERFUL project that is not only Crafty AND Schmafty, but LOADS OF FUN, too! Welcome to our 8TH INSTALLMENT of This weeks project comes directly from PINTEREST. Oh, I just ADORE Pinterest. Whenever I am feeling a void in the crafty department, I head over there for INSTANT inspiration, ideas and joy! If you aren't pinning . . . well, you should be. It really is the most user friendly way to catalog those online ideas, projects, products and things that make you happy. LOVE LOVE LOVE Pinterest. (Please note, I am not being reimbursed, in any way, for tooting my Pinterest horn. I just love it THAT much, that I have to share!) So, last week I wanted to do a projec...

  Greetings, dear Crafty Schmafty Friends! Today's Crafty Schamfty Friday post is a story of inspiration and art . . . and one that I can't wait to share with you. If you follow me on Facebook, you will have already seen this photo of a drawing Katie (my oldest daughter, 9 years of age) made for me last week. It was in her little sketch book that she handed to me when I put her to bed a few nights ago. "Mom," she said, "I have an idea for your next painting." My eyes filled with tears when she handed it to me  . . . because I realized, for the very first time, that she  gets it. I have always said that the art I make is truly a message to my daughters. I like to create inspiring pieces that will teach them to believe in themselves, to follow their dreams, to live their lives to the fullest, to live happy and joyful days. But sometimes, when I stop and think about it, I wonder if they really get it. This week, I saw with my own eyes that Katie ...

Oh, my friends!!! HAPPY . . . I'm so glad to have you here! This week, we're going to jump right into our crafty schmafty goodie, because I been a painting fool and am just dying to share my latest piece with you!  I thought it would be fun to take you through the process of my painting, in case you ever wondered . . . "How does she do that?" It's a pretty simple thing . . . so let's begin! When those creative juices start flowing and I feel like painting, I usually start by looking through a couple of my sketch books for inspiration - just to see if anything is moving me.    Next, I grab a canvas . . . and start with something. This week I took some swirly stencils I had and applied gesso to them, to build up some cool texture to the canvas before even starting with the paint. It's all about building the texture up. I am ALL ABOUT texture! I mod podged a couple pieces of a doilie to the canvas, too. I love how they look once pa...