Heart Spilling-Link Party

Welcome to What's on My Work Desk Wednesday. 

I love showing you my space and all my projects!

This week I have kept busy....

"My work is giving space

to the creative spirit-

learning to get out of its way 

and be in its service at the same time." 

-Gabrielle Roth, Dancer and Healer

Working with all of my favorites...

butterflies

and

vintage ladies

paint

paper

words.

"Just don't give up trying to 

do what you really want to do. 

Where there is love and inspiration, 

I don't think you can go wrong."

  -Ella Fitzgerald, singer

Busy as a bee and making quite the mess.

"I think the creative process

is not about creating something else; 

it's about the process itself creating who I am."

  -Mayumi Oda, Artist and Writer

Remember a few posts back I told you I have been flexing my courage muscles?

I am.

And it's hard and scary 

and I'm trying not to be too cautious.

Not to be nervous and second guess my self and my abilities.

"Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage."  -Anais Nin, Writer

This October I am headed to Clarinda, Iowa for my very first show.

I have been signed up for months.

Planning and prepping and creating.

"To fear is one thing. 

To let fear grab you 

by the tail and swing you

around is another." 

-Katherine Paterson, Writer

This week it was official. My business cards finally arrived!

Soooo excited to share them with you along with where I purchased them later this week.

Even my teenagers think they are pretty sweet;)

Ya' know what's crazy...I have been so frightened to share this here with all of you.

I guess I thought if I put it out there...

it would be "real".

I would have to follow through with it.

But I am following through.

I have found my passion in life.

And I am so ready to see where this all takes me!

"Courage is the power to let go of the familiar."  -Mary Bryant

Day by Day I am letting go.

I am exploring.

My art is spilling out of my heart into my work.

"When you have a dream, 

you've got to

grab it and never let it go."

 -Carol Burnett, Actress and Comedienne 

I am linking up today with Studio JRU and Inspire Me Fridays!!

Click here to visit

Click here

BIG Give away!!!

This is my 397th post. Pretty cool-huh?
AND I have nearly 270 Followers.
I like it.:)

To celebrate this little milestone for me and to find more, amazing, inspiring and overall spectacular women to read my blog I am having a contest.

An absolutely, undeniably, AWESOME contest!!

You could win this....

or this...

or how about THIS??!

Pretty sweet, right?

Let's take a closer look at all this loveliness shall we?

To be clear there are THREE prizes total. 

Prize #1 would be pretty cool to take home. You get one handmade album from me, 3 bird stamps, the cutest felt pretties from KI Memories and a mini voice recorder to save your loved ones voice.
Neat, huh?

 

Prize #2 is a set of watercolor pencils and paintbrush with this Brand New 2012 Day Planner. Look at this!!

 

So much room to jot down your daily Art To- Do List:)

 

With beautiful illustrated birds and motivating quotes for each month. These would be perfect to use on your latest collage when the year is over.

Then there is this ginormous and beautiful Prize #3...Oh my goodness!!

 

It is chock full of brand new bird chipboard stickers

 

and collage papers and a Watercolor Drawing Set and ribbon

 

and old, early 1900's post cards and butterflies and brand new stamps

 

and flowers and a paint brush

 

and 7Gypsies tags and more birds

and more stamps...

 

It's pretty amazing, don't you think?

How can YOU win?

Here's what you do....

1. Leave a comment on this post for 1 entry.

2. Follow me and let me know for 1 entry. {if you don't already}

3. Follow me on Twitter and let me know for 1 entry.

4. Follow me on Facebook and let me know for 1 entry.

5. Tweet about this, post  on FB and/or post a link on your blog for TWO entries!! {let me know!}

I will keep taking entries till Monday August 22nd and draw 3 winners on Tuesday August 23rd.

I hope you are excited as I am about this AMAZING GIVE AWAY!!

A New Season

My dreams are expanding. 
I find myself writing in my journal every night.
Mapping our this life I truly want.

I mean, right now...
right this very second I have the life I want.
I do.

But I also want more.
More love.
More light.
More creativity.
More time spent doing what I know I'm meant to do.

I am planning
and preparing
and writing everything down.

Today I popped over to my friend Jodi's blog.
Love how her heart works.
How she puts everything into her posts just the right way.

She reminded me of one of my very favorite Bible verses in Ecclesiastes chapter 3.

I found this here

 To everything there is a season.

A time to be born
A time to die
A time to plant
A time to harvest
A time to rebuild
A time to cry
A time to laugh
A time to find
A time to lose
A time to be quiet
A time to speak up

I am entering a New Season in my life.

I am finding.
I am planting.
I am building.
I am speaking up.



 I have reached nearly 400 posts and I'm getting closer to 300 Followers. 



I am so grateful for my little place on the Web and I love that so many of you take time to stop by and visit.

Be sure and stop by Monday for a BIG give away to celebrate!!

This is American Idol

We bought our tickets May 22nd at approx. 10:01 AM.

Row 29 Floor.

We were thrilled.

Tuesday August 2nd at approx. 2:45 PM.

We left Maryville for Kansas City.

We can't believe it's finally the day!

We decided to make a night of it.
Zona Rosa for tacos and good conversation.

Yes, my boy ate all thas!

At approx. 5:35 we left the restaurant for downtown KC.
The concert was less than 2 hours away.
We were all so anxious to see Scotty and Lauren and Casey and James.

Our excitement was building.
We ate snow cones to calm us down.

At last the lights dimmed, Ryan Seacrest came on the bid screen and the American Idol theme music came on.

THIS is American Idol!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The crowd roared.

And these girls came on stage.

Thia, Lauren, Naima and Hayley.

What a thrill to see the Idols at last!

My daughter Em loved Stefano.

He sung his heart out.

We all agreed he had come a long way since Idol. 

Wow.

What a nice surprise when two of our favorites popped on stage, out of the blue.

Casey and James.

Those two can SING now!

And each one of them was so personable with the audience.

They love life and we could tell.

 

The ladies seemed to sing more than the guys.

That's Thia, Lauren and Pia.

Speaking of Lauren.

She is a darling.

Oh my goodness.

What a cute girl!

Sassy and Spunky.

Beautiful!

We loved the stage. Everything was so BIG and COLORFUL.

Before we knew it the first half was over. 

It was time for intermission.

We still hadn't seen Scotty yet...

When he finally arrived on stage the crowd jumped out of their seats, arms up and screamed "Scotty, Scotty."

He sang "I Love You This Big".
Loved it.

The moment I saw him at Idol try-outs I said..."That's the winner." 
I just always have adored Scotty.
He talked to us quite a bit and thanked David Cook's family for a wonderful KC BBQ at their home.
David Cook was the American Idol a few season's back and is from Kansas City.

Emma and I waited all night to hear Scotty and Lauren sing.
They were awesome!!!
I am pretty sure they have a thing going on;)
CUTE!

Hayley {she came in third} was so funky and silly.
Just loved her, too.
And her voice was incredible.

Before we knew our time with the Idols was over.
But what a wonderful time it was.
I snapped this photo outside the Sprint Center as we walked back to our car.

I can't think of a better time.
Awesome concert.
Delicious food.
Time spent with family.
Perfect.

What's on My Work Desk Inspiration

Happy Wednesday!!! What a fabulous, beautiful day! 

I am so very grateful to be able to do what I do...write, create, be a Mom, a Wife...be me:)

Lots of photos and projects going on in life.

I have a secret I've been keeping...

and I'm not ready to tell just quite yet.

I will show you a few projects I'm working on though {and my desk from this week}.

These past few months I've really been flexing my courage muscles.

Searching, pondering, scribbling, drawing, practicing, painting, reading.

 

Trying to find out who I really am when it comes to the ART I create.

 

I don't want to be an imitation of someone else.

 

I want MY Light to shine through in every piece I create.

And it's happening. The more I create. The more my Light Shines.

The more creative I become. The more I see what it is I want to share with the world. 

I smile.

I sing.

I'm in a flow with brush and scissors in hand.

Some days it's effortless as the art just comes out. 

Last week Em and I headed to Mom's for a full afternoon of ART. This was my desk where I created 9 backgrounds.

We were giggling and chatting and creating. 

It was heaven.

This is where Em and Mom worked.

At the sewing machine.

If you have the chance to spend time

with your loved ones creating...it's some of the best memories you'll ever make.

An unforgettable day. 

With my favorite people on the planet.

Sweet.

Speaking of Sweet...

I just have to share 2 more photos with you then 

I'm off to check out the many desks over at Stamping Ground...

PROMISE!

So last night...

We got all gussied up and went OUT! 

Don't we look good;) 

And speaking of looking good...don't they look good?

Yes, I took this photo. Pretty sweet, right?

The Idols were awesome.

I will share more in tomorrow's post.

Enjoy your day, girls.

Happy WOYWW

We're off to see....

So I've said it before...my family and I weren't able to go on our vacation this summer as planned. It's okay, really. We have gotten so much done around here and have been enjoying our home, family game time and watching lots of movies.

But tonight...

Tonight we are going away...

for just a little while...

Been waiting all summer long.....

We're leaving at 2 this afternoon for Kansas City. Going to enjoy an early dinner in Kansas City then on to see the American Idols Live!

Soooo excited!

This is our 5th Idols Concert.

They are always so fun...lots of families and screaming little girls.

Can't wait:)

"A Woman's Mission"

Tis thine to curb the passion's maddening away, 

And wipe the mourner's bitter tear away; 

Tis thinke to soothe, 

when hope itself has fled, 

And cheer with angel smile the  sufferer's bed; 

To give to earth its charm, to life its zest, 

One only task-to bless, and to be blest.

-Graham

What's the BEST concert you've ever been to?

What a Find & 31 Days

Several things to share....

*Last week I went to several yard sales only to come up empty handed UNTIL the very last one. 

JACKPOT!

I found 100's of vintage images and The Best of the Old Farmer's Almanac all for...

are you ready for this?

95 CENTS!!

Yes, you read that right.

100's of the coolest vintage images from the 20's through the 50's all for only 95 CENTS!

Wow.

Made my day.

The Almanac is just so darn cool...chock full of interesting, witty and inspiring words. Be on the look for it's contents sprinkled throughout my blog in the coming months. Too fun!

*It's August 1st...and if you've been with me since last year then you probably remember my 31 Days Creative Challenge. We had one in August and then last March. No, we aren't doing one this month {i have something else coming up later in the fall} I thought it would be fun to post random ideas from both Challenges for the next 31 days. Be sure and follow me on Twitter and/or my Facebook Fan page for daily inspiration.

"It is not necessary to indulge

and spoil children

in order to make them happy.

Indeed, that is one of the

 surest ways of

making them miserable for life." 

Farmer's Almanac 1881