Some Inspiration...

There are two words that have always meant something a little extra to me.  Extraordinary is one of them and Pandamonium is the other.  (I'll let you know more about the second one soon.)

Now this one is more in line with my world view.  I have a necklace with this quote from Ghandi on it, I wear it any time I begin to questions what I do or why. 

I plan on posting again, something a little more in-depth, soon. Sorry this one is a little content light.

Gettin' Crafty

For the past few years I have endeavored to create original homemade Christmas gifts.  I have done so with varying degrees of success but this year I found that my gifts went over quite well, which makes me quite happy.  So I thought I would share a few pictures!

I started by locating pictures of letters.  I found ones from nature, ones that were more architectural, and some that were letters isolated from signs.  I was able to locate nearly three whole alphabets.  Then I used photo editing software to put them together to form the words.  The tricky part was getting them printed out.  I found the frames on clearance sale at Michael's and therefore needed a certain size.  After research and experimentation I ended up printing them on Snapfish, using the collage option.   After everything the total came to less than $20.00 per picture. 


This is the one I made for Bear's sister.  I guess you can tell what she does for a living.  The quote says "Education Is Not the Filling of a Pail, But the Lighting of a Fire" from William Butler Yates.    She called me shortly after she opened it and told me she really liked it.  Given that she is not generally one to sugar coat thing I feel like I did a good job!

 This is the one I made for my mother.  It says SHALOM and the caption below is a description of the aspects of Shalom.  It says Contentment, Completeness, Wellness, Well-Being, Harmony, Health, Complete Peace, Wellness, Safety, Selflessness, Tranquility, Prosperity, Perfection, Fullness, Rest, Harmony.  I believe that it is her goal, her hope to achieve shalom in her life and I wanted to give her a reminder.  She loved it and immediately started figuring out the place it would best remind her! 



This is the one I made for the Bear's brother's wife.  The quote says "The love in our family flows strong and deep, leaving us memories to treasure and keep."  I don't who wrote it, I found it in a magazine and it was so cute I felt it would be a good match for her.  I didn't get to see her open it but I hope it went over better than some past presents I have made for her.  

This is the that I made for Mama Bear.  Bear grew up in one of the historic peace churches and Mama Bear fully believes in the doctrine of peace.  Hers was one of the first words I knew I would use.  I used a gold/light brown backing for her pictures so that it would match many rooms in her home.  The quote is Romans 12:18, If it is possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.  I was actually at one of my parent's churches when they were preaching on this scripture.  I wrote it out for myself and when I knew I was using the word Peace I also knew I was going to use this scripture.  Mama Bear called me three times during the week she ogt her gift to let me know how much she liked it... I was so happy to have created something that resonated so well with her.  


This one I made for the best man in my wedding and his lovely SO (significant other).  I feel like you can probably make this one out, but in case you can't it says Dream and give yourself permission to envision a you that you choose to be - Joy Page.  I again wasn't there when this got opened given that it had lottery tickets and a starbucks gift card taped to the back I'm guessing that the overall affect was positive!



Well, that's what I made.  A little bit of creativity, a lot of time and patience. Overall, great outcomes and really nice to get my creativity flowing again.  Sicne I finished these I have also been able to make a couple crochet scarves a hat, and a few other small things.  My next project... I think...  will be a scrapbook of my Halloween parties.  I loaded all the pictures from the past four years onto the computer this week so that a good first step.  :)  

Ch... Ch... Ch... Changes

Here's the thing.  I have been through a lot of change in the past two years. I went through a period where my job changed every few months, the last of that series of changes left me working 70 minutes from home with all new people in a program I had no experience with.  The other big change in there was that I went from a program with no real budget to one that was driven by timelines based on billing.  There was a constant feel of being behind and when I asked for support instead of giving me help I was told that  my responsibilities were doable and they kept adding more and more for me to do.  It was horrible, and as I tried to keep up I found myself struggling with something else... depression.  So I did some therapy, I started taking some meds, I wanted to get better.   Months went by and I came to the realization that in order to "get better" I would need more change.  I started by asking my current employer for relief, I was told no, and so I decided to get a new job.  This now bring us to the last two months.  I want to let you all know that for the first time in years I am beginning to feel better.  The day to day stuff like dishes, cooking, and all that are starting to feel less like overwhelming burdens that cannot be overcome and more like mundane but easy tasks.  I am sharing this because it is the real reason behind the SPICES quest.  So... I am making the changes for myself this time.  Taking control of the things that I can control and letting the things I can't control go... it is a journey that I imagine will take a while.  But I'm hopeful that I am on the correct path.