5 things

Another busy week.

Here's 5 things that made me happy...

1. Going in to work early for some overtime let me see some amazing sunrises!

2. Going for rides with my son, I got to see some wonderful animals.... Deer, a bear just outside of town about 30 yards from a woman having a yard sale who never even knew it was there, bunnies, Hawks, cardinals, and this 

heron.....

3. Harvesting all this from my garden! My daughter is juicing 3 times a day while she quits smoking and will probably juice this all up in no time. She's made it over a week now so I am proud of her!

4. Searching through fabric for a new project. (I know... The voice in my head says "another new project! You haven't finished the last projects yet!") but I am shushing it because it is fun to plan, and technically it is not a NEW project if it has been rattling around I my head for over a year.

5. Playing in my sketchbook just for fun. I had no plans to do anything with this piece, I just wanted to practice more monsters, like I have posted the last few Sunday's to "Sunday sketches", but This time I wanted to start with random water colors instead of with a sketch, to see if that would change them up a bit and trigger some new ideas....

5 random things

1. I have added so much to my charm quilt pinterest board that I needed to make another one... called english paper piecing. They are my most popular boards. One thing from it I would love to try is making this fabric scrap twine....

Or to make these with scrap fabric instead of scrap paper...

Or buy this book... 

2. I have put no effort into my cafe press shop in over a year but I have had one thing continue to sell regularly....

This peacock mandala on wall clocks, throw blankets and magnets.  

I really don't make much per sale but it is really great knowing people out there in the world have a clock with an image I painted!

3. Another thing that seems to sell with no help from me anymore is the 8x8 swatch of fabric for the Bee Queen doll on my spoonflower account....

I love thinking a little girl (or adult) has a little Bee Queen doll on her shelf or in her pocket!

I keep telling myself to get the picture book done. 

Technically the art is done and it has been all completed in book form on blurb except for the last page. All I have to do is add the artwork to the page and finish the back book cover and click "done". It has been 3-4 months since I finished the art work yet I cannot get myself to click done. What am I waiting for? why am I procrastinating?

Am I afraid of failure once it is out there?
sometimes i think I should redo the art as it's not quite right...

I just don't know.

Maybe saying this "out loud" on here will force me to get with it and finish it.....

we shall see!?!

4. I have been painting daily again!
But i don't have them photographed to show yet, except this little guy...
My latest addition to my etsy shop is here.

I painted this little owl named Worsted a year ago and kept him in the box with the other painted stones but I never photographed him or listed him. He's been biding his time in the dark but now he needs to go out into the world. Maybe he was just a slow learner or maybe he had failure to launch but I think he is finally ready now. 

5. The winter here in the Fingerlakes region of NY has been very mild but we did get a storm recently.
The roads were really bad but it was beautiful.
My photos don't do it justice at all. The best parts of the road are too dangerous to stop for a photograph because there's no place to pull over on the side. These were taken a day after the storm and bad roads...
It was like driving through a glass forest with bright sun shining through it. and then snow on top of that!
so pretty....

how to be happy

The first and most important thing

is to be thankful for the little things you have,

find the joy all around you,

the small magic,

the tiny discoveries that make life extraordinary,

and

appreciate that there is beauty everywhere.

 

One of the things I was thankful for lately was an afternoon to myself.

I had a dentist appointment, 

which I am irrationally afraid of.

And my tooth hurt so i decided not to go back to work, 

but stopped at a new body of water I had recently discovered to drink my banana flavored milkshake. 

I couldn't eat lunch, but i could drink.

I have always lived in this area 

but i had never even heard of this small lake, 

a series of small lakes it turns out.

I had sort of stumbled upon it a few weeks ago while looking for somewhere else.

And it is close enough to get to on my lunch hour.

 I just love it when i find a new spot to go to that has water. 

It soothes.

party trees

Don't you just love these trees? 

They look like they are planning for a party!

Cemetary Inspiration

 I love cemetaries

not just in october...

always.

They are quiet, peaceful, still...

The best way to get away into nature, almost alone while still being in town.

I love the patterns on the worn stone,

I love imagining the lives lived,

and feeling sad for the lives lost too young...