Be strong- eat for power!

"The act of healing will look different for each of us. There is no need to rush—nor a clear timetable for traveling through the unique terrain of each loss. Death of a loved one, a traumatic life event, or deep heartbreak are all wounds that have the potential never to leave us. The scars remain to remind us of what we’ve felt, whom we’ve loved, and how we’ve grown. They become part of the fabric of our lives.

I sew. A lot. The metaphors that surround needle and thread seep into my thoughts often. The British proverb “A stitch in time saves nine” is a favorite. The meaning is simple: sew up a little hole with one stitch now so that it doesn’t expand and turn into something greater that may need nine or more stitches. It’s a saying that refers to doing things well the first time and not putting something off until later. Healing well from the start is an unhurried and deliberate mending. The frayed and broken fibers of our stories can almost always be woven back together, but how we choose to repair and patch ourselves up determines quite a bit. A quick fix is sure to leave you weak for unraveling. This is true in the literal sense, such as stitching up a hole in a seam. Why wouldn’t it also be true for our souls?

I believe that taking supremely good care of yourself will strengthen every muscle— including your heart. You’ll be ready for that moment..."

This is an excerpt from Hope, Make Heal currently featured in Spirituality & Health.  Click here to read the entire article and how green smoothies were a life-saver, plus get the recipe for this favorite of mine.

launched

It's been said by many that the energy in the room was wonderful at the Hope Make Heal launch at Buffalo Street Books. It was a very receptive crowd, who not only were so supportive of me personally, but also were clearly happy to take a copy of the book home with them... either for their own use or for a friend. Here were my opening lines before I read excerpts from several of the chapters:

"Welcome and thank you for coming to celebrate with me today. My first book, Reinvention, was published at the beginning of 2012. It was not a time for celebrating. At the exact moment that it was coming off the press, I was reeling from the unexpected and very sudden loss of my 16 year marriage. The last four years have been a wild ride filled with hope that I would survive the pain, the making of a new life for my children and myself, and then the healing of the places that had been broken. That grieving and rebuilding process evolved along side this second book that I hold in my hands today. Hope, Make, Heal was published exactly 10 days ago and I couldn’t be happier and more ready to share it with all of you... to celebrate!"

I  introduced my dear friend Ellen Abrams (sadly not pictured here- send me pics if you have them friends), who contributed the meditations to each section. Ellen is a local therapist who also leads Mindfulness Meditation groups for people who have experienced trauma. I was attending it during the writing process of the book and knew it was an important component to include. She led a beautiful meditation and then there were paper feathers offered for writing intentions on. Templates for six of my feather prints are located in the back of the book for using in various projects!

Then it was on to signing... Buffalo sold out, but have let me know that more copies will be arriving this week.

RELEASED!

This week, three years ago I had done everything within my power to give my children a beautiful Christmas and my daughter a happy birthday. Although almost a year had already passed since their father had moved out without warning,  it was our first december on our own. The winter holidays have the potential to be a time of magic, as well as the tendency to illuminate loss and magnify grief.  I remember making it to this last week of the year and thinking- I'm almost there. I will survive this hellish year after all. I chose my word for the upcoming year: HOPE. Here is that post, like a little time capsule.

Thank goodness for my kids. They were the reason I made myself get out of bed every morning and that I was doing more than just making it... I was determined to to heal for them.

To learn everything I could about how to face darkness and come out on top. 

To thrive and help them to do the same. 

It was the hardest challenge of my life. Desolation was always at my side in the beginning, but I acted brave for them... until one day it was true.

By that Christmas in 2012, some good days were sprinkled in with the constant rough ones. I started seeing glimpses of the light at the end of the tunnel. And I began writing down my process. As a writer and an artist, there was an overwhelming need to document my return towards wholeness. I blogged and journaled the tools I was discovering (and most often creating) to guide me forward.

 My second book was emerging long before I was ready to actually write it. But it was the book I was wishing someone could place in my hands at that very moment. So I began. I knew it was about hope and creating. I prayed it would bring my healing and maybe help others who were struggling through one of life's inevitable transitions. Several years in the living and making, and TODAY it goes out into the world!! TODAY!!

Hope, Make Heal is filled with the 20 projects, plus recipes and meditations, that brought me to this point today. I am a confident and proud single mother of two very healthy and amazing kids (one getting ready to head out into the world in a matter of months). There are fresh traditions and new people in our lives, as well as wonderful (bittersweet) memories of a different life long ago. I can now hold the story in my heart without feeling crippled by it. I laugh. A lot. And so do my children.

I am so happy to have arrived at this moment!

*all photos in this post our projects from Hope, Make, Heal- 20 Crafts to Mend the Heart.

light

Wishing you a cozy and peaceful Solstice. This shortest day of the year brings the annual hope of light returning us- the perfect metaphor for anyone traveling through a dark time. The holidays can be challenging for so many. Missing loved ones that can't be here, or the knowledge that life doesn't always match the parades of perfection flaunted by every ad campaign. Our lives are complex and often fragile.  Sending you all so much love and strength as we turn towards the sun.

This handmade message candle is one of the projects in my new book. I call them "Lights for the End of the Tunnel".

Hope, Make, Heal 20 crafts to Mend the Heart will officially hit bookshelves next week (yes-finally!!)... and freshly printed copies will find their way into all of the mailboxes of folks who pre-ordered it a few months back and even today. A brand new year is the perfect time to begin the process of using creativity for self-care and renewal... my wish is that this book finds its way into the hands of all that need it right now.

arrival!

There is absolutely nothing like the full body, open hearted, mind blowing experience of opening up the first box of your just printed very own book. And then with your breath barely flowing… lifting a copy into your hands. Ohhhhh! And my daughter captured a bit of this pictured below! Didn't she?! 

This book. My second book. The book I wish I had found when I desperately needed something to hold onto. So I wrote it. For myself. And most definitely for YOU! It still isn't reaching bookstores or Amazon until the end of December- a perfect beginning to the New Year.  But, I have a surprise! Roostbooks (Shambhala), my beyond amazing publishers, do something a little differently than most. Hope, Make, Heal is ready right NOW… EARLY for anyone that orders directly through them.

Right here!

 I still can't believe it! Think of this as a quiet opening before the big grand throwing open of the doors and blowing the trumpets in December. If you, or someone you love, could use this right now… there is no need to wait! I will be sharing so much more from the pages, behind the scenes and what this book is truly about in the coming weeks and months…

But right now I want to sit quietly and lovingly turn each page. 

taproot::folk

 

 This morning I sat down and poured through the latest pages of Taproot. It's filled with so many beautiful and fascinating articles. Get an idea of the wide range right here. What a thrill to have my rope baskets featured in this FOLK issue! I offer instructions for both sewing and dyeing them. And after a basket hiatus over the summer, I'm so excited to return to making more for fall harvesting and early holiday making.

After I fill a couple of baskets with apples, you can bet I'll be trying out this Salted Caramel Apple Pie!!

 There were no shortage of captivating stories, but I was especially excited to read about Blue Man, the indigo dyer.

And how to host girls a empowerment retreat is dog-eared!

 Leave it to Amanda and Taproot to gather together a volume of thoughtful, intelligent and timely reading for all of us. Taproot Magazine is independently published and ad-free. You can subscribe or get this issue right here.

HOPE, MAKE, HEAL

 My second book is ready for pre-order! Yes!!! What an amazing thing to be able to say to you! I'm so proud of this book and what I hope it will offer to others.  As many of you know, three years ago a dark cloud landed over my home and heart. I shifted gears and invested all of my energy into finding healing and solace for my children and myself. Every bit of my creativity was channeled into mending the wounds. Since I use my hands so much, of course crafting was part of my path to wholeness.  Today, I wake up happy and content again, knowing myself more deeply and enjoying life fully! In fact, I'm dyeing more sunshiny yellow rope as I type! I hope that what I learned along the way may be a source of inspiration for anyone going through their own unique challenge.

Please do read on to hear a little more about Hope, Make, Heal….

A welcome companion to anyone suffering a great loss—20 inspiring craft projects to help work through grief. 

Published by Roost Books.

Grief and pain are universal experiences that touch everyone at one time or another. When we grieve, most of us reach for the steady hand of loved ones. But even if we're blessed with an understanding community, a deep sense of isolation comes with tragedy. No one else stands in our shoes. Rarely is there another person who can understand just what it means to be you. 
     
When faced with the trauma of a sudden and unexpected ending to my marriage of sixteen years, I yearned to find something that would allow me to focus and channel my powerful flood of emotions into something I could see and touch. Knowing that busy hands can profoundly nurture the heart and quiet the mind, I began making things to wear, carry, touch, and gaze upon—beautiful and expressive objects that were simple, intentional, and most of all, meaningful. 

The result is the collection of projects here. This book offers a unique approach to mending wounds with inspiring projects that integrate hand, heart, and mind with thread, ink, and more. The projects encourage renewal and restoration during life's transitions and after deep loss. Each one offers comfort and support and is designed to have a personal impact on the maker and those around them. It's a resource for personal healing and a gift for your friend in need.

Pre-order here:

Roost Books

Amazon

the paper playhouse

A light hearted energy has landed in my home this week and with it came a desire to play. Katrina Rodabaugh's new book, The Paper Playhouse (Quarrybooks), arrived just in time!

 It's filled with children's projects using recycled paper, boxes and books. This focus makes me happy for all of the obvious green reasons, but also for utilizing materials that are so easy for kids to find around the house... and for their parents to gratefully hand over to them for experimentation and creativity.

 

 There are plenty of perfect invitations for parents to collaborate with their younger children around craft, creativity and imaginary play. Lots of the projects can be made independently by an older child. In the back there is an extensive gallery of paper artists and their work for further inspiration. Just a few of the many below. And YES those are my newspaper and sewing pattern flowers! So happy to be included here with such a great group!

Congratulations Katrina! What a lovely book to share our kids!

Where Women Create

 I'm so excited to have my studio featured in the latest issue of Where Women Create! I'm always fascinated by the places other creatives do their work in. Their personality, history, medium and even finances inform the space. It's an intimate window into the world of an artist. My studio is directly off of the kitchen and although it's nothing fancy, so much of my creative soul is showcased along the walls and tucked into buckets and bins. It was the original main room of our very humble 1850's saltbox farmhouse, and is now an open space off of the kitchen. In the summer a huge tree keeps it shady, but right about now the leaves are thinning and the southern window is flooded with light. With all of the writing I've been doing for the last few months, I've missed it!

 

 Seeing it in print feels like a personal invitation to begin all of the projects I have to had put on hold. Each of Stampington's publications are stunning- more like beautiful coffee table books than actual magazines. I feel honored to have been published in quite a few of them, but quite honestly- Where Women Create has been the coveted spot. I'm beyond thrilled! This winter issue is just hitting the newsstands and filled with so many inspiring studios- you much check it out!

my second book!

The experience of writing a book is often compared to that of pregnancy and birth. And once again, I see how true this is as I wrap up the final stages (and pages) of my second book! I'm so grateful to  have this opportunity twice, and am extremely fortunate to be working with my amazing editor at Roost Books. 

So if I've seemed quieter here... certainly there have been less tutorials, and posts... you now know where I have been temporarily channeling my energy. My mornings begin with the first light of day. I lie in bed forming a plan and then reach for my computer or tiptoe down to my studio. If I'm lucky there will be a few hours undisturbed to go into a quiet trance of organizing, writing,  prototyping, making and documenting. Any endeavor this huge has the potential to consume the creator during the process. Fortunately, the focus of this particular one also had the ability to nurture, support and inspire me along the way. Which makes sense, as this is the entire premise of book number two...

Simple, soulful projects to create and use during times of uncertainty and transition. I've learned so much in the last few years about the ability to transform darkness into light. Using my hands in conjunction with my head and heart were key to finding my balance and reinventing myself. This book is an offering to all of us- for those times in life where we need a little extra direction on how to put one foot in front of the other. I think of it as a creative compass to find our way back to ourselves when we are lost or hurt.

This is where I have been- and where I'll be for the next few weeks, as I give it that last final push into completion. It's very special moment in my life... so happy to finally share it officially with all of you!

***

p.s. If you get up at dawn, know that I'm drinking my coffee with you. And maybe send a quiet little "you can do it!" my way... just for good measure. Thanks!

Mabel!

Mabel arrived yesterday! I don't think I've ever been so excited for a magazine delivery... and I've been fortunate enough to be featured in quite a few. Mabel is different. It was founded and created by two women I admire greatly and know well, Stef and Liz. This first issue is impressive for so many reasons. The layout is simple and beautiful. Thoughtful design decisions can be recognized in the details. But it's the content that is striking. The focus and premise of Mabel is to feature artists and creative entrepreneurs in a new light. So often these days we read success stories that are glossy and void of the reality that every single one of us leads real lives that are much more raw than is often depicted on line or in the lovely spreads of art mags. Don't get me wrong... that kind of inspiration has a place... one that I enjoy and appreciate.  Mabel presents real people, living real lives in all of its beauty and imperfections. It's a window into the soul of exciting new projects and business models. It's a forum for transparency... and takes some of the mystery out of the dance that is evolving for the modern artist. It's a field guide to living fully while embracing the chaos challenges that often adorns self employment and creative pursuits. 

The line-up of featured artists and entrepreneurs is stellar and I'm honored to be included. I do happen to know so many of these wonderful women that it's hard not to feel an intimate connection with each story... but really I believe the articles translate beautifully for anyone. 

This first issue's theme is... beginnings.

I wrote an article titled Push Restart about jumpstarting your career when life throws you a curveball... essentially how to restart your creative business. 

And answered four interesting question along with three other women I love... 

 To order a copy or read more click here.

the simple things

The Simple Things is a beautiful UK based magazine, and I'm so happy to have one of my projects featured in its latest issue. Soon it will be time to hang the clothes on the line, and nothing is handier than one of these burlap peg bags.  And for those of you non-sewers, I'm putting them on my list for my next shop update... along with stamped pouches, since it seems like those are clear necessities for many of you!

Here's how The Simple Things describes itself:

It’s about slowing down, enjoying what you have, making the most of where you live, enjoying the company of of friends and family, and making simple food for friendly gatherings. We like to grow some of our own vegetables, visit local markets, rummage in thrift shops, and decorate our home with the plunder.

And we like to think that the small things we do will make a difference in the long run – whether that’s making, upcycling, growing, cooking, entertaining, escaping or relaxing.

Perfect, right!? You can view some of this issue right here.

Have a fabulous start to your week, my friends!

handcrafted napkin rings

A happy package arrived in the mail recently. Stampington's ninth volume of HandCrafted. It's a compilation of over 250 of their favorite crafting ideas from all over their magazines. I was pleasantly surprised to discover one of my  repurposed diy's was on pages 36-38. It's always exciting to be published, but especially when you don't know until it lands in your mailbox! Yip!

I've always loved this one... it combines recycling (fabric selvedge and cardboard tubes)with the promotion of using cloth napkins. Double win! It was a great reminder that I want to make new napkin rings for our holiday meals.

If you can't be sure of your guest list and don't want to fuss with initials... why not use numbers like the ones below. Remember these? Security envelope patterns (like these), vintage wallpaper, old maps, children's artwork are all great sources for covering the tubes rings for table top readiness!

So pretty! Obviously, I love an excuse to go gathering fall's treasures...

the artful parent

I have a new favorite book for exploring creativity with your children. In fact, I believe it's destined to become a classic resource for teachers and parents alike. It's that well done. The Artful Parent was officially released today. Written by Jean Van't Hul, author of one of my favorite sites (of the same name: The Artful Parent) for original activities and in depth interviews  about bringing creativity and art into your daily life with your family. Because I come from a long line of early educators and artists, my standards tend to be quite high- my approach and aesthetic reflect my background. Jean shares my passion for  process art and child-led exploration of materials. I always learn something new when I visit her or come away motivated to try something in a fresh way. Her new book encapsulates that and offers 60 projects along with very thorough information on how to choose the best materials for different ages and how to set up a designated art space. In no other book have I seen this so well organized and beautifully laid out. The photographs are stunning and abundant, but the meat of the content is what makes this volume so valuable- you'll feel like you've just taken a course in early childhood art education. 

 All of this is done in a simple and engaging format that will appeal to parents who only have short windows of time. Pick it up and open the page anywhere and there is something new to learn or a project you probably already have the supplies for, but never even thought of.

 I love when I get to gush on about a book. You may think that I'm biased because I happen to be  within these pages, but truly I would be raving anyway. I just ordered a copy and sent it to my mother for her lab nursery school. It's a good one! What was my contribution...

No surprise, right?! My daughter was super pleased to see her cameo appearance with a cardboard tube project we collaborated on a while back.

Here are the original ones we created. It's always fun to look through old art projects with your children. It gives them an opportunity to really understand their own growth and how their skills and abilities evolve with each year. As a mother, I just love seeing glimpses back in time to more innocent creations. Sweetness that can't be compared.

There are some absolutely stellar contributions from others, but Jean's gorgeous book is a testament to her own brilliance in the field of art exploration with young children. You can find it right here, where you can purchase it directly from her with a free copy of her spring e-book.

Congratulations Jean and happy creating to all of you!