...little pieces of my soul ~

...the butterfly is a symbol of the soul

and the dance of lightness and joy.

I am often times amazed

with the creation process of the jewelry that I make!

I love using vintage, combined with other interesting, very textural materials

and I never know know just how that piece will turn out ~

of course I have a vision of what I'd like it to be,

and I never duplicate a piece

but still ~

as I spend time,

gathering those unique materials,

hand sewing special bits in place,

and watching a pile of...

well...stuff ~

(beautiful stuff mind you!)

transform before me and come to life 

(not in the literal sense, mind you, I'm not crazy!)

but, as each piece commands my upmost attention to detail,

in turn, each piece will take on it's form, so to speak.

And by the time those lovely bits have become a finished piece

I have become attached!

little pieces of me are sewn in right along with those other materials ~

I love what I do, so naturally each piece is made in love!

and when I sell one of my pretties

I am thrilled that someone else finds it beautiful as well!

I will be sending this Butterfly Goddess piece off to Finland today!!

Finland!!

...so in a way,

I will be in Finland too...

via ~ something these small hands have made,

and it blows my mind that little pieces of my soul are starting to flutter to places

I never imagined they'd be!

I am excited

&

humbled at the same time!

I can't wait to see where this journey will take me

...and the little pieces of my soul ~

xo 

...my projects have projects!!

...hello loves!

This is my dollie house,

 a constant, ongoing, ~ year's long project!

I've been organizing my studio this week and have found many projects.

Some of them half completed, some not started, some long forgotten.

I have many ideas swirling around my head ...

and I no sooner get one thing done and then I'm inspired by another!

My dollie house is an example,

I got this in a box  ... as in, assembly required!

and let me just say ~ Whew! That was quite a challenge.

I was happy when I got to the roof,

thinking I was almost done,

until I saw a bazillion cedar shingles!!!

all of which had to be glued on one by one!!!

(okay, maybe not a bazillion, but alot of shingles!)

anyway ~ I have enjoyed making it my own

and decorating the inside!

Picking paint colors for each room,

laying hardwood floor in the kitchen and then staining it!

very time consuming, but somehow satisfying.

As I was dusting my mini house ~

I got to thinking how my projects always have projects!

Meaning, it's never as simple as putting it together and being done!

I quess I'm what you call, a beauty embellisher.

It wasn't enough to put this dollie house together as is.

I simply had to add something else~

some gingerbread!

And no, you can't find it if your looking for it ~ I tried!

Sometimes it just comes to you!

And you don't know this about me ~ Yet ~

but another passion I have is decorative baking!

(more posts on that later!)

But I have always been a purveyor of the unique.

So, I had some vintage cake frills in my stash,

to which I used for the gingerbread on my dollie house!

(see what I mean! a project within a project!)

I have come to accept this of myself,

and recognize that we are all projects!

and that throughout our life there will always be projects...

inside and out!

and it's what we do with those projects,

using our own signature, so to speak, on our projects

that, I believe in turn, can affect our world and those around us.

One of my favorite life quotes is by Martha Graham ~

There is a vitality,

a life force, an energy, a quickening,

 that is translated through you into action,

and because there is only one of you in all time,

 this expression is unique.

And if you block it,

 it will never exist through any other medium and will be lost.

Wow!

inspiring stuff!

Now go leave some fingerprints on your projects!

xo