in which Joey turns 13

Joey is 13. Awesome.

I want to tell you about Joey's great grandpa - his name was Arthur Joseph. Joey's name is Joseph Arthur. He is named after his great grandpa, one of my husband's favorite people of his whole life. When we had Joey and told Grandma and Grandpa E. his name, David's grandma commented, "Do you know, David's grandpa is named Arthur Joseph..." as if their shared names were a total coincidence. They were humble, and kind and generous and always put family first. I also think David got his amazing ability to combine tough love and gentleness in his parenting from observing his grandpa.

So Joey - my wish for your 13th birthday is that, as you enter your teen years and the whirlwind they may be, you will embrace and seek these wonderful characteristics that inspired your name - humility, kindness, generosity and family.

You are enormously loved. And btw, your birthday consisted of eggs benedict for breaky, lots of junk food, and pulled pork with lots more junk food while we watched the Superbowl. Junk food was only interrupted to go see Les Mis, the movie. And in case you stumble upon this blog years from now, you loved the movie. And the day. xo

It was time

This week I ordered 200 bindings and then I purchased Mod Podge. By the gallon. A gallon of glue. So apparently I'm all in. And when I'm done selling 200 journals, I should be ready to upgrade my binding machine, but that's a story for another day. I hate my binding machine. But I love Mod Podge.

To celebrate, I want to make sure that you know about Mod Podge Rocks? This fun fun fun blog will tell you how to mod podge everything, from furniture, to shoes, to chandeliers, to toilet paper rolls....

Hope you have a great weekend! xo

Upcycled Journals at Maven

 

 

Today I will be delivering a dozen Upcycled Journals to Maven, a wonderful, funky boutique in Maplewood, Missouri. Maven sold my journals over the holidays and they sold out. That was thrilling! So we're going to see how my books sell there during a regular retail season (I'm sure that's not how to refer to it - clearly I am not a retailer).

Hope you'll pop over!

Maven Boutique

7290 Manchester Road

Maplewood, MO 63143

click here to visit Maven's website

Have a great week! xo

We did. It was!

The collage party was great fun! The couches were cleared (although we didn't use them at all). I'm noticing how generic this space is when it is clean...have to think about that.

 There were plenty of images to choose from. Always. That is never an issue.

And we laughed and collaged and laughed and collaged. So much so that I forgot to take pictures. Here is mine in the works. 

I continue to believe with all my heart that collage is good for the soul. Life changing even. I'm now going to yoga and some meditation and it feels like that - cleansing, healthy, positive. This party was donated to my kids' school - an auction sign up party. If you're in St. Louis and would like me to donate a party to your event, I try to donate three parties a year. Please shoot me a message. It's not a huge money maker- usually between $150 to $300, but it's something different. And fun. And good for the soul. xo

Small miracles

This happens every single year so today I'm thinking I need to learn to reframe it for good (not as in forever, as in not-for-bad): the holiday art room disaster. Every fall I finish my last art show and then the holiday making begins for my kiddos so they use my (our) space and don't clean up of course and then use the space some more and then I need it, so I use the space on top of their space and so on and so on.... 

The papers in the photo above are from my fall kids' art class. I needed the container they were in, so I recycled this paper that I haven't needed or used since October and unearthed the things that actually belong in this container but have been clutter causing for months now. And that is one example of hundreds. Or at least fifties, yes, I am sure there are at least fifty things completely out of sorts up here. I also found this second grade painting of Kyle's which delights me. So yin and yang - that's what I'll tell myself.

 Thankfully, there is an art party up here tomorrow evening so it is time to stop the insanity.

Here are two clean work tables...miracles! And the fact that I still have a Darth Vader action figure (sans helmet, so do I actually have a dead Darth Vader action figure?) on my sequins container staring me down, and toothpicks that we were looking for when making our Christmas dinner, and two couches that have no room for people to actually sit on....well, never mind. All in good time.

And will I reframe this phase of art room disasterousness? Probably not, but maybe. For now I'm embracing the positive, embracing the positive....

xo!

happy + new

Wishing you health and happiness in this new year. Looking forward to being back here a lot more. xo!