The Freedom to Create~

It's my heart's desire to create. I feel so blessed to have a husband and family that are supportive. Our home is very accommodating in size and design.

I'm most grateful for the blessing of God to be upon my work as I want to dedicate it all to Him. It's from Him that the ideas flow. They are born of my heart and then my mind tries to comprehend and turns it into an idea. And the process continues until my hands create and my eyes can see what began in my heart.

After homeschooling for nearly 30 years and serving in the church for the same, God has released me to a new kind of ministry. I loved that season of my life and thankful to have been given the privilege of both. It was with a lot of thinking and re-thinking, praying and letting go of pre-conceived ideas of what ministry was. And also of coming to a realization that God has given me talents and desires and I should pursue and use them to honor Him, bless others and be true to my heart's desire. (And possibly earn a small income from it. Yesterday, I was asked by a local merchant to bring my things
in on consignment. So, an open door.)

So here, I begin a beautiful new season of my life with the freedom to seek my dreams to create and play music as I celebrate the goodness of God and the blessings of this life. Both which cause my heart to overflow.

Thus, creating~

What are your dreams? Your talents. Listen to your heart.

Great Blessings to you,
Tamara

The Red Sweater Project... Completed!

Well...it's finally completed and you would thing that it is a huge project for as long as it took me!
I was stumbling over details and so I just decided to keep it simple and move on. I tend to over-decorate anyway.

 

This was such an easy project and fun! I really enjoyed using the old red sweater.

And I loved the texture of the ribbing from the bottom of the sweater. I thought

it would make a cute ruffle.

 

The lace is a bit ink-stained. It's hard to see in the photo. I didn't want to make it

too dark. The flowers were fun but my first and so they took a little while to

shape. They are made of wool and felt pieces that I had on hand. I wasn't sure about

the middle for the creamy flower (which was inspired by She Wears Flowers  over at

Tea Rose Home) but  then I found that pretty gold

button and really like how it blended with the little tan flower above.

 

The  little yo-yo center is very easy to make and the instructions for it are all over the internet.

I was just reading in a craft magazine the other day that you can buy little tools of to help with yo-yo

making. That's good to know if you want multitudes for a particular project. I enjoy making them, but to have to make fifty by hand would be bit tedious!

 

I hope you enjoyed seeing this. I would love to hear about a project that you have put together!

 

Thank you for stopping by.

Blessings,

Tamara

 

Join me at the Wildly Original Linky Party over at I Gotta Create!

There's lots of creative people sharing their talents.

Have FUN!

 

*Oh. I realize the flower picture is a bit out of place. I thought it was pretty and cheery for a mid-winter post. It's a bit of Feverfew that I have hanging on my dresser in my room. It's left over from my fall herb-drying. Doesn't it keep it's color nicely?

________________________________________________________________________________

 

I have been working on a HUGE project alongside this little one. ( Today I finished painting and hung a shelf that will organize my fabric.) I am setting up a couple of work

stations to begin seriously creating with many different types of media. I am SO excited. I will share how the whole idea came to be next time! I am hoping that 52 is not too late to start. That's how old I will be on my birthday next month.

 

 

 

Compassion Without Judgement... A Quote From a Lesson Learned

I was just sitting at the sewing machine working on my red sweater project and I was thinking this is a great place to remember to pray for others who need a lift. It brought to mind a recent tradgedy. As I was thinking about this situation and praying, I thought, it is so easy to judge when bad things happen. To think of  what could have been done to prevent the circumstances. Blaming people never changed anything. Holding them accountable does, sometimes. If one is ready to grow and change.

Allowing life to teach lessons is a good thing but the attitude with which I do that can make a huge difference to the person going through that hard time. In the past, I have been very judgemental at times. Not a very loving posture by one who is supposed to be all about love. After going through many trials, heartaches, being mis-judged and making mistakes of my own, I have learned about compassion. How affirming it is to have people stand around me in support no questions asked. Believing the best, yet knowing that I am imperfect. And even knowing that I have made mistakes. Just loving me anyway.

While I was sitting here thinking of that, this quote came to my mind:


" It's good to remember where I came from so I can have
compassion and not be judgemental when someone is in
need of help and support."

Words for me to live by. And to love by. And so we help them.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

My project is coming along. Still needs some tweaking. As I grow in my journey of artistry that I have embarked on, I find that I need a little time to think about the details. There's a certain "vintagey" look that I'm trying to accomplish. And of course then, there is life that jumps in and bumps the project!  (a daughter who wants ME to layer her very long  hair! much fear and trembling...) The goal is to have the project finished by the middle of next week.

Blessings to you,
Tamara

Upload Blogger Photos From HTML Setting

I have been trying to find out why I couldn't upload photos on Blogger. This has been a problem for almost a week. I was able to Google the problem and find a solution. It didn't work at first try but I  really wanted to get these photos on my previous post. I tried and TaDa! it worked! YEAH!

I was told to try switching my Compose setting to the HTML setting. The two little boxes are located at the top left of the blank screen where we see the type-written words. There is probably a name for this but I don't know what it is! Anyway, change it over to HTML and  try clicking on the photo upload icon. It will allow you to upload a number of photos at once. The article said to avoid switching back and forth too much because it did seem to mess up the process. I would link to the article but I didn't save it. Thank you so much to the person who originally posted this info!

I hope this was helpful.

Have a blessed day and Happy (Happier) Blogging~

The Red Sweater Project... A Make-over

Here are some photos of the new project I started today. So far it's been fun but a learning experience as most projects are. Quite a while ago I found this pretty red sweater at a thrift store. I decided I wanted to try and make something from it. I actually have quite a few things stashed in my closet and a few other places. Isn't it fun and interesting? In my opinion it is one of the most satisfying ways to create. Re-making something and giving it new life. I also feel it's somewhat of a responsibility. I suppose that part may have something to do with the frugal ways of my dad.

My Heavely Father is also very frugal. He doesn't waste anything or any opportunity to teach us if our hearts are open. This morning while hand-sewing these sweet little felt flowers, which were inspired by this Tea Rose Home tutorial, it occured to me how patiently He works on me. And how long that takes. It can sometimes be quite a process and take a very long time for me to come to His truth.

Hand-sewing can be a very tedious process as well as time-consuming. But is usually well worth the effort once you see the end result.

As soon as I finish this little project, I will share it with you!

Every Day is a Gift

 

 

~I DON'T EVER WANT TO FORGET THAT

EVERY DAY IS A GIFT FULL OF
POSSIBILITIES ~

we will pick up our brushes and add to the masterpiece
of our lives and those around us.
what colours will we choose?

Celebrate the Small Things..

The title of this post almost made me laugh! Why? Because nothing is small to me. I make everything very big. Sometimes huge. And I often get buried along the way. I am learning to keep things simple. Life in general. I love it all so this isn't easy for me. I have to stop and watch the butterfly. Embellish the package. Draw pretty borders on my hand-written letters. I'm a "flowers-on-the-table" kind of girl.

I am smitten with details~

Yet still, I can overlook the smallest of lovely and important thngs. Forgetting to make someone feel
special because I'm caught up in my own opinions. There are times when I'm too busy about my own affairs to take the time to listen. Asking questions is an art.

The art of celebrating has been a learning process. Sometimes it can seem like I'm never doing enough and what I am doing is falling short. SO... instead of adding more or making myself feel guilty, I can be glad that I'm learning. 



Anyway, here are some things that I have learned that have helped in my journey of celebrating.

I have always known that I have wanted to live this way. To walk the path of celebrating. I didn't overlook things because I just chose  to.

What I had to come to realize was that there were certain tendencies in my life that have interfered with my desires.

*Slow down.

*Don't focus on outward things.

*Talk less.

*Allow time to be creative.

*Take care of myself.

*Be content.

*Create a more peaceful world around me.


These are BIG things to me. Working the reality of these things into my heart and lifestyle have not been easy and sometimes I still don't quite feel things working the way I'd like. But it's all a work in progress. And I am determined to get this down because it's what makes a my life rich and can make a difference in the lives of others.





I tried to upload photos but Blogget wasn't working and so I just decided to post without photos.