Friday, June 15, 2018

A Gathered Table Scape

Hello~

Today we are celebrating clouds and 
possible rain this week....

As well as our sweet
daughter's 31st birthday.
She and her older sister and I
went on a little outing
for dinner, shopping and a movie.
We went to see Oceans 8.
Oh my... 
What a fun chic flick.
We try to celebrate the entire week.
Life passes by so quickly and I believe
in being very purposeful.


And a cloudy day?
 It's like a holiday for us around here especially considering this drought.
To clarify...

Ours and surrounding counties have been declared
a disaster area and we are on severe
restrictions. We're not even permitted 
to mow our lawns because of sparks.
No smoking outside.

Anyway...
On to happier things :) and there
are always happy things!

Like birthdays and flowers blooming
and little butterflies flitting about.

And a table that is full of color, glittery sparkles
and fun surprises for little eyes to find.


This may have the appearance of Easter but it's
actually just for spring with some things that I just 
grabbed because kids light up
when they see it all!
You can see what I used...
The vintage bottles and salt and pepper shakers
were some of my favorites.
I so enjoy using ordinary things
for something other than it's
intended use.

What about you? 

What kind of treasures do you enjoy using
when you're creating? And it doesn't 
have to be decorating your table.
I hope you're doing well and
taking some time to keep yourself grounded
and in touch with you.

I read something this morning that
got me to thinking about what
we give ourselves permission for.

Do you give yourself a lot of grace?
We all need it.
I know all too well how to put 
myself in a box and to criticize 
what I do and how I do it. 
and even what I fail to do.

 Are you allowing yourself to be you and
even embracing who you are?
I am hopelessly devoted to
getting this right. Making room for my
real self. The one who makes mistakes
and is always learning. She's creative and
messy and sometimes loses her way.
There's growing and accepting and then
when I think I have it figured out,
I change! Can you relate to any of that?

One thing that I'm learning to do is to be more
open and honest with myself and others.
I am back after taking a very long break.
The clouds were so inviting and the temperatures
so forgiving that I wandered outside to
(more like raced before the sun came back out ;)
get some more of my plants in the ground.

And to do some more rock work
on the little wall that I'm building
in the the Gypsy Camp gardens.
I will share some pictures.

I have my eye on a couple of climbing roses
 in town and the Virginia 
Creeper wintered so well through
the drought and the cold that we are going to
plant a couple more to add some greenery.

We must whenever we can as we are
surrounded by white grasses (dead) and dirt!
We do have some
Juniper and Pinon 
trees that are very gracious
 to give us shade.

 I have planted several herbs in the past couple
of days. Annual and perennial.
And I found the most adorable
Dwarf English Boxwood. So far it's doing well.
Fingers crossed!

I also had to take some time to dust and clean
and get things in order. I do so enjoy a tidy home. With the season of playing outside, it takes a little more effort to keep up.
It's time to go rest up for this evening.
As we are playing music tonight at one of our favorite places. I get to play my new pink guitar that Jeff bought me for our Anniversary in April.
Eeep!! Doesn't a 
Shabbi Gypsy girl need a pink guitar?
I will share some pictures soon.

I do hope that
you have a lovely, lovely weekend creating and
enjoying just being you right where you are
and of course
celebrating the wonderful
fathers in your life.

Here's a fun quote for summer...

"LIFE IS SHORT.
TAKE THE TRIP,
BUY THE SHOES,
EAT THE CAKE!"

Blessings and hugs to you~
Tamara 
xoxo





Tuesday, June 5, 2018

A Project Begun. About Creativity and A Visit To Ohio .... Life as I Know it

I'm sitting at my desk working on this post 
and Sunny is on my lap.
If you aren't sure who that is, 
you can visit my previous post and see a picture.
He's my sweet, adorable and 
very pokey bearded dragon. 
haha...
AKA Sunny Boy or Dragon Boy.
He's just the sort of pet I wanted.
He's my little friend that will sit near quietly while 
I work on projects or writing;)

I worked outside some this morning, transplanting
and watering. 
I'm almost back to square one where my
  gypsy camp gardens are concerned.
I was pretty discouraged at 
first but it's slowly fading
and excitement is filling my 
heart as my vision grows.

 I read in Mary Reynolds' book,
nature is more powerful than nurture.
I experienced that first hand this past year.
I poured my heart, soul (and money)
into gardening this past year only to 
meet with losing many plants. 
There's one thing that grew...
My frustration!

But all is not lost.
 I'm learning to persevere
and to use my creativity and I'm thankful for 
 the abundance of resources that are available.
More about that later.

I'm just getting over a cold, 
so getting a post done will be
perfect while I rest up after 
playing music last evening.
I just wish my house wasn't in
 such need of attention.


But life is so rich and full 
and I am very blessed.

*********

I have some photos to share of a 
project that I started
recently. I am a collector of all sorts of things.
My wheels get turning and 
I can't throw things away
sometimes! This time it's empty boxes.

Match boxes, candy boxes, a Royal Crown box, 
which was a Christmas gift from Jeff.
There's a wooden cigar box 
that someone gave me.
(Even my friends collect cool stuff for me. 
Bless their hearts!)


My table is quite scattered about with bits of 
fun as I think about what I want to use.
If you are the creative type, you know how that
works. But goodness... 
My table doesn't always look like
this. I have to tidy up between times that I sit and work.

I'm almost finished with all 
of them and I'll share soon.
Below is a photo of one that's finished.
It's my least favorite.
I love the paper but was less than 
satisfied with the way the 
leaves looked after I was done.
But creating is like that.
Do you ever feel that way with a
finished project? 
But we keep at it.
 That's the only way.
I read this and I can see how this could work against creativity. 

One of the worst enemies to 
creativity is self doubt.

I have also read that overthinking will squelch your creativity.
It's all a learning process so if you have an idea, just try to go with and not think 
or plan it too much!

And naturally, some projects need planning out. 
That's part of the learning, too.
Isn't it a peaceful place to be when you finally
come to learn that it doesn't have to perfect and there's
SO much room to grow?
**********

In March, it worked out for Jeff and I to visit our
daughter that recently flew from the nest.
Oh how we miss her and we 
had such good times visiting.
We took some lovely walks, 
played music together
and did some shopping. 
Ate out and had some good 
heart to heart talks.
HMMM....
 Let's take a poll!
Which one of us does she favor?
We had a fun time at Country Bits.
It has antiques, cards, handmade 
candies, and other goodies. 
SO much to look at with many different vendors and there are two levels with many 
rooms upstairs and down.
If you're ever in Cambridge, Ohio, 
you won't want to miss this place!

It's one of our favorite places.
It's also one of my favorite places to go junking.
It's quite dangerous! 

My daughter is the Queen of Sarcasm 
and she found these tiles. 
This was one of our favorites ;)

I took a drive one day. 
When I'm home, I can't help 
but to drive around on 
the dirt roads where I grew up. 
Do you ever do that?

It's so peaceful and while I'm driving, 
I think of the people that were in my life then and the experiences that I had. 
Sometimes, it makes me sad but I never
want to forget those special people and times 
that made me who I am today. 
I often long for those days.

Do you like to visit favorite
 places from your childhood?
I learned to drive on our Ford Tractor 
putting up hay.
I was 11 and my dad's first farm hand. 
I loved it.
 Then he bought a tractor with power steering 
and that was so much easier.

Before I got my license, I would 
drive it on this road to my 
friend's house. My parents didn't know...
for awhile that is. But my dad never said anything.
Country living is the best! 
Downtown Cambridge is still thriving and has some of the most beautiful buildings. It has some of the quaintest stores 
and specialty shops. 
This one is near Kennedy's Bakery
 where my daughter now works.

We had such a wonderful time. 
It was very hard to leave. I was so thankful for the time with my daughter and family but sometimes seeing them makes me miss 
them more. 

What do you think of  the new font? 
I think it looks pretty
but is it harder to read? 
I always want to keep my blog as reader 
friendly as possible. I used the largest font size so maybe that will help.


Thank you ever so much for coming by 
and following along with
my reminiscing.


Blessings,
Tamara 
XO