Be Fearless Mixed Media Canvas and Random Life Photos From 2018

Hello and welcome to my blog.

Depending on where you live, there

are beautiful season changes

happening! May has shown up here in the mountains

in a summery mood

wearing her loveliest of greens.

There are little blossoms appearing and

all sorts of pretty things in the yard

today. All very small but 

very welcome and treasured. I

 will have to get out soon 

and take some

photos. 

There's been an assortment of fun projects

to work on in my little gypsy studio. 

Lots of painting and some paper collaging.

 Clay and glitter... buttons and gems.

It's all so magical and the messes on my table

come and go shifting from one pile of 

goodness to the next. 

I'm so happy that I'm finally 

getting the hang of this

new way of downloading my photos!

And I'm so much more consistent.

There seems to always

be something

stewing in my mind. And though

I'm not a fearful person, I am not

very assertive sometimes and have allowed

negative thoughts to stay too long in my

head. I never realized

that I was so negative inwardly.

 Toward myself.

But I am very happy to share that this

is beginning to change. 

Like a butterfly coming out of it's 

cocoon or chrysalis.

And as I promised, here is the finished

project that

was inspired by a tiny butterfly.

Butterflies don't fly around afraid

of what people think or

of what might happen. 

They are happy to flutter about and gather their

food and enjoy sips of water and take refuge when

they see danger.

This is a 9x13 canvas. I used gesso, acrylic paints, stamps, ink, vintage papers

and stencils as well as random things for texturing.

My beautiful, Sonoron shell 

pink guitar that my husband got me last year. 

I love playing it and get comments on it whenever I take 

it to gigs.  It's perfect for this Shabbi Gypsy!

They don't make them anymore.

I'm still playing a lot of music and am working 

on songwriting as well. There is so much to learn

but I think the most important thing is to

put our whole hearts into whatever we do.

Do you agree?

This beautiful leaf was collected two years ago. 

Did you know that you can use 

rubber stamps on leaves?

My lovely geranium from last spring is still with me. 

Last fall, it was nearly

 four feet tall and three feet wide. I had to 

trim her back some so she could fit inside

for the winter.

These two are so much fun. They are full of 

love and SHENANIGANS! 

Just as they should be ;)

Have you had a first time recently?

I boiled stinging nettle this morning and ate it!

It's very good. 

{The western version.} 

A friend brought us some for making tea to

help with allergies. I scooped it out of the container

with my hands 

and my little finger is still stinging. 

haha.

If you look it up, you'll find that it's packed with

nutrients and is a complete protein. 

I found this little lady at Ross and thought 

she was so special,

I just had to bring her home.

Whatever you're doing this week, 

I hope you're finding

peace and rest and beauty in your days.

Four peaks in the Sonoran Desert.

It's music for me tonight and a month

from tomorrow, I leave to

head to Ohio to get my girl!

I hope that you enjoyed your visit.

Thank you for coming.

I hope you feel welcome and leave inspired.

Have a lovely rest of your week

and a Happy May to you.

Tamara 

Xo

Shabby and Vintage Valentine Tags (It's Still February! ;)

Hello and here I am posting 

for the second time in a week! 

I hope this is the start of a new trend...

I always want to but life seems to take over.

Specifically, practicing and learning

 new songs and techniques

on the mandolin and guitar. Family keeps me

very occupied as well. 

But they are loves and I wouldn't

want that any other way.

This post is especially for my sweet friend,

Karen, from Roosterhead Designs. 

She wanted to see close up shots of my

valentines that I made.

She is such a dear and makes beautiful

cards and creations!

I'm thinking that I shouldn't have 

edited these so much and they would have

shown up better. 

Lesson for the future ;)

I hope you don't mind another 

valentine post but I

guess it is still

 the month of love~

Every year we try to have a Valentine

meal with the kids and grandkids that live nearby.

We make valentines and give little gifts

or treats to each other.

It's such a fun time. 

This year my daughter had a

pink pancake breakfast. The pancakes were

so fluffy and delicious.

Grandma and Grandpa brought the fruit, 

sprinkles and 

whipped cream to go on top!

There were plates PILED with crispy,

crunchy bacon. 

Six pounds I believe!

A dozen bacon lovers around the table.

I have so much fun with the details 

when I sit to make projects. 

For these, I sifted through 

my ephemera and did 

my best to co-ordinate it 

with the gender, interests and ages 

of each one. I love finding things

 in thrift stores to use. 

The vintage looking valentines 

are actually stickers that I found 

at a thrift store many years ago.

I have a large paper doily collection

and old tickets that I have saved form different

raffles and events. Some of the pieces

are cut from old playing cards.

I did some fussy cutting.

 (I always thought that this term was so cute.)

There's a lot of layering and angling to get

the look that I wanted. 

I used some glitter, 

old buttons and one of my 

favorite things to buy on Etsy....

crinkled seam binding.

I put these all together

 on small shipping

tags that I purchased and 

larger tags that I made.

There are so many more projects in the making. Painting ... collaging and 

lots of thank you notes to 

make to send out for birthday gifts.

Thank you for coming by. 

I hope your week is going wonderfully and if you're wishing for spring,

hold on! It will soon be here.

Don't forget to pop in and say hi to Karen.

The love and details that she puts into her 

creations is beautiful and inspiring.

Blessings and joy to you.

Tamara XO

A Few Thoughts About Goals and Being Good to Ourselves

These vibrant flowers 

were for my birthday 

from a good friend of mine.

They are so beautiful! 

Such brilliant, cheerful colors.

And they are lasting so long.

This year I have dreams

that are re-surfacing and I'm finding 

myself on a journey back to me.

Feeling stronger and more confident. 

Finding it easier to focus. After so many years

of feeling like I was losing ground,

it's a relief to have direction.

 There a few things that I have learned.
One is that there is always hope.
No matter how small a thing it seems,
do something that keeps me moving toward
where I want to be.

Another is that not one person is without
challenges in their life. 
No one has an easy time of it
all the time.

One more is that it takes
a lot of devotion and hard work
to get where I want to go. 
Though we need to work hard, I'm learning
to not be too obsessive and to take
lots of mini breaks. 

And honey... 
one thing is sure.
If we give up, 
we will NEVER
get there. 
So we persevere.

This was the most delicious red velvet 

cake that my daughter made me. 

And I had been craving cake thick with frosting.

Is there any other kind? 

I wanted to get a picture of a slice 

but never did.

My two daughters and their families

surprised me with a late evening party.

It was so sweet of them! Handmade cards

and sweet gifts. 

So far, getting older has been good

to me. I try to exercise, a lot and eat lots of

healthy foods and keep my stress down. 

There are some things that 

I don't like about my appearance but I 

have decided to embrace all of me

and really work on loving myself. 

And being very good to me. 

I don't hold to the "hard road"

mindset anymore. Life has enough

bumps in the road

without inviting them! ;)

So let's laugh a lot and create

as many happy moments for ourselves 

and others that we can! 

How do you create happy moments?

Think lots of positive thoughts

and keep on the sunny side.

  These past couple of weeks 

have been a busy time

helping my daughter pack and move 

and helping with her sweet girls as

she started a new job. 

I'm glad that I started my valentines early

and I was still working on them

at the last minute! 

I love making them and get caught up in

the details. Here they are waiting 

for the finishing touches.

 Maybe I can squeeze in a post of close ups before the month is over. 

I have a favorite sugar cookie recipe

and I always use half wheat flour.

I try to make our treats a little healthier.

Did you know that you can substitute oil with

applesauce and it keeps your baked goods moist?

A little trick to save calories and make your baking a bit more healthy.

I baked these to take to the local

people where we play music on Wednesday

nights. They are so supportive and it's nice to 

give a little something back to them.

 We had a huge snow storm come through

last weekend. If you follow me on IG, you already know and have seen these.

With a foot of snow, the mountain was covered in

this frosty white blanket.  The birds were wanting to eat. I bought extra seed to make sure that they had plenty.

I hope your February has been delightful. It will be gone in a few days and March will bringing

with it many thoughts of spring!

Have a lovely week and thank 

you for your visit.

Big Hugs,
Tamara X

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,

The Garden Awakening, that

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

A Card For a Friend to Brighten Her Day ~ A Simple Thing

 I hope life is treating you 

kind on this Wednesday. 

Life is beautiful and wonderful

and difficult and we never know what a day will hold.

Celebrating each day with everything we have

on that day will make memories and

enrich even the simplest of times.

It could just be a small thing that will turn our head

or thrill our heart.

This morning when I took a walk,

the sky was SO blue!

I wanted to just stare at it and take in it's

simple beauty! And I was walking past my neighbors barn,

a frightened skunk scurried past. 

That was a surprise! A little thrill.

 I kept my eye on him as I

walked up the road. 

Haha...

Just to make sure that it wasn't following.

;)

My granddaughters

were here yesterday and they 

brought their new little friend.

Primrose, the kitten.

I had forgotten just how sweet it was to hold

a tiny, soft dear thing. Her purr was quiet and low.

They do love her so and she'll grow to love them, too.

****

This card that I made was for a friend who had

just been in car accident. Her car was totaled but she 

wasn't seriously injured. But the trauma was very real.

When I gave her the card with some flowers, I asked her 

how she was. She said fine and when I spoke of the accident

she hugged me and cried.

Such a small and simple gesture on my part but it 

"meant the world to her."

We never know how showing that we care might

bring a bit of cheer to someone.

It's the little things that sometimes add up

 to make an extraordinary day.

I used to look past those often times while

looking for more.

I'm learning~

Tonight we switch over to play our music at

The Foxfire. We'll be seeing some 

old friends and we're always

making new ones! Our hearts are ever

thankful for the opportunity

to sing and play.

I hope you're having a wonderful day!

Thank you so much for coming by. 

Hugs,

Tamara