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

A Mixed Media, Thank You Card For Spring ~

I hope you are having a good week so far.

I am resting a lot this week after

really over doing it last week.

Sometimes life is like is that

but then we can pull back

and enjoy some quiet

and work on what is in our hearts to do.

I did enjoy a little 

clean up time in the

gypsy camp this morning.

I made a fire and made some toasted bread

 with cream cheese and cranberries. It

felt wonderful to be out!

I wanted to share this thank you

card that I made for my daughter.

She is so thoughtful!

I used some lace, old wallpaper

and layered several types of 

papers. I found these flowers

at our local drug store and loved the

crimson color and they came with

some wire fronds as well.

I used a bit of embroidery floss for the bow.

Last fall, I found a DARLING, child's

antique, sewing box and it was full of

so much colorful floss. 

I now have plenty to use

in my projects.

Making cards for people is one of my favorite things to do. It's so relaxing and

I love expressing greetings with

a hand made card.

Wishing you a lovely rest of your week

and thank you for coming by~

Blessings,

Tamara

Sharing today at:

Simply Neutrals

Come and see all of the lovely

creations and talent!

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 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