Daily Meditations...

For several years I have tried [without success] to meditate...you know, the traditional way...sitting quietly, listening to soft, relaxing music, reciting a mantra over and over in my head until it literally sticks in there for the whole day...counting beads on my Mala, etc., nothing worked. My mind just wandered and wandered, thinking about what I should/could be doing, or what I needed to get done later in the day. I finally gave up on it and decided I would try again this Winter, when I didn't have so much to do in a day. 

Those of you that know me, know how much I love playing with Photoshop! Well, over the years, I have collected quite a bit of digital scrapbooking stuff and digital art. One of the places I get a lot of stuff from is "Design Cuts" --- there you can download everything from fonts to patterns, to clipart, to photoshop tools, etc. I had gotten away from the traditional "digital scrapbooking/collage" stuff that I used to love and spend endless hours playing with. But now, since I really know how to use photoshop way better than I did 10 years ago, I decided to start playing with it again. Not only am I in love with the results, but it has become so "meditative" for me! I create in the mornings, while I'm having my coffee, and just let my mind be free --- so much fun! So relaxing AND rewarding! You should try it...instead of a paper journal, it's like journaling with your computer

I even created a new page on my website, just for my digital art --- check it out! And, there's music, so turn up your sound! As always, thanks for stopping by!

love and peace always ~ Kathy

"The thing about meditation is: you become more and more YOU" ~ David Lynch

I Officially Have A New Addiction....

...so I've been working on my "style" and trying to come up with new ideas and creations. Seems as though people are fascinated with vintage stuff & animals as of lately. So, this is a new necklace I made for the shop today:I named it "Come Sail Away With Me" ~ I am just in love with that little Swallowtail Sparrow. And the green fluorite is just gorgeous! You can see more pictures of it in the shop.

I've been missing making my little "collage art pendants", so I started looking around to see if I could get some new ideas and found this website ~ isn't it awesome!!! OMG ~ I have a new addiction! It combines my addiction to "digital scrapbooking" with my quirky addiction to old creepy pictures! I'll let you know when my purchases arrive and how much I love them {which I'm afraid will be quite a lot} ~ so between those and my "Websters Pictorial Dictionary"...
...that I just had to have and am totally smitten with ~ thanks to my dear little friend Emily Martin {of whom I'm also addicted and totally smitten with}. And I just love that it's called "A Visual Dictionary of Curiosities" I'll have lots of new, very charming indeed, little pendants rolling out here fairly soon ~ I'll post pictures when I start making them. I hope they receive a warm welcome!

Well, I'm trying to get back to my normal flow of business ~ posting to my blog regularly, making new things daily, updating the shop often, etc. Now that the "Mountain Song Festival" is over and I don't have any new house guests arriving until the first of November, these last weeks of September and the whole month of October should get me back on track. And speaking of the "Mountain Song Festival" ~ it was awesome!!! The music was amazing and the people were all so nice! I just about sold off all of my inventory ~ which was wonderful!! So if you missed it, here's a little video ~ enjoy:

Now ~ back to the business at hand ~ beginning today through Sunday, September 20th, I'm offering "free shipping" on everything. Shipping charges will be refunded through PayPal, after your purchase. Please let me know if you have any questions.
As a reward for reading this long-winded post, these awesome little earrings called "Will It Go Round In Circles" are the freebies for this week's give away! Ozzy will be drawing the lucky winner on Friday. All you have to do to win them is comment on this blog post. Good Luck!!!

Welp, I'm off to fix dinner and enjoy the rest of the evening! Hope you all had a great day!
Until we meet again ~ ♥ & peace always ~ Kathy

"Every human being is intended to have a character of his own; to be what no other is, and to do what no other can do." ~ William Ellery Channing

Paper-n-things........

I don't know what it is about school supplies & art supplies, but I've always loved them!! The more paper, pens, markers, paperclips, folders, hole punchers, ink stamps, etc. I can have, the better! So we went to see "Public Enemies" {the new Johnny Depp movie} after I got my social security card all applied for. Somehow the "safe place" we had put it became so safe that we could not find it, after looking everywhere {literally}. It was just as well, since I needed to change my name on it anyway. Plus, the trip was certainly not wasted! Lucky for me, we got to the theater a little early so I was able to check out the "Big Lots" right next door. Ah.....what a score!! Not only did I get several packages of scrapbook embellishments, a whole pack of fuchsia card stock {which I'll be using for my mailing labels & boxes}, I got these awesome books:and they were only $3 each! I've been "digital scrapbooking" for years, which I LOVE!!! Here is an awesome site, where I get just about all of my page kits. Plus, you can sign up to get "free stuff" every Friday ~ pretty cool. Now, I have stacks of brightly colored paper & card stock that I somehow "collected" over the years that just sits in my closet. I do use some of it often, but I could never use ALL of it {well, maybe}. Anyway, I ran across this article/video on Etsy, from the talented Ms. Mary, on how to make your own paper boxes:

this is my 1st attemptpretty darned cute! Paired up with some scrapbooking embelishments and pretty ribbon, they'll make the perfect little packages for some of my jewelry! So, the next time you purchase something from my shop, you may get a nice little surprise box, too :) Since my "creativity" is eeaking out all over the place, these are some new necklaces I just made:"Sand and Sea"

"Styx & Stones""Marquis"

welp, off to make more....Have a wonderful weekend!!

♥ & peace always ~ Kathy

"The ordinary acts we practice every day at home are of more importance to the soul than their simplicity might suggest." ~ Thomas Moore

P.S. The movie was pretty good {considering you get to look @ Johnny Depp for 2.5 hours}, but it was rather drawn out and boring. It could have easily been a 2 hour movie ~ but I enjoyed it, none-the-less.