hellloooo!!!

No, I have not been abducted! 

I'm here, enjoying SPRING and getting ready

for my son's high school graduation and departure

for U.S.Navy boot camp. 

I am finding time to do a bit of digital designing. 

Graduation is a week and a half away!! 

Party preparations are underway.

And spring is here! Oh, how I love May!

It is my birth month and my second favorite

after June.

I hope you are enjoying this lovely time of year, too.

May is a beautiful gift.

~♥~

I remember...

I've been working on a scrapbook for my graduating senior. While I do digital design

almost daily it has been way too long since I worked on any traditional scrapbooking.

Lo and behold~ I REMEMBER how! I am loving working with paper and scissors and 

real photographs! I am making this book on a 4" x 6" format and it will be

 a hybrid creation~ a mix of traditional and digital pages.

Now that I have rediscovered paper scrapbooking 

I think I will embark on more projects including books in this

 smaller format for all of my kids. 

Of course, scrapbooking skills are not the only things I'm remembering.

My worktable is covered in sweet memories. My children's sweet faces 

are smiling up at me across the years. How time has flown! 

I am filled with gratitude and wonder for the life we have had.

These visible markers remind me to cherish EACH day. 

~♥~

awakened

Does spring awaken your spirit?

It certainly does mine. 

In my studio, I find myself

drawn to the colors of the April landscape~

tender greens, soft pinks and sea-tinged aquas.

The sun falls on my work table 

in gilded streams. Things SPARKLE!

And I am filled with gratitude

for this time of year, this day, 

this very moment!

~May your day be lush

with spring's wondrous gifts.♥ 

beautiful words...

from... a holy experience

"1. Life is not an emergency.

Life’s a gift. 
Just Slow.

 2. Now is not a forever grace but amazing grace.

Do whatever it takes to wake to wonder right here.

 3. Sometimes the slowest way is the fastest way to joy.

{Slowest=fastest to joy}

 4. Laughter is the cheapest, holiest medicine.

Preschoolers laugh 300 times a day. Aim for double that. Tickle someone, (yourself!), if necessary. This is good!

 5. Motherhood is a hallowed place because children aren’t commonplace.

Co-laboring over the sculpting of souls is a sacred vocation, a humbling privilege.

Never forget.

 6. Homemaking is about making a home, not about making perfection.

A perfect home is an authentic, creative, animated space where Peace  and Beauty are embraced.

{Perfect does not equate to immaculate.}

 7. A pail with a pinhole loses as much as the pail pushed right over.

A whole life can be lost in minutes wasted, small moments missed.

 8. Believe it: I have all I need for today.

The needs of our day are great but our God is greater and we call Him Providence because we believe: He is the One who always provides.

{And when God provides, He should be praised, and if God always provides, shouldn’t praise always be on the lips?}

 9. Slow. Children at play.

The hurry hurts the kids.

Time’s this priceless currency and only the slow spend it wise enough to be rich.

If we had to actually buy our time, would we spend it more wisely — spend it more slowly?

{God’s Word never says Hurry Up. God words only whisper: Wake Up.}

 10. Love is patient.

Parenting’s this gentle way of bending over in humility to help the scraped child up because we intimately know it takes a lifetime to learn how to walk with Him.

Patience.

Love always begins with patience."

art is my band aid

The world is very troubled these days. My heart is heavy 

as natural disasters, wars and 

nuclear meltdowns are the order of the day.

I turn to art, my refuge, and find it is merely a band aid, not a cure.

Still, I am grateful for the respite that creativity offers.

When I create I find myself in a quiet, prayerful, meditative state. 

I listen to my heart. I talk to my God.

I hope you have a safe harbor in these troubled times.

I hope. 

Always.

Prayers needed...

Today I am taking a break from my rambling to encourage prayers, donations, good vibes... whatever you can offer to those affected by the massive earthquake in Japan this morning and tsunamis following. 

There is reassuring news from our Naval facilities in Japan. 

The tsunami waves are just beginning to be felt in Hawaii where many of our sailors and their families are located.
If you are looking for a reputable agency to donate to for disaster relief,
I recommend the United Methodist Committee on Relief. 

out of hibernation!

Hello birds and blooms and tender green.
Spring is teasing north Texas. The early trees are blooming, but it is chilly today.
My creativity is fed by the longer days, the pale flowers and the promise of warmth.

I think I have become a jewelry maker. This is what I am drawn to the very most
these days. I am loving incorporating old and new, fibers and lace, wee collages
under glass and painted elements. My worktable is a collage itself... there are holy
cards, vintage beads, feathers, shells, fabric, jewels and on and on.

I am working on digital projects, as always. I am even scrapbooking a bit~ working
on a graduation book for my son and starting his US Navy scrapbook. Some of it is digital
and some traditional scrapbooking. It feels good to return to this after a long hiatus.

Hope spring is near for you also. ♥

a mother's journey

I have started a blog to chronicle my journey

as a Navy mom. I hope you will join me

as I traverse this new and challenging sea.

It is a journey that started with one simple question~

"Did you ever think about joining the Navy?"

son and sea

snapping out of it...

February is a long month despite it's fewer days. 

We have had snow and temperatures in the 80s. 

My palm trees are ice-nipped and the neighbor's cherry tree in blooming. 

I am so very glad that this is the last day of this, my least favorite month.

I have a confession. I've been in a little funk... a bit sad and lethargic.

I hate feeling that way. It is contrary to all I believe about thinking positive 

and moving forward. But, I had a wee epiphany! I had a very sad moment

about my son leaving for US Navy bootcamp in a few months. Afterwards

I realized that this is what has been making me sadder than usual. 

I know he is doing the right thing. He is going into an elite field where

he will receive wonderful training. He will be safer in an aircraft carrier

than many who serve in the military. He is bright and determined.

I am very proud of him. 

Still, my heart is aching. 

But, spring is in the air and I am blessed beyond measure. 

I am shaking off the blues and embracing this day!

Life is too short, too dear to give over to sadness.

Life stands before me like an eternal spring

 with new and brilliant clothes.

~Carl Friedrich Gauss

coming soon!

We had snow last Wednesday and bitter cold, but I am elated to say
that it is going to be in the 70sthis week in the Dallas suburbs!!!! JOY!!!
I feel spring waiting in the wings, preparing her beautiful

floral costume! I also feel my spirits lifting! Lest I start feeling too
triumphant for surviving winter,I remind myself...
we have a few more weeks of potentially wintery weather, but for today~

I am so grateful for the sun and the little harbingers of spring in the air!

My creativity benefits from this change of seasons! I have been
 making some pretty new pendants and bracelets for my shop.
I need to complete a few more before I list them, but you can see 

some of my jewelry here... http://www.etsy.com/shop/seadreamboutique

I hope spring is on the horizon for you, also!♥

I ♥ Phil!

Punxutawney Phil did NOT see his shadow today!

 EARLY SPRING! YAY!

Yes, I am willing to put my faith in a fat rodent. 

It is 15 degrees in the Dallas suburbs and icy, so yes, any little thing

that indicates spring's approach sounds good to this mermaid!

Hurry! Hurry!

Silly me!

 It seems I am so slow  to learn! It is utterly silly

that it has taken me so many years 

to learn life's most basic lessons.

But I have learned a few... like the value of listening,

and letting go, the incredible truths one can hear in silence.

I have come to appreciate the powerful gift of understanding

and the peace that come from kindness.

And amazingly,I feel no obligation to explain myself. 

I know who I am.

I think this is called 

"being comfortable in your own skin."

What a glorious realization!!

It makes life sweeter and I greet each day

with an open heart. I still have much to learn.

Silly me! I'll never be "done."

 I intend to relish this beautiful journey,

to continue to listen to the universe,

to appreciate its amazing benevolence .

~♥~

Sometimes I wonder how it would be to travel back in time,

not just to another place and era, but to a feeling.

Imagine a snowy afternoon, near twilight, the sun 

smoldering at the very edge of the day.

Imagine a breathless feeling, a knowing

that life is such a golden gift,

a treasure so dear the knowledge

of it nearly ignites in your chest.

Imagine the beautiful weight

of possibility, the sound 

of silvery runners over the snow.

~♥~

Winter days are for dreams,

for small excursions of the mind

when the world is cold and quiet.

a winter day...

To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven.

Ecclesiastes 3:1

What a lovely day... church, lunch with friends and a beautiful snowfall.

I am a summer gal, but even I can appreciate a day like this.

My daughter and I went to an abandoned barn and took lots of photos.

It was so magical.

There are blessing everywhere...

even in the snow.

~Stay warm~

~♥~

perspective

Everyone knows that things look altered when viewed from different perspectives.

Even a thing you have seen countless times can appear utterly different

when you approach it from a changed direction. 

Sometimes the shift can be internal, a quietening of the inner voice

that allows the universe to whisper in your ear.

Today I was blessed with such an experience.

I heard such a whispering, a gentle, but insistent urging.

What a gift, this new and clear perspective.

I am grateful that life never fails to teach me new things,

 thankful for the blessing of a listening heart.

~♥~

just do it!

happy, originally uploaded by Sea Dream Studio.

I AM a happy person. I am so grateful

for my life. I have a wonderful family, dear friends

and the gift of time to pursue creative projects

in my sweet studio.

But, sometimes I find myself wishing too much.

There are aspects of my life that could be better,

things that are within my grasp. I commit myself

to less wishing and more doing in 2011 and beyond.

I will never give up dreaming, but I want to give my dreams

wings and a voice.

I vow to dream with purpose

and use my dreams as inspiration for every day life. 

I will dream with faith, trust and eyes wide open

that I might see the path before me. I love this journey, 

even when it takes me far from where I planned to go. 

I wish you a joyful journey this year!

~♥~

The gift of a new year

Life is good! Here I am nestled among my big babies! 

I am blessed beyond measure.

I choose to look forward with hope and gratitude. 

I am ready for this new year.

I wish you peace, joy and love.♥