Savoring

I'm savoring life right now.  I sneak away and work on a crochet sunhat for myself every now and again.  I'm also dreaming up what I'm making for my son's second grade teacher... last day of second grade is quickly approaching, maybe I should just do instead of pondering, but dreams really do make the best creations.

I am working on several ideas that I'll be working on over the summer in preparation for the autumn markets and exhibits.  I look forward to sharing them with you as I create them.

I am dreaming of the art I want to hang in my bathroom once it's finished.  I've settled on a canvas wrapped photograph that I took on an early morning in Virginia Beach last year or Panama City Beach, both taken in November 2012 after our exodus from Sandy.  These are the photos I'm considering...

Panama City Beach I

Panama City Beach II

Panama City Beach III

Virginia Beach

In my searches for just the right thing, I have decided that sometimes the right thing is to find someone to make it for me.  I think that we forget about the artisans in the world.  We got to Etsy and browse and then to Pottery Barn, Restoration Hardware, Bed Bath & Beyond, the Dollar Store, and all of those places that have things that are cookie cutter, mass produced.  I'm guilty of it.  I have done it, too often.  I'm making an effort to go to those I know, or seek out artisans who have the know-how, and hire them.  It's made a hop-skip-and jump away, not having a trip through Customs.  I can work with the artisan to achieve exactly what I want and I have the thrill of having something that no one else has.  Sure it costs a bit more than I would pay for mass produced or even vintage, but sometimes that's okay.  Sometimes one needs to indulge.  I look forward to sharing what I am having made when it's complete, sometime next month, but I wanted to encourage you to seek out the local artisans in your area to help you if there's something you're in need of that you cannot make on your own.  It will be so satisfying for all parties.

Now I'm off to make sweet cherry jam because I am craving it and I know that it will taste this winter on the dark, cold days to come!  I'm also nostalgic about sweet cherry jam because it was my favorite breakfast condiment many years ago when I visited Europe - sweet cherry jam, croissants, and coffee.

Be well!  Thank you for stopping in to read.

Have a blessed week!
~Nicole

June, already???

Oh, my!  How can it be June already?

Last month I was in the Birds and Blooms Exhibit at Markeim Arts Center in Haddonfield, New Jersey.  That was fantastic.  At the closing party a kid, really a kid - he's 14, did abstract painting and it was spectacular to watch.  I never "got" abstract art before, but he had such energy and such a method - it really was something.  His name is Nick Kepron, his work is vibrant!  I sold a few pieces at the show, so that's always a pleasure.

Now everything's home.  I've gone through my inventory and have several items to photograph and list on WoodstreamDream and WoodstreamPapery.

My summer looks good for creating and listing.  I am available for custom work - think about what your winter weather accessories looked like before you packed them up.  Needing a new scarf or cap?  Drop me a line and I'll work with you to create something just for you!

I'm continuing work on my studio.  That was put on hold while my husband had a flurry of travel and my older son had two bouts with the stomach bug last month.  It's back on track.  Furniture has been moved.  More "stuff" to sort through and rearrange.  The destash table at my friend's yard sale last month helped to clear some stuff out.  After rearranging and sorting, my largest task is finding a table top surface to go over the filing cabinets (so I have smooth flat work surface) - the dimensions are 27ish by 54ish.  I think too deep for formica (my first thought).  Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

This month ends with my husband's birthday and my younger son's birthday back to back.  I'm working on getting everything settled for birthday parties and plans for the summer - trying to get travel plans nailed down.

I'm also working on ordering all that will be needed for our bathroom renovation coming up in July.  I will be posting renovation photos here.  Some of the projects are DIY - I bought an antique dresser and mirror that will be transformed into our vanity and medicine cabinet.  This is a gut job, right now it's a drafty 1964 bathroom with blue tile and tub.  I have showered for nearly four years straight and I'm ready for a good long soak in my new tub!  Most fixtures are chosen, some have been delivered and now reside in our garage.  We went through a kitchen renovation three years ago and this one should prove to be great for before & after photos, too!  I'm looking forward to the finished product, or at least when I can take a bath!

I will be back to photography and listing some time this week or next.  I have a couple new baskets and several new gift tags to get photographed and listed.  My delay is because yesterday morning I scratched my cornea when cleanser flicked up into my eye while cleaning the kitchen sink.  I find myself fatigued with wearing glasses, always needing to refocus it seems.  I go to the eye doctor tomorrow and hopefully sometime next week I can switch back to contacts.  For now it's eye drops every 4 waking hours and glasses.  It's not as painful as it was yesterday, so I'm hoping that I feel back to normal in a day or two.

Have a blessed week!  Thanks so much for checking in!
~Nicole

Summer is approaching...

I can barely believe it's been two weeks (or so) since I last wrote...  Time has flown by.  I had four PTO events in those two weeks.  My husband was supposed to have a six-day plus two-day business trip (back-to-back), but fortunately that's been scaled down to the two-day (this Thursday and Friday).  There was Mother's Day (Happy Mother's Day if you didn't read my FB posts over the weekend!).  I had an opening on May 3rd at Markeim Arts Center for Birds and Blossoms the 2013 Power of the Flower Exhibit.  Then there was the other day-to-day activities, you know - parenting, housekeeping, chauffeuring, cooking, laundry, shopping for our bathroom renovation, and basic holding down the fort stuff.

Meanwhile, I am counting the days until summer arrives... I get summer fever really bad.  I was a special education teacher for five years before we started our family and I can totally relate to the daydreaming and "senioritis" and all of that springtime behavior that's annoying in the classroom, but a reality that we cannot deny - we all want OUT!

My little one has five days of preschool, plus a school picnic and then he's done, oh the glories of preschool - finished before Memorial Day!!!

My older son has school until June 20th.  It's always hard when school goes past Father's Day.  It was always a marker for me on the calendar that summer had started.  Not this year.  Oh, well.

In planning our summer, I love to have impromptu things that I can pull out of my hat at a moment's notice.  Now last year I didn't really do this.  I was tied to the recovery schedule after my four spring surgeries.  It was not the spring, summer, or autumn that I envisioned with my children.  I think that's why I'm looking forward to this summer even more than usual.

I've started pinning ideas to my Kid Stuff board on Pinterest.

I've also started a list of things that I'd like to do with the kids, things we missed out on last year for one reason or another, and things the kids have mentioned wanting to do...

Beach Day (well, many more than just one)

Sprinkler

Have a cook out with friends

Grow a garden (that's more for me)

Go on a Hayride

Pick fruit

Bake something yummy with the fruit

Make jam to enjoy over the winter

Go whale watching

Find praying mantis (my older son)

Visit Steamtown (my younger son)

Visit Washington D.C.

River Sharks game (local baseball)

Sleep over Nana and Papa’s house (during our bathroom renovation)

Camp out back with Daddy (missed this last year)

Make Popsicles

Make homemade ice cream

Vacation Bible School

Visit Uncle Jon, Aunt Stacy, and Vanessa (yay, they're in the states this year!)

Go fishing with Uncle Joe (missed this last year)

Catch frogs at Grandmom and Grandpa’s (my older son)

Catch fireflies

Play croquet

Play badminton

Learn some bird calls (my older son has the mourning dove down pat, perhaps a few more)

PJ day with movies on a rainy day

Blow bubbles

Watch the clouds (missed this last year)

Track moon phases

Wash mom’s car

Have a science project day (or two)

Make homemade pasta

Make homemade pizza dough (I usually buy frozen whole wheat dough, they make it with my mom, but really we can do this at home ... when the pace slows during the summer)

Play with water balloons

Build a sandcastle

Go on a hike

Go to the library (I've been really bad about this with the boys since we moved to this house)

Use the metal detector at the beach

Fly kites

Make trail mix

Make a fruit pizza

Read  books (have to dig out some classics; definitely continuing the Chronicles of Narnia)

Make slime

Build a tepee (on my husband's list)

Draw on the driveway with chalk

Play checkers

Make a sand cast at the beach

Go swimming

Go on rides at Gillian’s (shore amusements on the boardwalk in Ocean City, NJ)

Play mini golf

Do a scavenger hunt

Look through the telescope at the summer night sky

Ride bikes

I hope that we'll get to do all of these things and more.  I'm sure that some of these things will be repeated, some deleted, and we'll add a few more as the summer approaches.

I want to take lots of pictures - of the flowers, of my family, of our adventures.  I want to bring a bag of crochet with me to the shore and sit in the sand crocheting under the umbrella as the kids bury each other and then go jump in the waves with my husband.  I want to tend my garden, eat from it, can for the winter, and share when there's abundance.

I want to savor each moment because really the memories are what matter most.  My children's memories of their childhood will shape how they spend time with their children.  I want them to have magnificent and magical memories that make them want to create memories of their own with their children.

What are you planning to do this summer?  I would love to hear from you in the comments section - maybe I'll add to my list when I hear of the fantastic things you're planning!

I'm currently working on a dark olive large handled basket.  I will be posting progress photos on my Facebook page this week.  Stop by to see how it's going and when it's ready for purchase!

Have a blessed week and thank you for stopping in!

~Nicole

Happenings... including a Feature Interview on Markets of Sunshine and Destash Sale

Hello!  I hope that your day was lovely and that you didn't have to endure the soggy day that I had here in New Jersey.

This week I'm the featured artist on the Markets of Sunshine Blog and you can read my here.

Saturday, May 4th, 8am-noon - I will be having a Destash Sale at a friend's yard sale in the 200 block of Dayton Avenue in Collingswood, New Jersey.  I will have a table full of items at bargain prices, ready for you to make something beautiful!  Please stop by, we'll be right down the street from the Collingswood Farmer's Market - it's opening week - so exciting!!!

Now for some news that I don't think you're expecting...

I'm taking the time to step back a bit from my professional world to spend time with my children.  I am feeling the nudge from God that my work has been taking me farther from my family than just the next room and I need to address that in my own way.  

I plan to continue creating and fulfilling the creative outlet that I do need and enjoy, but to a lesser scale than I had been striving for in the past several months.  I have several items created, awaiting photographing and listing.  I will continue to create new items - the second generation Tech Sleeve idea is burning a hole in my creative pocket!  There are other items that I have in mind and they will be made as well, but in due time.  I also will be accepting custom orders - my absolute favorite part of my job - creating something unique for a particular person.

Thank you so much for stopping by and reading.  I appreciate all of your support and I hope that you continue to stop by to read.

Many blessings to you and yours!
Best,
~Nicole

Event update - the BuzzFest in Houston with The indiExhibit - Earth Day Flash Sale - Custom Orders

My OOAK upcycled phone/tech case was featured at the BuzzFest this past weekend in Houston, Texas.  Check out photos here of the featured art that was gifted.

There are about two hours left to my Earth Day Flash Sale - 40% off when you purchase $50 or more of product from WoodstreamDream using code:  EARTHDAY at check out - valid through 10pm ET today, April 22, 2013.

I'm busy working on a custom order of pairs of baskets.  You can see the finished baskets that I posted here on Friday evening.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Have a blessed week!  Praying that it's peaceful all around.

~Nicole

Wrenching

Again this afternoon I felt transported back 11.5 years ago to a horrible morning.  Then I was a teacher.  Today I'm a mom.  Then I sheltered my students - third and fourth grade boys and girls - from the terror.  Today I read online while my boys played and did homework.  I waited until they were playing outside with my husband tonight in the safety of our backyard before I dared to turn on the news.  I stopped watching the news many years ago - but tonight I wanted to know who and why, so much more elusive - WHY???????  I cannot scream it loud enough, I do not scream it at all, except inside - from every bit of my soul.

I know there are so many who are feeling this reeling, wrenching pain.  So many there who feel the physical pain that can't be taken away regardless of the amount of pain medication and that it will take so long to get past this day - to come to terms with this day, because one really never forgets this kind of thing.  This terror.  Wounds are torn open, actual and those that our friends cannot see, ones we hide with a smile and, "Fine."

But we are strong and resilient and we will be stronger and we will heal and remember and honor and revere those who stepped forward today and those who will never be the same and will never be forgotten because they were among the innocents.

This is the prayer I posted on my Facebook feed after I read first about what had happened...

Prayers for those in Boston and those reliving tragedies as they see this develop. Prayers for those helping, rescuing, and caring for victims. Prayers for those families that will never be the same.

I will continue my prayers tonight and for so many more nights to come.  And when this has faded from the headlines, something will remind me of this day and I will pray again.  I have faith.  Faith in our country and faith in the people.  Most importantly, faith in the Lord.  My faith gives me hope that He will teach me something that will make tomorrow a little bit easier to bear here on this earth.

Thank you for reading.  Please pray - or send positive thoughts, should you choose not to pray -  for those who are suffering tonight.  It will not end when the newspaper, Facebook, Twitter, and television headlines fade - remember and honor, regardless of the headline.

~Nicole

The Market Happenings

So by now you know that I am a member of Markets of Sunshine.  We're a group of artists who create and sell, but our goal is to promote one another through cooperative advertising.

Our April Gift Boxes are now for sale.  This is the link to the YouTube video of the contents in this month's box.  The boxes are available for sale each month until they run out.  They contain 5 full-size products in the small box and 10 full-size products in the large box.  The profits of the sale of these boxes goes towards funding our advertising.

Markets of Sunshine has joined 40billion.com to continue to connect with people around the world.

The Markets have teamed up with the indiExhibit and have been featured in the Celebrity Gifting Lounge at the 2013 Academy Awards and will be at the BuzzFest in Houston this month.  We have two other celebrity events coming up later this year.

The NerdWallet has listed Markets of Sunshine in their Earth Day Ten Eco-conscious Businesses - this is because many of our shops (including both of mine) reuse, upcycle, and use eco-friendly materials in the production of our goods.

There's a blog contest weekly for anyone who wants to enter to win - this week the prize is Watkins Vanilla Extract and a Horse Key Chain by Delecto Art (one of our member shops).

When you purchase a Gift Box, you'll see an additional piece of my art... I've designed the note card included in each box.

Thanks for checking in and have a blessed weekend!

~Nicole