One, Two, Three! It's A Collection!

By Cathy

What is about collecting that brings us pleasure and satisfaction? Does it connect us to or bring back emotions from a period in our lives that we feel strongly about? In looking at what I collect there is definitely a connection to childhood memories. For instance, I have a collection of bears. My mother told me I loved my first teddy bear; carried it, hugged it, and slept with it. I still have that teddy bear and over the years have added a few more unique ones.

Along with my teddy bear, I loved Little Golden books. They were the first books that I remember someone reading to me. The oldest one I have from my childhood  is Prayers For Children by Eloise Wilken. I still have my copy of Mother Goose, Snow White, Hansel and Gretel, Tom and Jerry, Nurse Nancy, Zorro, and Sleeping Beauty. Oh, how I loved Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather, the three fairies in Sleeping Beauty and I loved the plump fairy godmother in Cinderella waving her wand and chanting as she changed Cinderella's rags into the "loveliest ball dress that ever was."

“Salaga doola,

Menchicka boola

Bibbidy bobbidy boo!”

One day after I was looking through my collection of over 200 Golden books trying to find one about a train to read to my grandsons, I realized they needed to be in some sort of order. I spent a very enjoyable afternoon sorting them by themes:  trains, fairy tales, bears, dogs, Christmas, religious, Disney, etc. Of course, part of the afternoon was spent reading several of them; bringing back memory after memory. Sweet, sweet memories.

I love to scatter little collections throughout the house, such as my shell collection in the bathroom that makes me think of family vacations, old keys in the guest bedroom that remind me of my grandparents’ house, and wooden spools in my sewing room that make me remember all the things my grandmother, mom, and I once sewed. These little things are special, sometimes only to me.

My favorite collection though, is my collection of rocks. Yes, you read that right – rocks! This collection began when my grandsons were small. They would pick up rocks and bring them to me as gifts; rocks for gramma instead of flowers. Oh, I’ve gotten flowers, but I’ve gotten many more rocks. They still bring me rocks now and then, especially if they find a heart-shaped one. I display these precious gifts in an old cracked bird bath in my shade garden along with others I’ve picked up on my wanderings.

It seems we all collect something. I’ve read all you need is three of a similar thing to have a collection. It may be photographs, ticket stubs, children’s school work, cameras, or books. The scope of collecting is absolutely unlimited.  Those who know me know I love to research. So, of course, I did a little research looking for unusual objects that are collected. You would not believe some of the things people collect. Here’s just a few of the “not so very strange” collections I found.

  banana stickers – over 7,000 unique labels

 bars of soap – 5,000 bars from all over the world

 joker playing cards - 8,520

 napkins – 125,866 different napkins

 erasers – 19,571 from over 100 countries

And the list goes on and on!

I enjoy the quest of collecting whether it’s a book, a shell, or even a simple rock. Do you collect anything? Do you enjoy the thrill of the hunt, the organizing, and the displaying? Do you collect for investment purposes, sentimentality, or simply because you love something? Wander through your home and spend some time with your collections. Maybe your collection is pretty journals stacked on your desk, family pictures arranged on the wall, delicate teacups displayed in the kitchen or an album of vintage postcards. Whatever it is . . . touch it . . . arrange it . . . organize it . . . enjoy it and smile!!

A Gallery of Inspiration

by Kelly

Art is when you hear a knocking from your soul — and you answer. ~Terri Guillemets

I blame Pinterest.

I swear I am going to have that tattooed on my forehead one day.

A few weeks ago, we finally got around to having the last bit of wood floors refinished in our upstairs. I ended up switching the rooms around too.  I moved my daughter's room to the back bedroom and put my office in her old room.  

Mother of the year... I know.

At any rate, once we finally got everything put back in order, I did some major purging and reorganizing in my office.  (The hacksaw may have been pulled out, but shhhhhh...don't tell my husband).  And after the dust settled (literally and figuratively), I was left with - HEAVEN FORBID! - a completely empty wall.

Hello Pinterest.

I decided that it would be fun to create a gallery wall in the wall space above the file cabinet and so naturally, I went to Pinterest where I have an entire board devoted to gallery walls.  And thanks to a little serendipity, I also saw this blog post by Jamie Pate on Heidi Swapp's website.  I think what I love most is the mix of shapes and textures in combination with typography and other elements.  Which is what I wanted to incorporate into my gallery wall.  

So the first thing I did was start with a little sketch.  

I wish I was one of those people that could just pull a bunch of things together willy-nilly, but I tend to do so much better if I have at least some kind of visual to get me going.  For this project, I knew I wanted to incorporate some marquee letters and I had an old, gold-tone, empty frame that I hoped to repurpose...that's where I stared.  Then I sketched in a few other elements (mostly unused picture frames and word art) to fill in the spaces and keep this project as inexpensive as possible ...knowing that the end result would probably look a little different.  

The one thing I splurged on were the marquee letters.  I decided to give them an aged, gold finish by layering on a combination of gold, cream, and silver acrylic paints (all things I had in my supplies).  I also used a tiny bit of an antique rub in between the layers to give it the aged feel.  

Once I had the letters done, I started experimenting with placement by arranging the pieces on the floor.  And in the spirit of full-disclosure, the layout evolved over the course of a couple of days.  I had the big gold frame, the marquee letters, and a chalkboard pretty much fixed.  Friday afternoon I visited Vintage Market Days and bought an antique fence picket which I thought would be a fun addition.  But everything else was open for interpretation.

So fast forward about 36 hours, and this was the final iteration.  I wrote out one of my favorite bible verses in chalk, added a quote by St. Francis of Assisi (the inspiration behind my word for the year - CONNECT), and printed out a couple of photos.  The next step was to hang it up on the wall.  Once again, someone like my friend Carrie could probably hang all this up with no map and all the pictures would be level and everything would be perfectly spaced.  But not me.  So I started by measuring and marking, then hanging the largest pieces - the frame, marquee letters, and chalkboard - and then added the other elements one at a time.

Here is the end result.

I just love the way it turned out.  Each of the elements speaks to my heart and makes me so happy.

If you are interested in creating a gallery wall for yourself,  I would offer the following pieces of advice.  First, try not to overthink it....this should be fun.  Next, choose a variety of elements in various shapes and sizes - word art, frames, photos.  Also, try incorporating a variety of finishes in gold, painted, and/or wood.  Then, as you put your design together, don't be afraid to move things around - my end result turned out quite a bit different than my original sketch.  Finally, I find that keeping at least one edge of each element aligned is the best way to keep all these different styles, colors, and shapes unified. For instance in my wall, the bottom of the letters line up with the bottom of the gold frame and the framed print of my daughter lines up along the left edge.

I know this type of display isn't for everyone, but I find it to wonderfully inspirational to have all of these things I love in the place where I create. And what a gift to create something beautiful just for yourself.

I'd love to see your creative spaces! You can upload them to our Flickr pool or share them on Instagram using the #focusingonlife.  

Until next time,

Kelly

Photo & Seashell Mobile

by Kelly

I do it every time I go to the beach....

I always end up bringing back a baggie full of seashells.

Maybe to some it's not a big deal, but here in Oklahoma, it's not something that we so a lot of.  To me they are so interesting, so delightful.  But the question once I get home is always the same...

What am I going to do with all these seashells?

We recently got back a from a heavenly, week-long vacation in Marco Island, FL.  And of course, I brought back shells.  But on our last day, I popped into a little gift/craft shop for our customary Christmas ornament. It was there that I saw a mobile made out of an embroidery hoop, seashells, and raffia.  And I thought to myself {say it with me now!} "I can make that!"

This past weekend, I came up with my own take on this mobile and it turned out really cute.  So I thought I would share with you how I made it in case you've got a bunch of shells hanging around too.

So the the first thing obviously is the shells.  I when I got home I soaked them in a 50/50 bleach/water solution for a couple of hours. Then I set them out on a towel to dry.  You could also set them outside in the sun if you wanted.

Next I got out the drill and drilled a hole into the shell.

I found that standing the shell on its small end like this was the easiet, most stable way to drill the hole.

Once I got all the holes drilled I gathered up my supplies:

• embroidery hoop (this little number I found at a garage sale for 25 cents)
• raffia
• twine
• shells
• small photos

For the photos, I just printed out a few of my favorites from our vacation.  I did this by creating a letter-sized, grid/layout in Lightroom.  The individual cells are 2.5" x  2.5" and I then just cut them out with my paper trimmer.

Next, I tied a piece of raffia to my embroidery hoop.

Then continued on around the hoop adding a few pieces of twine here and there.

I purposely did not obsess about the number of raffia vs. twine pieces.  Because #1) who cares and #2) I honestly think part of the charm of this craft is the random mix of textures.  

The next step was to add a mix of photos and shells to the lengths of raffia and twine.  Other than trying not to tie them at the same height, I didn't worry too much about the placement.  And as a final step, I added four additional pieces of twine and brought them together at the top and created a loop for hanging the mobile.

This project only took about an hour and half, and then I hung it up in a corner in my office.  And can I tell you....I absolutely love it.

I love seeing the faces of my family and friends alongside my little treasures...it's like a hanging scrapbook.  

Whether or not you get all crafty like this or not, please...print your pictures.  Print your snapshots. Print your Instagram shots.  Print pictures of your coffee mugs.  Your pictures of the sunset and your selfies.  Don't worry about the focus or the 20 pounds you'd like to lose.  Don't worry if they aren't high art.  Because THIS is your Art....your life is your Art.  

If you decided to do something like this, be sure to take a photo and share it in the Flickr pool for all of us to see.  And if you have any ideas for displaying seashells, share them in the comments....I'd love to hear those too!  

Until next time,

Kelly

A Little of This & A Little of That

by Deanna

I am still in the midst of my Christmas decorating, these days I am ALWAYS running late for just about anything and everything I do.  How about you, are you done and have all your Christmas shopping complete or are you a little like me....still in the midst of it?  Tonight I am joining some very good girlfriends for dinner and thought, since the hostess insisted that we bring NOTHING (how sweet is that??!!) that she wanted to prepare the entire dinner, including dessert I really should bring some kind of hostess gift.

So...yesterday I was at my local grocery store and while there picked up those miniature poinsettias, right now they are buy one, get one free.  Not even thinking about a hostess gift when I purchased them, but thank goodness I did have the sense to take advantage of the sale, I now have a hostess gift.  To make it kinda special, I added some left-over berries and a bow to the (free) poinsettia.  And speaking of left-over berries.....I buy garlands of berries, or flowers, or ivy, or greens whatever and cut it up.  It is amazing how much product you can get from a garland vs. buying individual stems. And you do know I am talking fake here, not real.

I updated my front door wreath with a garland of berries, the old ones were fading from a bright red to a fuschia pink along with the ribbon.  I just cut off the old berries with a wire cutter (a must have in any craft room) and added a fresh new garland of berries and a new bow....voila a brand new wreath.  And I still have plenty of berries left to add to anything else I might find that needs a lift.  That is exactly what I used in the poinsettia hostess gift.

And speaking of new....I bought a new lens, the new Tamron 70-200 mm 2.8 zoom lens.  I just received it this afternoon and I am amazed, simply amazed by the sharpness.  It is my Christmas present to myself.   I have had several family photo shoots in the past few months and I decided to save the money and buy myself this lens, I figured this was the perfect way to spend the money, upgrading my equipment.  I think I am going to love this lens especially for my daughter's dance recitals...photographing those sweet darlings in their cuter than cute tutu's.  And dress rehearsal is Saturday....perfect timing.

A couple of shots with the new lens.....

I think Cinder needs a trim, you can hardly see her eyes...she is all decked out in her red Christmas sweater.  It has been so frigid cold here that she is happy to have this extra layer.  I bought Toby one too, but he acted like he was gagging when I put it on him.  He wanted no part of a sweater.

So I know this post is a little of this and a little of that...but my life has been like that lately.  Little bits of happiness and little bits of sadness, but you gotta have the sad to recognize the happy.  And in perspective, the happiness bits have far outweighed the sad.  Hope your life is like that too.  This is my last post here on Focusing On Life before Christmas, so I am wishing you a beautiful, merry, bright & holy Christmas.

Designing MY Life

by Carol A.

We're baaacccckkkk.....

Welcome to Fall, everyone - my favorite season. And we FOL girls send a big thank you to Terri Porter, who always combines our images in the most artful way to create our seasonal borders. What do you think? It announces that we are back from our month-long summer break, energy restored and ready to chase inspiration.

This week my inspiration came from a "fan favorite" - Nate Berkus. All month long, I've been hearing the ad for his book called "The Things That Matter." I have never been much interested in "design." As a single mother, always working, I needed to support my children and give them  a safe and emotionally happy home. There was never money for cleaning ladies, or decorators, and I got very creative with garage sale finds! Other than some furniture my grandmother left to me, I don't think I even bought any "real furniture"  until I was in my thirties.

To me, better than a velvet throne

Of course we all make choices. I accumulated things.  I love old houses, and I generally try to stick with the original style my house was built for. And I love do-dads and memories and pictures. I'd rather have cool Christmas tree ornaments, and good music playing  than "big girl" furniture. I enjoy Homegoods more than Raymour and Flannigan. But at some point, enough is enough! What attracted me about Nate's ads was that he kept saying that "your home should tell your  story" - and you all know how much I like stories! Here's Nate:

    " Each object tells a story and each story connects us to one another and to the world. The truth is, things matter.  They have to. They're what we live with and touch each and every day. They represent what we've seen, who we've loved and where we hope to go next. They remind us of the good times and the rough patches , and everything in between that's made us who we are."

This fits just perfectly inside of how I have viewed this year. If you remember, my word this year was simplify.  I've been slowly winnowing through all the junk I have saved, in case my kids need it. The truth is, I have finally realized that the kids don't want it  -  they want to do their own thing! So I am trying to ditch the unnecessary. It's hard for me, but I am asking myself - Why do I have all this cookware? I hate to cook! Why do I have all these clothes, when I wear black pants to work almost every day? This weekend I downsized my car - Why was I driving a big one, when my kids rarely ride with me anymore? If I am so fascinated with art, why isn't there more of it in my house, and why am I not spending more time at my local museums? I live 40 minutes outside of New York, for goodness sake - and I go in about twice a year. That's crazy!

To me, better than a crystal vase.

Even my photography workshop in May, which was about defining your style, played into the theme. I was taught that defining your style is not to limit you, it's to cull those many shots that you took just because, and focus you on your own voice - your own story, so that you can get really good at telling it. Your art , like your home, should serve a purpose - it should express your soul.

To me, better than fine china.

So after many, many years of figuring out just who I am, I am moving forward to live it. As Nate suggests, I am going to "surround myself with objects that bring me joy." Now that's decorating I can get into!

The only person you should try to be better than
is the person you were yesterday.

By the way, our theme for September is "MORNING."  Click on the "Monthly Focus" tab above to read more about it, and join us in our Flickr group, and on our FB page, as well as in Instagram and Twitter. Share with us what matters to you, and how you start your day. Happy Fall Everyone!