summer blessings

It's going to be a hot one ... possibly 100 degrees ... a rare thing in this part of the world.  But I am blessed to live in a relatively new home with a/c and double pane windows and thick blinds to shut out the hot sun.

After a restless night, I woke up this morning very foggy, with a headache and feeling kind of blue.  I am blessed to have a good friend close by that I can drop in on for some much needed creative conversation and a jumbo cup of toddy coffee.

Before diving in to working on the Talismans, it all seemed very clear and straightforward.  Now that I'm in the middle of it, it feels kind of overwhelming ... that forest and the trees thing is in full swing.  This is where I make a concerted effort to not think about anything and just do the work that's calling my scrambled attention.  My efforts have been well rewarded.  I am blessed to create work that is well received and supported by a world-wide audience. 

"I Am Heart Centered" is going to California

"Truth Is One" is going to Japan

"I Am Awake" is headed to the U.K.

The new home for "I Am Grounded" will be in Washington state

I am blessed to have the desire and the skills and the hardware to create the business graphics I need when I need them.  I've spent the whole week working on Etsy listings ... not how I thought my week would go.  When several of the new Talismans sold right away I realized I had bits of graphics for the product info but nothing finished.  All of yesterday was consumed by designing a product info card for All One Talismans.  I was pretty close when I shut down the computer last night.  I did the final tweaking this morning and I'm quite pleased with the results!  The background image is actually a photo-shopped image of a globular star cluster ... one of those little details that no one else will realize, which I rather like.  I like having all the bits meaningful, makes for a much more cohesive whole.

 Blessings are raining down on this hot summer day.  May your day be equally blessed.

l i g a - kvk

tempering and sustainability ...

... those are my words for today.

Tempering my initial enthusiasm for my new workout DVD will lead to a more sustainable practice (but I've lost 6lbs!).

When I've got a bit of money in the bank, tempering my urge to buy stuff will lead to keeping money in the bank and furthering my goals for our sustainable future.

Tempering and focusing my wildly diverse interests as I grow my business will allow me to make more significant contributions to causes I want to support.  I already make regular contributions to our local food bank and I'm looking for a young adult literacy or creative writing program to support, plus I'm really interested in bio-fuels and the untapped potential of algae.  Right now, green energy and building are exciting me the most ... sustainable! 

Tempering my compulsion to get lost on the computer allows for a more productive day and sustains my creativity.

Further tempering my OCD nature to dance around my studio to the Michael Beckwith's album TranscenDance and get righteously inspired..

Pacing my work days, taking breaks, listening to the cicadas, finding time to enjoy my summer flowers ...

echinacea bud

a double red echinacea ... frilly!

I absolutely adore crocosmia ... reminds me of Port Townsend

and nasturtiums remind me of our little cottage up the coast from Santa Cruz ... my all time favorite house and location

 and butterfly bush just makes me plain old happy

Yep, this will be me tempered and sustainable, chillin' and being productive and inspired and groovin' to the good tunes.

Have a beautiful summer day!
l i g a - kvk

trends

Looks like it would be in French, but this is in English ... interesting and very promising trends.  I love Lidewij Edelkoort and Trend Tablet ... 

Profession Tendanceur dans Darketing Vidéo darketing sélectionnée dans Actualité

l i g a - kvk

p.s. ... coming attractions

btw ... if all goes as planned, here's what's coming to Etsy in the next couple of days. 

layers of silver, pebbles and diamonds

and Talismans

... keep your fingers crossed and wish me luck!

l i g a - kvk

Sunday conundrum

There's so much interesting and worthwhile content on the web these days ... what's a busy girl to do?

Right now, I'm wanting to watch 2 hours of Oprah interviews, but I'm doing laundry and have a bunch of new talismans sitting on my worktable awaiting completion.  Then I need to photograph them and list them on Etsy.  So what do I do instead ... I put all of it aside and do a blog post!

There's the intriguing series of Venus Transit calls that I signed up for, but haven't listened to.
There's the ongoing series from Nick Ortner's Tapping Solution and I'm still checking in now and then with Margaret Lynch and her YouTube tapping videos.
Naomi Dunford's IttyBiz is chock full of cool stuff.
I'm thinking about buying Tara Gentile's new inexpensive digital marketing workshop.
Trend Tablet is non-stop inspiration.
Pinterest lurks on my tool bar, tempting me to dive down that rabbit hole where I tend to get lost for an hour or more.  And then there's the new Pinerly thing that I have yet to figure out what the heck it's all about.
I get frequent informative emails from Etsy Success.  They look interesting, but they're stacking up in my in-box unread.
I do find the time for fun things like the daily story from StoryPeople and my horoscope.
The jury's still out on The Cools ... just not grabbing me.
I heard that StumbleUpon is a good business thing for some reason, but not sure why and I can't see that Linked In is of any use for someone like me.
And I feel so remiss that it's been weeks since I spent much time perusing the rather large blogroll in my sidebar ... 
I've got current issues of Selvedge, American Craft, Origin, Yes!, Bazaar, Hand Eye, Town & Country, Habitus and Green in a pile next to my computer desk ... all partially, but not fully, perused.

That's a lot of what's scrambling for my attention, but not all.  What's a girl to do?  There's just not enough hours in a day.

There's two places that are calling to me and for which I'm taking some time.  I'm liking pretty much all of what Durga Holzhauser has to say at the Female Grail and what I'm truly loving and where I'm finding enormous daily inspiration is Mastin Kipp's the Daily Love.  Still can't figure out how this young guy is so wise and tapped in, but there's no denying he is definitely tapped in.

What I've got are options ... lots of options.  What I need to do is not think about it or worry about it or be bummed or frustrated ... what I need to do is just drop down out of my overactive monkey brain and choose from my heart.

But then, silly me, that's the answer for most everything ... actually, that IS the answer for everything.

happy Sunday, happy summer, have a beautiful day

l i g a - kvk

join me?

... in helping to turn this very cool project into a reality.  They've got 6 days left and less than $6000 to go!

l i g a - kvk

next on the list ...

... is transforming these into finished pieces.

There seems to be lots of spirals, but that's okay.  They've got assorted things stamped into the backs, heavy on "I AM..." which will be combined with the little text nuggets and who knows what else.  So what you'll end up with is things like, "I AM ... infinity", which I like quite a lot.  Can't wait to see where my muse will take me. 

Carving stamps is not one of my strong suits, so I've spent a good part of the week working on images and text and themes for a rubber stamp sheet.  Sketching images, scanning and then doctoring, then the endless arranging and rearranging to cram as many things as possible into a 7" x 9" space.  The finished page got shipped off yesterday ... oooohhh, now the delicious anticipation.

As I move forward with my Talisman re-launch, I've gotta admit, I'm finding it hard to stay focused on the designing and strategizing and designing and plotting.  I'm not sure I've ever approached a body of work in this way.  I know that this project is like building a house ... I've got big plans and they're not gonna happen without a good blueprint.  But trying to keep me focused and on task is kind of like herding cats ... 

And then I fell down the computer rabbit hole this morning ... any more, cloudy mornings do that to me.  I just wanted to park my backside here and zone out.  I finally got up, did my stretches and sun salutations and headstand, made my smoothie and got to work.  What got me off my butt was this post from a recent discovery, The Daily Love about sticking to it.  Still trying to figure out how this young guy can be so wise and dead on, but there he is, spouting brilliance and tapped in awareness in pretty much every post.

I'm also totally jazzed to have discovered Durga Holzhauser's The Female Grail.  This post has her excellent 36 Steps towards Avant Garde Femininity.  And if you sign up for her mailing list, you'll get the equally excellent little e-book, Six Ways I Shaped My Own Religion.  BTW ... She's got a retreat center in Provence ................ I'm sure that must be in my future.

So as of right now, I've mixed up my new favorite afternoon beverage, peppermint lemonade, I'm assembling elements and waiting for the next step to present itself.

sticking to it and moving forward .....

l i g a - kvk

p.s.  in case you want some for your own self ...

Peppermint Lemonade

squeeze the juice of one lemon into a large glass (for me a 32oz mason jar)

grab a small handful of fresh peppermint leaves and smash them into the lemon juice

take out most of the leaves, leave a couple for color and more flavor

add a squirt of stevia extract to taste

add a bunch of ice cubes and then fill up the glass with water

YUMMY and super refreshing!

... might throw in some lavender next time

the last two weeks

It's a rainy Sunday afternoon and I've been sipping multiple cups of Bija Deep Cleanse tea (my caffeine buster).  Feeling more contemplative than motivated ... looking back on a productive and very social week following our near perfect trip to St. Augustine of the week before. 

Turns out we didn't take any pictures on our trip ... we chose to flow through our days and not try to document them.  There was the 6am decision to take a 2 1/2 hour detour to avoid driving into the teeth of a tropical storm.  Turned out to be only 1 1/2 hours and well worth it - only a short stretch of heavy rain and wind.

There were breakfasts at the beach followed by long beach walks. 

We had an inspiring afternoon at a wonderful used book store, Anastasia Books.  Chatting at length with the owner, Sandra Parks, a 7th generation St. Augustine local and wife of the late Stetson Kennedy.  Stetson was a contemporary and good friend of Woody Guthrie, marched with Martin Luther King, infiltrated the KKK and lord knows what else. Dave, the librarian, Civil Rights history guy,  Woody Guthrie fan and generally well read spouse, was about to bust when Sandra offered a guided tour of Stetson's archive.  We loaded into her car and tooled over to her house for an amazing look into the world of this extraordinary man.  Dave pretty much floated through the rest of the day!

We dined with good friends, Joe Mark (my older brother Gene's best friend) that I've known since I was 13 and his sweet wife of almost 40 years, Patty.  Spaghetti and good wine watching the sun set over the salt marsh, mullet jumping, great blue herons and wood storks flying overhead, egrets coming home to roost in trees across the marsh.  Joe and Gene pretty much saved my life when I was a horribly depressed teenager.  They would take turns on weekends and make the drive from Gainesville to Tallahassee to take me to galleries and concerts, giving me something to relate to and celebrate.  That Tuesday evening I finally, fully choked up and borderline sobbing, got to thank Joe for his role as guardian angel.  That by itself made the trip worthwhile.

We swam in the cool, salty ocean, walked for miles, drove around and through ocean hammocks and ate wonderful meals.  Another great meal was with our PT friend, Deedra, now living in St. Pete Beach.  We felt very honored that she made the 3 1/2 hour drive up to St. Augustine.  Deedra snapped this shot of me getting ready to dive into my first raw foods experience at Present Moment Cafe.  It was amazing! 

   
After a glorious trip, we got home on Saturday and it was time to get back to work on one more wholesale order ...

I was pleased the gallery requested a discontinued piece, my ladder bracelet ... I do love this piece!

If you happen to be in Yosemite Valley, head over to the Ansel Adams Gallery and see the new work. 

This past week was particularly social - 3 dates with friends ... hours spent chatting and catching up, tea drinking and yummy lunches, studio strolls and gemstone identification.  Probably a record for me.  Unfortunately, I have a hard time socializing and getting anything else done, so I just rolled with it and enjoyed the downtime.

Now I'm gazing around my studio.  Small things make me smile ... one of my milk crates filled with silk and linen and favorite books.

 
I'm trying to just drop in on this new book and not get totally lost ...

Oh, but the week ahead ... I'm very much looking forward to the week ahead.  Nothing on my calendar.  My sketches and research materials for expanding my Talismans lay ready and waiting.

Before hunkering back down for a while, I wanted to share one more thing.  I've been wanting to write down my own credo or manifesto or operation manual.  There's a slew of them out there and I've been thinking it would be helpful as I move forward through what continues to feel like a time of major transformation.  Yesterday a few things came to me.  In no particular order, here's what seems important right now.

Give freely

Stand proudly in the authentic ME

Create with abandon

Honor my past ... it is what made me who I am today

Celebrate the awareness of repeating life patterns.  That awareness is a gift and holds the opportunity to finally heal and move on.

Okay, so that's what I've got for now.

with boundless gratitude and heartfelt blessings ...

l i g a - kvk