Live Love, Everyday.

It is almost That time of year, again...

 Yes, that time when the stores are full of hearts, and everything pink, red, and all things mushy gushy. Reminders of a difficult partner, or spouse, or being single, or facing this time of year alone-can make this pepto bismol pink laden time make you wish the stuff was a different color, so you could stomach it! But it will always be pink, so I am here to help!

Sometimes I wanna say FU Love in February!!! With the nicest smile I can muster. ^_^ 

What I learned, while living my days happily single, was that love needed more than one day out of the year. It needs to exist in the forefront of our lives. It shouldn't be corporations telling us how, or when to shower love on those dear to us in our lives. But rather it should be a daily expression for those we love. Including ourselves.

Did you hear that? LOVE YOURSELF. That is the first step to living love, Everyday.

Really let that sink in.

I'll just sip my coffee a bit while you do that.

Ready? Good. Love yourself yet? Either way, let's work on loving ourselves more together...

What I mean to say is-stop the voice that says "Oh I love myself, I just feel I need to work on (insert whatever things you are used to being hard on yourself here). Then I will be happier with who I am."

You are you. Perfect, and amazing and right where you need to be. Does that mean you need to stop making yourself set attainable goals? No, it just means to be kinder to yourself and start loving yourself as you are. Right Now.

So the first thing I am asking you do to Live Love Everyday, is to make this little habit:

As you are getting ready, each day, look in the mirror and say "I love you"

Yes, I know it is silly. But what is worse? Looking in the mirror and thinking "Oh my gosh. I hate my (insert thing you are not nice to yourself about....I know you have thought this before about something)."  Is that really better than saying "I love you" to yourself?  Didn't think so.

We all have been taught to compare and pick apart our beautiful bodies. And that ends now.

So go...start the rest of your day a little better and find a mirror, or use your phone to say "I love you" to the most important person in your world.

And let me know how you felt afterwards. Comment below or #liveloveeveryday so we can chat about it.

Living in the rhythm of love...share the bliss!

Gotta making habit to feed

Summer has been incredibly short and such a whirlwind! I have been working occasionally at the local Farmers Market peddling my wares and I love getting to see who is buying my stuff, and how happy it is making them.

As a child, I was THAT kid- asking teachers for more work, and always wanting to explore my talents. I played the flute, and through volunteering during a UIL crisis (I'll save that for another time)- ended up being a percussionist. Now I am devoting most of my time to writing and making stuff.


There is something satisfying to me about seeing something and thinking "Oh, I can make that!" The problem is the more I look at stuff the more I want to make. I guess that's not a bad thing. I mean, it could be worse. These things I see I would rather make because I know that as long as I keep my brain active and keep teaching it things I will be just fine. It does pose a problem in our tiny house, however.

I have supplies for sewing, and needlepoint, thanks to the pillow I made for our wedding; supplies for calligraphy and typing, thanks to my love for beautiful words; a bell set, mallets, drumsticks, electronic keyboard, a flute, guitar, violin, and this awesome victrola for my love of music...as well as craft supplies for scrapbooking, jewlery, and other things I am getting a bit overwhelmed just thinking about it. One of my biggest obstacles has been finsing the right storage for it all, so it is easy and accessible. If anybody has figured the magic solution out, please fill me in.

So, for now...I have everything portable. All my jewelry supplies fit in one bag, and I can take it to my parents studio, or tuck it away in our new cabinet that we got from Ikea. I usually love that place! <- There will be a link to that soon, as I have a funny story to tell. Later, when it is actually funny. Because right now it still is not too funny.

So, I thought this post would be a little of my creative process... Which I really should streamline because I get caught up in all the colors and fun part of creating that I don't make as much as I know I could be creating. But it's hard when you have to get reacquainted with all of your preciouses (I'm channeling Gollum there for a reason) each time you want to make something.


I go to this fun little bead shop in Austin, that really makes me realize just how dangerous this hobby can be. Everything there is so damn beautiful, and the price tag shows it. So I go to the bead soup, after pining over the vintage and antique beauties within the shop, and get a bag or two of surprises. Then the bag sits. Beckoning me to clean and play with all the treasures.

The latest bead soup-looks like a whole lotta nothing.
 But it sure looks pretty in that bowl my Dad made, doesn't it?

Sometimes I will pick out a few beads that I like and make something. Other times, I just pick some beads out to play with, and toss them back in. But the most successful times are those when I actually pick through the beads and they tell me exactly what to make. I am still waiting for that to happen, by the way...

These beads all have a destiny,
but I wasn't finished with my coffee yet, so they are still waiting...

As I was "playing" in my beads, I realized there are so many in the bead soup that I didn't realize were so great! I think the reason for this was that they were all jumbled in together, and we all know that saying about getting lost in a crowd...

Don't they just seem happier?

It was not too big of a chore; organize by color, and a few by type. Now they are all just begging to be made into things to be worn and enjoyed. And I still haven't made anything....yet.

What part of your creative process do you dwell on? For me, it's the organization. I feel as though, once everything has a place, it will all be easier to use.

Thanks for stopping by my little bloggie thingy-and feel free to comment or ask questions! I love feedback!

Living in the rhythm of love...share the bliss!

Summer Projects | Magical Messages

Where, oh where has the time flown!? 

We have had some major changes in our home- and with those changes has come less time for me to be doing what I love. I hope the adjustment time has passed and now we can focus on this strange new routine.

The beginning of summer meant Summer Camp with a new Boy Scout troop for our Shi guy, and then spending time away at the Grandparents. And now we are in the time of keeping ourselves busy on these hot summer afternoons when I need to be working on dinner and he needs to be entertained. 

Enter easy fun activity number one: Magical Messages!!!

This little project is great because all it takes is: A white crayon, lots and lots of paper (because if your kiddo loves painting as much as mine you won't have enough paper) and some paints you can water down for a watercolor-esque medium, as well as a large paint brush or sponge (a kitchen sponge would work for this!) Be creative! Use what you have!

Gather everything you need- and set up a space for getting a little messy. We have a great plexi-glass top on our coffee table so I don't worry about putting down a towel or anything. You'll need some paper towels for excess paint and some water to clean between colors. Nothing too special.

Draw a message, a joke or a picture in the white crayon. We started with some easy jokes and a few pictures. You can also use this for math problems or learning letters, shapes...the possibilities are endless!

You really have to look to see what you've written, and here I've taken a picture with the flash so you can see some of the image before adding the watercolor. But the white crayon is hard to see on this paper. 

Then paint over the images with the watercolor. And let the magic begin! 

Simple, and fun! With the watercolors remember less is more. Our images turned out better if we blotted the sponge.

I had made a few ahead of time, so he could have plenty to do.
Then he had fun making some of his own. This was my favorite he made!

A great activity for all ages! If I had known about this in college I would have totally still loved it! Haha!

Learning that less is more-can't see the message if there is too much paint!

So that was one of our fun activities! I'd love to see how your kids react to the project, as well as hear about what you come up with!

Thanks for reading and as always...leave a comment or question! I love getting feedback!

Living in the rhythm of love...share the bliss!

I am going to pay it forward this year!

An old friend of mine recently posted on her Facebook, a message that was one of those "you are supposed to copy and post, and then something will happen" ones that we are all coming to despise

I know what you might be thinking...oh no. One of those? Ugh. I know. I can't stand those either. If I don't do x, y and z, then something terrible will happen. So on and so forth. Why is she even going there?

This one was different. She is playing a new game. Here is the post:

To start this year off in a loving way I'm participating in this pay-it-forward initiative: the first 5 people who comment on this status with 'I'm in' will receive a surprise from me at some point in this calendar year - anything from a book, a ticket, a visit, something homegrown or made, a postcard, absolutely any surprise!
There will be no warning and it will happen when the mood comes over me and I find something that I believe would suit you and make you happy. These 5 people must make the same offer in their FB profile and distribute their own joy. Simply copy this text onto your profile, (don't share) so we can form a web of connection and kindness.
Let's do more nice and loving things for each other in 2014, without any reason other than to make each other smile and show that we think of each other. Here's to a more friendly and love filled year!!'

My response? I am so in! Not only do I want to do something nice for my friends, but also for people I might not have the pleasure of knowing, but know a little about me through my blog.

So if you are reading, and would like a token of my appreciation at some point this year please respond with your email address, or email me through my profile. 

Then please copy and paste the message to whatever social network you use, or email your friends and get this party started! Also, please tag me or link back to my blog if you participating. I would love to see who all gets involved!

As always, find your rhythm of love, and share your bliss! #stonegroundlove #payitforward!

Depending on the responses I get...I will try to give something to everyone that contacts me before midnight Valentine's Day. #sharethelove

***UPDATE*** A few emails have been trickling in! If you have trouble contacting me through my profile, leave a comment with a way to contact you, and I will get in touch! ***

What has been going on?

That is a loaded question. There has been a lot going on. The biggest thing? My computers out of commission. Unless I have my husbands power cord to use.

A couple years ago, his battery stopped holding charge, so we switched batteries. Yes we have the same laptops. But that is pure coincidence sine we both bought our laptops before we even knew each other! I know. We were cute before we met.

So my laptop has to be plugged in to be on. Kinda annoying, but I am grateful to have it. And just before we left for Christmas with the family, I was working on editing my novel from NANOWRIMO, and I smelled an electrical burn. 

At first I thought it was the stuff on the oven, I feel like I baked for days getting ready to go out of town, but nothing over there was burning. So when I got back to my computer I noticed smoke! It was coming from the power cord! I immediately unplugged it and went to inspect. 

It melted. Like, there was plastic on my couch. Melted. Luckily I had been putting the powerbox on a glass coaster, since it had been getting hot and I was worried about a fire. Guess I had reason to be worried. I think we would be out a couch if I hadn't trusted my instincts.

So that was fun. And now I am stuck with only intermittent opportunities to post from my computer, which means crappy phone pics and minimalist stuff for a while.

The silver lining? I have been working on making jewelry, and having quite a bit of fun with it. I am thinking there will be a giveaway in the near future, so if you are reading now would be a good time to comment and tell me what kind of stuff you would like to see. 

I have been doing some ceramic pieces as well as wire pieces. Stay tuned!

Living in the rhythm of love...share the bliss!

Last post of the year

I hope it was a Merry Christmas for all of my readers. 

We spent our Christmas in Pagosa Springs and had quite a grand time.

I haven't been doing so well keeping up with this blog, but I have been writing. November consisted of writing for NANOWRIMO. It is a challenge for writers to write. 50,000 words in a month. It is difficult, but totally doable and fun. The only downside is it takes all my free time to keep up with it, and I usually create a lame mental block the first half of the month and get more cleaning done than writing. Oh well. And the other reason I haven't been blogging is because right after accomplishing the nanowrimo...my computer charger decided to melt on me. 

So here I am. Almost two months later, and I have a new app to figure out how to post from. 

This coming year I am working on a give-away for some things that I have been making, and I would love to join in on a few blog hops..soo if you are starting one, let me know! 

Also any suggestions on apps for updating blogs would be greatly appreciated. This one is a little odd.

Here's to a wonderful new year full of love and light to all! 

As always, thanks for reading

Here is our Nephew getting down presents our elf, Star hid all over the rental cabin. Sneaky little elf.

The boys went skiing while Deenie and I had fun on a snowmobile! 

And Christmas day was so full of love. I will post my awesome gifts after the new year. If you like crafts and books...you'll want to come see what I got!

~living in the sweet rhythm of love. Share the bliss!

Making Shrunken Heads for Halloween

Oh yes. It is almost that time again! So as we plan our fun, I am reminded of years past when my Mom used to always give us a little treat bag for Halloween.

We lived in a small neighborhood, so the candy pickin's were quite slim. There was always one or two neighbors that give us the bulk of our candy haul, but many of the houses were quite dark on Hallow's Eve.

Last year we had a fun Halloween party and I did a post about what I wanted to make for the party and decor. Did you go check that link out?  ^the one up there^   It has some other good ideas for treats and tricks!

So here's how our Shrunken Heads went:

You will need:

• As many apples as you feel inspired to fiddle with (any kind will do- I went with cheap, here)
• Something to cut on/in/with (I sat on the couch watching a movie while the Hubs worked, with a bread pan in my lap. It worked fine.)
• A bowl full of water with a splash of lemon juice (it will prevent the apples from turning, and helps with the drying process)
• An oven set to low
• A little bit of creativity

Start with apples...do I really need to show a picture of an apple? Didn't think so. I went ahead and peeled them-no fancy tools needed. Just use small knives (or cheese knives like I did!) And then look at them for a bit of inspiration. After peeling- I just gouged a couple holes for eyes, cut away a nose and gave each one a different mouth. I even attempted a kitty head. Cute, huh? 

Step 1: Peel the apples. Doesn't matter what kind. I just bought the cheapest there. Bigger apples make bigger heads, and different kinds make different color heads in the end. For the first one we just used the same kind of apples.

Step 2: Soak the peeled apples in water with a little bit of lemon juice. A tablespoon or two will suffice. 

Step 3: After soaking the apples a bit-the lemon juice method helps to keep them from browning and getting mushy- carve them into faces.Tip No. 1:  Be sure to over exaggerate the features. Remember these guys are going to shrink! A LOT! 

As you can see- they don't need too much detail... and if you are wondering where the scraps are- well. It was apple, after all. I ate every last piece that I carved away. ^_^

Step 4: Turn your oven on to no higher than 175 F. Put the apples on a wire rack, and stick them in the oven. After about ten minutes turn the oven off and let the apples sit over night.

These are the wonderful things I woke up to! Aren't they awesome!?

If they haven't fully dried out, just put them back in the oven, crank it to 175 F and then shut it off. And repeat that until they are dried to your heart's content.


Then: skewer, and poke into a burlap sack filled with beans. Or find another way to display your creations! Either way, have fun and show me what you made! I'd love to see your ghoulish friends!!!

Thanks for stopping by- Find more Halloween Projects (and my original post of this one) here!

~Live in the sweet rhythm of love!