Silent Inspiration.

It's amazing what a little quiet will do for a mother's mind, no?

To explain:

My angels have been gone this past week,

visiting my family in California.

This is the first time all three of them have been so far away,

and I have to admit, it was a little hard!

I had to spend the first day or two telling myself,

"They'll be all right. They'll be fine."

And of course they have been--getting spoiled oodles,

and having all kinds of adventures.
Ears being pierced (Addie that is, lol). Picnics.
Trips to the beach, sno-cones, and lots of swimming.
(The irony being we live right by the ocean yet
it's TOO COLD to swim!)

I will be joining them there on Thursday for a little vacation.

In the meantime, it's been nice to just enjoy a little quiet...
to daydream...and even to create.

I love making things, but I don't have any "real"

artistic skills. But the other day, while going through my vintage things,

I found this image of the Virgin Mary and thought it really beautiful.

I also had some other vintage "religionalia," like a very old bible

that was coming unbound, pamphlets, even some handwritten notes 

 from the 1930's referencing bible passages.

I started by using some of the bible pages as a base over canvas,

then brushed on some vintage blue ink to pick up the blue from the image.

The gilt "holy" is from the front of the old bible I had.

I loved that the note I used said "Salvation" at the top.

There are also more bits from the old bible glued on, with the old writing--

I love vintage scrawl.

Of course I had to add a little dazzle to it ;)

That's kind of what my obsession with this sort of thing gravitates toward, such as with the 

vintage religious figurines I collect--

I like the vintage, chippy, blingy, kitschy look, lol.

Here it is with the wooden Virgin Mary statue I painted and re-did.

And of course she has her crown, too :)

It felt so good to make something again.

I mean, I try new recipes a lot, which is one way of being creative 

than I enjoy--but this was of course very different, 

and I really enjoyed the process.

I had to let go of the doubts in my head, the fears of "messing up,"

and just let that "but-I'm-not-an-artist" sort of talk go.

Often, as a mom, it's easy to forget how important

it is to continue to do things that make us happy.

"Frivolous" things.

Now, though, I want to pay attention to them again.

Have you created anything that made you happy lately?

I'd love to hear about it!