Scenes from our summer garden.

In our garden, Troy is successfully growing some fresh, juicy produce with a homemade self-contained gardening system. Did I ever mention I was married to a geek? I’m sure I did. He still owes me a blog post about it {ahem ahem} so I won’t show what the system looks like. What I can show is some of what he’s been growing. Unlike our prize watermelon, these ones are delightful to the palate.

In other news, Mica and Rinoa have been busy with their summer activities. Rinoa is taking a break from dance and is busy with gymnastics in the morning and swimming lessons in the evening while Mica is still ice skating but is also doing some off ice training this summer which includes ballet, dance performance, and jumps.

Here’s Rinoa in her tumbling class. It was taken in the second floor viewing deck behind a dust-filled glass. Before I got the right camera settings, she had moved to an obstructed location. So this is the best I can show for now.

Last week, Mica skipped her off ice training to spend time with some friends. They spent their days swimming in a quiet, peaceful lake near her friend’s house. (Photos taken by Mica’s friend.)

Alas, not all summer days are fun. For one thing, I have sun allergy – too much sun exposure and I get itchy, red rashes. I know I can’t win. In the winter, I’m blue and in the summer, I’m red – haha! And the past few days, Rinoa and I haven’t been feeling well. My nose is clogged, my eyes are watery, and my throat is sore – feels like I swallowed a large frog which got stuck on its way down! But I’m sure all these ill-health will pass soon.

How are you spending your summer days?

Dexter is just so full of personality that it’s really hard not to love him – even though he chewed and destroyed my living room rug yesterday. {Grrr!} He’s definitely a part of our family.

As you can see, he loves to cuddle! He would rest his head on one of our laps and just fall asleep that way.

For those torn between pleasing your kids with a pet puppy and not liking the idea of added responsibility, I say give it a go. You’d be surprised at how much it completes the family. Of course, you’d have to give up the idea of maintaining a picture perfect house but, if you have kids, then that ship has sailed a long time ago. {wink}

We spent the day hanging out with great friends who introduced us to Kubb, a Swedish lawn game also known as Viking Chess. And of course, we spent the afternoon playing a few rounds while our dogs (we had three total) ran in and out our play zone. It didn’t take long for me to realize that I sucked at the game! Even Mica was better at it than me. Maybe it’s because I’m throwing with my left hand – haha! I know, I just need to practice.

How was your fourth of July? I bet you’re suffering from bug bites as much as everyone in my family.

Catching up on some saved tv shows with the family. So while watching an episode of “So You Think You Can Dance”, I crocheted a pair of shoes for Rinoa using worsted weight yarn and jute for the sole. (I got the pattern on Etsy.) I made a pair for my 1-year old niece as well and it’s on its way to New York. Mica’s is still in the works – saving that for another episode.

“You Are Worth the Time” Altered Postcard

This altered postcard is for the Great Big Stitched Postcard Swap hosted by Beth Nicholls in the UK. I’m sending it to Cat Conidi in Australia.

The inspiration behind this postcard is this video. (If you haven’t seen it yet, please take the time to watch it – it has a very powerful message.) My vision for the design is to compare creativity to a seed which needs time and nourishment to grow. The time it takes to cultivate and nourish it is well worth the fruits that it will bear and flower that it will bloom. (I actually added a flower on the top right corner but I wasn’t able to take another photo.)

And for that altered tin can I made for my Mixed Media Art group, I wrapped it in music sheet and wax paper as shown above to give the recipient a more delightful surprise. (This idea was inspired by a project in Ruth Rae’s Layered, Tattered, and Stitched.)

The scheduled brownouts in my hometown when I was a child gave lots of opportunities to play with a candle as a creative tool. (Not that I have pyro tendencies or anything.) Until now, I use a candle, placed near the kitchen sink, to burn paper for my projects. So far, I haven’t set off any of our smoke detectors yet – but I do warn my family when I’m doing my burning so they don’t get alarmed when they smell smoke.

Bird’s Nest Altered Tin Can

Here’s another project where I incorporated singed art. It’s an altered tin can for a swap I’m participating in this month. For this project, I experimented with scraps of fabric. It’s fascinating to see how different types of fabric react to burning. I like how most of the fabric I used just curls up and ‘caramelizes’ under heat.

Speaking of smoke detectors, I have a funny story to tell – of course, at the time this story happened (around 8 or so years ago), it wasn’t quite funny. Here’s what happened in the words of my husband Troy …

Ahh vacation. We were in California, bunking at our Aunt and Uncle’s newly built house in the fabulous Chino Hills area. I had gotten up at the crack of noon as my lovely and talented wife was preparing to bake a fresh batch of homemade cookies. She’s a fantastic baker and wanted to surprise everyone when they returned home from work later that day. There was a constant clattering in the kitchen as Johwey rifled through drawers and cabinets trying to find the necessary utensils and supplies. Suddenly there was a loud, high pitched squeal-like beeping that was so obnoxiously shrill that I nearly gouged out my own ears. I noticed Johwey’s scramble pattern in the kitchen change up a bit, apparently she noticed the beeping too. What a God-awful sound for an oven timer I thought. Were the cookies done? Not quite.

In a kitchen with dozens of cabinets, the towels were stored in the broiler pan. Needless to say, Johwey never finished her cookies, and we spent the rest of the afternoon cleaning the smoke stains off the never-before-used oven.

Both Mica and Rinoa did a great job with their zentangles. Rinoa gave up coloring in the middle of her project, complaining that her hand was tired. I think it looks great just partly colored.

“It’s not easy these days making time for our creative work. Voices call us from everywhere demanding our attention, our energy, our time. And many of us, somewhere along the path, got the message that making art was self-indulgent so we relegate it to the bottom of our list. It becomes the thing we get to when the laundry is done, the kids asleep, the groceries bought and put away. We get so caught up in the flurry of our lives that we forget the essential thing about art – that the act of creating is a healing gesture, as sacred as prayer, as essential to our spirit as food to our body. It is our creative work that reveals us to ourselves, allows us to transform our experience and imagination into new forms – forms that sing back to us in a language of symbol – who we are, what we are becoming, what it is we have loved and feared. This is the alchemy of creation that as my energy fuses with the source of energy, a newness rises up in the shape of who I am and I myself am altered in the course of its release. I am never the same in the wake of this work. As I create, I come into my power and wisdom, into my deeper knowing, into that newness which becomes the gift which I share with the world. As a result of the time I spend at my work, there is more of me to give, more awareness, more joy, more depth. I become centered in the process, focused on the interior, attuned to the inner voice. Life is no longer about time, and demands, and errands. It is about the extraordinary metamorphosis of one thing into another. What begins as cocoon emerges a butterfly. What once was sorrow may now be a song.

- Jan Phillips

The journal has an inside pocket and the first page includes a quote that reads “Savor the quiet moments and know how very much you matter in this world.” – a nice inspiration every time you open the journal.

Some pages feature handpainted backgrounds using mixed media.

Check out my previous post to see what the cover looks like. And this journal (made with so much love) is for sale on Etsy here. Sold!