Spring

I'm making little campers! Each one is hand cut from a pattern I designed then hand sewn. I kinda love them so much!

Getting birthday crafty!

I just found this awesome template and had to share it with you!
It is my son's 13 birthday and well, he's not really that into decorations or themes for his party...
So what's a girl to do? I had to MAKE something because that's what I do!
After searching the inter webs for something quick and easy, here's what I found....

Over at Shanty and Chic, a template for an alphabet banner! What I love about this is it prints right onto standard size paper, so you can make it as fancy or simple as you want and it doesn't use all my printer ink.

Wolf the Artist

Wolf the Artist From Apocalypse Back

Art by Wolfgang Carver

Words by Lisa Carver

I have been told that I see the world through different eyes. I can be rather childlike in observations of my surroundings and I can get caught staring at the stars sometimes too long, wondering what's up there, out there and how I can know without having to be a scientist or an astronomer or an extraterrestrial researcher. Sometimes, I float around in this world of ours, ignoring what's defined as important and I can forget to vacuum or change the cat boxes...I long for more time to drift, but I get bogged down by the laundry or phone calls or opening small businesses.

Wolfgang Carver does not get bogged down. From birth, his mind has been immersed in nature and the beauty and darkness of it. I remember when Wolf came into the world, a child born from creative and sometimes tortured minded artists. I did wonder what this boy would be like and waited for his mom, Lisa, to share about him, his life and not being a mom myself yet, I wanted to see how someone I related to raised her child. You see, I wasn't so sure I wanted to be a mom and I really wasn't sure I was capable. When I eventually did become one, I used Lisa as a point of reference- if she could, I could. And it could be done differently.

What I didn't know at the time was the special arrangement Wolf was born with, that he had chromosomes that were missing something, that he would be very different from the rest of us. That can be such a scary prospect for a parent, challenging and overwhelming. For Wolf, it meant operations and a feeding tube and to quote Lisa "a rather eerie lack of balance/depth perception, so he can never quite orient himself, always feels like he's about to fall over". For Lisa, it meant a long road of appointments, doctors and fighting a system designed to fail. Like she does, Lisa figured out a different way for Wolf. 

From Apocalypse Back is the story of Wolf.

 Simple, beautiful, better than the rest of us. 

Wolf's art is made up of the delicate, 

the disastrous, 

a fantasy mixed with the purest reality.

 Aliens, Sasquatch, the Apocalypse,

 Jesus and Eden, Hamsters Underground,

 the Night People....

all the creations of 

Wolf's imagination 

play a part in his story. 

As Wolf puts it, "I'm really excited this week because I'm going to go see some sheep. They're cute, gentle. Nice creatures. I would like to make beds for them. I'd shear them every once in awhile, feed them, play with them. I draw sheep at night. I get scared that I'll have nightmares, so I try to think about sheep, and then I have happy dreams sometimes."

Lisa and Wolf

Initially, I read the book and just cried. and cried. Mostly out of the painful reality that I am just incredibly selfish and self centered, hence the selfish cry!

 Next, I read it again and again, trying to put my finger on the feeling I was having. 

Finally, I sat with the book and enjoyed every moment, I turned the pages slowly, washing away my smorgasbord reading technique where I devour everything too quickly and remember nothing later.  

That's when it happened...

Every illustration rose off the page and danced in 

front of me 

like a drive in movie, 

Lisa's words played 

like a teacher in story time, 

only better because 

she was in love with the words. 

I fell so in love 

with this 

book!

When Wolf sees a Van Gogh for the first time and relates to his love of nature, 

thinking he has found a kindred spirit, only to find he is dead, he wants to bring hay and flowers and caterpillars to his grave. 

Wolf makes a Facebook profile to see if there is anyone else out there like him. In the About Wolfgang part, he writes "I want to talk about realistic things. Animals, ghosts, life on other planets, hole in the ozone and how it can effect the weather and the world. And how Jesus' life was. Maybe you know something I don't about these things. I'm curios where Eden might be."

This is one of Wolf's Bigfoot drawings. I think he likes Bigfoot. 

Wolf and Sadie

Wolf: I'd like to be raised by frogs.

Sadie: It's impossible. You can only be raised by things bigger than you.

Wolf: Better frogs than alligators!
 I could make a mud igloo my size from observing my parents dig in the mud.

Sadie: The bad part is you wouldn't know to wear any clothes.

Wolf: And if i didn't have scissors, I would be hairy all the time. The frogs probably wouldn't mind, though. 

When I asked Lisa why wolf wanted to do the book, this is what she told me...

" Wolf wanted to do the book to help other kids with disabilities 

to work through it and feel good." 

Wolf sees the world for the beauty it is. 

He isn't bogged down by what you think. Or even by what he thinks.

We define Wolf as disabled when really,

 he is more capable than I have ever dreamed of being.

 An ambassador for the small things, the lovely things, the thoughts we  so easily let fall away and replace with new electronics, less important things. 

I feel like this book changed me from the minute I took it out of the envelope. 

Everyone should read this book, everyone.

Here's how you can buy this book...
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=251189041288

or at suckdog.net



"I feel like this touched a place inside of me that I don't know, it was like this hidden corner I didn't know about. A raw place. but not a bad place, a really lovely place that I think resides somewhere inside of all of us. Wolf just lives it everyday while the rest of us bury it so deep under consumerism." -what i wrote to Lisa about the book

(Go ahead and say it...

where the heck have I been? 

Summer & life consumed my every thought & action. I swam & watched kids play, I sewed a little, I even did a couple of craft shows. I played some music. 

What I did not do is write here or share 

any of it with you...

That is changing as of today.

I need you.)

Have you ever had one of those days? 

The ones where your kid breaks out the window of a neighbor's mini van with his slingshot, 

which, in reality,

 is actually your slingshot?

How do you react?

I will tell you how I reacted.

It wasn't pretty. 

I yelled.

I said the "F" word.

I thought about the $200 it was gonna cost.

Then I thought about the things I wanted

 that $200 could buy.....

a keyboard amp!

a new serger!

a whole new wardrobe!

Then I knew I had screwed up.

My quick, angry reaction 

meant I had missed an opportunity

to teach my children

not to 

be

so quick

to anger

argh!

Today, I will try my very best not to 

yell 

& 

scream 

& 

stomp my feet.

I will do the laundry & the dishes with a happy heart because a wise friend once told me...

if you can't be happy washing the dishes,

you can't be happy.

I want to be happy.

So, I am.

Good news!

The Mitchells

are recording an album!

Here's a taste of what's to come...

Galatians 5:16-17, "So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want." (NIV)

Inspiration Strikes!

Here's a few of my latest obsessions and I'm not gonna lie, inspiration for a few new pieces for 

Robot Inside as well....

http://www.spoonflower.com/fabric/1297477

Ok, this fabric company kind of rocks my world...you should check out Spoonflower.

I have been so super busy being a mom that I have really put my blog and my etsy shop and pretty much the whole world on hold. I haven't quite figured out how to do it all, so I decided to do what was most important and that is spend time with the kiddos. School starts in 3 weeks and my days will be mine again. That's when I'll start posting here weekly and showing you what I am making...

Romans 12:2, "Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is-his good, pleasing and perfect will." (NIV)

Things Change

I have a confession to make. Change weirds me out. I haven't written on my blog in a bit. One morning, I opened blogger and my nicely managed everyday blogger interface had changed. The setup was different, the way to post was different, I couldn't just open my page and see what I wanted to see. So, I closed the page and let my frustration at learning something new take over the need to write everyday. All of the pictures I had taken to upload were just sitting on my camera, waiting. All the thoughts that usually careen around my head, bouncing off the corners, just waiting to be poured out here, waited. My mom said why aren't you writing on as the snow fell? I thought I didn't have anything to write. The truth is I was scared of the changes and I let fear rule me for awhile. 

A morning went by, then many mornings and I read my devotionals and then checked my FB and email, then I close the laptop and go about my day. Months of not writing is now built up and I this morning, it hits me. Maybe I am ready for some change. 

"I will lead the blind by ways they have not known, along unfamiliar paths ... I will turn the darkness into light before them and make the rough places smooth. These are the things I will do; I will not forsake them." Isaiah 42:16 (NIV)

My Awesome Momhood

Happy Mother's Day! 

I have an amazing mom, I hope you do, too!

Here's my fantastic son making his own concoction, a recipe involving 

hot dogs and sausages skewered on linguine

and boiled to perfection. 

The outcome-

they looked kinda like weird monsters and all plates were clean!

Our Chef Will!

What an idea!

The process...

Hannah's Author Party

Will > Peeta

Waking up to this everyday is a blessing!

We watch a lot of Regular Show together. It is one of our favorites. Hannah does a perfect rendition of Muscle Man's "MY MOM!"