Seeing Beauty Everywhere...

For me, the start of the new school year is kind of like January; time to decide how I'm going to make this year (in my case this school year) the best it can possibly be. One thing that I can do, is to see the beauty in this wonderful universe everyday. . .

So many times we rush around daily schedules, meetings, activities for the kids, and a to do list a mile long that we forget to just look around and see the beauty. . .

Fall is my favorite time of year. I think God shows off his remarkable talent for color during this season. Everything is bursting with a last moment of splendor before we all settle down for winter. Last year, I woke up one morning and fall had come and gone. I realized that I had been so busy I had forgotten to look!

I'm not going to do that this year! Get ready to see lots of pictures of this remarkable fall season. My wish for everyone this week is that you remember to take the time to look!

We survived the first week back to school...

Yes we survived the first week of school! Fiona is officially a first grader and Alexa is officially a four year old pre-schooler. I'm always amazed at how fast time seems to go by. Sometimes I think that it's just no possible that I am the mother of an elementary school student! I hope everyone else out there who has young (or older) kids starting school has a wonderful start to the new school year!

A long weekend at the farm...

For some reason, the farm is like this magical place. We don't look at our watches, or worry about keeping a schedule, and we certainly don't stay connected (cell phone service is spotty and there is no internet connection). All this being said, we truly feel like we are away from reality when we are up there...

Lots of flower picking goes on...

And lots of apple picking too! The trees in the orchard weren't quite ready to give up their fruit but the tree on the south east corner of the property was more than ready to let us take its' fruit. There was plenty of proof that the deer had been bedding there, enjoying the apples too. We brought home enough apples to last all year, I have already made one batch of apple butter and will be making more before this week is over. I love the smell of the house when the apples and spices are cooking on the stove...

It's okay if the kids get dirty (plenty of hot water for baths!) and we are so far north that it's almost ten o'clock at night before it really gets dark. When they finally do get to bed, they sleep like logs, comfortably asleep in old farm quilts and blankets...

I'm already counting down the days until we can go up there again...

A Fairy Collage...

"We might live with the Angels

that visit us on every sunbeam,

and sit with the fairies

who wait on every flower"

Samuel Smiles

I was finally able to take some time this week and finish the fairy collage. I used an 8 x 10 stretched canvas board, painted, stamped, and glued lots of layers. I used all things that I already had around the house; tissue paper, old sheet music, an old sewing pattern, and other pieces of left over ephemera. The paper flowers were from a wedding invitation that we attended last spring, the butterfly is actually part of a hair clip of Alexa's that had broken. It's definitely nice to know I did not end up spending any extra money...

I really wanted it to look whimsical and light hearted. The girls had so much fun the day this picture was taken that I wanted the collage to reflect that. They are only little once, and I wanted to create something that will remind me of the absolute joy they have had this summer with all of this fairy magic! I hope everyone enjoys the last little bit of summer.

I'm trying some complimentary colors...

In the color class that I am taking we are now learning about complimentary colors. These are colors that are opposite each other on the color wheel. I normally don't use complimentary colors, at least I didn't think I did...
If you look closely at these orange flowers, you will notice that the muslin they are embroidered on is painted teal/turquoise blue. Blue is the complimentary color of orange. When I selected the color orange for the flowers, I wasn't even aware at the time that I was selecting complimentary colors, I just liked the way they looked together. I guess I know a little bit more about color theory than I thought! (At least subconsciously.)

Almost finished...

A couple of weeks ago, my girls were on the biggest fairy kick ever. Because of that, I was inspired to create something that would remind me of this special time in their lives- when everything is wonderful and new...

I created a collage using a picture I had taken of them at a Fairy Festival. It's not quite finished yet but here are a couple of sneak peeks...

I will post pictures of the completed collage as soon as the glue is completely dry! But for now I hope everyone has a wonderfully Blessed week!

Shades of Turquoise...

The inpiration project for Alisa Burke's online color class this week was to use one color, or a monochromatic color scheme. We could use several different shades of the same color but still only one color. I really enjoyed this little project! I got my inspiration from a "Wonder Pets" episode the girls were watching. The Wonder Pets had to save a dolphin caught in a fishing net. The colors used for the ocean floor were fantastic, so I drew this little sea horse on a piece of painted dryer sheet and stitched him up all in turquoise. I also took the opportunity to look through my photos to see if I could find other monochromatic color schemes...

This plant is different shades of magenta (some of you may think red- but I think more magenta)...

This is a Hydrangea that is different shades of purple. It appears that Mother Nature does this monochromatic thing very well, without even trying very hard...

Of course there is no arguing that this is definitely shades of orange. This little Zinnia was just screaming "take a picture of me" at the time I took this photo. Thought for the week; where do you see monochromatic color schemes?