Last week got side tracked with a couple things, new roof and putting the house up for sale with an Open House yesterday. It was a different but fun kind of Mother's Day heading out in the morning with my youngest daughter and three cats in the back seat. The cats spent much of the day sleeping, the oldest Merin climbed under his blanket with just his head sticking out. Looks like moving will be sooner than expected. Life is moving along very quickly!

The latest issue of Creative Homearts is out. I had fun designing a little girl's tea party complete with dresses, purses, table runner, chair covers and napkin rings. The adorable fabrics and applique line featured are from the Bazooples line designed by the talented Vicki Schreiner and are available online at ATreasure Nest.

Photo courtesy of Creative Homearts

Coming up this week is another Sizzix Scoreboard  blog hop on Wednesday. Follow the JOY! Debra, CEO!

Monday morning has arrived, a new work week begins. It feels good to begin the week after a refreshing weekend off. I found a lovely place to move into while away on the weekend, had a great time in the warm May sun and a shopping afternoon with my darling daughters! The three of us have very different tastes but also very similar and we always enjoy road trips together. We had fun!

As artists and designers who work from home, inspiration comes from many sources. It can also feel isolating at times but with the explosion of networking possibilities and shared knowledge online that has all changed. This week I am signed up for an ecourse with artist and designer Laura Bray, Multiple Streams of Income for artists and designers. Suzanne Falter Barns another one of my very favourite people is always giving free teleclasses full of inspiration and information. Business is changing, how we operate as individuals must also carry over to our work, as artists that is inherent, our values, our passion in our business is necessary for true success. Success is not just measured by monetary means but by the value of what we offer to ourselves and others in enriching lives, making a difference and living in a way that feeds our soul. A rich life is one in which we live with respect, honesty and dignity, filled with purpose and meaning surrounded by whom we love and what we love.

Laura Bray also talks about creating your Style Statement, how you live your life through your home, business and way of conduct and dress. She calls her style Creative Nostalgia (TM). Raising the question, what is your style statement? Does the way you live your life in all areas reflect the authentic you? Would you like to live in peaceful, beautiful surroundings and yet live among chaos? Do you want more meaning in your life but find yourself involved in meaningless busyness? Sometimes changing just one thing can make a big difference and just thinking about what you really want, writing it down makes change happen.

Thinking about my own Style Statement, it is creative, joyful and feminine, I live surrounded by soft colors and dress very feminine. I believe the best of everyone and treat others with respect and compassion. I have never spoken even in situations that might warrant it by others in a way that I would regret. We have to live with ourselves. I know that love must be held with an open hand, love remains because it wants to like a butterfly that lights every so softly on a flower drawn by the fragrance and the beauty.

I want to say thank you to all you visit my site and read my blog. My only wish is that it adds to your day, a bright spot that brings a smile. We have only one life, live it well.

Follow the JOY! Debra, CEO!

It is Fowl Friday with Fran & Freda! Big news we are apparently getting ready to fly the coop this summer. Debra is off this weekend checking out some new nests for us to feather. We of course put in a request for certain amenities, a word we have heard often this past couple weeks! I want an ensuite, Freda would like a jacuzzi to soak in. Her legs get tired from all the dancing and she loves her bubbles! A yard with a pool of course or at least a pond for us, ocean view and maid service. Debra has often remarked we have maid service already, her. Don't tell her but as a maid she is not so great, in fact we would fire her but since we don't pay her that is kind of hard to do and she does own the place!

So while Debra is gone we were given instructions to declutter the coop. That is not easy, you never know when one red rubber boot might be needed, bottle caps, shoelaces, shower cap with holes we got some good stuff! We can't part with any of it but Debra is tough and says we better smarten up or we could end up on Hoarders! Sigh so we will try to purge while she is gone! Wish us luck! Fran & Freda

May is almost here! Creativity is blossoming everywhere! I wasn't able to participate in the Sizzix Scoreboard bloghop this week but you can check out all the talented designers and wonderful creations on Eileen Hull's blog! 

In about three weeks I am off to International Quilt Market in Minneapolis. Everything to do with quilting and sewing happens there! The magazine I write for Creative Homearts is also located there and I get to visit the offices plus stay with my dear friend and editor Julie Stephani! Big plans are in the works so exciting.

The show is inspiring and the displays are amazing, alive with color, pattern and texture! Quilting is a true art form! A great place to conduct business, connect with fabric companies and publishers. I am working on another book proposal and pitching a new fabric line so we will see what happens! 

Have a joy filled creative day! Follow the JOY! Debra

Life is constantly changing with each day. Much of it is in ways we do not notice, we age every day, our children grow, the tree outside the window is suddenly towering over the house. Living cells are in constant motion and always changing. Yet change is one of the hardest things in life for us to deal with. Losing people, children move out and go off to school, favorite places close, these types of major changes are often hard to deal with. We focus on the loss at first, mourning what was but then it is time to move on. Becoming stuck is the real loss for with loss comes space for something new to enter.

I find myself at a place of more major change. In the past two years I moved my mother three times before she passed away, my oldest daughter moved in and back out, my youngest is preparing to move out and away for school and I am considering leaving the city I have lived in for thirty three years. I am thinking of moving to a larger city only an hour and a half away to be closer to the special someone now in my life. I love my home and people are already lining up who want to buy it. It is scary and a little sad, my plan saw me here for many years caring for my Mom while my youngest went to school here. My Mom is now gone and my youngest is off to school in another province and I met a wonderful man. It is also exciting and I am very happy. I am taking a chance, luckily my work moves with me easily so that is a big plus!

I realize after losing a dear friend a short time ago that life is indeed a precious gift and we must live each day fully. I could play it safe and stay here or risk it all and follow my heart. I truly believe life is simply a love story and so I am off on an adventure. I do not know if there are fairy tale endings for princesses over fifty with a combined seven children and two grandchildren part of the package but I do believe there are love stories for all of us, anywhere, anytime, any age!

As I prepare to downsize to an apartment for the initial move my daughters and I have been going through everything from Barbies to school pictures, so many memories. There are many more to make and live.

I have found as each item is sold or donated and leaves my space I feel freer. I choose to live more simply with only things I love around me. So much is leaving, it is though much harder to part with things you still like but have no space for and yet seeing them go off to a good home to be enjoyed is very satisfying.

Now it is back to work! Writing about fuzzy snowmen!
Follow the JOY! Debra, CEO!

Fowl Friday with Fran & Freda! You know the expression ...like a chicken with it's um head cut off, well that would describe Debra and her daughter Kate at present! They are having a big garage sale on Saturday, so big in fact we were slightly worried that we might end up in the craft section. Ah yes Debra has sections, did we mention she likes to organize everything! There is electronics, household, furniture, toys, holiday and crafts. Oops I almost forgot outdoor equipment and gardening which will be of course outside the garage. Then  items have colored stickers denoting their price point, red for $5, yellow for $3, you get the idea. Kate is serving up tasty muffins for those attending the sale.

Debra is downsizing and Kate will be leaving the nest shortly so stuff has got to go! Debra will never have a completely empty nest as she will always have us. We will be a little sad to leave this house but not sad that the felines are going with Kate! We will be able to shake our feathers without fear or frolic in the bath without furry intervention!

So at the crack of dawn Debra and Kate will be up and busy on Saturday. Freda & I have just requested they be quiet so our beauty sleep is not interrupted. Debra apparently said something I did not quite hear, had to do with chicken wings and supper I think.  Follow the Fowl, Fran & Freda!

Heart, Art and the Earth, we can not exist without these three. It is interesting that the word art is found in both and heart is earth when the h is moved to the end. Tomorrow is the official Earth Day, it has been forty years since the first one was officially declared. Forty years later more than one billion people in a hundred and ninety countries are taking part.

Living with respect is a way of life most of us strive for. The earth needs our respect, man has taken advantage, abused and neglected the earth and the consequences are serious. This is our only home, it is a beautiful, amazing place filled with natural wonders.

It is encouraging to see how people and groups are working together to make a difference. We can all make a difference in our daily lives, living purposefully, reducing our carbon imprint (calculate your own) our waste, our energy consumption, walking more, eating locally. What we do for the earth is also very good for ourselves.

To celebrate Earth Day I am spending as much of the day as possible outside along with decluttering my home even more by donating items to a local charity and organizing a garage sale for the weekend with my daughter.

Celebrate Earth Day with your heart and your art! Live well! Follow the JOY! Debra, CEO!

(photo courtesy of Michelle Zimmerman)

Working from home has many benefits. Office attire can be very very casual, pj's are often the choice of many creative people. Hours flexible, short commute time, a walk across the hall most often. Breaks are often to throw in laundry or make a meal or referee kids or pets. Pets are always welcome at the office or studio. My daughter has three cats Milla, Bella and Merlin and when I am in my studio they like to join me. The sunny couch is their spot. I am thinkking I need to hang out a Do Not Disturb sign not for me while working but for the cats naptime. Apparently I am not very exciting company!

This week I am finishing a column for Homearts, writing more instructions for some other projects and getting details together for a big event, more later on that!

My daughter and I are also having a big yard sale this weekend. She will be leaving the nest soon and can use some extra funds. I am looking at downsizing so it is time for things to have a new home. I am being ruthless or trying to be, it is easy letting go of things you don't care for but when you still like something even if it is not useful anymore that is harder to decide. I found setting limits is working, for example only one container for fleece means what doesn't fit in the container has to be sold or donated. My daughter has been selling some larger items on Kijiji which is like Craigs List and as each item leaves I feel lighter. It is time to have less, to be free from stuff making more time for experiences and simplicity.  So it is onward with the purge, not holding my breath for any help from our feline family!  Follow the JOY! Debra, CEO!

IT's Fowl Friday!!! Fran here! Freda well of course she is here too! (Body yes mind a little iffy) This week we have been travelling, not too far though and the transportation has been over bumpy country roads. Freda gets car sick so Debra's solution is just to put her in a ziplock bag (with an air vent). Not sure the SPCA would approve though! We were part of a presentation at the Keswick Ridge Quilt Guild. The ladies were so nice and we had fun! This weekend we are off again to the Scotiabank Relay for Life Fashion Show. No, we were not asked to model even with our great legs but we will be there to support the cause and Debra of course!

At home things are not good. It is spring and the felines in residence have spring fever big time! Their favorite toys to toss around are these brightly colored plastic coiled springs. These springs look suspiciously very much like our legs.



A coincidence we think not or at least I don't. Freda and thinking not a strong combination, I think it is all the dancing! Anyway even though Debra keeps us high on a shelf in her studio those cats keep eyeing us. It is very uncomfortable, we have watched them climb up to the fish bowl on another shelf and drink from his bowl. Beta fish are not too bright either, when the cat takes a drink he swims to the top, one day soon he is going to be a fish slurpy!

Life is never dull around here! Freda and I are going to start wearing leg warmers to keep the cats from eyeing our legs. Even though they have those coil toys everywhere it does not seem to be enough! So these chicken legs are heading for cover, I am thinking pink or purple striped leg warmers with a floral accent, Freda's choice animal print. She wants a new look for her profile photo on Hatch.com. (Watch out roosters)
Have a fowlish fun weekend! Follow the Fowl, Fran & Freda!

Last night I gave a presentation at the Keswick Ridge Quilt Guild. They were such a wonderful enthusiastic group, even laughed at my jokes! Several of the members I have known for years and it was so nice to see them again. Thank you Mary for inviting me! My youngest daughter Kate went with me, took some pictures, sold my books and fabrics. They had asked for a 30-40 minute presentation, it ended up being longer and then there were questions. Everyone said how much they enjoyed it which was so good to hear. When you speak before a group the goal is always to make it interesting. Honestly I was not feeling at my best last night but once I started talking about my journey in the industry and all the funny "behind the scenes" things that happened along the way, I remembered how much I love what I do. How much I love sharing my passion for creativity and being able to design and teach others with my work. Thanks again ladies!

Thank you also to Meredith, a Creative Homearts Club member for sending me photos of the cute puppy she made for a shower gift from my Sleepy Time Puppy design  featured in the magazine. She made a dalmation puppy, just adorable and gave me permission to post her picture.

Today working on my design for the Sizzix blog hop tomorrow! This week's die is the teacup, should be fun! Have a creative day! Follow the JOY! Debra, CEO!