It isn't the size of the gift that matters,

but the size of the heart that gives it.

~Quoted in 'The Angels' Little Instruction Book'

Maybe it's my age and the place I'm at in my life.
Or the effort it's taken to get to this point.

It could be the gentle souls who surround me,
including the furry, non-human ones following me around all day.

Or perhaps it's my work-in-progress
of releasing unconstructive things in my life that bring me down.

For all the above, I truly could not be more grateful.
My heart is in a good place these days.

A Happy Heart.

SPECIAL DISCOUNT only for my BLOG READERS!

To save 15% on all items in my store now through Monday, November 29th,

enter the coupon code HAPPYHEART15.

http://www.happyheartstudio.etsy.com/

Really getting into the holiday spirit over here...

Getting ready for some jewelry and gift sales coming up,

so I've been making some fun appreciation gifts

for teachers, friends, hostesses, hairdressers, bosses, co-workers...

and all the folks on the gift list
who deserve a little rememberance this time of year.

It came this way, I promise...

(crunch crunch)

Not too long ago on a late Sunday morning, my friend Sarah and I met at Starbucks to catch up, over a couple of steaming pumpkin spice lattes. Sarah is a professional model and fashionista, jewelry and accessory lover, and an all-around fantastic human being. In the midst of all the caffeinated chit chat, a creative brainstorm formed, and our idea finally came to life last week!

Collaborating with a wonderful photographer in Milwaukee, we had a photo shoot featuring Sarah modeling jewelry and accessories from Happy Heart Studio (made by me)! Here is a sneak preview from our shoot. Isn't she adorable?

In this photo: Happy Heart Studio ring

http://www.happyheartstudio.etsy.com/

Here is model Sarah Pointer's website:

http://luxxiroyale.com/

Photography by:

http://www.lightworksimaging.net/

Just Like Hollywood, Baby

Sam, Buddy and Pablo


I've been babysitting my three nephews for a few days, and we have been busy, busy, busy. So many projects, not near enough time. Today we had a photo shoot in the play room with some of our star stuffed animals! Didn't my 9-year old nephew do a fabulous job on the photo editing (above)? Loving the SPECIAL EFFECTS...

He even helped design this blog post. Did I mention he's a boy genius? And that he's sitting right beside me as I say that?

We also made the name collars our stuffed models are wearing.

Guess who received a bracelet that says "BEST AUNT EVER"? (blush, blush)

Your work

is to discover your world


and then with all your heart


give yourself to it. Y


- Buddha








I recently read my Grandma's high school diaries from cover to cover (that's one of them in the photo above). I feel more connected to her now that I've had a glimpse of what her life was like before marrying and raising two daughters (my mom and aunt are in the black and white snapshot). Grandma's diaries were mostly about her daily activities and happenings, like the day they got electricity in their house, fishing and weekend camping with girlfriends, and the first date with my Grandpa. As I savored every word she had written, I kept wondering if her life had turned out the way she wanted it to. I never thought to ask her that. With all my heart, I hope it did.

"Find happiness within yourself.

Then share yourself with others"

- tag from a Yogi teabag (don't you just love those?!)

Here's one of the newest additions to my online store. I've made a collection of fabric flower pins, using mostly vintage fabrics from my Grandma's attic that I didn't have the heart to throw away. I've been wondering what to do with my Mom's 1960's-era high school dance dresses and Great-Grandma's early 1900's quilt that is brittle and falling apart.

So I came up with my own version of this hot fashion trend I've been seeing all over the stores and magazines. It was great fun to find a new use for these old dresses that my cousins, sister and me used for dress-up at my Grandma's house!

First Snowfall

Anyone who knows me well,

knows that I'm not a big fan of anything to do with winter -

the cold air, ice and gray skies

that keep me out of my garden for six months of the year.

But I have to admit that it's kind of exciting

when the first snowfall of the season arrives.

I awoke this morning to huge white flakes falling outside my window.

So today I'm staying in my fleece jammies, drinking coffee,

and making holiday items for my store!

Autumn Greetings

I don't have to travel too far

to find a wonderful variety of Fall's bounty.

Just down the road
is a farm stand
with hayracks
full of pumpkins.



And whatever kind of gourd you fancy.

Oh, the mini pumpkins!


I love those.

See the mountain in the distance?

That's where we got married, right at the top, overlooking the valley.

We can see it from our kitchen window.

A quiet moment in the timber behind our house

Captured on the Trail Cam

Feelin the Love

It's a cold, rainy, snuggly kind of day.

We're all feeling it over here...

Is it just me, or is it kinda hard to concentrate

when someone's staring...

A Big Thank YOU!

Holy moley you guys,

I haven't been this excited since the day I discovered

blue nail polish.

I'm overwhelmed by the amount of support and kind words

about my new online shop.

It was so much fun today to see orders coming through,

as I happily made more items for the store.

THANK YOU so much - my heart swells today!

NOW OPEN - HappyHeartStudio Shop!

I'm pleased to announce that my online store is up and running!

Been creating jewelry and other items to fill the store shelves.

.

These are some bracelets I've made.

Hope you check out my store at HappyHeartStudio.etsy.com

Secret Project Revealed

A couple weeks ago I was working on a secret commissioned project.

Now I can show what was in the works...

These are personalized tree markers I created for a party host,

who had his guests choose and plant a tree in his new fruit orchard.

After each family planted their tree, they hung the marker from a branch.

These were so much fun to make, a really cool project.

I'm loving these kinds of creative challenges!

Last week the corn was harvested in the field that's right outside my studio window, behind our house. I love seeing and hearing all the activity at our place. It's an exciting time of year that brings back lots of memories of being a farm kid!


Happy Harvest... Happy Creating!!

All Wrapped Up in the Studio

My Mom is here for a visit and we've been spending time playing in the studio. Each morning we have our coffee there while we play around with paper, beads, buttons, markers, ribbons, and fabrics. For my sister's upcoming birthday, we transformed plain boring gift bags into a "present"ation.

So...I'm sworn to secrecy about my latest studio project...

I'll share what I've been working on in a couple weeks.

Check out the wicked sky from yesterday evening:

Studio Cat

King’s Blue… that's a good color choice!

Lucky the Studio Cat

Creating with Kids

I've had the opportunity to be around some pretty wonderful kids lately, working on fun creative projects.

This is my nephew creating a sidewalk chalk masterpiece in their driveway. Here he has drawn the sun, clouds, lightning, the ocean, and is working the final details of the sharks.




We were up north with friends this weekend, and nine year-old Emily painted on my hands with watercolor pencils. On my left hand is a flower (roots and all) and the sky above. On the right is my cat Lucky sitting in the grass, his name spelled out on my knuckles.

Studio Day

My fabulous creative friend Jody

came over for a

play date

in my studio!

Summer Sunday

The day started with a canoe ride.

Water was cool and still; an eagle glided overhead.

Tranquil start of a new week.

Painting Class

Every child is an artist.

The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up. - Pablo Picasso

Today I led a painting class at my friend's day care. I came armed with paints, brushes, and other fun artsy stuff to play around with. They made polka-dot backgrounds with cork, stamped designs with bubble wrap and scraped paint with a rubber comb. Some flowers from my garden in a shiny red vase are the subject matter, and see how different each person's finished paintings are! I loved listening to the chatter among the girls as they worked on their paintings. I hope they had as much fun as I did!

Grandma's Attic

I'm so excited to have discovered more of my family history this week. I've heard some of the names and stories before, but it made more sense as Mom and I looked through old photo albums that were in my Grandma's attic. We found infinite boxes of pictures, scrapbooks and even journals that were brought by relatives when they sailed to America from Germany in the 1800s.

This blog photo shows some of the treasures from Grandma's house in Illinois that I brought back to my home in Wisconsin. I'm a little embarassed that all last week was spent getting rid of stuff in my own basement! I really tried to be selective in my Grandma's attic - but tell me who can resist keeping her Great-Great-Great-Grandpa's wooden handled fork. Or Great-Grandpa's baby socks. Or postcards sent during her Great-Grandparents' courtship. Forget trying to leave behind the Haviland wedding china, tin play tea set, skeleton keys, engraved pocketwatches, rhinestone necklaces and clip earrings. And there is always room for a box of vintage firework sparklers.

My husband-the-stuff-hater was a good sport as he helped me unload my car last night. We enjoyed looking at my Great-Grandpa's farm accounting journal from 1904; he had taken dancing lessons - I love that! All the stories and memories attached to these treasures warms my heart, so I'm not going to worry about where to put them just now. Hearing the old stories again and learning new ones with my mom, aunt, sister and cousins this week was good for the soul.

Now I'm just waiting for dusk to get here so I can light the sparklers in honor of my Grandma's 90th birthday, which would have been today.

Rain - A Blessing and a Curse

Finally we are getting rain! It's been 8+ years of below average rainfall in our area of north central Wisconsin. Our lakes are dreadfully low especially up north, so we praise a heavy rain when we get it. My newly planted clearance-priced flowers are happy with the wet weather too.

The past few summers of drought have allowed us to ignore the chronic issue of our leaky basement foundation. Our farmhouse is at least 100 years old, and the thick foundation is a patchwork of large stones and concrete that has been mended throughout the years. With heavy rains, the water pours in from all directions; so much that last week I circled each sprouting spring with a piece of chalk to show the foundation man when he's here.

My mission in the next few days is to empty the basement of all contents - dead mice, spider webs and all. It goes against my nature to throw my own things away (but I'm fantastic at helping others get rid of their stuff!) so it has been mentally draining. This morning I watched my husband drive away with a wagon full of my junk, destination dumpster. He was giddy, I'm sure. He is not a saver and he just doesn't understand...

So if you've been looking for a rusty minnow bucket, a metal Sears sled, a wooden milking stool or an 8-foot artificial Christmas tree that won't fit back in the box - I'm your woman. But you better act fast. Another wagon load will be leaving tomorrow morning.

The Queen Anne's Lace is blooming along the road, on both sides of my driveway. I can't resist cutting a few to soak in jars with food coloring to see what color combinations happen.

I learned this from my Grandma. I think she would have liked the lavender ones.

A Patriotic Butterfly

What a lovely surprise to find this patriotic guy in my garden this evening!

Grandma's Feathers

Feathers always remind me of my Grandma. Anytime she found a feather in her yard, she saved it for me to use in art projects. Sometimes she mailed me a letter and one or two feathers were enclosed. Often I received a package from Grandma that was hand-delivered by my Mom, and included were a few feathers, an article she thought I’d be interested in reading or maybe an old family photo or artifact. These gifts from her were (and still are) so precious to me, that she was thinking of me and wanted me to have those things. Of course, I wasn’t the only recipient of her thoughtfulness. Grandma always had a stack of things saved and ready to give to a particular person if they had a hobby or interest, and if she thought they could do something with it.
Grandma passed away a couple weeks ago, on June 25th.  She lived on her farm in central Illinois where I grew up, and I’m so very thankful to have been with her during her last moments with us. Mom and I were singing to her, old favorite hymns. As we sang, such calmness surrounded the three of us. I’ll never forget the last words my Grandma heard before she went to Heaven:
“Perfect submission, all is at rest,
I in my Savior am happy and blest,
Watching and waiting, looking above,
Filled with His goodness, lost in His love.”

I hope to continue Grandma's tradition of thoughtfulness and kindness, and I'll try to be mindful of others. In the meantime, you can find me in the garden, looking for feathers.

Happy First Day of Summer!

Finding the Rising Sun

I'm really really not a morning person.

But every so often I am fully awake at 4-something in the morning, usually the result of my wildly meandering mind. More frequently lately, as life's journey has brought me to a pretty big fork in the road.

I've learned to take on this too-early alertness and quietly embrace being the first awake, watching for the blue-dark sky to lighten behind our house, anticipating the first peek of the morning sun.

That's how it went when I took this photo. Waiting on a rock in my garden. Black dog warming my bare feet.

It's a new day.