Meet Morris the Turtle

 I was out checking my garden and picking some radishes when I found this little tiny turtle.  I couldn't believe how small he was.  Never able to resist a good looking turtle I picked him up and took him inside.  He is a hatchling painted box turtle.  I have had several turtle in my lifetime starting around age 7.  I am a huge Elvis fan so of course my turtles have all been named Elvis.  I put Elvis in a glass bowl with some water, rocks and radish leaves and watched him most of the evening.  I have a friend who has an adorable little girl named Macy.  I called to see if Macy would like a pet turtle.  Her mom said cool and they came and got him the next day.  I told them that his name is Elvis in honor of my adoration of the icon.  Macy is almost three and (gasp) has never heard of Elvis.  She kept calling him "Melvis".  She was so excited about her turtle that she couldn't wait to show him to her daddy.

Well, "Melvis" went home with Macy and she played with him in the backyard.  Somehow his name got altered again.  By the time her daddy got home to play with her "Melvis" had turned into "Morris" and that is his name today!

Morris is a beautiful little guy and Macy and her daddy are having a fun time playing and feeding and taking care of him.  Macy says that "she just LOVES her turtle!"  Morris has a nice new home with lots of love and fun.  What more could a turtle ask for except maybe a cricket or two for dinner.  What a life!

My First Craft Fair

It was a busy place around Arty Inspirations Design Studio the past couple of weeks!!!  I had been preparing for my first craft fair.  It was held Saturday, April 2,2011.  It was a roaring success.  I had a double booth.  I make jewelry most of the time but I also help out a friend with her Monogramming and Appliqué business.  She doesn't sew so I have been busy sewing in-between making jewelry.  You can imagine what my house looked like.  No time to clean up!  I barely got dinner on the table.  It was stressful and fun all at the same time.  Below are pictures of our booth.  We will be doing the Helena Wild West Trade Days the first Saturday of the month through November.  The first one was a success and I hope it only gets better from here.

This is the front of our booth.  I was impressed that we were able to put it together so fast.  We were finished setting up before a lot of people got their stuff out of their cars. One half of the booth is my jewelry from Arty Inspirations Studio 117( jewels wired up) and the other half is Ashley's Creations Sew Sweet.  We make children's clothes and accessories and we monogram and appliqué.

See those cute diaper wipe cases?  We had the best time making them.  Everyone thought they looked like clutch bags.  Maybe a new project for next time, but they are decorated wipe cases.  They would make a dirty job so worth the cleaning!!!! I don't know why they didn't have cute things like that when my kids were babies.  I would have had to have had one!!!  I also made our cute aprons.  They have our names monogrammed on them but you can't see it in the photo.  

It was an unusual mix of items for sale but it worked.  Ashley took some custom orders and I sold a good bit of the stock that I brought.  It was a lot of fun to meet so many people.  I am looking forward to next month when we will be featuring Mother's Day Gift items.  I had a give away of a sterling silver necklace and earring set.  I am hoping to get a photo of the winner wearing the items so that I can put it on my blog.  The winner was Katie Smith.  She is a friend of my Daughter-in-law (tough chick). They came out to spend part of the day in Helena.  It was fun to see family and friends there.  As soon as I get some pictures I will post them of the winner!!!

This week I will be putting my house back together and cleaning up from the last two weeks of neglect.  Maybe I will not have so much pressure to get so much accomplished for the next one.  I have a plan in place and I am busy working the plan. 

I just got my Facebook Fan page up and running and I am in the need of fans.  I would appreciate it if you would stop by and "like" it.  Thanks !

arty inspirations studio 117

I hope you have a blessed day!!!

Spring has Sprung!!!!

My Garden is Started!

 I have had a garden for the past 20 years.  Some have been successful and some a total failure.  More success than failure I must admit.  I don't usually start my garden until after Good Friday.  I don't really remember why but that has been my rule.  MOMD has not had a garden before and has been really anxious to get it started this year.  He is so willing to do the heavy work in the garden, tilling, toting soil, weeding etc.  My son (the carpenter), built my raised bed the spring after we moved in in 2004.  I live in a garden home community and I have a rather large lot but I didn't know if my neighbors would be happy with me planting a garden so I tried to make it a little  nicer than just digging a hole and putting a plant in it.  My plan is to increase my garden yearly adding more area to plant until I have it the size I want it.  I have tried a few experiments over the past couple of years that have not worked so MOMD tilled up a plot to double the size of my raised bed.

This bed will take a little more work to get it up to par but this is a great start.  MOMD tilled the area several times to break up the lousy soil that is there.  We have amended it with some garden soil and manure.  We also put some worms in it to help aerate the soil.  We have a little more work to do before we can put the rest of the plants in but we have potatoes and onions already in the ground.  

We also put worms in the raised bed as well.  The soil in the raised bed is really rich and has been prolifically producing for six years now.  We have radishes, lettuce, sweet banana peppers, jalapeños and tomatoes planted in there.  We may add a couple of things like carrots or herbs but this bed is essentially finished.  

We have been composting since October and the compost has been going directly into the garden but we wanted a separate compost pile so we built a bin.  I don't know how successful it will be, since I have never composted before but we are enjoying the process.

The compost bin is built from a wooden pallet, found in the garbage, and fencing wire.  We don't have trees on the property so we walked down to the fishin' hole with two garbage bags and gathered leaves to place on the bottom of the bin to get started.  We lined the bottom of the pallet with a thick stack of newspaper before putting the leaves in.  We also added manure and soil along with some grass clippings and composting from the kitchen.  We are still tweaking the container but we are having fun learning.  Problem solving is the best learning tool!!!

We will be adding more vegetables in the coming weeks.  I will keep you posted on the progress.  Do you have  a garden?  What do you plant?  Do you have any tips?  Post a comment and tell me all about your garden.  I would love to see it.

Gone Fishin'

When the week-ends are pretty, MOMD (man of my dreams) and I like to walk down to the fishin' hole near our house and spend a few hours fishin' and laughin' and talkin'.  One Saturday afternoon the temperatures rose above freezing and we headed out.  Poles and "stuff" in hand.  We even took the dog!  Yikes!  

We have a walking trail that borders our neighborhood and we like to walk back there often.  The trail follows a creek and that is where we like to spend a few hours fishin'.  We have our favorite spots.  Spots where a tree has fallen giving me a place to sit and read or rocks we stand on and cast.  We usually hit them all trying to find a place the fish are bitin'.  This day the sky was so blue and the temperature was around 68.  It doesn't get any better that that!  We walk to our favorite hole and MOMD baits my hook.

The water is so clear and beautiful.  I was sure to catch a fish.  If I don't get a bite in about ten minutes I have backup.  I always bring a snack and a book!  I tied the dog to a post and went to fishin'.

Emma was watching and hoping I would catch something she could play with.  I didn't.  I tried for at least half an hour.  No luck!  I got out a snack and a book and settled in to watch MOMD fish.

I am sitting on a fallen log, leaning on a tree for support and in heaven listening to the sound of the water gurgling by.  MOMD is catching really small fish and enjoying every minute of it.  We walk down to another fishin' hole to see what's bitin' there.  I don't get a bite so I lay down on some rocks to check out the sky.  It is an amazing color blue.  

I am lazing around watching the clouds roll by and thinking about how wonderful my life is and thanking God that He made such a beautiful day just for me to enjoy when a flock of birds came and filled the trees above me.  They were all talking at once and I was desperately wondering what the fuss was about. Were they fussing at us for being in the area?  Were they just chatting with each other about the beauty of the day?  I kept laying on the ground watching and wondering.  

Emma was watching too, but I think she was hoping one of them would come and play with her.  Or was she wondering what one of them tastes like?  

I'm not certain.  Either way, we packed up and walked home.  Life doesn't get any better than this!!!!!

What a perfect day!

Is this Your DAILY Prayer?

I try to read a devotional book along with my Bible every morning to get my spiritual heart moving.  It has the same effect my cup of coffee has on my physical heart.  I just need it.  When I don't get it I miss it terribly.  

 I have been reading Charles Spurgeon's  Morning and Evening lately.  I think I have had this book for 15 years and I have read it along with my Bible off and on consistently that long.  But it seems fresh every time I read it.  It's like it is the very first time I've read it.  The Bible is a living Word and it does that to me too!  I have read it over and over again all my life yet sometimes I will read a scripture and it speaks as though it is the very first time I have ever seen it, knowing full well that I had read that time and time again.  I love that!

 I have a prayer that I try to pray every morning that is like my dedication to the day and to the Lord.  Is this your Daily Prayer too?  I encourage you to write it on a note card and place it where you will be reminded to read it every morning:
"Lord, help me to glorify you.  I have talents; help me to extol You by using them for You.  I have time; Lord, help me to redeem it, that I may serve You.  I have a head to think; Lord, help me to think of You. You have put me in this world for something,  Lord, show me what that is and help me to work out my life-purpose. I cannot do much; but as the widow put in her two mites, which were all her living, I cast my time and eternity, too, into your treasury.  I am all Yours. Take me and enable me to glorify You today, in all that I say, in all that I do, and with all that I have."  AMEN!


"To HIM be glory both now and forever"  2 Peter3:18


I hope you have an inspired  day!

A Blessing!!

This is a continuation from the last post so if you haven't read the first post you may want to read it before reading this one.  I am going back to the pennies in the driveway.  After God gave me peace in knowing that He is in control of my life and that I can trust Him with everything I started finding pennies everywhere.  It was almost like it was raining pennies.  I would just see it, smile, relax because God was reminding me that He was still there and still in control, I would pick up the penny and put it in my pocket with the certainty that what ever I was anxious about He was already there and I didn't need to worry.  This went on for a while.  I somehow managed to get my bills paid and feed us.  I got a job so that I would have some health insurance and extra money, my divorce was finalized and that stress was over and God was there right in the middle of it all.  Beside me or in front of me all the way.
I had teenagers I was raising on my own.  Boy, that was interesting.  It amazes me how teenagers find so many things to get into that are bad for them.  I knew that they both loved Jesus and they were both saved but still I felt I needed to be a one woman show and beat away the enemy on my own.  I learned quite quickly that that wasn't God's plan.  Once again I got a penny reminder.  My daughter, (aka the princess) hit a rebellious point in her early teens.  I thought I was watching her pretty closely but sometimes I just had to sleep.  One night she called and said she was going to the movies with a friend and her mom so I said okay and went to sleep.  I asked her to call when she was back at her friends house to spend the night and off the road.  Well, she called and said she was leaving the movies and would be home in about fifteen minutes.  A short time later she called and said they had been in an accident and to come quickly, it was bad.  I leaped into my clothes, grabbed my son and his fiance and went to where the accident happened.  It was really bad.  Teenagers laying out in the street, a car wrapped and folded around a tree, emergency and police everywhere. Total chaos.  I found my daughter in the street and checked to make sure she was okay.  She was hurt but she could talk to me.  I could talk to all the teenagers but one.  It was the middle of the night and I was the only parent on the scene with all minors.  My daughter was about to be taken by ambulance to the hospital but I couldn't leave the scene as the only parent and one teenager being cut out of the car and then being air lifted, it was going to be a while before I could leave.  My son was allowed to ride with his sister to the hospital and I would follow later.  My daughter had been laying in the middle of the street on a backboard.  After she was placed in the ambulance I looked down at the street where she had been laying and right in the spot her head had been was a penny.  I immediately felt peace wash over me and I knew that whatever happened God was there and it would be okay.  He had been sitting right there, with her head in his lap, while she waited for me.  I found out that I couldn't be with my children all the time to watch over and protect them but God can.  After the princess got out of the hospital she wanted to go back to where the accident happened.  Where she had been when the car hit the tree. Low and behold, God had placed another penny there.  I picked it up and told her my penny story about how God had protected her and her friends.  I took both the pennies to a jeweler and had them made into very plain, very simple necklaces.  Now when we wear them and someone asks why we have a penny around our neck we share the story of God's love and protection.  I have had many more struggles since then and I'm sure I will have many more in my lifetime but God is constantly reminding me that He is there by dropping pennies everywhere.  When I find one, I smile and say " Look, a blessing!"  and I pick it up and thank God that He loves me and I put that penny in my pocket with the peace that passes all understanding.  I am so unworthy of His love yet He gives it freely.  Has there been a time God blessed you?  Would you like to share that with me?  I would love to hear your story. I want to encourage you to release your cares to Him.  He is strong enough to carry them and wants to carry them.  I hope you are inspired to live a life of peace and love and freedom knowing God loves you.
Here are a few scriptures to remind you of His love....
"Cast your cares on the Lord and He will sustain you; He will never let the righteous fall." Psalm 55:22
"Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times and in every way.  The Lord be with all of you."  2 Thessalonians 3:16
"I call to the Lord, who is worthy of praise, and I am saved from my enemies."  Psalm 16:3

I hope you have a Blesssed day!

Bad Days Make You Just Want to Bury your Face in a Carton of Ice Cream!

I woke up this morning looking forward to a great productive day and then reality kicked in and I felt like someone punched me in the gut and knock the wind out of me.  It is a bright sunny day outside it feels like spring but my mood is dead of winter in a blizzard.  I just want to bury my face is big tub of ice cream and wait for another day when the sun rises again and all is good!  Have you ever felt that way? Emma, the queen of my household, is demonstrating just how to get down and get the very last lick of ice cream out of the tub.

You just stick your whole face down in the tub and lick 'til you taste nothing but cardboard!  That makes everything all better!

Totally Twisted!!!!!!!  I hope you are having a better day than I am.  But..... you know what they say.... The Sun'll come out tomorrow!