-Renee's Joy Journey-: Daily Charming Chore

-Renee's Joy Journey-: Daily Charming Chore

Wordless Wednesday.

Here are some beautiful photos of some flowers in my yard. Just pretend they are a bouquet from me to you!!!!!

Giving My Heart Away!

I bet you thought I was talking about MOMD!!!! I gave my heart away to him a long time ago! No, I am talking about a heart necklace I made. May 7th I went to my second Craft fair in Helena. It is called the Helena Wild West Trade Days. If you live locally you should plan to be at the next one, Saturday, June 4th from 8-3. There will also be a farmer's market too. Anyway, I met a really sweet lady who is trying to adopt a Korean baby. She is still in the preparation stages and raising money. Her name is Melanie Huguley. She came by my booth at the Trade Days and bought a couple of pieces of jewelry to auction off to raise money. She asked if I would consider donating a piece to add to it. She suggested this heart necklace.

I made it for my Etsy shop but hadn't listed it yet. I made a second one to list and I sent her the one pictured. If any of you have adopted a child you know the pressure and expenses can be overwhelming. People are judging whether or not you would make a suitable parent, seeing all of your good and bad issues. Poking around in every aspect of your life. It is grueling. Anyway, I wanted to help out in their pursuit. You can check out their blog and make a donation or see what needs they have or even send them advice if you had the same experience. I'm sure they would covet your prayers as well. They are choosing to adopt a special needs child and will need lots of prayers throughout the long process. They have a blog with all the updated information. You can find it at malerieandkevin.blogspot.com

If you would like a necklace like the one I am sending them, it will be listed in my Etsy shop by the end of the day. Be sure to check out all the new stuff!!!

Here's wishing you an INSPIRED Day!!!!

Beauty in the Midst of Tragedy

If you have been watching the news lately you will have seen the tragic devastation all around here in Alabama. It has been heartbreaking to watch. It has also been encouraging. It is great to see neighbor helping neighbor. Stranger helping stranger. I get so frustrated with the selfishness in the world. Everyone looking out for themselves with no seeming regard for anyone else. But that has not been the case this past week. I have seen so much devastation yet so much faith being expressed. I have seen young people getting involved in volunteering their time off to go and help someone they don't even know. I have felt guilty that my life and my family were spared this tragedy yet knowing others who have lost everything including family members. My daughter-in-law (aka the tough chick) went with some of her friends to volunteer to help on their one day off. They called their friends and family for clothing, blankets and food. They gave their time to just go and do what was needed.

MOMD and his son went to help friends who lost homes and family. I am amazed at the stories of survival and faith as people share what happened to them. It is encouraging to me that people are giving God the praise for saving them and that they have the attitude that they will just start over.

In the midst of all of that tragedy, I have noticed the beauty of Spring. Flowers are blooming, birds are singing, new life is springing forth from the "dead of winter". God gives us the example of new life every spring. He shows how He can take what appears dead and bring new life from it. It is an encouragement to know that we don't have to face our "storms" alone. God is there, sending strangers and friends to help, and comforting as only He can comfort. If you feel discourage in the circumstances of the "storms" in your life, I hope you will be inspired to seek God and His love and comfort. I have had many "storms" in my life. I have had much and lost almost everything but God never left me. I want to remind you of the beauty of life that blooms year after year, season after season.

I wish that you could smell the incredible fragrance coming from these beautiful flowers. Be inspired to face the "storms" of your life with beauty and grace. Spring will come!

My Garden is Growing!!!

My garden is all planted. I am so amazed at how much it has grown. MOMD and I planted the last of the garden last week. I have already harvested one round of radishes. The yield was over five lbs. They were the best tasting radishes ever! We have re-planted radishes along with carrots, bell pepper, bush and pole beans, cantaloupe, cucumber, asparagus, squash and zucchini.

The tomatoes and peppers we planted earlier are growing like crazy. I can hardly wait to eat them. I love fresh vegetables especially ones I have tended to and watched grow.

We found out right before Easter that we have a bunny who loves our vegetables too! MOMD took care of that with a rabbit fence around the garden. So far it has worked beautifully. I have room for only two more cantaloupe plants that I hope to get in the ground this week. MOMD goes out almost every day to check on the "babies". I think this is his first garden and he is enjoying watching things pop through the ground. He especially likes the radishes. We have them with almost every meal!!! It is so fun to pick things!!! I can hardly wait to see the garden fill in with new growth.

Our compost pile is working too! We need to add another bin to move the compost around to give it room to work. I can't wait for it to make soil for the garden for next year. We got several tubs of fat, juicy earthworms to help with the garden. It is so exciting to turn the soil over and find the earthworms have made babies! The soil in the garden is a work-in-progress. MOMD tilled it up and we amended it with garden soil and fertilizer and our trusty worms hoping to improve it. The soil in the raised bed was brought in because the soil here is like concrete. We wanted to try to amend the soil in the new garden and add compost as needed. It will be a couple of years before it will be at its optimum best. It is fun to learn and experiment. I would like to double the garden in a couple of years. I like providing food for my family. I will be preserving and canning this year. It has been a few years since I have done that. I will be posting updated photos of the garden as it grows. If anyone has a garden and wants to share photos with me I would love to see your garden and hear what you planted.

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!!!