How We Love

Although I'm not there this summer, my Harmony Project family has just finished putting on an amazing concert celebrating the 200th anniversary of the birth of our town, Columbus, Ohio. One of the highlights of that concert was the choir's performance of Beth Nielsen Chapman's amazing song called "How We Love" which she herself had debuted on the stage with the Harmony Project the year prior.

Beth Nielsen Chapman, singer and extraordinary songwriter responsible for hits like "This Kiss" and many others, is a friend of the director of the The Harmony Project.

In the wake of the tragedy in Aurora, The Harmony Project, along with the consent of Ms. Chapman, decided that the choir's mission to sing, serve, and share, could be demonstrated by making a recording of Beth's song and offering it for download on the internet for $1, with all proceeds going to the victims in Aurora.

Please help us show Aurora how we love them by clicking on the link below to view the YouTube video, then following the link to the Harmony Project website and downloading this beautiful song. For a mere $1, you can help us show Aurora that the world cares about them and wants to help them begin the healing process.

Don't forget, view the YouTube video AND download the song for $1 to help the victims in Aurora.

Thank you. And thank you, Harmony Project. I could not be prouder to be a part of such a wonderful organization.

I was featured!

Thank you, Lovely Mrs. P, for featuring my bleach pen craft tutorial this week on your linky party.
I am very humbled and grateful.

Was that a bird?

Additional musings about my particular crazy crafting style . . . while I show off my bleach pen project.

I like to have many different projects going on because lots of different kinds of things interest me and I don't like to be bored. As such, it doesn't bother me to go from one thing to the next fairly quickly. Like, how I am in the middle of cleaning my house and I get a hair up my butt about trying these Clorox bleach pen t-shirt graphics.

However, because I have so many projects going on all the time, I often think I need more focus in order to follow through on any given task. Such thoughts lead to spurts of motivation in which I make lists (as you've seen from a previous post), prioritize my projects, and clean and organize work areas.

These efforts lead to very clear-headed and decisive thinking in which I plan, for instance, exactly how many necklaces I'm going to make and exactly what they will look like, which beads to use, what findings, what the color schemes will be, etc.

Then the day comes to make the necklaces and something happens.

No, on second thought, not just something, but lots of things happen.

For instance, I put the beads together that I had planned on using and decide suddenly that the whole idea sucks and I need to re-work it. So I go in a totally different direction after spending all that time planning.

Or, halfway through the necklace I get an idea about some earrings to make and I stop to make them instead of finishing the necklace.

Or, before I even start the necklace I had planned on making, another completely different idea pops into my head because I'm thinking of someone in particular and designing with that person in mind.

These shirts were made while I was supposed to be cleaning my house, packing, and preparing to leave for my 2-month stay on Block Island. I had seen this idea on Pinterest from The Next Bird and I'd been wanting to try it for some time. She revitalized stained clothing by creating a graphic to cover the stain using a Clorox bleach gel pen.

The shirts I used had stains on them also. One was a bleach stain, the other were various stains because I'm a sloppy eater with big boobs and food just tends to land there. But these were favored shirts and I didn't want to get rid of them.

So I created several designs that would cover or mask the existing stains.

These are cotton shirts, which will bleach out easily, unlike a 50/50 shirt. A couple of them have 5% spandex, but that doesn't seem to matter. The long sleeveless one has a cotton knit top and cotton linen bottom. The loose weave of the bottom part created a lot of bleed on the bleach design, but I still love the end result.

This was taken a couple minutes after applying the bleach.
You can see my pen drawing of the design in the upper right-hand corner of this pic..

I highly recommend practicing your design on paper before taking bleach pen to cloth.

I used a double layer of terrycloth between the front and back of the shirt to prevent the bleach from bleeding through to the back of the shirt. I let the bleach pen graphic sit for 30 minutes before throwing the whole thing, terrycloth and all, into the wash. By the time I washed them, the bleach had done its magic and was practically dried up, so there was no transfer of bleach pen gel to the back or to the other shirts while in the wash (I washed all the shirts together, believe it or not).

Staying focused is good for some things, like making lists, planning, and organizing. And sticking to one's plan is good in some instances. But when it comes to creating, sometimes being easily distracted brings about wonderful twists and turns in the creative process. If I am too tied to the outcome I had planned on, I could miss an opportunity to let something spontaneous creep into the creative process, to look at a bold color choice, to create a piece that is a-symmetrical, to come up with a new earring design on the spur of the moment, or to create some fun new shirts when I should be cleaning and packing.

In other words, when I am creating, I have to remember to . . . . look, there's a bird!





I am on the coast and partying at:
Kathe with an E Anything Goes
Our Delightful Home Show Me What You Got
Kammy's Korner Trash to Treasure Tuesday
Skip to My Lou Made By You Monday
C.R.A.F.T. Making Monday Marvelous
Singing Three Little Birds Inspire Me Monday
The Ironstone Nest Transformation Tuesday
Debbiedoo's Newbie Party
Beez Rental Designs Frugal Treasures Tuesday
Centsational Girl Pinterest Challenge
Full Circle Creations All Star Block Party
Saavy Southern Style Wow Us Wednesday
Made in a Day Made You Look Linky
Boogieboard Cottage Masterpiece Monday
Primp Primp Your Stuff Wednesday
The Shabby Creek Cottage Transformation Thursday
Days of Chalk and Chocolate Link Party
The Shabby Next Frugal Friday
504 Main Tickled Pink
My Repurposed Life Catch as Catch Can

Worship in the house of grace

I spent two days on the mainland in Rhode Island before heading over to Block Island and I had to make the most of every minute. Once I'm on the island, the shopping is very limited. Plus, I'm gonna be busy making breakfast at my friends' bed and breakfast and trying to sell some of my jewelry.

Make no mistake, for the serious pickers, getting up early Sunday morning to attend a flea market is nothing short of worship in that house of grace and beauty called the great outdoors. So I got up bright and early in Jamestown on Sunday morning to head down to Charlestown, Rhode Island to one of the largest and longest running flea markets in the state, the General Stanton Flea Market. It's open every Saturday and Sunday once the good weather hits.

Just past the washtub stand there is a vintage folding card table and chairs made of real wood.
I've been wanting one of these for sooooo long. But my Jeep was already full, so
I'll wait til the end of the summer and see if it's still there.

General Stanton's Flea Market in Charlestown, Rhode Island is the kind of flea market you go out of your way to check out.

No, don't ask questions, just go.

Here's some pics to show you a small smattering of what I saw Sunday morning.

If I was at home I would have bought that little buffet.

Oh my little sheet music cabinet, you are like the scarecrow--I will miss you most of all.
If I had room in my Jeep, if I was heading back to Ohio . . .

I'm not including pics of the boxes and boxes of cheap brand new baseball caps, knock-off faux leather purses, tube socks, paper towels, kitchen utensil trays, dish drainers, the countless cheap plastic what-nots that you only buy when you are setting up house, the cheap hippie dresses, the scads and scads of cheap NEW costume jewelry, the CDs, the DVDs (pirated? Who knows!), the scads and scads of cheap plastic toys, knock-off athletic shoes, you name it! It's at this flea market.

But in addition to all that crap, I suddenly walk by a stand and see this . . .

And I stop . . . momentarily . . . not sure if what I'm seeing is real, antique, cheap chinese imports, or what . . .

And then I realize . . . what I'm looking at . . . is real crafting . . . someone who really knows what they're doing.

You don't have to be a fan of doilies and crochet to appreciate the workmanship here.

I stop to inquire, and I see a woman sitting behind the display table crocheting, almost non-stop, almost as if it's an automatic response to her surroundings, like she simply was born to crochet lace.

Her name is Anna Moreau and her grandmother taught her to crochet many years ago. The patterns she uses were passed down to her by her grandmother also. Anna does some incredible work.

I particularly like the bold color choices of red, purple and lavender.

To be honest, I am not even a huge fan of lace doilies, but Anna's work was so impeccable I couldn't help but appreciate and admire it. As I continued to look and take pictures, Anna told me that one of her young family members has taken up the craft and she hopes that the tradition will continue and she'll be able to pass down the patterns given to her by her grandmother to the next generation. What a wonderful legacy of crafting.

Anyway, here are the small coaster doilies I purchased as a gift to my hosts and dear friends Toni and Marsha in Jamestown. Green is Marsha's favorite color and Toni is an Irish fiddle player. Fittingly, these green doilies are a shamrock pattern. Thanks, Toni and Marsha for welcoming me once again into your home for my two day respite before heading to the island.

I'm heading out to the following party pads:

Ivy and Elephants What's It Wednesday

Our Delightful Home Show Me What You Got

Beez Rental Designs Frugal Treasures Tuesday