Weekly Sponsor Spotlights: The Word Cellar, Louise Gale, Gwennie B, Blue Muse + Experimental Art

Big thanks to my sponsors...I'm really enjoying these weekly sponsor spotlights where their creative talents and businesses are featured. If you are interested in becoming a sponsor (includes your ad on the sidebar + ongoing spotlights), please send me an email for further information! Now taking sign-ups for the holiday season (Dec).

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“Lanterns offers a kind light to weary travelers wishing for companions on the journey toward a well-crafted soul. Stories, poems, and essays offer signposts and gentle guidance, reminding readers that resistance melts away in the company of those who believe in the path set before us. By illuminating the ways we can move outside of our interior reflections into a more inclusive whole, this lovely book provides a way into togetherness that will encourage and inspire anyone longing for authentic connection around their creative work.” (Jen Lemen, artist, activist, dreamer)

Created and edited by Jennifer McGuiggan of The Word Cellar, Lanterns: A Gathering of Stories is a curated collection of prose, poetry, and photography by seven women (Darlene Kreutzer, Liz Lamoreux, Jen Lee, Rachelle Mee-Chapman, Lisa Ottman, Jena Strong, and Jennifer McGuiggan). This beautiful square gift book is handcrafted, professionally printed, and thoughtfully created, making it the perfect gift for your girlfriends, your daughters, your mothers, yourself. It is a gift of hope, inspiration, and the reminder that creativity and community walk alongside each other, hand in hand, a string of lanterns lighting the way. Lanterns is a celebration, an encouragement, an invitation. (A portion of the proceeds benefits Girls Write Now.)

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Want to receive some lovely handmade holiday ornaments for a special Holiday Ornament Swap?

Louise Gale from "Dream, Inspire, Create" is bringing back the hugely popular Creative Color Challenge for a special Ornament Swap for the holidays. She’s inviting everyone to join in here. All you have to do is follow her instructions to sign up and then create 4 wonderful handmade ornaments. 1 to keep yourself, 3 to send out into the world (this is open to all around the globe). Everyone will get to make and receive wonderful holiday ornaments to hang on your tree, your window or fireplace and post photos into the Color Challenge Flickr group. Wire, fabrics, paper, beads, cookies - you name it...you can create using any materials you wish, but wait, there is a color challenge involved, click here to get the scoop & sign up, before its posted on Louise's blog next week!

Follow Louise: Blog, Facebook, Twitter

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If you stop by Gwynnie B's seaside studio you'll find a delightful mess of color and beads and paint and 4 crazy animals helping out. The dogs, Lucy and Louie, offer suggestions with a wag of their tails, while the 2 cats, Fatso Skinny and Bleu Kitty offer purrs with the occasional nudge to get attention. It's a happy studio filled with lots of sunlight and music, which makes for an atmosphere full of inspiration. Please stop by Gwynnie's website or the new Etsy shop to see whimsical jewelry and unique gifts, and the blog Beautiful heART to find out what's new in the Gwynnie B studio.

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Blue Muse Jewelry is a collaboration between two sisters, Kelly Letky and Conni Bills, who, for the past five years, have used their love of handmade jewelry as a way to bond and spend lots of time together. Their favorite material is precious metal clay, and they also work with artisan glass and semi-precious stones. Creating unique, one-of-a-kind pieces is their way of adding a little beauty to life, everyday. Visit their etsy shop to see more of their work, and Kelly's blog for updates, imagery, and writing on life, art, and working as a graphic/jewelry designer.

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Do you want to find the natural artist in you? Amelia Critchlow's e-course, Experimental Art, explores a variety of art techniques - including collage and photography - in experimental ways whilst having fun with an on-line community, sharing and discussing ideas and work produced. This 6 week course is for busy people who want to take their creative inclinations to the first step, or people already practicing their art and want to try something new, getting some fresh inspiration, all from the comfort of home. The 6 week course costs £60 ($95 based on current exchange rates) and includes an extensive look at a variety of artists, with lots of pdfs, web, and book resources, as well as individual feedback from Amelia - a qualified tutor and practicing artist in the UK. The next 6 week experimental art e-course (Winter 2011) is scheduled for Monday 10th January 2011 and due to popularity and feedback, the course will be going up to £75 in 2011. However, an early bird offer is in place for people who sign up from now until December 1st 2010 - you will still get your spot for £60. So for those who've been thinking of doing the course, sign up before Dec 1st! See here. Be sure to check out Amelia's website where you can find her gallery, blog, and more. For testimonials about the course, see here.

what a gift.

everything feels precious in ways that feel intensely grateful, and free, and happy and even a little like a longing, like a bittersweet longing. whenever he looks at me, precious. whenever sleep arrives, precious. whenever feelings are spilled in honest tears, precious. whenever john hugs me, precious. home cooked meals. precious. a walk in the sunshine. precious. a baby poo after hours of waiting for it. seriously precious.

life feels so tender these days in ways that make me love every moment more than before. there is a gratitude that is orbiting my heart at all times for these moments of precious, though i'll admit that i have to intentionally concentrate on letting go in order to see them at times. i'm getting there. the letting go is turning out to be the hardest part of this early journey. i'm a bit tightly wound up, anxious, eager, worried. meanwhile, john is relaxed and more confident - modeling for me the idea that i can let go of the intensity, that i can have a bit more fun, that i can be un-serious. i'm working on it :)

baby true is three weeks old. week one felt like we were living on adrenaline, not yet awake to all that had happened. week two felt extremely wobbly, tearful, intensely intense like no other intensity i've ever felt - it was a week of navigating everything new and raw. week three has felt like breath, like maybe a little confidence is finding its way to my heart. baby true seems to be finding his groove too - sleeping more regularly, responding more to soothing, and soaking it all in with a deeper and deeper alertness.

there was a moment at the end of week two when he looked at me as if for the first time directly in the eyes. he just stared at me for a few long seconds as if he was saying "oh hello, mama, there you are. i see you!" and i was all tears and a hot mess over the sweetness.

i have learned so much these last three weeks. about the human heart. about letting it all release. about telling the truth, even if you think it will disappoint. about love so wide and big. about generosity. about giving. about the strength of my little family. about the vulnerability of loving more than ever before. about how one little love of a life can turn everything upside down and sideways in order to show you who you are possibly meant to be and what really matters and who really matters.

what a gift.

ps-maternity leave is a serious gift, too. i've been getting up everyday and taking a shower. doing my hair. putting on makeup. asking for help. being with true. being with john. taking naps and lots of bubble baths. not working at all (or VERY little). watching football and dvr'd oprah. writing (both here and elsewhere) which feels like therapy. all of the big transitions of the year and all the movement we've had this year have come to a close. we are resting and nesting and finding our beautiful.

lovely true words from friend nina

many of you know my friend nina already - she's the woman behind the poetry of her blog, and the poetry of her creations (i have several of her earrings and necklaces - all treasured possessions). one of the things i love about her (besides her charm - serious charm she has!), is her southern accent which always makes me feel settled and cozy around her and she has a dearness about her that radiates and comforts. i don't get to see her very often but i always know i can trust her wisdom and her words. she is very very real, very very inspired, and i love how in tune she is to the love and life around her at all times. it's the little things she sees. i love that about her.

she reached out to me recently with a lovely story of finding and declaring her own true this year. i asked if she would write a bit more and below are her words (and photos) that i'm so grateful for. also - notice the heart rocks. nina has inspired many many people, including myself, to search for heart rocks. i love this about her. and now i never ever go to the ocean shore without searching for them.

I’ve spent the past couple of weeks thinking all day of sweet Kelly Rae, thinking of her from across the country as she settles in to her new home, her new life in anticipation of her little boy barreling into her world. I was in Portland just after True was born, and was tempted, o! so tempted, to look up her house address and quietly drive by to see if a bow had been hung on her mailbox or front door. It’s a good thing I didn’t have my own car, it is a good thing that my days were full of teaching from morning ‘til night; I would have found it difficult, otherwise, to keep from hopping out of the car and sprinting up her porch steps with a riotous bunch of fresh flowers and a citrus-scented cake for tea in hand.
I remember those early chaotic days of new motherhood – the sleepless nights, the tendency to shift directly from elation to weepy despair within a moment’s breath – the hunger for adult conversation, balanced on the fine opposite end of the spectrum with a craving for peace, for quiet solitude. For a space to take a deep breath. For focus, for sanity. But goodness, new motherhood – such a beautiful time it truly is. I remember the way that the clock beside our ancient wooden bed glowed saint-like in the middle of the night, the way the hours radiated themselves into all that sleepy autumn dark. I remember the smell of our new baby boy’s neck, the way that it wrinkled in back just like the neck of a very fat and bald old man. Precious were those moments when Robin looked deep into my eyes while nursing and it was just the two of us holding warm and close in our own little world, just the two of us peering into one another’s heart and soul, sharing purest, unfiltered love. It wasn’t that long ago; it was twenty five years that evaporated, poof! just like that. It wasn’t long ago, it’s been a lifetime ever since.

When I read what John and Kelly Rae had decided to name their little boy, I recalled some words I’d written back on the first day of this year. It was in the deepest heart of winter, when days were their quietest, when outside colors were simple and stark, when mornings balanced evenly with evenings that fell quietly, early and fast. I had thought long and hard about what to choose for a word for this year – so many choices! So many words – and finally came up with True: “Last week, after hearing how I had hightailed it back home from Alabama on Christmas Eve, a wise friend and mentor wrote and said that perhaps I should name my home "True North", for all the comfort that these four walls bring to me. I think that she is right, and after reading her words, I pulled out a lovely old compass that a student had given to me back in early April, a gift that was lost in travel for many months until i found it a few days ago. I've pondered these words, the true and the north, and have decided as well that my word for this year shall be "true". It is a simple word, four short letters that rhyme with you, with blue, with new. My mantra has always been the words of Shakespeare, "to thine own self be true", even when I've felt selfish or overly focused on myself while dealing with those who surround me. But truer words have never been spoken, and I will wear these words deep in my heart, will honor this word of truth from here on out. It is my beautiful word, this is so very true.” And now it is the name of a beautiful little boy, who has come out of everywhere into here, to show his mother and father a lovely thing about life, or two.
I want to share with the parents of True all the countless stories, all the things my two sons have taught me along the way; but who am I to tell them these tales, when they have their own wise little teacher showing them everything he knows, when they have that deep old soul named True to guide them along the path that is theirs, and only theirs? I want to tell them that each moment is a gift – that the exhaustion has its own beauty, its own holiness that will reveal itself with time. I want to tell them all of the wonderful ways that we, Robin’s dad and I, came into ourselves more and more and more with parenthood, that we gained depth and breadth and with all of that, we gained wisdom that has made us richer and richer with every passing year. Robin became a big brother when he was two months shy of two years; he scrambled up onto that hospital bed the late summer day that Roy was born, all blonde ringlets and dimpled elbows and knees, and went straight to Roy’s tiny star hands, stroking them and pointing with his own chubby fingers, sounding like the little bird for which he was named, chirping “Bebe’s hands! Bebe’s hands! Bebe’s hands!” over and over and over again. My little bird. My big Robin. Such a big man now, staking out new territory in the high rugged mountains of Colorado, while his little not-so-little brother Roy walks the waves of the Carolina coast. Still they are my beloved boys, big or small; still, I have the thumbnail-sized heart rocks that they began finding and giving to me when they were five and three; they find them on beaches, on trails at their feet, they pick them up, they pocket them, they send them to me still. We are a tiny family now, these two boys and I; we are so fiercely close from far away that it hurts sometimes to breathe, I love them so. I write this, and I sigh. We know this love, we mothers, all. We know the way it aches and tugs at our hearts, the feeling it makes when it radiates from out of our chests and into the room, where love is everything. It is everything, and this is the love song I wanted to share with Kelly Rae and John, the song about love and truth and life, the song that shall be called Baby Blue. Baby Blue, we sing for thee. For thee, we gather and sing. xo

letting go of stubborn and embracing the tears and the love

my parents went back home yesterday - mom was here 10 days, greggie was here 5. it wasn't a planned visit, but after arriving home from the hospital and realizing we'd need the help after gina left, john and i put out and SOS call and mom hopped on a plane within days and greggie followed soon after. we are so lucky.

i've never felt so humbled by an experience before. and i've never needed more care before, both physically and emotionally. my heart feels like it's totally come undone as it lets in all this love and transition. i barely know how to hold all of these pieces - the purity, the lack of sleep, the enormity of emotions, good and hard, the physical healing. as we tend to baby true (and let me tell you, he is precious with a capital P), our family and friends have been tending to us. this has been an unexpected acceptance for us. i think we thought we could handle it just fine. not so. we've deeply needed the help and it's been humbling and rewarding and a deepening experience to be cared for in this way.

it turns out that growing mama wings is a delicate adventure and having my mom here these last many days to witness, to cook, to love on True, to hold my tears, and to simply hold the space has been a gift i won't ever forget. i don't often cry in front of my mom or admit to needing her as much as i do - i'm a bit stubborn and fiercely independent, but these last three weeks have been a watershed for me. i'm learning that sometimes we need to let the independence go, to let the tears rush in, to let love and tenderness show their hard and their beauty right there in the kitchen while pouring the milk, at the restaurant while trying to order, in a conversation with a neighbor on the sidewalk, in the arms of my mom. i'm so grateful for her love and attention not just to john and i but to baby true. he's smitten with her and greggie. and it's so wonderful to see and watch.

so yes, inside an experience where i thought i would be the one giving so much love and care to a new life, i've never felt more cared for - by john, by my friends, by my family, and even by baby true as he lives this journey with me. by letting it all of this love and help and care rush in and accept that this is an emotional journey, i'm giving myself permission to let the independence go, to let the tears come as they may, to let all the expectations and judgments go, to let this new love really explode into my life even if it terrifies me.

what a life. what a beautiful, all encompassing, messy, loved, true life.

i need to say that it's important to me to share the real truth in this space. i'm not sad. i'm not depressed. i'm simply a new mama who like all new moms is wide open to this experience. i want to remember the delicacies, the intensity, the newness, the rawness of new love, the courage. i want to honor all of it. am i totally in love with True? yes. is that scary for me? yes. am i cracked open? absolutley. could i be a little less serious? sure. am i gaining more confidence? yes. but i'm also navigating the emotional recovery of an intensely traumatic birth while 100% embracing the gratitude and the joy of baby true while adjusting to a vulnerability i've never known before while managing on little sleep. it all exists together. it all matters. i'm taking it all in - funny, sweet, hard, strange, emotional, grief, lovable, even the hilarious moments of overwhelm (like the time where i drove myself to the PO this week only to lock myself out of my car while the ignition was still running!).

more soon. all is well over here. all is well. thank you to those of you who have been sending over your new mama stories. there is so much bravery in these shared mama experiences, i can hardly stand it.

Weekly Sponsor Spotlights: Be Present Retreats, Homesteader's Metalsmithing, Katherine Quinn, Sacred Cake + ABC Creativity

Big thanks to my sponsors...I'm really enjoying these weekly sponsor spotlights where their creative talents and businesses are featured. If you are interested in becoming a sponsor (includes your ad on the sidebar + ongoing spotlights), please send me an email for further information! Now taking sign-ups for the holiday season (Nov/Dec).

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The Be Present Retreats are an invitation to pause in your life and gather in an intimate, creative community to explore, create, discover, and soak up the world around you. Each retreat takes place in the Pacific Northwest and includes time spent in creative community paired with exercises to remind you to open your eyes and heart and be present on your path.

2011 brings a new type of retreat with the Studio Gathering Series. These retreats are inspired by the image of a room our own where we can write, paint, play, and live creative dreams into reality combined with the idea that creative souls crave community with others who speak their language. These retreats will include time spent in group discussions and experiential activities, time for small group and one-on-one private sessions with mentors who will be at each retreat, and several hours each day for personal "studio" time. The first retreat in this series is "Sea Studio: Pen & Paper," which will take place in February in Manzanita, Oregon. This retreat focuses on writing and includes these amazing mentors: Kate Inglis, Jenna McGuiggan, and Christen Olivarez. Registration for Sea Studio: Pen & Paper will begin October 26. To learn more about this retreat and for a sneak peek of other 2011 retreats, please visit www.bepresentretreats.com.

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Stephanie Lee writes, "I'm so pleased to present another round of my most comprehensive, non-traditional metal-smithing class to date! The first four-week round was a huge success and I'm so excited to be sharing an entire weeks worth of new information this go 'round. (You don't have to have taken session one to join in on session two.) It comes at the perfect time of year...just in time for Holiday gift giving. Imagine being able to generously give your own handcrafted beautiful works of metal art and jewelry to all your amazed friends! Heck, you could even give the class itself as an early present! If you've never done anything like this before, no worries. I'm totally committed to helping you comfortably explore the medium at whatever pace you want.

There is so much information I'll be sharing with you in class. FIVE (!!) weeks of video tutorials, PDF's, and a heckuva lot more. Not only that, but you will also have three full months after the last official day of class where you will have access to the class site and all content so's you can digest it all at your own pace. Whether you are a jeweler or a dabbler in other mediums, this class is sure to have plenty of spark to light your creative fire! I'd love to have you in on the fun!

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My name is Katherine Quinn and I am the New Zealand artist behind Sleep And Her Sisters. I sell my original works to 8 galleries around New Zealand and have three online shops where I also sell originals, prints and other goodies. I live with my two children, 17 year old Hannah, 5 year old Ben and our 10 year old cat... Holly. I work from my kitchen table at our home in the sunny Hawke's Bay where I love to create with paint, chalk pastels, graphite, paper and a little bit of jewellery… I also love to collect things. My favourite colour at the moment is a soft, pale, antique sort of blue.

I am a firm believer that our stories are not for us alone that they are for us to give courage, support and wisdom to each other. You can read about my creative journey and see my latest works on my blog.

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Jennifer Valentine of Sacred Cake is an assemblage artist and vintage assemblage jewelry designer living in small town Michigan with her husband, a talented portrait painter, and four of her five lively children. Her inspiration is drawn from her years living the quiet country life, her study of religious iconography, and her adoration and deep appreciation for remnants of the past. All of these elements intertwine to create one of a kind assemblage jewelry and functional artwork infused with spirit and the stories of her heart. You can read more about her life and her work on her blog. To celebrate her recent publications this year in Belle Armoire Jewelry, Jewelry Affaire, Artful Blogging and Somerset Life, she is offering a 5.00 coupon to all Kelly Rae readers this week, good for any purchase over 20.00 in her new Artfire shop. Use coupon code “Celebrate with Sacred Cake” to receive your discount.

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ABCcreativity is the online home of artist, healer, teacher and coach Andrea Schroeder. Everything at ABCcreativity has one goal: to support you in using your creativity to light a path to your dreams.

Andrea offers creative coaching/healing/magic-making sessions, creativity and meditation kits, a free creativity 101 e-course for discovering your creative magic and all sorts of creative magic every week on her blog.

introducing dani!

i wanted to introduce you guys to Dani, my new studio assistant! let me just say that she has totally changed my life these last many weeks. i'm always a bit reluctant of letting go, especially if it has to do with my creative biz. but now that i have dani, and because of who she is, i've never enjoyed letting go more! she. is. delightful.

one of the things she did recently was update the shop with more inventory! that means we finally have more of the goodies that were previously sold out - bookmarks, laptop and iphone skins, necklaces, and more (all great stocking stuffers). also, don't forget that we're still taking in orders for signed datebooks and calendars (get these while you can - they will sell out soon).

so, when you place an order or when you have a question or if you want to be a sponsor, dani is your gal. she's my right hand woman. my partner in crime. and at a time when i've needed more help than i've ever needed before, she's an angel.

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on the baby front, we are catching our breath in one moment, and losing it in another. ebb and flow. trying to honor all that comes with this experience. i have so much to say and write but struggling with finding solid time to string my words together. i know this will come with time. more soon!

even through the hard.

baby true looking adorable with his big eyes...

we are navigating the waters over here, doing the best we can with all the help and love being offered by those close to us. we are so fortunate to have such good support. for paternity leave. for maternity leave. for family and friends who are with us, helping us to clean and cook and soothe and simply witness.

with all these blessings, this is still such a hard road to discover. this past week was especially rough. at every turn, i feel totally new and raw. i'm missing and grieving and over thinking. and everything feels acutely unfamiliar. everything. it's unsettling, scary. the tears are still at the surface and i wonder when i'll begin to feel a bit like myself.

i know this is all normal, par for the course - that this is all a part of this major transition. i'm also learning that i have a lot of emotional recovery to do in regards to true's birth. i'm not ready to tell that story, but birth grief crept up on me hard and furious this past week and i feel like i'm on my knees and totally at its mercy.

through it all we are loving our way through. we are learning our way through. we are living our way through. and we are doing it together. together. baby True is all blessings. all joy. all love. i still can't stop looking at him. or missing him. and my love for john has grown in ways i never knew possible.

feeling really blessed. even through the hard.
xxo,
kelly rae

nothing is wasted. wise words from jen to me.

(jen and i, taken summer 2010)

while john and i and true settle into our new life, i've asked a few dear friends to guest post from time to time over here in this space. i know i will look back on these posts with such tenderness - i'm really leaning into the idea that our friends and family have the most special gift of witnessing this time in our life and holding so much space for us as we find our way.

a day or so after arriving home with true, i sent an SOS email to a few friends. they responded with so much love and care. one of the messages was from jen who shared the the idea that nothing is wasted - that all the challenges that come with a newborn will help me in my parenthood journey as our new family grows together. that all that learning to soothe and comfort and trial and error will come in handy, not just in parenting, but in life in general. nothing is wasted. i asked jen to expand a bit more on this idea and here's what she wrote. i'm so blessed to have friends like jen who totally get it and who hold so much wisdom...

My dear sweet Kelly Rae,

I wish I could come over and hold that baby boy True while you slept or cried or let yourself sit down and eat slowly, a real meal even. Instead I am all the way on the other side of the country, and all I can do is write letters and send love via text message. I cannot believe you have crossed over to the other side in the never never land of motherhood. Everything is different now. Nothing will ever be the same. This is what they always say, right? What no one tells you is that nothing is wasted.

It's true.

Little by little the life you once knew will slip away, like so many tiny slips of paper on your studio floor. You will forget how it was before. You will lament what is passing as you watch each little piece float like a leaf to the forest floor. You will worry that you aren't accomplishing anything, that you are losing time, that you are doing it wrong, that you are not enough--but even this will be needed in the end as over days and months and years you collect the pieces that you lost and recreate the life you love--only this time every scrap will be infused by the magic of one boy True. A boy who insisted that your love was the only way, even when you felt lost or confused or had no idea what to do.

Nothing is wasted.

You know the way that you wander around the studio, gathering your papers and whatever little artifact you think might make your painting beautiful? This is how your new life will be now. Every single thing that seemed fruitless or random or meaningless will be needed in the end. Your artist eye will find it like a long lost treasure on the studio floor when the time is right--for inside every empty moment lies the seeds of patience, tenderness, the raw unraveling you didn't know could make you feel this alive, this real. And these seeds will continue to grow and shape you long after you have forgotten there was ever a time you feared losing the old you.

Nothing is wasted.

For years, I laid beside Madeleine while she slept, telling her in the night that she could trust now, that the world was safe for her, that she had no need to fear, that Love would hold her when she needed it most. I thought those words were kind but lost in the stillness of the night with her too young to make note or truly take it in. It is only now that I am coming into my own as an older mother that I remember them. It is only now as she enters her young teenage years that I understand that those words were meant for me and that I would need them now twelve years later to become the loving, strong woman she deeply needs me to be.

Nothing is wasted.

Some day True will be a man and he will pass you his baby daughter, the girl you never knew would be yours, and you will hold her and console her and tell him stories of how he cried and how much you loved him and how then you never imagined that knowing how to soothe a baby girl like this one would be a lifelong dream come true. You will tell her kind words before she can understand, and he will remember in a way that he almost forgot that you once loved him when he was small and difficult and new. On that day, Kelly Rae, you will remember how I told you that nothing is wasted and you will see over many years and many paintings and many chapters of being brave in sadness, brave in love that everything belongs.

Especially the parts when we are walking in the dark and have no idea where we are or what we're supposed to do.

Hang on, dear girl.
You have everything you need now (and later) because Love is holding you.

It's True.

Your friend forever,
Jen Lemen

You can read more from my friend Jen at jenlemen.com where she writes about what's real and true with her heart wide open.

Weekly Sponsor Spotlights: Rita Maria Gallery, Celebrate Life Every Day, Lindy Hanson, Sublime, Close2MyArt + Where Ava Dreams

Big thanks to my sponsors...I'm really enjoying these weekly sponsor spotlights where their creative talents and businesses are featured. If you are interested in becoming a sponsor (includes your ad on the sidebar + ongoing spotlights), please send me an email for further information! Now taking sign-ups for the holiday season (Nov/Dec).

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Rita Maria Gallery

creating art is my way of communicating my deepest thoughts and feelings. it can be a little intimidating to put some of my paintings “out there”. it almost feels like i’m exposing my journal for everyone to read. why create something if it isn’t going to be personal to you? not being able to paint would be the same as taking away my ability to communicate. with many of my paintings you might notice that i usually title the piece after a quote or i’ll include the quote in the painting. its usually something that i’ve connected to in some way. maybe it’s in the form of a song or a poem. i will jot it down on whatever is in front of me. sometimes i’ll carry a quote around for years until i can illustrate it in a way that just feels right. i’m really not a good writer or speaker, but i know when it is important to me, i can say it best with a brush and some paint. just like my own spirit, my work may appear very whimsical and colorful on the outside. however, if you look deeper you would see that it is very honest, meaningful and bittersweet. i leave you with not just my work, but my inspirations, my secrets, my journal; hoping that it will inspire you to express yourself as well. i invite you into my world at www.ritamariagallery.com.

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Over the last few weeks autumn, Erica Cooper has been dividing the time in her studio office with designing client spaces, creating new items for her upcoming shop, photographing those items, and writing about celebrating the ordinary in our lives. Erica’s passion is “all things home”, evident in her blog Celebrate Life Everyday. By celebrating the moments that are big and small; living life using the creativity within us; and embracing the place called home, that centers & restores us; we pass on all that matters. It’s telling our story and writing the pages each day with meaning and joy.

So, please grab a cup of coffee and a warm cookie and join Erica over at her Blog: www.CelebrateLifeEveryday.com where the journey always heads home and where soon you can shop her latest venture, Celebrate HOME Studios, featuring unique finds for home and life. While visiting her blog, sign-up for Erica’s newsletter to receive updates & specials for her new shop and pass the link along to another kindred spirit who also loves to celebrate the daily. Update: The new shop will debut soon, so please stop by and subscribe to the blog… special “Preview Invite” will be going out this month!

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Artist Lindy Gruger Hanson can look out on tall pine and aspen from her Central Oregon studio and she uses her sense of the natural world to depict an inner, symbolic journey in her paintings. Stylized images of rivers, trees, birds and symbolic shapes seem to glow with a warm halo of energy. She says, "My aim is to create paintings with the belief that art can inspire people, make a house a home, and bring joy and positive energy into the world!" She hopes that her playful, vividly colored paintings can lift the spirit of others. Prints and greeting cards can be found at her Etsy Shop and original paintings on her website.

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I am Kaye-Lee Pantony artist and psychotherapist. I have created the e-course Sublime which is an online course with a focus on helping us remember and integrate a very powerful part of ourselves - our inner adolescent girl. We use photography, collage, mixed media and journaling to draw forth this potent self. Remembered and integrated this girl within provides us with limitless growth and possibilities, as well as the potential to become unapologetically ourselves.

The Fall Sublime class has just begun so there is still time to join us. If you join as a late comer, you will receive $50 dollars off our fall session! Alternatively, we will run the class again in January 2011 with registration in early December. Hope to see you on one of our creative journeys!

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Fun and funky is what we do! We invite you to come and explore Allen Designs's new website CLOSE2MYART.com. We are a small studio based right outside of Portland, OR, where 5 gals and a guy work together to bring you these whimsical devices of time, funky art and other unique and affordable gift products! Wanting to give an original gift that you can't find in your "big box" stores? Then check us out! All Kelly Rae Readers receive a 10% discount with any purchase, along with a free gift! (Discount Code: KRAE10)

Also, for added incentive, profits of the website go to the Close2myArt Cycling Team, a non-profit training program that Michelle and her husband Gary started, teaching kids the basics of bike handling and racing in a fun and healthy environment. To learn more about our studio and the artist, Michelle Allen, check out her blog here!

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Where Ava Dreams was created by artist, children's writer and dreamer-girl, Dyan Whyte to celebrate and express the magical and childlike creative spirit that she sees in everyone she meets. Ever a creative soul who believes in the power of dreams and the inner child, Where Ava Dreams offers art both for and inspired by the childlike, children and Dyan's childhood. Gentle angels and sometimes cuddly animals are part of the world of Where Ava Dreams, which primarily features the little dolls as they're affectionately called.

Dyan muses and shares her own creative journey and unfolding on her blog, as well as her experiences as a Jamaican living in Canada and adventures with her furry yet mischievous cockapoo - SweetSop. At the heart of it all she's a playful and imaginative dreamer who feels inspired to help others connect with their childlike spirit as she nurtures her own creativity in between wondering what pretty outfits to dress her little dolls in next! Follow along with the little dolls at Dyan's blog and wander by her store to explore her art. Dyan is offering all Kelly Rae blog readers FREE SHIPPING on each purchase all week from her online store - please use discount code: LITTLESTAR

love wordy.

one thing i've noticed about myself since giving birth is that i feel a bit drunk on love. this feeling reminds me of whenever i have a few cocktails in me and i'm all super lovey and mushy. does that ever happen to you? you have a few drinks and you're all dramatic with "oh, i love you so much" or "you're my bestest friend in the whole world" and on and on. you're a bit tipsy, but your emotional love gets all wordy when otherwise it might stay a bit more locked up.

that's how i feel now, everyday. love wordy. i'm all mush and gush. my friendships feel deeper. my relationship with john feels deeper. my love for my family feels more ignited. they haven't changed. but i have. i'm wide open over here. wide open.

in other news, the big celebration of the day is that we all got EIGHT hours of sleep last nite. sure, it was interrupted sleep every couple of hourse but the grand total for us adults was eight hours. i feel like a new woman. i've got on a boden dress and some make-up and my hair up. that and my mom arrived last nite. true was crying when she walked in the door. she promptly scooped him up and he stopped instantly and looked at her face with calm, calm, calm. she's got the touch :)

learning, leaning, loving.

we are making our way over here. slooowly we are catching our breath, learning True, and leaning into our new life. more than ever my mantra is brave in sadness, brave in love. this experience of being cracked open has encompassed just that: embracing change and all the hard, yet beautiful aspects of this giant life transition yet also embracing all the small celebrations and gratitudes that are mixed in with intensity and tears. it all matters. it's all a part of it. i trust this truth with all of my heart.

speaking of tears, i have never in my entire life felt so much emotion. high and low. all in the span of a single day, day after day. hormones, yes, but human heart 100%. i'm most tender in the mornings. although the tears are sometimes surprising and funny (like the time the waitress came to deliver the news that the biscuits and gravy i just ordered were no longer available), they also arrive the minute anyone asks how we're doing or gives me a hug or looks at me with understanding eyes or sends a sweet email or leaves a kind voicemail or when i think i can no longer operate on exhaustion. either way, i feel very in tune, very alive, and embracing the vulnerability of what it means to be so attached.

there was a moment when gina took True downstairs for a couple of hours so that john and i could get some rest upstairs. he was 6 days old and we had not once been separated from him. although she was just taking him downstairs, i bawled my eyes out as i watched her walk away. it was then that i knew i was attached, and cracked wide open to love and all that it is bringing to our new family.

i am growing. john and i are growing. we are learning and loving deep and wide. i'm surrendering to it in ways that leave me feeling more lifted up, more joyful than i've ever felt yet totally and utterly exhausted by the emotional and physical component, too. it's so strange, this territory, how it has me opened up to new love yet insanely terrified all at once. i suppose this is what happens when you realize how much you have to lose - again, brave in sadness, brave in love.

it feels like i've lived a whole entire lifetime in just 10 days. i'm so grateful for all of it. and 100% changed.

and did i mention how insanely adorable and cute True is? he is. oh yes indeed.

A guest post from my bff, gina.

(me looking VERY very tired and gina)

Gina and I met the first day of 7th grade. It was 1987 and we were 12 years old. We've been bff's ever since. We've traveled far and wide in our friendship and it's a sisterhood I hold very very close - she's family. Gina's been here since the second day we arrived home from the hospital. Not only has she been helping us with all the baby how-to's, but she's been a witness for us during this time in our lives when everything feels so raw and new. She's been so incredibly gentle and wise and helpful during this time - it feels like a tremendous gift and I'm not sure how John and I would have survived without her these last several days. As she gets ready to head back home to her family and her life, I asked if she would share some of her thoughts about her visit with us. I'm so glad she wrote these words. I'll remember them always...

(baby True with his sock monkey that grandma made for him :)

I’ve always thought that newborn babies look like ancient, wise souls. It’s something about the way they gaze into our eyes, into the world. It’s deep, soulful. The past few days I imagine True laughing at us behind his big, dark eyes as we bustle around him, making a big fuss out of all kinds of things – “What we really need from Babies R Us is…” “What’s that red spot on his face?” “Does anyone know where the nipple shield is?” “Okay, you hold his arm out of the way while I try to get him to latch on…wait, the sleeve of his shirt is in the way…” “What’s that in his diaper?” “This feels unrelenting!” Then there’s the tears, the frustration, the goofy, smitten new parent voices, the totally comical times. I’m sure there are moments that we have looked like a three ring circus to him. (I am positive that his favorite moment was the first day I was here when he was breastfeeding on Kelly’s right boob and I was simultaneously pumping her left “problem” boob with the breast pump. Even as a seasoned mother of two, that was a new one for me!)

The truth is that even though True is technically the baby bird around here, Kelly and John are the ones having to grow their parental wings and learn to fly. Leaving the hospital is like being pushed out of the nest for the first time…you pretty much land on the ground with a big SPLAT. When we learn something new, it can be unbelievably awkward and scary. Breastfeeding feels like trying to eat M&M’s with greased chopsticks. Changing a diaper or wrestling a newborn into an outfit feels like learning origami. Preparing to leave the house with the baby takes a hundred years and then some. I’ve often thought that becoming a parent grows us up along with our children. Not only does it take you to the limits of your emotional capacity, high and low, but it always presents you with new challenges and opportunities for growth because children are forever changing. We think we are raising them, but they are raising us, teaching us new flight patterns day by day and pushing us to be better than we think we are.

So, needless to say, Kelly and John are in major flight school mode over here. It’s fun to watch the sacred dance between the three of them as they try to figure this new life out. There are moments when True looks at Kelly like, “Come on Mama, you can do it!” I too know she can and she will and it’s going to be beautiful. It already is.

Weekly Sponsor Spotlights: Contemporary Cloth, Beth Quinn Designs + Susannah Conway

Big thanks to my sponsors...I'm really enjoying these weekly sponsor spotlights where their creative talents and businesses are featured. If you are interested in becoming a sponsor (includes your ad on the sidebar + ongoing spotlights), please send me an email for further information! Now taking sign-ups for the holiday season (Oct/Nov/Dec).

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Contemporary Cloth has an exciting collection of modern, vintage, hand dyed and organic fabrics, patterns, fabric stencils and sale books/magazines. Els van Baarle of the Netherlands sends us her hand dyed/batiked papers/fabrics and vintage papers in several languages.

Mention - "KellyRae" - in the coupon code for 20% off your order (10-15% off fiberartists).

You can also find us on twitter, facebook, and our blog!

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Jewelry artist Beth Quinn is "a mom of two wonderful little boys, married to my best friend, and an artist who loves to create anything from paper, fabric , wood ,paint and metal." Influenced by her late father's metal working and her grandmother's creativity, her jewelry is "full of her love for the old , worn and shiny ... she loves to combine texture to create jewelry that can be loved and cherished for years to come." Please head over to Beth's website where you can find her shop (wonderful fall jewelry now available!!) and her blog!

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First let me send balloons, champagne and HUGE congratulations to Kelly Rae & John on the safe arrival of baby True!! What a cutie he is!I’m not a mama, but I am a very proud auntie and was there when my nephew, Noah, was born just six months ago. That little chap (whose feeties are in the photo above) is the light of my life and these last few months have brought so much joy into my world, and opened my heart in ways I’d never imagined. When Kelly Rae and I met in San Francisco last December my sister was already pregnant, and little did we know that within a few weeks Kelly Rae would be too! I am so happy for you, mama!

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I’m Susannah Conway, a photographer, writer and the creator of the Unravelling e-course, an 8-week online class designed to help you heal the way you see your self and your world, using photography and journalling to access hidden thoughts & dreams and encourage personal realisations, all in the safe space of a like-minded community.

The autumn Unravelling class is currently in session, and I’ll be opening registration for the January 2011 class on December 4th, so if you’d like to join us be sure to sign up to my mailing list for updates on the courses and future workshops, or just come say hi at the blog!

how it sets you free

some quick observations about this crazy week:

-you weren't kidding when you said we'd spend hours upon hours staring at our baby.
-we think he looks just like the two of us.
-we are a serious team. and we are so much stronger together than we've ever known.
-a wise friend told me i need to tell baby True's birth story over and over again until i have processed and healed, processed and healed. i think this will take awhile. i'm just now realizing its impact.
-we are asking for help and it feels really good to take it
-we couldn't have asked for better providers (midwives, nurses, and on and on) during our four days at the hospital. especially our lactation consultant, wendy, who came every single day and showed us how it all works. or rosie, our l+d nurse, who would say in the most calm voice "that's the way" when i was just about to give up. or lea, one of nurses who heard an inconsolable baby True in the middle of the nite and came to our rescue with a few tricks up her sleeves.
-the moby wrap is our best friend
-i never thought we could operate on this little sleep and this many tears.
-that extreme frustration and extreme joy co-exist just perfect side by side
-you are seriously cute. and you looovvveeee breastfeeding.
-i do not like anything about the word "engorge"
-i never knew that breastfeeding made you so acutely tired. crazy. tired on top of tired.
-singing random christmas songs at all hours of the nite is hilarious even when it's a last ditch effort to stop the crying (which didn't work)
-we've unearthed new parts of ourselves this week. strong, tender, joyous, parts
-we are celebrating every single tiny bit of progress like the time we figured how to get a good burp out of you. who knew burping was so tricky, true?

and most importantly:
-surrendering is surrendering, even if if you are surrendering to love. it's powerful, hard, life changing, vulnerable, yet it feels like it sets you free. like truth. like how truth sets you free. but in this case, it's a baby boy named True.

introducing baby True

True Elio Orlando
Born Sunday, Oct 3rd
7lbs, 7oz, 7:30pm
18.5 inches long

True as in true love, truth (and how it sets us free), always staying true (our internal true compass), and all things true, true, true.
Elio (elle-e-o) because we love it.
Orlando because Orlando Roberts was a very special patriarch of a very special family.

We arrived home today from the hospital and we are totally and insanely blissed out with our son. Thank you so much for all the blessings. We are so grateful and full of love in ways we've never felt before.....thank you to our families, our friends, and to those of you who have been holding us close in your thoughts. We are so, so grateful.

We'll be back soon with more photos and one birth story that started and ended almost exactly 24 hours later with the wondrous birth of baby True. It's quite a tale but we're all happy and healthy and I can't think of any better outcome. Life is beautiful.

XO,
Kelly Rae + John + True

Weekly Sponsor Spotlights: Charlene Proctor, Material Good, Lebenskuenstler, Amy Komar, 23 Postcards, Val's Art Studio, Sandi Volpe Designs

I'd like to offer a warm welcome to my newest sponsors. I'm really enjoying these weekly sponsor spotlights where their creative talents and businesses are featured. If you are interested in becoming a sponsor (includes your ad on the sidebar + ongoing spotlights), please send me an email for further information! Now accepting new sponsorship reservations for the holiday season (Oct/Nov/Dec).

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Want to experience more freedom and joy in your life? Rev. Dr. Charlene Proctor helps you rediscover your connection to Divine Spirit. Making positive change at the level of consciousness begins with a re-imagination of your own divinity and feeling one with humanity. A deeksha and oneness blessing giver, she authors books on oneness, spiritual awakenings, empowerment, and positive thinking and helps people learn to embrace life in the present moment. Blog with her on a variety of spiritual topics! And read about her newest title called The Oneness Gospel coming in 2011!

From January 9-15th, 2011, travel to the Mayan Riviera for a week of blessings, meditation, mala-making, sacred sites, yoga, and oneness teachings. She shares your interest in freebies and encourages you to join her online community to receive all kinds of lovely goodies which will always be in your inbox at the perfect time!

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A Little Shirley is a small vase, weighing no more than a pound, that fits comfortably in the palm of a hand. Each is a hand-made piece of art, making no two alike. They are simple, timeless, and carry with them a mission to improve local communities and the lives of the people within them. Little Shirleys are produced out of a ceramics studio located on Queen Anne Hill, in Seattle, Washington.

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Inspired by the colours of outback Australia, Lebenskuenstler ('the art of life') is a blog and shop created by Nicole Lawrence.

Wool and silk garments and artworks in warm natural hues and vibrant colours. Beautiful wrap-around felted silk scarves and Waldorf inspired toys including nativity scenes made from plant-dyed wool: you're sure to find something special!

Click here for this month's give-away.

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Hi I'm Amy

You know the pressure. You’ve created a deadline in your life where the task at hand is to write just a few sentences about the wonderful lovely that is your work. You sike yourself out. You productively procrastinate around the sentences. Do a load of laundry. Scrub a dish. Stare through a second latte at a blinking cursor. The silence is deafening. Oh yeah. You know it? Writing this sponsor spotlight took me to that very spot - productive procrastination and all (see image above).

In the end, I pushed past it and decided to simply begin:
I was the kid that wanted to touch each and every painting. No museum was too wide, no gallery too small. Once alone you bet my fingers were skimming across centuries of textured, colorful surface. It’s this very “rule breaking, direct connect to details, love of touch” that pulsed my Painted Stones Collection into the heart of my etsy store. So come on over, pull up a chair, touch a rock, stay for a photograph, listen to a story, take a look around my paintings, become a friend…

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My name is Catherine Wooten, and I’m the artist behind 23Postcards' original art and travel photography.

I have been creating as long as I can remember, but it wasn't until an eight-month trek around Europe after college that I knew I had to make art a much bigger part of my life. While traveling, I sent 23 postcards home to Tennessee. Those 23 are the inspiration for this company, and the things I saw and experienced while sending them affect each piece I make. Please check out my blog to learn more!

I LOVE everything vintage, especially photographs. I really enjoy incorporating them into my pieces, and I would love to create a piece for you with your own! I hope you find something in the 23Postcards shop that you love.

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Hi! I'm the Val behind Val's Art Studio. My passion is Needle Felting, my "canvas" is felted recycled wool, and my main inspiration are the birds outside my window. I needle felt Everything, but not only with birds! Pirates, Monsters, Kitties and Pups, Lovables, and more have all found their way into my creations; women's and children's clothing, hand dyed silk scarves, glorious pillows for your home, custom portraits of your favorite pet, even the paintings I paint, and the occasional jeweled finery. In my world, nothing is safe from felting, needle felting and embroidery! (Ok, well, except for my husband, 2 sons and Lola, the Portuguese Water Dog. Though supportive, they really just don't get it...) I live in sunny Southern California, but I'm right by the beach, so I wear and work wool and cashmere all year round. You can find out more about what I do, and see some of my latest creations by visiting my blog, my website, or my etsy shop.

I'm offering all Kelly Rae Readers a special 10% discount from anything in my shop! Simply message me with "Kelly Rae" in the notes to seller at check out, and I will refund the discount.

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Sandi Volpe is the mother of 3 energetic boys and a jewelry artist. Sandi has always enjoyed creating things with her hands. Growing up she would re-string her mother’s pieces and make matching earrings using her father’s tools. Today many of the tools she works with forming metal are from her Dad’s workshop.

Sandi’s work is influenced by her childhood spent learning many crafts from grandparents and aunts as well as growing up at “the shore” on New Jersey’s Atlantic coast. Her unique line of jewelry comes from her desire to create beautiful and often multi-functional pieces. Learn more about Sandi and her jewelry by visiting her blog and etsy shop.

due date

taken moments ago.
i didn't want this day to pass without recognition. i know that official "due dates" don't really mean anything, but truely and in every way, we are ready. let's get this party started, ok? because i don't think my belly and belly button could possibly pop any further.