Yesterday's found poem and today's bookplate winners

Her father liked sorrow freely given
passed off and down
in shining robes of
blood
and
sin
and
blame.

Not the happiest of my poems, but it is what fell into place as I clipped and rearranged.

Today I was able to spend time with a dear, dear friend I hadn't seen in a while. It was a great way to start the day, connecting with this soul I have so much in common with. I spent the rest of the afternoon picking through my box of old photographs, looking for images to restore and offer as digital collage sheets. The bookplates are going to offered as digital downloads soon too. And speaking of bookplates, sweet Olivia, who is on the couch with an ice pack-she fell while on a field trip today and hurt her ankle-drew two names for me. Out of the hat came the names "anonymous rebecca" and "jayne." congratulations! just email me with your pick. :)

One other tidbit of happy news---after having bandages of various shapes and sizes for 14 months, I am now officially bandage free. My wound (from a failed skin graft) has healed completely. There is another surgery in my future but not for a while yet. I am enjoying the freedom. :)

Wishing you a happy and creative weekend.
xoxo,

a small show and tell

taking the bookplate image onto the top of a pine box.


it's still a work in progress. for a minute there i thought it was done but after seeing it with fresh eyes, i see a few things i will try and adjust tomorrow.


this is my little sweetheart at school, right after a lovely conference with her teacher. this image makes me smile. there is a photo downstairs in an album of olivia when she was 9 months old, holding her head in the exact position and also wearing pink, with the light landing on her in that very way. i will find it and scan it. it would be nice to frame them together, don't you think?


and see this GORGEOUS book cover? it arrived in the mail yesterday and is here on the desk beside me as i type this. a birthday gift from the talented and so so kind and thoughtful pilar. thank you sweet friend, i love it so much!!!

shop opening and bookplate giveaway

The Oddest Owl is officially open!
While I didn't reach my goal of 40 bookplates, I do have 25 with many more coming this week. There will be more mythological creatures, some circus themed plates and ones that will be great in cookbooks. I am working now on a collage involving a tightrope, a fox, and a penny farthing.

Leave a comment suggesting a bookplate you would like to see to enter for a free bookplate set of your choice. I will draw 2 names on Friday.

"a spirit of thrift"

[Here I am with my cousin Mason. Oh, how I would love to know what I was thinking in that moment! :)]

"I wish I'd known from the beginning that I was born a strong woman. What a difference it would have made! I wish I'd known that I was born a courageous woman; I've spent so much of my life cowering. How many conversations would I not only started but finished if I'd known I possessed a warrior's heart? I wish I'd known that I'd been born to take on the world; I wouldn't have run from it for so long, but run to it with open arms." ~ Sarah Ban Breathnach in her book "Something More: Excavating Your Authentic Self"


Yesterday I read two things that were still at the front of my mind this morning. The above was one of them.
The second-jotted down from a friend's copy of Selvedge magazine. Just a few words from the article on Lucy Boston's home. (Lucy, who had her first book published at age 60 (!) was the author of the Greene Knowe children's books, of which we have read only the first.) In the article was a description of Lucy's decorating style. I love the phrasing---" a spirit of thrift, of make do and mend....haphazardly bohemian." I've always prided myself on the same spirit as this. I thought about those words this morning as I cut pieces of some new thrift store fabric to sew into a curtain. Much more fun, most times, than just going and buying something new, don't you think? Also found at the thrift store the other day, my first trip in a long while, was a 48 inch Friendly children's tapestry loom. I stood with the ticket for a while, debating spending the twenty bucks. At the time I had no idea how much they cost brand new. In the end, I decided to buy the loom because of the lovely visions passing through my mind of Olivia and I weaving side by side. Turns out it was a great purchase. Olivia was thrilled, planning scarfs and dog collars and belts. As we progress with the loom, we will share pictures. Any of you have any experience with a loom? We have a great book on weaving so I think we will start there.

After a make up dance class this afternoon, (the kids are actively preparing for the Alice in Wonderland ballet at the Jefferson Center next month) I plan on getting the bookplate shop ready to open in the morning. Hopefully sprinkle a bit of yard work and a walk in there somewhere. What lovely, lovely things are you up to this Sunday?

bookplates revisited

i've taken the advice of a friend and added some color and texture to the plates. these are the ones i meant to show earlier but somehow in my semi-sick daze added the wrong ones.
and for fun, two more bookplates. more next monday. :)

a snip of a bird's wing, an elephant, and a girl--show and tell

Hello and Happy Monday to you!
I was determined to blog something today. It's been way too long. We have been so sick in the Scott house that at times I sincerely lost track of the days. First Olivia was down with pink eye, then a nasty upper respiratory infection. Definitely the sickest she has ever been. I held out until she was feeling almost better and then succumbed to it also. Not the pink eye, but all the other mess. I am up today, foggy headed and moving slowly, but it's reason enough to celebrate. I'm celebrating the sun and the breeze moving in the trees; I'm celebrating my husband who just finished a run with the musical "Violet" as one of the guitarists. He put in countless hours learning new material and I couldn't be prouder.

I've been working in bits and pieces on a line of bookplates to sell on Etsy.
The first is "Ready to Sail." Pieces of four images combined. A snip of a bird's wing, a ship, a growing girl and the connections with her mother.
Then, there's "Hema, The Elephant Rider", "Lizette, The Night Violinist," and "In the Zinnia Garden."
I couldn't think of a better way to combine my love of story, books and art. The shop, called The Oddest Owl, will be opening next Monday. So, please, stop back by here. I'll be sharing more bookplates (my goal is to open with 40) and there will be a drawing (or two or three) for a set of your choice.
xoxo,