Reinventing the baby book

As I’ve been dealing with the grief of leaving my friends at work, I’ve been filled with ideas and inspiration in my creative life. I have an amazing and supportive husband who doesn’t always get what I’m saying, but takes time to understand and encourage my ventures (every single one). I have started creating a book for my daughter, about my daughter. Each page will be altered art with photos of her and our family/friends, and fictional stories about her with loosely based factual events. My daughter Sawyer has an amazing imagination and she loves whimsical dramatic stories, so that’s what I’m writing for her. She is the leading lady in each story, and all the characters are royalty which is perfect since she loves princess stuff and is a princess herself. This book isn’t a scrapbook but so much more. It’s very exciting to create, now if I can just be patient and do one page at a time when I have time.

This “Baby Book” will probably take me most of her childhood to finish, but it’s a lot of fun to occasionally work on when the mood strikes, and Sawyer loves looking at the pages so far. She has even requested a few things that she’d like me to incorporate. I mentioned to my husband that I should probably scan in the completed pages so that she can play with them without wearing out the originals. He took a look at what I have created so far and he saw dollar signs  He thinks I should pre-make pages that people can add their own photos to but charge a lot because they’re so unique. This is a good idea except that I wouldn’t enjoy it, I don’t want to spend my time doing it, and I wouldn’t ever get paid for all the time and energy spent doing it. It was a nice compliment though, and when it’s done I think he will be impressed and overwhelmed by how cool it all turns out. He is the type who has to see it done before deciding anything about it. Not me, I can visualize in my mind, it usually changes in reality, but it’s a lot of fun along the way.

Mi amiga, Ana

My best friend Ana has been a part of my life for about 10 years. Wow, has it been that long? She is one of the most amazing women I know, and I admire all of her strengths and weaknesses. Ana is the type of person who will give up, sacrifice, go without, bend over backwards to help you or make you happy. God has created her this way, she has embraced it, and is my best example of service and generosity. The best part is that she is learning to set boundaries too, and it’s all out of love so it’s better for everyone and she still shares her servant heart and generosity.

Ana loves her children, her family, and her friends and it’s unconditional and everlasting. She is brilliant and beautiful; her beauty lights up a room and her cooking makes your mouth water. I appreciate how her perspective, wisdom, and passion compliment me and those close to her; she is a gift to us. One of the many things I admire most about Ana is her ability to accept anyone and everyone. She has an open door policy for her heart and her home.

I could go on and on, it’s this way with many of my close friends because they are all so awesome, but Ana is one of my dearest friends and I needed to take time to think about why and acknowledge how important she is to me. Ana is filled with the love of Christ and it oozes out of her. She is beloved, and Jesus cherishes her and stands beside her. She is an example to me, and I am eternally thankful to God for bringing her into my life.

Support

I just had to share a little note about how much support I have in life, all arenas, and I don’t even have to ask for it. This is not the case for everyone and it makes me realize that I have to let people know they have my support and of coarse show it, but I can’t assume that they just know.

My husband, Jeremy, has helped me with some research about enameling supplies so he knows how expensive some of the tools are. We have also discussed some of the road blocks I’ve encountered regarding soldering the copper before enameling it, and he’s tried to help me figure things out. Jeremy also spent a significant amount of time looking online for enameling classes since I wasn’t having much luck in my search. He even encouraged me to consider a class 4 hours away saying that he and my daughter could stay the weekend up there with me and hang out while I was in class. I have also set up two tables in our garage to be ready for enameling (assuming I like it) which causes me to park my car in the driveway. Jeremy mentioned getting an upright workbench from Lowes so that it would take up less space and I could park in the garage again. I suggested that he park his car in the driveway and I get to have my workspace and car in the garage :) but I’m not sure he’s sold on the idea. Actually, if I seriously asked him, he would agree to it to make me happy. He’s just the type of man that wants his wife and daughter to be happy (and spoiled). He also knew I was nervous about finding my way to the OSU campus to attend the safety orientation so he called me while I was driving. It was perfect timing because I was absolutely lost and I’m horrible with directions and even worse with a map. He found out what crossroads were around and he talked me through each turn until I parked my car and located the building. And I was not happy on the phone, I was very stressed and ready to turn around and drive home. Jeremy’s support for my creative ventures is countless and imperative to my creative successes. His support doesn’t end there, he’s encouraged me to go back to school if I want to get my BA, he’s encouraged me in many areas of ministry, and he’s always supporting and encouraging my relationships with my friends and family. If this wasn’t good enough, I even have amazing support and encouragement from my best friends and several family members. I have success whether I want it or not simply because I have the support it takes and the courage to try anything I want to try.

artistry

I am so excited about enameling! I can't draw, paint, sculpt, or work in many other forms of artistry but I can do some fun things with enameling and I can't wait to get my own supplies and get started. Day 1 at the OSU Craft Center enameling workshop was great. I learned several metal smithing techniques, some I've done, some I haven't. The enameling part was so much fun I was able to ask the instructor all kinds of questions. She is very knowledgable, nice, and gave good instruction. There are three other students in the workshop and they are very cool too. I feel fortunate that there are only 4 of us in the class, and that the class wasn't cancelled.

Tomorrow is a day to make more pieces, test things out, and ask more questions. Even though I thoroughly enjoyed today and I'm ready to go out and buy my own kiln, tomorrow I will test the design that I intend on making to sell in my online shop. If I can figure it out, feel confident about repeating it, and it's still fun, then I'll know I can invest in my own supplies.

My hubby Jeremy was so supportive and interested in how everything went. He said he knew I'd be good at it and have fun. He's so sweet. He asked about the Craft Center's kiln and suggested that we get the one we've been looking at. I said I needed a window and he thought that sounded good... I feel so thankful for his support, encouragement, and interest in my jewelry design. The photo above is one of the pieces I created today. I got home and added the chain to my ribbon shaped pendant. I may be making more of these for my Etsy shop. Stay tuned for upcoming enameled designs.

Oregon State University

I am gearing up mentally and emotionally for my weekend workshop at OSU’s Craft Center. Besides my difficulty in finding the campus last week to attend a safety orientation (just to find that it wasn’t even necessary), I am so excited about the enameling workshop. The class is small, so far there are only three of us registered and the studio is large. The great part about this weekend workshop is that it incorporates some basic metal working skills to prepare the copper before enameling it. The class and material fees are only $45 total and by the end of the weekend I will be able to determine if enameling is a technique that I want to invest in. Besides that, I will be able to ask the instructor specific questions that I haven’t found answers to online or in my enameling book. I am so going to get my money’s worth, and hopefully I enjoy the process so that I can start creating all my ideas. If I start now, I’ll be ready for the Salem Holiday Market!

This workshop takes place the weekend before starting my new job so I’ll be keeping busy doing something fun instead of worrying about starting a new job and working with new people. Now I’m thankful that the class in Portland was full, and I can see how God’s hand orchestrated things for my good. It makes sense since I am one of His favorites :)

Change

When people hear the word change, we all react differently based on our experiences. I think I handle change alright, even if I have to get through an internal battle first. I know that God is on my side and things will work out for His good. It is important that I acknowledge I haven’t experienced much change that wasn’t taken on by choice, so my attitude and optimism is from a perspective of very few life altering changes.

Now I am 32 years old, healthy, happy, and thankful, but facing an unwanted change. Due to revenue shortfalls and a union contract, I was “displaced” by another employee and forced to “displace” someone else. On July 19th I will be starting a new job for a different government division, leaving everyone and everything I loved in my former job. I can’t change this, and I have a lot to be thankful for despite this unwanted change. Nothing changes the fact that I will no longer be sitting by and working with my best friend, and several other close friends 40 hours a week. I won’t get into all the little things that sting about this change because the most important aspect is the distance it will create in my relationships. Fortunately I will be working in the same building, just two floors up and not even distance can break the ties I have with these amazing friends. I hope to come back some day and will be looking for opportunities to do so; this hope makes the change bearable and livable. I never thought a job would mean so much to me, and it doesn’t; it’s always been about the people and relationships we forge in life – and this upcoming change has solidified that belief.