Leanne Shawler, Artist

Hey, I got a couple of responses for my Wednesday's "Where's God?" Yay :) The first, from sweet Karla at Back at Ya Babe shares: God is in the midst of changes. Bennett turned 6, Trent will be starting a new job, my little girl dressed herself today and I'm clinging to Him when I feel the world is twirling fast around me. The next is from the lovely Sandy of Aging Disgracefully : God was busy getting my 21 yr old a job. And He was right here beside me reminding me to look up and not around. Here's my page for the week: A little story on #6. Hubby and I went to see X-Men: First Class (mainly because I wanted to as James McAvoy is in it. Ahem.) During it, I choked on a Skittle. Literally choked. I tried subtly clearing my throat and then realized I wasn't getting any air. So I opened my mouth and drew in this LOUD heaving breath (sounding like someone in the midst of anaphylactic shock) and thank God it cleared. And of course, this happened during possi...

Vintage Bling (picture from Karla) Yesterday, a little package arrived from Karla of Back At Ya Babe and Lynn of create...breathe... And inside... oh my.... Some closer looks. Of course I tried it on... I definitely cut the chain too long, so I'll be shortening it and getting someone else to take a photo of it. (and if you're wondering, the shirt says "Well-behaved women rarely make history!") Thanks to my fellow swappers: Bianca, The Paper Playground Cassie, For the Art of It Heather B., My Daily Dose of Crazy Heather R., Speckled Egg Hope E., Vintage Whimsy Karen H., Karen's Monday Musings Kim B. (no blog) Mary K. (no blog) Wanda C., Wanda Mai Thank you Karla of Back At Ya Babe and Lynn of create...breathe... !!!!

It seems a bit dull just to put up a list, but at least the background is interesting on this one. Stuck on some thin batting (love the softness!) and stapled on a bit of ribbon. I wonder if I should put a bit more explanation with these? Where was God in your week? Comment below with your own list, perhaps a photograph you took that illustrates it (a picture is worth a thousand words), or art illustrating your gratitude! (If I get enough folks participating, I'll start using a link party tool.) A couple of rules: 1. Link to the specific post, not the main page of your blog. 2. Please, no links to online shops -- stay on topic! Feel free to post the blog button! (Incidentally, I can't figure out how you can copy and save the html code to link back. If anyone knows how, please let me know!) I will share my favorites next Wednesday, in the meantime, check back to see who has posted and enjoy discovering God in each other's lives!

I'm taking another journaling class with Hope Karney called "Three Times the Charm". If you sign up before it ends on July 31st, you could win her giveaway. Details here. The class starts on Monday.

Welcome back to another Wednesday's Where's God? For some reason it was harder to see Him this week, and then when he did show up it was intensely personal, including a major "aha!" moment. I've been doing battle with whitefly, so it was great to see the hibiscus flower: Who needs photo textures with colors like that? I played with my new watercolor pencils to do a quick sketch on the page: Where was God in your week? Comment below with your own list, perhaps a photograph you took that illustrates it (a picture is worth a thousand words), or art illustrating your gratitude! (If I get enough folks participating, I'll start using a link party tool.) A couple of rules: 1. Link to the specific post, not the main page of your blog. 2. Please, no links to online shops -- stay on topic! Feel free to post the blog button! (Incidentally, I can't figure out how you can copy and save the html code to link back. If anyone knows how, please let me know!) I will...

So I got this lamp at Goodwill on Saturday. Looks alright doesn't it? Or does it... The blasted glass bit will not stick into the candlestick bit for love or money. Am beginning to wonder if there's a part missing actually, because the grippy things are not gripping. And then after I'd finished taking photos, editing them, writing this blog post and scheduling it to be posted in the morning, I figured it out. The grippy bits go inside! So you got a tiny wee sneak peek at the art room closet... So far the progress is: cleaned out closet moved in chest of drawers which now contains fabric with *gasp* room for more! started on a shrine space 99% done with recipe file and tossed out a ton of cooking magazines Still need to finish the shrine space, paint a jewelry box, fix the broken closet door, and do pretty labels. I decided not to paint anything, and the table skirt is a tad ambitious given the time I have -- plus I signed up for Karla's Birdsong tag swap, so I need to g...

Here is the cover of the journal I have started keeping (editing to add that as mentioned in an earlier post this is based on a class I took with Rebecca Sower at Silver Bella): and some details. Here's a scan of the inside. with a prayer of intention in the center: the first page, is a mini page that states the goals of the journal: and the first page of observations: Where was God in your week? Comment below with your own list, perhaps a photograph you took that illustrates it (a picture is worth a thousand words), or art illustrating your gratitude! (If I get enough folks participating, I'll start using a link party tool.) A couple of rules: 1. Link to the specific post, not the main page of your blog. 2. Please, no links to online shops -- stay on topic! Feel free to post the blog button! (Incidentally, I can't figure out how you can copy and save the html code to link back. If anyone knows how, please let me know!) I will share my favorites next Wednesday, in the mea...

which is a very long title in which to say: yesterday afternoon after work, I reorganized the garage (look! if I stack this and this I get an empty shelf!) and moved three giant plastic containers living in my art room closet out to the garage (by pushing them along the floor -- they were heavy!). My art room looks like a fabric bomb went off - which is to say I discovered more fabric in the cleaning out. And of course I forgot to take a before photo! But I figured out how it's gonna go together, so am pretty excited about getting it done tonight/tomorrow. But I need to remember to balance this with yard work!

So there's a party coming up, eh? My Desert Cottage I thought well, not much has changed in my space since last year, except it's gotten a great deal messier! Oh and the door to my closet has fallen off. Hmpf. So judging from last year, my to do list was: paint brown card file to fit in (naaaahhhh...) clean out closet (a definite. Maybe even this weekend.) sew up vertical seams in hanky curtains (naaahhhh...) make pretty labels for my binders (I can do that!) So of the two things from last year that I've decided to do, I'm considering: since I've started following Miss Mustard Seed , I've been wondering: should I paint this cabinet? Everything else in the room is blond wood or painted white or pink (except the table of course, but you never get to see the surface of that!). The only problem is, I wouldn't know where to start (I'm sure she has a tutorial on it though, right?). A table skirt for my work table? Did Claudia of Mockingbird Cottage ever post ...

That is, an Associate of Holy Cross. It's been oddly difficult to write about this. I think because I want to "save" it for my church's blog, but also because I'm still processing what has proved to be one heck of a watershed week as part of my spiritual journey. The Order of the Holy Cross are Episcopal monks who live by the Rule of St. Benedict in addition to their own unique Rule. They're a good bunch of guys. You might remember last year, I spent time at their guesthouses up in Santa Barbara and over in West Park, NY. I wanted to be sure that Mt. Calvary (the name for their house in Santa Barbara) wasn't a fluke. As an associate of the order, I support them in prayer and in action (such as financially) and also live by a Rule of Life based on the guidelines they offer . If there's interest, I can talk more about that, but it wasn't as onerous as it sounds. As I went through it, I found that I was already doing a lot of it, but had a couple of...