~A Blessed Thanksgiving~

Bountiful Thanksgiving Blessings to all my family...both near and far....and to all the friends God has blessed me with. Thank you, Lord, for all the gifts you've bestowed on all of us~To You goes all the glory~Amen.

~Tuesday Blessings~

Two successful shows down….four to go. Gate numbers for both shows were up from last year.....as were sales!!

Such a successful Heirloom Collection launch that I’m now shipping into November!

A dear, loving husband who proclaimed at the end of each show day: “I LOVE spending time with you at these shows”. My business wouldn’t be the success it is without him. He is my manager in charge of everything and anything I hate….which includes organizing the set-up and dismantling of the booths, handling the money, the master charges, the phone calls, supplies, the business ‘stuffs’. He sat last nite for many hours submitting master cards for me. I love you, Jim. Xoxoxoxoxoxox

Sarah….my little ‘Dog-Sitter Extraordinaire’ who gives Fawn the attention he needs while we’re at shows. Hugs to you, Sarah~

Little Amish Katie….who’s back in our lives again on a full-time basis….dancing and singing hymns as she works! Katie…..what can I say? It’s been 18 years since you ‘danced’ into our lives. She calms me down and has an incredible ability to keep me organized…which is no small feat!!

My artist ‘show’ friends who have kept us laughing through 20+ years of shows, lunches, and emails. Shows just wouldn’t be the same without them....especially to Paul and Jen….for keeping Jim on his toes....and to Pat for all the lunches, the laughter and the tears for the past 30 (!!) years.

My sweet customers who follow from show-to-show, always stopping to chat (and buy!).

Mom.....Who actually looked up at me yesterday, said my name aloud and SMILED!!! Small miracles.

My Sister....who at 55 years of age, retired from her 'first' career, and started her second career yesterday as a Reading Specialist. You GO Toots!!!

Last, but most important: God….who has blessed me with so many gifts, and continually guides me on this journey. To Him goes all the Glory~

I’m off to the studio, coffee cup in hand, to make more Cheeky Monkeys, Witchy Women, Vintage Hares, and charm bracelets for my next show: The Nutcracker Sweets, in Aurora, OH, Oct. 15-16.

~Creativity Is God's Gift To Us~

Julia Cameron is an artist's dream. She embraces creativity, intertwining it with spiritualism, citing it as an authentic spiritual path. Her books include, The Artist's Way, Vein of Gold, Walking in this World, and Right to Write, among others. I can tell you that I own all of them, and would be hard-pressed to choose a favorite. They are worth the price a hundred times over!

My favorite of her quotes is: "Creativity is God's gift to us. Using our creativity is our gift back to God". This speaks straight to my soul. Creativity is literally seeping out of every pore of my being....and our house. It's crept out of my studio and into every crevice of our home.....even into Jim....who helped me trace, cut, paint, and frame all weekend! It tickles me to see him lost in whatever task he's working on. So out of 'his' element, and into 'mine'!

My next show is Shaker Woods Festival, Aug 8-9, 15-16, and 22-23 from 10-5 pm. For directions and further information, check Shaker Woods Festival. We own a darling little cottage there that we've been fixing up and stocking with lots of RoseCreekCottage and Ragamuffins goodies. We'll be joining 200 artists and craftsmen from around the country, demonstrating and selling our wares.

You can imagine with 6 days of show, and tens of thousands of people, the amount of inventory needed to stock a little cottage! (pictures at a later date!) My sewing machine has been running almost continuously, the studio is humming with lots of hustle-bustle. There are pumpkin heads drying outside on the deck, my original poems being framed (by Jim!) on the farmhouse table in the kitchen, and me? Well...I'm running between all the different 'stations', doing a bazillion different things at any given moment. Multi-tasking at its finest!

In the midst of all this, add in two puppies that never let me out of their site, a phone that rings incessantly, two grandchildren, friends stopping by to see what's going on and you get a bird's-eye view of life here at RoseCreekCottage in July!

We ended up selling so much at St. John's Art Festival, that it is taking longer than anticipated to 'restock' the items we sold. Summer shows don't usually deplete my inventory so much, and in this economy, we were pleasantly surprised, albeit now pretty exhausted....in a very 'good' kind of way.

Needless to say, the computer, blogging, emails, and posting are way down on my list of priorities, as much as I dearly miss them. There are only so many hours in a day.....even very lengthy 13 hour ones!!

So...on that note....I'm headed back to the studio to continue my much-earlier-started day. The aroma of the second pot of coffee brewing in the kitchen is calling my name! Have a wonderfully creative week, wherever you are in the world~