vagabond creative society

Friends.

Hello there.

I want to tell you about one of the projects I've been working on behind the scenes of Suaviloquy.

Mindy Gledhill and I decided that our trip to Morocco last year was such a big success we really need to do it annually.

We have been working together with our husbands, to form our new partnership, Vagabond Creative Society.

Our mission is to inspire people to tap into their own brand of creativity and use that creativity to life fuller, happier lives.

We have planned our next creative retreat for November this year.

Vagabond Creative Society presents:

The trip we are planning is going to be amazing. We have incorporated a service project this year that we are really excited about. We will also be spending a couple days on safari and meeting with the Masai people. We will have workshops and shopping and all the the fun of being on the beach.

Please check out our new website. If you are interested in joining us this November, please send an email.  Registration opens today. Space is limited.

friendship garland

My daughter has so many cute friends, but unfortunately not many of them live close to us.

I decided to make her something to help her feel closer to her girlfriends that live far away.  I saw a paper doll garland on Pintrest that sparked an idea.

This garland was super simple and cheap to make.  The most expensive part was the fabric stiffener I used to make the dolls stand upright.  I used scraps of fabric for the dresses.  One important thing, as I have said before, is to use good felt. I have a local quilt shop that sells quality felt. Search one out. It will make a lot of difference in your end product.

Top roll:

Charley, Patterson, Ivy

Bottom roll:

Eloise, Amelie, Emerson

the woodland project

I have been painting lately.

To be more specific, I've been painting woodland animals.  I'm working on a collection. It's a project.

What it really is is a distraction. Because, you see, lately I've felt a little inundated with bad news. Stressful news.  It doesn't help that I'm a bit of a news junky. I read every little bit of bad news out there. And we all know how the media just loves to make every thing dooms day.

I should just stop reading the news. But then I would feel uninformed. So I read.

So I'm painting woodland animals.

Because they are innocent and not at all scandalous.

And fluffy.

I think I'll paint a squirrel next.

love is a many splendored thing, and it's free

Free download here.

2013

1. creativity bubbles, 2. ♥ Txuster, 3. In white, 4. fuzz, 5. 119.365, 6. ei phais hi, 7. ., 8. perfect little white things, 9. enter softly

Here's to a great new year.

Here's to laughing hard, eating well, living creatively and throwing caution to the wind.

Here's to being compassionate and understanding and living in peace.

Here's to hard work.

Here's to seeing through the crap to what is really important.

Here's to holding onto hope.

Here's to all of you and the love and friendship you have shown me.

country christmas mantle

Welcome Christmas.

We are gearing up for a magical year here in the Meeker house. Our children are all believers. Their Christmas spirit is contagious.

Every year I design a new theme for our mantle. This year I was inspired by country life. I love old barns and natural fibers. I'm also loving all the mounted animal heads as long as they are fake. I find real animal heads to be disturbing. Taxidermy. Not for me.

Anyway, Ben humored me and constructed my pint sized barn door. I painted it with our initials.  I found the stag head at Target along with the small snowflake votives.  The mercury glass jugs are from World Market.  The larger porcelain votives are from Crate and Barrel.  The garland was made by ripping natural linen into strips.

You can't see it too well in the photo but there is a pair of antique ice tongs propped against the door that I found in an antique store.  I can't remember where I got the large bells.

Because the mantle isn't overtly Christmas, I think if I take away the bells I can leave it up through January.

Hopefully I will have time to share more of our Christmas this year! Remember that I can be found on Instagram almost everyday.

merry vinter

The snow has started to fall at my parent's house. There is Christmas music playing in the shops. As much as I can't believe it, the holidays are upon us. It's time to tackle one of the most difficult of all tasks: getting a good family photo for the Christmas cards.  Oy vey.

I've conjured up a little motovation to get us all going on our cards.

Introducing "Merry Vinter"!  I created this line of digital papers and ornaments for you to use to create your cards this year. As you can probably tell, I was strongly influenced by all things Swedish. I love scandanavian design in any form, but I am especially taken with Swedish kurbits and ornamentals.

The entire Merry Vinter set includes all the papers (6), the brushes (12) and the ornanaments (6).

The entire set is $18.00. You can also choose to purchase the kits indiviually for $7.00 each.

Purchase Here

whatever janet hill, it's not fair

Sometimes I get really pissed that some people have so much talent. I feel like Amelie when Henry gets something while she is at school and she comes home to discover him enjoying the spoils of the day. At first she just stands there sort of stunned. Then you can watch her little face as she goes through the emotions. Puzzled. Intrigued. Indignant. Pissed.

Janet Hill got a lion's share of talent and quite frankly I won't feel better about it until I can A) crawl inside her head and absorb some of her genius or B) own one of her originals.

You can buy her prints on her Etsy site.

woosh!

click here to download 

Well folks, say hello to the end of the year. Because you know that once Halloween is over the year flies by at astonishing speed.  It's just the way it's always been. There is nothing you can do to change it. Believe me. I've tried.

The best thing to do is just give in and embrace the madness.

I  made a free wallpaper for you to download to help you ease into November.

talk is cheap

Everybody knows a big talker. You know, the person who's always got the most fantastic plans that just never seem to happen.  They are going to start this new company, or they are really gunna let this person have what's coming to them, or they are going to be getting a new something any day now.

You know. Big talkers.

So yeah, talk is cheap.  Everyone talks big to some extent. We like to talk about our dreams. It feels good. It's as if talking about them makes them more tangible.  The problem is that research has shown that when we talk about our goals to other people we become less likely to achieve them because just the act of telling someone what we want to do tends to give us a sense that we have already done it.

So the moral is, keep your mouth shut. At least when it comes to goal setting.  I learned that from a TED talk.

Here's another thing I learned: good friends are cheap therapy. Sometimes you just need a good bout of verbal diarrhea to feel better.  I'm not sure why, but just talking about my day to day grievances with my best friends makes me feel so much more normal, even if their response is "That's weird."

In general, I feel like I talk too much.  Kids will do that to a person. You can't just say something once. Oh no. You have to say it three times to be heard.  It's exhausting. So I bought a megaphone.

Let me tell you, it's the best thing I've purchased as a parent next to the punching bag (Mother's Day 2010).  I don't have to say things three times. I don't even have to raise my voice to call my kids from upstairs.  Believe me, if you have kids, you need one.  

It was cheap.