JUST some THINGS...Wednesday, January 8, 2014

Things are starting to warm up in Middle Tennessee.  It has been COLD.  At least we did not have to deal with the snow that so many areas had to deal with.  My thoughts have been with those who are cold—for WHATEVER reasons.

I am mindful of those who are working to restore basic services to people—plumbers, electricians, road workers, mechanics…SURE, these people get PAID to do their jobs, but it sure does NOT hurt to offer them a word of THANKS, and so that is what I am doing!

We take so much for granted in our daily lives.  We don’t notice what it takes to keep things chugging right along UNTIL…For the LIFE of me, I don’t understand WHY we don’t offer the forgiveness that WE demand FROM others TO OTHERS.  Things in LIFE HAPPEN.

I am THANKFUL for UPS, Fed Ex and the Postal Workers.  I sure can’t drive a package across the country myself!  And good grief, if I did, there is a GOOD chance my package would be SITTING on the kitchen counter WHEN I got across the country, so CHILL!  I do NOT hear people applauding the efforts of these shipping companies WHEN a package arrives safely, so WHY is it so disturbing when ONE package that you sent does NOT arrive!  I understand it is frustrating, BUT in one year, what difference will it have made in the day-to-day functions of your life?  Let me ASSURE you, MOST people who have to listen to YOU rant, are NOT one bit impressed—YES, include ME in that statistic!

 

I don’t know at what point that THINGS become so much more important than PEOPLE, but each day I seem to witness the results of this up-side-down trend.  My goodness, I have problems and I have THINGS that I worry about, but I won’t bore each of you with those things because GOD and I have it covered!  He will SOMEHOW give me the guidance that I need and will help me get those problems solved.

 I am aware that I create THINGS…I am trying to make a living selling THINGS…and NO, the irony is NOT missed on me!  Yes, I can justify WHAT I do as being a mission to spread God’s love and to present positive, happy messages to the people that I target, BUT the truth is, what I make are THINGS!

While I make my THINGS, I also have been given a ministry that appeared quite by accident.  I have been given WORDS to share with people.  I did NOT plan this…or seek this…or even KNOW to dream this, but for some reason, it had been placed in my fingers that tap, tap, tap WORDS that are sent to my brain.  I do my best to LISTEN to the words I am to share…some of the words I don’t have the courage to share because they are quite harsh, so I push them away and save them for a day when I can find a kinder, gentler way to present them.  I don’t discount their worth, I just hopefully await the day I can share their message in LOVE.  

I am amazed at HOW God uses people…even more fascinated at WHOM he chooses to use.  I have little tolerance for humans who decide that God can ONLY use a certain gender or color of people…WHO are WE to QUESTION GOD!  I snicker at those who THINK that God cannot and DOES not use women to minister!!  I asked a Father one time who was telling me that the Bible says that Women CANNOT serve in positions of leadership in a church.  I asked him his thoughts about elders, deacons, pastors…etc… to which he replied that he respected these positions and that he thought they were called by God.  I then went on to talk to him about his daughters, if he wanted the best for them and if he wanted them to serve God and if he wanted to teach them to become whatever they wished to become and if he loved them.  OF COURSE he did…Then WHY would he teach his daughters, that he loved more than life itself, that THEY served a GOD who did NOT have a use for them in church.  He basically told me I was crazy and wrong…SO, sometimes I just can’t fight what people believe, BUT I sure can PRAY that I am NOT wrong, and if I am wrong, that God will PLAINLY tell me so.  I ALSO pray that hearts will be opened, MINE INCLUDED, to LISTEN and to HEAR that STILL small voice of GOD…I also pray that I will accept people for WHAT they believe and not judge them.

Sometimes THINGS lead to opportunities.  I am happy to have an opportunity to SHARE that LIFE is so much more important than daily frustrations.  I’m GLAD to tell people that we can SERVE a GOD who cares about our frustrations, YET urges us to discover ways to rise above these obstacles.  I am thankful beyond words to be able to suggest ways for us ALL to become better people with a better outlook on life…don’t sweat the small stuff.  IF you are safe, then deal with those SMALL details quietly and use your VOICE for IMPORTANT messages…Be a REFLECTION of HIS LOVE…Blessings to YOU…~charlotte♥

Sheep Painting...Monday, January 6, 2014

What a GREAT DAY to be ALIVE… A new Day…a new adventure…

I had this blank canvas sitting in the same place for probably two years, so I thought for the New Year that I would do something a little bit different.

I love sheep and to me, they speak of my relationship that I've read about my whole life.  I've always had someone that is watching over me.

I gathered my supplies, which were VERY basic...

Black, Bleached Sand, White, Grey Sky, and Chocolate Brown Paint, a large brush, a liner, a number 10 Filbert and a 12 Flat.

I use Americana Paints by DecoArt...they are made in the USA and I LOVE the color choices and they are ALWAYS the same each time I open a bottle!

I painted the canvas with Chocolate Brown and added some random colors to give a little texture to the back ground. 

 I then sketched in the design that I had in my mind...I used about four or five different pictures...

I then used the filbert and painted the face.  

I started adding the wool with random strokes of the bleached sand, Grey Sky and White. 

 Don't you think this looks like an English Member of Parliament??!! ROFL

  I started laying in a grey color as the undercoat for the wool.  I added some shading.  I had planned to make him standing, but I didn't like it, so I decided he should rest.

 I started again adding random strokes with the filbert, trying to keep some of the under shading showing.

 This is a closer look to see the randomness of the strokes..

After all the colors were laid in with bleached sand and Sky Grey, I went back and added white on top...again keeping the strokes very random.

 This is the sheep after I had finished with the white.

 I then added some black under the sheep and added more Chocolate brown to cover up where I might have smeared the paint...I might add some strokes to it and I might not...I MIGHT add a back leg and hoof, but I PROBABLY won't...I'm happy with it, but I will look at it for several days and touch it up with spots that might SCREAM for attention!  I see a few places that need a bit of attention now...Oh, and I WILL sign it, too.

I had fun painting this and it was just a chance to play.  Doing this type of painting allows one to see what paint can do...It probably only took about four or five hours of actual painting time...I did it in three different sittings, so it wasn't one bit stressful!

I love to look at sheep and to think of MY Shepherd who is constantly guiding me, EVEN when I get lost...I hope you enjoyed seeing the steps and that you KNOW that it is JUST paint and IF you don't like it...NOT a big deal, just sand it off and paint over it again...

TODAY is a blank canvas...paint a BEAUTIFUL picture on it!...Blessings to YOU...~charlotte♥

Thank you, Momma for making me CREATIVE...Saturday, January 4, 2014

With the promotion that I’m involved with on ETSY, I have spent the last two days THANKFUL that I was taught by my mother to be CREATIVE…I am not only creative with my hands, but I also have a creative mind! 

Mother was an ENCOURAGER…I have done my best the past 20 months to LOVE and to encourage more.  At the visitation for Mother’s death, a family friend said that now MISS MARTHA was gone, I would have to take over for her…I just laughed and said there was NO WAY I could ever fill her shoes, for that woman LOVED like I have never seen before in my entire LIFE!  I resented the LOVE that she showed to so many because I THOUGHT that LOVE should be reserved for only me and NOT every Tom, Dick and Harry that she met on the street…WHAT I did NOT understand was that LOVE multiplies in your heart when you give it away…WHAT a brat I was and still am… She got it!

17th Birthday in 1979-dressed as little girls

This is the rough draft of the letter

My senior year in college, my roommate, suitemate and I got an apartment RIGHT by the railroad tracks.  I moved in earlier so that I could establish residency in the town so that my scholarships would not be taken away because of my moving OFF campus, which was not allowed back in the day.  My first night I was RUDELY awakened by the rattling and shaking of the apartment walls as the train went by.  At that moment, I began to question EVERY decision I had spent the last six months in planning!  Because of this incident, Tiny T. Mouse was BORN in my head.  Tiney the Mouse (don’t call em T.T. Mouse, please) wrote a letter to my mother that she thought was HILARIOUS.  She even drew a sketch of him and sent him to me!  I was forever doing silly things like writing letters using MANY words that would begin with ONE letter for as many of the words as was possible…Though the letters I sent her were few and far between, at LEAST I tried to make them memorable!!  

May 1980, Me & Momma at Lu's House

I guess, in reality, the reason I write my posts is a TRIBUTE to her.  She and I struggled in our relationship my whole life.  I LOVED my Mother, but I grew so weary of EVERYTHING being criticized and being used as a LESSON…YES, I am thankful beyond words that she cared so much, but I just wish that SOMETIMES she would let SOME of the moments pass…With THAT being said, MAYBE had she NOT tried so hard, I would be EVEN worse than I am today!  I was a tough child for her to raise because I have NO filters on my mouth at all…I do NOT intentionally TRY to hurt people…BELIEVE me, If I WANT to hurt someone, then sadly, it is NOT a problem for me to express my feelings in a VERY ARTICULATE fashion.  I was constantly hurting her feelings and I didn’t mean to at all.  It was a struggle to keep a good relationship with her, while it was a BREEZE to be with my Daddy…I could say ANYTHING and he would come right back at me with his thoughts on what I had just said and we would be fine…no drama at all!!  I hate DRAMA…Mother could NOT talk to me…she wrote me letters…constantly she was writing me a letter…ugh…I HATED those letters!!!

I don’t want to leave you with the thought that Mother and I were CONSTANTLY fighting because we did not have much fighting in my house at all…WELL, there was the middle child who had to be BANNED from watching “rasslin’” because of using ME as the wrestling partner…I seemed to always have either an “Indian Burn” or an ankle or shoulder sprain…BUT not REAL fighting.  Mother and I had many moments of utter and complete bliss resulting in belling laughing!  One of my fondest memories and one of the last things she said to me was HOW she LOVED to hear me laugh.  She made our home a happy home and did everything in HER power to make sure we could take advantage of every POSITIVE opportunity that came our way.  She made sure that I got to travel to places and to see things and to experience life BEYOND our small dairy farm.  She tried her BEST to teach me to be a LADY…ugh…I was so content being a tomboy…

 

May 23, 1980, Me, Momma & LuAnn- Graduation Night Reception at my house

Mother taught me to use my mind….to use my heart…to use my hands…to think…to learn…to be ME…to be creative…to TRY…to give…to glorify GOD…to laugh…to love…to be silly…to care for those who didn’t have as much as we had…

 This is the Dutch Doll quilt that Momma made for me for my 17th Birthday.  The doll's clothes were made from pieces of our dresses (that she had made) and with pieces of clothing from several of my friends--she monogrammed their names onto the quilt pieces.  That is Mother on the right.  The other ladies were member of the Barren Plains Home Demonstration Club--the small town where Mother had been raised.  Several of the ladies who quilted my quilt had been special to Mother as a little girl...Mother made sure that EVERYTHING had a meaning...

Another fond memory is of her inviting a classmate to our home one day.  It was somewhere around the third or fourth grade and the girls names was Tina.  They were sharecroppers and had NOTHING in the way of earthly possessions.  Mother and I shopped for the perfect gift for Tina and then we pampered her and did her hair and nails and just LAUGHED!  I have no clue what happened to her, but I HOPE that for ONE DAY she KNEW that MY Momma KNEW how to love and to make someone feel special…JUST like she did EVERY DAY of her life for me and my brothers…

  This was July 1982 in Medlline, South America.  It was a tour that Momma directed to visit our Mission fields.  She is the lady in the middle of the picture with the White jacket (that she made) and I am beside her in the red dress (that she made)...I got off the plane and our friends ASKED where I was...I blended in WELL with the South Americans...LOL...



I am THANKFUL for the GOOD that FAR outweighed the bad.  I am THANKFUL that she cared enough to NEVER stop trying to make me a BETTER Person.  I am THANKFUL for the creativity that she taught me.  I am MOST THANKFUL that she taught me that God gives EACH of us GIFTS and that we MUST be willing to use them for HIS GLORY…I hope that I make GOD Smile and I HOPE that Mother is proud of me…BUT I don’t know if I will ever stop WISHING that I could have been a better daughter for HER than what I was…BUT I will do my BEST to be the DAUGHTER she is STILL proud to call “her baby”…I LOVE ya, Momma and thank you for LOVING me…Blessings to YOU…~charlotte ♥

WHAT in the WORLD is ETSY, really!...Thursday, January 2, 2014

Etsy was created as a place for people to SELL their HANDMADE items.  It has grown and people all over the world have shops filled with most ANYTHING your heart can desire.  RECENTLY, Etsy has changed their policy and is going to allow some people to sell items that are associated with manufacturers.  This makes me sad and I see ONCE AGAIN, those of us who STRUGGLE to compete with the BIG MACHINES  that allow products to be mass produced, that we find ourselves in another struggle  to sell our handmade items and to compete with the cheaper prices that come with mass-producing…sigh…=(

http://www.etsy.com/shop/romalandwoodcrafts 

Etsy, like Facebook, offers its own language.  You can admire, follow and then you can Create Treasuries!  When my friend, Robyn, told me about a treasury, I accused her of making up words…she is, after all, originally from South Africa!  Teeheeheheeee…BUT I found she was RIGHT and I quickly apologized to her.  She is a GREAT success story on Etsy as is my friend, Elfie!

https://www.etsy.com/shop/thepresentplace 

https://www.etsy.com/shop/paintingfromtheheart 

At the top of each shop is a heart.  IF you click on the heart, the heart will turn pink and you are THEN an admirer!  Over each item you are also given the option to ADMIRE an item.  You can EVEN Follow people by clicking on the follow button that is on the left of each shop.  You can see how many sales a shop has and the rating for each shop…When you admire shops and items, you then allow those who FOLLOW you to see what you like and in turn gives them an opportunity to admire an item also.  The fact is, the MORE we can get people to ADMIRE our shops and our art, then the chance of selling goes up for us!  

When YOU get an account on Etsy, you are able to admire and follow people and to make a WANT list for you.  It is NEVER too early to start thinking about that NEXT gift you wish to purchase!  You can ALSO create treasuries!  This is where you find 16 items from your favorite shops and group them together for others to admire.  YES, it is ANOTHER way to expose people to OUR items that we are selling.  I LOVE the idea that we have to share OTHER people’s art in a treasury...a great way to PAY IT FORWARD and to encourage our peers.

So, the bottom line with treasuries, is that it is a WAY to promote OUR work so MORE people can see OUR creations.  The more people who SEE our art, the more of a chance we have at SELLING…and YES, THAT is the purpose of us being on ETSY…we want to SELL.

I belong to a TEAM on Etsy.  The Old Farmhouse Gathering Team is a WONDERFUL group of artisans (over 300 shops) who work together to help each other promote their work.  We are able to share ideas and to encourage each other, and yes, it goes way beyond just supporting each other with our creations…we get to encourage each other in our daily walk through life.  I am HONORED to be a part of the OFG TEAM…you can find the THOUSANDS of items from this team by doing a search of OFG TEAM.  I am in AWE of the creativity of people.

TO ME, there is something charming about knowing that someone got a splinter in their hand or pricked their finger with a needle and BLED in order to create something unique JUST FOR YOU!  THAT is what I LOVE about Handmade.  I am THANKFUL to have a place to sell, that is reasonably priced and is FUN to interact with people from all over the world, and YES, I have “convo’d” with people ALL over the world. 

The latest promotion, that is explained in the blog BEFORE this one, encourages you to VISIT our about pages and to learn about us.  We have some pretty amazing stories. I THINK when you get to KNOW us, then you will WANT to support us.  From now until January 16, IF you go to my about page, you will see an icon that you can hover over to get a special TREAT!

I hope this helps You to understand a little more about Etsy.  I am HONORED to have a shop on ETSY and even more humbled to have made 22 sales!  Keep ME in mind, and my fellow artisans, when you start to make YOUR shopping list for the upcoming year.  WE NEED you to help us…Blessings to YOU…~charlotte♥

I am PROUD to be 100% Handmade!...Wednesday, January 1, 2014

I am a PROUD member of the Old Farmhouse Gathering Team, but I am EVEN prouder that my Etsy Shop is 100% Handmade by ME!

We want YOU to get to KNOW us, so we are having a Scavenger Hunt.  IF you will go to the ABOUT pages of the participating Shops, you will find a CODE that you can use to purchase items from our shops during January 2 - 16, 2014.  Each shop will offer something different, so be sure to visit them all and READ about us while you are there.  In MY SHOP, when you see this icon, hoover over it to SEE what I have to proudly OFFER YOU!

For a COMPLETE Listing of ALL participating Shops, you can visit our Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/oldfarmhousegathering

OR by going to our Blog at http://www.theoldfarmhousegathering.blogspot.com

If you've read any of my blogs or Facebook posts, you know quite a bit about me already...PROBABLY more than you WISH to know, but you just keep coming back, don't you...maybe it is like starring at the sun...you KNOW you are not supposed to do it, but there is something that just draws you to that BRIGHT light...ROFL...

Mother used to tell me that a Woman who will tell you her age will tell you ANYTHING...hmmm...did you all KNOW that I am 51???!!!!   teeheheeheheeeeee...

I hope that you each will take a moment to visit my Etsy shop.  I am VERY proud of the Gifts that God has given to me and I do my VERY BEST to ALWAYS GIVE GOD the GLORY for all he has done for me...

 I believe that we ALL have different gifts, but we MUST use what we have.  I've been told my whole life that GOD has equipped us with just EXACTLY what we need...that does NOT mean that we get what we WANT, but we DO get what we NEED...AND it is NOT always easy...that is when it is TOUGH.  I see so many people who struggle and I have struggled, also, but we MUST keep Believing that SOON things WILL get better!

My etsy shop is filled with my original creations.  I offer over 70 patterns that are ready as Instant Downloads and I also offer almost 100 Finished items (I sold some over Christmas...)

If you need something painted, or need help with a pattern, please keep me in mind...I will do my best to help you any way that I can...

And PLEASE share my snowmen that I am giving away on January 15th...Just share it either on your blog or facebook page and let me KNOW that you did and I will enter YOU into the drawing...it does NOT matter where you live, I will pay the shipping...

http://www.facebook.com/romalandwoodcrafts

Thank you for sharing with me in my journey of life...It is not always a straight and a narrow path, but NONE of us walks it alone and for THAT, I am ever grateful...Blessings to YOU...~charlotte♥

Happy 2014...It is GOING to BE GREAT!!