Pink Purl

Shop Updates and More!

It's been a busy week here behind the scenes... I've been retaking and organizing tons of photos, and at last have been able to restock my shops.  In both my ArtFire shop and my Etsy shop are new creations.  During the summer I will add new items periodically, highlighting here special pieces and sharing other shop info as it happens.  Discount postage rates are still on offer!  And many of the items are very nicely priced too.  Here's a little peek at what's new...

In both shops are new jewelry designs using new materials... like antiqued brass.

Back by demand are a few of my stylish and practical multi-purpose zippered pouches in fun fabrics and trims.  These will be available for a limited time only at my ArtFire shop.

And available in both shops is a new range of fashion neck scarves in colorful cotton prints--very pretty for summer, but great for all seasons.  More scarves in different fabrics will soon be on offer, and so will fabric/fiber shawls. Very exciting... stay tuned!

More fun this week is that today our boy, our Charlie, is the featured kitty in Kyoko's new series Feline Friday at her blog Cotton & Cloud!  This is a wonderful thing Kyoko started a little while ago, a spotlight each week on a cat and owner from blogland interviewed.  And there's photos of each kitty!  Do stop by and say hi to Kyoko--she is a knitter extraordinaire and you'll be amazed what she creates with yarn.  And this week get a good dose of kitty cat love too! 

After a busy week, there's a busy weekend ahead... Shopping, errands, garden work, and the highlight on Sunday being our niece Emma's 10th birthday party to go to.  When I first came here to Norway, she was but six months old--a beautiful blonde angel in my arms. Now she is growing into a lovely, smart young lady.  Ten years old already... how did that happen so fast?!  Well, I'll be off-line this weekend for some family time and fun.  See you all next week.  Wishing you all a very happy weekend ahead!  :o)

The comfort of a blanket...

Earlier this week while visiting Lisa at A Spoonful of Sugar, I found out about a fairly new blog, Craft Hope, and its authors who are doing great things...

Craft Hope is a "faith-based, love inspired project designed to share handmade crafts with those less fortunate. It is our hope to combine our love for crafting and desire to help others into a project to make a difference around the world." So far collective efforts have seen handmade dresses and dolls from crafters around the world sent to children in several countries. Their current project is calling for blankets, booties and beanies to be sent later this summer to babies in India. Their scope of vision and community effort is amazing and inspiring! A new project will be announced soon.  If you are a crafter, like me, and wanting to share, use that stash, and best of all--wish to make a difference in the quality of life for one or many souls out there--please join in.

A package from me is making it's way to Craft Hope in Texas in the USA. I've made two baby blankets. I'm not sure if my package will arrive in time for the deadline they have on the project next week, but I hope it will!  The thought of babies having no blankies has been breaking my heart since I read the other day about what Craft Hope is doing.  Of course, I raced to my sewing machine--and I wanted to make and send tons of blankets!  But at least these two will be keeping two babies warm.  My heart warms to think of it... What joy in making these blankets!

Here is a photo of the two I made.  One for a girl, and one for a boy -- simple blankets in fun prints in cool cotton on one side, cozy cotton flannel on the other. I've added my name label to them, like signing a card or letter with love. The comfort of a small blanket can do so much...

Happy Day, my friends! :o)

Note: Deadline for Project 3 with Craft Hope is July 25th...not June 25th. My mistake... which Di at Woollie Wanderings cleared up and corrected for me--thanks Di!  So there is time to make and send if anyone wants to participate!  Great to know my own package will get there in time to be part of the project. Whew, I can relax now... LOL!  ;o)

Early Summer Splendor

This past weekend we had an early taste of summer weather-wise. Warm sun beckoned us out of doors, and on Saturday we took a little time to do some work in the garden.  Just now the garden/yard is bursting with blooms and growth.  It's almost hard to keep up with everything at the moment!  Here are a few of the delights happening right now... (Yes, that is our cozy little house above, with the irises in full glory in the stone garden--which is still "under construction".)

 

Some apologies in advance if I am slow to visiting or being in touch this week... Getting both my shops updated is taking much longer than anticipated.  And the glitch with photos referenced last time, was actually "disappearing" photos... 100's of photos of items ready for my shops got accidentally deleted and had to be re-taken.  So that's what I've been up too--re-taking photos and getting them sorted so I can list more items.  Getting two shops organized just now is proving a big challenge.  And since I'm a one-woman-show in all this, I have just the one brain, two arms/hands and only so many odd hours...LOL!  Thanks for understanding.  :o)  But I will be around as soon as I can... And watch for some fun news and happenings here later during the week!  I leave you with another moment of floral wonder, and a quote I came across recently. Happy Days to you all! :o)

...the miracle is...not to walk on the water; the miracle is just to walk on earth... You are still alive and you are walking on this beautiful planet.  That is already performing a miracle. The greatest of all miracles is to be alive.  --Thich Nhat Hanh

Scenes from a rainy afternoon...

The rain, it raineth much today... But the peonies don't mind at all!

And I don't mind the rain either... There's something about the rain that always slows me down, in a very good way. I was reading a very interesting thing today in the special weekend section of Aftenposten, one of our big newspapers here, about how multitasking and modern technology hinders our ability to be fully present in our lives at any given moment--an article based on case study facts and select interviewees stories.  There is much truth in that, I think.  And at times I try to recall my self--turn off the computer, the radio, everything, and savor some silence and time to just be in the moment.  It's good to switch off, or even just hit pause once in a while. Something I will be trying this summer is two days a week that are as PC-free and as technology free as I can possibly be--Wednesdays and Sundays.  I wonder where the extra time will take me...

This weekend I am hoping to have time for fun crafting.  To unwind this evening, I made myself a new meditation mala, using faceted pink glass beads and a large lampwork focal bead--love that pinky-peach of the big focal. This is the first time I ever made a tassel.  At just one inch/2.5 cm it was a bit fiddly to do!  It's not perfect, but I like that it looks a little scruffy... rather wabi-sabi, where the beauty lies in imperfection. These beads had been ear-marked for this little project, and I found instructions here for guidelines on how to make a wrist meditation/prayer mala.

More creative news: I have re-opened both my shops at ArtFire and Etsy.  My Etsy shop is a bit bare, but I will be adding newly made pieces there next week.  And there will be new additions at my ArfFire shop too.  I was hoping to have had more new things in each shop this week, but a glitch in getting photos ready has slowed me down--long story! I will need the weekend to fix this. But I am open for business!  And I will share highlights of special new creations next week.  Lots brewing at Pink Purl... Including playing with new materials and making new designs. (The earrings above I have two pairs of--one in each shop.)  Also, look for news of a summer giveaway coming up soon...

I hope that you get a chance to turn off the phone, step away from the computer & email, even forget to Tweet or post... and just enjoy the weekend, to slow down... come rain or come shine... Happy Days :o)

Morning Song... The Simple Things

Today my new friend Christina who creates the very dreamy Soul Aperture blog, is hosting her own special event today, one which I have the fun of joining in on: The Simple Things, a celebration of the small wonders of everyday life and anything that makes us happy.  I had the great fortune to meet Christina through the haiku poetry festival I co-hosted last month. Her skill with photography and words inspires me... and I'm sure will inspire you too. Please stop by and say hello if you've not met her already.  And if you like, please do share the simple things in your life that you are thankful for.

There are so many simple things I could sing the praises of... I could take a week, a month here at Pink Purl celebrating simple things!  And a lot of Pink Purl is about that already -- enjoying the magic moments.  But today I am moved to share this special moment of this very day.  How exquisite the light this early morning... I am a morning person.  The unfolding of a new day excites me. This line from L. M. Montgomery's Anne of Green Gables, "Tomorrow is fresh, with no mistakes in it.", prompts me to make it over into today is fresh, with no mistakes, to begin the day with.  The freshness and possibility of a morning, that little thrill of wonder at how the day will turn out and what direction I can turn it in... That is a precious, simple thing.

I like quiet in the morning.  Dear Husband and I both have flexible mornings, so many times during the week we each have time to ourselves to start a day, having the weekend mornings together which makes for a great treat. I cherish my time alone in silence in the morning.  Time for a slow ease into the day with tea, yogurt and a bite to eat, a little reading, thinking, list-making, yoga... And then the day can move on and take shape. 

If morning could be likened to music, it would be Bach, I think... one of his fugues... perhaps one of the Cello Suites...

I was brought up in a Catholic household.  While I am no longer a practicing Catholic, much of the faith has stayed with me.  I think of certain hymns and prayers often, and still take comfort and refuge in them. The hymn version of Make Me A Channel of Your Peace, the Prayer of St. Francis, is one I'm especially fond of still.  These words from it, I take with me into each day...

Make me a channel of your peace,
Where there's despair in life, let me bring hope,
Where there is darkness, only light...

May I be an instrument of peace, light, love and joy this day...

And may your morning unfold into a day of many blessings...

*The photos show corners of the living room in our house.*