DIY Monday: Dreaming up a design

One of the hardest things to do in creating a design can be visualizing how the finished design will look. Some are gifted with a clear vision while others can only see the full picture when the design is finished. Some people buy architectural or design magazines and tear out pictures that they like. Others may search the book aisle at their local home improvement or the design section at Barnes and Noble to find inspiration. Still others may go straight to the source - the cabinet maker, the tile store, the appliance section, or even a craft fair - to get that spark that fires design.

I recently found a site that's helped me with a design. It's called Houzz. My husband and I have been arguing over a project. I see clearly how it should be done, but no matter how much I've drawn it out and explained the steps, he can't see enough to be comfortable to move forward with the design. So I've spent some time perusing the pictures on Houzz, adding to my photo ideabook to somehow convey that this design idea will WORK in our space. It's a wonderful tool to get design ideas and get comfortable with your design ideas. Now on to trying to convince the husband that this dream can become a reality on our DIY budget! You'll know soon!

Inspiration Thursday! The lessons of a garden.

It's hot as you know where around here and has been for what seems like weeks. Living in a condo, I've tried to re-create my Mother's garden in containers, but my poor plants just aren't surviving in all this heat. Sometimes no matter how much I water, the plants just don't make it.

Growing up, we had a gardener's paradise in our backyard. Our yard had once been a park, so we had a 100 year old hydrangea tree we could climb, an 8 foot tall lilac tree and flame azaleas that created a kind of fence around the yard's border. We had huge clumps of peonies and daffodils that announced the spring. There was a fish pond flanked by bowing rhododendron that when drained made a lovely "house". Stone paths wended their way through carpets of forget-me-nots, blue violets and grape hyacinth through the summer. Many summer afternoons were spent picking handfuls of violets for Mama - they didn't last more than an hour, but she would always carefully put them in a little vase and place them in her kitchen window so she could see them as she cooked.

In the midst of this,  Mama had a rock garden. Her vision was a sustainable perennial garden full of wildflowers. For years we worked to get the soil just right, the sun just right, the water just right. We'd get a beautiful clump of butterfly weed or black eyed Susan going and it would flourish for years, only to die after a particularly difficult winter. We had a lovely patch of pinks that grew on a rock for five or six years, but that too is now gone. As I'm facing the frustration of trying to keep my container flowers alive, I'm reminded of all those years in Mama's garden and the lessons I learned.

First, there's a time and a season. As much as I love the peonies and emperor iris, they don't bloom all year long. They burst in spring with their heady fragrance, riot of color and delicate petals, but the hot sun of summer is too much for their fragile hearts. They bring so much joy in their short season, but their life cycle always ends too soon for me.

Second, sometimes you have to persevere when the odds are against you. Every year, we'd start that garden with high hopes. We'd take our meager budget and pick out a few new perennials to add to our garden hoping they'd thrive, but knowing most of our good work didn't make it through the winter. Still, we faithfully weeded, dug the dirt, added the fertilizer and cared for them through one glorious season. We found the joy in doing when we didn't know whether we'd succeed in the long term.

Third, sometimes it's all in the dirt in which you're planted. Mama loves butterfly weed. Even now, we play "spot the butterfly weed" as we drive across the state. You'll see huge clumps of these vibrant orange flowers in the most bizarre places - rocky outcroppings, up the sunny side of a mountain or even growing out of gravel on the side of the road. Somehow these plants seem to thrive in these terrible, rocky soils. But put butterfly weed in a cultivated garden with rich soil, water and careful tending and it just doesn't seem to make it. We could never get it to thrive no matter how hard we tried. It came down to where you put your roots.

Mama's still working toward her dream. When I was home this spring we went again to the nursery to pick out some foxglove, delphinium and lavender. I weeded the garden to ready the soil for her planting. And even now she's struggling to keep the garden lush in August's heat. But Mama knew - because her Mother taught her too - the lessons of digging in the dirt. And I'm thankful she passed them on to me.

Inspiration Thursday! Simple gifts

The notes of the wind chime blowing in the breeze.
The quiet of the forest marred only by the chattering of birds.

The sun shining on blooms I've planted and patiently watered so they'd grow.

These are the simple gifts I can find if I only look out the door... and take the time to listen.

What are your simple gifts? Are you looking around to see them? What do they say to you?

Inspiration Thursday! Turning 40.

When I was young, 35 seemed ancient. I'm assuming this is why my 35th birthday seemed such a nightmare, but I made it through. After that, turning 40 didn't seem like such a huge milestone to me - at least not as huge as it seems to many of my friends who have followed me into 40 in the past year or two.

My family taught me that your 40s are a decade in which you can dream big dreams and make them happen. Mama started her business in her 40s and she and Daddy bought their first rental property in their 40s. My grandparents had similar experiences. They were just getting started in their 40s!

I think this is why I was so excited when saw a Facebook posting from a college friend last week. She's taking charge of turning 40 by living out a dream and recording a LIVE record on her birthday. She's an award-winning songwriter, but this is to be her first solo record. She's lined up a co-producer and is asking friends with whom she's written songs to join her in this endeavor. And she's asking friends and fans to help her make her dream come true, humbling herself by requesting they to pledge as little as a dollar to help bring this dream to fruition. SIGN ME UP!

What a wonderful way to put life on notice that 40 ain't as scary as it's made out to be! I love it. And when I play her CD - because I'm supporting her at a level that gets me my very own copy - I'll be able to smile and say, "Take that 40! Rock on Belinda! Way to kick 40 in the hinie!"  

So Belinda Smith, today you are MY inspiration. I can't wait to hear the results.

And P.S. if you want to get your own copy, hear Belinda sing, watch the video explaining her project or see a cute pug dog begging for support, click the link here. It's worth it just to see the pug....

Inspiration Thursday! Why?

We all have hallmark moments in our life. For my parents' generation, they remember the day Kennedy was shot. For my generation, it's the Challenger explosion. All of us remember 9-11. But there are other, less tragic, but senseless moments that imprint on my brain. I doubt I'll ever forget the footage of Nancy Kerrigan in the floor after she'd been attacked holding her knee and sobbing, "Why? Why? WHY?"

I guess it stayed with me because of the poignancy of the moment. Maybe it was the dreams that had been compromised? Or possibly it was the deep, intense pain contained in the footage? I remember. I'll probably always remember.

This week I've been presented with several "WHY?" moments - deep, intense pain that spills over from one life to another. And I've been left with incredible feelings of inadequacy as I'm compelled to try to sooth the pain. Sometimes things happen in our lives that escape our understanding. For those of us with faith, there are days we're down on our knees begging God, with great emotion, to explain, "WHY?" And there are not always answers immediately forthcoming.

I've noticed there are some phrases Christians turn to when faced with these situations. They're easy. They're scriptural. They're always close at hand. "God gives you the desires of your heart" and "God's timing is perfect" are two of those phrases. I hear them all the time. I don't question the statements. I accept them as truths. But accepting them as a truth and believing or living them are two different things.

I've been challenged with this thought for the last several years in my own life. I've been challenged enough to stop saying these phrases when trying to comfort others. Instead, I've gotten a little more personal in sharing my faith. Because even though I don't have any answers to why these things happen - and especially why things don't happen for good people who are worthy of good things - I believe there is a reason these things we want do and do not happen. I accept I may never know these answers. And I continue to believe despite the sadness this can bring.

Life doesn't always turn out as we want or expect, but with faith, it can turn out better than we imagined. I believe that. I still ask "WHY?", but I've found that accepting I may never know the answer makes for a much less bitter me. And finding joy despite the "why" is an important battle to win.

Inspiration Thursday! Three roads to walk down. One road to choose.

You might have noticed some lag time around here. Life has been fast and furious lately. And the last two days have brought some interesting choices into our lives.

We have three life-changing choices in front of us. We can take one or none of them. This year has already brought quite a bit of emotional upheaval. Being the slow and steady girl I am, there are some days I just want to pretend all this isn't happening. I know, however, that hiding my head in the sand never works. Eventually you have to face life head on, make choices and live with the consequences no matter how hard.

"I've been searching for a reason, and I'm running out of time. I can feel that it's the season. It's time to make up my mind."

We've been in a season for a while now. It's a season of striving for something... actually several somethings. We're used to reaching our goals, but these goals can't be reached with hard work and dedication. These "somethings" are going to need some supernatural help to make them happen. And for the most part, I've been able to find contentment with recognizing that this is just a season. Suddenly, this week, we've been presented with several opportunities that could be the doors opening on these goals.

"And I can't really tell you what I'm gonna do. There are so many thoughts in my head."

Given these new developments, I'm left wondering if we're coming out of this season. Could this be the time we've been waiting for? Could the opportunity finally have dropped into our laps? I don't know. We don't know. All we have left is prayers and patience. And the belief that God has a plan that doesn't always match with our plans, but He has a plan nonetheless.

"Am I ready for forever. Oh God show me a sign. 'Cause if we're to be together, then it's got to be divine."

I can finally see a means to meet at least one of these goals. I can see there's a path opening up that I fully believe is an answer to prayer. I just don't know which road this is going to be. And it's a more than a little scary to take those first steps.

"Father which way should I go? I cannot clearly see."

So for the time being, I'm asking for wisdom. I'm asking for answers. I'm asking for neon signs to show me the right way!

"I'm thinking over, thinking over the things that you said."

I don't want to get in front of the plans God has for our lives. I know that leads to disaster. And so I continue to watch and pray - knowing that "to everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose...."

Inspiration Thursday! Awakening Longings...

"’I don’t like things,’ he said, ‘which interfere with one’s heart strings.  

It doesn’t do to awaken longings that can’t be fulfilled.’” -Enoch Powell

I found this quote in an article today. Enoch Powell was a British politician. Apparently as a young man he'd been a gifted musician, but as his parents thought he should focus on more scholarly pursuits, he put away his clarinet and didn't touch it again for at least 50 years. Instead he devoted himself to words and writing - a full professor of Ancient Greek at 25 (according to Wikipedia). The quote above was his response when asked why - in his older years - he rarely listened to music.

How sad that he should abandon something that stirred his soul this way? How true this sentiment for many who share a love of music? 

I write. I have seen the power of words. I don't think my words have ever even begun to "awaken longings that can't be fulfilled." I do, however, understand this power of music. Take, for example, the third movement of Brahms' Symphony #3. That piece of music pulls me into it's longing - makes me yearn for something unknown. Albinoni's Adagio in G minor evokes the longing of separated lovers - especially in this arrangement where the violin calls to the organ and the organ answers. And if you've seen The King's Speech, you know how the director wove Beethoven's 7th Symphony into a speech, which together conveyed the longing of a nation for peace though they were on the brink of war - and the longing of a King to be worthy of his new reign.

I sang in a Chorale while in college. We would welcome new students by teaching them our alma mater - the theme was taken from the sextet in Lucia de Lammermor. We also had many occasions in which we were able to sing while accompanied by a pipe organ with over 4,000 pipes - and on several occasions we were lucky enough to sing with the WV Symphony. There's really nothing that lifts my heart like feeling the music - the deep notes of the pipe organ reverberating up through your feet to burst from the top of your head or being bathed in the sound of strings. Even now, it evokes a longing to just once more join in a chorus of song. 

Awakening Longings... thankfully my musical longings are fulfilled. I would never have the discipline to live without the joy of music.

Vintage Wednesday: Social History

There are moments in life where a word or phrase opens a new door - one you'd not known existed before - into a world that delights you with it's rightness. College was full of these moments for me. Things I knew in their randomness suddenly started finding order. Much of this order I attribute to a history professor named Bill Mahoney.

Professor Mahoney - as we called him when we first met him - was still finishing up his doctorate so he was still close enough to being a student that he seemed to identify with us just a little better than the other professors. Most of the other history professors were in the latter stages of their careers, which made Mahoney a breath of fresh air. His classes were FUN.

History had pretty much been a part of my life. I joke that we've probably seen every fort on the east coast, but I don't really remember going to the beach until I was 14 (I don't count the trip that happened when I'd just turned 4 because it's a little hazy). I'd dressed up in 18th century costumes and traveled to rendezvous since we celebrated the bicentennial. Daddy is a huge American history buff we'd often hear stories of how our neck of the woods was settled. "It was down on the other side of the Cheat River, when we came up on this meetin' in the middle of the night...." History was everywhere. Taking history classes was inevitable.

The thing that Dr. Mahoney taught me, the thing that brought randomness into order, was the concept of social history. Now, there's a high falootin definition of the theory of social history, but to break it down into layman's terms, social history takes into account the way people lived. It's not just a series of dates and the study of wars. Social history values the entire picture of life as our society evolves.

Social history doesn't just mark the industrial revolution. Social history looks at the way people lived before the machines, the threat the machines brought to their way of life, the emotional reasons the Luddites rose up, the art and architecture that resulted, the population movements that ensued. It looks at the entire picture. And suddenly Mama talking about the lines of furniture or the designs in dresses changing from the 18th to the 19th centuries fit into Daddy's talks of battles and freedom. And every antique began to tell a story.

Even though I wasn't a history major, those classes opened my eyes. Instead of seeing a corset cover, I can tell you the class of person from the fabric and cut. Instead of seeing stitching on a sampler, I see the precursor to home schooling. Instead of seeing a wooden bowl, I see how that bowl fit into a family's life. I identify antiques by thinking about how we developed as a society. I probably couldn't tell you the important battles of the civil war or dates of international treaties, but I probably could tell you how people lived, what they wore, the kind of music they played and how they fed their children in a particular period of time. History is relevant to me in a way it wasn't before I took those classes.

Dr. Mahoney is still at my college teaching history - and I'm pretty sure he's still sharing obscure Irish and Czech punk music with students like me (I doubt I'd ever heard 3 Mustafas 3 without him). I don't know if what he's teaching as revolutionary to them as it was to me. I do know, however, that I'm very thankful he chose a little college town in WV to ply his trade.

Inspiration Thursday! Look around.

The gentle fall of cherry blossoms in full bloom.
The petals of an orange tulip, splayed like a child's fingers reaching for the sun.
Clumps of daffodils, faces forward, begging, "Pick me! Pick me!"
A regal old camellia bush bursting with little red crinoline petticoat flowers.
The glow of a tree, blossoming white, backlit by the gold of the setting sun.
A canopy of green, budding trees against a stormy sky.

These are the pictures in my mind as I drive back and forth to work drinking in God's creation around me. Writers more brilliant than I have tried to capture the newness of this season, the life unfolding around them. I struggle for words that capture what I see. I mentioned to a co-worker last week that the Cherry Blossom Festival (which is a very big deal in Washington, DC) had passed me by with all the craziness of this year. I don't want to miss this season and the renewal it brings.

Growing up, it was a common occurrence in my family for one of us to gasp, "Look at the TREE!" or "The daffodils are budding!" or "Look at the redbud in the mountains!" You see, we were "carefully taught" to pay attention to the world around us. Mama was intentional in drawing our attention to trees or flowers or even people with particularly interesting faces, which in Mama's world often included a lifetime of lines and wrinkles. She taught us to feel the promise of the coming year like the warmth of the sun. We would shed the darkness of winter days and embraced the light of a new cycle of life through the lilacs or the daffodils or the baby chipmunks we'd occasionally spot nesting in a wall.

I think when you're young, it's easier to see through those eyes. I find it a little harder at this age. There's always so much to do when you're juggling home, work, friends and family - even our fish, Jeeves, demands time. Thankfully, I had an intentional mother who trained me to look and see. So the snapshots continue to appear as I hurry along my way, sometimes stopping me, reminding me to breathe and give thanks for these gifts I've been given.

Inspiration Thursday! Sweet Paul Online Magazine

I'm not sure how I stumbled upon Sweet Paul, but I did. Stumble upon him... er, it. And what I found has kept me going back.

Could it be the lovely recipes? I don't want to know if you don't like strawberries and marshmallow goodness. Maybe it was the gorgeous photographs? So full of natural light! White space! Prettiness! Quite possibly it was what Sweet Paul had to say, or show or tell that hooked me.

I'm not going to analyze this much because some things are just meant to be enjoyed.

...So enjoy.

Inspiration Thursday! I may have misplaced my inspiration...

Ever had one of those days where you just want to turn off the alarm, pull the covers over your head and stay in bed until "it" passes? That's been my last two weeks. I was in a play once in which one of the lines was, "There's been bad news on top of bad news." That's been my last two weeks. I can get on top of one piece of trouble and another comes along to try to knock me down. I'm afraid I've misplaced my inspiration. So, how do I find it again?

I count myself pretty lucky. I was raised by parents who even when times were tough they were counting their blessings. I come from a long line of "pioneers" - people who refused to let the tough times around them put them in a funk, people who forged ahead despite adversity (or an uncooperative piece of land, or "hostile territory").

This week Charlie Sheen made quite a stir, and one video clip showed him saying something like, "What am I going to go do? Cry in a corner? Grow up. GROW UP!" As much as someone has been visiting Crazytown this week, I do agree with that sentiment.

You see, we have choices in our lives. We can sit in a corner and cry about what we don't have in life, what's not been given to us, what we "deserve" to get but just don't have or how life's so unfair. OR we can get on with the life that's been given to us, breaking down bad situations into manageable pieces and finding ways to deal with what we've been given. We can stop focusing on ourselves, on what we don't have, and look around us to the people who are really struggling and try to lend a hand.

So as much as life is trying to hand me trouble, I'm here to tell you I'm one very blessed individual. And I'm getting off my duff and getting to the tasks at hand. I'm opening my eyes to the people around me who really need some help and I'm lending a hand... or an ear... sometimes a foot. I refuse to wallow in self pity. Because there's simply not enough time in life to waste it - and too many people to love, help and support.

Huh, well maybe I just found my inspiration again.

Inspiration Thursday! Random Acts of Kindness Week

Did you know that February 14th begins Random Acts of Kindness Week? An entire week dedicated to doing things that bring happiness to others with no gain for yourself. How appropriate that it begins with Valentine's Day - a day to show love!

I'm going to try to do something every day next week to celebrate. Some ideas that come to mind include: buying a busy co-worker lunch because they can't go out to get it themselves, donating food to a shelter, anonymously leaving flowers for someone I know or dropping some current magazines and/or books by the local nursing home or hospital. I'll have to give this a little more thought, but you get the gist.

Another idea I had is to send a care package to a soldier in Afghanistan. I've not got anyone close to me there at the moment, but I've found this site called AnySoldier.com that looks interesting. I'll be investigating this too and will post an update with my experiences.

Does this inspire you for next week? Post ideas you have for random acts of kindness in the comment section!

*photo thanks to iStockPhoto.com!

Inspiration Thursday! See Amid the Winter's Snow...

See amid the winter’s snow,
Born for us on earth below,
See, the gentle Lamb appears,
Promised from eternal years.

Hail that ever blessèd morn, Hail redemption’s happy dawn, Sing through all Jerusalem: Christ is born in Bethlehem.

Lo, within a manger lies
He Who built the starry skies;
He Who, thronèd in height sublime,
Sits amid the cherubim.

Hail that ever blessèd morn, Hail redemption’s happy dawn, Sing through all Jerusalem: Christ is born in Bethlehem.

Say, you holy shepherds, say,
Tell your joyful news today.
Why have you now left your sheep
On the lonely mountain steep?

Hail that ever blessèd morn, Hail redemption’s happy dawn, Sing through all Jerusalem: Christ is born in Bethlehem.

“As we watched at dead of night,
Lo, we saw a wondrous light;
Angels singing ‘Peace on earth’
Told us of the Savior’s birth.”

Hail that ever blessèd morn, Hail redemption’s happy dawn, Sing through all Jerusalem: Christ is born in Bethlehem.

Sacred Infant, all divine,
What a tender love was Thine,
Thus to come from highest bliss
Down to such a world as this.

Hail that ever blessèd morn, Hail redemption’s happy dawn, Sing through all Jerusalem: Christ is born in Bethlehem.

Teach, O teach us, holy Child,
By Thy face so meek and mild,
Teach us to resemble Thee,
In Thy sweet humility.

Hail that ever blessèd morn, Hail redemption’s happy dawn, Sing through all Jerusalem: Christ is born in Bethlehem.

Inspiration Thursday! Grace.

Grace. What a powerful word. A word full of meanings and derivatives. A word to describe a state of being. A word that can save a life. Grace.

Websters gives grace 8 separate definitions. It then goes on for half a column defining words derived from grace. You might have a grace period for a deadline. You might drink from a grace cup at the end of a meal or find a grace note in your musical score. You may have studied the "Graces" in Greek mythology. A governor may show grace by giving a pardon. A king may show grace by bestowing special favor on a courtier.

You might describe a person as gracious in opening their home or welcoming you in a social situations. Ballerinas dance with grace, while swans are graceful. If you're particularly clumsy, you might be called graceless.

Today, many of us will sit around a table with family or friends and say "grace" to show our thanks for the food we've been blessed to put on our tables. For Christians, it's the heart of our faith - the grace of God's love for us - the grace of His giving us salvation. As many of us celebrate a national day of Thanksgiving, I'm thinking about grace. And I'm thankful for the grace that's been shown to me.

Inspiration Thursday! Life.

There's so much going on in Swoonville this week - some of you know EXACTLY what I mean - that it's difficult to accomplish anything. My head has been spinning with things to do. Constant lists. Restlessness. I just need to DO something ...until I fall into bed and think about the million more things I want to do.

I went to Michael's the other day to pick up some last minute supplies to finish an order, and as usual I had the radio on in my car. (Insert word of thanks for XM/Sirius Radio) For some reason I flipped through to the Broadway channel and heard the opening lines of "Circle of Life." Now you and I both know this song has been done to death. I've heard this song thousands of times, but for some reason on this particular day, in this particular parking lot, watching this particular sunset, I started to cry. The line that did it? "There's more to be seen than can ever be seen, more to do than could ever be done."

Well folks, blame the hormones, but that was it for me. I was done. It exactly captured what I'd been feeling recently - this sometimes manic push to do more, see more, be more, create more. I want to go back to Paris and show my now husband the City of Light. I want to see baby elephants take their first steps in the wild. I want to watch waterfalls in Hawaii. And I want to explore a lot more of this United States - talking to people, hearing stories, understanding what unites us as a nation.

Now look, I'm a lot like many (who are blessed enough to have a job) in this recession. I've spent many, many days getting to work, putting one foot in front of the other, making payments on my bills and just trying to get through this difficult time. I've been re-learning how to count my blessings. But something in the past two weeks sparked me into this restlessness. And at some point I realized that just because things are this way now, they won't be this way forever.

In fact, the thing that keeps life from staying the same boils down to something relatively ethereal: dreaming. The thing that unites us as Americans is just that: The American Dream. And that's what keeps us looking up, looking forward and carrying through to that better moment. So instead of continuing to plod forward just making it through, I've decided to do something else instead. I've decided to look up instead of down. I've decided to live. And I've decided to dream. Because there are better days ahead. I can feel it. I hope you can too.

Inspiration Thursday! Attitude Adjustment.

When my brother and I were little and acting ornery, Mama used to tell us she was going to give us an "attitude adjustment." That signaled that she was ~this~ close to changing our behavior for us if we couldn't do it ourselves. But that was when I was young.

As I've gotten older I've realized that to a great extent I'm responsible for my own attitude adjustments. I have a choice in life. I can wallow in my sorrows or I can count my blessings. And remember that song Bing Crosby sang in White Christmas called Count Your Blessings? I sing that to myself every so often:

When I'm worried and I can't sleep
I count my blessings instead of sheep
And I fall asleep counting my blessings
When my bankroll is getting small
I think of when I had none at all
And I fall asleep counting my blessings

So as we enter into an election season where candidates are telling us how bad things are and as we try to weather the economic storm, I think a lot about this concept. And I constantly remind myself (and sometimes hubby) to count our blessings. If you have a job, a car, a home, pay your bills on time, can put food on the table for your family or even have family that's helping you get through, you're incredibly blessed. Finding the joy that comes with the realization of those blessings can literally change your attitude - leaving more room for inspiration.

Inspiration Thursday! Let Yourself Go...

Not much for words today my friends. Just listening to the wisdom of an oldie, but goodie:



Let Yourself Go

As you listen to the band don't you get a bubble?
As you listen to them play don't you get a glow?
If you step out on the floor
You'll forget your trouble
If you go into your dance
You'll forget your woe
So:

Come
Get together
Let the dance floor feel your leather
Step as lightly as a feather
Let yourself go

Come
Hit the timber
Loosen up and start to limber
Can't you hear that hot marimba?
Let yourself go

Let yourself go
Relax
And let yourself go
Relax
You've got yourself tied up in a knot
The night is cold but the music's hot
So

Come
Cuddle closer
Don't you dare to answer "no, sir"
Butcher, banker, clerk and grocer
Let yourself go

Inspiration Thursday! See the beauty in ordinary things

I was talking to an artist friend of mine about photography the other day. We were talking about how the new Photoshop basically does a lot of work for the photographer. Have a power line that cuts through your shot? Photoshop will supposedly take it out. Want to fill in the side of a house? Photoshop can supposedly fill it in for you. On and on we talked about what this wondrous new version of Photoshop was going to do for photographers and artists, and how the lines would begin to blur between amateur and professional photographers.

But then we realized something: taking a picture isn't just about lining people up in a wedding, snapping a shot and fixing it on Photoshop. Sometimes it's more about the eye of the photographer. It's about understanding the light in a shot. It's about seeing the beauty in the world around you and how your subjects fit into that world. It's about catching the non-verbal moments.

The same can probably be said of all artists. They see with different eyes: the light, the color, the placements. They look beyond what's put in front of them to see the whole picture - how the individual fits into the whole. And to find inspiration, you often have to look beyond the obvious, to find the sometimes obscure and unlock the heart of what you're creating.

Working Tuesday: Creating a new product line

You may have noticed I'm a fan of photography. That's not to say I've learned much beyond set my camera on automatic and shoot. But I am learning and I'm always looking for the perfect photo.

I've been toying with the idea of creating a product line that somehow incorporates my photographs. I've thought of calendars and note cards. The problem is finding an artist to do a layout and then finding the right printer to print the product.

For many years, I've used Shutterfly to create notecards and calendars for my family and friends. The problem has always been with their need to brand the heck out of their products. I understand they have begun a program for those interested in selling their work that allows the artist to put their branding on the back instead of the Shutterfly logo. I'm still investigating this and other routes to find the best product I can offer customers.

The bottom line is that starting a new product line is not always as simple as having a vision or idea. Often the key is in execution and the perseverance to find the right path to a marketable finished product. And sometimes I have a hard time getting down that road.

Inspiration Thursday! Something out of Nothing

Sometimes I look at the jumble of beads I've collected over the past 6 years and have absolutely no inspiration. There's nothing that catches my eye. There's no pendant that inspires a larger design. There's just nothing in me that says it's time to create.

I've found, though, as I sit and stare at my pile of beads, that the creative fire is sometimes locked inside because of external pressures that are keeping me from being able to focus on creating. For me, it's sometimes my job and a deadline I have to make. But I'll be honest, it's also the laundry that's piled up, the dishes that haven't been done, a hungry husband growling for food or a corgi puppy with big brown eyes and a throw toy begging to play. All these things can distract you from that creative energy.

So what's my secret to inspiration? Well, sometimes I need a kick start. Often just handling the beads can start a creative stream. Sometimes this means pulling out every bin and pulling out many bags of beads, rolling them onto the bead board and arranging them with other complementary colors. I allow myself to make a mess knowing the end result will be more good than bad.

But sometimes it's a mental game of forcing yourself to focus. A process of visualizing yourself allowing all those other things to fall away.

It's giving yourself permission to play while also giving yourself permission to fail in getting it all done.

Because for those of us who feel empty when we don't create but feel the pressures of life caving in, giving yourself permission to fail can be the key.

After all, the dishes will be there tomorrow and laundry is never done.