Brave Girls and a little Soul Restoring

Feeling a little bumped around from some less than pleasant life experiences? Love art, scrapbooking, paints and paper? The amazing Melody Ross, who's life and how she's handled it is an inspiration in itself, has once again created something beautiful out of thin air. I've been a fan of Melody's for quite awhile and am absolutely in love with her Artsy Urban collection over at GCD Studios. By a series of unexpected circumtances that shall forever remain a secret ;) and some people with some incredibly large hearts, I came to the place to be able to take Melody's Soul Restoration class online. Her Brave Girl Camps sell out months in advance, and being that I can't travel to Idaho and hike up into the hills with two broken ankles and a broken leg right now, lol, I was pretty excited to see that she offered this art therapy course online. We all have our own troubles in life, travel our own paths and have different things thrown at us. Last year was a real doosey for me, as some of you know. Ron was laid off for 8 months, my dad was diagnosed with a serious, incurable health problem, then throw in a major accident and health problems for me and a glitch where Ron works that left us without health insurance, etc. etc. You get the picture. And believe me when I saw I've only scratched the surface here. We were reeling, and still are. I was looking for a place to put some of this stuff and needed some kind of immediate tools to use in daily life in trying to deal with all of it. Honestly, I needed to be able to sleep again. Soul Restoration has helped. I think it teaches you some skills to navigate your way thru things that you'd rather not have to navigate thru. We'll all have those things to work thru. We all need these skills. We all need to be able to find that little girl again, the one that was so full of joy and hope and had the whole world in front of her. Remember her? ♥ Art journaling is incredibly powerful. Melody uses it beautifully. Here's my journal that I'm still working on, and will continue to for months and years to come. It started out as a plain black artist's sketch book. I love how crinkly and thick the and deliciously texturized all the pages are becoming with all the amazing art techniques we've learned. There's so much more to it all than what we can possible get at in a blog post. Promise.




Here is a photo of one of my mini albums I made during the course. There are detailed photos a couple of posts down on my blog if you'd like to see what's inside. I love this album, so much.


There are many more projects, too. But honestly, it's not really about the art. That seems funny to say, because it kind of is. You'll see what I mean when you take this journey. And...you'll meet some amazing friends along the way, too. And come away with a new way to do art, and probably a few projects that will turn out to be lifelong favorites of all the things you've ever created. The first online course called Soul Restoration One (6 weeks) starts again April 5, 2011 and is $99. After that you'll be all ready to sign up for Soul Restoration Two (also 6 weeks). This is for graduates of Soul Restoration One only, starting June 7, 2011 also $99.


If you're participating in the blog hop, which I hope you are!...you arrived here from Kai over at Enjoy the Ride and the next blog in your Soul Restoration Blog Hop journey is Lacey over at Winter Window. If you're hopping on midstream, here's a complete list of the Brave Girls participating in this amazing little blog hop.

Judy at www.bepresentbereal.blogspot.com
Pippa over at http://pjbear-determinedscrapper.blogspot.com
Sandi over at http://sandi-mybravesoul.blogspot.com
Leslie at http://wordsofmeproject.blogspot.com
Juel at http://colorfulmoments.blogspot.com/
Kai at http://www.enjoytheridetoday.blogspot.com
Angie here at http://thefeathersinmynest-mommiextwo.blogspot.com/
Lacey at www.winterwidow.blogspot.com
Kathy at the http://shockingpinkthread.blogspot.com
Lynn at the www.rubyrabbitstudios.com
Sandra at www.skippingwithobie.blogspot.com
Stephanie at http://mycreativewish.blogspot.com
ZuZu at http://www.zuzu.typepad.com/about.html
Sami Jo over at www.herhousehold.blogspot.com
Rebecca at the www.flyoverpilgrim.blogspot.com
Dawn at http://www.seekingsense.typepad.com/
Donna over at the http://orangalicious1.blogspot.com
Rana at the http://definitivedesignsbyrwilson.blogspot.com/
Judy at http://mycraftingroom.blogspot.com/
Trisha at http://adgb.blogspot.com/
Kas at http://www.whispersandwishes.blogspot.com
Shelley at renaissancewyoming.blogspot.com
Deb at www.aswewalkalongtheway.blogspot.com
Jennifer over at www.studiojenn.blogspot.com
Dawn at http://dawnhueser.blogspot.com
and Stephanie at http://earthmothr.typepad.com/out_of_my_head/

I'm going to give a prize in a drawing for those of you who will sign up to follow this blog and also leave me a comment. ♥ I'll hold the drawing on Monday and notify you by your contact info from following. I'm going to send one of you blog hop participants and/or visitors this beautiful vintage inspired journal, so you can start journaling right along with us! You can alter it inside and out with fun art techniques if you like! (Drawing for US residents only.)




We'd all love for you to stop by, leave us some love. You know the routine of paying it forward when visiting blogs, right girlfriend? ♥ This little hop is just one way we can show Melody how much she means to each and every one of us. Don't you want to come on and be a Brave Girl, too? ;)

I love the vintage look, I admit it

Yes, yes I do. It seems no matter what I make that old obsession just has a way of sneaking back in. Here's the latest card I made. Seems lately I also have a thing for birds. ♥ The wonderful little surprise about this card is the background paper. It is gloriously sparkly when the light hits it just right. And the paper is embossed with a shadow of beautiful little hummingbirds hovering around. Love it. The scalloped border is studded with the prettiest little sage green rhinestones. Very feminine. Beautiful satin double sided ribbon and lightly inked edges complete the look. A card like this is just perfect to send to someone special, just to let them know you're thinking of them.
p.s. I finally found the perfect vintage frog to hold my little creations with. And that color green, complete with a little rust....be still my heart. ;) Hugs!

I did a little Soul Restoring

Ever heard of Melody Ross? ;) Yeah, that Melody Ross. Well, she's set out on this crazy mission to find all the Brave Girls on the planet. ♥ Yeah, she's a wonderful, amazing, contagious kind of crazy like that. You'll see the Brave Girls link on my sidebar, plus the button for her six week Soul Restoration class. I can't say enough sweetness about it. Really. It's so touching that I won't do it justice here in a blog post. Please check it out. We did art journaling as well as a myriad of other incredible projects. The one below happens to be my heart's favorite. It's the Soul House album. Some of the pages won't make sense unless you're a Brave Girl who's taken the class, cause yeah we kind of have a secret language amongst us. lol. But I love this album. It's 8 inches across, so it's got some great heft to it! I'll treasure this for years. Each of our albums is incredibly personal. Mine means special things to me. Yours will to you, too. Promise. Thank you for stopping by to visit. Please come back often and pull up a chair, a pretty one, and stay awhile. ♥ (You can click on any image to enlarge)






























I added in grungeboard pages and elements, cardboard pages and pages cut from cereal boxes and acrylic packaging. So many different art techniques were used, also. In some of these photos you're actually looking thru one page onto another. I love that and think it makes a mini so interesting. Of course, a ton of Mod Podge, aka Soul Glue, was used, too. ;) I love this little album. Thanks so much for taking time to look. ♥ I hope you all have a wonderful day, so go and be...

I'm so excited to announce the Grand Opening of my long awaited Nest Feathers Paperie Etsy shoppe. The shoppe will feature beautiful custom handcrafted cards, tags, mini albums, journals and scrapbook pages to treasure and share. You can also find vintage treasures for your home as well as vintage supplies for your own crafting. Custom items and orders always welcome. Many more items to be listed soon. Thanks so much for coming to visit.

Yeah, can I just say I'm beyond excited! This happens starting next week, so stay tuned for some nice photos and fun projects I think you'll enjoy. And a special thanks to Scrapbooking.com for the amazing honor. It means so much to me. Please check out their website for some wonderful inspiration. ♥

You guys stay tuned! I'm so excited about an email I received this morning that I can hardly stand it!!! I'm thinking of changing the look around a bit here, jazz it up a bit, and also post some fun, new things for you to see. Also, I'm taking a wonderful class by the extremely talented Melody Ross so a bunch of us Brave Girls wanted to treat you to a blog hop all about Melody's Soul Restoration Class! That's coming up soon, too. We're going to show you projects we are doing (there are tons!), new art techniques we've learned and also give away some amazing prizes. But... before the blog hop, something else extremely exciting is brewing. Wanna guess? Hmmm, what could it be? hee hee. I'd love see what you're thinking!


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Oh, and I'm free, I'm free!!! (hence the adorable vintage image above!) Dr's visit went well yesterday, and I can walk now without the crutches and I can take the cast off most of the time! Yeah, it feels pretty stinky to walk right now, and it feels like I'm going to fall with every step, but I'm beyond excited to start doing it again. Remember, I love to backpack, especially in Utah's slot canyons, so I've got to get this puppy working again! Cheer me on, k? ;)

p.s. - the vintage image above as well as many more adorable ones are available at the ever fabulous Tammy Tutrerow's website @ http://tammytutterow.typepad.com/tammy_tutterow/ Thanks Tammy! ♥

A new Merchantile on the horizon!

We've embarked on a new and exciting adventure! A dear friend of mine, Heidi, as in Heidi.... Scarlet's mom...the famous Scarlet that is the love of Tucker's life, Scarlet, has invited me to join her and another chickie to open an online merchantile! We are all beyond excited as we share such similar interests and values and are all really just displaced farm girls. We are announcing the new store front any day now! Heidi makes the most adorable children's clothing. She has many more things up her sewing sleeve so stay tuned and prepare to be wowed! Heidi is our resident cowgirl and rodeo queen, so she has quite the surprises in store. W
My passion is beautiful, lovely, breathtaking paper, as you all know, because many of you share the same affliction. You can add to the obsession ribbon, buttons, bling, metal, ephemera and anything I can use glue on to alter. I'm always on the hunt for something vintage and yummy to add to the mix. :) My latest creation is one I want to share with you.



This is a 16 page Vintage French Country Mini Album that is aged to perfection, and now available as a kit for you to create yourself. You get everything you see in this album, except the photographs. I'm sure you'd rather have your favorite photos in this album than mine. ;)







***UPDATE*** This kit is now available at my Etsy Shoppe Nest Feathers Paperie.
Top brand name lines are used in this album kit as well as some unique vintage pieces that I feel added just the right touch. I dipped into my personal stash of vintage items and ribbons to make this kit extra special and unique. Limited quantities available and... just a hint...they started selling before they hit the site. :) I have many more things in the works: greeting cards, altered items, journals, mini album kits and scrapbooks and pages. Custom orders always welcome. If you have something in mind, or need a gift for a special occasion, just drop me an email. Enjoy and thanks so much for looking!