PAPER SEEDS Seeds of ART and THOUGHT


Come on in... relax, kick off your shoes, and get cozy for a few minutes. I intend this space to be a happy and encouraging spot in your day where perhaps you'll sign off feeling better than you did when you signed on.

I have so much in life that I want to create, experience, and wrap my head around, and I bet you do too. I dedicate this space as a safe place to "grow" our seeds... Seeds of movement to increase our joy, inspiration, and insight - Seeds of change and evolution of our souls - Seeds of of celebration and creativity - a place where we thrive to live lives we're proud of.

How cool is it that we are given the opportunity to create a future that doesn't exist yet. That we have the choice in creating our lives and planting seeds that will grow into our dreams. I want to learn more everyday about how to do this in my life, and I would love for you to join me.

Stacey

Sunday, December 19, 2010

My Favorite Christmas Poem

During the holidays, my mother has a lovely way of decorating her home so that you feel as though you're stepping into a fairy wonderland of pure, childish delight.  Her attention to detail, lighting, sparkle, and whimsy greet you at every twist and turn... magical vistas everywhere!  

One of my favorite magic touches is a poem... a poem placed in a beautiful frame that sits on her library table in the living room.   And when I am lucky enough to go home for the holidays, this poem seems to beckon me.  As I walk by it, I feel its energy call out to me, always touching me deeply as if I'm reading it for the first time.  I am awed over and over again by its simple and poignant articulation of how the power of the universe lives the human experience.

Sunday, December 12, 2010

Birthday Reflections and a Rampage of Thankfulness


Last week Friday was my 45th birthday, and a very good day it was.  I find closure in taking a few minutes around my birthday to look back and assess each year's experiences.  I remember my gains and losses, summarize the year, and then let it go.  So this year I took some time to revisit my 44th year, but I found that my reflections left me with mixed emotions about how well it had gone.

Monday, December 6, 2010

Don't Forget to Breathe with the Holidays!

James Island County Park
Festival of Lights Holiday Card
The other night I had a crazy, fierce allergy attack.  Some innocent, unknowing little allergen particle floated far up into my nasal cavity and reaped havoc on my being.  I was sneezing with such force that it literally almost knocked me off my chair.  One violent sneeze after another, sometimes 20 in a row, brought me down like a sick buffalo.

Monday, November 29, 2010

An Interest in Mandalas


Last year, a sweet and thoughtful friend gave me a "coloring book" called Power Mandalas for my birthday.  She knew of my combined love for anything artistic and spiritual, so this really was an ideal gift for me.  I had heard of mandalas but had never understood the concept behind them.

Sunday, November 21, 2010

Keeping It Light

"To laugh deeply is to know God."  - Alan Cohen

I have two dear friends, one I have known since middle school, and one I have known since college.  Even now, after all these years, I am blessed to STILL have them in my life because they live here in Charleston.  Can you imagine that?  How lucky I am. 

Both very different personalities and energies, Leigh and Jackie do share one attribute in common... the ability to laugh and find joy in any situation.  In our younger days, Leigh and Jackie were the "go to" girls if you wanted to have a great time.

Sunday, November 14, 2010

The Cycle of Connection

My booth at the Artists' Market
Over the past few weeks, I've been especially aware of the different stages and intensities of my connection with life.  It's interesting to watch the cycle of our connection with our higher selves, our Source, God - whatever we choose to call it.  We connect beautifully for a while, then we disconnect, and then we connect again, and disconnect... over and over and over.  I suppose this cycle of union is the process of life - always reaching for the connection and holding it for as long as we can, until perhaps we stumble, trip, and fall away from it. 

Monday, November 8, 2010

My Greatest Creation EVER!

My best creation ever... is not a piece of my favorite art, or a kissing ball, or a decoupaged bottle.  It's not my branch art, or my paper flowers, or my blog thoughts.
This creation means more to me than life itself, and is by far the masterpiece to which I am most attached and connected.


It is a creation that evolves and becomes more lovely and more beautiful every day, and when I look at it, I see the best of myself in it.  It is a reflection of all my hopes and dreams and love come to fruition... a masterpiece so full of possibilities that it is bursting at the seams.  So rich and colorful and bright and shining is this creation, that it literally takes my breath away and fills me with unequivocal joy.



My Erin.  Happy Birthday to my eleven year old daughter.  I could not be more proud... ever.  I could not be more blown away... ever.  Just a brilliant, beautiful, joyful, easy soul that I am blessed to be with every day.  Happy birthday, my sweet!  

Sunday, November 7, 2010

November is Bizz Buzzing with Activity!

"Grow" - with hand-rolled paper flowers
Happy November!  This month is buzzing with activity and is so full of fun stuff.  I'd love to show you what I've been working on lately and tell you a bit about an exciting show coming up!

Sunday, October 31, 2010

Marriage and the Choices we Make


You were born together,
and together you shall be forevermore.
You shall be together when the white wings of death
scatter your days.
Ay, you shall be together
even in the silent memory of God.
But let there be spaces in your togetherness,
And let the winds of the heavens
dance between you.

Love one another, but make not a bond of love:
Let it rather be a moving sea
between the shores of your souls.
Fill each other's cup, but drink not from one cup.
Give one another of your bread,
But eat not from the same loaf.

Sing and dance together and be joyous,
but let each one of you be alone.
Even as the strings of a lute are alone
though they quiver with the same music.

Give your hearts, but not into each other's keeping.
For only the land of life can contain your hearts.
And stand together yet not too near together:
For the pillars of the temple stand apart,
And the oak tree and the cypress
grow not in each other's shadow.


This poem, by Kahlil Gibran, melts my heart every time I read it.

Sunday, October 24, 2010

My Latest Creations...


Hello and thanks for visiting today!  I'm going to take you on a tour of some of my recent creations... Come on, let's go!

Sunday, October 17, 2010

My History with Paper - From Chaos to Form



I consider myself a newly proclaimed creator.  I’ve had it in me all along, as we all do, but I never took the time to explore it or carve out the space in my life to let it flow.

In the past few years, though, as bits of time started opening up for me, and as I began to open spiritually, I started playing with paper.

Sunday, October 10, 2010

Creating Space - Part III - Mental Housekeeping II


Magnolia Plantation
I am happy to have you here today!  I appreciate you taking time out of your valuable day to ponder thoughts with me.  I may not know you personally, but I'm feeling a great energy growing around this space, and I thank you for being a part of it.  I sure would love to hear your thoughts in the comment section. I so enjoy reading what you have to say, as I'm sure others do as well. 

Last week, I expressed the importance of creating space in our minds to benefit awareness of our thoughts.  Sometimes it seems that our thoughts choose us, but this just isn't so.  Every moment of our lives we are choosing our thoughts whether we know it or not, and our thoughts always have an effect whether we know it or not.

Sunday, October 3, 2010

Creating Space - Part III - Mental Housekeeping

So, recently I've talked a lot about creating space... creating space in our schedulescreating space in our surroundings, and now part III of the Creating Space Series is upon us.  It's time to talk about the big daddy task of creating space in our minds... or "mental housekeeping."

Sunday, September 26, 2010

Creating Space Part II - Space in our Surroundings

With the changing of the seasons, there's that innate nudge to begin switching the wardrobe, pulling out Halloween decorations, and doing some "fall cleaning."  Oh, who am I fooling?  I don't "fall clean," and I'll be wearing flip flops until Christmas.  I don't even think I own a sweater anymore living in Charleston (90 degrees as I write this!).  BUT regardless of when the seasons change for each of us, the transition of the weather gives us an opportunity to look through our living spaces, evaluate our stuff, organize, and de-clutter a bit. In other words, transitions provide us a wonderful opportunity to create a new energy and space in our physical environment.

Sunday, September 19, 2010

Flowers and Hearts

It's funny because just in the past week, after writing my last blog on creating space in our lives, I've had a really difficult time with... well, creating space in my life.  This past week was full of activity and not much space. Not much down time... not much padding like I talked about last week.  The balance was off, and I did not like it.  

Sunday, September 12, 2010

Creating Space - Part 1

Moon Marsh













When was the last time you took some time for yourself?  Think about this.  I don't mean the last time you took the extra five minutes to shave your legs in the bathtub.  I don't mean reading a book at the end of the evening when you can only last five minutes before falling asleep.  I'm also not talking about checking your e-mails or playing on Facebook for an extra 15 minutes.

These are all good ways to steal a bit of time for yourself, and bravo for doing it, but I'm not sure we should have to "steal" time in our own lives.  I'm wondering... if we are in charge of our lives  - which we are - then are we able to create our days the way we want them to go... at least for the most part? I'm speaking about taking time for ourselves in a different way... one where we actually and intentionally create s p a c e  in our lives that isn't already planned and filled to the brim.  I'm referring to carving out bits of time with no agenda.  Space just to "be."

Monday, September 6, 2010

"To Do" Lists for The Soul

Aren't we funny little creatures?  I better just speak for myself, but I bet a lot of you do this too...  every night before I go to bed, I write on my little yellow lined pad of paper a list of all the things that I need to do the next day.  And boy-oh-boy does it feel goooooood when I accomplish one of the tasks.  No, actually the part that feels good isn't so much the accomplishment of the task but instead the actual marking off the task with my pen.

Sunday, August 29, 2010

Law of Proportion and Good Old Mark Twain

"Nothing that grieves us can be called little:  by the eternal laws of proportion a child's loss of a doll and a king's loss of a crown are events of the same size."  - Mark Twain


I happened upon this quote while looking for something entirely different, but obviously this was the intended message for me because this baby jumped right off the page and into my lap and has layed there ever since.  It resonates with me on several levels.  First, it really touches me as a mother because there are many times when I am not aware of how great a "thing," an event, or a thought actually is to my children.  Perfect example... my son just came running up so excited... I mean like jumping up and down, crazy flipping stunt-on-the-floor excited that....(drum roll please....) on his Roblox computer game, he just got a new shirt with an orange fire-breathing dragon on it.  To me, well, to me it's something I am happy for him about but in a way that is like... "great, now can I finish writing this blog" kind of happy.  But to him, oh MAN it is really a fantastic thing... almost like me ordering that new pair of winter boots and jeans I've been wanting.  Probably even bigger.


Or when my daughter is writing a story on the computer, and I hurriedly ask her to log off  because it's dinner time.  Then she protests, and I get angry that she's not listening to me and it escalates into something that is uglier than need be.  But what I often fail to see is that all that typing... all that effort that she is pouring onto the keyboard has been incubating in her heart for weeks.  This is her baby.  She is as proud of her story as someone would be of creating a new law supporting unemployment.  She is as proud of her story as someone advancing Peace Talks between nations. 

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Sometimes as I'm vacuuming or cleaning up the house, I'll come across a vignette of pure creation... a little area in the corner of the living room where there are little characters all set up, and little blocks that have been built into some type of building, and little animals, robots, and barbies all posed up ready for something fun.  Sometimes I'll take a moment to think about the time and pure joy of creation that went into building that little world on the floor.  The hours the kids took choosing the characters and naming them and dressing them and building them homes, and the hours of pure and unbridled imagination that flowed in that space.  In one fell swoop my hand comes crashing down and swoops it up.... and what's left where there once was play, is now just a clean void waiting for the kids to come back.    

Good Old Mark Twain got the idea, didn't he?   And how spectacular it is that the things, events, and thoughts we adults might deem "silly" or " minuscule" in our kids' lives are truly magnificent to them, and should be to us as well.  Children know how to see miracles in everything, don't they?  And we really shouldn't stop with our children, should we?  We should extend the idea of proportion not only to being more aware of our childrens' things, events, and thoughts but to each individual we come in contact with whether it be the grocery store cashier, our friends, or our spouses. But let's take baby steps here.  It's going to be a challenge just to do it with my own kids let alone the cashier, But I'll get there!  


And one more thought on this quote... when I am going through tough times, I tend to say, "well, I know that I shouldn't be so down because other people go through many worse fates," or "I should feel lucky because it could be worse... we could have terrible health issues, or we could be living in poverty, or dead."  And my sweetheart mom has always said, "Yes, it could be worse, BUT you still feel pain over your problem, and it's still real and true for YOU.  Your problems are valid and apply to  you.  You can't compare your problems to others' problems.  Mr. Twain and my mom are pretty smart cookies!  

Which leads to my last quick thought about Mr. Twain's quote.... Proportion means "the relationship of one thing to another in size, degree, and amount."  Knowing that each of us are living from our own vantage point, our own perspective... that no other person in the world is standing in our shoes and experiencing exactly what we're experiencing, and that the "eternal laws of proportion" are in play, how can we possibly judge another?  Kind of silly even trying, isn't it?   

So, today I intend to be more present and more aware of what is really important in my children's (and the store clerk's) lives, not what I think SHOULD be important in their lives, but whatever THEY deem important... and value it. 

And I intend to leave judgement to the Universe. 

I'd love your thoughts on this quote!  I appreciate your visit.

Stacey 

Monday, August 23, 2010

Turn Up The Volume

"Listen to the gentle whispers of the holiest places in your heart"  unknown


There is a voice within us all that is so powerful and brilliant and wise.  A voice that has been around the block once or twice, or 100 times, and knows the essence of us better than anyone else.

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Creating


My personal DreamBoard
The more that I create, the more I realize how extremely happy it makes me... not just in the artistic aspect of my life, but in pretty much ALL aspects of my life! My new favorite

Soul Writing

Word Birds
So, I finished reading Julia Cameron's The Right to Write, and I am so struck with it that I must write about it. I am a believer now and forever that writing is the best therapy we have to heal our lives.

Cleaning Up From the Inside Out

"Dream Trees"
Geez... You'd think after 44 years I would embrace a very important lesson that has re-visited me over and over again. It has been gently knocking throughout my life but lately seems to be ringing the door bell and banging pretty hard...
And it's really simple, but I'm scared to death...