Wedding Stuff - Sand Ceremony

My niece, Emma, a few months younger than Joel, got married last month. As I am in "wedding mode" I took note of the details of the wedding. It was incredible!! Their wedding was at an inn on a mountain in Tennessee. It was snowing and everything was beautiful. There was one thing that I had never heard of and I thought it was cool - the sand ceremony.

When the parents came in, the mothers each carried a clear jar with colored sand. Emma's was one color and Matt's was another. At a point in the ceremony, the mother's gave their children the jar of sand and the poured their sand together, mixing it into one container. This is what was said:

"Today, Emma and Matt have chosen to commemorate their marriage through the celebration of the Sand Ceremony. This ceremony symbolizes the inseparable union of Matt and Emma into a new and eternal marital relationship. Emma and Matt will simultaneously pour separate containers of sand into a common vessel. Each grain of sand in their separate containers represents a unique and separate moment, decision, feeling or event that helped shape Emma and Matt into the separate and unique individuals they are today. As they pour their separate containers of sand into a common vessel, those separate and independent individuals will cease to exist. Instead, they will merge into a loving and supportive marital community. Emma and Matt, just as the grains of sand can never be separated into their individual containers again, so may your marriage be."

Wedding Shower Preparations

My son is getting married in May and Katie and I are throwing them a wedding shower in March. Katie immediately had some ideas and so I let her lead the way. Katie and I both agreed we didn't want the typical white bells and doves decor. Joel and his fiance are just not that type. Here are some pictures of things that Katie has done so far:

She made the guest book...

The tree is of course newspaper and she cut out and painted each leaf and bird. She used my rubber stamps for the letters.

She made it out of an old Scrabble board, scrapbook paper, tea stained index cards and hemp cord. She tea stained and handpainted each card on each page.

Each page is different...

She bound it with hemp cord.

She also handpainted clothespins for the money tree. She said this was therapy.

We found these giant letters at JoAnn's and fell in love with them. Katie covered them in newspaper (it's a theme with her) then wound hemp cord like a vine around them (again, the cord), then cut out leaves and flowers from newspaper and painted them and attached them to the vine.

more to come....

Back in the Day & My Current Inspirations

Back in the day, when my kids were little, I used to make clothes for them, Christmas and birthday gifts for them, we'd craft together, have crazy, fun times together. We built a tree house, made fairy houses, make castles out of refrigerator boxes, make costumes, moved all the furniture from the middle of the floor and dance! We painted, made bread anything we wanted to do. We had a good time.

I always wanted to work from home. Back in the day, when fabric paints first became popular, I painted t-shirts. Not like sponge painting or puffy letters, I would recreate paintings I had done on canvas onto the shirts. I had one of Japanese cranes, a geisha girl, one called "Way Back Home" and others. I put the kids in the car and peddled my wares in downtown Atlanta at the trendy, hip shops. I sold a few.

I used to do scherenschnitte from my own designs. I was a purist, I cut with scissors, not Exacto knives! I had a craft fair booth and made a little money doing that and a little with special orders. 

this is not my design, but an example of scherenschnitte

With my experience in theatre, epecially improvisation, I taught classes in acting and improv. I kept wanting to be free to have time with my kids while trying to make money doing something I loved. So, I dragged them along to rehearsals.

For a while, at the very beginning of personal computers, I started a doomed typesetting business out of my home. The kids, back in the car making deliveries and going to printers, singing along with the radio.

I painted canvas floor cloths. I loved that. I gave away more than I sold.

again, not my design, just an example

As one scheme and plan failed after another, I eventually had to work outside the home, forget my "own business" idea and do what I had to do. Thankfully, I eventually got a teaching job and the kids and I could go to school together.

Today, I have many friends who are young mothers. Creative people who want to give their kids a creative, meaningful home and do what they love. There are a few of them who are women of a kindred spirit. When I saw what they were doing with blogs, etsy shops and online communities, I got excited! What I could have done with the internet - back in the day! Even though I am almost twice their age, maybe it's not too late for me! Ladies, you inspire me!

Check out Jennifer at http://www.allthingspinkandcrafty.blogspot.com/
and
Lindsey: http://www.notesfromtheparsonage.wordpress.com/

They've got links to really cool people, crafters, interior designers and artists.

Around The House

I thought I'd take you around the house and show you some things that I've done.

This is the back of my front door. I always liked the idea of the Jewish mezuzah - the little scroll of scripture on the doorpost to remind you of God when you entered and left the home. When my kids were little I wanted them to know that God knew everywhere they were and what they were doing. So, I painted the back of the metal door with a scene of mountains and ocean (the ocean, one of my favorite things) and wrote Psalm 139 in the panels. I put a lot of little details closer to the bottom (underwater fish, crab, etc) to give the "short people" something interesting to look at. It was very easy to do: I added a little dishwashing detergent to some acrylic paint and went to work! I read that the dishwashing detergent would make the acrylics stick, make it washable and strong. (I didn't believe it at the time) But the painting has been extremely durable, lasting 15 years!

The following picture is of the bookshelves in my living room. My nephew found the shelves when a local library was being torn down. I scrounged a few of them and my brother-in-law and I built the frames. He drilled holes in the frame panels at 6 inch intervals. We cut dowel rods in 1 inch pieces and put them in the holes to sit the shelves on.

You wouldn't think that would be very sturdy, but look at how many books I have on each shelf! We stained the frame to match the shelves and secured them to the wall with "L" brackets. Easy! I made 3 separate units so I could move them around anywhere I wanted to. (That weed-looking thing on the top is a tumble-weed from South Dakota that my friends brought back for me - a strange gift, but they know me completely!)

The next pictures are of the eating area in my kitchen. I ALWAYS wanted a booth in my kitchen. Don't ask me why. So, when we tore out some walls and reworked the stairs to the basement, I got my booth! My brother-in-law (the handy soul he is) helped me design and he built the hinge lid boxes (they are great extra storage). The lids are slightly tilted back for extra comfort. I knew that cushions for the boxes would have to be custom made and I knew that I wouldn't want to pay the price for having them made, so I went to work. At the time I wanted something quick and easy. So, I found a king comforter in the colors that I wanted and cut and sewed and stuffed and made 2 long cushions. I left them open on the ends so I could wash and refill them if I wanted. I closed the ends with 2 buttons. I am in the process of making more throw pillows. It is VERY comfortable. I can't tell you how many times, after dinner, people have laid down and fell asleep. I LOVE it!

The pictures on the left are photos that Katie took during her trip to Spain. The large piece of artwork is a piece Joel did. When I saw it, I knew I had to have it for that big wall. It's a stencil of his friend Daniel and the colors are fab!

The next picture is of a piece of metal artwork that I found at Pier 1. It was $39, more than I would usually spend for wall art. But have you ever seen something and you just HAD to have it? It was not meant to be a photo holder, but that's what I use it for. I took out some photos at the bottom so you could see how it looks alone.

The next is a microwave cabinet that my brother-in-law and I designed and built. I love old country furniture, but it's got to have a touch of modern for me to live with it. We added the metal grating in the doors and I put some fabric behind it. I spray painted it red. I'm not thrilled with the way the finish looks, but it's kinda funky. I painted the inside of the cabinet yellow. I took an old fork and spoon and had my husband bend them and put screw holes in them and I use them as handles.

A little table that I designed and my brother-in-law and I built a LONG time ago. I've used it in the house and now it's on my deck to hold pots of annuals. (It's winter, now)

This is my hall bathroom that we totally redid. I love the pedestal sink and how everything is white! The picture of the woman was the inspiration for the colors in the bathroom. I found the white metal rack at Marshall's for a steal and I use it as a towel holder.

Now the following is my pride and joy! I have always loved Mexican tile and seeing as how we are typically POOR, I can't afford Mexican tile. So, I saw a magazine article and it gave me an idea. Our front porch was one, long, gray, concrete (and might I add, cracked) slab. UGLY! Well, one day I got Steave, Joel and Katie and we went to work. Steave took a chalk line and measured the porch into 1 foot squares. Then I went behind him and taped the lines with masking tape. Katie went behind me and rolled the terracotta colored paint in the squares. Joel went behind her with a paint brush and added a golden yellow swirl in with the terracotta color. Then Katie and I went back and painted gray grout lines. We decided to add a diamond shape periodically in our pattern and so I took a regular rubber stamp and stamped a golden yellow design in the diamonds. I LOVE IT! And it is very durable. The wear and cracks just add character I think.

Here's my picture wall. I painted all the frames black and the cross was gold, so I rubbed some black paint on it to help it blend in. I am not finished. I will fill the whole wall as our family creates more pictures - graduations, weddings, etc.

Today Is My Anniversary!

Today is my anniversary! At 2pm today, I will have been married (wait, I have to look at the date inside my wedding ring) 28 years! I am very proud of that accomplisment. Staying married takes blood sweat and tears. I told my students the other day that staying married is a choice to be true to a promise that you make. I said to them, "Do you think that I've never seen another man more handsome than my husband? Sure I have: Gerard Butler, Kevin Costner....(I better stop there, Steave might read this - haha!) I KNOW I'm not the most beautiful woman on earth. Do you think we've never had a fight? We sure have! Do you think I've never wanted to kick him to the curb and vice-versa? Whatever!! We just decided to work it out." I'm glad we did!

In the past 28 years we:

lived in 3 different states

lived in 8 different homes

raised 2 incredible children

had innumerable pets and almost as many cars

stayed together through sickness, pain, poverty, loss, death, fear, joy, laughter and it's been the best time of my life!