Holiday Photo Attempt

We tried. We really did. I had full intentions of getting a Christmas card sent out this year. Not gonna happen. Its going to have to be a New Year card.

See the thing is that we just moved to this new city where we don't know anyone who could actually take a photo of us, and we live in a home that doesn't get the greatest light, and I can't find my tripod, and I am seriously opposed to using a flash on a camera. So we tried to make do with our current situation and this is what happened.....

Doesn't he look so excited to be a part of the "light testing"? And the felt linked garland that I made WAS cute before this particular day.

I didn't make it back in time after hitting the button....(for about the 15th time)

I painted this little sign thinking that it would be really cute to use in our photos. However, neither one of us look very merry or bright at the moment.....

Here we look like homeless, dirty hippies camping out downtown....

1. Don't you love the factory artwork in the Ikea frame? I thought it would be perfect for a holiday card (im kidding, i was planning on photoshopping a little illustration in that spot) 2. I think Spencer is over it all and is trying to be nice about telling me its time to quit.


At least we got parts of the whole family in the picture. None of the kids were happy and I ended up with quite a few (deep) scratches - but I WAS NOT GOING TO LET GO. WE WERE GOING TO TAKE A FAMILY PHOTO DAMMIT.


Here we were just so over it all that we started making ridiculous faces....

I had to grab his butt to get this half way decent laughing shot.

We will be heading to my parents house in Alabama for Christmas so hopefully I can talk him into suffering through one more photo shoot with my mom (or at least a tripod) as the photographer. Sometimes I guess getting just the right photo takes time....and apparently lots of patience if you are a man.

100 Holiday Crafts

Holy craftballs this is going to keep you busy until the next holiday season. 100 crazy fun craft projects in one gigantic list. heaven. I was so excited when I found this I started drooling. Not really, but you should check it out at The Long Thread.

Thank you to Kind Over Matter for revealing this goodness to me today. Have you ever visited the Kind Over Matter blog? Its one of my very most favorites.

bright and shiny Christmas...with cats

I LOVE Christmas time. I love that its a holiday that involves every single sense..sight, sound, smell, taste, touch. And we've started decorating! I probably won't finish until Christmas Eve but at least we got the tree up. And I've been working on felt garland links for the front door, a few wreaths, stockings and some crochet pieces. I'll post photos of those soon.

And all of my other friends share their Christmases with kids....lots of kids. As you know I am kidless but I DO share my Christmas with cats. It may be just as challenging.

shiny pretty colorful ornaments

luna nooooooo!!!

maybe if he holds her for a while she will calm down....

the christmas tree....her new GIANT cat toy

Reece has found his spot.

but not for long...

My posts are so sporadic lately. It's just a quiet time for me I guess. And work has been crazy busy.

This is your last week to order HOLIDAY CARDS if you still want them to be mailed before Christmas day. All orders must be placed before Dec 1oth. If you are running late this year we also do New Years cards. Go here for more info.

And because I love you I will leave you with this...

honestly, WHY do they do this to each other all the time?

gratitude day 4

Today I have a little gratitude humor video for you...its hilarious and worth it to watch to the end (4 minutes).



Today I am grateful for computers and technology. I'm grateful that my dad always made sure that we had a computer in our home (even in the early 80's when everything was run through DOS and I played Donkey Cong with joysticks). I grateful for the blogs that changed my life. I am grateful that I have been able to reconnect with friends I never thought I would see again on Facebook. I am also grateful that I can create and sell beautiful artwork through this box of wires and switches....it all seems so insane when i really think about it.

gratitude day 3

Oops, I missed a day of blogging gratitude. I spent the entire day yesterday in Tampa at a Hay House conference. It was so exciting to be in the presence of some of my favorite authors...Louise Hay, Wayne Dyer, Marianne Williamson....and so many more. I loved every second of it.

Before I move onto the part about gratitude I wanted to share a little project I finished up today that incorporates some of my most favorite things....felt, flowers, linen and beads.

I can think of about a bagillion things I could do with these little felt flowers....stockings, wreaths, gift bags....

OK, on to my quote about gratitude.

"Each night before I go to bed, I write down five things that I can be grateful about that day. Real life isn’t always going to be perfect or go our way, but the recurring acknowledgment of what is working in our lives can help us not only to survive but surmount our difficulties.
Simplicity, order, harmony, beauty and joy – all other principles that can transform your life will not blossom and flourish without gratitude…You simply will not be the same person two months from now after consciously giving thanks each day for the abundance that exists in your life. And you will have set in motion an ancient spiritual law: the more you have and are grateful for, the more will be given you.

As you focus on the abundance rather than on the lack in your life, you will be designing a wonderful new blueprint for the future. This sense of fulfillment is gratitude at work, transforming your dreams into reality. Begin this day to explore and integrate this beautiful, life-affirming principle into your life, and the miracle you have been seeking will unfold to your wonder and amazement’.

Quote from The Science of Getting Rich. Read it for free here.

Today I am grateful for the abundance of craft and art supplies that sit, waiting to be used in a beautiful creation, in clear containers in my studio. What are you grateful for? Can you feel it in your gut?

graditude 2

"Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos into order, confusion into clarity .... It turns problems into gifts, failures into success, the unexpected into perfect timing, and mistakes into important events. gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow."

-- Melodie Beattie, author

Today I am grateful for these guys. For all of the lessons they teach me, for all of the kisses they give me, for all of the poop i have to scoop, for all of the times that they walk on my chest and it hurts so freakin bad, and for all the times that they know when I am crying and come to my side to let me know they love me. They are the most wonderful creatures and they are mine.

What are you grateful for today?

gratitude

I believe that at any given moment there are only two ways a person can be thinking...either negatively or positively. There doesn't appear to be really any in-between. One of the greatest thing I have ever learned is...how I choose to think has a direct correlation to very specific outcomes in my life. Instead of waiting to feel inspired to paint or run or work or whatever, I show up and choose to be inspired. This way I can never, ever claim to be a victim. It seems simple, but it took me a very long time to realize that I actually hold that power myself. I can literally and very specifically create the kind of day I want to have, I don't have to let the day just happen to me.

I have been working really hard lately to develop new habits in my life that help me practice the act of creating positive thoughts and feelings. I believe that the more i create positive feelings and thoughts in my life, the more I will have positive experiences. So a few weeks ago i started a nightly ritual centered on gratitude. I have a little notebook and pen on my nightstand - its right there, every night, no looking for it - and every night when I go to bed I write 5 things that i am grateful for as well 5 gifts and 5 gains that happened throughout that day. I go to bed each night with a feeling of gratitude. It seems to me that gratitude is about as close as you can get to peace and joy.

Today I am thankful for this guy......

What are you grateful for today? Try to really feel it.

Stuff from the week

I apologize for being so quiet lately. I've been extending so much energy in other places and I don't like to do "filler" posts. I am still so grateful for my faithful readers who have sent me sweet messages wondering where i have been. Tomorrow I will start posting daily till Thanksgiving with a series on gratitude. Even though it seems like such a simple and possibly over-done topic, I have realized that focusing on it can bring about some powerful affects.

So for now, here are a few photos from the week.

One of my biggest items on my gratitude list of the moment is...the library! You can check out up to 99 items at a time...for free!

These have to be the coolest books I have ever seen in my life. The Woodstock one was published in 1972. I want to "loose" them so I never have to return them. (No mom, I won't really do that)

Sometimes I just need to draw. There is something about pen on paper that is so meditative for me.

I made these curtains for our kitchen from some vintage sheets that I found at a flea market for $1. Sorry about the yucky photos in this post - the light was impossible to work with.

And this is a really big wood panel that I painted for our living room. It still needs work but I wanted to go ahead and get it up on the wall to see if I liked it. I don't. But it's not a problem, now I get to make something else to go there!

Happy Monday to you all.
xoxo

envy vs. enough

(tiny paintings to be used in a LARGE project, can't wait till it's finished!)

Creativity is life giving. It is generous. It is healing. It is beautiful, lovely, encouraging, patient, kind, hopeful and all of the best things you can imagine in your head and heart right now. There are very few things I claim to know...but I do know these things to be true.

I also know that envy and jealousy are a very real part of my personality. I have felt it for as long as I can remember and now, as a blog reader and creative person, there are times when I feel it everyday. However, while I can feel envy and jealousy with such intensity as I go through my daily RSS feeds, I can also feel kindness and gentleness and abundance with just as much intensity. And my choice, when those scarcity feelings start to creep in, is to direct my thoughts in a different direction. What if instead of focusing on lack we all started focusing on abundance? What if there is enough for everyone? What if there was no such things as artistic competition? What if ideas were "gifted" and couldn't be "stolen"? What if all creativity was available to anyone who asked for it? What if we shared and grew TOGETHER? Wouldn't our creative journeys be that much sweeter?

To all of my fellow artists and bloggers and creative folks....I am filled with such joy to be in this adventure WITH you. I learn about life and art and Essence and even myself from you everyday. I am proud of you and I want you to succeed - even if you do bring the ideas I have had swimming around in my head to the market before me. The gifts I receive from fellow creative bloggers far outweigh any gifts I could ever provide to the readers of my own blog. I feel honored to be a part of something so huge and beautiful and brilliant.

big dreams

Tell me I'm not the only one. Please.

that time of year again...holiday photo cards

I know its the day before Halloween and you probably don't want to hear about Christmas just yet...but it makes me so happy! My absolute favorite time of the year is the Holiday season. I think it is all of the good energy and visual stimulation that comes with the excitement of giving...and the pecan pie.

But the holidays will be here before we know it. And although I haven't started listening to Holiday music just yet, I have started designing Christmas cards.

These designs are being sold through Sarah Pay Designs....and if you place an order (you don't have to decide on your design yet, just place the order) before November 14th you will get 20% off your entire order! very cool.

Check out the Flickr site for more designs and email spay (at) carolina.rr.com for a rate card and more info. Or you can email me ashleyinzer (at) gmail (dot) com and I can help too.

Sarah and I are also willing to work on custom orders....if you have an idea in your head we can make it become real. We are good at that!













Sarah and I go WAY back (we met at summer camp) - she is super talented and we have such a unique friendship...when everyone else thinks we are "weird" we just get each other. I admit, I am a bit of a control freak when it comes to projects and getting things done well and right....and I have to say Sarah is one of the only people in the world that I would trust my life, my business, my art and any project imaginable to. She is a genius of all sorts. Like a real genius.

Please buy cards from us this year...it would make me SO SO happy!!

DIY bookcase

We searched everywhere to find the perfect bookcase that would fit behind our couch....to no avail. We didn't even find a "create your own combination" at Ikea that would work. So we decided to make our own (which interprets to... I decided what it would look like and Spencer actually built it). I really really love the way it turned out...perfect.


One of my favorite things to do, when i enter someone's home for the first time, is scope out their books. I feel like the books a person reads says so much about the life they lead...or at least the life they want to lead. Books are one of my most favorite things in the entire universe. Just before we moved I did some serious decluttering and got rid of about 75% of my books. It was SO hard to do! I have moved over 30 times in my life and my books have been the one constant in my life. I am so attached to them.

The photos are kind of small but here is a sneak peak into the books in my life....




Do you love seeing what other people are reading too or is it creepy?

linen bunting and a few favorites

Hello hello! Just wanted to share a simple little project I did that involves some of my latest obsessions....linen and buntings. I can't stop making things that involve garland or bunting. I know its a fad that is about to run it's course but I have always liked things that hang and I just don't think I will ever stop.


I cut the bunting shapes out of linen fabric, machine stitched them onto thin ribbon and then painted little hearts in various shades of reds, pinks and white on each one. Here is a closer look...

I think they would be fun at a wedding shower or rehearsal dinner.

Also, a few more of my favorite things of the moment....

My favorite magazine of the moment. BUST. They have a great website too.

My favorite book of the moment. CANT. PUT. IT. DOWN. Not everyone will be into this but if you are open to it it will change your life. Seriously. Any other type 4's out there??

My favorite song of the moment....Overjoyed by Christine Kane. This woman is phenomenal in so many ways. She is a singer/songwriter (as wells as a speaker and writer and serious butt kicker) and her music style is coffeehouse/folk/acoustic. And you should really check out her blog if you want to uplevel your life and learn how to live consciously creative.

We had a great weekend. We explored our new city and allowed ourselves a few hours to just relax and read and play music. Now off to make something cool.......

So glad to be back!

I've been gone for so long from the blog and I have missed the constant companionship and connection that it has always brought to my days. I have missed you!

We are still working on getting settled into our new house. It is so sweet, i wish I could invite you all over for a get-together. It would be nice to have some friends here. We love the city and especially the area that we live in. Every morning I get to run through the cutest streets with shops and cafes and little parks...i think it's the closest you can get to Park Slope, Brooklyn while in Florida (its a stretch - i know).

So much is going on in this little mind of mine and though I am loving this very moment on this very day in this very second, i am excited to see how life looks a year from now. For starters, Spencer and I have gone "complaint free" and it has already shifted the energy in our lives. It's amazing and I highly recommend it. Just try it for a week and see how you feel.

We have had a couple days of "fall" weather in central Florida....it has been unusually chilly and it reminds me of the early falls in NYC and Vermont. I love it! But I think we will be back up to 85 tomorrow. I enjoy that too.

I hope I still have some readers out there...thank you for sticking around during our move. I am SO glad to be back!

Here are a few photos from the week...






We are heading out to Universal Orlando's Halloween Horror Nights tonight....are you doing anything fun to celebrate the fall season this year?

be gentle

I am still alive!! I am here! i love you!

I am just taking some time to get REALLY clear about what I want to be, do and have in my life.

For example, one thing I know I want is to feel as beautiful as possible. Since I hadn't had my hair cut in almost a year that meant a trip to the salon was in line. And since hair cutters LOVE to make curly hair straight (which really bothers me), I couldn't get out the door without a big fat round brush being taken to my head.

Ill be back next week with creative goodness, i promise.

As for today....be very gentle with yourself. Relax. You are probably more OK than you realize.

Go gently today,
Ash