Full Moon

I usually take note of full moons ~ it's hard not to really, they're so beautiful and difficult to miss. The moon has always been a point of mystery to me and when I traveled gave me a sense of comfort and bearing. I remember visiting Australia and feeling horribly displaced because the moon's geography looked so different; gone was the familiar face I've seen all my life.

Do you see the"'man in the moon"? My son insists it's a dinosaur, no doubt due to a popular movie trilogy he grew up with. I've always seen the man ~ magickal and enchanting as a child and a bit sad and weary as an adult. Funny how life changes our perspective, but he's always been a familiar friend in the night sky.

Today's full moon is special too in that it's a Blue Moon ~ it's the second full moon of the month which doesn't happen very often. It also happens to fall on my brother's birthday today. We don't talk often and haven't seen each other in years but I still wish him a happy day and a wonderful year. So here's wishing him a very ♫Happy Birthday♫!

Enjoy~

Customer Shouts ~ a few "helping hands"

One of my favorite things to do in this business is help others with their blogs ~ whether it's fixing a problem or just making things pretty, it's fun to play the hero. Recently I've had several opportunities to do just that and I'm hear to share a few of those with you today.
The first is a family blog titled Stealing Mom and Other Telling Tales...

There I reset the template, set up my prefab Rose Garden theme and included a few coordiating custom items like her top navigation links, blog signature, and sweet blog badge.

During this project I also designed a new post divider to coordinate with my Rose Garden theme and you can now find that offered for free on the Rose Garden theme page by clicking here.
Next up was this fun project over at Flip Flops & Pop Tarts...

There I set the template with an extra wide layout to accommodate those gorgeous photos she shares about beading, art, and classes. Dawn selected my Treasures by the Sea prefab theme and I set that up along with a few additional custom items like her two-tier top navigation, blog signature and darling blog badge.
Finally we have Scrappin' Stuff 4 You...

This customer not only needed my help setting up a new template and my Emporium blog theme but also needed a little more personal attention. Being fairly new to blogging we setup one of my telephone tutoring sessions. Talking over the phone we worked through several items she was having trouble understanding and I was quickly able to teach her some much needed info to set her on her way in blogland.
These are just a sampling of the many Helping Hands projects I work on throughout a given month. If you are interested in finding out more about my Helping Hands you can click this link or just contact me.
Enjoy~

Words to Live By~

Recently I lost a friend and sponsor, Tami Lilly of Beyond the Lillypad. This is an excerpt from her birthday wish to me a few months back...

"There comes a time in your life, when you walk away from all the drama and people who create it. You surround yourself with people who make you laugh. Forget the bad, and focus on the good. Love the people who treat you right, pray for the ones who don't. Life is too short to be anything but happy. Falling down is a part of life, getting back up is living. "Being ALIVE is a gift, being HAPPY is by choice!""

Certainly words to live by and she was like that, always thinking of others, always sharing insights, wisdom, and laughs. It makes me sad to feel there's one less person like her in this world ~ we need so many more.

I miss my friend a little more today that usual ~

A Sunflower

I was hoping to pull a few additional posts together this week but my resources just didn't pan out, so instead I'm posting a few photos of sunflowers from our garden.

Each year my son and I sit and plant sunflower seeds. It's something we've done ever since I can remember. It's his thing in the garden every year and I can't imagine our spring without it.

We've had a lot of mixed results through the years; from birds eating the seeds to squirrels running away with whole heads in their mouths. So it's usually a "hope for the best" while we hold our breath and wait. This year he had an especially successful crop and we couldn't be happier.

It means even more at this age ~ I guess because you don't expect a teenage boy man to sit down and plant seeds with you. That, and you don't know how many more springs he'll be doing it with you. So I guess it's just one of those treasures in life you take while you can get ~ kind of like that sunflower... you know sooner or later it will fade away but you'll always cherish it's beauty.

Flora Bowley Giveaway ~ shout out

I happened upon another wonderful giveaway and just had to share it with all of you. Personally I'm a lover of canvas art ~ whether it's painted or collaged in a variety of mediums, even in print the colors and movement carry over so beautifully! So, imagine my delight when I stumbled upon this fabulous giveaway being offered over at Tara Leaver's!

Tara is gifting a print of this marvelous Flora Bowley painting titled "Release and Grow" and not just any print but an exquisite professionally reproduced one in full color. If her works looks familiar then you may have seen it included in some of the gorgeous offerings over at Papayah!.

To enter just visit this link: http://taraleaver.com/2012/08/flora-bowley-giveaway/

Enjoy~