A Wedding in the Woods

We were there the day they met...

Last weekend our family attended a beautiful wedding in the woods. The marriage of two of our dear friends was an occasion for joy and celebration. It took place at the lovely Mazama Lodge at Mt Hood. What a perfect setting on the most gorgeous blue bird day!

I was invited by the couple to be a back up photographer for the event. It was such a pleasure to take in the sights and capture a few precious moments.

I loved so many of the details of the event.

The simple mix of colorful flowers in mason jars and the clean lines of the tables fit in so well with the room and style of the couple.

The great room of the lodge is amazing. Rustic woodland setting paired with giant windows to let in the light. Isn't the ceiling wonderful highlighted by the bare bulb type string lights?

One of my favorite details was the table seating chart attached to the mantle of the giant stone fireplace. Each table number is accompanied by a string of photos. You find your photo to know where you are sitting. It was so much fun to see all of the photos too!

I also loved the hand stitched cocktail napkins for cocktails and appetizers on the great porch after the ceremony.

This was my favorite moment from the wedding, one that only I and the other 2 photographers got to see. The couple decided to meet on the balcony alone (but for us taking pictures) before they walked down the aisle together with their family. As the couple saw each other dressed in their wedding finery, they embraced with tears in their eyes and smiles on their faces. I'm getting a little teary just writing about it. Such a precious moment between two of the greatest people. I felt so honored to be a witness.

What a great day!

Now I'm off to go through the other 150 or so photos for editing. Have a wonderful weekend all!

Summer Time

Our faces have the full flush of Summer, rosy cheeks, tanned shoulders and hours of play with good friends. These two in the photo have been buddies since they were babies. After hours in the kiddie pool, catching bugs, and playing hide and seek - they ended up in the cubby house for a break with the chickens. I love this photo. I had to sneak up to the window to get it. It speaks volumes about summer, childhood and good friends. It tells the story of a perfect day. 

All my crafty plans seem to have vanished with the sunshine. It's all about kids, family, fun and lots of towels in the laundry from all those kiddie pool/sprinkler adventures.

Summer has also been all about the produce! Our first full summer at the new house with all the garden has to offer, has been a busy one. I'm learning a lot about how I am not managing the maintenance as well as I could. But who has time to pull weeds when the food keeps dropping into our laps, literally! 

These gravenstein apples completely took me by surprised. They are falling from our tree about three weeks early. Maybe it's all the heat we have been having. This is about 25 pounds worth, and there's more. I'm grateful, believe me... but applesauce and dried apples and pie have made the top of the list over any stitchy shenanigans. 

What are you making?

Ulysses Traveling Band

Porchfire, pictured left to right: 

Tim Stoutt, Alexandra Smith, Jared George, Mark Newman. 

Photo by Stacey Lynn Brown

There's a lot of hubub goin' on about the 'Power of Social Media!' It's been going on for quite sometime, but I have not been keeping up. Some of us are adept at navigating this labyrinthine Atlantis, some of us are like a fish out of water. As for me, I'm wading knee deep and braving the rapids as I go. Hey, look at me! No, not at me executing an awkward belly flop next to ragged rocks then getting swept out with the current and mixing my metaphors... No, I mean just look at me.

That's how I feel sometimes, like I'm waving madly just hoping you notice my awkward flailing. And then feeling shy when you do. I have overly enthusiastic phases, when I spend too much time online. I have days and days that go by and I don't miss it at all.

I don't know how you feel.

This is how we communicate now, for the most part. We get to send messages in real time, we get to show and tell our lives to our friends and families in an instant. We get to find that long lost friend and fill in the gaps of our lives. We get to be travelers to other worlds, other countries, other time zones, and our lives are somehow bigger; or is the world smaller?

As silly as I feel sometimes, every now again something a little bit magic happens. Something that would not have been possible without social media.

Having fallen prey to the whole #throwbackthursday or #TBT phenom (if you don't know what that is, I strongly suggest you forget all about it), I posted the above oldie photo to my Facebook page. Clearly, it's a band photo, 1996-ish. It's my band, Porchfire. I recently came across this photo after not even remembering it for years. Yeah, I was in a band, I sang, we rocked. A gypsy, a hippie, a rogue, and a Sheriff's Deputy for a drummer!

I didn't think it over much as I posted the photo, I certainly did not expect what happened after. Just because I put a funny old band photo on a post - it made for a reunion. The band got back together for a moment, all except Tim, the drummer, who doesn't computer face. Not just the band - the photographer, and the old friends that haven't spoken in years...they talked (typed) to each other. The photo was shared by a couple of the original hooligans pictured and so on... and soon it kind of took over. It was a little overwhelming.

A flood of memories, the hesitation fades, the good times are recalled and a splintered community comes together again for a brief recognition of shared experience. All us gypsies, ramblers, rogues, straight lacers... all of us, everybody, everywhere, we've grown up a little along the way.

We shared messages in real time, I made contact with a long lost friend and we started filling each other in on the years that have gone by. A good many years mind you. As funny and strange as it all was, it was also that little bit of magic I was telling you about.

I'm still a bit awkward and clumsy when it comes to social media. Sometimes I get fed up with all of it. I'm also grateful for it from time to time, for some of those long lost friends, the really good ones, have come back into my life because of it.

Sharing is caring

Today I would like to share some link love with you. There has been some groovy business going on out there in the interwebs.

First up we have an awesome 3 part sew-along skirt  series from Lazy Daisy Jones.

I love this because she is thorough, easy to understand, has great photos, and really takes the scary out of sewing darts and zips! If you have been wanting to tackle these things whilst making yourself a stunning skirt, go check it out!

Next, though you may not have time to whip one of these up before Easter, I think that any time of year is a great time for a bunny backpack, am I right?  

Nancy Langdon from studio TANTRUM has created this crazy cool hip hopper DIY backpack pattern and it's free!!! Which is amazing, but I'd like you to consider her request for a $3 donation to benefit  Ocean Defenders Alliance. Pay it forward folks! You can find the details HERE!

Lastly my dear friend Jane from Flaming Nora has created a fab tutorial for printing images onto fabric using an inkjet computer printer.

Which is perfect timing for those of us participating in the Stitched Journal Project as April is due next Friday!

I hope you have enjoyed these fantastic links, if so please leave a comment on the posts and tell 'em Lola sent you!

Have a wonderful weekend all!

Kathreen Ricketson’s Brave New Quilts Legacy Tour

I am deeply honored to have been asked to be a part of Kathreen Ricketson's Brave New Quilts Legacy Tour. This is not just about her beautiful new book, but about the indefatigable spirit of Kathreen herself.

When I first received Brave New Quilts, saw the gorgeous cover and flipped through the pages; a fresh grief washed over me for a moment. Her tragic death earlier this year was such a shock to me and it was unthinkable that this bright light in our community was now gone. After a brief moment, I shook off the sadness and dove into the book with a sense of celebration and wonder!

I know that this book was a deeply personal project for Kathreen and that she was excited about it. It is a corker too! It's not just a fresh and cool new quilting book, but a really good read as well. Kathreen's voice is clear and engaging, and as with everything she put her energies into, it is so inspiring.

In Brave New Quilts, Kathreen has created quilts inspired by 12 different 20th century art movements. I love this! The information she provides is fascinating and accessible, the design principles engaging and inspiring. She really has a wonderful way of discussing color, design, and the rules of creating the quilts in the book. All the while she encourages us to go our own way and discover our own path; even providing alternate colorways for each project.

The arrival of Kathreen's book turns out to be quite fortuitous for me personally. I have recently renewed my love of quilting and have been experimenting with modern and art quilt design, this book is a great resource to add to my collection and just the nudge I needed to get cracking!

I can hear Kathreen's voice telling me, "You can do it! Go for it!" 

Kathreen's legacy is huge and far reaching. From my first introduction to her via her trailblazing website WhipUp, to her brilliant kid's magazine ActionPack, through her books and all of her endeavors; I have admired her talent, her love for her family, her intelligence and her amazingly generous spirit. She encouraged me greatly when I was working on my own book. She treated me with great respect and made me laugh. She is one of the people through whom I have made friends from all over the art/crafting/making community and have been more inspired and courageous than I ever could have imagined.

As I wrote in a post on WhipUp earlier this year:

 "Though I never met her in person, I considered Kathreen a friend, a kindred spirit and a supporter of the utmost kind. Through her hard work and gorgeous spirit, she brought together a community; fostered art and craft, endlessly inspired and encouraged so many wonderful people.  She made such a tremendous impact on me and I know so many others. She created an amazing legacy and I truly believe she made this world a better place. She reminds us to live life with passion and intent; to live deliberately with love and to continue to follow our hearts."

I absolutely recommend Brave New Quilts, it is a brilliant book. I also encourage you to follow along on all the stops on this Stash Books Legacy Tour!

Tuesday	10/1	Heather Jones
Wedneday	10/2	Kristin Link
Thursday	10/3	Maya Donenfeld
Friday	10/4	Alexandra Smith
Monday	10/7	Sonya Philip
Tuesday	10/8	Ellen Luckett Baker
Wedneday	10/9	Andrea Jenkins
Thursday	10/10	Shannon Cook
Friday	10/11	Mimi Kirchner
Monday	10/14	Cheryl Arkison

Big Talent, Bright Friends

I know we have talked about this before, but it bears saying again; the blogging, making, writing community is a wonder. Many of the people I have "met" on the world wide web since Lola Nova came to be, have become true friends to me, even if I have never shared any "face" time with them. And man oh man do I have some talented friends!

Of course, every once in a while I do get the chance to meet my friends in person, what a grand thing that is! I have found that our conversations come easy, it often feels as if we have really known each other for yonks and that having a chat over tea is something we do on the regular.

I recently had a chance to meet one of those friends (and one of my heroes) in person. Nicole Mallelieu of You Sew Girl, designer extraordinaire of Nicole Mallelieu Design patterns and author of the book You Sew Girl, Your Ultimate Guide to Sewing with Confidence and Style, (mighty big talent indeed!) was in Portland recently for Quilt Market. We made plans to meet up, at the fabric store of course, she with her little and I with my little (our girls are close in age).

During this get together, I was utterly remiss in taking photos, but Nicole took a few and you can read about her Portland adventures HERE and HERE. We had a fine time meandering my two favorite neighborhood sewing shops. Our girls got along, as well as two kids forced together because their mums happen to sew and write blogs about it, can. Funny thing, both of our girls just had to buy some fabric for their own personal projects even though both mums were well stocked with the stuff. I wonder where in the world they could have picked that up? We had some dinner together and chatted away. Nicole was just as stylish, smart, warm and lovely as I thought she would be. I do hope she can forgive me for dropping her off at the wrong train station in the pouring rain.

I am often struck by what a gift I have received in the people I have met through starting Lola Nova and this blog business. The opportunities that have availed themselves and the community that inspires me have truly been a wonder! I am so grateful.

Oh and speaking of grateful; Nicole gifted me with a couple of her marvelous patterns!

The trick is deciding which to make first! 

Hello Monday and Thank You

Hello friends! I thought today would be the perfect day to send you a little love note. Part early Valentine and a heaping helping of Thank You!

I want to thank all of my lovely readers, new and old. You make my shiny place here sparkle even more. Thank you to all the new followers. Thank you for all of the wonderful comments you take the time to leave, I read every one and so appreciate your kind words and your saying "Hello".

I have been taking some time away from my computer of late, I think we all need to do that from time to time, but I'm feeling refreshed and ready to jump back in. Perhaps it is the arrival of the Lunar New Year, new beginnings and all. I am so looking forward to the coming days! And you my friends, are a big part of that.

So thank you from the bottom of my heart, your'e simply the best!

xo

Home again jiggity jig!

Hello friends!

I am home again after a most amazing adventure over seas. Suffering a bit of jet lag and still processing the wonder of my whirlwind trip. Upon returning home to see the smiling faces of my family, receiving the best of hugs and welcome homes, I did indeed do a jiggity jig - albeit a little clumsily and haggardly.

I have many photos to go through and many tales to tell, oh yes I do! I think today I most want to share some pics and words about the Lola Nova Sewing Whimsy Workshop in London.

Look at this lovely group of creatives! The only one missing is my glamorous assistant and photographer Jane of Flaming Nora. Who, it must be told, I could not have done without!

The workshop was held at the marvelous shop Bermondsey Fayre , thank you liz for having us! It was a gray and grotty day out with a chill and bluster about, but inside the little shop it was cozy as could be and my workshop friends all sat round the table making wonderful bits of "whimsy".

It really was a special evening thanks to all of the ladies who came and shared with us. There was making and chatting and that great feeling of working together on creative endeavors. There really is something so rewarding in that.

I was so impressed with everyone's projects, what they came up with, the clever and happy bits of making going on!

Thanks to Jane there were heaps of pretty bits to choose from, it took a bit of strong will on my part not to run off with a bag stuffed full of her supplies.

Thank you Colette, Linnie, Abi, Laila, Jhilmil, and Juliet! You all truly made it an evening I will always treasure.

Oh, and here is a little peek at their fab creations!

What a wonderful time we had!

...

A small note here to say that my thoughts and prayers are with the East Coast USA at this time. The devastation of Hurricane Sandy will be a long time in the recovery and I encourage you to donate to aid the relief efforts. HERE you can find a list of reputable charities. Thank you.

I hope for the kindness of strangers

but I've always relied on the kindness of friends

As my days are busy with preparation for my big trip across the pond, my hands are always moving, piles of lists and papers growing, I have been thinking on things. Thinking on what an adventure this life is, how fortunate I have been and what surprises have come my way.

I have been thinking about friends, the ones close by and those far away. The friends I have made through this blog yet never seen, and it is a wonder. I am quite excited that I will be meeting a few of them in person very soon. That these friends have offered so much kindness and generosity makes me feel so deeply grateful.

sewing pretty notebooks for my London workshop lovelies

Last weekend the family loaded up the car and set out over the pass, winding our way along the gray ribbon of highway to the coast. It was a planned weekend of friends - that seemed to come at the worst time, only to turn out to be the best time... as it so often does. This group of friends, this exceptional circle of people; they are (if you will excuse the new age-y-ness of my vernacular) my tribe, my community, and my family. There is something just a little bit magic about being with people that make you feel at home, that embrace you as you are... warts and all.

For all of us, big things are happening. The weekend was about one last 'all of us together' before the biologist and the mountain climber leave for an extended stay in South America. What a brilliant memory we now have!

finishing up samples for the workshop

We had the most stunning weather I have seen in years. The Oregon coast is always beautiful, but the weather can be a bit dramatic. There was very little wind, we woke up to blue bird skies instead of a medieval shroud of mist and fog, we sunned in T-shirts on the beach and we sighed deep thankful sighs.

There was a surprise Frenchman thrown into the mix; a stranger to most of us, but he quickly turned into a most welcome guest and surely a long time friend. We collaborated on amazing feasts, we opened more bottles than I care to recall, we engaged in meaningful conversation until it turned crass and we laughed till it hurt.

The Music Man broke out the guitar and then the fiddle, he sang pretty songs in English and then he sang pretty songs in French. More guitars and songs and music. My gorgeous girl sang songs that she wrote and blew the room away. I was not the only one to get a little teary eyed.

working with little bits

Such an abundance of comfort in these friends. What a lucky woman I am to be able to enjoy this superlative company, to revel in the kindness of friends.

As for strangers, I have just this morning been shown great kindness by a lovely woman named Holly from St. Louis Missouri. She fielded my call about bank business and in what should have been a most tedious task, instead became a truly delightful experience. Thank you Holly.

And thank you my friends far and wide, you have been so kind.

In the blink of a Summer

Hello friends!

This lovely Summer has sped by, full of goodness and running hither and yon. So much to catch up on here, maybe just a couple of highlights for now.

The very lovely and rather feisty Jess from Teddy Bear's Wednesday flew all the way from Melbourne, Australia to Portland, Oregon for a visit! We had a fantastic time, so good to meet her "in the fur" as she would say. She even came along on our annual trip to Pickathon, a local music festival. It was a truly special visit and wonderful to spend time in the garden chatting away. Jess and The Buddha Cat made fast friends and since she has left, he seems a bit down. Jess has also got us shouting "Aussie Oy Oy Oy!" at random moments around the house. Thanks for everything Jess, so glad you came to visit our silly family, we were so happy to have you here!

We have been enjoying the harvest from our garden, even though we have been a bit neglectful of it. Thanks to The Engineer and his buddy, we have a new beautiful fence in the back yard, thanks darlin'!

And of course, this one has been growing like a weed.

Oh my, I can see that I am out of the habit of this bloggy business, I'm going to have to sharpen my skills and get back into the swing of things. Looks like it's time to plug back in and see what all of you have been up to while I went underground!

Do tell, what have been some of your highlights of the last couple of months?

Silly old bear

Meet Mr. Whiskers

Sometimes you get lucky and meet someone through this wild and wonderful world of bloggers that becomes a fast friend, even though you may be geographically challenged and sharing a cuppa face to face is not possible, you feel as though you have known each other for ages. I have been so lucky in this respect, I feel as though I have received a gift of great bounty in friends from far away places. The fact that these friends are also incredibly talented, terribly creative, and makers of magical things, is truly inspiring.

Jess from Teddy Bear's Wednesday is one such remarkable friend. She is a maker of extraordinary creatures, most notably of the bear variety, but she is hardly limited to just one species. You can take one look at her Etsy shop to see she has a gift for creating critters with personality and panache!


One day whilst perusing her instagram feed, I spied the beginnings of a bear, he was just a head at this point, but I knew he was going to be quite special. Later I saw that she had posted about him on her blog and I knew he had to come live with me. So, I promptly put in my application for adoption and was thrilled to be accepted. Fashioned after the old Steiff bears, Jess hand dyes the mohair, stitches all by hand, meticulously ages the bear and gives each one his/her own unique personality.

This is Mr. Whiskers settling in to his new home having a bit of jet lag and a laugh with an old straw hat he found in one of my closets.

Here is what Jess had to say about him:
"The moment Mr Whiskers became a head, i knew he was a Pop, he was a bit of an old man bear. And as he grew into more and more of a whole bear, i knew that he He likes his mocassins, his cups of teas with 4 sugars, tinkering in his shed and is a bit of a dunker ( biscuits/cookies in tea).
That every Saturday he likes to buy a lotto ticket, he's a long suffering Richmond supporter and is fond of the ocassional punt on the horses."


I have since discovered that his first name is Otis and he is a brilliant addition to the little green cottage. From the moment I held him in my hands, the perfect feel and weight of him, his funny old pop ways, his blue cardi...well, it was love.

Thank you Jess, you are an artist!

Oh, and we may be having that cuppa face to face after all!

Beautiful Happy

A Peony from the garden.

This one is for you Jane, Happy Birthday my friend.

xo

I was Hacked!

Dear friends,
If you have stopped by to visit me in the last couple of days you may have noticed I was gone. Poof! Just like that, no Lola Nova, no explanation, just gone! Oh it gives me the shudders just thinking about it!

I was HACKED!!!!

The result of my being hacked was that my Google account was deleted, my blog removed, all of the contacts in my email account were sent a scam phishing email saying that I was stuck in Madrid, had been attacked and needed money! I know many of you received this email, and for that I am truly sorry.

I simply woke up one morning and went to send an email and everything was gone! I'll tell you that I let out a scream, then I double checked everything, then I yelled NO! loud enough for the neighbors to hear. I will admit I had a full on freak out. Then I hid under the covers unable to move for the rest of the day.

I was able to send a recovery request to Google. I had to provide them with a whole lot of details to prove that I was hacked, that I am indeed the owner of my account and then the process took some time. This morning I was reinstated and my blog is back!

I am indeed grateful beyond words to have my shiny place back. The downside is that all of my emails were lost and there are significant repairs needed to my email account, but I'm working on it.

I can not tell you how devastating this whole thing has been. It has truly opened my eyes as to how vulnerable many of us are. My job today is to research my security options. I suggest to you my blog friends, to do the same. I also suggest saving important emails to a separate file on your computer - that is what I'm going to do. Yes, we all have good intentions on backing things up and making sure we are not victims of hackers and computer failures, but I know I get busy and my intentions don't always get the follow through they should.

If I come across any helpful sites or resources on how to protect ourselves, I will be sure to share them with you.

Lastly, I want to thank my readers - my friends, many of you turned into detectives and found me on Facebook, Twitter, etc. and let me know you had received bogus emails, asked if there was anything you could do, did research to find ways to help me, and were so very kind and supportive. Many of you sent kind notes and hugs! I'm getting misty eyed just thinking about this lovely community and family that have gone to such lengths to show me I am cared for.

Extra special thanks go to Sherri, Deb, and Tif for putting on super sleuth hats and sending lots of support.

I might need a couple of days to recover from the shock of it all, but I am so very grateful to be back!

Big love to you all!

Another Good Thing

Yes it is time for...

Good Thing #4: Meeting a Friend

Last week I received a note from the very lovely Kate of Harmony and Rosie saying that she and her family would be traveling to my fair city and would I like to meet for a cuppa?

Well goodness yes!

Now, I have met only a very few of my bloggy friends face to face, and whilst it is exciting, one can never be sure just how it might turn out. So, a little cautious I arrived at the designated meeting spot realizing I wasn't completely certain of what she looked like. I did a quick think and recalled her build and hair style from photos on her blog (the ones where she shows off her beautifully made frocks) and settled in with my coffee to wait.

I suppose it is sort of like a blind date, with a little less pressure of course. For in some ways you do feel as if you know this person a little bit from the years of reading each other's blogs.

Well, I needn't have worried. From the moment Kate arrived with her gorgeous smile and big hugs, it was as if we had indeed known each other for ages. She is every bit as lovely in person as she is on her blog (even more so!). It was one of the most enjoyable cuppas I can recall. We sat and chatted for what seemed like only a short while, when her family arrived telling us what time it was. Lo and behold, we had been nattering on for 3 hours! She needed to tend to her family and I needed to go home to mine, we hugged goodbye. I felt so glad to have met and made a true friend; I also was a bit sad that we would not be able to meet up on the regular for weekly cups of coffee (in my case) and tea (in her case).

Both of us were so busy having a lovely chat that neither one of us remembered to get a photo!

It was really a wonderful meeting, and I am reminded of what an amazing community of "friends" I have made since I started my rambling ways here on this blog. I am so humbled and grateful for the world of like-minded souls that I have encountered.

Thank you Kate, our cuppa will be a well remembered highlight for a long time to come.

Please go visit Harmony and Rosie to see her beautifully made creations, from stunning jewelry to gorgeous bags and frocks! She's a mighty good read too!

This week of Good Things has made me very happy.

It has all been leading up to A Super Duper Good Thing...

...otherwise known as

The Really Big News!!!

Oh I am so excited to share it with you all, I can hardly stand it! I can hardly wait!
But wait I will. Until tomorrow my friends!

xo

Picture Postcards

You might want to settle some, as this post took on a long life of it's own, rambling here and there and everywhere. Sometimes things just tumble out of a person when you least expect it. I thought I should edit and trim down to a nice palatable snippet, but there must be some reason for it, so I'll let it stand as it is. It is a good story and it has a happy ending! Still, I thought I ought to warn you.

I have long had a "thing" for postcards. I started a collection in my youth; beginning with quirky postcards from places I'd been with my family. Then it was postcards of kitschy tourist attractions across the US (I had a rather impressive variety of postcards from The Trees of Mystery! and The Prehistoric Gardens; both somewhat local attractions that I had actually been to on school field trips); which then graduated to cheesy 70s motel postcards from random places.

Later in my teens I took my first trip to New York city; wandering alone - I got lost on the subway, finally found my way to Greenwich Village, bought an amazing black leather beatnik coat in a funky old junk shop, kissed a boy on Madison Ave. in front of a blind saxophone player and started an obsession with artsy black and white photo postcards. For years I kept my collection in fragrant and tattered old cigar boxes; in every room of every flat that I lived in during my San Francisco years - there was always a wall or the back of a door taped and tacked with a mosaic of my favorite postcards. Man Ray's lips, Dali's skull, Frank O'Hara's piercing eyes, Bukowski's knuckles, Braughtigan's hat, Sophia Lauren's collar bones, Robert Johnson's hands, Theda Bara's make-up, Tiny Tim, Cezanne's Atelier, and at least two postcards with b/w photos of rumpled beds - they were like talismans, treasured and packed from place to place.

Post New York, but BSF (before San Francisco) I lived in Santa Cruz, California (a midsize Northern California surfing, hippyish, hipster, happy coastal community). I was working retail in a trendy-semi-edgy clothing store; my uniform at the time as I recall, was Monkey Boots with red satin ribbon laces, stripy stockings (yes, even back then), vintage slips and my Grandpa's old golf sweaters (turns out, an outfit that was not as attractive as I imagined it to be). The music I was into ran the gamut from Howlin' Wolf to Brian Eno, Camper Van Beethoven to Tanya Tucker and... Whoopsy there, I just slid straight from a ramble into a full on tangent, pardon me and my trapdoor nostalgia; I swear we will soon be coming back around to postcards.

So... one day a girl I knew from my circle of friends came into the store I worked at, she told me she was looking for a special black dress. I smiled at her and said, "Ooh, you got a hot date?" and she replied, "No, I need something for my father's funeral." It is a vivid, suddenly sweaty and most awkward moment that somehow, a couple of weeks later, turned into the two of us becoming nearly inseparable friends. I apologize Sabrina if I'm getting it wrong, but it's how I remember it. We stroked our late teenage angst with champagne, cemetery visits and the Singing Nuns; she was a great artist and I was very dramatic. We took up pseudonyms and penned postcards to one another. The Anguissola sisters, she was Sofanisba (after the Italian painter) and I was Persephone. We carried on this correspondence of our alter egos for some time, until life carried on and we eventually lost touch.

Are you still with me? Then I shall continue...

Not too long ago, through the labyrinth of social media, my friend and I found one another again. Sabrina has her own lovely blog called "Schtuff at Home" where you can see her amazing and varied creativity in the form of altered art and paper, drawing, painting, soldering, sewing, and more!
At the beginning of this year when I popped over to her place, I saw that she had joined an art postcard challenge. I saw that she was writing the postcards with two familiar names, Sofanisba and Persephone! Granted these two personalities are very different from our long ago alter egos, but I was so tickled to see those names again and love the project! You can see Sabrina's wonderful art postcards and learn about the challenge HERE!

Call it serendipity or synchronicity or some other "ity" word, but at the same time I found another postcard affair of the loveliest kind in "Postcards from Across a Pond" postcards between two crafty ladies (in digital form), the lovely Bernina, Rachel of Ted and Agnes and Panini, Tif of Dottie Angel. I love this too!

There is just something about a postcard. A few lines, a pretty picture, a moment in time, everything and nothing, a casual missive, a work of art, a connection to another place and time; such is a little scrap of card!

I'm gonna think on it, may have some to-doing about those postcards, yes indeedy.