More on keeping busy (a long-winded post...)

Well, I have been continuing my busy creative sttreak. It's funny, because I can go for WEEKS not doing much creatively, and then whammo! I'm hit with it...the NEED to create.

I've made some rather huge changes lately, life-altering changes. Unfortunately hard and difficult and often depressing changes, but good ones. Do you know what I mean?

So, I find myself needing to keep busy.

I have excess energy.

A bit frenetic, perhaps...

But, hey, it's my life right now, so I'm taking advantage of the surge and riding the creative wave, so to speak. (yeesh! corny, much, Tammy??)

Anyways, I've been breaking things. Again.

And making mosaics with the peices.

Did you see that movie "How to Make an American Quilt" with Winona Ryder? One of the characters finds out her sister slept with her husband, and in a fit of rage, smashes all her prized figurines. She then proceeds to plaster the peices to the wall in her laundry room as a reminder of her anger.

I don't look at my mosaics as reminders of my anger, however fun it is to smash those dishes. Once, during a particularly hard time in my life, I had a revelation. I heard God speak to me. I know there are some of you who don't believe in God, and that's ok. But I honestly believe He did speak to me. It's the one and only time it's happened.

I felt like my life had been blown into smithereens. Like it was in a kajillion peices. I was praying (well, really, I was sobbing and wailing "why me, God?What am I supposed to DO with all these peices of me?") and all of a sudden, I saw a picture of a BEAUTIFUL mosaic. It was stunning. Then I heard God whisper to me "this is what I can do with peices!"

So, that's what I did. I picked up the peices of my broken heart and made art out of them.

Mommy Makes Mosaics!!!

I used to do broken china mosaics, years ago. I don't really know why I stopped, although it may have something to do with not having a place to set up my stuff and leave it there...a complaint I know many of you share...But, a friend asked me to teach her, and that started the ball rolling again...

Plus, while thrifting with Tiffany, I cam across this UGLY 1970's plastic molded mirror. It had an eagle on it, wings outstretched, right smack in the middle. But, it was a good size, and the shape, if I squinted your eyes so I couldn't see it's 1970's hideousness, was downright graceful. I could see it's potential. And potential it had, cuz here it is:

I put ledger paper over the mirror, cuz DANG! it's hard to take pictures of mirrors! Here's the top:

And the bottom:

The top details. Just look at her curviness!!!

Bottom detail:

Pretty much everything came from Thrift stores or yard sales. I love the porcelain roses, don't you? they were a boquet in a bowl I got at Goodwill for $6, I think. A hammer and a flathead screwdriver, and the popped right off! So did the leaves.

Here's another project. I started this one probably 5 or 6 years ago and finished it over the weekend, and i love it! Although, I may end up selling it:

It's a mailbox! And a teapot! I love the little red birds:

And the sweet brown spout:

On this one, I ran out of my grout, and when I went to get more, all Lowes had was white. WHITE-WHITE! Definitely not the color I was looking for, so I poured in a liitle brown acrylic paint. It turned more of a muddy lavendar, which isn't such a bad thing, but, again, not what I wanted. So, I stained it! With walnut ink! It worked pretty good. What do you think?

Thanks for looking!