It’s hard to remember life before my iphone. Did I ever think I would stick my hand into a toilet to fish it out? (Umm yes, that was me.) Did I ever think I would get soaking wet diving head first and splashing about in a full load of laundry frantically trying to find it? (Ugh, that was me too.) Sometimes it’s scary to think how dependent we’ve become on our devices. I have constant access to a world of information, I keep in touch with friends and make new ones, I listen to music, I call my family and I take photos. It’s truly changed the way the world works.

When I took the first couple of pictures on the phone, I was amazed at how great they turned out. No more grainy, dark images, but bright, crisp, gorgeous pictures. Little by little I stopped taking pictures with my SLR camera. It became such a hassle. It was big, bulky and I never seemed to have it handy when a great photo op appeared.

As time passed however, I found myself missing the happiness I had once had behind the lens. The way it felt to press the camera up to my face. The sound of the shutter. I’ve realized, it’s great to have my phone for those instantaneous moments that I don’t want to miss, but exploring with my camera causes me to search for beauty and spend precious moments captivated by it. Looking through the lens, it’s just me, surrounded by darkness with something beautiful shining back at me.

I’m trying to make an effort to pick up my camera more often. What about you? Do you find yourself using your phone more and your camera less?

Polaroid Land Camera, fun new addition to Blue Eyed Yonder’s vintage collection.

It’s funny the lies we tell ourselves. Whether it was a seed planted in us long ago or an idea that developed from some chance experience, it amazes me how, as humans, we continue to feed our negative thoughts and let them permanently take root in our minds.

If I had a nickel for every time Mr. Blue Eyed Yonder has said, “I’m not creative,” I swear I could retire and move to the south of France. I’m pretty sure you guys could all vouch for the exact opposite of this statement. While he may not be the one to dream up the majority of Blue Eyed Yonder’s projects, I can promise you, he is almost 100% involved in their execution. He never ceases to flat out amaze me with his talents. I often catch myself saying, “Is there anything this guy can’t do?” (This is when my Mom likes to remind me that he can’t have a baby, haha! Thanks for keeping it real, Mom.)

He has such a gift when it comes to creating things – anything! When I was up against a deadline and could not place an order in time for some custom stamps he simply says, “I’ll make them. It can’t be that hard.” (No joke, is this guy for real?)

So Mr. BEY handcarved these rubber stamps to represent some of our inventory categories. It’s little projects like this that make me laugh when he says he’s not creative.

I think creativity comes in many different forms. We each have our own individual gifts that express themselves in different ways. It’s time we all just cut ourselves a little slack. Stop feeding those negative thoughts and realize that we all have our own unique creative stamp. Embrace it, share it.

Don’t you just love meeting people that inspire you to be more creative? That’s just the case with the darling girls of Indie Craft Experience and Birds of a Feather Creative. I had the pleasure of dreaming up a lovely area for their Indie Craft Experience Art Swap. “Bring a piece, take a piece.”

The inspiration for this vignette was “Grandma’s Flower Garden.” As little girl, I spent countless hours watching my Mema sew flowers for her flower garden quilts. I loved all the pretty colors and prints. I would take the flowers and spread them out all over her living room floor and dance on top of them. I couldn’t have been more than four or five years old, but I remember it like it was yesterday.

The Art Swap area was filled with gorgeous flowy tissue paper blooms and vintage sewing notions. The blooms climbed a vintage apple ladder and spilled out of milk crates.

Wire baskets were filled with industrial spools and (one of my favorite pieces) a vintage dress form donned a gorgeous strand of fabric scraps.

Even Mr. Blue Eyed Yonder got a little crafty for this event. Leave it to him to take on the meticulous tasks. He created this “Art Swap” sign using T-pins and yarn.

Once the major pieces were selected for the area, I decided to spruce it up a bit with some homemade garlands. In keeping with the “art” theme, I made a colorful paintbrush garland – tons of paint brushes painted in vibrant hues. So fun!

A big thanks to everyone at ICE this year – All the awesome vendors for sharing their immense crafting talent, all the great people that came to support indie crafts and of course all the sweet gals behind this fun event!