Wallpaper, Friendship, and Peace Not Necessarily In that Order

When I started this post I wanted to keep it light and touch on how the word peace has been important to me lately. That is the truth, I have been looking to become a peaceful person. What I was not going to say is that this has been on my mind all week because of the current political climate. I have been seeing so much anger lately. While I try to keep my mind focused on being peaceful, and not engaging in anger, I have been watching the anger around me just grow and grow. I don't like this. I don't like what anger has been doing to my community, country, and world. It truly makes me sad and I am beginning to lose hope that one day the world will be free of hatred. So, I thought I would do a light post about peace and let that be my statement, but then I realized that kind of post was not authentic. That kind of post would be a cowardly way to say something but not really saying it. So, I decided to say it the best way I can.

When I started to think about this whole peace post, I was thinking about friends and how I have heard people wanting to end friendships over political differences. If there is one thing I have realized, when it comes to friendship, it isn't the big things people do, it is the very small things that make a difference. It is the day to day interactions that build strong relationships. I hope that people think of this before ending their friendship over politics. I hope they think about how that person treats them everyday, and not concentrate only on the differences they have politically. I am very thankful for the good friends I have in my life. I am thankful for those who allowed me to make a mistake and yet still call me a friend. Is politics really worth losing a good friend over? I don't think it is. A while back, I read the book The Art of Happiness by His Holiness The Dali Lama, he spoke about peace being a radical idea. The thought blew me away, especially when I realized he was right. At least in America, peace is radical. We are so quick to get angry and react. I know I have done that time and time again. I am learning to stop, think, and be patience. Peace. It is what I say to myself now when I feel myself getting angry. I think the world needs more peace in it and all I can do, is find peace within myself. I am sure I will work at this for my entire life.

Here are a few quotes I found about peace. I hope one of them inspires you to think peacefully when you start to feel angry or hateful:

We can never obtain peace in the outer world till we make peace with ourselves. His Holiness DL

Where ignorance is our real master there is no possibility of real peace. His Holiness DL

If everyone demanded peace instead of another television set, there would be peace. John Lennon

Peace begins when the hungry are fed. Anonymous

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God. Matthew 18

If we have no peace it is because we have forgotten we belong to one another. Mother Theresa
Thank you to my fellow Etsy shops for allowing me to use these images. On a side note to my husband, any of the above items would make a great birthday present for me...... *smile, hint, smile*

1. Peace Sign 2 inch circles digital collage by Room29'sshop

2. Peace, Love, and Bike Organic short sleeve tee by Loftymornings

3. Peace by mishmishmarket

4. Peace long sleeve green tee shirt by Loftymornings

5. Vintage Red peace tote burlap by panbeth
6. Steampunk Peace necklace by IM Girl

7. World Peace necklace by jewelsbyn

8. Peace Origami Crane poster by fieldtrip
9. Take A Deep Breath Love and Peace Art Print by myzoetrope

10. Imagine All the people screen print art poster by BluLima

11. Get your word on wood in five letters or less by kelseyhenke

12. Peace Love and Passion Brooch by editionbw

13. 8x8 Imagine all the people living life in peace single print by suzannanna

If you have any other quotes about peace, I would love to hear them.

I did find some cabinets for my craft room! I am so excited to get this project done. I think I might do wallpaper on one wall. Have you looked at wallpaper lately? The options are practically infinite! I am thinking of doing either a black, white, and yellow or a black, white, and teal......now if I can only find a wallpaper I love that will cost me less than $100 per wall! Uh huh. Crazy expensive!

Pile O' Fabric....and "I See Sick People"

I started this post before the week got crazy so this whole post seems totally discombobulated. I apologize in advance.......in the end it will all make sense. I hope.

I have had this pile of fabric sitting on the table in my crafty room for a looong time. I keep it there because if I put it away, I will never finish it. When I started on this project, I had a vision of the end results. I am afraid I have forgotten what it was. I think if I sit down with all the supplies I have there and look at the pieces I cut, it will all come back to me. I am certain it will be different than what I planned on doing with it months ago. Anyway, sort of related to the pile o' fabric but not really, I feel like this room is out of control right now. I am in desperate need of more storage in here. I have tried shelves, the Ikea Expedit, and drawers. None are working. I have decided I am going to have to put in some wall cabinets. I need things hidden, which shelves don't do. When I have cabinets I won't have to stare at a mess. My biggest peeve in here is staring at my fabric falling off the shelf. I am not good at folding it, so if I pull one out, they all start tumbling down. Then I spend more time cleaning up than being creative. It is a crazy cycle of madness that will stop when I install kitchen cabinets in here. Finding used cabinets, easy peasy, right?? Wrong!.....Obviously I know if I went and spent a whole lot of money on new ones I could walk into a store and get the exact thing I need. However, my wallet isn't that fat (I did price them and it was around $1500). Call me crazy, but I can't justify having nicer cabinets in my craft space than in my kitchen (sidenote: can't justify in this case means I can't convince my husband of it). So, I need to score on Craigslist, fast. I had no idea it would be so difficult to find some used cabinets. Meanwhile, I am stalking Craigslist to find the set with the right measurements. Patience. Right. Keep your fingers crossed for me. And really, it is so much more fun to hunt for the right ones than just go buy the perfectly beautiful new ones. Uh huh......good thing I love vintage! I did find one set of white metal kitchen cabinets with, swoon, pink counter tops. Can you imagine?!?! They were a bit more than I'd be allowed to spend. Bummer. I will wait. They will come along.

So, last Saturday I met up with my friend Diana. We shopped and had a great time. I have a feeling her and I will have a few adventures in our days that will end in a lot of fits of laughter and a few P.I.M.P. moments. While we were out tearing up Fullerton Avenue I found a great bag of vintage broken jewelry. I have a few project ideas for this treasury of vintage but I think I am just going to put them in a pretty crystal bowl for awhile to look at.

This week was crazy. It was another one of those weeks where the house was full of sick people all week long. We did have one seven day stretch of all of us healthy, but then it fell apart last week. Only this time, my husband ended up in the hospital for a couple of days. He had an infection in his face from the cold he had. It is a rare complication from the flu virus. He literally looked like he walked off the set of Avatar because of how his face swelled up. He wasn't blue, althought that could have been fun. My 6 year old was also sick with the same virus. I thought about making tee shirts that say "I See Sick People" but then I realized it could be taken so many ways and some of them not so nice.

Anyhow, I am going to redo my craft space and I am thinking of a pink, black, and white color scheme. I don't want to change it up too much because I am too lazy to do that, I just want it to look nice and be a space that is functional for what I need. I also don't want to spend an arm and a leg on it. My thought right now is damask. Black and white damask with hot pink accents. Possibly a chandelier would be worked into the decor plan. Off to hunt down some cabinets...................