TOTALLY textures.

So sorry about yesterday's confusing post! There really IS a tour of my house on LIfe Made Lovely today!! You can find it  Here!

And now for the real post for today! A little photography lesson/inspiration-enjoy!

Textures-smooth, rough, bumpy, frilly, prickly, coarse, soft, hard, crinkly.....

all feel different and evoke a different emotion in us.  I love that.  I always say (of color) that God could have made everything black and white to save Himself the time....how wonderful He gave us so MANY colors! The same is true of texture.  Imagine a world with only smooth things..

It might sound appealing for a moment but would we really want to miss those jagged rocks that create a rhythmic bump, rattle, and roll on the path down to the farm?  Smooth just isn't the same. 

Texture is something I like to take note of when I'm on the hunt for a little extraordinary among the ordinary.  Take this sunflower for example.  The yellow petals are used to being the smooth superstars of the whole deal.  Standing tall and vibrant they capture the most attention, as if shouting "look at me!"  And beautiful they most certainly are.  

But have you ever really looked at the inside of a sunflower?  The intricate detail that mirrors a fanciful piece of beadwork?  A totally opposite texture of it's shouting sister petals, the texture of the inside of this flower is a quiet roar.  It's beauty, packed in numbers far greater than the proud petals. 

And oh! These drops......what a collection of dainty rain drops,

strung like a banner of twinkle lights across the night sky.

Even the criss-cross weave of an ordinary piece of burlap looks woven together with more meaning than just this piece of fabric holds. 

Strand after strand, over and under....until the piece as a whole is complete and snug.  Much like our homes and hearts.

The smoothness of this jar resembles peace like a river,

and the veins of the leaf worth studying. 

This building holds a mixture of texture, most likely formed over time. 

The smoothness of the window makes me wonder who's peered out from it, time after time.

The bumpy, yet soft texture of the vine has grown along with the stories this building has to tell.

This kind of texture might be my favorite because it's the kind you can see AND taste.

Puffy, fluffy.....smooth and cracked.

A waffle. Perfect in it's own way. An odd mix of textures, all coming together to create a taste like none other. 

Kind of like the taste of creativity and freedom we get when we tiptoe outside, letting the world be.

Capturing a rough piece here, a smooth fraction there.

{I challenge you to find at least 3 interesting textures and photograph them this week! Email me with your photos if you do at sunshinebysara@hotmail.com}

Home Tour Featured on: Life Made Lovely!

I'm excited to share that a tour of my house, with the full scoop on what inspires a lovely home for me,

is featured over on the Life Made Lovely blog today! 

You can find it here!

Eyes on the Horizon.

(Image from my shop)

Today's post is from a handwritten piece I wrote a few weeks ago...I needed to let it sit for a while. Enjoy!

What a day today has been!  This Monday started with the usual routine and rigor staring at me in the face.  Nothing that exciting or extraordinary happening that I could see. 

And then slowly, one by one-like a line of surprises and delights, all in a row, one behind the other the day started to hand deliver God-moments.  Beautiful packages, wrapped in the finest strings, ribbons, and embellishments of grace.  

First, there was the peace-filled quiet as the girls surprisingly slept in.  An unexpected pocket of calm, a shade tree of quiet to sit under and breathe deep in.  A moment to scrawl a line here, a jotted thought there.  A slow ease into the morning, like the lazy blush of a morning sunrise. 

Next, an unexpected email from_______.  An order for prints from my shop! A quest for a giveaway print, and an invitation to a crafty weekend.  A trio of lovely packages, wrapped in sunshine and waiting at my Monday's doorstep. 

And last, a gift so large I needed to stretch my arms wide to receive it.  A surprise e-mail, saying a poem I'd written a LONG time ago had been chosen as a top 3 winner in an online contest.  What most people (or anybody really) don't know are two very critical things to this story.  One is that although it may seem like today has been all harvest and glory, there have been months (and months), leading up to this one day that have been reaping and sowing......watering, checking on progress....standing tall with a hand over my eyes-watching the horizon for any kind of growth, any sign of change.  Seeing nothing I've shuffled back inside, head down in prayer.  Wanting to be led by God's voice and strong, mighty hand-but still.  Wondering when the mighty would be visible among the minor and meek. 

Day after day-taking inspired pictures, planning creative things, living artfully, reaching out to others (and sometimes being rejected), blogging, living, striving, and still looking.  Holding fast to the promise that the empty seed packet of dreams in my hand I'd scattered like dandelion dust would amount to something. 

And the second thing others may not realize is this-I'd told myself (and God) that if I won this contest it was all-right to consider myself a "real" writer.  That somehow this would push me out of the ranks of the pretender/imposter writer I was impersonating.  That a win would be a sign that I could finally step up to the spotlight and say, although quietly for now-I am a writer. 

Today when I walked out to peek at the horizon my step had a little more lift to it.  My heart pounded a little harder.  

I lifted my hand to shade my eyes and saw it.  A plant of progress.  I squinted and looked again.  Were my eyes, filled with an extra dose of optimism, seeing a mirage of the miraculous or was it really growth in plain sight?  On second glance I saw it even more clearly.  A beam of hope, a bloom of beauty.  Growth.  Standing strong, tall, and in all it's glory-humbly showing me the mighty and the miraculous.  A sign to keep tending, keep being led by God's dreams, rooted deep within my heart.  A sign to celebrate and sow on.  

Pull up a chair (this is your brain on Sara)

(Anybody remember that weird commercial that showed an egg frying, saying "This is your brain on drugs?  Now I love eggs. Kind of weirds me out. Ewwwwwww....anyway, today-this is your brain on Sara.) :)

Pull up a chair and let's visit.

Wouldn't that be lovely?

I'd hand you a cup of almost black coffee (just a little bit of cream to take the edge off), preferably a bite of something sweet and we'd gaze at the sky, chatting the night away. 

My side of the conversation would be random,

my thoughts coming in bits and pieces, strung together  piece by piece. 

It would sound a little something like this:

*Almost every single day Brett or I, out of the blue, looks at each other and says "Aren't our girls the sweetest?"  We are in love with them.  They are sassy, smart, sweet, precious, passionate, serious.  And more.  They are our world, our first and last part to our day, our wonderful middle.  Despite what other jobs or hobbies we're pursuing-these girls are it.  The top of the list. 

*On that note-Brett and I whole-heartedly agree in making our marriage a priority also. Like when we stayed the night in Eureka Springs last weekend. Not an ounce of guilt was had, but good food, hand-holding, talking and laughing were. Our girls were fine, our marriage invested in. 

*I'm still running.  I'm the type of gal that follows discipline, almost to a fault.  I'm a recovering perfectionist I'm afraid.  That means I strive to run 6 or 7 days a week. I'm learning that the heart of the matter should matter more than following rigorous schedules and insane checklists.  This is life we're living, not one giant to do list.

*I could eat bruschetta every. single. day. 

*I have a secret-I've started writing all the thoughts I've had for an ecourse down. It's getting real people!  I have more ideas than I know what to do with. I want it to be a quality course so I'll work, write, and photograph things for the course until I feel it's top-notch.  This is something that will probably debut in the spring. Maybe in the winter (when everyone needs a boost) 

*I have a muscle that shows on my leg now that I've probably never seen before. Running rocks.

*I like my hair longer and wavy. And slightly out of control. 

*Neutrogena lip crayons are wonderful. They smell good and look pretty.

*I want to dress cuter.  After shopping for a date dress last weekend I'm reminded why I dress how I do most days. It takes so much time and $$!

*I love reading.  I'm reading this book right now.

*The gals and I listen to music a lot and for sure at nap/night time. I need new suggestions-help me?

*I want to change how I post on the blog.....I can feel a change coming at least.  I like having posts scheduled but sometimes that feels less authentic. I love blogging but am getting a bit bored by how I usually post.  Maybe this is just a feeling for today. But maybe I'll have some new blog ideas for the fall. We'll see.

*God richly, richly blesses us.  I wanted to attend the Arkansas Women Blogger's Conference that is taking place here but knew we didn't have the $$$ for me to attend a weekend thing right now.

Long story short-I won a full-paid scholarship to attend.  The generosity of this blows my mind. 

* Instagram, blogs, and Facebook have shown me lately how connected we can truly be to authentic, real, kind and creative people across the world.  Use it for good.

*I call, text, or e-mail my twin sis at least once or twice a day with random questions and/or thoughts. She has yet to turn me down and instead always offers calm, wise advice.  She's heaven-sent.

*I'm thinking of what t.v. shows I'll let back in my life in the fall. I'm going to make it at least 3 months with no t.v. (except for that 3 minutes of Lord of the Rings Brett made me watch in Eureka-haha)

*I'm always curious what gets people interested in Etsy shops (specifically mine) or not. I want to advertise mindfully and well but don't want to drive people crazy. Thoughts?

*I'm going to be posting more info. soon about scheduling families/ groups of friends/individual photo shoots at the farm!  Prices, props, all that good stuff. (think: barns, woods, dreamy trees, globes, quilts, old crates....)

*I like the sound of crickets and saltines that are toasty brown. I look for heart rocks everywhere.

*my top of the list babies are up. 

See ya tomorrow! 

Wandering and wishes.

(found here.)

Bookmarks/Gift Tags are now available in my Etsy shop!
Check them out here.

Inspired: Anna's art journal and Snapshots

It's a common sight around our house to see tools for creativity lying around-empty notebooks for filling, crayons, washi tape...I try to engage Anna Ruth (and Betsy!) in conversation that will heighten her awareness to the world around her.  So far-it's working.  If we're outside I'll usually ask her what she hears, sees, and sometimes-smells. My little one is learning that when we fully immerse our senses into the world that's right at our feet we find the most inspired, colorful playground that's ours for the taking. 

Lately I decided I wanted a way for her to save some of these colorful memories so we made an easy art journal out of an inexpensive spiral notebook from Wal-Mart. 

It's filling up with treasures found, masterpieces painted, tape collages, and scribbles from pens.  

I love to sit right at the table with Anna Ruth and sketch and try new things right along beside her. 

One afternoon I was drawing away with fine-tip markers, an image from a children's book hanging out in my thoughts, wanting me to be inspired by it and try something new.  I answered the beckoning of the illustration and went to work.  Anna Ruth looked over and admiringly said "Oh wow! A dird's nest!".  Not quite what I was going for....but beauty is in the eye of the beholder after all. 

Sometimes I'll print off color sheets for Anna Ruth,

but as you all well know-I've never been much on staying inside the lines, figuratively and literally.

I keep meeting up with the most awesome inspiration in some of our library books.  

This makes me want to grab some paints and splash some color around. 

Another playground for me is our yard.  Instead of swings and slides, it's filled with props and pretties.  As much as I adore taking pictures of THINGS, there's just something magical about taking pictures of PEOPLE.  An emotion here, a smile there....laughs, eyes crinkling, a kind face, voices chattering, feet, hands......life.  Bursting at the seams life-captured in a click or two.  

This day I captured a beautiful friend's family (and her baby boy).  

 A last exercise in creativity I often partake in is going on a treasure hunt with the camera.  Instead of checking off a list of passions specified by someone else, I go with my camera in hand, ready at any second to capture what first captured my eyes.  To snap what stole my heart and imagination. 

I don't invite my all too well-known friends fear and comparison in to play.  I hang my "DO not disturb" sign on my vision and let happy, beautiful, and "I like that" take center stage.  My only rule for myself is to photograph what delights me.  No second-guessing allowed. 

Happy, indeed.

{If you do this creative exercise for yourself, send me your happiest pic to 

sunshinebysara@hotmail.com!}

This heart of mine: Happy Hodgepodge

I keep a close watch on this heart of mine. Local love for Windy Valley Farm and their gorgeous hair barrettes and headbands at the Farmer’s Market, rain…….sweet, steady summer rain.  Coolest kids room. Ever.  Dreamy art.  Dreamy garden produce. Dreamy husband.  So much color in the garden.  Bellies full, tongues bursting with flavor.  Jam face.  Messy hair.  The perfect still-life, normal routine now…..sweet memories for later.  

I asked. He answered: From desperate to delighted.

It was a Saturday.  A busy three days was staring me in the face.

Lots of time with the girls by myself, and the regular job of running a household.  I was grumpy and feeling overwhelmed.   Could my voice be patient, just one more time?  Could I fix another meal, change another diaper?  I didn't think so and I told the Lord so.  I didn't need a perspective talk, a change my attitude talk from someone meaning well.  I didn't need to hear "Treasure every moment! They go so fast."  I was tired (literally) and hungry/thirsty, figuratively speaking. 

I got somewhere quiet for a few minutes and told God the truth. That I was panicked at the thought of just a few more days of being mama, nurse, counselor, disciplinarian, teacher, cook, etc. 

That I truly did not think I could do it.  Truth was-I couldn't.  I know sometimes I sure feel like Super Woman but what a slippery slope that is.  None of us are Super anything without Christ.  My patience, craftiness, good attitude, cheerfulness, and rosy view can only get me so far.  My real sustaining power, my rosy eyesight that is always a perfect 20/20 comes from God, and God alone. 

After I confessed feeling weary to the bone I asked God to help me change my heart. To be filled with His strength, peace, and hope that was beyond my understanding at the moment. And oh, how He answered!  It snuck up on me, really.  

At first it was a few hours into those long three days I mentioned that I noticed things were going much better than I'd expected.  I was laughing, having a good time and my girls were happy! 

Fast forward a few more hours, then a day or two. Suddenly, I was looking back at those three dreaded days, with tears in my eyes.  Thanking God for three of the best days I've ever had with my girls. The most fun, the most giggle packed.  

God took me from desperate to delighted. 

All I needed to do was ask.