Our Handmade Life

Josh Builds a Chicken Coop!

This was actually the title of my last ramble, in which I meant to extol the virtues of living more sustainably and then move on to our fabulous Cluckingham Palace, but I guess I had a lot more to say about freedom than I thought, so here we are a week later and I'm dying to share the family coop!

One thing I love about my husband, general hotness aside, is how open he is to anything he views as a growing experience. I think this was a dangerous tendency through his teenage years, but these days he's more focused on poultry than testing the limits of the law for his life lessons, which suits me! Our beloved friend Wade has had a life long love affair with foul of every shape and size, so much that he brings to mind the Muppet Gonzo and his life partner Camilla (though Wade's life partner is a lovely human being named Angela, who does not in any way resemble a giant white chicken). It took exactly one sunny afternoon in Wade's back yard (a near chicken utopia) to inspire Josh to create one of our own, and he got started the next day. That's how it works at our house, one day you're buying eggs from the store, the next day all but back yard grown eggs are banished forever and a tiny barn structure is being erected where once there was a hammock. I enjoy the abrupt changes myself, they're entertaining and usually sensible.

Josh's DIY Fly-By-the-Seat-of-His-Pants Project:

(Aka, you can build your own chicken coop too)!

Step 1: Know your options. Of course our first course of poultry action was to hit farm stores and craigslist to purchase ourselves a simple structure for chicken housing. (It should have been to check the local laws about chicken zoning, so be sure to do that before erecting a new neighborhood in your back yard). It took us all of about two hours to learn that commercial chicken coops are generally tiny, flimsy, and unjustifiably expensive. The store-boughten varieties were the worst offenders, starting out around $500 for a coop I could literally fit in my closet (and my closet is the tiny old kind in a tiny attic). The homemade craigslist versions were a little bigger and a little cheaper, but we're still talking pretty flimsy and starting at around $200. Nope, not for us, thank you!

Step 2: Draw up plans and gather your supplies. Unless you went with the buying option and already have your coop ready to go (and good for you if that works, we're just way to cheap for that route!), it's time to make your plans, and for that you must know what you're working with. Josh took about 5 minutes to draw up our plans, a chicken coop not being the most complicated of structures. We'd wanted originally to be married in a big old barn, so Josh figured the next best thing would be to build one in our back yard since he was going to build something anyway. He sketched out his barn and off he went to collect lumber. Now, if you're going to buy all your wood new, you might find that buying a craigslist coop will cost you about the same and save you a week of labor. If you like things to be free like we do, the world is abundant with enough scrap wood to build a small structure if you just keep an eye out for it. Josh found a great pile of old wood from a stripped privacy fence, loaded it up, and piled it that night in our back yard.

Step 3: Find your power tools and get to building! Even the building phase of this project didn't require much in the way of resources. We had a basic electric round blade saw, a hammer and nails, tape measure, and a staple gun. Josh sunk four 2x4's into the ground measured out at the width of the coop he wanted to build, then cut a piece of plywood for the floor and braced it into place with scrap lumber underneath, so that there was an inverted peace sign at the base of each corner of the coop floor. Next he decided the height he'd like for the walls (based in part on how much wood we had to work with), measured and marked his lengths on the boards, and got to cutting. On the already standing four corner 2x4's, he nailed cross beams for support and once all the wall pieces were cut (which took the better part of a day), he nailed each one into place on the new structure lickety-split, like a tiny Amish barn raising. He even included spaces for windows, doors, and a hinged wall for egg collection in his measurements, and then just pieced it all together as if it had come in a kit.

Step 4: The finishing touches... Lest you think we are just super-human and that this project isn't for you, I must share that the building part of the coop took several days, and there was a lot of cursing at times when Josh realized he'd measured something wrong, or that things weren't going as smoothly as planned. Once the big structure was up, it just needed its surrounding wall of chicken wire, some adorable little hinged doors for closing in the chickens and for our own desired cuteness factor, and of course, a roof. The doors were easy and made from the left over scraps of bigger wood, and popped on with hinges in the course of a morning. The windows were covered with chicken wire, and in the winter we nail a real antique wood-framed window over the space for warmth. The roof was made from a few simple pieces of scrapped corrugated tin that Josh found who knows where, cut and bent to the shape we needed and nailed heavily into place. A slatted board run up to the chicken door was the last piece to go into place, until I found Josh outside in the twilight building them a little chicken balcony for added ambiance. He just couldn't resist.

Step 5: Reap your rewards! For the week of labor we (mostly Josh) put into this project, we saved several hundred dollars and got what I'm pretty sure is the coolest chicken shack ever. I'm positive our chickens brag to the other winged creatures about it, and rightly so. Now that you've got your coop all set up and ready (you've been stopping to follow my every instruction, right?), it's time for the fun part! Pull out some paint and decorate! Buy yourself a bail of hay (less than $10) and fill your coop and nesting boxes with its sweet fluffy goodness! Toss in some chickens, and start eating home-grown eggs! They taste great, you know they're good for you, they come from happy animals whose names you know, and you get to collect them yourself. which is the funnest part of all!

Also, if you're anything like me, you acqure a bonnet and apron for your egg collecting, and wear them out to spread feed and hay when no one else is home to see since they keep telling you it's silly. Shh. That part is our secret...

Freedom is, in Fact, Free

    The idea of freedom has been on my mind lately. It started out that way because I'm hearing the word bandied about lately in political debates as if A.) my freedom were under constant dire threat from every direction at all times, and B.) my personal freedom to do anything I want must surely supersede my desire to have a healthy planet or body, or to live in a peaceful world. I'm getting the impression that a depressing LOT of people think that freedom has something to do with owning a gun, getting to be publicly racist/sexist/classist/homophobic without any hindrance or even feedback, or being able to pollute the air and water or exploit other people or resources to the breaking point, just because it might be what I want to do. I am baffled by this. Certainly I want to have the right to own a gun, whether or not I have one, to speak freely even if my ideas are controversial, and even to engage with my planet on my own terms (though for me that means using a composting toilet even if the city finds it uncouth).

    While I am finding my "American freedoms" to be somewhat curbed of late (thank you, Patriot Act), I don't feel concerned that overall my "freedom" is largely threatened by politicians or "terrorists" out to get me. I know that gun control will never eliminate arms in our country, and that people who spew hate will be allowed to continue to do so, and it seems obvious to me that all the ruckus over these issues is no more than a bunch of nasty fear mongering put out by people who think I must be stupid enough to exchange my own strength and freedom for actions based on fear.

    So when I say freedom has been on my mind, I mean the word has almost lost all meaning in the public discourse and its overuse has started to irritate me.  Still, when we strip away its social connotations, what could be more important than freedom? What could be a more essential core value? And if freedom to me is not the power to wield my every whim like a fist against my neighbors, then what is it? I've spent several nights in a wrestling match with this question, and here is what I have come to:

    There was a time not long ago, when people lived perfectly normal and happy lives without cars, or televisions, or even electricity. I'm not hearkening back to the "good old days" in a nostalgic sense, I am pointing out that for most of history, people were not chained to an intense barrage of monthly bills which, if not paid, threatened an abrupt removal of services that suddenly we feel we literally cannot LIVE without. While I appreciate modern conveniences, our adjustment to electricity has created a cycle in which, if we do not pay the utility company an exorbitant fee every month on their tight schedule, they will cut off our access to light, heat, entertainment, and the ability to store and prepare our food. And we are terrified of this loss? We really believe that without these thugs help, we will starve to death in the dark if we don't freeze or die of boredom first! And yet our grandparents had light, heat, entertainment, and healthier food than we have, without a single coal fired power plant chuffling away and demanding half our income every month. The same can be said of the advent of cars, and plenty of other products we now find indispensable, and that we now make life-long payments for.

    So who cares whether or not I have the "freedom" to own a gun, if I can't disentangle myself from the job I hate because I will die without the benevolent monthly bill of City Utilities? What does my "freedom" to do whatever I want matter, if all I can do at the end of a day is collapse in front of the TV, because I'm so exhausted and spiritually beaten down from trying to pay for my car and convenience food and the new stuff the commercials tell me to want? Is slavery to monthly bills and the media push to consume some component of my innate "freedom" that I don't know about? Despite this foundation of being chained to a job/financial cycle/culture, am I somehow truely free because I can still buy a gun or flap my exhausted mouth if I want to? I'm not convinced that I am. I am convinced that if freedom is my goal, and it seems to be everyone's goal these days, then the only way to achieve it is to create my own life by cutting myself away from the one that was laid out for me by unimaginable wealthy people who would like to siphon off the little resources I have until I am nothing but a leftover husk.

    When I think of life in this way, handmaking my clothes isn't just a pleasant creative outlet, or a way to express my quirkiness and save a few bucks, it is an exercise in freedom, not just in not dumping my money into a bottomless money spending cycle, but a practice of saying "I don't even want what you're selling me, and I'm not buying it." Growing our food becomes not just a great and inexpensive way to eat well, it is a real and concrete step toward actual freedom, and a disentanglement with a system that would feed me expensive processed crap that will land me at the doctor's office with another bill from him. This is real freedom, the kind that is each of our birth-right, the kind toward which we should be striving, and the kind I wish people were talking about when they wave their flags and cast their votes, either with their ballots or with their dollars spent. This is the kind of freedom I seek, and this is the kind of freedom a hand made life affords.

    Do I still own a car? I do. I live in a city where it would be hard not to, though that's not an excuse, and scooter ownership is on my list of long term goals. Do I still have city utilities? For now, though that is changing too, and I'll talk more about that later. If a shift in consciousness is the first step, then I am well on my path. I don't suggest we all turn Amish (ok, I would LOVE that, but I'm not insisting on it), but we can learn to live with a LOT less, and the less we need, the more truly free we are.

    Every time I hang my laundry on the line, or light a kerosene lamp, or pick up a book rather than a remote, I am more free. Every time I stitch up a new dress and enjoy the compliments I get for something I made rather than bought, I better know my own strength in the world. Every time you take the stairs rather than the elevator, pull a carrot from your own yard, or learn to change your tire yourself, you bolster your own freedom... enough time on the internet, let's go get our needles or hammers and get to work!

In the Water and Of the Water, Part II

 

    You might recall from my last post, my direction to be "In and of the water." I really did love the poetic sound of that statement, which became a mantra in my head that has yet to leave. I love the sound and suggestion of it, reminding me of things both spiritual and elemental, reminding me to be grounded and cool-- a balance definitely needed for my normally up-in-the-air fiery self. I enjoyed the week or so between my first hearing that and my self-imposed Lick Creek baptism, in which I felt an almost physical pull to stop my car at every creek and plunge myself into the babbling water, regardless of how questionably dirty and snake ridden that water might be. By every "eastern medicine" account, I am an earth-fire-air girl, with almost no water in my make-up. This philosophy has born out in real life, as I almost never get thirsty, almost never sweat, and am a little catlike in my avoidance of anything bath or shower related. (Yes, I clean myself, but having to get wet is a battle of will every time). So this new draw to the water was a refreshing shift for me, and the words made it feel like a sacred call, which added an enjoyable tinge of drama to my sudden need for creek dunking.

    Certainly, my pull toward this cleansing ritual was born in me for a reason, and answered some need that existed inside myself. I can't tell you the relief I felt when I finally did immerse myself in a naturally flowing waterway, and the one I hold most dear at that! Upon returning 100 miles to home that baptism evening, I pulled out of the closet a painting I'd done years ago, a 5x7 foot watercolor of myself wading into that very same creek, that I had then called "Baptism," and that had been rolled up and collecting dust for some time. I've posted it above so that you can see what I saw. My hair that day was braided just as I'd painted it, and of course I was wearing the same outfit which was nothing at all, the only thing one is expected to wear at Lick Creek :). One could say that my soul foresaw years ago just such a day as the one I'd just had, or that my mind had latched on to something I'd dreamt up as a younger girl and finally acted on it. Either way the result was the same, it was exactly what I needed.

    It was also, I think, the least of what I was supposed to get from this new focus on water. The truth is, spiritual enlightenment and satiation aside, I really don't get thirst or sweat, and I am pretty sure that I am walking (or maybe staggaring a little) through my life in a constant state of dehydration. This isn't great on any given day, and it's something I've been aware of but uninterested in for years, but as a woman now growing another human life, I am responsible on a much higher level to nourish myself and this new person, and that includes a lot of water. My doctor has already impressed this upon me, as has my midwife, my husband, and my more persistant friends. In fact my midwife, in growing frustration with my tell-tale dry skin, made me hold a two liter body of water and informed me that this is how much more blood I am going to have to generate out of thin air while pregnant. And what is all that blood made of if not extra water? If I want a healthy, happy pregnancy and home birth, as opposed to a brightly lit unpleasant hospital experience, I'd better start sucking down the water. For that matter, if I want a healthy baby and a happy life of my own, learning to take in liquid is a really good cornerstone to start with.

    So, do you think all this logic got me to drink more? Nope. It got me to want to, and to feel guilty about not doing it, but I just wasn't going to think myself into thirst. I tried to drink more but I felt choked up and waterlogged with the effort, which sometimes led to drinking even less! And then the phrase crept back into my consciousness-- "Be in the water, and of the water." I'd checked it off my list after swimming in a creek, as if any command from the Universe might be that easily achieved and dismissed! I may have been told to go into the water, to cleanse and refresh and metaphorically come out new, sure, but the work part of it was just beginning, and I couldn't ignore the message any longer. My big answer that I'd gone seeking from creation was clear: "Hey Jesse. Drink your water."

    And since apparently mantras from the sky are much more effective motivators for me than perfectly sensible medical advice, that finally kicked me into gear, and my friends and midwife are happy. I feel better too! Still, drinking is something I have to do consciously, so I've taught myself some helpful "water recipes" to keep my beverages appealing and to keep me coming back for more. For all my friends lectures, I notice that they don't drink much water either, since I'm not counting tea and soda in the water category, and since some good H2O is elementally important to all of us, I'm sharing my water jazzer-uppers with the world! I recommend them all as both healthy and tasty, so feel free to try each one and enjoy-- let's be hydrated, people!

Picture 1: This is perhaps my favorite "enhanced" water. Introduced to me by Ms Marla Bird, though I should have noticed other hippies drinking it for years, it's a sort of home-made vastly superior version of Gatorade. It tastes great, and is super nourishing and extra hydrating, so this is usually the first jar of water I drink in the morning to point the rest of my day in a good direction. In this 2 quart jar that I drink all my water in (reminds and encourages me to keep drinking!) I add:

1 squeezed half lime, 1 pinch of salt, and 1 Tbs of sorghum or real maple syrup. I am currently using syrup tapped from Marla's trees on her farm in the deep Ozark woods, because it is the yummiest stuff ever, and because I love the idea that my grown baby is therefore physically made of my friend's tree sap. :)

Picture 2: Most embarrassing of my water beverages, I'll admit to this one next since it involves actual store-bought Gatorade, which has inferior sweeteners and dye in it, but which I occasionally crave anyway. A friend of mine used to put the Gatorade's at the store next to the toxic products they looked just like (anti-freeze, for example) to point out to shoppers how unnatural the beverage is, so yes, I am aware of the irony here, and yes, I highly recommend the first beverage to this one. That said, I think of this as my junk-food water, and when I want something quick, easy, and appealing, I opt for this. It's basically 1/4 Gatorade (I do at least avoid the ones with the red dye, for what it's worth), and 3/4 filtered water. Always filter your water, avoiding as much of the chemicals, fluoride, chlorine, and other people's prescription drugs as possible!

Picture 3: Keepin' it fresh with Chlorophyll! This one I've done my whole life, since my mom drank it though all her pregnancies on the advice of her midwives, and now I'm drinking it again on the advice of mine. Chlorophyll is a cleanser, keeping your blood happy and healthy. It is also a dark green food, meaning it's high in iron which is great for women in general and extra great for pregnancy, since it is a great support for anemia. And since it's an iron source that comes from food rather than a capsule, it isn't constipating! Plus, it tastes all fresh and green and delicious! This is a jar of water with 2 Tbs. of chlorophyll-- drink one a day!

Picture 4: Coconut-Orange-Shake! So nourishing, so yummy, such a treat. It's 1/4 can of coconut milk, 1 cup of orange juice, and the rest of the jar filled with sparkling water. I never get tired of this one, it's a treat!

Picture 5: Cranberry juice and water, a tart treat for the girl with the questionable urinary tract! This one is more medicinal so I don't drink it all the time, but I do like its tangy zing, so it's nice to add into the mix sometimes. Cranberry is perfect for UTI's, so if you tend toward them, it's great for that, and if you like something slightly sour, its great for that too! Just remember that we're talking pure cranberry juice, fresh or from concentrate (I use a bottle of concentrate that I keep in the fridge), NOT the kind from the store with extra words attached like "drink" or "cocktail." If your cranberry "juice" has other juices or sugar in it, it is doing more harm to your urinary tract than good. This picture is a mix of a full jar of filtered water and 2 Tbs. concentrated cranberry juice.

Picture 6: Emergen-C, my fix-all for draggy days. Feeling tired? Emergen-C. Coming down with something? Emergen-C. Weather changing? Emergen-C. It's 1,000 mg of Vitamin C, coupled with plenty of other nourishing good things, and I swear by it for everything from slow starting mornings to the biggest monster colds. Also, it comes in a cute little convenient package that just pours right into your water jar easy as pie and tastes so good I'd just drink it every day for fun if it didn't have slightly diuretic qualities when consumed that often! This is one jar of water and one packet of Emergen-C. The pictured flavor is citrus, but it comes in all kinds of great flavor variations, so pick the one you like and boost up your immune system-- yum!

Picture 7: Pure indulgence, almost too pricey to justify (but I still manage to do so), super hydrating, and the thing I am currently addicted to-- Coconut Water! Completely different than the coconut milk concoction I was advocating earlier, coconut water is bought by the jar or pop-open can at your local grocery or health food store, and is super hydrating and nourishing. (Try a little googling of the benefits of coconut sometime to see why I tout its goodness so much). If I could afford it I'd suck down one of these per day, but at around 2.50 a can, I try to only give in to my cravings every other day or two. You'll notice that I've selected the kind with the pulp included, this is not a health choice, and the non-pulp kind is always sitting right there on the shelf next to it, but it's really the little bites of coconut that I'm going for. Maybe it's my aversion to drinking rearing its ugly head again, but any drink I can chew on is the best in my opinion! If you've got a little spare change burning a hole in your pocket and want to be nice to your body, skip the Starbucks one morning and pick yourself up a coconut water-- your mouth and your body will thank you!

If we are what we eat, then in creating our own best lives, a conscious effort to build up our bodies with good food and beverages is a great starting point for every hand made life. So as it was put to me I will reflect it outward and say, let's all be in the water and of the water! Yay for H2O!

 

In the Water and Of the Water

   I am going to tell you how I pray. Like most things I do, it's a sacred ritual only to me, since I made it up for myself. But then I suppose somethings, those things are the most important to the maker-upper. Having been raised in a conservative-charismatic Christian church, praying to me has always involved a lot of speaking in tongues, yelling, falling down, dancing, laughing, crying, and prophesying. What a show! And I love that. I don't quite know what to do with myself in more mainstream churches that don't do that. Still, for myself, the opposite approach has proved more useful. Perhaps I picked it up in Quaker meetings on the East Coast. Perhaps it came to me in Amish church where, since I don't speak German, I had many long hours on a skinny wooden bench to go deeply into my own thoughts. I think mostly though, my being an artist, so constantly focused on creation and output, is what drove me inward and toward stillness in my prayer time.

    So here's how it goes for me. I try to keep a practice of prayer each day (which works for stretches of time, and is then forgotten for stretches of time), in which I simply light candles and am quiet. Pretty common, I assume, but I'm not exactly meditating, just trying to be quiet, and to listen. I picture myself being filled up. I figure I spend about 23 hours and 50 minutes the rest of the day putting out energy, requests, demands, expressions and statements-- so for these 10 minutes, I can be a vessel being filled, rather than one pouring out. So no mantra, no prayer requests, no visualizations, just open hands, open heart, outer and inner mouth clamped shut, in a place of reception. Some days it's just a break I don't want to take time for, and some days it creates a real sense of connection, but it's a good practice when I'm in the habit.

    For my real prayer time though, this is just the foundation. When I want to pray, and I mean really pray-- like I need some serious answers or I have a major bone to pick, I go to the woods. I don't think you can do major spiritual work in your own house, because it's just too full of every emotion you've already felt, and all the things you need to do. Also, if your version of God is one of the pure evocation of Creator, I think a feeling of connection is greatly helped by being nestled in nothing but pure creation. So, the woods. I find a place where I know I won't be disturbed (and sometimes I'm doing this in the dead of winter, so that helps), set myself down with my blanket and pillow, and take in all my surroundings. I have prepared myself by eating lightly, and by not speaking yet that day, if it can be helped. This means I usually go out early, and notify my partner beforehand that I won't be my usual chatty self (he doesn't mind the break!). I bring nothing but water, a pencil, and paper. The pencil and paper are NOT for doodling, journaling, or any busy work, they are ONLY to write down what I am told so that when I get my answer, I can commit it to memory accurately, and leave. I spend maybe 10 minutes pouring my heart out to the Universe, to God. Sometimes I am begging for help-- "please remove the panic attacks that continue to plague my life!" Sometimes I am just seeking direction-- "what is my path? What is my focus? What is this season of my life? Where should I plant my feet and energy?" And occasionally, I am raging with anger-- "Why does everyone else in the world get loving parents then partners and children and here I am at 30 with F*%#ING NOTHING?!" Either way, after the rant, I quiet down and JUST listen. Thoughts come up, and I say inside "I am listening." Woodsey adorable animals snuffle by and I say "thank you, I am listening."

    It usually takes a few hours, one or two at the least, and sometimes four or five, but eventually my mind is done babbling. The world is quiet with me. I open up, I am connected, and I finally have ears to hear. A faith healer once said to me that healing is 100% available 100% of the time, we just have to touch it. I think communication with the Universe at large works the same way. Now, we are all different, we all give and recieve in our own way. But here is how things happen for me. In that place of stillness, after I've waited and soaked it in, I always, always get my answer. For me, it is a dialogue that I can hear in my head, much like you might hear a conversation that you are playing over for yourself, except these are new words, and when I am spoken to there is a resonance that feels similar to standing next to a giant bonging gong. Occasionally I get an tentative answer that doesn't come with that resonant sensation, and then I know that's just my own head, trying to speed up the process. Am I sounding a little crazy? A little too woo-woo spirit-worldy? If so, I assure you this isn't part of my daily conversation, and I get that perhaps it's a little much for a lot of people, but if we're all being honest, and what's the point in communicating if we're not, then this is what I do at my most vulnerable place, and this is where my guide posts come from, and there is a point to my story, so the intent is, I promise, in no way preachy.

    As an example of quiet time turn-outs, I once went into the woods to tell God I'd had it, and we were essentially breaking up. That was the "I'm 30 and as yet without love, practically raised by wolves, a starving to the point of a showdown," rant that I mentioned earlier. There was an embarrassing amount of cursing, a slew of furious accusations, and possibly a few threats. I almost didn't even stay for my listening time because I'd mostly just come to yell, but then I thought I was at least owed a response (see the state of mind I was in? The Universe owed me something!). So I listened, and when the answer came, it was incoherent. Why? Because it was hysterical laughter directed at me. I got this picture in my head of these two light beings in a space of pure bright light, falling out of their chairs onto the ground laughing, and unable to speak to me because of the choking explosions of hilarity. "Very funny," I said, "thank you for caring." They laughed and laughed and laughed some more, and finally getting their breath back, they answered.

    "You already have everything you're so mad about, it is at your fingertips, it's been in motion forever, and it's actually already here. You've already touched it! You're throwing the most ridiculous fit, it's just too funny!" Well, that was my answer, and though I didn't know what those laughers were talking about, I did feel a bit like a raving jerky lunatic, so I wrote down my answer and went on home. It turned out that Josh, who had asked me out once and who I'd turned down months ago, decided the next day to give me one more try. I agreed to have lunch with him, not even thinking of my break down the day before, and here we are, happy as clams, well mated and loving our growing family.

    If you've been reading from the very beginning, you might remember that a miscarriage this summer was the catalyst for starting this writing project. Not an easy process, physically or emotionally, and it definitely took hindsight to see the strength and trust in my body I gained from it, or the even stronger love and attachment that it engendered in Josh for myself and our next start at a baby. There turned out to be one little month between miscarriage and new pregnancy, and in the month I floated around in my own world feeling grief, hope, emptiness, liberation, and just wondering what the future held for all of us. Definitely time for a trip to the woods. When I went this time, my intentions were clear, and I didn't have to wait long, though my answer was a little more cryptic than I'd hoped for. I wanted to know the who-what-when-where-how's of my reproductive future. The answer I got? "Be in the water and of the water." That's it, no visions, no further explainations, and every time I double checked, I got the same response: "be in the water and of the the water." I had a strong urge to roll off the log I was sitting on into the creek below, I wanted very much to be fully submerged, but the water was dirty and snakey, so I wrote down my answer and went home.

    The urge to baptize myself in every creek I drove past (which is a lot in the rural Ozarks) stayed with me to the point of distraction, but I continued not to succumb. It just never seemed quite right. Later that week I suddenly found myself driving 100 miles to the commune I love and come from on a spur of the moment errand that couldn't be put off. There, I found a pile of exhausted people just back from a long festival and in lazy recovery mode. "Let's go to the creek!" I said, and they were less than enthusiastic. It's a longish walk down a very rutted hill, and no one was interested. "Let's go to the creek!" I said again, and still nothing. After about 10 minutes I gave it one more try "I'm going to the creek!" I announced, and gathered up my things to set off. Like the Pied Piper, I looked behind me to find a few people straggling along despite their protests, and we managed to pick up a few more along the way. At Lick Creek we swim naked in the sunshine, and everyone who has been there knows it's a sacred place. Everyone swam, everyone soaked up the sun, everyone was refreshed and happy, and I stayed under the water until the moon came out, dunking and dunking, separating the old from the new, until I came out covered in creek dirt, shiney clean.

    That turned out to be the last warm day-- 77 degrees that day, and 40 the next. That next day was Solstice, when I found myself so grumpy I peed on a test in my car and got the when's and how's I'd been asking for... we are expecting our first child in May. :)

*First three creek images are poached from the lovely Ms Marla Bird, fourth is Summer Solstice at Lick Creek.

Made from Scratch in the Extreme-- We're Growing a Person!

    Yup, that's what I said. It's a... baby! Given our shared hippie-style/intensely religious upbringings (yes these things can go together), Josh and I have always been inclined, even as children, to creating our surroundings, both in spirit and in material form. Many times we've lacked patience or forethought and ended up manifesting things that no one including us would want, but we're learning as we go (aren't we all), and nothing makes us happier than bringing a new object or meal or idea into the world at the end of the day.

    I say that to say this: growing a person is a whole new ballgame, and I'm pretty sure we don't even fully grasp what is happening yet! What a thing to go from a lifetime of intense control issues to a quivering mass of exhaustion and nausea who cannot, no matter how much will-power is exerted, go for that regular walk in the woods, nor ever look at lasagna again. What a thing to watch one's own familiar physical shape morph from hard and thin, to soft, to round, and then to a swelling over ripe expanse of stretched skin, like a piece of fruit left too long on the vine, or perhaps like a girl in some fairy tale who has witlessly swallowed the waxing moon. This body over which I have exerted so much control-- the one that has carried me through 34 years of life with easy consistency, the one who bounced around as a cheerleader, marched for miles on its toes as a Kiltie, worked on farms, and danced almost a decade of 8 hour shifts-- is now a servant of life, and works for the ever creating universe, rather than just me. I thought I would hate it. I spent a long time fearing it. I do not like to lose control.

    Turns out, I love it. And I don't mean I love it like "isn't it so fun to get extra attention and foot rubs," though that is fun and I can always use more foot rubs. I mean I love it like I love breathing, or the best book, or the exact right food or song or word of comfort, at the exact right moment. The baby at the end of this journey is exciting and surreal to think of, I admit, but currently it is the process itself that I am enthralled with, and the loss of that control, which I had had a death-grip on since childhood, that I am so amazed by. Inconvenience and physical woes aside, I have never felt more in the flow of life, so willing to live (as opposed to just not willing to give up), or so able to sit with whatever is happening, be it discomfort or almost overwhelming joy. I spent 15 years in therapy working on  my anxiety-- needed and worth it, I assure you-- and this new chapter in life is healing and shifting me as much as another 15 years would. A line from an Alanis Morrisette song has been cycling through my head lately which I think sums up the present day nicely: "The moment I let go of it, was the moment I touched down."

    Alright, have I waxed poetic enough? Are we all swimming in too much sugar? Well it had to be said and now it's out of my system, so there. Ready for something more entertaining? Let's share the story of how I told Josh!

    When I found out I was pregnant the first time, it happened over a long weekend where he was away and would return home on no less than Father's Day. So after an agonizing 3 days alone in my house with no phone privileges (I cannot keep my own secrets to save my life so my only course of action was to quarantine myself), I wrapped up his childhood teddy bear, scribbled a note in a Father's Day card, leashed up the dog, and dragged Josh out into the woods. At our favorite spot by the creek, I gave him his gift and sat back to watch his face. Unwrapping the bear which I thought was a dead giveaway, Josh said offhandedly "huh, I used to have a bear just like this," and set it aside. When he read the card (signed "from Jesse, the dog and cats, and your first child who is due in February), I watched his face which bore a look of annoyance. I knew the look well, it's the one that says "why does this girl insist on giving cheesy gifts for EVERY holiday and signing cards from house pets?".  Then he shifted to confusion face-- the one that says "I have forgotten how the English language works and this card makes no sense to me." Upon his third reading, I got the happy face I was waiting for, along with a lot of bouncing and hugging, and a surprising slew of joyful curse words.

 

    This time, I found out I was pregnant while driving home in my car from teaching an art class. I'd been crying like a crazy person for two days, and when I pulled the afore mentioned Alanis Morrisette cd out of my stereo, snapped it in half, and threw it out the window for skipping at a spot where it had been skipping for years, I had a sudden moment of clarity. "You're pregnant," a loud voice in my crazy head informed me! I pulled onto the side of the busy road, snatched the spare pregnancy test from the glove compartment, peed on it and all over my skirt, and saw two pink lines in about two seconds. Phew! No need to pay for more therapy, I'm just exploding with hormones!

    Since apparently all positive pregnancy tests coincide with holidays for me, this day was the Autumn Solstice-- a perfect excuse to drag Josh out into the woods again and smack him with another great surprise! I thought about re-enacting the first time we'd been here, but that seemed a little weird, not to mention lacking in creativity, so I went understated this time, and it was perfect. Under the guise of forcing him to participate in the celebration of yet another holiday that he didn't think warranted a hike, I marched him out to a different wooded hill, handed him some ice cream, and sat us down on a bench to watch the sunset. We talked about the end of summer, the beginning of harvest time, and once we were alone, after the people who I'm pretty sure were engaged in a drug deal walked away, I gave him his package.

    Nothing so overthought this time, it was a small tin holding the positive test, and a small simple note. Josh and I have been in love of late with a band called Medicine for the People, and in particular a song of theirs called Manifesto. The chorus at the end that sticks in your head in the most beautiful way goes "Don't waste your hate, rather gather and create. Be of service, be a sensible person, use your words and don't be nervous. You can do this, you've got purpose. Find your medicine and use it." We'd been singing it under our breath for weeks, so the note over the test simply said "we can do this, we've got purpose."

    Once he got it, which still took a minute, everything changed, and here we are on the path to parenthood. Talk about a hand made life!

Here is yet another attempt to link the song I mentioned for your clicking convenience! If you can't get there from here, go the old fashioned route and look for Medicine for the People Manifesto on www.youtube.com.

   " title="" target="_self">Manifesto

 

 

Down to Business-- $2,000 Wedding Budget

   

    This is it, people! The last wedding post before we move on with the rest of hand making our lives together! I know it's been a lot of information, but hey, a wedding is a big project, and I hope the pictures, DIY's, and piles of suggestions have been helpful to your event, sanity, and wallet.

    With all the work done, and the day itself wrapped up nicely, it's time to get down to the real numbers to show that not only can a large celebration be had at a relatively low price, but it can be the best day ever, with no need to break the bank. When I tell people I did my whole wedding for two thousand dollars, they immediately assume I had a small, intimate affair. When I tell them I was hosting almost 200 people, they assume that what I mean when I say it cost so little, is that it cost that much-- not counting the food-- or not counting the dress-- or not counting the ceremony, or the reception, or the location... because surely the universe cannot create such bounty from so tiny a seed packet! When I assure them that all costs were included, the people who know my finally let it sink in, then regale me with a litany of how much their weddings cost them-- a speech that never fails to depress me! The people I assure of my costs who don't know me, purse their puckery lips and end the conversation pretty quickly-- a sign, I'm pretty sure, that they simply think I'm lying. So! Without further delay, I present to you... the budget...

Start to Finish Budget

The $2,000 Wedding

Invitations: $200 

Gifts: $ 250

Venue Rental: $89

Dress: $200

Veil: $25

Photos: $200

Cake: $150

Food: $400

Grooms Clothing: $150

Flowers: $6

Tablecloths: $50

Sheets: $10

Decorations (paper, ribbon): $30

Bridesmaids/ Groomsmen: $150/ $250

Lanterns: $25

Harpist: $200

Tableware: $75

If you're doing the math, remember to discount the $400 spent on the brides maide's and grooms men's clothing. They went with tradition on this and paid for their own apparel, I just included their price to illustrate the fact that while you're saving money, your wedding party can to, so long as you don't drag them into the nearest bridal store, force them into your favorite childhood fairy tale costume, and then demand they pull out their check books to pay for it.

Still adding things up with me? Then you've probably come to our grand total, $2,060. I know what you're thinking, this is $60 over budget. First I'd like to say that if in planning a huge event, you go $60 over budget, I still call that a job well done! Second, you might recall from the bridal clothing section that a certain thread conscious groom got himself a during-ceremony outfit, as well as a post-ceremony outfit, and it was that post ensemble that cost $60, so if it isn't counted (and I don't think it should be since it was unnecessary and is now a weekly part of his wardrobe), they the grand total does in fact come to exactly $2,000-- the perfect price tag promised and delivered!

Now, if you're asking yourself whether I've perhaps fudged the numbers here, left something out, or otherwise bent my budget in some way, let me assure you that this list covers everything from sparkly dress to chicken and dumplings. If you're saying to yourself that this must be a fluke and that this much fun cannot normally be had for this amount of money, let me assure again that it has been done and can be again. My spending what I predicted I would was not a coincidence, it was the result of my sitting down beforehand and writing out just what I intended to spend on each needed thing, then going out and hunting and negotiating until the prices I found matched the ones I already had in my head. Where gaps were left by a lack of cash flow, I filled them in with creativity and hand made goods, and in the end, this made for such a fun, fantastical, lovely day, I wouldn't change any of it for the world, even if I had an unlimited cash flow. The work was worth it, and the creativity and joy of creation I got to participate in along the way added greatly to my overall experience, as well as not dipping into my savings account. Have faith that the universe can provide you with just as much bountiful fun in the sun, and with just as small a seed packet. It worked for me and it will work for you-- this is what the handmade life is all about! Now go think of something to celebrate, gather up your scrap fabric and glue, and create the very day you've always wanted to live!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What's Better than True Love? True Love and a Present...

   The phrase Labor of Love has always been one that resonates with me, and reasonably so, given my grandparents-instilled puritan work ethic combined with my natural love of... LOVE! Never has the phrase fit more perfectly into an actual activity than in today's DIY project.

    I have to admit that for all my wedding posts here, I'm not terribly informed about weddings in general. I have had the pleasure of attending many celebrations of birth, marriage, earth cycles, and even death (a celebration of a life lived), in a great range of subcultures, and it is from these that I drew inspiration for my own marriage ceremony. When starting down the path of planning for such a big event, I did, as I have mentioned, some research on good old traditional American weddings, of which I have only limited experience, and one practice I found mention of that really resonated with me was the exchange of private gifts between the bride and groom. Is this a common part of most weddings? If so, what are the usual gifts exchanged between the joining couple? I'd love some answers on this one, I'm really curious!

    For Josh and I, our gift giving was probably pretty predictable. I am a painter... Josh got a painting! Josh is a musician... he wrote me a song! Still, obvious choices aside, being able to devote precious time beforehand working on this extra special home made gift for the man I was joining my life with was a real treat for me-- both as an excited gift-giver, and a happy crafter. 

    I wanted to give Josh something that spoke of our love for each other, our commitment to a long path together as equal partners, and our shared vision of a life both rooted in the tradition of our elders and liberated by our growing faith in both spirit and ourselves to live the life we were meant to live. Oh, and I didn't want to be that self absorbed cheese-ball who presented her partner with a giant painting of he and myself. That would be embarrassing in the long run! So, after careful consideration, I decided to paint him what I had not the time, skills, or patience to sew him. I gave him a life size barn quilt.

    What is a barn quilt, you may ask? Why, it's a giant painting of a life-like quilt, hung out on the sides of barns throughout the midwest for no other reason than to look pretty-- like laundry on the line on a breezy, sunny day. If you're not familiar, I encourage you to do an image search, or if you're in the midwest, take a barn quilt driving tour-- yes, that's a real thing!

        



    And why a barn quilt, you may still be wondering? Because I can never get far from my time with the Amish. Brief though it was (just under a year), it haunts me, and there isn't a day that I am not reminded by some smell or sound of shift of light, of what I left behind. The richness of that experience is still so ever-present, so nearly tactile for me, that it always gives me great pleasure to integrate some of the old culture into my own life. At an Amish wedding, long tables are set with full place settings, baskets of fruit and homemade candies, and cakes you want to dive into. The ech, a corner where the wedding party sits, is the most decorated thing you'll ever see in an Amish house, spilling over with personalized treats for the couple and helpers. There is always singing, there is always silent prayer, there is always the bustle of skirts and hats and laughter and eating, and there is always a quilt. Wedding ring pattern, made at a frolic by those who love the new couple, ready to keep them warm at night. I nearly coveted that quilt, not just to snuggle under but to have as a symbol of all that I love-- my partner, my community, and the value of hand worked art. Without a gaggle of women to stitch with, I painted Josh the double ring pattern, and our "Amish" wedding quilt hangs on the outside wall of our house, facing the backyard where barbeque's and croquet parties abound, appearing to forever sway in the breeze. The fact that it doubled as a great decoration at our wedding where he was surprised by it at the entrance, was the cherry on top!

DIY Wedding Barn Quilt

Step 1: Select your wood from your local hardware store, being sure to choose something light but not (light wood bends easily). I chose a large piece of pine, a quarter inch thick and 4x5 feet. I'd have liked to have gone larger, but this was the storage limit of my Honda CRV, so take that into consideration when you're picking wood for any project! Added to this I bought 5 strips of thin wood to frame my piece, measuring 1x2 inches and about 7 feet in length. It's very important to frame a wood painting this large, or the moisture of the paint WILL bow your finished project, which will make you very sad. I know, since I learned this lesson at my first solo gallery show, watching my paintings curl up on the walls! Be sure to have the hardware store cut the wood to the measurements you need for framing, so that you don't have to deal with that when you go home.

Step 2: At home and ready to work, first frame up your wood. You should have your strips cut so that you can lay 4 pieces out on the back side around the outside edges. Run plenty of wood glue around the edges of your painting, lay the strips out the way they will apply to your piece, then put the large piece of wood, glue side down, on top of the strips. This will form a tiny little table top, with the wood strips on bottom, and big piece on top, glue sandwiched in the middle. Now with appropriately sized nails, drive nails into your large piece of wood all the way around the edges, really cementing the frame to the front. Repeat this step with the extra wood you had cut that will go in the center of the piece, forming either a cross or an X that touches the wood frame on all sides. Glue this wood into place, and nail it down as well. This creates a sold piece that will hang sturdily outside through all weather for years to come!

Step 3: Prep your wood with water proof paint. If you're using acrylic, which I recommend, just skip back to the hardware store and pick up a plain white bucket of weatherproof paint. Coat the entire painting in this, front and back, to make sure your wood won't buckle in the future.

Step 4: Finally! Time for the fun part! Once your weatherproof base coat is dry, you can start sketching and planning your very own barn quilt. Use your trusty computer to search images of quilt patterns (if you're not going with the ring pattern), to find the one that suits you best. The greatest part about this project, other than the time saved in stitching, is that since you're the painter, you can use any fabric color and pattern you want-- the patch design world is your oyster! Use a simple pencil and eraser to sketch out your quilt shape and patch pattern, then use any acrylic paint, even the cheap-y kind in the little squeezy tubes, to create your image.

Step 5: Once you've painted your barn quilt to your liking, and mine took 2 weeks of work so don't expect this to be a quick project, it's time for another layer of weather proofing. There are clear coat outdoor paints made for acrylics that you can use, though they are a little pricey and hard to find, requiring a few phone calls ahead of time, and about $30 for a pint of gloss, which is all you'll need. You can use this covering, which is what I did for this project, or go the much cheaper and easier route of using the more common outdoor clear coat, intended for oil paints. I've used the oil kind for many projects over acrylic, so I don't think it's the travesty that the paint people lead you to believe it is, but you do run the risk of a little yellowing with these, and I suppose it's possible that they don't adhere as well to the acrylic paint, though again, using them hasn't failed me so far. Put several coats of this clear gloss on your painting, alternating between front and back and letting layers fully dry between each one. If this project is a wedding surprise for your partner, you'll want to have borrowed a neighbors garage for a few weeks! And that's it, you're done, and you have a present that is brimming with love and loveliness, that will wow your guests, not to mention your groom!

DIY Songwriting for Your Wedding Day

    I have to say I'm a little jealous that Josh got such an easy job compaired to mine, but I guess when I consider that he has to play his music all night in smokey bars while I stay and home and make pretty things, it turns out it all comes out in the wash-- a metaphore for life, I'm sure! The song Josh wrote for me (and only sang privately at our wedding) was the first one he'd ever written on his own, and it turned out to be a big hit for his band, and to be the first of many he wrote after that-- turns out after the first try that songwriting is his thing! These are his song writing instructions for those of you inclined toward melody...

Step 1: Go to the woods with paper and pencil, and bring a guitar if you're feeling extra inspired.

Step 2: Jot down some themes for your song, phrases or words that come to mind, and what you'd like your song to say. Now soak up the scenery and let these ideas roll around in your head for a while.

Step 3: Think about how pretty and fun your partner is (this one is an editor's note, but surely that was part of the process :)...)...

Step 4: Write down what you want to say, then shift the words around to form rhymes and lyrical flow. By now some small tune should be bouncing around the in the back of your mind, so bring it into the forground, set it to the lyrics, and voila! Love song accomplished!

I have posted a link to the song Josh wrote me here, but since I really don't trust my own tech-y ability, you can also see and hear it for yourself by going to www.youtube.com, and searching for Bhuddas Groove Shoes, Ready to Grow. Enjoy!

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>" title="" target="_self">Ready to Grow

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tis Better to Give... Part II...

    If every beloved guest at our event warranted a handmade picnic bag of seedy-chimey-birdhousey-goodness, what then for the guests who put in all their elbow grease to help us make the whole day happen? On such a tiny budget and with much of it already accounted for, how could we give an extra thank you to our many helpers to let them know that we truly acknowledged and appreciated their friendship and work, beyond our effusive verbal gestures of gratitude!

    Our answer? Giant versions of our smaller gift bags! We loved the picnic grab bags so much we really felt no need to depart from the theme, and didn't want to deprive our helpers of the delights found in the regular guest bags, so we just turbo charged their version of this fun take home gift. Rather than the cozy little birdhouses used for the first project, our 20 helpers (brides maids, bride grooms, close family, stuff loaners and carriers...) received full fledged bird mansions ready to house any burgioning bird family in need of a good new home. The raw wood houses were only $5 a piece on sale at a big box craft store (Michael's), and came in such a fun variety of shapes we had a hard time choosing our 20. We ended up with birdhouses shaped like barns, churches, outhouses, salloons, and even pirate ships, and everyone had fun comparing their prize when the bags were handed out. We gave larger envelopes of wildflower seeds, enough to start a lovely garden by a porch or in a window box, with the same pretty stamps and bigger paper bag envalopes. A large and more verbose thank you note went into each one, as well as a wind chime, because hey, who doesn't love a wind chime? To house all this bounty, we made 20 re-usable fabric bags, one for each recipient to use for shopping or schlepping to their hearts content for years to come. Overall each bag cost about $8, and went home with our helpers lending them the feeling of love, appreciation, and abundance that we wanted to impart.

    Since you've already made your smaller gift bags, you don't need any pointers on stamps and seeds and gift collecting, so we'll just straight to making the re-usable bag, a great gift wrapper for any event-- it looks expensive and thoughtful (the thoughtful part is true) but costs you just about nothing!

DIY Reusable Fabric Bag

Step 1: Starting with the fabric, I once again turned to my trusty, dollar-a-yard, bought by the bold muslin. Yes this is the least expensive option available to me, but I'd use it anyway. It's just so crisp and simple, I find it to be my favorite base for anything I make. To that I added a piece of calico fabric bought for a dollar a yard at Wal-Mart. I don't normally recommend buying anything at that particular store, but dollar fabric is dollar fabric. I picked out several different calico patterns just to have a fun variety, then laid out all the fabric I had and cut rectangles measuring about 2 feet by 3 feet.

Step 2: Before going any further into sewing, I took my 20 muslin squares and laid them out on flattened cardboard. Using the tree stencil I'd used for my brides maid dresses (see previous posts), I stenciled a big tree onto each piece along with a bird sitting next to it and waited for the paint to dry. The tree was a bit of a pain since it was so big and detailed, so even though I really liked the end results, I might pick a simpler stencil if I do this project again.

Step 3: Once the paint had REALLY dried, I lined up each of my muslin pieces with each of my calico pieces. I paired them so that when the muslin piece and calico piece were put together, each ones printed side was facing outward, with each ones non printed side touching each other in the middle.

Step 4: Folding the newly paired muslin-calico rectangles in half, I put the tree to the inside and the calico to the outside. Then, each pairing went to the sewing machine, where I ran a stitch down each short side. Turned right-side-out, each stitched piece was now a stenciled muslin bag with a calico liner inside. If you prefer a rounded bottom rather than a squared on, you can simply stitch down the sides and then curve into the bottom while sewing to get that effect. Picture your stitch line looking like a big capital D at the bottom of your bag, rather than a simple rectangle shape.

Step 5: Now make a simple fold to the inside with the fabric at the top of your bag, to hem the top edge and finish the look. You can double fold this if you like, but it's durable enough with a single fold and I like the raw edge, so that is your own style choice. If you single fold, fold in about 2 inches and then stitch the fabric down. If you double fold, fold about 1 inch and then another inch, so that you don't lose too much of the bag's height.

Step 6: Whip up some straps! I used the muslin and calico scraps for this, cutting strips as long as I could get, about 3 inches wide in length. With my trusty strap scraps in hand, I folded each one in half length-wise, then folded the two open edges in again, creating a closed tube. I stitched these closed by running a stitch down my folded open edge first, then down the other edge for continuity. If folding and stitching fabric as you go is playing it a little fast and loose for you, you can iron the creases in for an easier stitching experience-- I just don't have that kind of patience!

Step 7: Once your strap strips have been stitched up, go ahead and cut them into the lengths you'd like for your bag, I cut mine around a yard each, but you can go as short or long as you like. Find the middle of the top edge of your bag, and put in a pin on each side. Then find the middle point between that pin and the side seam on each side, and put a pin there, removing the original pin in the middle. This marks for you where your straps should be sewn. Now grab your bags and straps, stitch them together, and voila! You have handmade gift bags for the masses, you look like the loving and fabulously crafty hostess that you are, and you have plenty of cash left in your pocket for whatever fun you still want to have!

Step 8: Stuff those awesome bags full of great stuff and then wait with baited breath for the fun job of handing them out!

Tis Better to Give...

 

   One thing I know for sure is that everybody likes a present! Being new to the world of traditional weddings when I began planning mine, I was shocked to learn that it is a tradition to give each of one's guests a little take-home memento of the day. I was even more shocked when I looked up the commercially available wedding guests gifts selections, and learned that they range in average cost from $2 to $10 EACH, and the $2 gifts are so lame they practically scream out "put me in the landfill as soon as you get home!" With over 100 guests coming and a diminishing budget to keep in mind, I had to immediately cross the over priced baubles off my list.

    Still, I really love giving gifts in general. I like whole idea behind it, the give and take nature of the universe being reflected in gift exchange, the spirit of sharing and bounty that gift giving implies, and I enjoy the act of handing out something that makes the receiver smile. Also, I did ask a lot of my guests, from making them hike all over a hilly park, to making them sit on the ground in their pretty clothes, to asking some of them to bring food as well as a wedding gift (all facets that everyone loved, but that might feel a little tiring overall), so I felt extra attached to making sure that when they left for home at the end of the day, they departed feeling as full of energy and cool stuff as they had when they showed up that morning. My obvious solution? Hand made take-home gifts, of course!

    For our large body of attending friends and family, I came up with a guest-grab-bag that was filled with a delightful collection of lasting and useful memorabilia that reflected the day itself and the ideals Josh and I share for the kind of world we want to live in. It was sort of a "green" wedding gift for our "green" wedding, though I found that purchasing things with that particular buzz word attached can cost you even more cash, which makes no sense at all to me. I even managed to package them up in such a way that they were adorable to look at, tempting to grab extras on the way out, and even served as added decoration at the reception by virtue of their multitude and cuteness!

    Because I had a crew of about 20 friends and family members who really did contribute heavily to making the day happen, mostly with their time and muscle power for set-up on the day of the event, and with their afore-mentioned food donations, I made 20 extra special gift bags for them. While the regular guest bags were small paper creations with tiny birdhouses and other gifts inside, the upgraded versions for the work crew were large hand-made muslin bags to be re-used later for shopping, and were filled with larger versions of their smaller cousins-- giant birdhouses and more verbose cards, for example.

    These two projects took a little time, but overall they weren't too hard, were fun to make and assemble, and were a big hit at the party! Not only did my friends love them (I still see their birdhouses displayed and even inhabited when I visit), the whole sha-bang cost me about $200 rather than the $500 I could have spent, and out-cooled anything I could have purchased from a store by THIS much-- (I'm holding my arms apart as wide as they will go here). Ready to make some fabulous take-home wedding gifts for your awesome and deserving guests? Let's do it!

DIY Gift Bags for Guests Who've Been Naughty or Nice

Step 1: First, do a little shopping at your favorite dollar bins, whether those are found in a craft shop, a Dollar General, or a fabric store. Find some item that costs a dollar but manages not to look cheap, and that also reflects you as a couple or some theme of your event. Our wedding was in the spring, so I considered cute little garden trowels, pre-seeded tiny plant pots, etc. But I've seen plenty of items in these bins that I think would fit the bill nicely depending on you and your scene-- slinky's, picture frames, travel games, etc... I went with these tiny wooden birdhouses that were so adorable and detailed I felt like I was ripping off the store buying out their entire inventory. I also found some small wind chimes at only .50 cents a piece, so I bought 100 of those to go with my 100 birdhouses. I should add here that while I had closer to 200 guests, many of them were couples or families, so I estimated that 100 was plenty to send home one per household, and that worked out fine with a couple of left over bags I got to keep myself at the end. I later mailed these to people who wanted to come but couldn't, so the number was perfect. Buying your main gift before you start the rest of your project is important since it would really be a bummer to make a bunch of beautiful gift bags and then discover that what you want to give won't fit inside them!

Step 2: Now that you have your primary gifts rounded up, it's time to do the real work. Go to your nearest seller of brown paper bags, the kind your mom (if she was anything like mine) put your lunch in when you were a kid and you wished she'd just give you money for the hot lunch like all the other kids. I found mine at Target, but I'm hoping they're easily available at any grocery store, since they're so handy for so many things. Buy a pack that supplies as many as you need. I bought a pack of 100, which cost me one whole dollar.

Next, round up:

a bottle of white acrylic paint, an additional accent paint color of your choice, and a paintbrush

a big bundle of sticks from the nearest tree

a hot glue gun

a black Sharpie marker

a few different patterned rolls of wired ribbon

a hole punch

and a bunch of tiny stickers picturing flowers or bugs or some such cute thing.

Phew! Got it all? Actually you should have almost all of this sitting around from our previous projects, so the list shouldn't be as daunting as it first sounds!

Step 3: Time to get dirty! You will need a large uncluttered space for this first step that can sit uninterrupted by pets or kids or really handsy adults for a good hour or two. First, lay out each of your paper bags flat in a line or large square, until all your bags are displayed with their face up, and folded bag bottom behind. With a cup full of white paint and a nice wide paint brush, begin painting your bags. You are simply making a white rectangle in the bottom half or third of your bag, and the edges don't even need to be neat or well defined, so try to go through this part quickly so you can move on to the fun stuff. I actually had my art class of 10 year olds do this part for me, if that tells you how much you don't need to be a perfectionist here. When all your white rectangles are in place, pull out your accent paint color put in in a cup and add a little water (just enough to make it slightly less thick and easier to fling). Dip your big paint brush into the accent color, and with a fully loaded brush, starting flinging the paint across your field of paper bags, giving each bag a nice LIGHT splattering of color.

Step 4: While you're waiting for your paint to dry, cut your ribbon into lengths of about a foot a piece, and set aside.

Step 5: Your paint is probably still wet, so go ahead and chop up those sticks you collected earlier. They will serve as a little picture frame for your white rectangle, so they need to be cut into stacks of two equal lengths, one longer for the long sides of the rectangle, and one shorter for the shorter sides. Pick a  uniform length for the long and short sides to be, something close to the average rectangle size you've painted, and start cutting your sticks with a pair of old scissors. Again, this process doesn't have to be perfect, some of your sticks will be fat, some skinny, some of your stick frames will be smaller than your white rectangle, and some bigger. This only adds to the charm at the end, so don't worry about it, just chop up your pile of uniform long and short sticks, and think about how pretty you'll look in your dress.

Step 6: When your paint is fully dry, grab your Sharpie marker and start writing. I wrote "Thank You!" on each of my bags in the center of the white paint rectangle, but you can certainly print out anything you want to say to your guests here, as long as you keep it brief! Something like "True Love," of "Happily Ever After" would be great.

Step 7: Make those stick frames! This is the most tedious part of the job, as hot glue guns make annoying stringy things that muck up your process, but it's still a fun and easy job, so just enjoy the process! With your long and short stick-stacks and your heated up hot glue gun, begin gluing the rectangle stick frames down around each white triangle, until all your bags are framed. A little time consuming, but so worth it when you're done-- this is the most memorable part of your decorated bag!

Step 8: Slap on your stickers! This part is so gratifying, because all the hard stuff is now over, and the stickers are nothing but cute, easy, and fun! I used little honey bees for my sticker choice, so i also used my black Sharpie to draw in little buzz-y flying lines behind their little bee butts.

Step 9: It's bag filling time. Definitely my favorite part because I felt like a rich and benevolent gift giver plunging birdhouses and wind chimes into 100 lovely paper pic nic bags. I should note here that I also included a few tiny extras into my packages, which added interest and fun to their opening with pretty much no extra cost to me. I found little brown paper packages (about 4x4 inches) at Hobby Lobby, 100 for $2. I stamped each one of them with a rubber stamp and ink pad I had laying around that said "Love Grows," filled them with a tablespoon each of wild flower seeds, and stapled them shut. I also cut out strips of paper, folded them over, stamped them with another rubber stamp of a flying bee that said "Bee Well," and signed them inside with love from Mr. and Mrs. Stone. So when I stuffed my pic nic bags, each one ended up holding 1 birdhouse, 1 wind chime, 1 stamped seed packet, and 1 card.

Step 10: Almost done! Now that your bags are looking fat and frisky, fold each one over on top with the fold toward the back, and use your hole punch to punch two holes, about an inch apart, into the middle of the fold. Using the ribbon you cut earlier, thread a piece from front to back through one hole, then from back to front through the other. Tie your ribbon into a pretty bow and reapeat on each paper bag.

Now take a breath and step back to survey your fabulousity! Your guests are about to have the best time ever and you are the one making it happen! Yay for inexpensive extra fun gift bags!

Handmade Invitation Love, Part II

    I know. There's so much you can do with paper. I never get tired of it either! In Handmade Invitation Love Part II, we'll be finishing up the big invitation project we started in part I, but now we've moved on from the big tedious work, and we get to do the just plain fun part!

    Besides the invitation itself, a lot more information needs to go into an invitation package. An RSVP card is practically worth its weight in gold for planning your event (which leads me to this much needed apology: SORRY to all you party people who came before me, to whom I NEVER bothered to RSVP because I assumed my presence or absence was a given, I get how important this is now and I apologize for any mucking up of your plans I may have caused!). A map is also a nice touch, not always necessary (though it was in our case), but helpful and fun. And why not throw in as much handmade artwork and creativity into your package as possible?! It's not like you get to invite people to a giant celebration of you without looking like a self absorbed jerk every day! I also tossed in an added slip of paper just stating how much we value our friends and family, our coming ritual, and our blessed life in general. It was something I felt the need to convey, and yes, I could have squeezed it onto the invitation card, but that would have left less room for my cartoon bride and groom drawing, so I think you see how an additional printed paper was my only real option.

    Alright, have I justified the need for more crafty paper fun enough to get you on board? Great! Then let the cutting and gluing begin!

Best RSVP Cards Ever

That's right, I said EVER.

Step 1: Again with the trips to Hobby Lobby, I picked up 4 packs of small (about 4x6 inches) white  envelopes, 25 to a pack. I think with the sale (wait for the sales there, they rotate every week) it cost me less than $10 for the whole sha-bang. I got another stack of textured card stock while I was there (regular 8x10 size). Paper and envelopes in hand, I went home and got together with my increasingly irritable fiance and our trusty digital camera.

Step 2: You are now going to do that thing that teenage girls on social networking sites are so fond of-- meaning you will be holding the camera out in front of you and your partner and taking a bunch of pictures until you get two you really like. Toss on the clothes you'll want in the picture, put yourself in front of a nice backdrop, apply a little lip gloss, and start clicking away. What you're wanting here is one picture of the two of you looking ecstatically happy like you just won the lottery PLUS a free trip to the moon. The other picture will be you looking extraordinarily sad, like you just lost your puppy, and your job, and you just can no longer fathom what life is all about.

At this point in the invitation process, Josh and I were both so tired of paper and eachother that we could barely stand to be in the same room, but we faked our way through the picture taking just swimmingly and loved the end result, so I know that if needed, you can do this too!

Step 3: Once you have the pictures you like, load them onto your computer, shrink your best happy version and your best sad version down to a size that is small enough to fit side by side on a paper the width of your envelope. When they are sized to your satisfaction, print them up, cut them out, and set them aside.

Step 4: Using a light pencil stroke, trace one of your envelopes onto a piece of paper, and cut it out so that you have a piece of paper just small enough to slip inside the envelope when it is cut down to size. Now take your two adorable pictures and glue stick them side by side to the top half of your paper slip. Using a black Sharpie marker, draw a little frame around each one, much like you did on your original invitation. Now, using a thin tip black Sharpie, print neatly across the bottom spaces for your guest to fill in his or her name, and the number of people in their party. In the space in between, draw a small box under each picture for your guest to check, and under that, write out the box/pictures description. Under the happy picture, write something like "YES! We can't wait to come to the best wedding ever! We will be there with bells on!". Under the sad picture, write something along the lines of "So sorry and broken hearted that we will not be able to attend the best wedding ever."

Step 5: With your prototype now in hand, color copy it as many times as needed to fill up one 8x10 sheet of paper. I think I got 4 cards to a sheet. When you have your four copies, cut them out, lay them face down in your copy tray with a blank piece of white paper behind them, and start copying. Be sure to print your RSVP's onto the textured card stock you brought home, it makes a lovely little card when you're all done.

Step 6: Cut out your cards, pair them with your stamped and addressed envelopes, and stuff them into your invitation package. These RSVP's were perhaps the biggest hit of our pre-wedding hype, and many people refused to give them back at all, calling to confirm instead and informing us that the pictures were too cute to take off the fridge. We even got a few back that were black and white copies of the color ones we'd sent out, letting us know that the sender had found a way to keep the card they wanted, but still reply in a civilized manner. So really, the biggest problem with your RSVP cards is that they might turn out so awesome that you won't get them back!

A Dreamy Map to a Dreamy Day

Step 1: It's all easy from here, I swear! to make your event map, simply divide another 8x10 piece of white paper into four parts, cut one out, and grab that trusty pencil to start sketching. Find nearby central location to start giving directions from (a well known building, park, or intersection), and draw a little path from there to your event. Be sure to label each street as you go, and provide a little compass somewhere in the picture so people know your north from your south.

Step 2: Once your technical information is in place, have a little fun decorating the designated path! I doodled in little flowers and butterflies along the way since our event was in a park, and I also drew in some exaggerated large doodles of landmarks along the way to help readers know they were on the right track. I'd meant to make it look like a really cool pirate map, but it ended up looking like everything I ever drew in the margins of my high school notebooks. No matter, it was going to be cute in the end no matter what by virtue of it's hand-made-ness, so don't be afraid to let your inner artist have fun with this one. Just remember to leave plenty of blank space in your map overall, so that your guests can still see the forrest for the trees, or in this case, the map beneath the butterflies.

Step 3: When you are happy with your doodles, trace your pencil lines with your now familiar fine tipped black Sharpie, and erase any pencil marks left behind.

Step 4: Just like your RSVPS, this map will be copied again and again until you have 4 identical prototypes. Once you have these, lay them face down in your copy tray with a blank piece of paper behind them. Put your map paper into the copy tray and copy as many maps as needed for your invitations.

Step 5: An added note here, you can use any paper for the map, and I recommend a pale colored paper just for some fun variety. I found a particularly fun paper at the craft shop, which is transparent, strong like card stock, and comes in a variety of colors. I printed my maps on these in many different colors, and then cut them out with decorative scissors that cut a pattern into the border and gave the maps an extra whimsical air. I recommend both the funky paper and the crazy scissors for this project!

Extra Quote Inserts for the Overly Verbose

 It's true, we're going a little overboard here and you can totally stop with the above project or even the one before that if you like. But if you like a great package filled to the brim with wondrous lovelies as much as I do, then we have one more tiny project to go! 

Step 1: If you already have more you wanted to say, quotes you wanted to share, or information you still want to include, this is the place to do it. Pick your phrase, info, or famous person's stolen line, and type it into a document on your computer. Go ahead and find yourself a great font, and feel free to write in bold and use a bigger font size if you like.

Step 2: Once you've typed out what you want to say (and for goodness sake, at this point let's keep it relatively brief), copy and paste your phrase as many times as needed for your invitation total. Be sure to leave two spaces between each one to ensure plenty of cutting room when you're done.

Step 3: Load your chosen paper into the printing tray (I used the see through- colored fun stuff for this project as well), hit print and watch the miracle of technology do most of your work for you. When everything is printed, grab your scissors (I again recommend the pattern-cutting scissors for this), cut out your last words, stuff them into your envelopes, and... THAT'S IT! You're done! Now go take a hot bath and a day off!