Tree and Teeko.

Have I told you about Tree and Teeko yet? I think I may not have given them the proper attention that they deserve on this blog. See - chickens used to take up a huge space in my life and heart ... but now that the goats are on the scene, well, the chickens just aren't as much fun anymore (sorry girls). But, we did order 6 more spring chicks from our local Blue Seal farm store. And when arrival day came, we were late to pick-up ... so we ended up with just two (I have no idea how that can happen - as I prepaid for them).

The lady at the feed shop handed Isaac this sweet little "happy meal" shaped box, with his chicks inside and said ... "Two chicken nuggets coming right up." Funny ... and slightly morbid. Anyway, as we drove them home I asked Isaac what their names were going to be and he quickly replied, "Tree and ummmmmmmm.........Teeko." So, there ya have it. Our two new laying hens will have names that almost rival the new goats' names': "Emily and Me". This farm is getting more and more interesting. I shout, "Come here Me." to the goat. And now I will be calling out to a hen named Tree.

Speaking of names, as soon as the goats have their first babes, I am going to name Me's first kid ... "You". I so look forward to that.

Enjoy your day.

Love,

Jodi

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Seeing Green.

Oh ... the green all around us these days is absolutely magnificent. So many hues. So rich. Total eye candy.

I am loving every minute of the sunshine, the trees, the songbirds, the warm winds ... sudoku while lying on a quilt outdoors. I am savoring these pre-summer moments. You know ... the moments before the heat becomes unbearable and I lock myself indoors with a nearly frozen ice tea and a dysfunctional air conditioner.

But this year, thanks to my hubby, this house is going "solar". Thus, I am thinking that my days of using the a/c may be over (sucks up too much energy). However, in order to "Go Green", save money and live a more self-sustainable lifestyle ... sacrifices must be made (more details to follow). So - there will be more "green" this year than the year before. Perhaps not in the trees (though it does seem so) ... but more green in our wallets and more living "green".

We've got the laying hens, the milking goat, the garden ... and now ... the solar energy. We are on our way to a greener lifestyle ... and it feels good.

How about you? Any recent "greening" of your life?

Love,

Jodi

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Remember.

Please remember that today is not about hot dogs and pool parties. Today is a sacred day for remembering our dead ... especially those who gave their lives for our country.

Thank you Pepere. You are my hero ... even now that you are gone from this earth ... I know you are still protecting me.

And thank you Mr.T for all that you did in the name of freedom.

Love,
Jodi (aka Babe)

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I Have Chills. So May You.

This may be the most amazing project I have ever heard of in my life. SO incredibly wonderful - that I just can't stop smiling. Please check them out at www.playingforchange.com.

Enjoy every moment. Love,

Jodi

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Summer is Close at Hand.

I can't seem to get a handle on this blog, on the laundry, on my life. Days just keep zipping by as we prepare for our summer. The goats need feeding. The baby chicks have arrived. The chickens are laying more eggs than we know what to do with. The garden work keeps mounting. And all I want to do is lie on the grass and soak up the sun.

But I do manage to take a few photographs of the life that we are attempting to create here on our new homestead:

More pics to come.

I hope you are all enjoying your spring as well.

Love,

Jodi

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Something New : For the Shop.

I continue to try to find new and creative ways to sell upcycled products for my etsy shop ... and at various craft show venues. Recently, I picked up some vintage POKENO cards at my local thrift store ... and decided to turn them into large sketchbooks (or score keepers for avid card players like my Dad).

I really like how they turned out:

Please check these out in my shop. Readers of my blog get 10% off if you mention my blog during checkout! I will send you an updated invoice when you do so. Thanks!

Oh - and remember, 10% of all profits go to the charity of the month. My products are good for the earth, good for you, and good for someone else.

Love,

Jodi

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Offline........

Dear all..................

I have yet another announcement to make.....I will be offline from tomorrow onwards for at least a week......this is because my computer needs some "fixing". Actually I'm not so sure how it's going to work out.....but I hope that it will not take too long for them to fix it as I will miss my darling PC badly hehehe.......

I will try to check my mails from the internet cafe within that period in case any of you guys sent me emails inquiring about the cards.

Till then..... ;)

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Flying --- Forever.

For some reason - it seems I have taken a brief, unintended vacation from this blog. I am sorry to those of you who have been checking in to see what is happening in our lives ... with my Dad, the goats, Isaac's baseball, etc. I can tell you that all is well. Dad is back to work - with the help of my husband who will be driving the catering truck for him until he is able to do so on his own. The goats are just so much fun - and I hope to write more about them tomorrow - with more sweet pics. As for Isaac's baseball, I have taken to assisting the coach (for various reasons) and we are all having a great time --- though I feel fairly certain that this is not Isaac's game.

Anyway - I have got to tell you about this incredible dream I had last night. Maybe I feel the need to tell it so that I can remember it later --- to savor it and try to relive it --- or maybe it is because I see the relevance of it to my life and maybe yours as well. Lately, I have been having these incredibly intense dreams. So intense that I can hear them, smell them, and feel every touch within them. It has been both wonderful and horrible. Some dreams have had me running for my life, where my heart beat is so intense and sweat is dripping off my forehead -- both in my dream and once I awake from it. But last night --- oh, last night's dream is my favorite. Maybe my favorite of all time. I used to have these dreams as a child. But not since. And this one felt so good that I wouldn't mind living in it forever (except that I might miss a few loved ones). This dream did however take a turn for the worse in the end --- but I'd still live in it --- as I know that the ending is truly up to me and could easily be changed so that it remained *magical*.

Last night, I was flying. My arms were my wings. And I flew everywhere ... from over the brilliant lush woods of Northern Maine ... to over the bustling cafes of Paris, France. I flew everywhere my heart desired ... and I looked down upon some of the most glorious scenes. It felt heavenly. I could feel the rush of the wind in my hair .. I could smell the most wonderful smells waft up from wherever I was flying over ... and my arms and legs felt as free as they do while swimming in water. And perhaps that is the greatest feeling I felt while dreaming --- freedom. Total and absolute freedom. I was flying ... without wings ... and flying to wherever I felt a desire to be --- or to see.

I used to have this dream often in my childhood. Of course, my knowledge of geography was simple ... so I basically flew over my house and neighborhood. But it still felt so good. However, unlike my childhood dreams, last night's dream took a turn for the worse ...

Everywhere I flew people pointed up to me in awe --- in awe that a person could fly. Some waved, some smiled, some stood there with their jaws open wide in disbelief. But some were angry. Angry that I was flying and they were not. That is how the trouble began. Some people called their local authorities and complained about this flying woman. The authorities agreed with them that this flying woman needed to stop... for the good of all who could not fly. She needed to be captured. It wasn't right for me to have an ability that they did not. It wasn't right that I could fly everywhere --- as I might be act as a spy, etc. So, they pursued me ... in every town and every country. And because I needed to come down to land every so often in order to regain the energy I needed to fly ... I found myself having to run from people who were looking to capture me ... to confine me.

In the end, while running through some grass fields ... dogs and armed men at my heels ... I found a farmer who was willing to take me in without reporting me to the authorities. He lived in a run-down old house in desperate need of repair.... with a nearby barn also in bad shape. He would keep me safe in exchange for my working in his home and acting as his wife. The rules were that in exchange for his silence, I could no longer fly. And though this pained me so much, I agreed. I thought that at least -- with this arrangement --- I might have a later chance of flying again. But if I were captured, there would be no chance I would ever fly again. So, our deal was struck ... and I discontinued my flying. It was shortly after that - that I woke up. But I didn't wake up sad. In fact, I awoke with an ear to ear smile on my face. All in all - the dream was delicious. Had I found a way to escape the jealous mobs --- without seeking safety that would only entrap me --- I could have flown for the rest of my life.

And believe me, the metaphors inherent in this dream do not escape me for a moment. I see the connection that this dream has to my life right now. That is part of the beauty of it all. I see the connection and can thus make the needed changes in my life that will allow me to soar again. Dreams are so much more than fantasy ... they are most certainly windows into our subconscious. When our dreams receive the attention they deserve, they can tell us so much about what we need. Apparently --- I need to fly --- to soar --- without a safety net --- and without worry of what others are thinking or feeling. I will. Both in my dreams and in life itself.

I hope you will too. I promise not to stop you. I will wave and smile as you soar by ... knowing that we all can fly if we allow ourselves ... and one another.

Love,
Jodi

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Important announcement

Dear all.........

As of today, due to unforeseen circumstances, I won't be able to take anymore orders until further notice. Truly sorry for the inconvenience.

For those who have placed their orders earlier, especially those who have already made the payments, please don't worry as I will be sure to get your orders done as promised.

Thank you.
Lin

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My Mother's Day Ritual : To Listen to THIS Poem:

Enjoy your day!

Love,
Jodi

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Happy Mother's Day... :)

MD007

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY TO ALL MOMMIES AROUND THE WORLD!!!!

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For Moms.....

MD006

I think I'm just so into this new embroidery look hehehe......so much so that I've been doing a lot with the arrangements.....hehehe....don't know why I just like it so much. Will be coming out with more of different arrangements and color combination soon.

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Serendipity Farm "Photo Shoot".

This past Saturday, I spent most of the day with my good friend, Tom ... photographing horses at a lovely farm in Bangor, Maine: Serendipity Farm.

Tom and I are both looking to work on our photography skills ... build our portfolios ... and just enjoy the company of a fellow photographer. So I made a phone call to a couple of horse farms to see if I could gain an invite for us to shoot some pics around their farms. When I called Val ... I knew her farm would be perfect. She was so inviting and appreciative. And I was right.

Val is an inspiration. She only began riding horses when she was 48 (I think) and within 10 years, if I have my story correct, she bought her dream horse farm and has been enjoying her life to the fullest. (Had she not said a word, I would have no idea that she was in her 50s! Living your dream makes you youthful, I think!) Her farm is so great ... has a lovely river in the background ... lots of customers ... several incredible horses and dogs.

I fell in love with one of the horses: Cashmere. And hope to return to visit her soon. Apparently, she would be difficult to ride, but Val has offered me a ride on another big guy when I am intersted. (When you put yourself out there - wonderful connections can be made :)

I have been SO slow in uploading pics from this great day, but some can be seen here. (I will continue to upload to this link as I am able). Some of Tom's pics can be seen here (he took the above photo - for which I am entirely grateful).

And speaking of collaborating with Tom - he is the best. Here is a man that has VERY limited eye vision --- but unlimited artistic vision. He is an inspiration to me and a great guy to be around. I highly recommend shooting with a friend, because you will both see things so differently, and can assist one another in differing strengths and weaknesses. I think I took better photos because of his insights and perspective. I hope I gave him some help as well.

Anyway - more photos will be forthcoming and some may even show up for sale in my shop. Meanwhile, I need to get Val a disc of the pics taken at her farm - as I always offer copies to those who are generous enough to invite me to expand my portfolio at their homes & farms. (Are you interested in a visit?)

Hope you have a wonderful weekend! I am hoping to get out and take some more photo goodies tomorrow.

Love,
Jodi

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Pop up flowers in a pot

HB040

A birthday card for an old friend......my aunt's dear friend, Kak Ann....I think they have known each other for more than 20 years now....My aunt wanted me to do a pop up card for her dear friend. I've been thinking of a design for a long long long time......my ideas have dried up! hahaha! Plus I was not in the mood to create lately.....just don't feel like creating anything.....just want to go to the beach and relax....huhuhuhu....But since a promise is a promise....I had to fulfill it.

Inspired by one of the designs I did for my Teacher's day cards.....I expanded the idea and made it in a bigger card with a different combination of colors. In the beginning I wanted to do a different pop up design.....and the layout design for the card had to be vertical in order for me to do that....but a slight mistake in the printing, made me change the layout. I printed the wordings too big for the vertical design.....so that's how it ended up being horizontal. I had fun arranging the flowers and the leaves on the card......it looks like an embroidery design or something hehehe....

As for the pop up.....I've longed wanted to do the box pop up technique....I should have made the box a bit smaller in width so that the pot would be able to hide it...hehehe....I kinda like this technique as it is easy to do and you can paste any object on it to make it pop up. :)

Kak Ann's birthday is on the 10th of May......Hope she will love the card :) Happy Birthday Kak Ann!!!!! ;)

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Pattern 3

TD008 (soft blue + purple + white + pink)

I simply love this combination of colors as they are looking so soft and sweet! Very cool colors.....which is quite contrasting to the colors that you will see at the card below ;)

TD008 (red + pink + white + peach)

As you can see this combination of colors are warm and cozy :) This design layout is so simple and suitable for all sorts of occasions.....like for a Thank you card, a Hello or Just for you......those would be suitable with this design in my opinion. :)

These cards are the size of a note card ( 10.4cm x 14.7cm). Each comes with a matching handmade envelope.

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Twin girls together forever!

HB039

Twins! It's a first for me to do a birthday card for twins. When I first got the request from my customer....Aizat (he wanted me to mention his name hehehe), I thought to myself, wow......how on earth shall I do this?? Especially when he said that he wanted the twins to be holding each others hands or make it look like as if they were hugging each other! Ack!! Knowing how limited my skills were when it comes to doing figures, I even asked him to ask someone else to do this design for him.....but he insisted I do this! So, in the end, he had to wait and wait and wait.......it took me almost or was it over a month to get the idea and figure out how to go about doing it hahaha..... ;)

Why choose the color pink and brown you might wonder?? Well....that's because I asked him what are the twin girl's favorite colors. Fizah loves brown and Zimah loves pink! He went through a lot of trouble to find that out from the twins! hahaha! So after that, I got the idea to use those colors as the main colors for their clothes....I decided to do the baju kurung moden hehehe.....I already knew how to do the top part, it is similar to the blouse pattern I've done before....all that is needed is to add the long skirt below. And as for the skarf....I got the info from him that the twin girls are studying at a religious school.....so both of them wear the skarves....luckily I asked! Otherwise I had to think of how to do their hair! hahah! Yikes! That would be a major problem for me to do hehehe...... I also found out that both of them wear rectangular shape glasses.....just like me! LOL! So I added those details too....hehehe....

As for the big red heart shape behind the twins and the wording "Together Forever", that was Aizat's idea.....he wanted it that way.....I just had to figure out how to do the design layout. :) The heart shape pop up inside the card, was my idea hehehe......at first Aizat wanted me to do a pop up of the twins hugging each other but I didn't know how to do that although I tried and tried, it didn't work out the way I wanted it....so I had to cancel that idea and do the V-fold heart shapes instead. This way, I could add some wordings.....such as the names of the twins and birthday wishes.......and since he wanted some space on the inside for him to write out personal wishes for both the girls, this pop up design would be most suitable as there are plenty of space on the left and right side of the card for him to do so. :)

I really hope the twins will be happy when they receive this birthday card from their dear brother.....they sure are lucky to have a brother who cared enough to do this for them :) So sweet! :) I'm just happy that I get to do this in the end......almost gave up half way.....but sometimes when people believe in you so much, it's kinda hard to let them down......so, I just did the best I could, and the only way I knew how...... :)

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Seriously?

Seriously? Did my 4-year old Baby Boy just lose his first tooth? Are such things possible? He is only 4. I am not ready for this yet. He is my baby. He is not supposed to be growing "Adult" teeth yet!

Yes, I cried. Like a total freaky Mom. As though he were headed to college or something. And then my husband said ... "Wow, pretty soon he'll be asking to borrow the truck." Gee, thanks honey.

How is it that I can be a stay-at-home, unschooling Mommy ... who is around to witness his every move ... and yet, I still feel as though he is growing so fast, and that I am missing it all?

Love,
Jodi

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Pattern 2

TD007 (orange + blue + pink + white)

TD007 (purple + blue + peach + white)

This is another pattern I did with the same flowers and leaves. I only changed the arrangement of the flowers and leaves to create a design pattern on the card. Each card is left blank on the inside and has a matching white paper inserted to write on personal wishes.

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Pattern 1

TD006 (cream + pink + brown)

Ok, I guess I am simply in love with this embroidery type of design hehehe......so much so that I have created a few arrangements or patterns of them for the Teacher's Day Cards this year. You'll see more of the patterns after this......all with different sets of color combination. :)

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Enjoying the "Nubies".

We - Daddy, Isaac, Poppy, Bobo, various friends, and I - are SO enjoying Emily and Me. I truly never knew what a great addition these Nubian kids would be to our entire family. Now I can't imagine life without them. They follow me everywhere, play with us and the dogs, entertain us with their constant jumping antics, and actually love to cuddle.

But there is still so much I need to learn about them. I have read 2 books - cover to cover - about the care, keeping, breeding and milking of goats. I have joined a few Nubian Goat yahoo groups, and regularly visit my local Blue Seal feed store to talk "goats". But I still feel like I know nothing about them. Just like I did when I first got into chickens .... now the knowledge of their care and keeping comes so natural to me. It won't be long before I find goats easy to keep ... hopefully. And then I will have to add another species to our ever growing homestead. Next ... sheep.

Oh - and caring for farm animals makes for perfect homeschool lessons. Always a bonus. So - the more we get, the smarter my boy gets ---- at least that's the line I am feeding my husband.

Enjoy your day.

Love,

Jodi

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Bookmark + Card

TD006 (yellow + purple + pink + white)
*added ribbon beaded bookmark

This design is totally different from what I've done before.......it's a combination of a card and a ribbon beaded bookmark. At first it was suppose to be a paper beaded bookmark but in the end I had to used the ribbon beaded bookmark instead because it was kinda difficult to do the paper bookmark according to my customer's request. The receiver of this card can take out the bookmark from the card by untying the soft pink ribbon that ties the ribbon beaded bookmark to the card.

For the inside of the card, I added decorations of the flower for the left side of the page.....the flower is actually the design from my latest teacher's day paper beaded bookmark. My customer wanted me to add that design in this card. It has on it the wordings, Happy Teacher's Day on the flower and leaves. The right side of the card has the poem that is dedicated to the teacher. Really lovely wordings picked out by my customer herself. :)

Again as you can see the color combination is of yellow and purple as it's the color based on the school's logo. My customer ordered a few of these cards for the teachers there. :) I really hope the teachers will love the card that they will be receiving soon hehehe.....

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Teacher's day pop up flowers

TD003 (Purple and Yellow combo)

Ok...this is what I have been busy doing lately along with the other card orders I've been receiving lately. This particular design is actually an old one I did back in 2007. But my customer loved the design so much that she wanted the same one except the color combination has to be of yellow and purple as this card design will be given to the teacher's of her former school. Their school logo has those two colors....purple and yellow.

The other differences are that this card will be added the 7 pop up flowers. I had a hard time thinking of a suitable flower shape that would match the flowers in the front design. In the end, I decided to do something that resembles it, and made the small scallops on the petals of the pop up flowers. The decorations on the inside of the pop up flowers are similar to the decorations I did for the CNY cards. I happen to love that decorations.....can't think of any other that would look nice at the moment though. Perhaps in future I'll get some new ideas. I wish! ;)

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