The Holiday Studio

Valentine
4x12 Gallery Wrapped Canvas
Mixed Media
SweetArt Line created for Holiday MarketHi!! It's been a while since we last talked. I have been busy in my studio creating my SweetArt Line for the Holiday Market here in Montgomery in October. Wendy Martorana,my sweet friend and owner of Candle Cabin will be hosting a booth with my SweetArt Line and other fabulous gifts and ideas for Christmas. You will not want to miss!
I love this piece. This is one of my pieces created for my SweetArt  line.  I am really excited about this line. Each piece is different and has its own personality. Each one has a text as well. Adding the text is always the last part of the art process because I spend a lot of time thinking about what I want to say. I so want the thought to be personal and stir some sweet spot in your soul. This piece says "Will you be my valentine everyday?" I eat up the word "valentine" It might as well be spelled L-o-v-e, and love everyday? Well that's a pretty cool thing. "Valentine" also makes me think of "holiday." If you were to ask my family what my most favorite word is they would all say without question...Holiday! I do love holidays, but what I really live for is the feeling you have when you are on holiday. Not the "sweat over the meal" feeling, but the one that makes you feel relaxed and indescribably happy. The feeling where there are no phones or TVs, just family and fun!! I love it!!! I have hired a friend to help me put together my blogs and website and create a fabulous place online for you to visit me and my studio. She asked me the name of my studio and I said "The Holiday Studio..where everyday is a holiday."Of course. I can hardly wait for it to be finished so you can drop by any time and look around my studio or visit me in the kitchen for a diet coke and ice cream or watch a tutorial and craft along with me. Such a wild adventure for me and I am so excited about you taking it with me.
So until then, make everyday a holiday. Share a smile with someone, make a "happy" for a friend for no reason, or my favorite, make heart shaped biscuits for your family for dinner tonight. Before you know it "Holiday"will be your favorite word too!!
love love love Ruthie

Teachers

SweetArt
4x12 Gallery wrapped canvas
for sale
Holiday Market 2011

Hi! So glad you stopped by. I'm so curious to know what you think about this. There was a talk show on my radio when I got  in the car today. It was two men discussing the fact that one of them had a 10 yr. old daughter who wanted her best friend to spend the night, and her best friend happened to be a boy. The D.J. that was the daddy had no problem with the situation, but the other D.J. thought it was a bad idea. So they opened it up to the listeners for their opinion. I must admit, I was stunned at the caller's responses. The few minutes that I was in the car, 5 women called in to respond. Would you believe all 5 were mamas and all 5 were perfectly fine with the coed spend the night. After the 5th woman called, I actually thought I might be the crazy one here, and I quickly decided No, I am not into coed spend the night company. Now I could spend some time on this soap box, but I think I've made my opinion clear. The big issue for me is that I believe as parents it is our responsibility to train and to teach our children and to develop their moral character. More often than not parents are leaving that job up to the church, the school, peers the media. Movie Stars and magazines dictate what children wear even if its too tight, too short, too small and hideous! If the latest pop star is wearing it so are the children.
What ever happened to "Modest is Hottest?" Another blog for another day. When we become parents I believe we become teachers. If we relinquish our responsibility to grow our children's moral character then the world will gladly take on the task. And it will devour our children! No doubt!! We cannot cross our fingers and hold our breath and hope for the best. It is our job. I'm not saying it's an easy one, and I realize shaping and molding moral character in our children may even hurt on occasion.We need to wrap our arms all the way around or children and tell them out loud "I Love You!" even if they don't want to be held...because we all know they really do. Be involved, Listen, learn to say no even if it's not the most popular answer. Spend time with them doing something they enjoy. Laugh out loud with them. Teach them. Protect them. If we don't someone else will!
The whole "spend the night thing" might seem small and insignificant now, but small things add up to make really big things. I believe if we are diligent even in the small things when the big things roll in we're a lot more prepared to stand strong.
Love to know what you think. Even if you think I might be the crazy one! Leave me your thoughts.
Love love love Ruthie

A Whisper

Calm Before the Storm
On its way to
Blue Giraffe
Watercolor, FloridaCome in! I am so glad you dropped by. I really do look so forward to your visit. I can hardly believe the first week of school has come and gone. My favorite part of the day is getting to pick up my twins after school. Luke stays after school for football so I get the twins all to myself for about 25 minutes as I shuttle them to the tennis courts. As I am waiting on my twins I adore watching the children leave school and head to their cars. Girls walk in pairs or packs constantly chatting and laughing desperately hoping to be noticed by any boy. And the boys are walking by themselves directly to their car probably thinking about their after school snack. Anyway yesterday a group of girls were standing near my car and all of a sudden they all got very quiet and very still and their circle got a lot tighter. One girl in the pack had lowered her voice and completely captivated them with her words. A few seconds later they all broke out in laughter. Need I tell you I was dying to know what they were saying.
Last night my husband was in the den with Luke talking about something and I was in the kitchen with the twins. My den and kitchen are kind of right in there together, so as not to distract the boys in the den I lowered my voice to talk to the twins. Later that night Eddie could hardly wait to ask me what I was whispering to the twins. I laughed so hard thinking about him in the den with the TV going and in the middle of a conversation and he heard me whisper.
I remember when I was in the 8th grade my history teacher was frustrated with the class for talking and not paying attention and she lowered her voice and said whoever was listening she was giving a test the next day and all we had to do was sign our name and get a 100 and not to tell anyone. Ok yes I was listening and I am a total rule follower and a great keeper of secrets.
What is it about a whisper?  At night my husband has the TV on watching the news and I will be sound to sleep and never hear a word of it. But when he turns off the TV and whispers "I love you" I hear it loud and clear.
When someone whispers you get as close as you can, your body is completely still and you magically tune out the rest of the world and your ears come alive and hear only that one voice...that whisper.
In 1Kings 19 beginning in verse 11 God told Elijah to go stand on the mountain that He was passing by. And there was a fantastic wind and a fire and even an earthquake, but it said God was not in them. But in verse 12 it said He came in a gentle breeze.
Ahhhh, a gentle breeze, a whisper. That thought alone fills my heart with a calm like no other. Today lets be still and tune out the world for just a moment and hear Him whisper.

 

Love Lotes

Happy Days
Mixed Media
12x12 Gallery Wrapped CanvasCome on in! I am so glad you are here! How do you like my art work? I love all kinds of art,  but mixed media and collage are just so much fun. Really it is therapy for me to just glue stuff.  In fact, I have a precious group of friends who lovingly call me GG....Glue Girl. Anyway my collages make me happy and I hope they make your heart smile!
Speaking of making your heart smile, "Love Lotes" make my heart smile. Ever since I can remember my daddy, whom I call Paw Paw, has written me lotes. I call them lotes because I have always been his little rabbit and he is the Big Rabbit and we talk in this rabbit language. (I am 46 and we still speak rabbit) Anyway he helped me buy a pair of running shoes a while back and he sent me a lote and I wanted to share it with you.

Dear Little Rabbit,
It makes the Big Rabbit so happy when he can put something in the Little Rabbit's basket. It makes the fur around his ears stand up strong. Big Rabbits were made for helping little rabbits -especially when the garden gets a little thin and the carrots and the lettuce doesn't go real far. I love the Little Rabbit more than anything. We just need to play in Mr. Frank's garden...that's what I miss the most. Love and kisses on the nose. Mine is twitching right now because I love you.
P.P. Rabbit

I love love love lotes! I love receiving them and I love sending them. I absolutely love going to the mailbox and finding a lote with my name on it. You know exactly what I mean! You know a smile spreads across your face when there is a personal lote in the mailbox with your name hand written on the envelope. You know you can hardly wait to open it and see who it's from! You know the feeling! I love it! I also love that the most precious love lote of all is God's word.
I love in Isaiah 43 verse 1 that God says...Do not fear!
I have redeemed you!
I have called you by name!
You are mine!
What a love lote! He has redeemed you! How sweet is it that He, King if Kings, has called you by your name, and you belong to Him and you never have to fear! I love love love that! So go write someone a love lote today!   Love love love Ruthie

 

My Chair

Red Flowers
Oil on Gallery Wrapped Canvas
24x30
Available in my studio

I am so glad you stopped by! Please come on in! I am sitting in my favorite chair  in my little room. It is an amazing oversized chair covered in a yummy vintage floral fabric. I spend a lot of time here reading, praying, writing, thinking and always creating. I tell people my brain clicks about 100 miles an hour all day, but when I am in my chair the clicking seems less rushed somehow, maybe more organized. My thoughts are quieter, orderly and yet more vivid. When I am in my chair colors are brighter and ideas are clearer. I love my chair. I have three baskets of books at my feet and as we speak  I actually have six books in the chair with me.
I must admit as I am sitting in my chair this morning I am a little weepy. My nest is very quiet this morning as two of my little birds are off at college and the other three are in high school. It is unusually still. I have sent a couple of notes to friends who are taking children to college for the first time and to one sweet friend in particular who took her son today and he is the last to leave home. She and I have talked about empty nest at great length, but I can only imagine how her heart will feel tonight when she sets the table for two.
I have to say my Luke is a senior this year and I have lost my breath more than a couple of times thinking about this year. I know it will fly by. But I am going to do my best to savor every minute! Last night we were hanging out in the kitchen and Luke was in the middle of a story and for the life of me I cannot remember a single word. As he spoke I felt like I was in  slow motion watching his mouth move but I heard nothing because as I looked in his eyes my mind traveled back to his kindergarten class and my eyes welled up with tears and I had a lump in my throat the size of a watermelon. If this is any indication of how I am planning to "savor" every moment, I won't make to september.
My sweet husband and I have worked hard to prepare Luke for his senior year and college. It is just that it got here sooner than I expected! As we begin to "push" him out of the nest, I was thinking about how I might pray for him. Crazy, but I thought about my children's camp application. It asks the question "What do you hope your child gains from camp?" Think about that for a minute. What do you hope your child gains from high school? I feel like we could make list a mile long... good friends , good grades, good study habits...etc.
Okay, radical but what if we changed the question from gain to give? What do you hope your child gives in high school? With our self absorbed culture do we even think it is possible to give rather than get? So what if our prayers for our children were for them first and foremost to love God with all their heart, with all their soul, and with all their mind and then their neighbor and then put themselves last. What if we prayed our children to be mighty men and women of God and to glorify Him. To reflect Him in the classroom and on the field. What if we prayed for them to praise God rather than seeking praise from man? Crazy? Impossible?  With God, nothing is impossible. So as our children grow and prepare to leave home, what's your desire for them? To gain or to give?
love love love Ruthie

 

Personalities

The birds in the tree tops sing their song
The angels watch over us while we play;

The flowers they bloom all day long
so why shouldn't we praise God all day!I am so glad you stopped by! I have missed talking with you. My summer has been fabulous so far! It's been busy! A good busy. I love summer! I am such the summer girl! I love the hot weather and the afternoon showers. It's my favorite! I don't know that these photos really do this art work justice, but I love these things. I design, cut , sand , and screw these cool things together. I absolutely love doing it. I guess the colors the creativity and the elbow that go into making them gives me the hugest amount of satisfaction. These pieces live in Mentone, AL at Camp Desoto. I love it! I've also been sewing for my daughter's dorm room and painting fun things to go on the very unattractive wall. I will definitely get pics of that and share with y'all. I am also redoing my other daughter's room at home. It's been so much fun to do dorms and redo rooms because my three girls have shared a room with each other their whole lives. Even though they each added their own little personal touches like flowers intertwined around the iron headboard or glow in the dark stickers on the ceiling,  they have never really had the opportunity to do their own thing. So helping them do a dorm room or redo the bedroom has been so fun for me because they have such different likes and dislikes. I love seeing their personalities come out in little things like light up flowers or bulletin boards or furry pillows. How could three girls grow up in the same home and be so different? I love it! I really do. It helps me to see the world three different ways. I love that. I love when you ask a question you get three different answers. There is something very creative about that. When my middle daughter was interviewing for a job that my oldest daughter had had the summer before, they asked Towns if she and MaryCam were a lot alike. She laughed and said complete opposites. When they asked for an example I thought her answer was perfect. She said that their standards and goals were very much alike but the process in which they reached those goals was completely different.
In John chapter 21 the disciples were out fishing. They hadn't caught a thing all night. They heard a voice from the shore call out to cast from the right hand side of the boat ,and I know you remember the story, they pulled up more fish than the nets could hold. But my favorite part of the story comes in verse 7. When Peter realized it was Jesus on the shore who had called to them, he immediately jumped out of the boat and swam to shore. I love love love that! He could not get there fast enough! I love his personality. I think some people would frown and say he was impulsive and quick to act. Maybe not think things through. Maybe. When was the last time you jumped out of the boat without thinking and what made you jump? Wow! It's a lot to think about. What makes you jump out of the boat? ... I want to be like Peter and jump with full abandonment into the Saviors arms. Do you love that word? Full abandonment. There is such freedom in that word and yet for some maybe fear. But for Peter that day, he jumped with all of his heart to be with Jesus. When did you jump with all your heart and what made you jump?
I have missed being with y'all. I hope you are encouraged by Peter's story. I love all your comments so much! But most of you comment on my face book and others don't get the benefit of   reading your thoughts like I do. Y'all have so many precious stories and so much wisdom. If you comment please leave it in my blog so others can be encouraged by you.
Love Love Love Ruthie

 

Friendship

A Commission for a Friend

Patti, Darby, and Lyn...Melissa and Laura left before I could get their  picture

Thank you so much for stopping by today! I can't wait to tell you all about my day! Yesterday I spent the morning in my friend's kitchen watching her make bread from wheat berry grain. I am not exaggerating when I tell you I felt like I was on the Food Network. In the same way that I have millions of brushes and tubes of paint in my studio, Lyn has unbelievable appliances and gadgets on every square inch of counter space in her kitchen.  As I looked around Lyn's kitchen I realized this was her studio. Lyn began with some pretty impressive handouts, and then took 2 and 1/2 cups of wheat berry and in 50 seconds she had ground tiny seeds into about 3 cups of flour. Very cool! Then she mixed a bunch of ingredients including stuff like oil, honey, gluten, potato flakes, and all I am saying is about lunch time she pulled home made treasures from her oven that filled the kitchen with sweet aromas that awakened childhood memories of my grandmothers kitchen. Then Lyn graciously prepared and served me the most divine summer salad I'd ever tasted. It was as beautiful as it was delicious! I thoroughly enjoyed my cooking experience, But my favorite part was being with Lyn and watching her create magic in her studio. I wish you could have seen her! Whether she was kneading dough or greasing a loaf pan her eyes were like Christmas lights and her laughter was a constant reminder that she was completely in her element. I love Lyn's spirit of adventure! I love her fearlessness every time she takes on a new project! I love how she loves her husband and her children. I love her energy her passion and her conviction! And mostly I love her love  for the Lord! I cherish our friendship.
Think about your friendships. How many times did your mother tell you, and how many times have you told your own children, " You are like the company you keep!" It's true you know! I do believe you love everyone, But when it comes to choosing, what my family calls "weekend friends", your closest friends, you should find those people that think like you do, believe what you do, and have similar convictions. Proverbs 12:26 says The righteous is a guide to his neighbor, but the wicked leads them astray.  Where are your friends leading you? More importantly where are you leading your friends? "Weekend Friends" are few and far between. When you find one hang on to them. Love them. Proverbs 17:17 A friend loveth at all times. Grow and nurture that relationship. Protect that relationship. It takes time. It takes effort and sometimes even sacrifice. But at the end of the day the rewards of a true friend are priceless. A sweet friend is a treasure! To my sweet friends, I love love love you! Ruthie