I like schedules, planning, knowing what is coming, and pretty much pretending that I am in control which I know deep down I am not at all. I don’t like change and transitions are hard for me. When there are lots of changes I feel it like a small storm under the...
I am constantly in awe of the beauty that is there if you have your eyes open to it. Sometimes it will be the little things like the sweet change of season happening here in Colorado, the smell of the plants at the nursery this time of year when everyone is beyond...
| Matches | Notepad | Mug | Sage | Blanket | “It is December, and nobody asked if I was ready” said Sarah Kay, poet and teller of the hard truth of the cold end of the year. Do you feel that? Like time is running out before you’ve had time to check the time? ...
As we make our way closer to 2021 we want to offer a simple way to gather others that want to start the New Year with intention. With the division of this past year, financial uncertainty for many, and the reality of so many unknowns, I know that this time instead of...
Opening our doors and loving on those in our lives is such a sweet gift. The more I gather the more I learn how important it is and that so many just want to be invited. Invited into community, authentic relationship, and the joy that comes from that....
I believe spaces should be used well, beauty should not be saved just for company and home should reflect the hearts that live there and not just the trends we see around us. I am not a designer but putting home together has been my heart for as long as I can...
What started as being an impulse to give away one whole course on our site ended up being four whole courses every other week until now during the quarantine. Over that time we were able to give away over $650,000 in course content and we still can’t...
Last weekend I finally got around to cleaning out our laundry room and organizing our entertaining cabinets. That room had been a dumping ground since Christmas and with workshops (hopefully) starting back up again late June I knew it was time to tackle it. It was fun...
We have members from all over the world and like never before we see each other and can relate on a whole new level. I wish it wouldn’t have taken this pandemic but I am thankful for all of the ways I am seeing people reach out, encourage, give what they can and...
I love birthdays! One whole day to love on just one person. One day that allows you to give a person a glimpse into how much their life means to you! It is almost 22 years ago that our birthday tradition began. It was my birthday during our first year of...
We have the most incredible men and women that are a part of Team JO! They do so much behind and in front of the scenes to serve our customers and to support me. All that we put out into the world would not be possible without these incredible and talented team...
I would just like to encourage you this first day of 2020 to claim whatever “land” you have and to “build” upon it. Whatever you currently have is enough! So often we are in a hurry for what is next that we can forget that where we lay...
1. All of the things that made me weird growing up are now the things that make our life and business. I was the kid making up plays, gathering the neighbors, writing poetry under a tree (no one needs to read those), writing songs, designing clothing and...
I have been fortunate enough to be a part of Jen Rizzo’s Holiday Housewalk almost as long as I have been blogging. It is the sweetest honor to be asked again to share our home along with so many incredible design and DIY bloggers! I am an artist, business...
Thanksgiving is almost here and for many this is the beginning of the Christmas and holiday season. The day after Thanksgiving we go as a family to get our tree and each year the decorations get simpler and the meaning of the holiday becomes more known. We open our...
Opening our doors and loving on those in our lives is such a sweet gift. The more I gather the more I learn how important it is and that so many just want to be invited. Invited into community and authentic relationship and the joy that comes from that....
Twelve years ago I had a one, five and seven year old and once they were in bed each night I would create until the early hours in the morning. I look back now on those nights and know that those hours to myself to create and finding time no matter the...
You can read Part One HERE. You can read Part Two HERE. The first full day in a new city usually is full of too much to take in and when you are as far away from home as Africa it means new languages, smells, sounds, textures, colors, social norms, clothing, and even...
Last summer as we were getting out of the car to head to our town pool I had an email come into my inbox telling me that registration had just opened for my friend Michelle Fletcher’s first big workshop in Morocco. I have been friends with Michelle for many years now....
This fall I was in Round Top, Texas during antiques week to teach an art class, speak at an event and for two book signings. I have wanted to come to antiques week for years and with the beautiful invitations from Tara Royer Steele and Holly Kuhn I was eagerly packing...
Thank you Jen Rizzo for inviting me year after year to be included with some of the most talented men and women I know in your gorgeous holiday housewalk. Thank you for allowing this artist that loves home so much to hang out with all of these design and DIY bloggers...
Each year I love sharing some of the products that I am loving in my own life and I believe in supporting other small business owners and giving these products as gifts too! This is why it is so important to small business owners like me that when you love our...
While we were coming home from a teaching, speaking, book-signing trip in Round Top, Texas, my left eye went black/blind and I had only a small sliver of vision left as we were leaving Amarillo. Kelly and the kids were with me and Kelly was driving. I had been feeling...
It was a Friday night in Washington, DC in February of 1998. I had worked late and I was supposed to meet up with friends in a local brewery. I saw Kelly come in with a group of people and I instantly said to my friends, “Check out my future husband”. We...
Welcome to the Seasons of Home porch tour hosted by Kristen Whitby of Ella Claire. We have more land than porch so we are mixing the two and we are so glad you are here! When we were first looking at our home it was in the middle of winter and the land was covered in...
You can read part one HERE. We had decided by that first night to take the gift of our new home, land, and studio and see if we could make a go at it without a net. We made this decision in early May and there was no net as of August 1, 2017. As the days of no net...
Last year on May 4, 2017, I was just wrapping up an all-day workshop in my studio with local teenagers. The teachers and students had just walked onto the bus when I started to walk back down our gravel driveway as I saw Kelly approaching me. He let me...
***THIS WORKSHOP IS SOLD OUT*** The official launch date of my new book, The Painted Art Journal, is July 4th and because we were going to already be in Nashville and Franklin, TN at this time we decided to celebrate at our home away from home! We have been shown such...
I have felt more quiet and reflective lately and at first, it was because I didn’t think I had anything to say. Quiet in words, actions, and even creativity. We have just come through one of the largest business projects to date, finishing my first book...
We are surrounded by some pretty incredible neighbors but with all of the acreage between our homes, you have to go out of your way to connect and to see one another. That is probably why we are all out here and I would guess that most of us out here like...
I don’t even know how many years I have been able to be apart of Jen Rizzo’s gorgeous Holiday Housewalk! Each year it is such an honor. Last year was our first year in this home and we are slowly making it our own. These DIY and Decorating bloggers are...
THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED AND THE WINNERS ARE ANNOUNCED BELOW We started creating online courses back when it was not the norm. We hosted our first online course, Creatively Made: Rediscovering The Beauty of Your Gifts, on Kajabi (if anyone was with us way...
Welcome to the last blog post before Christmas for the Seasons of Home Holiday Series. It is always so much fun to share our home and to see all of the inspiration from everyone else in the tour. This tour was created by Kristen Whitby or Ella Claire and the whole...
With Kelly working with me full time, we have had a little more time for some new fun projects. One of the things I wanted to start doing is to share a little more behind the scenes in our day to day life. Because I am still in full on book deadline mode we...
Watching friends and peers tap into their deep giftings and then sharing it with the world is very inspiring. I am surrounded by so many men and women that are intentionally showing up in their lives and the impact is far reaching. I am watching friends start...
Sometimes a song is so powerful that as it plays you see a moving picture going through your mind. Maybe you see your own story or maybe you see the story of another. Either way I know that each of us have been in a situation where the air was knocked out of us and in...
(Image from Gillian Lee Smith) I am rushing around this morning trying to get everything in place so I can leave today for Scotland. This time I am not teaching or working at all. My husband has given me the amazing early birthday gift of studying with artist Gillian...
My dear friend Kimberly Taylor has found her passion outside her gorgeous home and family and it is contagious. I would love for you to hear her heart and consider helping in the final stretch of this amazing opportunity to give. We are ALMOST there! ******* My...
I wanted to announce the winner of the art supply giveaway and camera bag! Thank you for being excited and sharing the new online art class Studying Under The Masters {portraits and self-portraits}. If you love to learn about the lives of the artists, the styles they...
There is one place we are all at again and again in our lives. You would think with this much practice we would be so much more graceful handling it and learning from it. No matter your age or where you are at in your life we are constantly in a state of waiting....
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