Monday, June 30, 2014

Writing Places is selling YARN!

We're now selling yarn at Writing Places!

I love yarn. I love fiber. I love playing with yarn and fiber. Crochet is my favorite hobby. I take it with me in the car, to work, on some vacations. I crochet every night starting around 7 p.m.. I crochet when the family comes over on Sundays. We'll watch football, eat, chat and I crochet. It's very relaxing and, well, I love yarn.

Because we felt like the store needed a boost, I started looking around for companies that would let my small business sell yarn. That's when I found a company called Darn Good Yarns. They accepted my request to sell without hesitation and they had a good rate. In fact, Nicole, the CEO, and Maggie were extremely helpful in getting me started.

Besides their extraordinary customer skills, the reason I wanted to sell Darn Good Yarns is because its products come from a co-op in India and Nepal that empowers women to earn an income and help their families receive medical care, education and other necessities. In many countries around the globe, people are crippled by such deep poverty that I cannot begin to understand what they suffer.  Women and girls are deeply affected by it and become vulnerable to all sorts of terrible things. Sales of Darn Good Yarns helps people in Nepal and India to overcome the crippling effects of poverty.

That is also why my shop helps out organizations like Nazarene Compassionate Ministries and Compassion for Africa. Because together we can make a difference in the lives of people everywhere - including people in the United States.

So here is some of the yarn. There will be more posts on it later. I just wanted to give you a peek:

Firecracker Silk Resolution 

Banana Fiber in Green

Napalese Hand Spun 100 percent Silk

Banana Fiber - Radiant Orchid

Nighttime Rainbow - Reclaimed Silk Yarn


This isn't it. There is ribbon and more silk at Writing Places and more is coming!

What do you think?


Thursday, June 26, 2014

Unintended Break is Over

After what turned into a long unintended break, WritingPlaces - the Blog is back up and running. 

I do apologize for the long time away. For some reason, I hit a dry spell in many areas. Do you ever get that way sometimes? 

During the break, however, we have kept busy. After all of the high school and junior high games we attended, at the end of May and into June we went to North Carolina and visited family. 

We visited Cape Lookout:

Cape Lookout National Seashore

This is where Mike's sister Susie thought it would be fun to teach us how to clam:

Mike, Louie and Tasha hunting for clams

Our brother-in-law Louie is holding what we found. They were all too small so we put them back, but I had a lot of fun doing this:


Now we're back in Colorado. A week after we returned, Mike and I went on a hike up at Lovell Gulch to shoot wildflower pictures:

Lovell Gulch

Lovell Gulch is above Colorado Springs and is a great place to capture pictures of wildflowers in mid-June to early July.

Bellflower


Indian Paintbrush


Iris
Unsure - does anyone know?



Taking pictures of the bluebells, which are very low to the ground.


Pike's Peak
Now I am playing keyboard for our church's Saturday night service. We have a band but we do not have a name yet. Here is my son Jon and I practicing. He's a great guitar player. He also plays bass and the electric guitar.



With everything going on this summer,  I have taken time to read - usually at night. This book by Parker J. Palmer continues to serve as a great encouragement:

Amazon
Have you read it? It's about listening to the "voice" of your life and allowing the open and closed doors along your journey to show you how God can use you right now and in the future. I believe that is why I am back writing this blog. Writing is a part of me. It's part of the nature that God instilled in me and how he wants me to express myself. Crochet, photography and music are other ways as well. It all works together somehow.

Now that I am back, I would like to continue with the "mission" of this blog - to talk about art and spirituality, to show what is going on at WritingPlaces@etsy.com . I hope to also offer some free patterns and book reviews. We'll just have to let the Lord lead the blog and move ahead! 

Blessings!