Yay for tarot!

Here's my reading for the day:
"The Wheel of Fortune
The wheel of fortune is turning in your favor. Many projects can now enjoy great success. Soon be time to reap benefits of what you are sowing. A cycle is continuing. Success. Unexpected luck. Happiness. Something new is emerging and will bring new and exciting energy. Opportunity. Have faith in what is happening at the moment. Divine forces at work to bring good fortune into your life. Trust in the cycle of life. Possible new money on the way."

I love it! I do have lots of orders to fill right now (so I really shouldn't be on the internet, but I need my fix!).

Two days ago I made a huge change in my life. I had to let go (hopefully temporarily) of something that I allowed to consume every thought, which pulled all of my energy out of me. My fault for choosing those thoughts over healthier ones. But I couldn't stop, no matter what I tried...meditation, yoga, art, music, therapy. I struggled with having to let go for the sake of health and my own productivity. Negativity can be a straight jacket for my brain. Only being able to focus on that was a wedge in everything I've been trying to do in my life....heal, move on, grow a sustainable and productive business, have another baby, etc. Though it was hard, I believe that it will be better in the end for EVERYONE. Since then a weight has been lifted. I've been working on myself, and I'm already seeing positive results in my life. I feel better about myself which is giving me more confidence in what I'm doing. I'm now realizing my blessings and reveling in them. When I realize where my life has taken my career, I prance around, giddy with knowing that this new venture of mine, is the real deal. After not even two months of doing it, it's already a success! It is only now that I can focus on that and know that our baby girl has had the biggest hand in getting it to work, and for that I owe her all of the credit.

I see people who live a life where they are always seeing themselves as the victim of something. (insert me in my last career here). To that, I believe the only one doing the victimizing is yourself. You choose your thoughts. You choose your path. Last week someone told me "you can't change anyone else, you can only change yourself. Don't get caught up in other people's lessons. And remember, there are no friends or enemies, there are only teachers." Two huge lessons in one honest statement. It turned on a huge light in my life that I intend to follow and remember forever...which is why I decided to put that on here. Not everyone gets to talk with such great advisers, and maybe it will help someone else too.

This post is my big cheers to positivity! May it fill all the little crevices of you and overtake the negativity. Bottoms up!

Penelope update. Good news!

Penelope had her heart surgery on Tuesday afternoon. Laura said it went pretty well. She is in recovery right now. They closed up her chest cavity on Thursday. They left it open for a couple of days because her capillaries were "oozing afer the surgery". She will be in recovery for some time. They don't know when she'll be out, and most of us heart parents can relate to that. They never give you a definite! But with lots of positive energy and prayers, she'll get out sooner. So, keep em up! And thanks to you all for being lovely followers of the blog. You're helping others with your thoughts.

While I'm posting news, I wrote about baby Hope a few weeks back and asked for prayers for her. Well, little Miss Hope showed us what she's made of and look at her now! She's home and doing fabulously!

Okay, I'm off to watch OSU school Michigan....and then off to Planet Green.
Happy Saturday!

Prayers for Penelope

Hey all! I got some bad news the other day about another baby born with a heart defect. Little Miss Penelope Jane Ross was born with her aorta and pulmonary valves in the wrong place. She is stable right now but is supposed to have surgery this week (I'm not sure of the day). She is the niece of my friend, Laura, who is an amazing woman. Her and her family are very scared for little Penelope right now, which is very understandable. Please keep mom, dad, baby and family in your prayers. They need lots of strength right now. I'll update when I have one.
Thank you!
Steph

open house!

Hey all! So, I was asked to be the featured artist at Planet Green for our open house on November 28th. I'll have all my work here to view/purchase. There will be other local artists/craftswomen here, as well...along with food and refreshments and lots of holistic advise from Rebecca Reynolds. Feel free to stop on down! Should be a nice zen-filled treat of a day! Here's the info page.
xoxo!!
Steph

new piece

up for sale here.
:)


Heading to planet green to work. Come visit me!
Enjoy the weekend!

open for business

Hello all! I'm proud to announce the opening of my online etsy shop. Please check it out and pass it along to friends/family! I named the company "Little Lion Designs" after our baby girl (we called her little lion often!). I might be repeating myself here, but I'm using mostly repurposed fabrics from old clothes I've cut up or have been given...or I have found at local thrift shops. All clothes are washed in an eco-friendly baby-safe detergent I get from another etsy seller (crunchy clean). So, the fabrics are freshly cleaned and then turned into art. I am going to be constantly updating inventory. So, new art should appear weekly. And remember, I do custom orders! Any size, any colors, any images....I'm at your demand. Click here to get to the store.

I am also working part-time at Planet Green in Rocky River. I know I'm repeating that too, but I want you all to come visit the shop, if you can. Christmas is coming up and we could use more locally produced, ethically made, sustainable-living products in our lives. I really like it here so far. It feels very Zen. I might not make much money, but my soul is much more peaceful now that I am doing things I believe in.

Not much more going on here. Pretty quiet and restful for us. Looking forward to being snowed in, all cozy-like.

I hope your fall is as pretty as ours. :)

Baby Aiden

Hey all, I hesitated posting this, but baby Aiden (who I requested prayers for in a previous blog) had his heart surgery on the 23rd and didn't make it through. His parents need the prayers now, and I ask that you send them a few. You can read details at his blog here.

I don't understand why these things happen. It's so so sad. I asked Kaia to meet up with little Aiden and show him around.

frog

I love him.

my new career?

So, most of you know I got laid-off, along will 20-30 other designers at my company. They laid-off every designer in the whole company. Not really sure of the "strategy" there but...I was pretty burnt out. After 3 design jobs, in advertising, in-house and publishing, I think I'm done. I feel I reached my max pay at my last job, and all jobs (all one of them in cleveland) would be a paycut. In order to NOT have to go back to a stressful and time-consuming job, I've landed in the lap of a great opportunity. My fabulous sister-in-law got talking with a lady who owns Planet Green in Rocky River about the piece of art I made from scrap fabrics from Kaia's nursery. Turns out, this lady is a shining hope in my life right now. She asked Kim to have me call her, and I did. She gave me a part time position in her store and wants to sell my fabric art from there. She makes it sound like I can really do this as a living. The day after I got laid-off, I was listening to "this american life" (holla!!!! who listens? it's great) and the episode was about Plan A. The gist was that most of us are working at jobs that are plan b, c, d, e, etc. But sometimes those jobs can get you back to Plan A.

I never was a huge career oriented individual. I felt pressured to go to college from friends and family. I went. I graduated. I now owe (still) $27,000 to that school and am super done with my graduate profession. Now edebted to them until I'm 52....I've decided to take my lay-off as a means to get back to plan a...with the help of this new gig. This week, I rushed to get 6 pieces together in order to have a base (and an idea of how to go about this) of artwork to sell. It's all made from re-purposed fabrics, because, let's face it....buying new fabrics for this would not be so green to sell at Planet Green. And, I'm a recycler! So, it's all non-toxic, voc free and completely green art. It's all for sale (hopefully) next week at planet green, but I will be eventually creating a web-site to sell it too. If you want a piece, let me know! I can do anything in any colors and any animals, scenery, etc. Here's what I did this week, the sizes range from 8x10 to 16x20. I have a couple of humungo canvases in the basement I can create and also can do pretty much any size anyone would want. Some of them look spotty and the colors look off from the originals, but i swear it's the camera and not the art. I used repurposed buttons from the shirts I bought at the thrift store, so no new plastic there. And the chording on some of them is metallic and also recycled from christmas present wrapping and such from the past 10 or so years.

please share!
Here's the one I made for Kaia. I have to name the company after her somehow. Open to suggestions! Kaia's Kandles maybe? lemme know. this one is NEVER for sale. ;)


Here are the rest:
This one is pretty big.

good news and continued prayers

Since finding out that someone posted Kaia's story and prayer requests on babycenter.com's forum for babies with heart defects, I've been an avid reader/prayer for other heart babies on there that are still struggling.

A lovely lady, Paula, from there was following Kaia's story after she found out her baby girl has HLHS (hypoplastic left heart). Baby Hope was born September 14th with kidneys deemed "too underdeveloped for surgery" at the hospital she was born in. Instead of "taking her home to die", mom and dad took her to the Cleveland Clinic for a second opinion, where a God-sent surgeon agreed to give Hope the Norwood surgery, the same surgery Kaia had. In under two weeks post-op, baby Hope is now in the step-down unit, getting ready to go home with her family. Please keep baby Hope in your prayers. She still will need the other two surgeries HLHS kids need to get them to where they need to be to function as well as possible. She has seen many miracles and, no doubt, will be seeing many more. She's been close to my heart and constantly in my prayers. Her story is here.

Another baby needs many many prayers, as well. His name is Aiden and was born to two very loving and extremely devoted parents, Levi and Tracy. Aiden was born on October 9th and has multiple heart defects including unbalanced AVSD with pulmonary atresia and heterotaxy syndrome). I read his story and am all too familiar with the words and feelings and raw emotion of watching your child, wondering if you will ever be able to take them home. Giving it to God's hands and trusting Him to help when all medical options seem to be failing. Baby Aiden will need a full heart transplant, and it looks like they may have found a hospital willing to do it. Please keep baby Aiden, mom and dad in your thoughts and prayers. You can see his sweet face and follow his story here.

there are so many kids out there with these defects, and it's something I never thought nor heard about until it happened to us. These children are truly amazing and special and have shown strength in unfathomable ways. And after being a parent to a heart baby, I know the kind of strength it takes for the moms and dads to get through it as well. They need lifted as well.
thanks for helping!