Makers Gonna Make

Tonight was again another awesome craft night.  Same place, same women, same fun to be shared by all crafters. I brought my sisters with me tonight so it was even better: Sisters Craft Night Out!

I have to say how much I love this place.  I have been looking forward to this night and coming back since last week. The Spiffing Jewelry Studio and Warehouse has such a great vibe and is gorgeous.  It's he most perfect office I could ever imagine and I seriously want to work there.   There are so many positive and pretty things I just can't even begin.  Here is just a taste from the bathroom.

I stole my inspiration from this post from a custome silver cuff at Spiffing Jewelry.  I love what is says and what it means.  "Makers Gonna Make".  It is true. It carries over to my life in other ways and boils down to "I'm Gonna Be Me".  Runners gonna run.  Momma's gonna mother. Pollyannas gonna  be positive.  It's a fun little motto to think on.  I really like the cuff. 

Anyways, tonight the crafters crafter.  The makers made custom eye shadows and brown sugar body scrubs.  I smell fantastic and I cannot wait to play with my shadows!

I made a chocolate spice fudge body polish that smells so deep and delectable. It really smells like a dark fudge. The recipe was simple and Pinterest worthy. It was not a fail at all.  The recipe for the body scrub is simple.  It's 2 parts brown sugar to 1 part olive oil.  The sugar should be moist and a little crumbly. Mine was a smudge to oily but I like it that way because I have super dry skin.   After the sugar and oil are mixed you add in essential oils or fragrances. I put in 2/3 tablespoon Ghiradeli chocolate powder, I believe it was Dutch processed, and about 2 teaspoons vanilla extract, maybe a bit more.  I thought I would be done but the scent was still a little flat.  I'll be honest and admit that I meant to grab the vanilla extract but had the great misfortune of dashing pumpkin spice fragrance in my scrub.  I didn't even realize until it was too late.  I'm glad though because it really rounded out the scent and deepened it.  The scrub smells really chocolately and dark with warm notes of spice and a hint of sweet cream.  I got lots of compliments on it. 

We also made custom eyeshadows. The pictures here don't do it justice at all! I made a lovely coppery creamy gold that I've been looking all over to find to no avail. I think I'll call it "Penny, Penny, Penny!" It's got a bright shine to it and photographs well.  The other two are beautiful in person but don't photograph as well; they are kind of subtle. The aqua I am going to call "Aquaholics Annonymous".  I love this color and have it in clothes, shoes, jewelry, accessories, etc.  I really am addicted. I'm not big on colors so this should be fun and the gold undertones and microfine glitter should be gorgeous.  Lastly, the dusky purple is really pretty and intense but hard to film the bright fuchsia microfine mica that really set this off. I'll try to get a better picture of this one. It reminds me of a grown up version of Harold and the Purple Crayon. I think I'll call it "Harry's Purple Pen".   They are all really pretty. So pretty  and were a lot of fun to make.

I'm again thankful for creative outlets, sister time, and the opportunity to meet new people and make new friends.  It's soul enriching and those opportunities can be hard to come by.  If you are lucky to find them you just have to give in and go with it. 

Things that Make my Heart Soar

I feel so energized and if my heart was no longer caged in my chest it would be flyings out of my body tonight.  I have had a wonderful evening renewing my spirit and making new friends. I am drunk on the art of crafting.

A training I went to a few weeks ago said that your work is not supposed to fulfill you and bring you wholeness, accolades or renew your spirit.  You are supposed to get that from outside your job.  It's been hard for me to think of where I would find that away from work since I am at work so much and it has become a large part of me.  I think I found it tonight. I feel like I found my peace.

I met a wonderful woman named Amberly on my neighborhood Facebook page about a year ago. we are both young moms and our besides being in the same hood, our sons played toddle soccer together.  She is wonderfully upbeat and positive. Amberly strives to find joy and optimism in everything. It's refreshing.  We have never really hung out npbut I secretly hoped we would.  A few weeks ago she posted on Facebook about an Advent Calendar craft meet up and asked if any one would like to go.  I replied I would be interested but keep me posted as the date came close.  On Monday she messages me to see if  I was still interested and tossed out that she had reserved two spots for us.  I was excited and nervous. It was out of my comfort zone yet right up my ally.  I was in.  

Tonight was the day. I had no expectations but I was full of hope for a fun evening.  I walked into a warehouse that was full of wonderful crafting supplies. I was overwhelmed and excited all at once. There was a board with 25 tiny craft boxes and a million different things I could do to them.  It was wonderful; like a candy shop for crafters, a wonderland of trinkets and ribbons.

We set out to design and create our Advent Calendars. I have entered into a gold and silver phase lately and that was my theme.  Amberyly set out to craft a calendar that matched her Christmas decorations.  Each person there tonight had their own themes and reasons, they all came out beautifully.

Something about the freedom to create really set my soul on fire. I feel free and so happy, as if is as in a drug or drunk but I'm not.  I am just happy and feel the most like me I have in awhile. It was a beautiful evening and I am so thankful to Amberly for treating me. It really made me feel so happy.