Make Every Day Valentine’s Day

Posted February 16, 2010 by Paula's Paradise
Categories: art, Books, favorite things, inspiration, little luxuries, love, wonderful ideas, writing

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With this Pride & Prejudice-inspired Mr. Darcy Proposal Dish Towel in your kitchen, every day can be Valentine’s Day, with its fab reminder to express your love for your special sweetheart — or your own dear wonder-full sweet lovin’ self! Whatever your passion, proposing to your own uniquely creative muse is a sure start to a renewed and longstanding love affair with Life! Ahhhh …. daily romance …. xo!

Mr. Darcy Dish Towel via Modite via Design Mom via Poppytalk

p.s.  My post wouldn’t be complete without a note of thanks to award-winning author and speaker Jan Phillips as the source of so many of my thoughts on being wedded to your creative bliss. Her wonderful book, Marry Your Muse: Making A Lasting Commitment to Your Creativity made a lasting impression when I first received it as a gift many years ago (so much so, that I’ve practically forgotten I didn’t come up with that brilliant concept myself!) It’s available here, along with a new book called The Art of Original Thinking – The Making of A Thought Leader.  Another book that has influenced my thoughts on the value of keeping all of your love more alive by being passionate about your creative essence is The Conscious Heart by Gay Hendricks and Kathlyn Hendricks.  Brava to all the passionate champions of artistic amour! (and as with everything I post here, this is not something I’m selling, just stuff that I like that makes life more wonder-full!)



Happy Groundhog Day!

Posted February 2, 2010 by Paula's Paradise
Categories: favorite things, inspiration, movies

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I just love this movie.  It’s the kind you can watch again and again and again. (And that’s only funny if you’ve seen it!) Will Punxatawney Phil see his shadow this year? Will there be six more weeks of winter? Or will you just hop on a flight to The Bahamas and enjoy the shadow of your beach umbrella!

Butterfly Inspiration

Posted January 19, 2010 by Paula's Paradise
Categories: art, collage, favorite things, inspiration

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Postcard collage for ARTchix challenge inspired by vintage butterfly postcard

another postcard collage inspired by ARTchix butterfly-themed weekly challenge

I adore butterflies. And that made this week’s ARTchix challenge extra fun in making these postcard collages. All kinds of creative inspiration takes wing at the ARTchix Studio blog: http://www.myartisticlife.typepad.com

My Idea of Housework

Posted December 13, 2009 by Paula's Paradise
Categories: art, collage, favorite things, little luxuries, wonderful ideas

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I love great design, and I’m an ardent new fan of the work of Shannon Martin, Girl Designer.

A dear friend sent me one of her smile-inspiring packets of bath salts … the package alone makes me Supremely Happy. (The lovely scented and silken sea salts are just a great bonus!)

There’s a whole line of fun stuff by Shannon Martin at a company called Madison Park Greetings:

sold online: at: http://www.parksidepapers.com/catalog.php?category_id=8&subcategory_id=20

And, by the way, any giggle-worthy cool stuff I post about here is just stuff I like — I’m not selling anything or getting anything other than the joy of sharing little treats that will give you more reasons to be lovin’ life.

Click here for Shannon Martin's goods.

Tra-la.

Sea Grapes and The Power of Pause

Posted October 20, 2009 by Paula's Paradise
Categories: Books, Garden, indescribable, inspiration

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SeaGrapes

The semi-wild, abundant island garden in my back yard is full of tropical treasures. This is the season of sea grapes in The Bahamas. These beauties are growing on a big shady tree just behind the house and have a subtly sweet, somewhat tart taste when they turn a ripe purple.  The big sea grape leaves are about the size of dinner plates, and in fact, a wonderful guide out at The Garden of The Groves once told a story about how she remembered her family in the small charming “out islands” of The Bahamas using these sturdy leaves as the perfect natural disposable plates for outdoor dining!  It’s so easy to take the ever-green, infinitely lush landscape here for granted, and so exhilarating to stop and really admire it with gratitude. A favorite author of mine, Terry Hershey, is a great advocate of slowing down and embracing the Sacred Present.  His funny stories and gentle reminders to pay attention to the moments that make us feel most alive are something I look forward to in his weekly Sabbath Moments newsletters, and now in a new blog that he’s just started — can’t wait to read more of his musings and witty wisdom more often! (www.terryhershey.com) I am also enjoying a copy of his latest book, The Power of Pause. It’s so good to stop and savor the sea grapes of life … the sweet and the unsweet … the ripe and the not-yet-ripe beauty all around us and within us.

PowerOfPause.bookcoverhttp://www.terryhershey.com/power-of-pause.htm

Sweet Chocolates

Posted October 19, 2009 by Paula's Paradise
Categories: favorite things, pets

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The labrador brothers are a daily joy. They turned three years old today, but can still puppy-zoom. Shiloh and Fazer (who was named for a famous chocolate in Finland-that’s a story for another day) are just gorgeous to be around and can chase and leap after a ball like there’s no tomorrow. Happy Birthday, buddies!Shiloh.Fazer

First Fall Cool Snap & Plum Cake

Posted October 19, 2009 by Paula's Paradise
Categories: cooking

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PlumCake

Today brought the first touch of cool temps to the island … seemed like the perfect time to try out this new plum cake recipe I found at Savory Sweet Life.  (Also found some amazingly choice plums at Butler Specialty Foods last week!) This cake smelled heavenly while it was baking and tastes luscious — a hit any time of the year! The picture is not the best — cameras all around and not one of them had batteries in working order! — so I snapped this pic with the built-in MacBook camera … not a bad shot actually considering I was hanging the laptop upside down over the upside-down cake!

At any rate, that plum-delicious (sorry, couldn’t resist) not-too-hot, not-too-cold warm fall/winter weather we’re famous for here in The Bahamas is on the way … hooray!



The Pioneer Woman – love this blog!

Posted September 25, 2009 by Paula's Paradise
Categories: cooking, favorite things, Garden, inspiration, wonderful ideas

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My friend, Vanessa, told me about this super-fun blog that herds up all kinds of things I enjoy: cooking, photography, Photoshop, gardening, and a delightful and funny look at life and love. A definite outpost of inspiration:

Charging Colts by Ree Drummond, www.thepioneerwoman.com

Charging Colts by Ree Drummond, http://www.thepioneerwoman.com

www.thepioneerwoman.com

On creative wings

Posted August 16, 2009 by Paula's Paradise
Categories: art, collage, inspiration, wonderful ideas

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The current ARTchix art challenge at their cool blog inspired this salute to creative thoughts that take flight in the face of bright, beautiful, and whimsical ARTchix goodies. This postcard-sized piece of art uses images from a “masterboard” of art bits created by Helga Strauss, as well as images from Chixies Hat Affair, Tangerine Travels, the Romantic Keepsakes Kit, a just-the-right-size clipping from Helga’s printed newsletter, and paper from a pretty floral gift bag in the background. Hats off to all the talented and creative artists out there who lift us up on the wings of their wonderful ideas & playful thoughts!

LoveAChallenge.Postcard

Angels with Paws

Posted August 11, 2009 by Paula's Paradise
Categories: art, collage, favorite things, pets

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Author Susan Ariel Rainbow Kennedy (SARK) calls our furry four-legged friends, “Angels with Paws”, and I’ve always loved that phrase, along with our own resident angels: three frisky rescue cats, and two kissy chocolate labradors!  As an obvious animal lover, that makes this week’s ARTchix Studio art challenge a favorite with its theme of CATS. My 11-year old daughter wanted to get in on the art fun too this week, so I’ll post both of our postcard-size collages made from ARTchix goodies, and feline images rescued from old magazines, a kitten bookmark, and even one cat cutie scanned from a t-shirt!  Having fun, making art ….a purrrfect combination! (And even more wonderful with your pets closeby —here’s to all those who open their hearts to make a forever home for the countless dogs and cats awaiting adoption in the world’s overcrowded rescue shelters, and to the volunteers and donors who contribute to this very worthy cause.)

Cat Hearts I Love You Postcard

Cat Hearts I Love You Postcard

Full of Sunshine & Love Cat Postcard

Full of Sunshine & Love Cat Postcard


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