Tuesday, March 31, 2015

Happy Tuesday Everyone!!!

We had that awesome arts and crafts show this past weekend and now I need to get busy crafting again.   I need to build up my stock for our next show.  Where will we be next?  I am glad you asked.  We will be at Melrose Plantation near Natchitoches, LA in April.  If you live in that area or plan on coming through town, I hope you’ll stop by the arts and crafts event at Melrose.  The two photos included here are of Melrose.




I love the quote below when it comes to crafting.  You know why?  Because most of my work is IMperfect.  I like it that way.  I have heard to artists and crafters who purposely place an imperfection in their pieces.  (Or if it's done accidentally, they just leave it.)  Well let me tell you ... mine will be imperfect just because there is an imperfect person making it!



Now, what some people call an imperfection is just simply a distressed effect.  I love distressing the crafts I work on.  I like the shadowing and smudged, worn look it gives things.  To me it gives those things I love some character.  I love the look of corners that are rounded, edges that have lost their color, areas around knobs or pulls that have nicks and worn places from all the years of love and use.  This is why you’ll see things in my Etsy shop or in our craft show booth with distressed edges.  I remember when my dfil and dh worked on staining an unfinished trunk.  They did a beautiful job staining it.  After they were done, I wanted to get a chain out and go after the trunk with it.  Or, I wanted to go after the edges with some sand paper to give it a worn look,  Well, I haven't done it yet but I think I will one day.  I just can't bring myself to do it *quite* yet!  One day, one day.



This makes me think about how we as people are often distressed, but distressed people is not a good thing like distressed furniture an décor.  Sure, we are all imperfect but distress is not something we want in our life.  We don’t want those sandpaper days (or people) who wear on us and make us feel discouraged or dragged down at the end of the day.  However, it is often our imperfect state that leads to the distress.  Since we can’t live in perfection situations and things people say leave us feeling troubled.  Sometimes it’s hard to leave all the difficulty behind.  However, there is one who will carry it for us, IF we would only turn it over to Him.  Jesus says in Matthew 11:29-30:
28 “Come to me, all who are tired from carrying heavy loads, and I will give you rest. 29 Place my yoke[a] over your shoulders, and learn from me, because I am gentle and humble. Then you will find rest for yourselves 30 because my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”



Are you feeling distressed and stressed?  Want to find a place of rest?  You can find it with the One who will take over your load.  How about a fresh start this week?  Easter is the perfect time to start over.  First Baptist Church of Houma will offer 3 services each weekend starting Easter weekend on Saturday at  6:00 PM and Sunday at 9:00 and 10:30 AM.  If you would like someone to pray for you, you can just leave your name in the comments below or email me at customcoastersbycindy@comcast.net.

My family and I hope we’ll see you down the road or around town in Houma, LA.  Let us know how we can serve you with our products.

God bless,

Cindy