Spoonful of Imagination

Add it to a Family for Something Beautiful

A Little Lie I Believed

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Have you ever walked away from a job, relationship, neighborhood, hobby or situation and thought, “did I just lose a little of my identity?”

Closing the studio was such a process that I had wrapped up parts of me in. It was a dream that I fought hard for (and survived a world wide pandemic with) and it oozed out my passion. Using the creative process to build connection, community, joy, health, pride, amazing risk takers, and confident decision makers is so much of my heart beat. To shut a place down that did all that,  made me question if I was shutting down parts of me.

I will never forget that May 5th day, where I taught my last lesson in one of our local elementary schools. I cried all day long, as the above pictures show.

I was so proud of the work we had done, but I was also grieving the end to a beautiful season. I can’t look at that picture of me dancing, with excited artists, while I taught about Indiana and how to personalize a sign to YOU (the artist) without tearing up. It’s a lesson I raised money for, dreamed up and got to teach in our eight elementary schools for over 4 years.

Over time, I realized it’s ok that there was a lot of my identity tied up in the studio. It’s good to know who we are, what our giftings are, and what is our passion. I didn’t lose my identity. I took it with me. I’m still creative and I still want to help others create and connect. It just looks different in this new season, so I want to take my experience of blogging for 13 years, running that studio for 5, and my outlook on life and help others in ways I can this season.

Last week, I gave away my FREE art birthday party check list. After hosting hundreds of art parties in that studio or in my home, I have learned a formula that is kink free to hosting a party that honors a birthday child, creates a special memory, and has everyone leaving happy. If you didn’t get this, email me back and I will send it to you!

I will let you in on a little secret as faithful followers here. I am creating an online course. It’s super exciting and a little scary, but I am convinced that I can keep helping others in the creative process and that little lie that I was losing my voice to hep others is officially dead. After sharing that free tutorial, I immediately got this message…

I can’t believe you gave all that away for FREE! You spent so many years developing that method! You are too generous

My first thought was it worked! I can use my experience to still help others. So, I’d love to invite you to journey this new path with me. I will continue to give away free content like this and behind the scenes I am learning about course creation and creating my own. I will be sharing more, but one way to stay in the loop is to join my weekly FREE newsletter. I hope I’ll see you inside there soon.

If you are believing a little lie too, I hope you can push past, work through it, and see how actually that pain point is a strength that you can use to help others too.

The Making of a Mini Mural

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Mister Rogers. Was he a part of your childhood?

I watched the show a little growing up, but I think Mister Rogers really became a hero for me more as I was an adult. His philosophy and perspective for children and their development is one that I just really respect.

I recently read Fred’s biography, as I was wondering what made this man into who he was.

I have been in a season of change with my own work. As we worked to close down our non-profit studio, I have been thinking through what do I want to do now!? I really still want to help people tap into their imagination, be creative, and feel empowered to bring their ideas to life. So, not much has changed in my passion. I just want to go about it differently.

You can imagine how encouraging it was to read about Fred’s life and how every 5-6 years he changed the work he was doing. Did you know that!? I’m not going to get this perfect but in a quick summary…

  • He left a growing career at NBC to work on a free children’s program in Pittsburgh.
  • He began and worked on the Children’s Corner for 6 years
  • He stopped that and went to seminary
  • He then did not get a church after seminary, but he wanted the TV to be his pulpit
  • He then moved to Canada to begin Mister Rogers in a 15 min show
  • He moved back to Pittsburgh to begin the Mister Rogers Neighborhood that we know
  • He quit that to work with adults -wanting to help them, so they can better help kids
  • He went back to Mister Rogers Neighborhood

I’m not sure how you sum up Fred Rogers work, but I tried. One theme that I took away from his life is he stayed true to two core principals.

  1. He knew who he was and what he cared about and loved.
  2. He had a passion for children development with education.

He might have changed how he went about his work, but he never stopped trying to help children imagine, learn, and walk through big emotions and situations of life. That was so encouraging to read, as I still want to do a lot of the work I used to do. It just needs to be different in this season.

Fred’s mom often said to Fred, “Look for the helpers. There are always people helping”. That phrase helped Fred through scary times and he used it to help others. As I process the world and how many people’s lives have changed drastically the last few years, I wonder how ok people really are? This concept can go lots of directions, but without talking politics, pandemic, or work force, we still know there are heroes all around us. Heroes on the front lines.

The concept of a “hero” can be a big pressure to feel or believe is impossible to reach. How do you become a hero? Maybe you don’t want to be a fire fighter, nurse, doctor, policeman, or teacher, but you can be a helper.

We can be helpers by doing simple acts like…

smiling at a stranger in the supermarket.

holding the door for an older citizen.

taking the trash out for your family.

pushing the shopping cart.

playing a game with a younger child.

making a meal for a hurting family.

sitting with someone grieving.

writing someone a card.

There are so many ways we can be helpers. In this simple ways of being helpers, we really are being heroes too. I love how Fred used easy words to say powerful concepts.

This quote stuck with me and I imagined how inspiring it could be to live on a big wall in a community. I took Fred’s whimsical, childlike heart and paired it with his mom’s powerful words and dreamed up this mural.

I had to get the idea out of my head, so I painted it on a sign and got my talented friend, Beth, to do the words. It’s our mini mural.

We can all be helpers. We all have that power. Being a hero might seem intimidating, but we can all do simple, everyday acts to show the people we interact with that they matter. Taking the time to really “see” people is what can help heal whatever we all just went through these last few years.

We are better together.

Now, don’t you see this painting on a city wall!? Where should it go??? Do you relate your life to books and back to real life again? Go out and be a helper today. I am off to make my family dinner ;).

What I Noticed From My Social Media Break

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Hello friends!

Most of you probably know that we have closed our non-profit art studio this summer. With that big change, a lot of questions, comments, and feelings from within myself and from people came as a result.

Change can be tricky, right!? It is one of those layered things that can mix both beautiful and hard. I have found that during change is a tender season, which makes you really moldable. It’s all the more reason to protect what voices you listen too and how you invest your time. I knew for this season I needed to pull back from social media and be more present with those who know me… and more quiet to hear God’s voice.

I took two months off social media, and it was a great break. A few things I noticed:

I looked up a lot more. Have you found yourself saying you wish you had more time in the day?

I got so much more time back in my day when I went off social media. I don’t play games on my phone, so other than normal phone calls, texts, and emails, my phone is a camera. When I stopped using social media, my phone time went down from 5+ hours a day to less than 1 hour. I often would pick up my phone in an empty moment and realize I had nothing to do on it, so I would sit it down and go look to see what everyone else was doing. I’ve watched a lot of live basketball 🙂

I processed my own stuff a lot more. When our mind is full so are our emotions.

I found that not seeing and absorbing as much information, pictures, reels, videos, and content my mind was more freed up. I was able to think through my own thoughts, feelings, and emotions; as well as, have energy to do the same for those around me. As an ennegram 4, I am a big feeler. I can feel what others may be feeling in a situation. That can be considered a gift in a lot of social settings, but it also can be a big weight in processing and carrying things that were never mine to carry. In this time of not seeing others lives so upfront, I did feel a little lost at first. I quickly then got to really understand what I was carrying with closing a chapter of my life (with the studio) and where my kids ages and needs are today.

I focused on what I enjoyed. Take a picture of what catches your eye.

For the first time in years, when I scroll my phone’s camera roll, I see my family, experiences or things that I love. I had no pressure in this social media break to “market” something, or showcase the latest at the studio, yet I could be present in what I loved. As I still took a lot of pictures, I found myself reaching out to family more. Another added bonus, my growing teens were more agreeable to take pictures. They no longer had to worry ‘where was this picture going?’ or ‘who is going to see this?’. They knew their pictures were staying on my phone or going directly to family.

I was more present with those I love. We never outgrow the need for friends.

Without interacting with friends online, I found myself getting together with friends and family more. Sharing laughs over meals, drinks, sweat in the sun or swimming in the rain, I was creating real moments and memories of knowing and being known.

I did activities I enjoy! What things are life giving to you?

I love to read, be in nature, and create. You would think if I love it, I would do it more, but life is so busy. As I had more time in my day, I found myself reading more. I also planted flower bulbs and tomato plants. I even re-did a room in my house that started with pulling up the carpet! As I created time in my day to do things with my hands that I love, I was reconnecting with things that build me up.

Life can feel so urgent. The pressure to see something when it happens, to “be in the know” and to respond to messages immediately can create days that feel like riptides pulling you through. What I noticed when I said no to social media, I was saying yes to living intentionally and life just moved slower.

It’s ok to rest. We were all made to have seasons in life just like there are seasons in the year. Some years are more obviously producing and some are more restful (or work behind the scenes) in nature. I hope if you feel a nudge to step back and take a social media break that you too can make it possible. Time goes so quickly as I can clearly see in these time lapse photos of when we opened the studio and when we closed it five years later.

Thank you for all the support. Remember, you can imagine the possibilities! We only have one life. Go out and creatively live it!

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Margin is needed for Creativity to Grow

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Have you ever looked at something and seen it all of a sudden completely different?

I sit in my snow room (which is like a sun room, but in Indiana it has snow outside more than sun) daily. It’s my favorite room to drink morning coffee and wake up for the day. As things have slowly winded down with our Spoonful Studio and the days of it closing are nearing, I have found myself with more and more free time.

One day, I was sitting there and looking at the same mantel that I have every other morning but I asked myself, “when did that turn yellow?” I noticed the stain had yellowed and it now looked dirty and old. I realized that as my mind was being freed up from running a business- it all of a sudden had margin to process other things.

It was such a cool moment to mentally process the margin I was working hard to find-I was finding. If you listened to Matt and I share why we are closing our non-profit Spoonful Studio, you heard that wearing all the hats felt like I had 5 full time jobs. I was working nights and weekends, and I desperately needed to be freed up to be more present at home (physically and mentally) to my fast growing kids.

So, here I am now remembering how creativity is a muscle. It needs space and time to heal, play and grow just like any other muscle. Below are a few very real life pictures of the mess my snow room had become with the busyness of life and my over crowded brain…

I love to work on our house. It is part of how this blog began 14 years ago, by sharing my projects with all of you. Yet, as running an art studio took over my time, I have found I have not worked on or done a project on our house in a long, long time.

Side Rant: Our houses don’t have to have the latest trend or constant projects, but I do believe our houses should be a safe place. I want my house to breathe rest, peace, and love to my family and those who visit. We all know that messes, piles, un-attended decisions can lead to more stress or tension, which is in conflict to what we want our houses to represent. Part of finding margin in my days was to make our home more peaceful as well, which for me is attacking some of the projects.

What began as “I’m going to paint that mantel” led to…painting the walls, painting the trim, painting the doors, ripping up the carpet, staining the concrete, panting the handles on a chest of drawers, washing the curtains, and reorganizing some games we pull out regularly in this room. Here are a few pictures of my process.

This room isn’t very big, so I did half the room at a time. Whichever half was not getting worked on, kept all the furniture piled up.

What I found as I created was I was super rusty. I stepped in the can of paint and literally spilt almost an entire gallon.

I then went to shake the gallon of cement stain and the lid wasn’t on all the way. Stain went flying on my freshly painted trim and walls. I wasn’t even mad though. I felt alive.

As I have been finding more time available in my days, I have done yard work, read and felt rest filtering into my new routines. I was doing things I enjoy, but have not had time to do in a long time. Yet, I did not feel completely like myself. When you change what you have worked so hard to build and have a lot of identity wrapped up in it, I am sure it takes a lot of time to deconstruct and process all the feelings and experiences just lived. Getting messy with paint was one of the first moments I have felt so alive and like ‘Erica’ once again. I needed to create and dive into the process myself.

It didn’t matter that it got worse before it got better.

It didn’t matter that I was rusty and “messed up” a lot along the way.

I was creating, and my heart needed it.

This room reminded me that creating is a muscle and it needs practice and margin to grow. We can’t live extremely stressful and busy lives and expect to come up with our best ideas, most creative dreams, and to see everyday things differently. Just like athletes need to rest after a big game, our brains, souls and creative spirits need to recharge as well.

It took quitting my job to find margin to see this room in a new way and imagine how I could keep my favorite bohemian, colorful vibe but breath new life into it.

For laughs and because it makes me smile, I did leave a hidden footprint in the cement. It’s a reminder to make time to play with paint and not to take anything too serious.

What about you? Do you need to create margin in your life? You may not need to go as extreme as I did with changing up your career. You can form a new habit by switching out an old one.

Go for an evening walk after dinner.

Get off social media, if you can. I did, but that will be another post.

Make a no laptop or phone spot in your house so you unplug.

Sit on the patio, as the day turns into night, being with the people around you.

Tell a few close people what you’re going through. It matters.

We only have one life. I am encouraged how one of my favorite writers, Bob Goff, said “he choose the life he wanted and placed work around it- rather than choosing a job and trying to squeeze a life into it.”

I will always look fondly back on the times Spoonful Studio was open and the powerful work I got to do with it. Yet, I need more life. I want to enjoy my kids and have time to let creativity grow. Because we all know, I believe a Spoonful of Imagination leads to a more beautiful life.

To see more of my room remodel, Caleb created this quick video for me to share with all of you!