The Simple Things

Something else in the shoppe I wanted to share. You can find it HERE. I so enjoyed making this. If you know me, you know altered art using fabric is my favorite type of art. I get to use lots of delicious vintage fabrics, laces, trims, ribbons, buttons, millinery flowers and the like to make something new and beautiful.

"I am beginning to learn that it is the sweet, simple
things of life which are the real ones after all."
-Laura Ingalls Wilder

The quote above was the inspiration for this piece. I started with an 8x10" wrapped canvas and painted it in ivory and tans. I built a fabric collage on top using taffeta, a vintage collar, an antique cabinet card reprinted on fabric, the Wilder quote printed on fabric, a posey of vintage millinery forget-me-nots, an ivory ribbon bow and a vintage cream button. I added lace and ribbons to the top for hanging. Vintage satin ruffles and lace adorn the bottom edge of the piece.

For me, this piece is about the simplicity and beauty of connections with those I love. Whether it's with my husband, my children, my family, my friends or even those "blogger buddies" I only know through the internet, it's those relational connections that are the richest and most valuable things in my life. I can sometimes get bogged down with the differences and divisions between us, the pain and regret over things that have occured between us in the past, or even the judgement and shame we might unintentionally feel coming or going within our relationship.

But deep down inside, we are all the same. We want the same things. We are all living just one life each. We all want, more than anything, to be loved. When I take the "overhead" view of things in this way, I see in my mind's eye a kind of gold thread that goes in me, comes out the other side, goes into you, comes out the other side, and so on, until we are all connected. And it suddenly becomes so simple and so sweet, just as Laura says in the quote above. You. Me. Love.