hey hi- i'm reading your posts with alot of interest. congrats on the compliments on your creations.

the lantern sounds great - makes me watn to go make something. today i'd really like to figure out and make a big wooden "weather vane" of sorts. freestanding

i've done craft shows (even put on on for many years) and IT IS a huge and rewarding element of our lives - isn't it? being creative? since my own particular nuclear bomb dropped on my life/head - i've spent last two years going thru the motions and my creative energy has been at the lowest ebb in my life.

i think it may be contributing to my general unhappiness (well- in addition to a life totally in the toilet - tra la)

anyway- YAY AND DO IT- AND DO IT MORE. i just found a wonderful ancient dressing table in someone's garbage other week- brought it home to decopage fabric allover- but ended up sponging on a paisly "print" on top - & repetitive flower edge along top & side of top - leaves & stems on legs- it's charming. my married & first child neice loves it & wants it(she's in navy & just moved to VA - nearer here nj) so yay.

each time i manage to break out of my dismal little (self-involved) universe and just DO IT- it helps me remember how good it feels to let it out (creativity) and share the happiness it can bring (to someone else - then bit splashes on me and i remember WHY i do it) an so on.

so yay and yay. I, like you, wonder about "my new life" when and if i end up initiating one - and i can't even really conceptualize the "all about me" thing- i'm sooooo "all about everyone else all the time" - BUT HEY-

maybe we will love it- be good at it - and come to embrace it. (mind you- i still theorize that being all about one's self is a mighty lonely place to be) but we should be able (hopefully) to temper self caring with other-orientation - shouldn't we???? after ALL - WE'RE VERY CREATIVE - TA DA - APPLY THE thinking out of the box when it comes to ART and apply to day to day life???

hope springs eternal - good luck i'm going to be watching & sharing your little step by step victories too and being inspired. i'm thinking we all can do this- it's scary & lonely tho sometimes (well, all the time) but hopefully this too shall pass?????? i'm hopin & hopeful