ULLABENULLA

peace...

“Peace is not something you wish for; It's something you make, Something you do, Something you are, And something you give away.”

—Robert Fulghum (b.1937); author, pastor

Summer Bliss...

This makes me think of some of the happiest moments of summer!  

Via one of my favorite French blogs La Mule Du Pape!

color...

“ Color is my day long obsession, joy and torment. ”

Claude Monet

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advice...

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Castles In The Garden...

Finishing up a two day class at the Castle today, in the NEW CLASS ROOM, so I thought these Asian Vogue photos would be appropriate!  Wouldn't you love to have a castle or two to stand in your garden???

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Oh to be a Child Again...

Doesn't this just make you think of wonderful sleep-overs, dress-up and yummy food? You are never to old to play!

Happy Saturday!

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Slovakian Fairy Tales...

These stunning prints are by Katarina Vavrova of Slovakia.  Filled with wonderful symbols, and details her work evokes a dream like quality that I adore.  A few of her prints were designed for a Hans Christian Andersen Compitition in Tokyo and evoke wonderful memories from fairy tales we all love.  Others were designed as personalized Ex Libris, and are evocative and truly magnificent in their details.  ENJOY!!!

longing...

SEHNSUCHT- 

A German word that literally means “longing” or in a wider sense a kind of “intensely missing”. However, Sehnsucht is almost impossible to translate adequately and describes a deep emotional state.

It is sometimes felt as a longing for a far off country, but not a particular earthly land which we can identify. Furthermore there is something in the experience which suggests this far off country is very familiar and indicative of what we might otherwise call “home”. In this sense it is a type of nostalgia, in the original sense of that word. At other times it may seem as a longing for a someone or even a something. But the majority of people who experience it are not conscious of what or who the longed for object may be. Indeed, the longing is of such profundity and intensity that the subject may immediately be only aware of the emotion itself and not cognizant that there is a something longed for.

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“ In your soul are infinitely precious things that cannot be taken from you. ”

Oscar Wilde

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Wandering...

“ and there was the night, too: but the night was fondest of wandering & wandering among all the bright & gentle kinds of flowers which you & i call ‘stars’ because we don’t know what they really may be. ”

fairy tales by e. e. cummings.

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History of the Color Wheel Images...

I adore these images from a marvelous article on the History Of The Color Wheel!  They just sing with potential and cry out for creativity!  Did you know that it was Sir Isaac Newton who created the first color wheel? 

Link found via Jordan Ferney.

Ouija Board Memories...

Hippies And A Ouija Board (Everyone Needs To Cling To Something)

2003-2004, Suitcase: cast and carved dehydrated bone calcium and bone dust from every bone in the body, microcrystalline cellulose, cold cast iron and brass, rust, antique syringe, crushed velvet, leather, thread, water extendable resin, typeset Bottles, medicines, and Ouija board: cast and carved dehydrated bone calcium and bone dust from every bone in the body, typeset, homebrewed moonshine (potato derived alcohol), wine health tonics (water, sugar, fermented black cherries, yeast, gelatin, tartaric acid, pectinase, sulfur dioxide, oak flavoring, fortified with 100-year-old hemlock oil, Devil's Claw, witch hazel bark, swamp root, powdered rhubarb, pleurisy root, belladonna root, white pine tar, coal tar, dandelion, sarsaparilla, mandrake, mullein, scullcap, cramp bark, elder, ginseng, horny goat weed, tansy, sugar of lead, mercury with chalk and tin-oxide; calcium potassium, creatine, zinc, iron, nickel, copper, boron, vitamin k, crushed amino acids, home-cultured antibiotics, chromium, magnesium, colostrum, ironized yeast, ground pituitary gland, ground wisdom teeth, ground sea horse, shark cartilage, coral calcium, iodine & castor oil) Records: various 1960's 45 rpm records cast in prehistoric whale bone dust, typeset, 42 x 23 x 19 inches, Collection of the Jack S. Blanton Museum of Art, University of Texas, Austin, Texas

Facinating Ouija Art by Dario Robleto

One for sorrow...

Stunning Sculptural Wreaths by Kate Street.  Very evocative and filled with meaning...

Santos Hand Reliquary Class At The Castle!

Yesterday's Santos Hand Reliquary Class at the CASTLE was a true delight!  Every single one of my Eight students had taken one or more classes from me in the past, so it really felt like family!!!  It would be impossible for me to chose a favorite reliquary as they all turned out marvelous... have a look for yourself!

Fantastic job Ladies!!!

Happy Mothers Day!

"To be a mother is the grandest vocation in the world.
No one being has a position of such power and influence.
She holds in her hands the destiny of nations;
for to her is necessarily committed
the making of the nation's citizens."

---Hannah Whitall Smith

Drypoint etching by Paul Herrmann, 1864-1940

kindness...

“Kind hearts are the gardens, Kind thoughts are the roots, Kind words are the flowers, Kind deeds are the fruits, Take care of your garden And keep out the weeds, Fill it with sunshine, Kind words, and Kind deeds.” —Henry Wadsworth Longfellow quotes (1807-1882); poet image link - via

Relic's Contained...

Isn't this French 17th century Reliquary Box wonderful?  I love how the embroidery so perfectly frames each relic, and how the softness of the flowers invites us in for a closer look.  Was this kept on a shelf or perhaps carried around when most in need?  A truly stunning treasure!!!  

Found via Le Curieux Petit Lieu. 

Paper Blossoms...

I love this paper flower installation created by Jo Lynn Alcorn for Maya Romanoff Wallpapers at Kips Bay Decorator Show House 2009.  Such wonderful whimsy and tactile materials to create a stunning wall treatment thats unique and one of a kind! 

HOPE...

“Hope is the dream of a soul awake.”

—French Proverb

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John's Enchanted Optical Illusions...

Spending a day with John McRae at the CASTLE is always like taking a bath in creative inspiration.  Ideas and images get tossed across the shop, as we chat about new finds, discoveries and directions!  Yesterday was no exception!  John ALWAYS has something new up his sleeves!  Here he is with one of his magical 'Optical Illusion Spring Tableau's', a truly enchanting Victorian style handheld folly, made from a convex mirror, miniature trees and foliage, dresden, and an antique handle.  Look within - at the mirror -  and you are immediately transported into a three dimensional illusion of a springtime tableau!  Magic as only John can do!!!