Incognito

Sewing is rhythmic to me.
It's precision and problem solving too.
And, it takes time.

With cutting, pressing, and stitching, I find time to invest.

Purpose is my prioirty in what I do.

 For open opportunities await me.

And, purposefully, I aim to greet each one with a product handmade of high quality and better yet, a mindful focus.

Of course,  I am mindful of the technicalities of my trade, but there is so much more to each custom design than just this.

I look at each project before me as a chance to learn more about myself all while connecting with the client with whom this couture design will belong to.

I invest my best work into someone else's excitement and creativity.

I think about the tiny baby, little tike, or the happy lady that will be receiving this couture item.

And it never fails, I find a little bit more of myself somewhere between the cutting, and the pressing, and the measuring, and the making.

My lesson from this k.Mac's Miss Merry Mac Pack shown in "Cammo and Ammo" fabric collection:

Live life intentionally.  Plan and perform, but dance with delight in what you find when you least expect it.  


For joy wears camoflauge too sometimes.

.mac :)

Open Up Some Happy

What makes a home?

I kinda think the genetics behind a house are quite different from a home.

A home is a place of happy at work if you ask me.

It's imperfections yet routines.

It's a common feeling for all.

It's teamwork and rest.

Laughter and music.

Love out loud.

It's forgiveness and feeling through frustrations.

It's order and belief.

It's togetherness., toughness, and tenderness too.

It's time used.

These are just some ideas that come to my mind when I think of our home.

My history with what makes a home is derived quite possibly the same ways in which yours was.

1. I think back on my own.
2. And, I remember other homes I have been to.

My home growing up was a sweet mix of antiques, Bruce Springsteen & Emmy Lou Harris, and clean sheets every Sunday fresh from the line.

It was my dad bringing home fresh cut flowers for no reason at all.  

It was family folding laundry evenings in the living room floor.

And, Dad's homemade pizza every Friday night.

It was the windows up and the smell of fresh cut grass.

Screened in porch playing and a front porch swing.

It was smells of sweet lemon in the kitchen and sun-made iced tea brewing on the front porch.

Ever noticed how everyone's house has its own smell?  So much that the minute you walk in their front door you are acutely aware of its presence and whether or not you are, in fact, pro to that aroma.

I loved the smell of my home growing up.

I can still smell it in my mind to this day.

And I learned a little more about this thing called home a little later in life too.

I became roommates with one of my dear friends just out of college.

She was a hairdresser, and had an already established home of her own.

I think it had to be the perfect timing in my life for these concrete notions of home learned from her to take up residence in my heart.

Being 22, and completely new to just exactly what "setting up housekeeping" would one day look like for me, I silently learned a little bit more from her.

I love how God orchestrates the "others" in your life just when you need them most. For my mom was not around for this stage of my learning years.

Little did I know then,  how much I would want and need mom when I was all grown up.

I am still reminded of the above statement.

My roommate, Amanda, kept a beautiful home.

You walked in and would immediately feel a sense of welcome.

She is a collector to this day, and somehow these collections of little happys make you want to sit down and stay for a bit.
Her home had a place for everything: orderly and methodical her layouts were.
There was always a jug of fresh sweet tea in the fridge.
Always little morsels in dainty glass dishes for tiny tummy treasures here and there.
Tablecloths and flower arrangements.
She even had the neatest wallpaper border of little shirts and pants hanging on a clothes line in the laundry room.
And the smell of her home was so inviting.
She was the one who gave me my love for candles.
Her house was a wonderful melody of scents that were never overbearing, but gently welcoming to your sniffer.
Amanda's house made me feel like it was my home too.

k.Mac's Sunshine for the Soul Home Goods is a place you can read more about here.

It is a segment of k.Mac I immensely enjoy.
Truly, I love making candles.
There is a rhythm to the process that is peaceful and inviting to my soul.
I delight in the diversity of each scent that I select to sell, as well configuring just the right smell status for a wonderfully profound and substantial aroma for the home.

These candles burn efficiently leaving no wax residue on the sides if burned correctly.
And better yet, a portion of the price goes to your choice of charity:

Susan G. Komen
Special Olympics

Making a house a home is a something I work on each and everyday.

Emmy Lou rocks loud in our kitchen most days.
Oh, and Bruce too.
$5.00 bouquets for no reason at all, totally.
Loving out loud, learning to loosen up, and letting go happens quite frequently.
And, smells of something happy are often a flicker.

For me, it's the little things intentionally done that make the most out of our memories.

Open up some happy in that home of yours.

.mac :)

***The k.Mac Facebook page has a candle giveaway today.  Enter your favorite  Sunshine for the Soul scent on the Facebook page for your chance to win.  Contest ends 6:00 EST today.

Shakin' It All Off.

{tree in our yard}

There are several reasons why I enjoy the art of writing.

It matters not my content; words out serve me in the most medicinal way.
They seem to cleanse me.  Better yet,  they provide my heart with a clearer circulation.

Upon starting this blog, I wrestled with what exactly people would want to read.

For I realize that blog hopping and blog reading can occupy many precious minutes of one's day.

I find myself grappling with the subject line more than often these days.

Simply put, that's annoying to me.

As in, I get on my own nerves.


Do you ever get on your own nerves?

I'm there.

So, for today, I feel the urge to be scattered in topic.
Kinda like the snow on the above tree.
Each branch laden with icy crystals.
Every snowflake diverse in form.

I give you my icy crystal branches:

• My hair is dirty.  Dirty and long.  I need to wash it, but anyone with long hair knows washing takes a little more work.
• I loathe getting the hair out of the drain once that washing is complete....eeeeewww.
• I have begun a weekly cleaning regimine for the home.  I complete 1 big chore a day in hopes of not being overwhelmed with a filthy home.  So far, so good.
• I am slowly coming around to the fact that I have an addiction to my cheese grader.  I can eat an entire block of cheese in like 2 days.  The grading is somehow theraputic to me, and well, the cheese is just yummy to my tummy.
• I just cleaned out mine and the boys' closets.  97% of the contents of our closets come from my Goodwill 1/2 off weekend excursions.  For those of you not in-the-know, please see this post for quite possibly the best adventure of your life.  
• I'm a little over dramatic at times.  {You want proof?  The last sentence in the above bullet. Although my heart feels deep down that it IS one of the best adventures in my life}
• Installing grommets in my handbags requires some rigorous manual labor.  {No, I'm not being dramatic on this one.}  Cutting and hammering along with some good ole muscle power is needed. 
• Yesterday, I hammered my right index finger upon intstalling the last grommet in a bag.  
• The finger is black, blue, and swollen.  Nice.
• I have a super fun weekend ahead, and am struggling with just exactly what to wear.  Anyone else do this?
• I run really fast on a treadmill.  I mean really fast.  
• I am notsomuch coordinated when running on a treadmill.
• I have fallen twice, gotten tangled in my earplugs connected to the TV, and twisted my ankle.
• Perhaps the open road is just meant for me and my running.
• I am in love with this coffee.  Infatuated even.  
• I have a theory on touch cell phones.  I truly feel that the angle for opening and manipulating the phone is biased to the right hander.  I CANNOT open or use my phone key pad with my left hand.  I have to use my right.  Does any other southpaw out there feel this way?
• I have 2 new bag designs in the works.  I am dying to get time in my schedule to do a 2nd test run to work some more of the kinks out as well as carry them for my 6 month trial perioid.
• I never thought in a million years that I would have a Superhero calendar hanging in my home, and that I would be okay with it.  I do, and crazy enough, I am.
• I have a new face washer I got from my Dad and Janie for Christmas.  I am seriously in love with it.  I plan to do a post JUST about this tool and what it means to me one day soon.
• Why do I wrestle with the skinny jean look with flats?  I'm 5'9" for goodness sakes.  I can swing it.  Not that shorter people can't, but why do I feel it looks super cute on others and notsomuch me?
• I think my nose is growing.  Like for realz.  I never realized it was that "established" on my face.
• I cannot for the life of me grow pansies.  They NEVER work for me.  This is my last year to plant them.  I mean it this time.
• Blushing Nude by Clinique is a lipstick I am really digging right now.  
• Casey really is Kenny's carbon copy.  
• I am putting red lights on our backporch for festive Valentine's Day decor throughout the month of February.  I am pretty jazzed about this.
• I want to try to make sourdough bread from scratch.  Checking around for starter recipes.
• There are some really fun fabric collections on the k.Mac website...one of my favorites...."Dance with Me, Mama"---go check it out here.

Ah, rapid fire free bulleting feels good on a Wednesday morning.

I think I just shook my branches bare.

.mac :)

Officially

There's something official about this photograph. 

Official, yes.

In between those significantly stone-faced cowboys, a binding friendship has begun.

-Eli-

A 5 year & 10 month old (to use his terms here) is official.

Officially begun his quest for friends.

Friends that meet you at the front door with a smile on their face so happy to see you.

Friends that share your passions of pretend.

Cowboy shooting

Outlaw hustlin'

Outdoor forting too.

Friends who earnestly scramble and plead with mama for "just a little more time", please.

Friends who giggle uncontrollably at the silly you both set free from your mouths.

Eli is there.

He gets it.

He gets the special-ness of having someone to his house.

The night before, Eli planned what toys he wanted out so that he and his guest could make the most of their time together.  He even asked to check the weather to see the chances of some outdoor time.

And Eli made it all the easier for his little brother too.

Casey was included each and every play of the afternoon.

Officially, he's growing.

Growing deep.

Making notes in that little mind of his on just what friendship means.
On how it plays a part in his life.
On who to call friend.
And who to share his little brother with too.

Officially, Eli is stretching out farther than my grasp.
Slowly but surely, I see him inch a little further away.
Only to come back to me for snuggles and books.

Officially, I am honored.
Honored to watch this little man of mine grow acquainted with friendship.
To see him trust and share and learn.

And officially, I am reminded.
Reminded that friends are to be intended.
For growing deep, you know.

Thank you once again, Eli Garrett.
Your lessons come in the most perfect of timing.

.mac :)

FINALLY!

This is BIG for me.

Monumental even.

k.Mac's new website is here.

It's here.

IT'S HERE!

It has taken right at a year to complete.

I looked at the designing and re-writing of the website as an adventure and tried only to work on it when I felt fresh and energized as I wanted only my best given.

I have hemmed & hawed on pressing the publish button for far too long.

Thankfully, I have Kenny in my life to push me just when I need it most.

I hope this new place is informative and helpful to all interested in handmade goods from k.Mac.  

For this place, to me, is so much of who I am.

I am contnuing to work on the glitches that just aren't quite right.  You know, like fonts outta whack, stubborn links that refuse to work and a few sticky placement issues, but I'm already receiving some wonderful words as well as business as a result of k.Mac's new facelift.

And, I am grateful to be in the midst of progress, imperfections, and promotions.

k.Mac has a Facebook page.  Click here to join in on the fun of handmade.  I would love to have you on the k.Mac team. It is here you will find sneaky little sales and giveaways too. I'm a talker so I plan on using Facebook as a place to gab it up on new products as well as current custom designs.  Feel free to gab back if you wanna. 

You can also find links to the k.Mac website, {mollyemade}, and my Sunshine for the Soul Home Goods line on my blog sidebar.

I would love to hear your thoughts on the new place.  

Ready, set, go....

.mac :)