{believe}

The role of teacher is one I hold in high regard.  The pay is miserable, the workload is obtuse and, at times, unattainable to complete.  The recognitions are few and far between and the respect is often a worn out woven rug tattered, tugged on and torn.  

But, the rewards?

They are invaluable.  

I was honored to fill a custom design need for one very special teacher from a client of mine this year.  This precious client was so very sweet and vulnerable with her desire to give this teacher just the right gift.  She was looking for ideas both practical and genuine. Together, she and I designed a gift propelled straight from the heart.    

At the beginning of the 2011-2012 school year, my client and her husband had been ushered along with the notion that their son might need to repeat kindergarten from the get go.  They were told that their son just might not be able to master all that was necessary in just one year's span.

But this boy was lucky.  He was in Mrs. Book's kindergarten class.  

Mrs. Book assured my client that her son was ready to learn. That her son could do it.  And, that she would do absolutely everything possible along every step of the way to encourage and strengthen this little boy's success in kindergarten.

And, that's just what happened.  

Through hard, hard work at home with huge doses of love from mom and dad, this little boy was sent off each day where Mrs. Book matched that step-for-step at the schoolhouse.  Tears and time-n-again tries were exercised, and this sweet boy climbed mountains and lept big tall buildings when the projected status said it just wouldn't happen.

believe |biˈlēv|

verb [ trans. ]

1 accept as true; feel sure of the truth

Mrs. Book did in this boy.

And, upon time to find a way to honor her awesomeness as an educator of young minds, my client and I designed for her.

My client sent me a traced hand of her son who took on kindergarten like no other.  I chose red and navy as a color palette.  Red for the power that transcends into potential from Mrs. Book to each of her students.  Navy representing an unwavering vision and a steady pursuit of success.

My hands worked to reproduce a little boy's hand.  A hand symbolic of countless writing assignments, a whole lotta high fives and "You can do its!".  A hand holding onto the bigger ones that told him he was awesome each step of the way.

Mrs. Book's name was to be placed right underneath this 5 fingered success story as without her holding him up, this little one might not have had the wonderful kindergarten year he experienced.

A pillow for Mrs. Book's rocking chair.  The place where she sits and inspires.  Where she settles down and serves up inspiration and excitement with each new adventure read.

My client had the wonderful idea to quote one amazing children's author.  These words are the heart inside of Mrs. Book.  Dr. Seuss' s words-in-action-by-her provided this little boy the opportunity to stretch out and grow from the place where his learning began.  

I sent a fabric marker with this custom design for my client, her husband and their KINDERGARTEN GRADUATE to leave personal handwritten notes around the quote housed on the backside of Mrs. Book's pillow.

Mrs. Book believed.
She believed in a little boy who needed nothing more than that.
And for this, our world is a better place.

Thank you to all the wonderful Mrs. Books out there.

.mac :)

A Debute of Gifts: Mother's Day 2012

Mother's Day means a lot to me.   It's a day I have written about here remembering her.  And, it's a day I've written about here in my own walk as a mom.  It's a bittersweet kind of day to me. On this day, it never fails. I somehow pinky wrap my mind around Mom's memory.  Curled and tucked, I move through the day reminded of her strengths and daydreaming of what she would think about my boys.  Even more, what she would think about her daughter as mom. And, with certainty the pinky on my other hand squeezes even tighter to the nowness of Eli & Casey face.

My mom was a great gift giver.  She had a knack for giving gifts that were the perfect suit for a person. She was sentimental yet practical.  She had an outstanding eye for special items that would transcend style or popularity.  I have made it a goal of mine to do just the same in my gift giving.  One of my favorite gifts we gave my Dad-daddy for Father's Day one year when I was little was none other than my Mom's idea.  She bought a handmade cookie jar made of out pottery at a craft fair.  Then, she had all of our family to sign the back of the jar.  It still sits in my grandfather's kitchen to this very day. And yes, it is still full of his favorite store bought cookies.

With k.Mac's Debute of Gifts for Mother's Day, it is my hope that I have honored my mom with just a bit of her sentimental heart in my custom designs.

I am most excited about this gift design.  Meet k.Mac's Silhouette.  This is an 8 x 10 framed orignal artwork by k.Mac.  Each frame choice is a vintage black theme.  I have already had one order placed by a local client just upon seeing it in my studio.

This custom gift order comes complete with all that you see above.  It is a hand pieced silhouette of your choice image atop an oatmeal toned linen grained background.  You may boast your family's last name and a special Bible verse, just your family's last name, or even the term of endearment for your mother. It comes in your choice of frames noted below and will be wire strung and ready for hanging.  I adore the cross, but wanted to offer other silhouette choices as well.

I loved this horse.  

The house is a perfect symbol of family too.

And, the star is so classic and strong.

Perhaps my favorite is the back.  Each member of your family is to sign it with words only your mom will cherish most.  This photo does not yet have the back facets and wire hanger, but the finished product will.  This gift is also great for group giving where members of the family all pitch in to give a gift in unity.

I do have limited quantities in frame styles available, and I will run on first-come-first serve availability. The first choice in framing is the cuffed style frame.

The other choice in framing is the shaker style frame.

Next up is this beauty.  k.Mac's Monogrammed Fabric Corsage!  I am so immersed in these sweetie pies.  I feel like a little girl wishing I had "Days of the Week Underwear" only instead of underwear it be monogrammed fabric corsages!

I think this next advertisement says it all...

The back comes complete with pin, BUT THAT'S NOT ALL!  Upon request, I will adhere a hair clip to the back for those mamas out there who want to use it sometimes as a corsage and sometimes as a hair dolly.  Sheesh, this is fun!

Monogrammed fabric corsages are available in the following fabric collections:

{Um, yeah.  It's dark gray seersucker.  Eek!}

Next up is k.Mac's ever popular Sunshine for the Soul Pillows for the home.  All decorative pillows have FREE SHIPPING!  There are 4 designs and all of them have such an eclectic spin.

The Fifty would be perfect for a mom that lived far away in another state.

Lastly, k.Mac's Sunshine for the Soul candles make a wonderful gift.  These candles are $12.99 with a portion of each purchase going to the Special Olympics.  Upon purchasing any of the above designs, you may choose a scent of your choice for a discounted price of $10.99.  These candles are triple scented and burn for approximately 80 hours. {a small candle shipping fee will be added to include any candle purchase (s).} 

It's a day worthy of celebrating.  It's Mom.  And, mamas are so very good.  They are the sweet in "Home Sweet Home" if you ask me.  I hope these gift ideas offered are ones unique and special.  Purchase one or work together as a family to give her a k.Mac bundle.  It is my wish that each Mom out there be pinky wrapped in love.  I know both my pinkies will be curled tightly on this special day.

Contact meghan@kmaccreations.com to begin your custom design session or to place your order.

Limited quantities available for k.Mac's Silhouette.

.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.

s c a t t e r e d

Life is gently a state of mind if you ask me.

A presence.

An immediateness to exist.

It's hard choices & clutter at times, no doubt.

But, I refuse to linger in those cobwebs too long.

I may tangle and trip a time or two and then a time or two again...
But there's just an ache in me.

In all of us.

To inhale the richness of the scattered moments.

My scattered moments today...

The shiny apple I crunched.

The vitality in this morning's church service.

The crisp touch of fall on my skin as I ran before my house was up.

The jubilance I felt teaching today's Sunday School lesson.

The xylophone, drums, maracas spreading God's message to those 4th graders.

The bareness of my boys' backs running about our house.

The percolating prickles of root beer down my throat.

my.feet.up.

Saturation of summer saying goodbye.

Music and my mind twirling.

A rumbling sewing machine.
Henri Matisse is becoming my hero the more and more I read about him. His philosophy of color is one that speaks so fluently to my soul.

He impressed that finding the "essential character" in a subject was to move past seeing the world in it's actual state, but rather feeling it with their eyes.

And, I just love this.

Take technical and toss it.

feel & act

Present yourself in color to the next moment.

Forge past the yesterday and able yourself for now.

-scattered moments-

That's all we got.

saturate

verb |ˈsa ch əˌrāt| [ trans. ] (usu. be saturated)cause (something) to become thoroughly soaked with liquid so that no more can be absorbed

No matter how you look at it, that's all we got.

-scattered moments-

There are always flowers for those who want to see them.

-Henri Matisse

.mac :)

p.s. Sign compliments of k.Mac's Sunshine for the Soul Home Goods. Custom design done for one of my favorite clients who sees flowers all the time.

Making a List

You see these toes?

These are OPI's Cajun Shrimp toes.
My all-time favorite nail polish color.
Just look at them. All flirty-flirt with the waves as they cascade ashore.
I bet those toes even bounce up and down as the white caps crash at their tips.
{Splashin and makin a regular rowdy saltwater ruckus.}

And those thighs just above the knee?
Sportin' the opaque sand skirt.

Who me?
Do you think that's just what I've been up to lately?
Forgetting all about this ole blog?
Neglecting to even keep up with my suber-fab favorite blogs that I LOVE reading.
Leaving this space naked of any December posts.
Almost all of November too for that matter.

Do you think I just threw another notch back in my sand covered chase lounger and twirled the tropical toned umbrella in my fruity concoction when I received almost 50 emails concerning my whereabouts in blog land?

Do you think I just looked the other way in my Jackie.O. shades as my very own mother-in-law interrupted me in mid-sentence when discussing my business with her to say, "Do you know the last time you posted on your blog was November 4th. November 4th to be exact."

NO.

No to all of the above.

The truth.

You want the truth do you? Hmm. Okay, I'll give you the truth.

1. My toes (I have 10) only have polish on 3 of them as pointed out by my 2 year old to me yesterday. He then went on to express that they were also "Really, really long, mama."
2. In the last month, I have fallen asleep at night not once but 3 times IN MY CLOTHES. 2 of those times my shoes were even on. Each time I woke around 3 or 4 in the morning to discover that I had been asleep!
3. My home is a Christmas winter wonderland. Really it is. Complete with the newest addition of wreaths on the outside of every window. (Wreaths I paid a whopping 20 cents each for including the bow at last year's after Christmas sale) Yet my back porch is still all decked out with my fall lights of orange and yellow. Yep, it's true. I shutter that I just admitted this. Truth hurts.
4. Since my last post (11.04.09. Thanks for the reminder, Carlene) I have mopped my kitchen floor once.
5. I had all of my Christmas shopping done by December 1st, but have wrapped nothing.
6. I have left the house not once but 4 times WITHOUT curling my eyelashes. (Angie and Stella Blue, you girls know what curling my eyelashes does to my moral and overall beauty mantra. Yeah, 4.)
7. The dish washing liquid container in my dishwasher is broken and will not stay closed. As a result of this faulty device, my dishes come out cloudy once washed. And what do I do? Just squirt more liquid in this faulty device and re-wash the dishes. {Like do I really think they are going to turn out crystal clear a 2nd, 3rd, or 4th time? Really, Meg.}
8. In my downstairs closet, I house an arsenal of my craft supplies, homeschool gear, and some of the boys' larger toys. Over the course of just 2 weeks, I have managed to topple almost every basket over in several mad dashes to grab something. What did I do? Grumble ugly things under my breath each time and just shut the door. Kenny was in for a real treat the other night when he opened this closet door to get the cat food out. Marriage really is for better or worse.
9. I have had my Christmas cards printed out and ready for mailing since December 5th. I mailed them just 2 days ago.
10. I have eaten 2 bags of Hostess Sweet Sixteen Chocolate Donuts that I bought for my boys and Kenny for a breakfast treat on the weekends. These would be the big 13 oz. bags. Just hoarded them away so that no Cobble man or boy could even see that we had them in stock.
11. I have had a wonderful response this year to my Sunshine for the Soul Home Goods Line. I have gone through over a 100 pounds of soy wax making candles this Christmas season. 100 pounds of wax and I make each candle in quantities of 4 at a time. That there, my friend, equals a lot of wonderful donations to The Susan G. Komen Foundation and The Special Olympics.
12. My fingernails do not have dirt under them when you see me in person. That would be paint. Paint from handmade sign orders.
13. I have gone through 25 needles on my sewing machine. I change needles every 2 designs made. I think my boys think that Christmas music is just supposed to have the humming of a sewing machine in the background.
14. I made 15 appliqued Christmas t-shirts with names embroidered and doused in ribbon trim in one week. {mollyemade} is gonna be so much fun!
15. I have enjoyed every minute of un-made bed impromptu snuggling and book reading with my boys. They are growing way too fast.
16. I ordered $350 worth of fabric for spring bags! Not to mention 12 new embroidery fonts too! And, there are 4 new bag designs in my trusty Steno pad as we speak.
17. I have piddled around with a new blog header design, added an extra column, and figured out how to increase the size of my posting photos too.
18. I have 2 bags left to finish and send out tomorrow and my Santa workshop is closed for the next 12 days.
19. I am overjoyed to be back in posting action! Thank you to all of you checking in on me. It was so kind of each of you. Yes, even you, M-I-L Carlene.
20. I CANNOT wait to kick back with my feet up and catch up on all of you from the past month and a half. And I will. Just you wait and see!
    

I got my eye on you. Well, maybe not from here, but a girl can dream can't she?

7 more days...

.mac :)

Tuesday School

Children are the best gifts, aren't they?

I see you now through your wide screen monitors shaking your heads, uh-huh, uh-huh.

Kenny and I had no formal plans to send either of our boys to pre-school. With me working from home and being a former teacher, we felt good about their placement in the Mama Bear Academy.

About this time last year, I was approached by another coaches' wife regarding a 3 hour pre-school program on Tuesdays at her church that ran throughout the academic school year.

The fee was EXTREMELY affordable and after much debate, Kenny and I decided Eli should give it a whirl just to experience a new set of friends outside of his Sunday School network at our church.

He really loved it. Eli is very adept in social settings. Don't know where he gets that from. I mean he waits to greet the mail lady each day we are outside just to tell her hello and thank you for doing such a great job with our mail.

Too sweet.

And today is the day.

Now there are 2 handsome young men in our home that are of age to participate in this Tuesday School program.

Yes, we have decided to let the younger one forge ahead with all of his lady swooning and sweet snuggly suck-you-in-til you're wrapped around his little fingerness.

Today is our 1st official Tuesday School orientation.

With k.Mac picking up and some other new opportunities on my heart to pursue for my family, these 3 hours will provide me a huge window of focus on some of these responsibilities.

Last year Eli had 2 teachers in his Tuesday School class. Mrs. Pat and Mrs. Mary were so wonderfully sweet to our little guy. He really enjoyed them. These were the end of the year gifts I made for them in appreciation of all of their hard work, energy, and great love shared with E-man.

NOTE TO READERS: ALWAYS GIVE TEACHERS NICE GIFTS. THEY DO SO MUCH AND RECEIVE SO LITTLE.

{Take this from a former teacher.}

We haven't touched on this much, but my locals know. In conjunction with our handbag designing business, Kristi and I also have a home goods line called Sunshine for the Soul. I have thrown you some tiny hints here, here, and here, but really who was to know.

Our Sunshine for the Soul Home Goods line carries products like our triple soy scented handmade candles, handpainted signs, homemade family games, and sweet little personalized gifts like you see above.

And the best part about this division of k.Mac is that it centers around giving back! With each Sunshine for the Soul purchase 10% of its total is donated to the Special Olympics.

This avenue of k.Mac is one we are most excited about. Established a little under a year ago and with little to no advertising, we are seeing wonderful results.

Kristi is hard at work on k.Mac's new website. Rest assured you all are in for an amazing treat once she pushes that final "publish" button. I have seen the sneak peaks and I can hardly wait myself! This new site will include our Sunshine for the Soul Home Goods line in addition to our couture handbag designs.

We hope that you find this new k.Mac home a place to design with ease, make purchases that help out a greater cause, and find inspiration for your everyday.

It's on it's way!

And with that, so are we.
The boys and I will soon be out the gate for Tuesday School orientation.

Happy September!
.mac