Sometimes life brings unexpected moments, lately my life has been full of them. One of which is as I am typing this, earlier this evening my new kitten decided to pull keys off my laptop. The O and . are missing somewhere. I leave on an adventure tomorrow for the week without laptop. My goal was to post for the week but this is it!

What I do know is each day is truly a miracle, a day of life where anything and sometimes everything can happen. What we know and what we believe is transformed with each new day. May this week be an adventure for all with moments that take your breath away and that magic happens when you believe! Follow the JOY! Debra

Freda & I appreciate it is a season of thanks giving and gratitude especially living with Debra who celebrates both Thanksgivings, the earlier Canadian one and yesterday in honor of all her US friends. 

So what are we two chickens thankful for, I am sure inquiring minds want to know! First of all we are thankful we are not Turkeys, we lost many friends yesterday so Black Friday seems appropriate. Freda is wearing so much black today I thought she was getting ready for next Halloween early. We are thankful for a warm place to live although we really are lobbying for pima cotton sheets, 500 thread count. Not thinking that possible but one can dream! of course we would dream so much better on those sheets! hint, hint. We are thankful that chicken legs are not prone to cellulite no matter what we eat. We are grateful for tail feathers that do not droop well only slightly when wet but otherwise still very perky! Freda is grateful for still being able to see her feet even though she is in the family way. (I am thinking she is growing an ostrich in there and glad she has forgotten the reason she can see her feet, they are swollen and huge!)

Seriously though we are truly grateful for there is always some moment in each and every day that makes us do the happy chicken dance!  Follow the Fowl! Fran & Freda

One of the best parts of my life is having several wonderfully creative and talented friends. For my birthday this year I received a most beautiful clay sculpture done by my dear friend Michelle Zimmerman, a collaboration gift by Michelle, Helen, Frank and Mindy. She bears a scar which is an integral part of her beauty apparently wishing to jump out of the oven before it was time. She is created from Kato Polyclay. To get her home safely I purchased a new purse while travelling just for her. The base is in my suitcase but Sebasstiania will travel in style, even get to watch a movie with me on the plane. I am going to enjoy having her company as I travel home! Follow the JOY! Debra, CEO!

We are in a frump! That is a cross between a slump and a grump fowl style. It is Fowl Friday and we are feeling fowlish!!! Not only did Debra head off to sunny California without us and leave us here to fend for ourselves with all these dreadful C A T S but she proceeds to send these delightful emails back, she has been to the beach, she has been here, she has been there, she has been on a tour of the famous Alvarado Street Bakery featured in the new Michael Moore Film! and got to tour Mrs. Grossman's Sticker Company and meet Mrs. Grossman herself. Pics etc all to follow when her highness returns!

Freda as you can see is literally climbing the walls in her frump stricken state, her tail feathers are drooping, some are falling out. We could be bald by the time Debra returns from this trip. Will she care, we think not as she wheels her bag by us draping a pink scarf over our little featherless selves! So gathering my wits, featherless as they are I must think of something suitable to greet her with on this return home. Hmm! all suggestions welcome, just keep in mind within the realm of the law yet slightly distressing or uncomfortable will work! Follow the Fowl, Fan & Freda!

The November December issue of Creative Homearts magazine is now out! My favorite time of year is now and my favorite design season is winter and holiday inspired. For my Make it Green column I created some very funky disco ornaments using National Nonwovens new Xotic Felt which is 50% bamboo, so very soft! Fran & Freda are Xotic & proud of it!

JOY is this season for me and with Joy always the wish of peace so I created a trio of JOY inspired pieces for the Holidays. A Dove ornament, stocking and tree skirt. The full pattern for the Dove Joy ornament is on the website along with the instructions. (photo courtesy of Creative Homearts Club)

I am visiting the beautiful area of Sonoma in California. The stores are filled with the Holidays here too and music playing. Seems slightly odd to hear White Christmas here but the feeling very much the same as at home, a hopeful time of year, a time to be thankful. Follow the JOY! Debra

Tomorrow is Remembrance Day, here at home everything closes down to honor all those lost and those who serve. Almost everyone wears a poppy and has been for the past week or more. "In Flanders Field the poppies grow between the crosses row on row", so many wars and so many lives have suffered and lost. We are all bound by the inhumanity of war and have been touched deeply. There are many views but what is most important and basic beyond all of that is the profound humanity of it all, the people who serve, who have suffered, who have perished in any war have been and are loved and cherished, leave families and loved ones. That is all that truly matters, the hearts that are touched and the lives changed.

We can give our gratitude, our support to live with integrity and promote understanding, to honor always every human life. To remember what an amazing gift life is and that love makes all things bearable and possible connecting each of us hand to hand, heart to heart! Remembering always, a poppy lays close to my heart. Debra

Well the unthinkable is about to happen in this Fowl's world! Another feline is about to enter the premises. Freda was doing the happy dance when one cat just left with the oldest daughter moving out but another one arrives Monday! Bella Blue, another one of those hairy floppy ragdoll cats. What these people see in the feline species we do not know. Freda is so upset she is roosting on top of the bookcase in the office and of course her being in the family way, is there no consideration for her!

Freda & I were thinking of a hunger strike in protest but that seems a bit drastic, low blood sugar and all can't risk it. Any strike in general won't work as apparently it is a done deal and apparently our contribution to household life is next to nil according to Debra. Luckily she needs our very witty input for Friday's Fowl Friday blog, our words not hers exactly. (sigh) Well nothing left to do but accept the new feline and hang onto our tail feathers for dear life. Felines have a very strange affectation for feathers, I suggest much needed therapy for the condition! Till next Friday when we will be back hopefully with all our feathers intact! Fowl Friday with Fran & Freda! (Debra insisted so below is the feline who is arriving, yuch!)

"The only Journey is the Journey within", I am putting together a new studio upstairs and this is the line I have put above the window. It speaks to me in its simplicity and honesty. For who we are and who we become is because of our Journey. We stop along the way to linger in the land of cracker crumbs and juice or hold the hand of one who used to swing us in their arms. Each stop in the journey unfolds more of our strengths, our wisdom, our courage and our compassion. This journey too is filled with those who make a difference in our lives, the paths we choose. Let someone know today how they have made a difference in your life, let this be "thoughtful Thursday".

Follow the JOY! Debra, CEO!

The CHA (Craft & Hobby Association) tradeshow is held in Anaheim the end of January. It is where the crafting world truly comes together. There are members from more than thirty countries. I belong to the Designer section of the membership and yesterday was announced the new Designer Display for the show. Along with the show's marketing staff, another fellow designer Candice Windham we are organizing the display. The show's theme is International and the response to the CHA Designer Global Display has been overwhelming. Thirty designers will create a design based on thirty countries, all who are members of CHA. Each designer will take their inspiration from the crafts of their individually chosen country. These will be showcased in a glass case on the show floor.

Last year the same format with an Eco Friendly theme resulted in designers acquiring, magazine articles, book deals and other opportunities from their one design in the Gallery. Quality prevails always, one great design says it all!

Quality in all things especially life, take a breath and reflect on the day ahead. Is there quality in it or has quantity, too much to do overshadowed the quality of your work, your time, your well being. Value yourself today, take time to relax and return to work rejuvenated. You are so worth it! Follow the JOY! Debra, CEO!

All life is about creating, we arrive as miracles of creation, we create our lives everyday. Life is a living being, our actions are ones of creation, these acts result too in emotions. As beings we hold within us a wide range and expanse of emotion and feelings. Each day can bring us moments of pure joy, deep sadness and everything in between. Mostly I choose JOY, I choose JOY because I have lived many other moments that have been filled with the whole human experience. Yet because of those moments I can find great JOY. I define JOY as a feeling in my heart like the most glorious sunburst, rays radiatiing throughout my body, my mind, my eyes. My body responds by dancing (when at home I crank up the music and just dance around the whole house) Being able to move, kick, twirl is just more JOY!

My life in the past year and a half has been one of many changes, I moved my Mom and took care of her, I moved to be even closer to her, my oldest moved back in to finish her second degree. My Mom passed away peacefully, my youngest graduated high school, in University now, my oldest is now done her degree and finishing moving out today for the final time. I now have someone else new in my life after a long time. JOY often trails through our life mixed with bittersweet feelings of past moments now gone and replaced with the adventure of the present and the unknown yet to be.

Yet what I do know is I will always create JOY, I will always find moments that make my heart sing. Life is full, life is busy but it also must have a reason, a space for creating, for creating JOY. If you are looking for JOY, grab some crayons and paper, put on your favorite music, draw, dance and just open your heart, there is JOY! Follow the JOY! Debra, CEO!