Tuesday, September 8, 2015

Frost

I dreamt last night that I was Jack Frost.  I came to this world because my own had been destroyed.  While I was here I found work as an actor in an upcoming play.  I was cast as Jack Frost.

They tried to tell me how to move, how to speak, what accent he would have.  I listened and obliged.  Smile and nod.  Smile and nod.

I noted how cruel they saw me for, in the play, I was to be the villain.  Their story told that my home had been destroyed so I came to this world and opened a street cart to sell brightly colored snow cones made from the magical snow of my world.  Whenever a human consumed the snow it turned them into fairies and, therefore, my slaves.

I chuckled at the nonsense of it all.  Of course, eating magical snow would certainly not turn one into a fairy; fairies are created carefully by the Builder one by one, just like me.  I would not rule them for they are my own kind.

I would pat the small pouch at my side and chuckle at their ignorance.  You see, my pouch held the last few snowflakes of my once frosty world; made with my own two hands, chipped from the fractured light of a thousand glittering moons.  They were pure, beautiful and bright.  They were the last pieces of my home, precious and few.

Opening night I took their notes, listened calmly to instructions, allowed them to poke and prod me into their image of who I was.  The curtains opened and the stage was mine. 

I bickered with a passer-by, like was scripted, then took my precious bag of snowflakes and emptied them carefully onto the cart.  There they glittered brighter than diamonds in the stage lights.  The actors were stunned by their beauty.

"Come," I said softly, taking one's hand.  "Come, and see."  I brought her to the thick, glittering snow and let her stoop to peer into its loveliness.  "This is the most special snow," I whispered.  "Chipped from the light of a thousand shattered moons.  My home."  I caught her tears before they could touch my precious snow and she looked up at my icy blue eyes. 

"I came here because I have nowhere else to go."  I could feel their eyes upon me as I showed them my true face.  Sad, lost, longing.  Pale and gentle blue, their eyes traveled my fairy form.  Wings like icicles pierced my back, chipped and broken.  A tear traced my frosty cheek and floated to the floor, a lone glittering snowflake.

I cupped her hands, "Will you carry my snow?"   She nodded, frightened and unsure of what responsibility she had just agreed to.  I placed a small handful of shining snow in her palm.  "On the first snow, release it into the wind for me."

More hands outstretched to me and I filled them with the dwindling memories of my home.  And then it was gone.  The night was over and I faded into the streetlights to wander and wait for winter.

The weather grew colder.  I wandered fields of some far-away prairie.  Leaves fell from trees and the mornings began to glitter with frost, but not my frost. 

And then the clouds moved in one blustery, windy day.  I crept up to the window and pressed my nose to the glass.  She was there, waiting for snow.  She could no longer see me, I had faded from her world too much, but in her hands was a jar, glittering with the light of thousand moons.  Her eyes were tired but she waited, I lay my head on the sill and breathed.

A single, pure, fluffy snow flake drifted down and settled on the tip of my nose.  I smiled. 
"Jack?"  I met her eyes as she stood in her door, startled to see me looking so grim.  I smiled wearily again and nodded.  She stepped down, barefoot on the frosty earth, and lifted the little jar.  A breath of wind blew and my snowflakes tumbled out into the air.

She smiled as she watched the snow dance around her and turned to see my approval but I had been swept along in the current of my fluttering flakes.  Alive and new again. 

The rest of my snow found its way to me many months later.  Seated comfortably on the crescent moon above the peaks of snow-capped mountains I gathered them into my pouch and held them close to my frosty heart.

"Welcome home," I whispered softly and drifted off to sleep.

Tuesday, August 18, 2015

Hats, Hats, and more Hats!

As I stock up for my annual GRADD art show at the beginning of October I have also been going through my gigantic stash of yarn and picking out my favorite scraps and skeins that have been hiding in boxes ever since I moved.  Anyways, now those scraps and skeins are becoming beautiful hats for you all to enjoy!  Also, I am working on repricing a lot of things in my shop so that they are more consistent SO!!! that means that most of the hats in the shop will now be $15, with only the really specialty yarns priced at $18. 

Oh!  And if you are interested in ordering multiple hats or requesting colors or specialty yarns just shoot me a message and we can discuss details!  :)

Have a beautiful day!

Oh, yeah, and enjoy these beautiful new hats:

Scrappy Blues - $15

Scrappy Neutrals - $15

Turquoise Dream - $18 (specialty yarn: super soft baby alpaca)
Woodland Brook - $15


Summer Kiss - $15

Fairy Garden - $15

Nebula - $15

Hummingbird - $15

Galaxy - $15

Depth - $15

Scrappy Greens - $15

Jumbled Up - $15

Kelp - $15

Huntress - $15

Down - $18 (specialty yarn: super soft baby alpaca)

    
Sunflower - $15
Ok, that's all for today!  Thanks for stopping by!
Visit the shop at: https://www.etsy.com/shop/kbspaddywacks

kaJo

Thursday, August 13, 2015

All things

Well, it's August.

This year has managed to be both the most wonderful and most difficult year of my life.  I've spent 11 months living in our quaint little bungalow with the love of my life.  My Mr. is my best friend and even with all of the frustrating, heart-breaking, antagonizing things that we've gone through in the past 10 months, I can still honestly say that I am the happiest I have ever been because every morning I wake up next to him.

I'll spare you all the boring details of this year.  Suffice it to say that there has been emotional, physical, and spiritual hurt around almost every corner.  It just keeps coming and I'm exhausted.

A few weeks ago I was watching the League of Legends LCS Summer Split with My Mr. and Bagel, my youngest sister.  We got to talking about different kinds of League merchandise that we would like to have and, long story short, I applied a week later for an open position with the company.

I was so very excited about the position that I could barely sleep that night.  I prayed about it -- almost constantly -- for the next few days and, at the same time, tried to convince myself to not get my hopes up.
The company emailed me today with a very kind rejection letter and I smiled sadly and told My Mr., "That's okay.  I like our home here and it would have been hard to move away.".  I'm incredibly disappointed, honestly, but a little relieved too.  This whole year has been a roller-coaster ride and I think, ultimately, moving across the country and starting a whole new life would have been too much for me right now.

I suppose all of this is to say: all things are for the glory of God.

I don't know His plan.  I don't know why things happen the way they do.  I don't know why our bodies hurt or fail.  I don't know why heartbreak is necessary sometimes.

But, I do know that He is good,

He is righteous,

He is holy and just,

And He will be glorified.

kaJo

Wednesday, July 15, 2015

New Earrings for Paddywacks!

Hey, everyone!

Life has been crazy busy around our little bungalow but I'm finally starting to find the time to get my little shop on its feet again.  I decided to start out the inflow of new products with these beautiful, dangle earrings that I've been making in my spare time over the past couple of months.

So, here they are! :)

Greens - $8

Sunny Days - $8

Peaceful Forest - $8

Pretty Pond - $8

Techno - $8

Posies - $8

Frosty Windows - $8

Go Blue - $8

Pretty Pinks - $8

Memories - $8

Berries - $8

Sunset - $8

Smoke - $8

Clear Waters - $8

Bali - $8

India - $8

Metallics - $8

By the Bay - $8

Mediterranean - $8 

Cotton Candy - $8

Fire - $8

Autumn - $8 

Brighten - $8

Stroll - $8

Antique - $8

Garden Path - $8

Tea Time - $8 

Tiger Lily - $8 

Vampire - $8

Tropical Seas - $8

Burning Embers - $8

Amber - $8

The Blues - $8

Tea Cakes - $8

These beauties will be going up the in the shop over the next two days!  Check back soon for a preview of the upcoming necklaces, scarves, and hats that will be coming to the shop soon! 

Kajo