My Creative Source

Many (many) years ago, there was a little redheaded girl who loved to read.
LOVED. TO. READ.
Loved it SO much that she hid in her room reading all the time,

and her mom & grandma would literally kick her outside and close the door,

entreating her to 'Go Play!'.
Most of the time, I DID go play - bikes, barbies, kiddles, house, swimming, skating -

with my neighborhood friends, 

until dusk fell and the streetlights came on and Moms called their kids in to dinner.

Other times, I sneaked a book out of the house - under my tee shirt - 

 and climbed the tree in the yard to read hidden among the branches, undisturbed.

And there was this one book.....
the 'Make and Do' volume of the Childcraft 'How and Why' Library from World Book.

ah, the wonders it held inside!
Every page revealed creative ideas GALORE.
Pages dog-eared from being folded over for 'things I want to make'.

Cover sticky with remnants of paste and glitter and paint.

I made things for Christmas and holidays and birthdays and every days.

Oh, how I loved that book.
In later years, my mom gave me the whole World Book set for MY kids, 

and they loved it just as much as I did.

A week ago, I went into a thrift store and there was the whole set of the books. 
[ not MY actual set, mind you ]

I rifled through them in a split second, looking for the familiar cover...

and breathed a huge sigh of relief when I found it!
I bought it for the grand sum of FIFTY CENTS and brought it home.
I sat on the twin bed in my office, which is covered with a white matlasse spread - 

reminding me of my own childhood bed all those years ago.
On hot summer days back then, I lived for 'rest time' -
 I was too old for naps, but it helped my mom get my little brother to nap if I laid down, too -
but I never argued about it,
because THAT was when I could curl up on my bed with this book, 

and just devour its enticing and inspiring contents - page by page:

 So, when I came home the other day,

I did exactly that... devoured it from cover to cover.

And on one particular page,
I spied something that I realized had been embedded in my mind all of my life.
It brought a smile to my face as I read it,

because the formation of my homewardFOUND philosophy
of using what you have to make beautiful things

started right in this very book when I was a child:

Tin Cans? yep. Buttons? yep. Balloons? yep.

I've shared posts for craft and decor ideas using all of those elements - and many more.
(Sweaters aren't specifically mentioned here, but let's just go with the 'cloth' reference, shall we?!)

What a thrill to see something that inspired me so much as a child

and formed one of my most definitive design qualities: re-purposing everyday items into decor.

I didn't just find a treasured book last week...

I found another part of ME!