art + craft

When I was in Kansas City with Harmony, we talked a lot about beauty and art.  These two things are really important to me, possibly more important than I realized, and I want to try to do a better job of identifying in my life areas where beauty and art exist.  So, last week, I took a moment to recognize a couple of things in my house that represented that to me.

First, a painting by a very dear friend, Kate.  When I arrived in Spain, she was part of one of the women's bible studies that I attended, and as we spent more time together, we became close friends.  She was another woman about my age that I was able to connect with, and I had so many great times with her... Kate, if you're reading this, I'm thinking about our awesome shopping trips, runs out to Las Rozas, pool parties, thoughtful conversational lunches, and the sleepovers we'd have :)  Kate returned to the states around Christmas, and I'm already finding how much I miss having her here.  But, that is one of the realities of living abroad - we have a constantly changing community of people, and as quickly as you create a friendship here, people can move on to other things as well.  It's hard, but it makes you cherish friendship even more.


Anyway... I saw at a mutual friend's house a cool painting of the symbol of Madrid - it's a bear eating off of what looks like a strawberry tree.  Do strawberries grow on trees?  I guess I don't really know, but again, back to the topic.  I asked said friend where she got the painting, and she told me that Kate had made it for her.  I asked Kate if she would paint one for me, and she excitedly agreed to, and now I have an amazing piece of art that is not only a great remembrance of my friendship with Kate, but of Madrid as well :)
Second, to the craft part of this post.  I had an earring hanger that I created when I moved here out of a frame and some string to display and store my large earrings.  But as I traveled and found inexpensive, cool earrings at H&M, my earring holder became to small.  So last week, I stopped by IKEA to pick up a new, larger frame, and some cool fabric, and I proceeded to make a new earring holder for my bathroom.  I was pretty excited with the way that it turned out, and I love that there is this cool hidden image behind all my little earrings.  I know that some people have made these earring hangers with a metal mesh as the back piece, but I have a hard time finding that here.  The fabric works well because it is self-healing and cool looking, and you can't see where I put the holes in it, but it's strong enough to support all of the earrings.  Plus, it adds a nice splash of color to my very white apartment.

Is there anything you've created or made that makes you feel like a space is more yours, or that helps you recognize the beauty & art that you have around you?