Beautiful/Workable Spaces

As promised in my last post, some inspiration! I asked three sweet friends if I could have some photos of their craft rooms to share on my blog. They graciously, but a bit shyly, agreed. I enjoy looking at pictures of how people organize and arrange what they have - how they make what God has blessed them with beautiful and workable. These women inspire me in that way, but that's only scratching the surface of who they are. I admire all these women and am thankful that God brought us all to a town in Missouri to do life together. Proverbs 27:17 says, "As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another." They have sharpened me. They have helped me love God more.

Suzie Evans was the most ambushed of the three in regards to photographing her space. I happened to be at her home for another reason entirely when I remembered that I wanted to ask her about her craft room.  I always have my camera, so "do you mind...?" was out of my mouth before she knew what hit her. She felt like it was a mess, (it wasn't), but let me snap a couple. Her room, her house, make you feel like you're at a retreat in the mountains. She says her blood pressure drops and she relaxes the minute she walks into her craft room. Mine did too.

Next on the hit list was Sue Roweton. There's a reason her nickname in college was "Super Sue." Sue is one of the most organized, efficient women I know (and well read, well written, well spoken...).  She could give Frank Gilbreth, the dad and efficiency expert of  Cheaper by the Dozen fame, a few pointers.  Mary Grace has enjoyed crafting in Sue's open, always welcome, space.

And last, but not least, is Cheri Jones. Cheri made a statement one time, that gave me a lot of freedom. I'll be surprised if she even remembers it. When she and Jim were building their house, she talked about how the decor in their new house was going to be completely different from the house they were in. She was tired of it.  Ridiculously, I wondered, "Can you do that? Can you just admit that you were tired of what you had picked and go to something polar opposite?" Before I heard Cheri say this, if I admitted I didn't like something I had chosen anymore, it felt like I didn't have good taste in the first place. But since Cheri's statement, I know it didn't! It just meant I was tired of it. Cheri, a decorating expert, said so. Freedom! Thanks, Cheri.
I don't know if Cheri thinks her room has a Mary Engelbreit feel or not http://www.maryengelbreit.com/, but it reminds me of her style. Maybe it's the black and white polkadots scattered here and there:)

The definition of inspire is "fill (someone) with the urge or ability to do or feel something, esp. to do something creative." The something creative will look different in each of our lives. And if you have little ones running around, you are probably happy just to do something, let alone what is typically thought of as something creative. But here's the deal. We all have our days filled with a lot of somethings - and a lot of it we don't have a whole lot of say about. But our creator God can help us take our every day somethings and create a beauty around them and in them. 

Thanks again to my three friends, who, because of the beauty in them, created some beauty around them. That's inspiring.