the half-granny triangle shawl

At my fall retreat, Kelly was using the most gorgeous yarn to crochet a half-granny triangle shawl.

And as I watched her double crochet back and forth, I was smitten.

On the drive home, Kelly, Sasha (my retreat kitchen goddess), and I stopped at Rainy Day Yarns in Gig Harbor and I bought yarn to make my own shawl. And then a few days later, I went back to buy more*.

I kind of can't stop making these simple, delightful, shawls. 

You can find the awesome and very easy to follow video tutorial to get you started right here. You can crochet one is about two movies worth of time. A beginner(ish) project for sure.  

The truth is, I think of them like a prayer shawl of sorts. As I said here, I like to imagine love being woven into each stitch. And while I'm crocheting away, I'm holding the person I'm making it for in my thoughts and truly hoping they feel a hug from me when they wear it.

And even though shawls might not be as "hip" as a cowl, scarf, or even wrap, I hope they'll put it on in the evenings when there's a chill in the air or when the lonelies set in or when life just feels a bit tough. Perhaps in those moments they will feel that love surround them and remember they are not alone.

Can a shawl really do that? I think it can.

Variegated yarn is really fun to work with when using this pattern. It gives it a bit more of the typical granny square look. Mochi Plus is my current favorite (you've seen peeks of me using it on Instagram lately). I also like the Liberty Wool Print yarns (Ellie's shawl is "Cupcake"). Yarn used in my shawl is Malabrigo Rios. I couldn't find a source for my color way, which is Indiecita, but etsy and ebay can be good sources.

Photos of Ellie and me by Vanessa Simpson (we might have used that one of Ellie for our holiday card because do you see that face? oh my goodness that kid.)

*The second time I went back to the yarn shop, they were having a class and didn't have time to wind my yarn.

This is the part where I could say, "Note to self: Never leave the yarn shop with skeins that aren't wound into balls." But luckily I know how to wind them at home without a winder.

And I made a tutorial for you in case you need to know too right over here.

Still, note to self: Don't leave the yarn shop without getting them wound honey. 

gratitude

 

Last Friday, I felt an urge to give away four of my "You Are Loved" Soul Mantra lockets. When I put up the post on my blog, I decided to ask people to share who they would give the locket to if they won.

Your responses blew my heart wide open.

I was deeply moved by the first few comments that started trickling in. And it didn't take long for me to realize that magic was about to unfold (and that I'd have to give away more than four lockets; I'm sending out eight this week). People coming over from Pinterest, long-time readers of my blog, and others paused to really think about this phrase, "You Are Loved," and who might most need to hear it.

As I read those comments, I kept wondering what might happen if every person who left a comment (or thought about leaving one) shared their words with the person they love. What if they said, "I miss you. I love you." Or wrote letters saying, "I see you. You are the strongest person I know. You are loved." Or stood in front of the mirror breathing through the truth that yes even they are loved.

What would happen if you shared your wisdom, truth, and love with the person who most needs to hear from you today?

I really dare you to take the risk and tell them. 

with gratitude

I truly am so grateful for this gift of being able to create talismans that people carry with them on their journeys. Hammering phrases like "Always trust your cape" or the last words someone's grandmother spoke or "You are never alone" changes my life over here. I am reminded that I am not alone in the desire to feel seen and understood, and there is magic in the energy exchange between us. I feel it and I thank you. 

In that spirit, I'm having a "spring is almost here" sale. Use code ALMOSTSPRING to receive 15% off of your order in my shop today and tomorrow. (To use the code, just click on "Apply coupon code" above the "item total" column when you check out and then enter the code.)

Quick note: My daughter and I are taking an impromptu trip to the midwest next week, so I'll be closing my shop for about two weeks starting this Sunday. In anticipation of being gone, I'm not taking custom orders at this time. They will resume when I return later this month. 

Sending light and love to your corner of the world,
Liz 

a shop sale

Sometimes we need a traveling companion to remind us to be present to the beauty and truth that surround us. We need to be encouraged to shine a light on what is real, to heal, to dance inside joy. We need an invitation to stand tall and give ourselves permission to rest. We need to be gently pushed to find our way to laughter and fill the cracks that life creates. 

My hope is that the talismans found at Soul Mantras and Other Stories will be companions on your journey as you open your heart to all that is to come...

Today only, I am having a 25% off all items in the shop sale! Just use coupon code HOLIDAY11 when you check out through my Etsy shop.

I am also delighted to announce that you can now customize your Soul Mantra necklace with your own phrase and choose your locket and even choose from a few bead options. All the customizable options can be found in the new CUSTOMIZABLE section in the shop! 

Holiday schedule: All U.S. orders placed by December 12 will be sent in time to arrive by Christmas. If you need something by a specific date, check in with me by email or Etsy convo. International orders will be sent out as well, but I cannot guarentee they will arrive in time.

And just remember that the HOLIDAY11 coupon code for 25% off is only good today!

edited to add: In case you are new to Etsy or new to coupon codes on Etsy, here is how you apply the coupon to your order. When you are on the shopping cart page, look for "Apply shop coupon code." It appears just above the Order Total area in your shopping cart. Click on "Apply shop coupon code" and then enter HOLIDAY11 in the box that appears. Click "Apply" and you will see your discount. 

live it baby girl {soul mantra stories}

live it baby girl, a whispered soul mantra locket in the shop

People often ask me where the soul mantra phrases come from. Sometimes the phrases arrive almost "on the wind" when I am in my studio working with the letters and lockets, and they push me to pound them into metal. Sometimes the mantras are born from my experiences and from stories my friends share with me. Then there are the phrases that whisper in moments of quiet when I am in the midst of living. 

From time to time, I am going to share these stories, beginning today with the story of the "live it baby girl" soul mantra.

*****

The day was thick with missing and grief.

I walked along the water, my eyes turned toward the spaces between sand and rock, hoping to find the small tumbled glass, hoping it would connect me to her. With each step, the sadness grew as I was pulled back to the last time we walked on the beach years ago. Realizing I remembered so little from that last ocean visit, I wished I could go back, right back, and hear her laughter. As I found the first piece of small, rounded green glass, my chest hurt with the longing to look up and see her a few steps ahead of me. I would call out to her and say, "I found one!" and rush over...my 26-year-old self becoming my 5-year-old self in that moment as I would seek the approval and perhaps even the jealousy of my grandmother. Instead, my 33-year-old self walked alone inside the missing that day.

The tears tapped at the backs of my eyes as I searched between the grey, white, brown rocks, bending over even though my back ached. Tucking the sea glass into my pockets, the truth of grief my companion.

Finally, I unfolded, coming out of the searcher's stance and faced the neverending lapping, pushing, pulling water. I closed my eyes and tried to hear her voice inside the memories, but I kept getting caught up in my own words, "I miss you. I can't remember. I wish...I wish..." Taking a breath, I tried again to hear her. Giving up, I opened my eyes and looked at the mountains in the distance; my face softening with the truths that seemed to float inside me. Then it came:

Live it baby girl. 

Was it her voice? My voice? The voice of something greater than me? I brushed the wondering aside and made the choice to just be right there, breathing in the grief, the truth, the beauty, and all that she taught me.

the kindred project

there are 12 days in the spring that have become the 12 days that created this little family that lives in this little house in the pacific northwest.

today, may 27th, is jon's birthday.
my birthday is in almost two weeks, on june 7.
and right in the middle is the day when little eleanor jane took her first breath.

12 days that created this little family.

so for these 12 days, i want to have a celebration with a little project. i want to do something to honor the way that we choose joy, hope, love...the way that we choose to live in the true home inside ourselves.

An Invitation 

Please share your stories of love and hope and joy. The stories where you have stood in the light within. I challenge you to see this light and claim it, to give yourself the gift of being seen. 

Please share the stories of others who have pushed you to see that you can choose the beauty and possibility and love.  

These stories can be simple. They might be one sentence. They might be a link to a blog post by another.

These stories can be anonymous.

These stories can be shared in whatever way calls you.

If you feel moved, please share your stories in the comments. I would love for this spot to be a place where your stories can rest...where your stories can become teachers to all of us. Perhaps you will decide to share your story on your blog, and if you do, I hope you will come back here to this post and leave a link in the comments.

A Shop Special

For these 12 days, I have listed the "hope," "joy," "love," and "home" simple soul mantra necklaces at a special price in the shop with free shipping for this item. But here is the catch: I would love to send this necklace to someone in your life who needs to be honored and reminded that they can choose hope and that they are loved and that they can live inside joy. Maybe they need to be given the gift of remembering the beauty of standing in the light of the true home that is inside them.

When you purchase this necklace, just indicate which word you would like on the necklace (choosing hope, love, home, or joy) and then include the recipient's address in the notes to seller. You can also let me know what you would like the accompanying note to say. (And, if you want to send it anonymously as a little surprise of hope in the mail, just let me know and I will include an anonymous note.)

And know this: If you are reading this and know that you are the one who most needs a message of love, hope, joy, or home as a talisman for your journey, well, the special is for you too. 

A Blog Series

Today, in another post, I am sharing pieces of what brought me to this moment and this belief that I can say "yes" to the beauty and the joy while standing tall in the real truth of my life (this originally appeared in this post but I have moved it to its own spot here). Then, beginning tomorrow, I will share a few of the lights along my path that have pushed me and taught me and held me in the midst of it all. 

Thank you (yes you) for being a light on my path...

Sending blessings to you across the miles,

Liz

shop news

a few necklaces that i will be phasing out from the shop to make room for new designs

For the last few weeks, as visits to my Etsy shop increased quite a bit in an unexpected but oh my goodness delightful (thank you) way, I have been relisting several popular designs. This means that most of the designs in the shop have become "made when ordered" necklaces with a waiting period from time of order to shipment. This has been working quite well, but it has meant I had moved away from the more "one of a kind" pieces that have mostly filled the shop in the past. It has also meant that the ideas for new designs have stayed in my idea journal or my head and not made it to the shop.

So after thinking about this quite a bit, I have decided to change things up a bit.

I am naming the above necklaces the "winter collection" as several of these are the designs I have been relisting often over the last few weeks. On Friday, I will remove all the necklaces pictured above from the shop to make room for a new collection of whispered soul mantra lockets that I am working on this week. I will do this every other month or so, adding new designs here and there. These will be "made when ordered" necklaces with a wait time of about 2-3 weeks. I love that this means I will be thinking of the customer who bought each necklace as I create each necklace. Note that this doesn't mean you will never see these phrases or beads in the shop again, but these combinations of specific locket styles + specific beads + phrases will not be appearing again.

Several of the most popular simple locket designs will stay in the shop and are now part of a section called "Simple Mantra Lockets." Additionally, there is a new section of "ready to ship" lockets and soul mantra necklaces that includes one-of-a-kind selections and items that are already made and ready to be shipped right away (my hope is to add to this section a few times a month). Also, the new Heart.Full Collection is an ongoing limited edition collection of necklaces with 15% of the profits of sales from the collection being donated to Mary Bridge and Seattle Children's Hospitals. (And I am so so happy to report that the Heart.Full "i am enough" and "yes" necklaces have been such great sellers already. Oh how I love this! Jon and I are so thrilled to be able to donate to the people at these hospitals who have literally saved our daughter's life. Thank you (yes you) for helping us to do this.)

January brought quite a few custom orders, and how I loved pounding so many powerful words into lockets for my customers. However, there were so many custom orders that I have had to take a bit of a break from them to keep up. My hope is to open the shop for custom orders from time to time but this probably won't happen until after the next two Be Present Retreats.

To just be honest, things are super busy around here for several reasons and though I am so honored to be hammering these custom stories into necklaces for people, I have to make sure I am taking care of all the areas of my creative business and getting a bit of time to play with those I love and rest and recharge. Right now, almost every waking hour feels a bit like a race of taking care of Ellie all day long to working while she naps to working when she goes to bed (or when Jon can watch her for a bit). I want to infuse all that I am doing with deep breaths and joy as much as possible instead of giving everything the energy of a frazzled new mom who is drinking too much coffee. (Insert photo of me smiling sheepishly here.) So putting these new ideas for the shop into practice feels like a good step for this time in my life. This way, when I do have time for custom orders, I can give people the individual attention they need. Please note though that I am taking custom simple soul mantra one word orders on an ongoing basis.

And I am just going to say this truth that has been bubbling up as I write this post:

I am so blessed. I am so blessed that people come to my little spot on the web and connect with these stories of truth and hope and love that I am putting out into the world in the form of these lockets and necklaces and other things in the shop. And the blessings just continue as people reach out to let me know how much the necklaces and stories mean to them. They tell me how the whispered soul mantras gently push them to own the truths they already know: that they are enough, that they can choose hope, that they can stand tall in the light, that they can trust their wisdom. The stories of love and hope that are coming my way simply push me to know that I am not alone...we are not alone as we walk on our paths hoping and wishing and living, really living while trying to be our very best selves.

Yes.

Thank you. Big.

xoxo,

Liz

six

the view from here

1) Reading about Ali's "One Little Word" invitation (and class) has really touched me over the last week or so. I love this image of people around the world giving themselves permission to listen to and then wish for what their soul's most long for in the new year. Yesterday, when I saw all those incredible words posted together, I couldn't stop myself from reading them aloud. And then I recorded them to send Ali a little audio "note" that was more like a poem of possibility so she could hear all the beauty her readers are sharing. She shares my "little note" today on her site. (So if you want to hear all those gorgeous, powerful, one little words read out loud, head to her site and visit this post.) And a big thank you to Ali as she also shared the locket she bought from my shop, so the shop has been hopping a bit with others moved to have their word pounded into a locket.

2) I am now taking custom orders for one (powerful) word simple soul mantra necklaces. I am also taking custom orders for lockets and have streamlined the process a bit, so feel free to email me or just head over to the shop and look around and send me an "etsy conversation." (Current turnaround is about 2-3 weeks for custom orders [see #1]).

3) And other shop news under the gratitude category: Because of my incredible customers, I was able to donate $300 to Mary Bridge Children's Hospital last month. There are still two "seek peace" necklaces available (100% of the profits go to Mary Bridge). I have been so moved by the experience of creating these "stories" that go out into the world. And then, because of you, we were able to give back so other parents who find themselves in an ICU with their child will be able to buy gas to commute to the hospital or food in the cafeteria or have a place to stay. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. (See this post for the history behind this donation.) I plan to do things like this throughout the year and will share more soon.

4) Currently alternating Joshua Radin and David Whyte on the iPod as I work. Have you heard David Whyte read his books and poetry? Oh my goodness, please start with The Three Marriages (this book is seriously rocking my world right now and pushing me to think about the life I am creating...and listening to him read...well...trust me on this).

5) Thank you for your comments and emails that you shared after watching Monday's video post. I will be replying to your emails in the next few days and am so grateful that you have shared your thoughts about this topic. I have my little bowl of buttons right here next to me, and they have really become a reminder of the ways I can live, and I mean really live, in my corner.

6) So many stories are shuffling around inside me waiting to be shared here. I want to tell you about how I am finally sinking into the truth of knowing that just showing up as me is the way to go. I want to share that even though several people told me that "the being present thing would have to be thrown out the window with a baby around," I am learning more each day about how being here ::right here:: is the path I am called to walk. I want to read you a poem or two. I want to share a chant that I am singing to Ellie each night. I want to share my gratitude about how I have felt deeply seen lately (even when I sometimes feel lost in the challenges that are this path of the last year). I want to invite you to come along on a new journey or two with me soon. Yes. So much I want to share. And as I have the time I will. Yes. I can't wait...

with gratitude.

pike place market spring, april 2010

for you.

yes, you.

thank you for your kind words, your support, your whispers of you are not alone. your comments (and emails) these last few weeks especially have been like lights in my world. i am reminded again that i have this incredible group of women out there in the world supporting me, supporting each other, as we walk on our paths and stand tall in our bravery and truth. thank you for getting it and sharing your wisdom in a way that has felt supportive and real. thank you.

i am also very grateful for the people who have supported my little shop these last few weeks. this spring, we encountered some unexpected money things, in the way that you do, with taxes and car repairs, all these appointments i am experiencing, and some other things. i know you get it. and your support of my shop enabled us to buy a few things for the little one that we really needed to buy but weren't sure we could afford. 

as a thank you, i would like to extend a special savings code to my blog readers (in addition to the free shipping i am offering until my maternity leave begins around may 23). just leave the code "be present" in the notes to seller when you check out through my etsy shop, and you will receive a 15% discount (refunded through PayPal after you pay).

snippets of items in the shop

i hope this monday finds you breathing deeply in your world and finding the space to remember that you have all the knowledge you need for this moment.

blessings,

liz