Tonia Davenport

Tasting the Contents

Imagine you are . . .well . . . you and your life is this mason jar, filled with what look like shiny, round balls. You are certain these must be assorted chocolate cordials, though you can’t be sure because the jar has always been tightly sealed. You’ve often looked long and hard at the jar, imagining how sweet and luscious the liquid centers to the shiny balls must be. While you’ve longed to actually test your theory and have a taste of the candy, you haven’t because the seal on the lid has always been so tight. You’ve just come to accept that the contents are for gazing at/dreaming about only and are not meant to actually be sampled.

But one day you start to acquire a real sweet tooth and it has you wondering about the actual taste of those candies inside the jar more than ever. This craving intensifies day by day until eventually it becomes all-consuming and getting at the candy inside is all you can think about. It suddenly dawns on you that there may be more than one way to release the jar’s contents.

You could break it.

This thought is very disconcerting because you are not one for breaking things. In fact, you are incredibly uncomfortable with destruction of any kind; it’s just not in your makeup. But the longing to test out the sweetness of the contents is so strong that your find yourself almost involuntarily nudging the jar inch by inch toward the edge of the shelf, until one day the jar is just teetering on the edge. You take a deep breath and with one large exhale you knock the jar off of the shelf.

In

slow

motion,

the jar

falls to the tile floor below

and shatters.

Your greatest fear has been manifested—your life appears broken and in many pieces on the floor. Broken.

The pace speeds back up to real time.

You fly into action, scrambling to keep the bouncing shiny balls from scattering away. Your arms are going in every direction and you can’t seem to work fast enough to stop the crazy bouncing. Your feet and hands are cut by the glass and the pain starts manifesting as you struggle to contain the candied contents. Eventually the balls quit bouncing and rolling and you think you probably gathered most of the pieces up, though it’s probable some will be lost forever. But most of the candy sits now in one pile with the broken pieces of glass—some of each, spotted with crimson blood. You pause in a moment of shock and are still. Then, you remember the motive you had just seconds ago (was it really only seconds? It seems like days.) You remember you were craving the rich chocolate, the sweet, flowing-liquid centers.

You reach down, pick up a ball and put it in your mouth. It’s as sweet and sumptuous as you had always imagined it would be, but a shard of glass that had stuck to the ball cuts your tongue. It’s OK. From here, you know that the remaining cordials can gently be wiped clean, the broken glass swept up and discarded. And while the clean-up process will be tedious and painful (you’re bound to cut yourself a few more times), you are encouraged by what you’ve now tasted and you know how sweet the contents of your life really are, and you intend to devour each piece with passion.

It's like that.

Perfectly Imperfect Love

You may think I spend an awful lot of time on the concept of “love.” I’ll admit, I [heart] LOVE and am one of those sappy types who really and truly believes that love conquers all and yes, love IS the answer. It really is the answer. Sometimes that means loving yourself; sometimes that means loving another; sometimes it means indirectly loving others by loving a cause or being passionate about something you’re good at, which, in the end makes the world a better place for having your contribution in it. Sometimes love is easy. Simple and uncomplicated and easy and obvious. More often than not, however (at least in my personal existence), love is often sloppy, awkward and clumsy.

I’m learning more and more that pure love starts at our very core with loving ourselves. Once we are full-up, love just naturally spews out to those around us and really is offered up with very little effort. It’s when we’re not full-up that the pureness of love can be a bit diluted. That doesn’t mean it’s not still good or that we shouldn’t make an attempt to share it, but the thing is, when love is given without there being a surplus (meaning you had to withdraw from your account—the account which should have a surplus in it because you have loved yourself entirely first, so there wasn’t already “extra” that was burning a hole in your pocket), then you are left with a need for your funds to be replenished, and, unfortunately, this usually means than while we think we’re giving freely, the fact remains we are giving but expecting something in return—large or small. It’s just natural. But when you reach a place where love is pure and you have absolutely no need or expectation of any kind of reciprocation, the freedom that exists there is pure bliss and naturally adds to the surplus. Am I making any sense? It means that when you are so full that love just spurts out of you here and there, there is no fear of what someone’s reaction might be to your love (that stops us often, doesn’t it?) because you have no need of their approval. You can feel completely at peace because you know sharing love can never be the “inappropriate” or “weird” or whatever thing to do. How many times have you resented or been offended by someone sharing pure love with you? I’m guessing not too often, if ever. And if you have by some remarkable chance not appreciated it, I would venture to say it’s an invitation to look internally as to why.

This brings me to say that we should never hold back. I experienced one of those events this week that you’ve heard about a thousand times: “Never refrain from telling someone you love them, because you never know when it may be the last time.” Are you rolling your eyes? We may all roll our eyes until it really happens to us. Luckily for me, “it” turned out not to be the last time (this time), and I was given another chance to share the love that’s in my heart for this person, so I did--as quickly as I could.

Trying to show those you love how much you love them will never be perfect. You will always wonder what you could have done better or if you should have tried harder. Love is messy. But while you’ve heard these messages a thousand times, they bear repeating. Love yourself. Love freely. Love yourself. The only time you may regret telling someone you love them is if, in fact, you don’t. If your love is honest, the only regret you may have is having not said anything at all.

A Shift of Thinking

I was having a conversation with a very good friend yesterday about how some people are simply not as effective as other people when it comes to things like self-promotion. While there are several possible reasons for this, I suggested that one such reason is simply a lack of ambition or laziness.

 

For a few reasons, the aspects of both "faults" and assets been on my mind the last couple of days so this morning as I was remembering the above conversation I began pondering if there might be a possible reason some people are more innately "lazy" than others. I'm a firm believer that we're all created the way we are for a reason—blessed with our own unique set of talents/skills, outlooks, capabilities and yes, "faults." But what if "faults" weren't really "faults" but simply another facet of our strengths? Stay with me here . . .Was there a good reason some people were just born with less of a "must do 100 things before the day is done" mentality? I think there is a reason. I think it takes highly motivated and seemingly tireless people to get the "big" jobs in the world done. Big jobs take strong people, right? Big jobs are extremely important and thank Goodness there are people fighting for us every day to get them done. Are big jobs the only important part of our world—of our lives? No. Between all of the big, important stuff is the rest of life. If everyone were rushing around fixing the big problems, who would be taking care of little things like basic needs and simple pleasures? Therefore, it takes a certain number of people who were built to take things a little slower and remind us that

Rome

wasn't built in a day and that little things do matter.

 

The person who gets down on themselves for being a doormat can be the same person whose compassion makes them a great listener. The person who is hot headed and lashes out can be the same person with convictions strong enough to fight the battles for people less fortunate than themselves. I'm not saying that "faults" shouldn't be examined and perhaps turned around, but I would challenge you to be gentle with yourself the next time you get down about what you think your weakness is. Try looking at it from a different angle to see that it may be a part of what also makes you good. We all have talents and as I continually say, we are given those talents for the sheer purpose of serving others. It's what they're for. So if we can turn around our thinking and focus on how great it is that we are the way we are, it just makes it a lot more fun and easier to focus on sharing the good inside with others rather than worrying about how the "bad" inside holds us back.

Scenes From The Big Island, Part I

Make a Smilebox slideshow

String Art Pendants

I hadn't played around with this concept for a while, so I created two new pendants this weekend. These will be samples for my upcoming class, String Art Pendant, at the Bead&Button Show next month. There are still spots left in the class if you can make it. :-)

Creative Minds Are . . .(Throat Clear) . . .Rarely Tidy

 

Have you ever wondered what type of extravagant working conditions I create art in? I'm going to come clean (well, that might be the wrong figure of speech) and show you just how much of a mess my studio truly is, the vast majority of the time. I don't think I'm going to be interviewed for one of those "artist studio" publications anytime soon, do you? And just to prove how consistent of a slob I really am, the first three photos were taken almost exactly a year ago and the ones with me in them, taken today. Yep . . .not a whole lotta difference, though if you look closely there are a few different materials and tools.

So why the self-portrait pics? Because I want to truly take ownership of my creative chaos and perhaps bond with you other cluttered types (oh I know you are plentiful--I see how you work during photo shoots that we have together at my "day job"). So there you have it; a little glimpse of my little world. I hope you're having a good weekend!

The "Extended" One-Hour Class

I just want to thank the good sports that were in my class a week ago, tonight for the Artiscape Heart Choker Pendant. It was supposed to be a one-hour class, but we ended up working for an extra hour or so. Everyone seemed to be having a great time and I hope that you all left inspired to try more things with Plexiglas and with the jeweler's saw!

Here are some samples that a few of you were generous enough to share pics with me for. Lisa gets the Renegade award for being brave enough to actually experiment with heating and shaping her heart into a very cool bracelet! Nancy gets the Very Cool award for her beautiful use of shrink plastic to create a crinkled-paper look and Mary gets the Patience of a Saint award for kindly waiting on me to help her set her rivet. All the pieces in the class came out beautifully and I really had a great time with everyone. I hope to see you all again next year, if not sooner!

Inspiration from John Fischer's Catch of the Day

I know I typically post about my passion for plexi and normally stick to showing you projects I've completed, yet this marks the second day in a row my post would fall into the "touchy/feel-y" category as a friend would call it. Oh well. What can I say? I feel inspired to share something deeper than jewelry with you, two days in a row now.

I subscribe to a daily e-mail message called Catch of the Day and found this morning's message especially relevant to me and I thought it was a wonderful reminder to take a look at the people close to us and celebrate what they bring to our lives rather than focus on what their differences do to make things challenging. The "Catch" for today is called "Your Mind on Caffeine" (the author is a fellow coffee-house nut) and I encourage you to go to the site and read the entire thing. My two favorite points John made:

"My road will not be yours; yours will not be mine, even if we walk together."

"And finally, part of who we are becoming involves those closest to us. We are not who we are in a vacuum. We are a product of the people we know and how we have grown together. We shape each other. When this aspect is strong, there is a healthy push and pull at work. “As iron sharpens iron, a friend sharpens a friend.” (Proverbs 27:17 NLT)"

And thanks so much for the positive comments about the last post. Each brought a smile to my face. Have a wonderful day!

Speak Up!

Did you see something today that somebody else did, was wearing or created? Something you really admired or was impressed with? Did you tell them you liked what you saw? I've been thinking a lot today about how many of these opportunities we pass up on a consistent basis. Oh sure we dish out compliments when it's convenient and of course when it's expected and often when it takes little effort on our part, such as when friend shows up in a new outfit or you learn a coworker received a promotion. But what about when it's someone we don't know? Or when it might seem "too random" or "weird?" How many blogs do we browse each day and really love some of what we see, yet we finish reading/looking and move onto the next blog or activity without having left a comment or emailed the person our thoughts/appreciation for the inspiration or our simple admiration? You know how you feel when someone stops you unexpectedly and gives you a compliment; it makes you smile and actually become somewhat impressed that anyone was even paying attention, right? It does that to me anyway. And what about the person that you're certain receives more than their share of praise and doesn't need any more from you? They do need it. They probably receive far less than you think they do and you might just be the one to make their day. And I'm not talking about empty praise or ever being less than sincere, but couldn't we all do a little less lurking/looking down at the ground as we pass someone/almost saying something, but then changing our mind? Just a thought . . .

Artiscape is Around the Corner!

I've been busy all weekend getting ready for my upcoming class at Artiscape. There is still room in the class, if you feel a burning desire to come play with us and create your own heart-shaped choker.

Yesterday I completed typing up the handout/instructions and pre-cutting pieces of plexi for my kits, and today I finished up the piece I'm contributing as part of the Unlocking Inspiration project where we were asked to create any piece of art that incorporated a skeleton key which was sent to us with our welcome packets. After being on display at the event, there will be a silent auction for all of the pieces, with proceeds going to the Women's Fund of Central Ohio. Hope you can join us! Enjoy the rest of your weekend!