Good Thinking: Renewal

When I was in my twenties, and working wonderfully long, creativity-filled days as art director of Mary Engelbreit’s Home Companion magazine, I would come home from work after the very last FedEx drop-off, to my cozy St. Louis apartment. Looking back, and knowing all the hours we put in, I’m not sure how I found time to decorate that place, but apparently I did. We featured it in the pages of the magazine in 1998, photographed by our editor, and multi-talented superwoman, Barbara Elliott Martin.

I go into all this because whenever I’d walk into the kitchen in that apartment, I was both energized and soothed. It was painted vivid Sunflower Yellow, and was decorated to the ceiling with things I’d collected over the years traveling and antiquing, as well as treasures from grandmothers on both sides of the family. One of my favorite things about my kitchen was the quote by Benjamin Disraeli I handpainted along the top of the walls:

“Nurture your mind with great thoughts.” The second part of the quote, which is from Disraeli’s political novel Coningsby, is: “To believe in the heroic makes heroes.” To see that every morning and night restored my spirit and filled me with such a desire to DO. While the quote can be interpreted multiple ways, we can each find meaning in it for ourselves. I have created an all-sentiment stamp set that encourages folks to nurture their minds... with good thoughts! I hope to have several more along these lines, with good thoughts on multiple topics, but first out of the gate is the theme: Renewal.

These soothing, inspiring, and refreshing sentiments will help recharge one’s spirits and remind a friend to stop and take a deep breath. Good Thinking: Renewal will end your search for “just the right” rejuvenating words! This all-sentiment set measures 4 by 6" and is loaded with 16 images. I might be biased in this regard, but I think they work beautifully with my botanical images. I might even stamp one of them on my hand to remind myself to “plant love” today.

Today the Bloom Brigade is stamping out some serenity, and they’d love to share a bit with you! 

Allison Cope
Christine Okken
Cindy Lawrence
Danielle Kennedy
Dawn Burnworth
Kathy Jones
Katie Sims
Leslie Miller
Stacy Morgan
Tosha Leyendekker

Enjoy your tour around, and go plant a little love. :)