a penny in a fountain...

a star in the sky,
a word spoken in frustration,
or a thought written secretly.

Wishes.

This is a prompt that can be full of emotion, magic, or humor. Cara's here to share with us her wonderfully hopeful project.

Meet our guest designer:

my name is cara harjes.
i love lazy rivers, tiramisu, and hanging with my cute husband.
i dislike eating my veggies, putting away laundry, and people who are difficult to read.
i grew up in st. louis, mo but i have lived in denver, co for almost 10 years!
(if you are also from st. louis, i will ask you "where did you go to high school?")
(if you are not from st. louis, i don't care where you went to high school.)
(but we can still be friends.)
(and that concludes the parentheses portion of this bio!)

when kara asked me to play with the prompt "wishes" i was more than a little unsure of what i would end up making. "wishes" felt really dreamy and light and easy-going . . . things that don't really describe me. so it was a good challenge. one day i was driving home from the office i share with my husband. it is across the street from a treatment center for adults deal with substance abuse. i saw a very confused, disoriented looking lady wearing a sequined gown in the middle of the day crossing the street. i felt her pain all the way through the steel doors of my car. but i was also listening to a really hopeful song. something inside of me began to stir. i started thinking about what is going on in our world and what i would like to see change. the concept for this video was born immediately from that short exchange. i was also really inspired by the Wizard of Oz. to me, it embodies the whimsy and magic that all good wishes are made of! you will find several yellow brick road references here.

you can find my stories, pictures, and recipes here, and my most recent brain child is my *BRAND NEW* blog, The Marriage Mix. it is a place for folks to find encouragement and hope in the midst of marriage - which, as it turns out, is not as easy at it seems in romantic comedies!!! (perhaps if i woke up looking like meg ryan or reese witherspoon things might be different.) (probably not.) (there i go again with those parentheses . . . )

thanks so much to the girls from The Art is Found - you are lovely and i am so happy to have the honor of playing with you this month!!!!



Cardboard Wishes from Cara Harjes on Vimeo.


The other Kara made a lovely layout with the new Hambly butterfly paper:



Fabulous Debee did a digital layout:



Here's Dani's layout:



And I (Mandi!) altered a dollar bill. ha

Ashley dedicated her *wish* to *wish*ing that Six Feet Under was still on the air...

The other girls are posting later tonight and this week, so check back!

As usual, we *wish* you would play along with us. :) A random participant will be chosen to win a *free* spot in Kara's up and coming online class! It's bound to be as fabulous as she is.