E Verie Co Larie' Creative Minds Magazine

E Verie Co Larie’ Crea�ve Minds Magazine Owners: Jesica Delfin Walker, Sammer Munoz Cecile Grace Charles, Michael Charles

First Issue Release December 8 2021

Content is the collec�ve of ar�sts within the magazine framework, copyrights are used by permission for promo�onal value and cannot be republished without our permission unless the ar�sts themselves give permission for their owned content and must be separated from the E Verie Co Larie’ (Pronounced Ee Very Co lor) content for reuse.

The �tle and concept of E Verie Co Larie’ is copyright owned by Cecile Grace Charles and Jesica Walker and cannot be borrowed, resold or reprinted without sole permission of either originators of the magazine and its content.

Copy art and surface design by Cecile Grace Charles

Copyright E Verie Co Larie’ 2021

E Verie Co Larie’ Mission Statement If you draw the magazines title together as you speak, it says Every Color.

For E Verie Co Larie’ we will always strive to bring unity through this platform.

Creatives are not just artists, they are cooks, mothers, hobbyists, etc. with passion, they see and feel what they do so strongly it affects others around them in a great way. Creatives are of every color, they create of every color, they lead through color. Creatives are the ones who really drive this world, yet don't actively using those talents to bring people together. The underlying theme of the magazine, will be togetherness. Drawing creatives together in a positive manner. We are here to celebrate our differences in proof that this is indeed what makes the world turn. Their successes are our successes and should be your successes to draw from. This platform is for that effort.

Although there will be no professed preference to one thing or another, an individual’s beliefs are a part of their creative spark. Their beliefs will not be censured, instead they will be embraced as their cultural norm. Strong imagery can be wordier that any speech, their artistic behaviors will be our shining stars. There is always a way to make voices heard and artistry is the most beautiful way to make it happen.

Our mission is to maintain a positive atmosphere.

1. To bring people JOY through imagery and articles.

2. To have Patience, for each person has a different mindset.

3. To be Peaceful and to infuse that throughout the magazine for positive reactions.

4. To do business with Generous Hearts.

5. To Love what we do and to Love those that we come in contact with through this forum.

6. To do business with a Kindness Attitude.

7. To stay Steadfast. We are committed to our mission.

Tell It To The World

From The Managing Editors: Jesica (Delphin Munoz) Walter Developer of lotions and potions, writer, videoblogger, inventress, Investigator, dream designer.

A few months ago, a friend of mine and I met after about one year and a half of not seeing each other. It was so nice to get caught up in each other’s lives again. You would not believe all the things we covered in a few hours, and the laughs we shared with just a cup of coffee. We both come from different backgrounds and walks of life. For one, she is an amazing artist and I am a social worker. Who would think that with us being so different, we can find that we have so much in common? Maybe because we are both creative in different ways.

We talked about all the beautiful people we have met throughout the years, and how these people knowingly or not, have made an impact in our lives. More than ever, I realized that in one way or another, we are all connected in this big and small world.

Although we may all come from different places, cultures, and backgrounds; we all understand the same feelings and life experiences. No matter what we may have accomplished, we all want to be heard and known for who we are.

I love people. I have met so many creatives in my life. I feel each person I have met, has a whole chapter in my book of life. I have learned so much from each one of them.

Whether it was from a recipe, a holiday celebration, or needed advice. Every time I make their recipe, I think about them and of the moment in time, they shared their family recipe with me. When I celebrate a particular holiday, I think about them and picture them, celebrating it their way. Then when life puts me in a difficult situation, I think about their advice and what they might say to me at this particular time. Every life experience counts and I want to Tell It To The World!

I have worked on so many cases in my professional career as a social worker. I cannot honestly tell you how many cases I have had in my life. Although a very challenging career, it is also very rewarding. The passion to help and empower people is what inspired me day by day. In my career, I have always written about other people and their situations in an objective manner. Today more than ever, I feel life is given me the opportunity to write about life experiences, things people love doing, and the wonderful creatives who come from all walks of life. Constantly, I continued to be inspired by people!

A dream can come true when you talk about it with other creatives as this generates ideas to make it happen. E Verie Co Larie’ CREATIVE MINDS MAGAZINE is a dream come true! In this magazine, all creatives can share their stories with the world. Everyone is welcome. We want to know what inspires people and what they are passionate about.

When I hear personal stories of creatives, I want to tell them to the world! What is your story? In this magazine, you can tell it to the world! Our goal is to provide a diverse platform where everybody can feel welcome, share their creativity, and inspiration.

Cecile Grace Charles Fine artist, author, writer, inspirational speaker, comedian, tiny house builder and spark maker.

The first time I met Jesica, I knew that there would be a time when we would put our heads together and do something special. Initially we got together for a business project.

From that point on we stayed on each others radar. I was fascinated with her methods, making natural products. I was impressed with her natural loving spirit for all things creative. And as a social worker, she understood my deeper thoughts on our responsibility as humans to make sure we connect with other humans without divisiveness. We are both doers, meaning if we can make a difference in other people’s lives, we will take that route over doing nothing. That affinity drew us together as more than acquaintances. Turns out we were both harboring to establish a way to do that effectively while using our individual talents.

The more we talked about it the more both of us realized we had something to offer in an effort to support other creatives. In many ways it was the same dream. We realized the best way to impact others is to visually represent them. it would be one of those perfect examples of how to make a living dream for ourselves and for others. We desire to show people that there is no such thing as an ordinary person, each of us is extraordinarily creative in our chosen fields. It is not just the artists that are marvelous, we all are.

We have several goals, the support of creatives is number one on the list, this is not an old-style tome that will be strictly the magazine writing about creatives, we want the creative to shout out for themselves and give us the inspirations behind their creativity.

We are a platform for them. Their voices count.

Creatives do come in all flavors and we wish for you to sample them without constraint so we will do our part to bring them to you.

If you know someone who is passionate about what they do, we would like to know about them. Email us: e-v-c-l-creativeminds@protonmail.com BTW Throughout the magazine you will see hearts. To date, Cecile has over 730 heart surface designs. She makes a new one for every artisan and creative she meets. The number grows every week. We are using them to highlight the various stories, and it means hundreds of artists and creatives are represented in the magazine, through the impression they left with Cecile. The hearts can be found on products through Cecile’s store at Cecile’s Store or you can find links at the back of the magazine.

Kristen Robertson "I feel passionate about painting because it gives me a sense of freedom. A freedom to express myself and an escape from the harder aspects of life.

One of the things I've become the most passionate about when it comes to my art is the enormous positivity I receive from my viewers. Me being able to use the gift God has blessed me with to bring out the beauty and happiness side of life to my viewers makes all the time and energy I invest in my work totally worth my while. It's one of those gratifications that money never has been able to buy." Kristen

~We spend quite a bit of time looking for creatives to showcase, we chose them because they stand out for a variety of reasons. In Kristen’s case the shear enthusiasm for what she is doing, glows off her like a shining light. She has a raw talent that grows with every piece she produces. Prolific, artworks seem to flow out of her weekly even daily. Self taught, she is not adverse to asking for help, which is how I took a bead on her in the first place. She posted an artwork on social media and asked a few questions as she worked towards completing her piece.

I became more interested because as we all know, social media brings out the best and worst in people. One of the people commenting posted a comment that was presented in a critical manner instead of a critique format.

As a teacher; I have a few dozen students, I don’t find this a benefit to an artist looking for good tips.

It triggered the desire to help this artist. I went out of my way to begin a conversation with her so I could get to know her better. I am certainly glad I did, she has a generous spirit, and a great deal of positivism. What she does not know, she is bound and determined to learn. Smart, articulate and a willingness to learn as much as she can as she begins her art business.

It makes it easier that she has a great measure of talent behind her desire to paint and sell to the public. We hope that the public embraces her art as well as herself for that matter and celebrates her by supporting her through buying from her. ~C

Watch Interview Here

==

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Right, Fantas�c Friendship

O�s by Kirsten Roberson

h�p://www.rus�cwavestudio.com h�p://www.instagram.com/rus�cwave_2020 ~ Amazing creative Kristen Robertson, is our first showcased artist. She has amazing art pieces on display and she uses oil pastels to make them come to life. She is very artful in combining different techniques and contrasting colors. On one side of her display, Kristen has many colorful paintings of animals from birds, to gazelles, deer and giraffes. In front of her display, there was a drawing of a majestic and mystical white tiger. It's blue eyes conveyed courage, instinct and wisdom. Kristen told me that her white tiger was her pride and joy, and I could see why. She said with a smile, she could not depart from her original white tiger drawing, but she will gladly make prints for the aesthetes. From the way she talked about her drawings, I could tell the passionate and intricate connections between them and her soul.

As I looked around to her other drawings, I noticed the eye expressions of the creatures she draws.

They truly communicate their feelings as you feel they are looking right back at you. I immediately felt pleasantly connected with them yet intrigued. They truly stand out and invite you inside of the drawing! On the other side of her display, she has drawings of beautiful flowers in delicate shades of bright colors. The colors of her flowers and their backgrounds do not compete with each other, but they complement each other. Kristen beautifully converges the worlds between flora and fauna in her paintings. Kristen has an inquisitive and artistic mind. She wanted to experiment with drawing and creating things on her own. She took a couple of art classes but being the free spirit that she is; she ventured into doing her own techniques and style. We are very pleased to have met Kristen and have her share her terrific drawings with E Verie Co Larie' Creative Minds Magazine. ~J

Here at E Verie Co Larie’, when we use the word creative as a title, we are not just talking about the obvious, the artist, sculptor, potter the jewelry artist.

We use the term in a wider meaning. The CREATIVE is the person who does something with the passion they were gifted from birth.

For some it is seen through an unbelievable but visible skill at fixing things without seeming to put forth much effort. Mechanics, some Doctors, Hair Stylists, Sewists. Many people are extraordinarily skilled in the most creative way just talking to others in a fashion that brings great joy, or peace or new knowledge.

Applying one’s passion as a business, or a way to create something that both gives a person joy as well as an income, this is what a creative is to us.

There are amazing things and products throughout the world because a person, a human, thought out the process and caused a birth through their inner passion for whatever they are focused on. This to us is one of the most valuable of all the characteristics of humans. It is only second to the love and caring of our fellow human beings.

In our first issue, besides the focus we give you of several arts Creatives, we are shedding a light on several different Creatives that are outside the arts norm, per our own wider vision of Creatives.

One is Sammer, who raises pigeons. I have been in the presence of Sammer when he is caring for his birds. The electric energy that comes off of him during the process is both beautiful and radiates a lovely feel throughout the air. Only releasing one’s creativity can cause that. Being in a person’s presence who projects that energy, is where you want to be.

Even better, be the one letting your own creativity out yourself.

Another is Marty McKinney, although this includes his wife, Marty and Julie and those that support him, cares for the disenfranchised in our society, locally. They have some of the most beautiful stories about people who in most cases have left the social order norm through the opposite behavior of creativity. Through that projection of his own Creativity, he has cared for people who no longer feel they belong who are suffering from many different types of negativeness in their lives.

Plus, we have another couple, she and her husband are as passionate about her creative direction, as any other creative we have met. We are pleased to share a bit of her story.

Meet: Roberta and James Wilburn.

These stories are about applying their creative passions but not to paper or canvas but right in the midst of life, to pause and see that energy for what it truly is, a creative solution to the disruption of something or someone’s indifference. The beauty of this is what we have captured for your attention.

An adorable piece of Christmas art by one of our featured artists, Amanda Montalbo.

Sammer Hi, my name is Sammer and I’m originally from Cuba. I started raising pigeons when I was child. I remember asking my mother for money so I can buy them at the market. This is not a very common hobby in the US but it is very popular among the Cuban culture.

Many Cubans like to raise pigeons for competition and the fastest pigeon wins the race. I don’t do this myself. I like to observe them and see how they relate with one another. They are very loyal with each other. When they mate, they will stay together for life. They are amazing navigators too as they are able to find their way home from distant and unfamiliar locations. They can fly hundreds of miles away in one day. I just don’t know how they can do this but they do. I love to see them fly around the area. When I’m with my pigeons, I forget about everything else around me. They bring me peace as I relax watching them fly and walk around. I can talk about pigeons for hours non-stop. They come in different sizes, colors and they each have different personalities. To some people they all look the same, however I can tell each of them apart from the rest.

“I think this is a very fun and relaxing hobby to have, if you like birds.” ~Sammer ~ Sammer is also quite the farmer. He and his family own a small piece of land where they grow crops to feed their family.

His creativity, his passion is visible for all to see. You just have to look past the standard perception of what actually is creativity ~ C

Watch Interview Here

A couple of short videos of Sammer’s pigeons.

Watch Video Here Watch Video Here

~ We choose to express ourselves with cra�s, art, photography, sports, wri�ng or any other crea�ve endeavor. Here, Sammer shows us that being one with nature, the passion for his hobby, is what soothes his crea�ve spark.

The raising, breading of birds and animals is called Husbandry. It is a marriage of humanity and nature. It is a skill that has to be honed with care so as not to interfere with nature but to enhance the lives of the birds or animals. A pigeon will only return to the nest if it feels safe and cared for, something many of us humans could take a lesson from. ~ C

~When Sammer talks about his beloved pigeons, I see his whole face brighten up. He said he has loved pigeons since he was a child growing up in Cuba.

Never having pigeons before, I naturally asked him, what do you do with pigeons?

Sammer said, he loves them for their beauty and intelligence.

He says pigeons are fascinating birds. He said he likes to watch them fly and no matter where they go, they always find their way back home from miles and miles away. He said, this in itself is amazing. He said it is fun to observe the way they live their lives. He said, they have elaborate courtship rituals which are captivating to watch.

He said, The male pigeons like to flirt with the females. When they do this, they enlarge themselves by fluffing their feathers and making a deep throat-ed voice to be noticeable. He said, you know when a male pigeon wants to get the attention of the female, by its movement and sounds he makes. He said, the male will continue to follow the female until she decides whether or not to accept him as a mate.

Sammer said, they are very easy to keep and they are very loyal.

Verie Co Larie’ Creative Minds Magazine welcome every creative and original. We are very happy to have Sammer and his story be part of our first magazine’s issue. ~ J

Lifestyle Recipes Dingleberry Stew Unlike most berries, Dingleberries are a bit sour.

They grow on a vine of exhaustion or cover their growth space because of inattention to the thought involved in the planning process of a project with an end goal and a timeline.

Tripping, falling, as well as mindless behavior, and causing pain to oneself unintentionally but as a direct cause of leaving out the basic needs of the body are the main causes.

A dingleberry replaces creativity and causes a creative block. A dingleberry is a fog upon the brain.

That is the fastest way to make a dingleberry. This recipe is more like an anti-recipe on how you don’t make a dingle out of a perfectly good berry.

At least eight glasses of water a day, served up: two as soon as you get out of bed, one every hour and a half throughout the day, making sure you have one right before dinner and one right before you go to bed. Yes, I know, some of us will then get up in the middle of the night to deposit that elsewhere.

Drink another half a glass when you are done. But just the science behind the ingestion of water is the most creative solution to most of the bodies problems and should be more important than trying to diet, which also affects the creative juices.

One of the most tedious but important efforts not adhered to for most people is the commonly suggested eight hours of sleep. For some people eight hours plus a half hour nap is better. For others ten hours of sleep give them the foundation for creativity to blossom.

Cut out sugar if possible and use honey to get any sweetness you need. Did you know you can use honey and water to sauté chicken even beef instead of butter or oil? If you do need a bit of oil use olive oil but even then, no more that a teaspoon for any cooking is necessary unless you are baking.

In fact, oil, butter and eggs are best used for baking and not for meals on their own. All of these things

clog the body with a substance I am going to describe as a sort of phlegm that coats the cells of the body and then of course reaches the brain. The biggest cause of dingleberry.

Get the chemicals out of your life. Processed foods, fast foods, foods that aren’t locally grown within a few hundred miles; certainly, in most cases they are yummy but the fact is, they cause dingleberry disintegration in the body. This is one of the recipes for getting rid of the creative block.

Be FREE of Dingleberry Stew.

Creativity is the most important part of the human experience. It comes in a plethora of everexpanding surprises and there is a seed in every single person in the world that can blossom. It is what makes each one of us unique, it is what makes the world every color imaginable.

As a creative, as a teacher of creativity, I am a person that believes we all have the spark, we are all born with the ability to recreate the beauty of the world that surrounds us but that some people have been convinced they don’t have that spark. Find you’re your spark and then your color.

I call on you to throw away the dingleberry and embrace that spark and share it. If you don’t know how, stick around, we here at E Verie Co Larie’ will tip you into the zone.

Dealing With a Creative Block Surmounting the lack of desire to create can be daunting. External happenings can affect any creative from starting, or even finishing a project.

Stress is one of the major causes of a creative block, so is a lack of a viewer or a listener’s acknowledgment of what the creative is involved in creatively. It only takes one sour compliment as well; to the creative, to infect a dissatisfaction or lack of surety in moving forward. Avoid people who think their negativity is a good thing. Instead, chose to surround yourself with people who support your desire to be successful. People with a positive attitude. Constructive criticism is healthy as long as it is not presented in a negative manner that insists that you are not good enough. There is a great deal of difference between not good enough and not trained enough. Not good enough indicates you cannot get there. Not trained enough directs you to a little more work. The first is a block to creativity the second opens the door to future skill.

Rest is an important aspect of getting rid of that block. So is exercise which is a known relief for toxins in the body. Toxins cause the body and brain to not work right. Water helps pass that through the body and out. The brain is highly affected by a lack of basic nutrition. Basic nutrition is a flexible and simplified set of words that mean 3 meals a day with no sugar, lots of protein which can come through two directions. Plant based or plant and low proteins from meat sources.

Now, I am not a nutritionist but I was a chef and to get to that title I had to learn a lot about the properties of foods. Which foods tasted great by themselves and together, and which were wholesome and were made of nutritional foods, to form a high-grade recipe. This is from where I speak my opinion.

Honey is a natural sugar and less hurtful to the body than sugar. Cane sugar in its natural state is not as bad as processed but anything processed is a detriment to the body especially to the brain, because it inhibits the creative spark.

The first thing you do to assess why you have a creative block is to determine the cause. Take stock of what you are eating and drinking. Don’t forget the water. Make sure you are getting as many of the vitamins that you can from raw vegetables and nuts. Certainly, you can run off and purchase vitamins but there is nothing better than getting them from their original source. Earth is an amazing place.

Then consider if you are sitting too much or not getting enough rest. These both can allow more toxins in the body and again I say, they are a root cause of the creative block.

Rid yourself of stress in every area you possibly can. Even a twenty percent reduction in stress will allow your block to dissipate. Get rid of a percentage of social media, stop allowing that one person in your life who purposely endeavors to cause you stress. Either don’t see them until the block is dissolved and you have a handle on your block, or end the association. I know that is not always possible and the other solution is change the way you interact with them. You cannot change them, so change how you deal with them.

This is a short article, and a very thin overview of the creative blocks that come about. These suggestions are just that, suggestions from experiences we have incurred. If some of them apply to you, use them. If they don’t, then bravo, we have narrowed down what is not the problem for your block. We will write more about creative blocks in the next issue, in the hope we open a conversation with you on the subject.

Feel free to send in your ideas on this subject for discussion. We may print them with your permission. 300-word limit.

Make sure your name and email are included as well as where your knowledge was acquired. I:E: life lessons, training, career choice. Etc. Please understand, we will not print anything that is described in a manner that infers hate to anyone to any person or section of humanity.

Send them to e-v-c-l-creativeminds@protonmail.com

Set Up Prep For An Art Event: Your Work Tote A successful event means you have enough sales to pay for the entrance fee plus take-home moneys. The best way to make that happen is to follow a standard guideline which you can flex depending on the type of event you have entered. Plan on bringing everything you need to hang the work, if it is an outdoor event, bring a booth set up of some sort.

Art A good assortment is important 4--2’ by 3’ or larger, 16--16” by 20” or larger, 10—12” by 16”, 10—8” by 10”, and odd sizes smaller. Plus, prints and possibly greeting cards.

Art Hangers For your booth these should hang off of the grids, nails or removable hooks that are applied directly to the wall. Bring both and be flexible, you never know if there will be a changeup you were not notified about.

Foam Protectors Booth

Unless you are hanging directly on a wall.

Hammer

Don’t assume you can borrow.

Cordless Drill Screws Pen

To protect your art in transport.

Always be prepared.

You never know if you need a few.

Some people want your autograph, be prepared.

Tie Wraps In an emergency they work to hold the booth together, and they can become a nice anchor if the wind is a bit much during an outdoor event. They also make great loops for hanging just about any type of art.

Glass Cleaner If your art has glass, you want to keep the fingerprints off. Use only water if you use Plexiglas instead of glass. Never spray directly on the art. Spray onto a towel and then clean.

Paper Towels

Bring a roll. They also work for T.P. in a pinch.

Business Cards Turn them over and mount your price tag to them. Use mounting tape above and below the words to put on frame or just under on a wall depending on the installation. Upon a sale, turn the tag over and place it on the back of a sold piece for reference to the customer. Plus you need to hand them out unless your business card is virtual.

Water

You need water throughout the day bring it with you so you do not need to go searching.

Wrapping Paper use plastic.

I use reused brown paper bags whenever possible or tissue paper. I try not to

Hanging Wire in case you are painting live and finish and need to hang, or if there is breakage, which does happen.

Tote

Don’t forget to use a reusable tote!

Amanda Montalbo

As I walked through the craft fair, I became riveted upon an artwork, Three birds, standing over a gnarled bird. Two of the birds had cherries in their beaks, next to the flattened bird lay two more cherries. I don’t know why I liked it so much but I will try to explain. The three nefarious busy buddies seemed so thrilled they had trounced upon the other and gained the sweet cherry morsels. It made me chuckle a little. It was slightly morbid feeling; I love a good story within an artwork. It moved me and made me think, and that is what makes good art. Called: A Murder of Crows.

The artist, a vivacious woman, addressed me and we talked for a while as I inspected her other artworks. Each of them had the sense of the macabre, a bit of fantasy, a folk tail of fairies and goblins. I got goose pimples. Her work should come with fantastical written stories as well. But they stand alone just fine. Amanda comes from across the sea, so she grew up in a place where fanciful tales live. Her art belongs on children’s walls, where their stories will live in their minds.

Not all of her work is of ghoulishness, some of her work is an introspective of a variety of subjects. Each one has that inner myth, and that is intriguing. All in all, this artist will be giving us much to ponder in the future. ~ C

Watch Interview Here

~ I had fun interviewing our next guest artist for the magazine, Amanda Montalbo. Amanda is an amazing creative. She is an acrylic painter, she draws and is a photographer. I met her at a craft fair in November of 2021. Once our conversation started, I realized we had many things in common.

Amanda is from England and I happened to live in her beautiful country for three years. As you can imagine we both got very excited reminiscing about the time we both lived in England. She started drawing when she was a child.

She said her father was an excellent drawer and I believe she learned from the best. I love skills that are passed from one generation to the next. She showed me reprints of her drawings that she had done, like her beautiful angels. She showed me several Christmas pictures too, and one of them, her "Lazy Snow Man" caught my attention. Her snow man is not just standing on the snow like most snowman pictures I have seen before, this one is laying on the snow on his side, smiling and looking at you.

She described with excitement many of her acrylic paintings on canvas like one of the first ones she did years ago, "A Murder of Crows." It's a fun take on the thriller/action movie "A Murder of Crows" where the observer has to decide which crow killed the other crow.

She also showed me her drawing "Mary and Jesus" which is a mosaic style drawing that had the flavor of an icon. It had a lot of detail in it. Amanda gets inspired by beauty and kindness in the world.

I could feel her dedication and passion as she was describing each one of her pieces of art to me.

Amanda, welcome to the US and welcome to E Verie Co Larie' Creative Minds Magazine. We are very happy to have you be a part of our first magazine's issue. ~ J

The McKinney’s, A Community Gift Every Day Of The Year Some stories are about humanity being driven by a spiritual creativity; it is the same creativity that drives an artist, but it does great things for those around them in an unexpected manner. It is one of those activities that is about freely investing in others.

Their very actions inspire others around them to step up in the same manner.

Just like a drip of water falling in a pool their behavior sends out waves that reach out and wash over others, to help. In this case that help covers need. We asked Marty to share with everyone, his favorite Christmas story, if you are like me, you will be moved to your own inspirational deeds.

Marty and his wife, Julie run Truth Ministries They have been a dominant feature of the downtown Spokane landscape for a very long time. I am fortunate enough to have been one of the unnoticed, who is a firsthand witness to their compassion, for they have helped people that are close friends of mine, who returned to a societal norm because of their intervention and interest. ~C

Marty and Julie are people who see that the value in life is actually what one can give verses what a person gets in life. It is a joy to know these people are in the community. Their nonjudgmental help to anyone in need and their ongoing fortitude as they continue to commit themselves to the care of the disenfranchised is a beautiful trait to behold. That speaks volumes about the way their creative spark continues to warm others. They are blessed and lead full lives bolstered by the satisfaction of doing instead of getting. What they get from that is different from getting a regular salary, the coin they gather, are the golden nuggets of success that comes to those they help.

We write about the McKinney’s in this article because we want our readers to acknowledge their commitment to the community, by backing up their creativity.

We are asking a service to them, give to their cause. The success they offer to humanity does come with the cost of the care. Help them in their endeavors by uplifting their ability to do this. For every one person they serve, they have two more in need. They offer and truly cover the needs of a homeless person. For everyone they help, they have two more in need. A few dollars, even one dollar a month from every person who reads this--helps. Gift them with your support. http://truthministriesspokane.org

You can donate on their website.

Marty: A Quick Christmas Story-one of my favorites.

About 15 years ago speaking from 2021 we had just moved into the new building we were buying.

We met a married couple who had taken a tour of our past facility and they asked to speak with us, they had this idea and wanted to know if it was ok.

They were in the hospital industry and had others where they worked that wanted to collectively do something.

They decided back packs, full of individual wrapped presents, thermal under wear, socks, gloves, candy beef jerky, sewing kits, flash lights, every year they get fuller and now they’re up to I believe 4 different agencies that help the homeless.

Every year is awesome and a family event as Julie and I are here every Holiday, they really are family to us.

That first year though, there were men literally crying.

Some said they hadn’t been around family for the Holidays for years, some said – I just had my back pack stolen- all kinds of emotions going on.

My brother in law dressed up as Santa, my sister and her friends helped cook dinner and brought pies, the community always blesses us.

Again, every year is awesome but that first year of the back packs was special.

Watching them dig through every pocket to find a well thought out gift wrapped up in Christmas paper, this couple are still doing this 15 years later and it was just a conversation at work between coworkers that turned into I think around 300 back packs every year.

They meet to shop, to wrap and to tag each bag with a size, and we always have a few left over and it’s Christmas for new guys who check in with needs after Christmas and they are always blown away.

We sneak the bags in, we keep it all secret and we know everyone knows these days that we give out back packs every year, but that first year everyone was completely shocked.

Every year there are always a few who ask if they can give some of the ingredients away as they already have one - it’s one of those things that we don’t take for granted and we love this team for just wanting to do something to help - it takes them the whole year to put it together.

people impact the world around us at every level of society. We hear through media of every kind about people in power, or celebrities or someone with a lot of money making an impact on society as a whole.

The fact is though, it is not the famous that make a real difference. It is that one-or two-person team that impacts society with a lasting effect or solution to problems that affect us within our circle of life.

Marty and Julie are two of these people, in the Inland Northwest. .

Many years ago, their hearts determined that they would be a high impact solution to a local problem and they set their minds to coming up with a workable solution and they put their efforts into play. Personally, when I talk about them, I have found many people right in Spokane, have no idea who they are, this surprises me. Even though they have been making a huge impact for years in benefit to Spokane, Washington's, un-homed needs, in the downtown core, the idea that people don’t know who the real leaders in these efforts are disheartens me. On the other hand, I know they do not foster an atmosphere of self-adulation, so I am not surprised that more people do not know about what they do every day to impact so many people in a humane and caring way.

This is what I know for certain, when I asked them to share something about their journey in their endeavors, instead, they tell me about someone else who is making an impact with the same people.

It is what real leaders do; they point out the greatness of others.

What they do on a daily basis? They care and feed, addicts, the mentally ill, abandoned or abused children, who run away, the failed fostered, chronically challenged people who have either been given up on by society or they themselves have given up on being a part of society. They have to deal with laws that don’t work, interventions that only cause worsening behaviors. They are challenged by city councils that have absolutely no idea how to care for the homeless, yet divert funds to ideals that don’t work that only enable more homeless to cue up in need. Restricted by well intention but unsuccessful policies, they endure by practicing their core values each and every day. Ultimately, even so, they serve this section of society in a mighty way. Yes, they serve a specific section of society, but within that they encompass the whole individual and do everything possible to give that person a better path.

Sometimes that looks to the passive bystander as just feeding these people, or giving them a bed when it is cold. But what Marty and Julie offer is friendship, kindness, true caring .

Many they serve will never leave the homeless lifestyle. This is a fact that is irrefutably stated. That knowledge is in part one of the challenges Marty and Julie face each day. Infused with the hope that they make a difference either way they are committed to making other peoples lives better. This is commendable no matter how you look at it. The creative passion for their chosen mission in life is a brilliant light.

There are some core values that are visible when they talk on social media as well as their website.

People who do know them and their mission speak of them highly behind their backs because it is clear they live what they speak. That is a true test of a person’s behavior, how they are spoken of when they are not around.

Predominantly, they serve the male homeless population. They see these men when they are hurting, cold, hungry, angry, sad, fighting. They help them with they are sick, or in need of more permanent shelter. They cloth them when they have supplies donated, they gift them when the can.

They provide a place for them to clean up and a place for them to be with other people instead of being unnoticed or ignored on the streets.

I’m guessing they get hugs, handshakes, and are cared about, even though most people assume these men are invisible unless they are panhandling or lounging on the streets.

Marty and Julie know them by their names, and know their friends. They know who gets along, who leads them when they aren’t at a shelter and by their steadfastness, people come alongside and help.

This is a calling, not a job.

Here at E Verie Co Larie’, we recognize the passion that leads their lives, the creative way they pass on their investment to these people in need.

There is nothing more precious than to see the investment given to so many.

Marisol Mclauchlin Social media can be a terrific surprise on some days. Here we were just a few days from launching the first issue of the magazine and we were short of Christmas Creatives. As I scrolled through my feed I find Jesica has the perfect subject for our Christmas section. Someone who makes ornaments, hand sewn, and they are adorable. With the scarcity of items in the stores for the holidays, why not turn to a creative who makes one of a kind stars and such? A stitch of Marisol’s time gives you a lifetime of memories that can adorn your tree or window for many years. These gems can be passed down to generation after generation. These pictures speak for themselves.

Merry Christmas Marisol, you inspire us.

Amy Holtdorf Stained Glass ~Have you ever immediately clicked with a person when you meet them? Amy is one of those people who is so deligh�ul that you have to put them in your phone right away, follow them on social media, and make sure you keep them on your radar for future gi�s, for others and for yourself. With Amy we started cha�ng even before we entered the building. She radiated energy and peacefulness at the same �me.

Stained glass is not easy, doing stained glass with small pieces is a delicate process. Amy makes beau�ful pieces with complex designs. Turtles, pine cones, birds, animals, there seems to be no end to the style she can make. ~C

Prairie King

Pacific Giant

~ I always look around for stained glass ar�sts in fairs and cra� shows. When I see stained glass pieces of art, they remind me of my childhood and teenage years growing up in Peru. We visited museums, churches and cathedrals that were decorated with stained glass windows, each window described a story. Stained glass is an ancient art form of pain�ng that began over 1,000 years ago. Being a history lover, I am always amazed about the things that are preserved through the years and passed down from genera�ons to genera�ons. Well, we do not have to go too far to see powerful stained-glass pieces of art. At the Shadle High School holiday cra� show this year, I met an amazing crea�ve stained-glass ar�st, Amy Holtorf. Amy lives in the beau�ful Pacific Northwest. She is inspired by nature and wildlife in the area. She looks at nature, takes a picture in her mind and captures it in her powerful pieces of art. She makes inspira�onal stained-glass pictures and ornaments which can be hung from windows to ceilings and from the Christmas tree. I no�ced her art pieces, catch moments in �me. One of her powerful pieces of art is called, "The Mee�ng," where she was inspired by the salmon runs. In "The Mee�ng," Amy has a bear in the wild catching salmon from the water. She stopped this moment in �me where both creatures, big and small met. Amy has so many decora�ve pictures from bears to salmon, buffalo, penguins and hummingbirds, to name a few. Amy has been doing stained glass art for the past four years and she is self-taught. Crea�ve minds are always finding new ways of learning, crea�ng and portraying art. We are so happy to meet Amy, a crea�ve, a very fine stained-glass ar�st and have her be part in our first issue. ~J

Upstream

Autumn View

Watch Interview Here

Santa Gowan and Melody from the Sucrest Washington area wish everyone Happy Holidays.

KWANZAA

Within cultural differences there are always a few things that have a core of familiarity. I knew very little about KwanzaaGrey other than it was a celebration for people of African descent before we began to research the holiday. As such since my culture is different, I did not pay a lot of attention to the celebration. Now that the research for the article is complete, being able to share the knowledge with others is the point of E Verie Co Larie’ as a public forum.

Kwanzaa is a fairly new holiday; the practice formally began in 1966. However, the tenants have been around within the culture for a very long time. As a people, African’s have a deep and abiding feeling for one another that is ingrained and taught in families from birth.

Unlike many celebrations that are staples in the American melting pot, this one came about after I was born. It began in Africa and spread to the world’s populations of the same ancestry. I have to say, what a delight be alive to see a holiday become a tradition in the world verses just celebrating something that has been around for centuries. There is something profound about being alive and knowing something special to reflect on a distinctive culture, was born into the world during the time I was alive. A culture should maintain its historical roots, they should be celebrated and honored. Just like any other culture, everyone should understand the basics of a person’s culture. Besides the beauty of the tenants, it leads to understanding the individual as well.

The creative passion here is that desire to uplift one another. That something we see in every culture and that is what makes celebrations so beautiful. ~C Kwanzaa (/ ˈ k w ɑː n. z ə /) is an annual celebration of African-American culture that is held from December 26 to January 1, culminating in a communal feast called Karamu, usually held on the 6th day. It was created by Maulana Karenga, based on African harvest festival traditions from various parts of Africa, including West and Southeast Africa. Kwanzaa was first celebrated in 1966. It gained popularity fairly quickly

1. Umoja (Unity): maintaining unity as a family, community, and a race of people.

2. Kujichagulia (Self-Determination): defining, naming, creating and speaking for ourselves.

3. Ujima (Collective Work and Responsibility): building and maintaining the community—solving problems together.

4. Ujamma (cooperative Economics): building and maintaining retail stores and other businesses and to profit from these ventures.

5. Nia (Purpose): work collectively to build communities that will restore the greatness of African people.

6. Kummba (Creativity) to find new, innovative ways to leave communities of African descent in more beautiful, and beneficial wasy that the community inherited.

7. Imani (Faith): the belief in God, family, heritage, leaders, and others that will leave to the victory of African’s around the world.

I had the pleasure of interviewing Roberta Wilburn with her husband James about Kwanzaa. She is the Interim Chief Diversity Office at Whitworth University. This is the personal experiences of Roberta and James Wilburn.

Roberta said she learned about Kwanzaa as an adult and she has been advoca�ng for Kwanzaa to the community. James said he has been doing Kwanzaa since the 80's and along with his wife, they want for the community to learn about this holiday. They said this holiday is about celebra�ng culture, family and ancestry.

I asked Roberta to tell us about this holiday celebra�on. Roberta said Kwanzaa is a unique African American cultural holiday celebra�on, which is observed over a seven day period, from December 26th through January 1st. She said the meaning of the word Kwanzaa is 'First Fruits" in Swahili. It is based on African tradi�on celebra�ng the harvest, where the en�re village celebrates and shares the rewards of the land. Kwanzaa it is not a religious holiday. It does not take over Christmas. Roberta and her husband James said they are Chris�ans

and they celebrate the birth of Christ which is important for them. She said Kwanzaa is a cultural celebra�on which starts a�er Christmas so both holidays can be celebrate it.

James said Kwanzaa started a�er the riots in California in the 60's. He said professor Maulana Karenga created it based on seven principles which are to bring African Americans together. He said it is a wonderful occasion where family and friends share this celebra�on with food, dancing and music. James said they want to educate African Americans and the community about this holiday. He said most children in the public schools do not know about Kwanzaa or what it represents, so they want to educate the community about African American culture. James said many people say that African Americans are descendants of slaves but this is not true. He said African Americans are decedents of Kings and Queens from Africa. He said we need to educate our children so they can think be�er about themselves. He said knowledge is power and kids need to learn about their ancestry.

Roberta said during this holiday they use a special candle holder called a Kinara, which holds seven candles.

She said they celebrate seven principles during this celebra�on and each candle is lit on each day. She said they use three red candles on the le�, three green ones on the right with a black candle in the center. She said the red color represent the blood shed of the African American people who have lost their lives. She said the black represent the people, a glorious symbol of na�onal greatness. The green represents the land and the harvest.

She said on December 26th, they lit the first candle which is the black candle, represen�ng UNITY and it is placed in the center of the Kinara. This candle represents the people, to strive unity in family, community, na�on and heritage. On the second day, on December 27, they lit the first red candle which represents SELFDETERMINATION which represents the advoca�ng for self. On the third day, on December 28th they lit the second red candle which represent the principle of COLLECTIVE WORK and RESPONSIBILITY. This is to build the community together and collec�vely so people help each other. On December 29th which is the fourth day, they lit the last red candle to celebrate the principle of COOPERATIVE-ECONOMICS. This emphasizes entrepreneurship, to build and maintain their own stores, shops and other businesses to profit from them together. People can create their own business and come together to build communi�es to help other people.

On December 30th which is the fi�h day, they light up their first green candle which represents the principle of PURPOSE. This is about bringing back the tradi�onal greatness of African American people. This principle helps people understand the greatness of the African American people before enslavement, so children can see where they come from. That they ancestors of kings, queens, educators and scien�sts in their past and this can aspire them to do the same things. On December 31st, on the sixth day of Kwanzaa, they lit a green candle which represent the principle of CREATIVITY. This is about making communi�es be�er than what they are. This is about ins�lling excellence, becoming be�er than the former genera�ons. Then on January 1st, the 7th and last green candle is lit which represents the principle of FAITH. Faith to believe in parents, teachers, leaders and the righteousness in victory of their struggles. Roberta said on the last day of Kwanzaa they have a feast where people share and celebrate with family.

Roberta said we are living in a �me where there is so much division and animosity targe�ng people of color.

Thus Kwanzaa is about unity, love and reconcilia�on. Kwanzaa focuses on bringing people together and offering solu�ons. James said Kwanzaa educates the new genera�ons about the power of older genera�ons.

He said having the knowledge of their ancestry gives them the power to take a step further, the knowledge of self through ancestry. James said this genera�on is disconnected from the extended family. Thus Kwanzaa brings up the stories in the family, the history of who they are and it gives them their self of iden�ty.

Roberta recommends the following books: Kwanzaa: A Celebra�on of Family, Community and Culture by the creator of Kwanzaa, professor Maulana Karenga. Another book she men�oned is Kwanzaa: an African American Celebra�on of Culture and Cooking by Erin Copage. She said this book has recipes and cultural stories to be share with all the family. She also recommended a third book called Seven Spools of Threat: A Kwanzaa Story by Angela Shelf Medearis which is a story of seven brothers who must learn to work together while demonstra�ng the seven principles of Kwanzaa.

It was an honor to interview Roberta and James Wilburn about Kwanzaa. They provided a wealth of knowledge regarding this amazing holiday celebra�on. Kwanzaa teaches seven beau�ful principles to be passed from genera�on to genera�on.

These seven principles will build a be�er community no ma�er where we live as we all thrive to become be�er human beings.

We are thankful to Roberta and James for sharing this meaningful holiday of culture and tradi�ons with our community. Let's celebrate unity, culture and heritage.

Happy Kwanzaa. ~J

Greyson Hatcher

~ Greyson's artworks are filled with bold strokes, bright colors and strong lines, seemingly random, but if you step back from them, there are complicated pa�erns throughout. Modern, bold, I’m going to coin a term and call it Mosh Tribal. There is a dis�nct feel of abstract street art but it is many levels above graffi�. Throughout his canvases you can see an affinity to symbolism most o�en associated with tribal images. Yet the work is fresh, the symbols seated in modernity, they are lightening bolt exci�ng and have the ability to hold the viewer in place for contempla�on. It can take a moment to realize there is more in the artwork than a few lines. In plain sight, but near invisible, this is where his brilliance shines.

When he applies it to apparel, it has a whole new fashion vibe that makes the clothing stand out. He makes an unforge�able statement. His ar�s�c vision has pizzazz. ~C ~

Watch Interview Here

" My mission as an artist is simply to create beautiful and entrancing work. I mainly work with acrylics, watercolors, graphite and digital tech to create my pieces, sometimes intermingling different mediums to create various results. I create in hopes that people who see and purchase my art will have a personal connection and affinity for what has been made, and to bring joy into people's lives through my creations. " ~ Greyson

~ I met with Greyson Hatcher at a cra� fair in November of 2021.

As I was walking through the tables of all the vendors, I no�ced the crea�ve designs and bright colors at Greyson's booth. His pain�ngs caught my a�en�on, so I went to talk to him.

I introduced myself to, he showed me some of his amazing art designs from pain�ngs to t-shirts, sweatshirts, bags and even s�ckers. Greyson has been an ar�st since he can remember. He has been pain�ng and expressing himself through his art for years. Greyson portrays what he feels, and expresses what he thinks through his art. His art pieces speak a million words loud and clear, but you have to be silent to listen.

When you stand in front of his art pieces like I did, the communica�on starts between his art pieces and the observer. The observer can hear and experience what the pain�ngs are conveying, and experience what the crea�ve is meaning to portray. You are going to love Greyson's art pieces, and him as well, because not only is he an amazing ar�st, but he is also very talented and humble.

Greyson is a great ar�st and asset to our community because he truly cares about what he does, and he wants to con�nue making things be�er in our area! He is a local ar�st! He is an amazing crea�ve and we are honored to have his story in the first issue of our E Verie Co Larie' Crea�ve Minds Magazine.~J

Cosmic Gift This artwork is 24” by 30’ inches. Every once in a while an ar�st does something that becomes a favorite, More than their other artworks. This is one of those for Greyson. Sad to say, it was STOLEN. Please keep an eye out for it. The finder will not only receive Greyson’s hear�elt thanks in apprecia�on…but we here at E Verie Co Larie’ will not only publish a story about its finding, we are willing to put up a small reward for it’s return.

From what we understand, it is somewhere between Spokane and Arizona. Please help us find it for Greyson.

Please contact Greyson, or even us and we will return it to him. E Verie Co Larie’.

In Answer To Random Questions On Social Media I live out near a lake and the community has a social media page that allows its members to ask questions about the area. The question “Why is there a tub in the lake down from where I live?” showed up. I happened to be on the page at the time and the question tickled my fancy as well as my creative spark, so I answered thusly:

There was once a lovely mermaid who resided in the lake. One of your neighbors fell in love with her from afar.

Amazing colors from head to toe-fins, she sparkled when she came out of the water. Long flowy hair, skin that glistened like the pearlized scales on the trout that live in the lake. She was breathtaking to him.

Every day he went down to the lake to see her. It took months it seemed for her to trust him. Finally, one day he gathered, she trusted him enough to draw near, only for him to realize his now beloved, was covered from head to toe in the fauna from below the waterlines of the lake.

His disappointment was great, but still very much in love with the ideal he first saw, he chose to accept her peculiarities.

Several years went by and every year he became more entranced. Finally, he decided to bring her home. He knew though how mean some people are so he worked out and idea in his head.

He would bring a tub down to the lake and bucket by bucket he would fill it with fresh water and invite her to sit with him in the clean water. By now she seemed to care so much, she did just as he asked as he lifted her into the tub. He was thrilled.

She began to make quiet but persistent little sounds as dusk fell. He was so soothed he fell asleep in her embrace. Several hours later the full moon woke him up. Freezing, he looked around only to see his love had melted into a puddle of leftover weeds from the bottom of the lake. The fresh water had dissolved her completely.

In shock he abandoned the tub, slinking home thankful no one knew his infatuation was nothing more than a collection of rotten lake debris come to life in his mind, through his loneliness.

He left the tub behind.

Each issue we will feature one or two creative and fun answers in story form, or if you have good screenshots, to random questions by others on social media. If you have a screen shot of the question and your answer, it follows our basic tenants of being creatively funny or fun, there is no negative harm to anyone, and you have retyped your answer in a word or like document for transfer to our format please email us with your story and graphics at e-v-c-l-creativeminds@protonmail.com. Tell us just a little about yourself as well. We may consider doing an article on you in a future issue.

Ode to the Dregs In an uncetain world Dessert comes first, or anytime Popcorn, air popped for healths sake Swirled in brown sugar and butter For tastes sake Baked to perfection Stirred to evenly distribute Savory, sticky goodness Large, fluffy, popped and coated Bettys' Opus, “Almost famous Caramel Corn” Bagged for consumption by others For me, the dregs Dessert by the spoonful.

AMF " “Ode to the Dregs" was originally printed in a Washington State Grange Poetry Annual Collection, the theme was Dessert

Brenda Cunningham

There is a local fundraising event at Shadle Park High School that we recently were involved with. Next to us was a both filled with all kinds of small items. Easypurchases because the item’s themselves were made by students. I found thisout first by introducing myself to Brenda an asking her about her goods.

Then as we talked it came out that Brenda was their teacher. Her students are special needs.

We love the idea of teaching children how to make and sell cra�s. Ins�lled in them is value, that to get money one has to work or make something for sale.Having been a teacher myself for several years, I happen to know, teaching can be an art form in itself. As a teacher, you either limit yourself to the class prospectus, or you invest in your students and give them as much informa�on you have to offer. Some teachers consider their voca�on nothing more than ajob. When you have a teacher that sees what they do as a calling, they inspire theirstudents to be more. Special educa�on is much harder that general teaching.

Within the classroom each child has a unique set of problems to overcome, anda unique way of learning.

To be a special educa�on teacher, you have to have ten�mes more empathy, pa�ence, a vaster grasp of how a student learns as well asthe ability to adapt your lesson plans to each child based on those needs so they do learn. Very few teachers are good enough to do this. I could feel the openness coming off Brenda, an acceptance of what she wasfacing even with myself. I am considered a bit of a character yet Brenda was not fazed at all. That told me much about her abili�es in a classroom. The ability to be undaunted in a room full of students that cannot be boxed. The ability to help them achieve classroom goals that suit their needs. ~C

Watch Video Here

Brenda is a teacher at Glover Middle School. Her students range from 12 to 15 years old and they make cra�s to earn money for their classroom so they can buy products to cook in class and do arts and cra�s. Her students make shower melts made out of eucalyptus and peppermint essen�al oils. This will make a relaxing and spa experience in the home. They make from colorful gnomes, decora�ve bo�les as li�le Santa Claus, �e dye tshirts, candle melts and decora�ve �les, which can be used as coasters or trivets. They also made burp clothes and changing pads for babies. What a neat idea. When students have a baby sibling, they can either make one of these for them or purchase it at a reasonable price. Brenda inspires children to learn skills they can use for life. Children get a sense of accomplishment when they create and do something. Their minds are so eager to learn and she is there to guide them every step of them way. It was very nice to have interviewed Brenda Cunningham for the magazine. Her crea�vity cannot go far enough and she con�nues to posi�vely influence children in a construc�ve way. Thank you Miss Brenda for being part of our first issue of E Verie Co Larie' Crea�ve Magazine.~J

A Tiny House-or Not A Creatives Life

by C. Charles About ten years ago, we started out dreaming about living in a tiny house on our property. We had just paid off the property and were ready to jump into the planning and building stage when our world to a huge back step. The economy at the time was repressed, which is a whole different subject, between that and what happened at the time we thought, well maybe we give up the dream.

Several months passed and we recovered somewhat. The dream began to reform so we started the process of determining exactly what that was going to turn out to be. We had the twenty acres; we had a dozen spots we could put the house on. There was a stream. There were tons of trees.

There were two small buildings on the property, one was mostly a place for storage at one time which eventually had to be torn down, the other was what we laughingly called the cabin, it was basically a gazebo with windbreaks for walls. It had been sorely abused by random people who assumed it was an abandoned homestead. It was about one hundred and twenty square feet of usable cabin the rest was in various stages of degrading material that would have to be checked out bit by bit before we could consider keeping it on the cabin. Initially we thought we would finish her out and I could use her as an art studio after the house was build, a she shed somewhat, my being an artist. We figured at the time though, we could house ourselves in her when we came out to work on the future permanent house.

We replaced the foundation on one side, we replaced three of the corner beams in the center of the cabin, the only thing we saved in its entirety was the peaked roof. Everything else had to be restored.

We had just re-roofed that so it was lovely. Once we took a solid look at her, we realized we would have to redo two of the walls, even to talking about restore the one side to its original look which was adorable. I did say people assumed she was abandoned. We went out one day to find someone had burned a hole in one of her sides, it was her best side. We never found out who or why but we did have a guess or two. We let it go, eventually the things that were missing found themselves back on the property. We guessed they knew we knew it was them and instead of coming face to face with us, they brought back most of what they took. We would find an item out in the middle of the field, as if some animal dragged it off instead of a human walking off with something. How they assumed we weren’t savvy enough to have a security camera on the property after we moved in was always a bit entertaining. But since they felt guilty enough to return things, we just let them do it and said nothing.

We can’t say we are friends with them though. We can only imagine their thinking, we will just sneak onto their property and return this rake, or this chain saw. They will think an animal had dragged it from the cabin.

We went forward and dolled the cabin up quite a bit. She was still very rustic looking on the outside and pretty rough on the inside with no insulation or drywall and we

had pulled out the old floor to restore it so it was dirt with wood pallets sitting right on the ground. At the time we assumed e could do some light work to her and make her a great little place to be in on the weekends while we built. Little did we realize we would need to do so much more and sooner than we thought.

One minute everything was hunky dory, the next, bam our whole lives changed. Two separate situations back-to-back were too much. We went from owning a business with a business partner to closing it down because she passed on and her family were not at all the type of people, we wanted to do business with. The whole mess is not worth talking about further, we put it behind us and moved on, literally. The only problem was, we lived in the building that housed our business so without the business we had no home. We came out to the property to commiserate with one another, one of us said, “Gee, all we really need is a good roof over our heads.” It took about five minutes for it to sink in when we both looked up and then looked at each other, smiled and saw our life unfolding in a brand-new way. Yes, we were homeless but we weren’t going to let that stand and to wallow in it, we had the means to make that go away.

Suddenly, the cabin was our home. Well, almost, we were living in a tent while we did what we could to make it habitable. Unfortunately, a micro storm came up and blew that idea right out. The storm was so bad it shredded the tent. I remember waking to the seeming sounds of a barreling train roaring down the canyon through our homestead. The tent bubbled out and filled with more air than it could handle and burst. Suddenly I was looking up at the sky, the clouds, the rain and the debris flying everywhere. My husband, who can sleep through anything continued to snore until I elbowed him awake. We jumped up, gathered the cat and the bedding and whatnot and rushed under the roof of the cabin. Being up so wonderfully early, we got right to work.

We had to do the floor very quickly so we could move in and sleep in the room. One hundred and twenty square feet of sort of enclosed space. Four weeks later we had an additional forty square feet cleaned up and re-walled, that equaled an additional four foot by ten-foot space, smaller than your bathroom most likely. It took another few weeks to restore that same amount of space and we managed to get through the first winter. The romance of owning a tiny house never engaged. It was daunting for we had just about seven weeks before the weather was snowy and freezing. Most of our friends thought we were either nuts, or that we were pathetic, one even offered to let us use her basement, but we would have to get rid of our cat. It was a nice offer, but we had more than our share of losses and getting rid of our cat was not going to be the next loss. We would make do. That attitude made it easy to get through the coming months. We weren’t sure how the cat took it though; it was a few months before she would look us in the eye. She would glance at us from the side and shake her head, cats are rather smart you know. Several friends, never said anything until they saw what we were doing, then the encouragements came. Trust me, when you finally see the pictures of how our house looks now, without the ones here, you would not believe we pulled it off.

It took a lot of sanding to make this wood usable. We treated the wood too with a mold inhibitor even though we used it in the deck.

We set out to prove nothing would keep us down. Later, some said they felt so bad for us. When they came to see us, they were appalled at what we were going through but had the sense to

say nothing to us un�l a year or so went by, which was wise. A few others abandoned us as friends because of their assumed posi�on that we had dropped out of the status that kept them friends with us. Phtht, no loss there. Others became our cheering sec�on, even to helping us find materials. I have a picture or two of those first days, which I will add to this ar�cle, no one wants to go through what we went through, but by embracing it as a journey not the end of one, it became a series of hilarious happenstances.

Almost immediately we realized we needed to make a plan, s�ck to it and just act as if none of it ma�ered because every day would bring a good change and a step forward to actually having what most people consider a home. It was almost three years before I could actually talk about the hard stuff we endured. But looking back on it makes what we have now an amazing feat. Along the way we learned just how li�le we needed, to live well. We cut out every single excess to pull it off. We missed none of what we did without. It honed our needs to the smallest denominator and once we got used to it, it was easy to not miss the extras. They were a waste of money and we were able to focus on important things like, happiness, joy in the small gains and the freedom to enjoy the woods around us instead of just exis�ng in a technology bubble. We even learned that the li�le solar lights that line most people’s walking paths can be converted to indoor ligh�ng. The only difference between built in ligh�ng and solar for us was the act of bringing them outside to charge them in the day and bringing them inside to light the night at the end of the day. It cost all of twenty-five dollars for that, eventually cos�ng our budget just about seventy-five dollars for the first two years.

The first two years that was the only type of ligh�ng we had. We made special carriers for the lights.

Eventually, shelves were made for the few windows we started with. Holes were bored through the shelves and the ligh�ng was fi�ed to them. We opened the curtains in the day�me and the ligh�ng charged. At night, the ligh�ng came on by itself. The first Christmas that passed we also learned that ba�ery operated Christmas lights were a marvelous addi�on to ligh�ng. We s�ll use them for emergency ligh�ng. We replace the strings every other year. With rechargeable ba�eries we cut down on our electrical costs. This is something I recommend to city dwellers. Even if you live in an apartment, placing solar lights in your windows mean you have ambient ligh�ng a�er dark that does not add up on your electric bill. The ligh�ng is under two dollars each for the small ones, they work perfect. Also, pick up a string of ba�ery-operated Christmas lights. One string for each room. No more total darkness in a power outage. Also, just for fun, get a small can of glow in the dark paint. Paint a couple of frames with it. Put a nice print from a local ar�st in the frame, hang it across from a window that can charge the paint in the day�me. Instant night light that lasts for an hour or two. It can be the difference between a stubbed toe because it is too dark to see.

When it comes to the �me to put electricity in your home? I was comfortable learning to pull the lines through the walls in prepara�on for an electrician to come and make it live. I was even fortunate to have an electrician teach me how to do the outlets and the switches. But I do NOT recommend you try to do the panel without a professional. If you run your own lines make sure you know the code before you do so. Make sure you have your electrician inspect your work as well. Sure, it costs a li�le

money for a professional to do so, but life verses electrocution or a future fire is the ultimate goal when you install electricity.

We decided I would be the head of the project. Instead of my going to work for someone else, I would be our contractor, I had carpentry, drywall, painting, tiling, running electric wire, etc. experience as well as the designing ability, amazingly enough, it cost less for me to stay home and build than it would have cost for me to go to work and pay someone else to do so, a huge savings right there.

Every stick, piece of drywall moved us towards the finished asset and by building it we were rebuilding our future. Value was built into her day by day. If I did not know how to do something, I went and watched a diy video and learned how, you can find anything online. Just don’t tell yourself you cannot do it, because you can. I would find the materials to build with, and keep the costs at half the budget for them. Plus, the kindness of others, giving us bits and pieces along the way. I designed the house, and drew up a set of blueprints. I made the design a little flexible because I knew experiencing the house by living in it at the same time, would form a better picture of what the individual rooms should look like and how large they needed to be. After the first two years we decided the tiny house would have to be the maximum size a tiny house needed to be considered I would develop the design further for a portion of the house to meet those needs, my husband would come home from work and do the few things for each project that I could not do, then I would do the rest during the week. We like to say, he did the bones of what we wanted, I then came up with the materials and did the rest of the work.

In the beginning, I let go all or any of my fears of being shamed and ask for leftovers from people.

Thankfully, almost no one thought we were crazy for what we were doing.

“Do you have a piece of 2 by 4, or 2 by 6 in your garage? Any leftover chipboard?” Was a mantra.

We found lots of 4 foot and six-foot-long pieces that way. Anyone who owns a home has at least one piece of leftover wood in their garage collecting dust. “Do you have a few leftover pieces of drywall any size, that too?” Was asked several times. Craigslist and marketplace were great places to purchase second hand items for a much lower cost than new. Pay check to pay check we bought what new materials we needed to fill in the material(s) blanks. We also found every single reclaim place within one hundred miles to fill out the material needs. We saved a lot of money that way.

Thankfully, both my husband and I can build a house, we saved there too. People from every corner of our lives had an extra piece of something. We like to say, each of them owns a tiny bit of our tiny house.

That is the back story, I will write more in the next issue, when you see the house now...surprise.

HOUSE BUILDING TIPS AND HACKS Here is a quick DIY hack in house building for you. Get past the permits, and the design as well. But start with sound knowledge.

2’ by 6’s should be used in the frame out of a house not 2’ by 4’. Base your build on 6-inch-deep walls or if you can afford the lumber eight-inch walls. The savings over the years in heat and cooling are immeasurable.

Insulation is also a real key to keeping the inside of a house warm without wasting too much energy for heat or cooling needs. A 2’ by 6’ holds the right amount of insulation that ultimately protects you from both.

If you budget for eight in walls on your houses exterior frame, you can use dual insulation, two inches of the foam sheets as well as the standard insulation. By minimizing your initial costs to the future costs of heating and cooling you will find your investment actually saves you hundreds over a ten-year period. Besides, why waste energy if you do not have to?

If you have 2’ by 4’ construction, which we have only partially because of the old construction, there are things you can do to equalize or recover the difference. Since we had to move forward to having a solid floor, walls and roof, we kept what we had and added layers. One would never know any of our walls are only 2’ by 4’ construction. We added the extra two inches to all but one of the walls with 2’ by 2’ and solid insulation. The house both holds heat, when necessary, very well, and it stays much cooler in the summer.

If you go to build your own tiny house, be smart, use 2’ by 6’ or even 2’ by 8’ boards. The protection from the elements and the reduced need to heat or cool the house cost a whole lot less, leaving you with a much smaller footprint eco-wise. Your window wells are deeper too which gives you both natural shelving with light for growing herbs and small vegetables, and because they have to be egress windows anyway, they are easier to get out of in case of a fire.

The other key thing is to use star headed screws. They torque better, go into the wood quicker, with less force and they hold stronger.

For our next issue, we will begin the quick video lessons on how too. They may or may not be in cartoon form, I love making cartoons. Creatives can do anything.

Hanukkah, The Festival of Lights.

My name is Andrea, I am a Bolivian living in the USA. My maternal side of the family is Jewish, and I grew up celebrating Jewish holidays. Hanukkah is one of my favorite Jewish celebrations, it reminds me of my childhood. My cousins and I would get together at sunset, eight nights in a row, at our grandma’s house and celebrate by lighting a candle and singing Moaz Tzur Yeshuati.

Hannukah is not considered a religious holiday, it is a Jewish festival commemorating the rededication of the Temple in Jerusalem in the Second Century BC. The hanukkiah, is the Hanukkah menorah used specifically to light the candles on Hanukkah. There are 8 cups to hold 8 candles in a row, the ninth cup is located at the center of the eight cups and usually is slightly elevated. The nineth candle is called the “shamash” (one who serves). At Hanukkah we light an additional candle on each day, we use the shamash to light the other candles. So, on the first night of Hanukkah, after sundown, we light the shamash candle, which in turn is used to light one candle of the menorah. The second night, the shamash is lit again and is used to light 2 candles in the menorah, etc.

ANDREA NICE

Dani Fletcher

I started making gemstone jewelry back in 2016 because I was completely obsessed and in love with gemstones, their energies and what they did to help change my life.

I started out by sculp�ng with polymer clay in the beginning. Making very intricate designs by hand.

My dear friend Joan Eaton who is a fabulous artist in every right introduced me to the sculpting method. Then I started experimenting using an epoxy clay which is a really hardcore and almost unbreakable clay. Then during the covid shutdown I was inspired to finally start learning about electroforming. It's a process where you can turn almost anything into copper. Which is amazing because copper has so many healing properties as well. I had known about it for years and watched other people do it, but was afraid because it looked like a huge chemistry experience and I was not the wiz kid in chemistry in school. I knew the possibilities were endless, and I had the time so I decided to make the jump and just do it. I invested in all the materials, did a ton of research and gave it a shot. I am so glad I did because it has changed the game for me.

I use twigs, leaves, branches, flowers, bugs, bones etc. and I fix them all with gemstones and make them into beautiful wearable art. I believe thus far this is my favorite form of creation. I used to be an abstract painter as well and that was fulfilling during its time and I'm sure I'll go back to that 1 day but as for now I love working with the gemstones. I love creating unique one of a kind healing art pieces.

I love how much people fall in love with what I love so much. And more than anything I love to hear how my pieces have helped people. It is such a blessing to be able to have this passion and the drive to do such an awesome creative process.

It kind of makes me feel like an alchemist ha ha. I plan to try silver-smithing one day as well as any kind of creative process that's out there. I want to learn how to do all the things I always say. I'm excited to try it all. Dani

~ I love this time of the year. It seems to me we are busier than ever with the holidays, but in Autumn I always feel there is something very special in the air. One of the things I enjoy doing during this time of the year, is going to holiday craft shows and fairs. I like visiting booths to meet the wonderful creatives and see what they have on their displays.

Vendors are sensational artists and each very unique in their own style. Year after year, I am always amazed at what people create and bring to these events. They truly inspire the world.

Jewelry in any form or shape is always delightful. It has been used on the human body since ancient civilizations for various reasons. People from all over the world just love jewelry. Thus now, I want to introduce you to my next guest, artist and jewelry maker Dani Fletcher. Dani has been an amazing creative since her early twenties. She started painting and making jewelry, which she does to this day. Many of her jewelry is made from organic material. She showed me a few of her beautiful necklaces with platted copper acorns and dried flowers as pendant. They were breathtaking! Dani uses the process of electroforming.

She uses dried flowers, rose buds and real sticks with this technique, and the results are just simply striking! She hand sculpts her own designs so each jewelry piece is unique and different. Her earrings and bracelets are beautifully beaded, and the variety of colors and styles are outstanding. Dani sees jewelry in everything she sees. I love her creative mind!

She also uses stones to make necklaces and rings, which are very vivid and earthy. Dani is an inspiration. Her nature loving spirit brings nature indoors. I'm so fortunate to have met her and to have her be part of our E Verie Co Larie' Creative Minds Magazine. ~J

Watch Interview Here

Selling Tips & Skills : Teaching Through Humor

For those of you who know me, have met me at a speaking event where I was expected to teach in twenty minutes, the best practice for getting people to remember you or your business, you know I will try anything at least once, to teach this theme quickly. Twenty minutes is an impossible feat. There is too much information with many paths down each suggestion. Each lead to another question. I needed to show them what I meant.

I pondered for several days on how to take over the whole event leading up to my turn on the podium in a manner that would be the solution to that conundrum and I could then talk about how to come up with ideas that were outside the box. It did not come to me until I stood in front of the hostess who was handing out the lovely sticky tag that would put my name over my bust which would make it easy for people to learn my name.

I hate these things, because they never stick to my clothing and end up on my knee or shoe, but they do cut out the stranger element quite quickly and will always have their purpose. I had bent over to write my name in when it came to me where this thing was going to be placed, and it came to me right there.

The symposium was designed to teach businesses how to stand out in the market. There were three hundred high powered business owners interested in taking their companies further. Although I don’t recommend the exact thing that I did, the lesson I lined out during my talk was attended to fully by every person in the room through the process. Because of what I did, they either paid attention to see what I might do next, or because they caught on immediately the point. I will give you the goal up front BE MEMORABLE. Not everyone can do something a little shocking and have their reputation stay intact, but I am known to be bold and unusual and, in the end, I got a win. When I was doing these speaking engagements, I was considered standard fare with spice and was called on often. It was a way to maintain a few extra dollars in my account and to live my lifestyle a bit.

But the gasp that came, when they realized all of them helped me to be the talk of the event was what they took away was a thrill. Many in the room already knew me by my reputation if not what I looked like, that was why they were there in the first place, they knew I would give them a golden nugget to wrap their own strategy around, that fit their own business profile. But my experiment took over the room. I was being talked about even after I moved on to the next person.

Before I tell you what I did I will tell you it was spectacular, and a blast.

Some people have an inane understanding that shock value can in actuality teach people a concept. I use it with great abandon, I recommend you try it at least once. Humor, thinking outside the box and the shear joy of doing the unexpected, are all things I have learned over the years that are the least costly, take only a few seconds to enact and have the greatest impact. As long as they are not hurtful to another human, they are worthy efforts. BE MEMORABLE. So, I wrote down the name I chose, pulled off the backing and slapped that thing in the proper area on my chest, held my head high and strode into the packed room and presented myself one right after another to all the participants and took business cards and let them get a good look at my sticky note name plate plastered to my clothing. Although I avoided those that actually knew me, so I wasn’t caught. As I passed from person to person, soon I was getting requests to pronounce my chosen name. I stretched it out pronouncing it with a decided drawl and enhanced it with extra space between a few of the letters. Some of these people did their best to pronounce my name. The event had an hour and a half of social interaction before we speakers approached the podium and by the time the announcer began to call us to our seats, I could hear many comments on my strange name floating had been given close to two hundred business cards, so I

knew they wanted to stay in touch and do business because who would not want to know me, right? Was it the name?

The first speaker was excellent, his presenta�on included fi�een well designed pages of notes displayed by the overhead projector onto the screen behind the stage. When he finished, the crowd clapped and his face showed a visible sa�sfac�on that he had taught them some great tools. The event was about marke�ng our businesses and he did provide a great assortment of informa�on. To this day, though, I don’t remember his name.

Then it was my turn. As I climbed the steps, the audience of course began to murmur because my name, the one they had just learned, which they were pronouncing, terribly, was not on the speaker list everyone received.

I walked to the podium and announced myself with my given name. Frowns and disgruntled looks were everywhere. I then apologized to them all for using them as a social experiment to get my point across, just in case someone would be offended, which I would find out momentarily if indeed I had overstepped my knowledge of human behavior.

I went further to explain the experiment which had come to me the moment I wrote my fic��ous name on that silly badge. Then I outlined the experiment no�ng every single person in the room had been discussing my unusual name. I asked if everyone would remember me because of it and the whole room clapped. Proof, it works. I proceeded with the remainder of my talk. I had everyone’s a�en�on.

Then I closed, explaining to them that the name on the badge, was simply a trick of crea�vity and that they were all discussing my le� boob.

Spontaneous laughter erupted across the whole room, and I received a standing ova�on throughout.

Why? Because no one would forget me and the lesson, as well as the entertainment I provided. I was the talk of the room. That is the sole purpose of speaking in public, no ma�er the business. I became rather popular as a speaker a�er that.

My point is double sided, you don’t need to go as far as I would or might go, but you should stand out in a crowd of people who stand out. Find that special in yourself and business and project it into the world. Claim it and shout it wherever you are. Be courageous. Successful people always stand out. Be Memorable .

Adornments Then & Now Jewelry has been made for hundreds of years. From the moment the first humans grew to adults the thought came to at least one of them that a bone, a needle or a twig from a tree through the nose, or ear or other areas of the body, would announce their elevated status.

As with all humans there is a tendency for a percentage of strong humans to lead the rest. Unlike nowadays, the earth itself was the test of leadership. Harsh weather led to circumstances which gave humans the opportunity to follow someone who could reduce the consequences.

Tribes were very small and each would have a spokesperson/leader who communicated needs, desires and demands to the other groups. These people may or may not have stood out without adornment but customs evolved to ease the way by having that leader stand out by adornment. The tribe would then emulate the leader and have adornments in ever smaller amounts depending on their status in the tribe. It made it easier when contact with another tribe was either planned or happenstance. Authority, even today, has its adornments, often the authority is an illusion but the trappings of authority still work the same. Often though, they don’t carry the same characteristics as the early leaders which make the adornments simply decorative, even unattractive. The tests of leadership are not the same level of harsh.

From this early beginning adornments became several separate categories, simple adornments made with fabrics and other materials that evolved through talented creatives, to the sparkling As time passed jewelry was molded from more precious metals as metals were found and the means to form them were discovered. Today the world has a plethora of adornments. There is no country in the world that does not have its adornments. Some are iconic representations of the area from which they were originally formed. Others are made for export and have no specific attachment to any country, tribe or group of people.

Currently, jewelry is in most cases simply a decoration to draw attention to a person’s individuality.

Once that happened worldwide, jewelry and its types exploded in creativity. The access to materials has given creatives everywhere, from the simple hobbyist, to the extraordinary designers who bring their ideas through the materials into the world.

Value is a different story. Values is based on several tiers. What makes a popular design is based more on a company’s ability to sway its audience, even to dictating what they will want to wear through a variety of advertising skills. Designs are made to capture as many buyers as possible and celebrities and important seeming leaders in various fields are given incentives through money or other enticements to promote the design. Movies and fantastic commercials set the fashion and the public who has been conditioned to buy, buys without thinking about how or why they are buying, they follow the crowd. This an underlying behavior that is well known to most of these types of companies and they use it to sell massive amounts of product. Materials are usually very low cost and, in some cases, will cause a reaction to your skin. This is considered short term jewelry because to sell more jewelry it has to go out of fashion quickly. Within a season.

There are four seasons per year, for selling this type of adornment, plus, New Years, bling, Valentine’s Day Hearts and Diamonds, Shamrocks, Bunnies, Fourth of July, Nationalism, etc. so the aim is for the jewelry to go out of fashion within six months. Fashion is led by sales not design.

There are also some very fine small businesses that sell jewelry, the product is usually a cut above the mass-produced, low-cost materials level. These owners in most cases work hard to provide a nice product.

The individual, is looking for the costs involved and a little bit more to cover their time and design abilities. These pieces are most often one-of-a-kind. Each person has their own flair, their own vision.

The Individual Jewelry Creative Creatives who make the individual piece verses mass production, bring sunning and unique pieces into the world. They want to profit from their work as well, but their goals focus on the individual piece verses making mass produced items. When you buy from them you have a unique piece developed through pure imagination, the drive to make something special and the desire from the creative to bring forth that inner genius that gives them the ability to create.

We love jewelry, we have even made jewelry ourselves so we understand the process for the creatives we meet.

These are the creatives we are going to focus on, the ones who don’t have a massive company behind them. The jewelry that they are producing, stands out because of the spark that fuels their motivation. Innovation, beauty, and using non-traditional materials gives their pieces a remarkable voice. These pieces are the ones to search for, the creations that are nonrepetitive and one of a kind.

These have the tendency to last for years and stay in fashion, because one of a kind do not go out of fashion. Look for their websites, get their card, find them at craft and art shows, some are even in galleries and small creatively owned businesses that offer the unique in the world.

These creatives are the ones to support.

Night Lights Sponsored by S. Davis Assoc.

Tetrachromacy is the condi�on of possessing four types of cone cell in the eye. Humans, which is very rare, with tetrachromacy are called tetrachromats.

In tetrachroma�c organisms, the sensory color space is fourdimensional, meaning that matching the sensory effect of arbitrarily chosen spectra of light within their visible spectrum requires mixtures of at least four primary colors.

Tetrachromacy is also demonstrated among birds, fish, amphibian, rep�le, insect, and some mammals.

Tetrachromats have a fourth type of cone featuring a photo pigment that allows percep�on of more colors that aren’t on the typically visible spectrum. The spectrum is be�er known as ROY G. BIV (Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, and Violet).

Oddly (Wonderfully?) enough, since I am a tetrachromat, I cannot see white, beiges browns and blacks, I have to take the word of the label or someone else telling me so.

I see everything and everyone in every other full color.

The artwork in the background is basically how I see. People have the same ribbons of color around them, and bigger blended blocks of color.

But no earth tones. It took me more than 25 years to learn that my eyes were not like others, my outlook on people is so much different than they assume.

I am blessed to see nothing more than a rainbow upon us all. ~ C

Christmas In Peru One of our Managing Editors is originally from Peru. As we talked about the December issue we decided to present the three top holidays and some of the cultural differences that you find in them. Still, amazingly enough there is a connection throughout, even if you do not practice any single event. Humanity has a penchant for joy, love, happiness, faiths of many kinds, and we studiously celebrate the best parts of our existence. In this article, Jesica talks about traditional behaviors within the Christmas experience throughout Peru. ~C

Every year I think about my Christmas’ growing up in Peru, and those memories are some of the happiest memories in my mind. In Peru we always have Christmas at the beginning of summer. In Peru we do not celebrate Thanksgiving, so the major and only big holiday is Christmas.

This is a very special time, where everybody waits anxiously to spend it family.

During the day, children go shopping for fireworks. When it got dark, children went outside to do fireworks. This was a fun reunion with all of our friends in the neighborhood, as everybody was outside. We talked about the plans we had for the Summer since we were on Summer vacation. After a few hours of doing fire works, everybody said their good byes, and run inside the house to get clean up for the evening. After we showered, we wore our best outfit for the evening. We played 'villancicos' or Christmas songs in the house. We also went to help in the kitchen for the dinner we could not wait to have.

In Peru we eat Christmas dinner on December 25th but early in the morning, usually from 12:15 a.m. to 12:30 a.m. Do not ask me how we make it this late to eat but we just do. On December 24th at 11:50 p.m.

Parents gather the glasses for the family toast and leave them on the table. At 11:59p.m. everybody says the countdown loudly: "Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one, Merry Christmas!" Then we hug and kiss each other. Our parents fill the glasses with sparkling water, juice or champagne and we make a toast. We happily wish each other Merry Christmas or Feliz Navidad! Afterwards, we sit down as a family at the table and eat the Christmas dinner.

In Lima, the city where I am from, people usually have pork or turkey for Christmas. In my family, we always had turkey. My mother slowly cooked

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and braised it in the oven. We usually accompanied turkey is with white rice, 'ensalada rusa,' or Russian salad made out of chopped cooked carrots, peas, beats with lemon juice and mayonnaise all mixed up. We also eat the 'relleno' or stuffing made out of ground beef, chopped black olives, raisins, chopped onions and tomatoes. We do not have cranberry sauce, so instead we eat home made apple sauce. After dinner, we talk for a few hours and tell each other stories. Then my mother would bring to the table home made 'chocolate caliente' or hot cocoa and Paneton of course! In Peru, you cannot have Christmas without Panetonne bread and 'chocolate caliente.' I'm very thrilled to say I can find ‘Paneton’ or Panetonne bread in many stores in the US during the Christmas Holiday and of course I always buy it.

As children always tried to stay up as late as possible on Christmas day, but we were told we needed to go to bed early or we would not get any presents in the morning. The tradition was that 'El Nino Jesus' or the baby Jesus comes in the middle of the night to bring presents to the kids but only if they were asleep. Thus eventually we went to sleep and made sure we left our bedroom window opened. so el 'Nino Jesus' could enter the room quietly and leave us 'regalos' or presents.

In the morning the feeling was truly magical! When we woke up, we each got one 'regalo' or present by the feet of our bed. I loved getting up on Christmas morning and seeing my present. I also would go to see what my siblings got and of course I woke them up. We tried to stay quiet as our parents were still asleep but it was very difficult. As we got louder and louder, we could not wait anymore that all of us ran to wake our parents up to show them our 'regalos.' Of course they knew about the 'regalos' but as tired as they must have been; they always smiled and got up very excited wanting to see what we each got.

Growing up, we did not get presents from our parents except on Christmas. The presents we got as children were always cherished for years. The times spent with family were priceless. Christmas was very special to me and my family, and these memories are engraved in my heart for ever. Feliz Navidad! ~Jesica

Donna Marie

Watch Video Here

Donna Marie is a published author and prophetic poet. She wrote her first book and poem when she was in third grade. Her current book, The Way to The Kingdom of Love and Peace is published through Christian Faith Publishing, Inc. Her book is based on a true story of when she was a young woman looking for love in all the wrong places. In her book, Donna Marie also writes about the many trials she has endured throughout her adult life. Some of these hardships included having cancer, being abused, surviving divorces and losing loved ones.

Through her life journey she has held deep in her soul hope and a vision of heaven on earth.

She is a survivor that still smiles. She is self-described as a princess warrior, the daughter of a King and more than a conquer in Christ. She is now happily married and resides with her husband, their Husky mix dog and their Calico cat in the North Bay area of San Francisco, California. They will be moving to Spokane, Washington in the near future. Donna Marie enjoys reading, hiking, cycling for a cause and downhill skiing.

Of course, she also enjoys taking photos and writing. Donna Marie has her bachelor’s degree in Business Management Administration with a focus on Human Resources. She has a certificate in Missions and Ministry. One of her goals is to be able to help and encourage others through her writings, in her community and internationally. She started writing one Father’s Day when she came across some old letters she received from her biological dad. She dared to dream that one day she would share those letters in her book.

Her dreams have come true. What she wants you to know is that your dreams can come true too.

Sun Rise The sun rises Rays reflected in the river I look towards the horizon Knowing Your love will deliver On the banks the trees reach the sky You forgive her As I say goodbye My tears run dry The river flows A new day is here The fruit begins to grow The sun appears Roots down deep So sweet I praise your name O Lord On this day you have made The sky declares your glory My debt you have paid I will tell your story Your love never fades never ends From the coming up of the sun Your glory is new let’s begin This is one of the first photographs I To the setting of the moon found from Donna Marie. She Are you listening by the lagoon captures the moment and defines the Hear my voice beauty in front of her in a magical and Surrender your cares to me dreamy way. One wants to take a You still have a choice walk up this way or sit nearby and Soon you will see paint this vision. Although we have The great plans I have for you not met I am looking forward to doing For my love is key so in the future. ~C To give you a hope and a future A new day has begun Wa For you are her tch Rise My child of the son V

ide o Her e

Brian Little Brian Li�le makes fantas�c crea�ons from custom made t-shirts, to sweatshirts, mugs, bookmarks, you name it! He has more than three hundred different designs to print from. He said you can very much put "almost" anything your mind can think of and more on a product.

Thus, to all crea�ve minds out there, here is their opportunity to show their crea�vity. Words create a powerful message and statement of who we are. I think it is so neat we can put our feelings and thoughts on a custom-made product. By doing so, we make it unique and personal. What I like about Brian is that he has made it into a family business. When I met him at the holiday cra� show, he was with his beau�ful daughter. It was so nice to see them working as a team. Brian has been doing this business for almost a year. He said it has been a very exci�ng adventure and day by day, the family business con�nues to expand.

He said he loves interac�ng with people, and I could see this trait of his personality, when I saw how he related to his costumers. Brian wants to get to know his clients and influence them in a posi�ve way. He said he likes working with people and making them smile. Some of the crea�ve designs I read which made me smile were "Gangsta Wrapper,” and "I love God but some of His children get on my nerves." His custom-made design products provide affordable prices for every member of the family. It was a great pleasure to get to know Brian and his daughter at the cra� fair. I can see how he and his family through their business, can inspire our community in a posi�ve way. We are so proud to have him be part in our first magazine issue for E Verie Co Larie' Crea�ve Minds Magazine. ~J

This saying, and the corn, amuses us. Corny…Hehe.

Watch Interview Here

I was thrilled to pieces when the soon to introduce himself to me, Brian, genuinely welcomed my intrusion to his booth.

I never know how someone is going to respond when I walk up to them and tell them I want to interview them.

Some people are off put, disbelieving. I will walk away if they are dismissive. Not so with Brian, he shined.

Creatives have that you know, that shine. Brian glowed actually, he was doing exactly what he wanted to do and was doing it passionately. I kept glancing at the different designs and had to keep from giggling because many of them were so delightfully funny.

Nothing harmful or hurtful, just cute twists of the written word.

l u f t h lig

The best part, is he is using his gift of twisty words to bring a bit more fun, joy, giggles and humor into the world and has brought his family into the business and together they are thriving and growing with a few creative words here and there. And that, is the way of great business. ~C

De

BRIAN: Why did we choose T-shirts? Well, frankly T-shirts are an easy way to communicate. They can be humorous and lighthearted or make a statement that others need to hear. They can bring awareness to a cause, support a community event, include you on a new team or even promote your small business dream. As a family, we priori ze bringing people together and this business allows us to do that, and makes it all worthwhile.

Bridge of Sighs

We forget, by them being right there every day, just how crea ve someone was to invent something to deal with a human’s needs. Here we show you some of the more interes ng crea ons by architects and bridge builders, or that random crea ve that had just one idea in their life and made it into their life’s work. We see but the outcome in most cases and marvel. Remember though, these crea ves may have spent years crea ng only for us to no ce it in a blink of an eye and then we move on. The marvels by humans are Bridges span small and huge surfaces. From a actually never ending. It is what make humans so meandering river deep in the woods, bays and unique. Crea ves cannot be squashed. oceans. Sometimes their beauty is downplayed by the use they are intended to serve. Often though they We have named all but one , can you name it? are brilliant examples of the ability for a human to interpret nature and adapt the materials to their vision.

High Bridge orPython

Helix Bridge

The Grand Hand

Peace Bridge

Sheikh-Zayed Bridge Banpo Bridge Seoul

Millau Viaduct Bridge

Hint, this one is in Dubai

Holiday Re-SPIN Holiday meals are traditionally only served once or twice a year. This means you cook many things that don’t always get eaten right away and they get stuck in the refrigerator. Oh sure, plenty of people eat them up over the next few days, but there are always a few people who never reserve the remainders because leftovers by themselves aren’t the same after the holiday is over. Many won’t serve them because they want to limit the foods to the tradition of only serving that special item on the holiday.

But what in the world do you do with the leftovers?

We thought it might be fun to give you a recipe for leftovers. Make the food its own special holiday, extend the feeling of the same traditions, only give them their own flair.

Holiday Leftover Sandwich Ingredients: 4 ounces of whatever you served as your primary dish, Turkey, beef, chicken, eggplant, or tofu.

You decide based on what your dish was, anything works, the flavor is slightly different with each choice. Yep, I have tried them all with the recipe. Anything works.

1/3rd teaspoon pepper 1/4th teaspoon fresh garlic chopped fine 4 olives green or black 2 tablespoons of whatever vegetables you served 2 teaspoons water 1/2 teaspoon olive oil, virgin is best, it squeezes fresh 2 tablespoons cranberry jelly or sauce, chunky or not.

2 tablespoons of cream cheese softened; you can cheat by microwaving it for ten seconds.

2 leaves red leaf lettuce or any salad materials if you have leftovers will work 1 leftover roll of any type or 2 pieces of bread, or if you are gluten free use the red leaf to roll the ingredients up.

Directions: Chop your primary meat or vegetarian substitute into small pieces, put in a blender with the pepper, garlic, olives, vegetables, water and oil. Blend until smooth (ish). This becomes a pate’ and is easy to spread with a knife.

If you are using bread or rolls, spread one teaspoon of cream cheese on each half. Then spread one teaspoon of cranberry jelly or sauce on each half as well. Spoon the holiday pate on one half and add the two leaves red leaf lettuce. Put both halves together and eat.

If you are using the lettuce as your bread, add the ingredients the same way and roll them up for easy eating. Then eat!

Enjoy

The action of being arted anywhere. This action is a cross between instantly being captured by the surface design, the joy of being arted in the wine aisle, a chance meeting with a person who just happens to match the color theme and is instantly acceptable when I asked him to hold the bottle up. We spent a few minutes getting to know him too so watch for an article about him in the next issue.

This is a perfect example of a surface design being used in a spectacular way. Nestled between other bottles, but taking over the whole shelf by presentation. My eye was drawn from ten feet away.

This is exactly what surface design does when it is successful. That’s the first thing about this wine we love. Secondly, what a great name.

We took the bottle home and enjoyed the process of tasting with a couple of friends. The wine was worthy of its presentation. We give it a full ten on the E Verie Co Laurie’ scale. Full creativity and full flavor. Give it a try.

This is not a paid advertisement. We like this product.

This is Andrew Czapla, he wins our gratitude for being completely comfortable modeling for E Verie Co Larie’. A gracious and wonderful addition to our spontaneous arting. Turns out Andrew is the owner of Alpine Family Chiropractic. The art of a Chiropractic keeps many of us cracking up! Thanks Andrew.

Sometimes when I paint, I make a pair of artworks, Ipaint them as a pair deliberately. I will not sell them separate even if it is to take a loss from not earning on the one or the other.

Thebuyer of these artworks will understand, half of the story is on one sheet of paper, the other half is on the other sheet of paper.

In this case, Tango Del Hielo; the ice dancer, is beautiful but standoffish, her expectations of people around her are distanced because of fame and being watched. The reflection of her heart is on her back as a burden of her success. She does love, but that love has to be supported by her other half.

Ice Heart is of course her lifelong mate. As such he not only holds her heart, he carries it boldly upon his body throughout his dance and shows the world their unbreakable connection. Together they go through eternity letting no external forces separate them. I painted them on two separate pieces of paper to show the fragility and importance of the human connection, and to show that it takes work to keep a relationship of love together. Of course, I also painted them because I personally do not have the ankles to ice skate, even though I dreamed of being an iceskater

Ice Heart Tango Del Hielo when I was a young girl, and tried, but alas, I could only paint that dream.

I will not sell a pair until the person who understands the work(s) comes along. For this pair, I would have to destroy the unsold piece for the other to go on in life and I cannot do that with these pair of artworks. If you are the future buyer, you will understand that and treasure what I have created and purchase both as an adoption of my creation and not just because they are pretty.

As an artist I make statements through my art when I do pairs of this sort, I have expectations. When I make an artistic statement, I want to pass on the passion of the statement in its entirety. If you are the future owner who embraces the concept of what I have created I look forward to your ownership of this pair.

My models: Sara, an extended family member with Hispanic roots, and Marteen, her mate, were both ice skaters who were in competitions in their youth. They have been married for over sixty years. Which is where I got the inspiration for the artworks. I used a set of black and white photographs from one of their events.

I do sell prints individually for those who only care for one of the pair.

For collecting and art purchases, please email me through my website cecilegracecharles.com

To Our Future Sponsors and Advertisers:

The back of the magazine is where you will find your ads, unless a specialty ad/sponsorship has been arraigned. This first issue is fully funded by the managing editors, plus a few of our staunch supporters. We wanted to show you the concept and our commitment before we began to provide ad space.

Sponsoring the magazines goals is easy. Donations are accepted.

Use the paypal button here for sponsorship. All sponsorship goes to pay for services rendered from technical support by creatives or to cover extenuating business costs of the website, the virtual magazine and any advertising we do for the magazine itself.

Email us at e-v-c-l-creativeminds@protonmail.com Regular Advertising is tiered: For Creatives We provide inexpensive promotion for artists who currently are not the subject of an article, articles are free. One of the main goals of the magazine is to showcase creatives in every field.

Extra advertising for creatives is 80% sponsored, below are the choices for creatives. The prices stated are their cost after the sponsorship dollars is applied.

1. $5.00 - Name, and Business name, type of business: title, example: Artist, Writer, Cook, Sewist, etc. Line format.

2. $10.00 - Name, and Business name, type of business. title, example: sculptor, blogger, Wood Carver, Ceramicist, or any from above etc., plus an active link to your website or social media page.

Line format.

3. $ 25.00 - two inches virtual by three inches virtual. One graphic, Name and Business name, type of business: title, example Musician, Cartoonist, Comedian Surface Design, etc. or any from above, active link to your website or social media page.

This is per issue. Articles are free to Creatives and those chosen for individual issue focus.

Commercial Advertising Available: Any company can advertise with us we encourage you to present an ad designed by a creative. We have a few artisans with excellent skills along these lines. Part of what you pay for is the investment in their expertise. We like to pay our creatives to give them the experience they need to move up in their chosen fields.

Ad size determines the price. One-time ads are a bit more costly than repeat ads, a substantial reduction for long term support is our goal for advertisers.

Currently we have a few options for you.

1. Bottom of page graphics banner. This banner will sit below featured stories. No wider than one inch virtually by eight inches virtually.

2. Two inch virtual by three inch virtual, the size of a business card.

3. Quarter page graphic style. Must be presented as a creative endeavor to fit the theme of the magazine.

4. Half page graphic style. Must be presented as a creative endeavor to fit the theme of the magazine.

5. Full page graphic style. Must be presented as a creative endeavor to fit the theme of the magazine.

6. Full page inside front cover graphic style. Must be presented as a creative endeavor to fit the theme of the magazine.

7. Full page inside back cover graphic style. Must be presented as a creative endeavor to fit the theme of the magazine.

8. Full page artistic sponsor; art provided, with company name and link.

All advertising graphics must be 300 dpi, exact size, as a png. file *Please note, all payments for ads in each upcoming issue must be paid no later than fifteen days before the upcoming issue launch or the ad will be removed before the publication goes live.

Please Give Your Business To This Issues Sponsors on the following pages.

May your gifts be creative and give you much joy.

Jesica and Cecile

The Specialist Group, Inc (509) 217-7823 mobile or text tim@greatspokanehomes.com www.greatspokanehomes.com Drummer Musician, Tim will be the subject of a future article, he is a Creative in many ways.

E Verie Co Larie’ is also sponsored by John Towner. He had a dream to write about his hobby. Turns out quite a few people thought it would be a great book. In turn he has given back in many ways. We will tell you about some of them in the March 2022, issue we will do an article on John Towner.

He is rather amazing, and does great things in the community. He likes to keep that side of him rather quiet. You can get a signed copy of his book at Towner’s Gas Station at 1906 North Ash, Spokane WA, or online at:

John Towner, above.

Middle, John with Rob Sacre Le�, John with Rachel h�ps://www.jtcrea�ngmemories.com/

Inland Retech Technology Reclaimers nwisurplus@gmail.com 7203 E Nora Ave, #100 Spokane Valley, WA, USA 509-326-1165

Shop Here

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l33tbox.biz Owner Ray Boston, (509) 699-5995 Need help with your computer in the Spokane, WA area? We perform on-site home or business repairs and maintenance. We can help with nearly any computer problem, including networking and server issues, virus removal, printing problems, and errors preventing your computer from starting. I am familiar with Windows, Apple, and Android operating systems. Home automation services are available as well.

We can also build custom computers upon request, including custom cases such as wall mounts, in-desk, wood finish, and in-car computers. To commission a piece, please contact us.

Heart Merchandise Too keep any advertising costs for artists and artisans down to a minimum we apply the heart merchandise profits to both the infrastructure of the magazine as well as sponsor most of the costs ourselves. By purchasing any merchandise with a heart on it, you too will be supporting the magazine and the creatives who choose to advertise with us. This is how we make the funds to do that. Each issue we add more hearts. The shop is Here

16-231-sea bass-heart

144-16-Cobblestones-An Unexpected Light-16-heart

35-518-Rainbowsheart

40-Spring Meadow heart

109-Stairway222heart

3-Jester 2heart

1-74-The Visible Wind-heart

23-Tango-DelHielo 132

207-Bucket and Trowel 119-heart

378-297 Asst Rainbows a-heart

224-504-Rainbowsheart

105-Nigh�ire Dragons 205-heart

34-Bucket and Trowel 130-heart

214-So� Sunsetheart

This issues FEATURED HEART come from the Garden Tulips Collection. It has the feel of a basket or bustier. Bright red orange with sky blue. The bent square in the center is green, lime, blue, yellow, with hints of black and aqua. The collection this heart is from also birthed Isty and Droop from Itsy and Droop’s Magical Garden, a children's book.

Like all the other hearts this can be found on merchandise here.

72-Garden Tulip-heart

Besides being one of E Verie Co Larie’s Managing Editors, Cecile Grace Charles is a fine artist, Author, writer, art teacher, and Surface Designer. To help support the combined visions of herself and Jesica, they have committed a percentage of their own sales to the magazines success.

It takes an invisible structure behind any business for it to succeed and both Jesica and Cecile know support has to come from many avenues.

Jesica who owns Nature KnOws Natural Products for home and body, takes care of the body and home with natural products that are designed for perfect aroma’s, soft skin, solutions to getting dried skin softened, and shiny hair. Salves, lotions, lip balms, She also makes excellent cleaning products, toilet tablets, and other natural house cleaning products.

Cecile is an eclectic artist with more than one style, something to suit anyone's home or wearable, usable art. Google Cecile Grace Charles and click on the shopping link. Shop on her website at www.cecilegracecharles.com Find that perfect product right here.

Here is this issues are pictures of Jesica’s newest offerings and a few of Cecile’s artworks.

Each soap group is slightly unique in that natural products have irregularities. This makes the soaps unique to each batch. Products are made fresh to order. ~Jesica

Pearl’s Girls, prices vary.

Prints and merchandise.

Original, Primariorial 24” by 24” Gouache on wood and canvas. $375.00

Original, Hair Raising 16” by 20” Gouache on canvas.

Original, Falls 16” by 20 Gouache on canvas.

E Verie Co Larie’