Happiness is homemade
Hope is hard, trust is tricky, healing hurts, happiness is homemade, peace is practiced. None of it just happens. You have to choose it! Even when it’s hard. That’s the work. — @findinghappiness_peace (TikTok, 2025)
I sat on the front stoop for a while yesterday, looking over my pollinator garden. I had been worried about the bees, I’ve hardly seen any all season, but they finally arrived and have busied themselves with the Monarda. Soon the Sweet Joe Pye will bloom and I will likely find the bees clinging, still slumbering, beneath the blooms in the morning. My heart takes comfort in the Monarch who found nourishment on the coneflower, already tattered, having served some other insect prior to her arrival, proof of usefulness despite appearances.
I, too, am feeling a little tattered, but I will strive to be useful.
Workshops and Events
With the busyness of summer, my workshop schedule will be changing a touch.
I will be teaching on Sunday evenings at Campfire Bay Resort in Cushing, in their delightful lodge. This coming Sunday I’ll be teaching a felted loon workshop for just $20 per person. Find tickets in my shop.
On Saturday August 1st I will be part of The Handcrafters Collective Summer Artisan Market, located at The Good Village Co. in the green space next to The Outreach Program of Brainerd Lakes (24489 Hazelwood Dr., Nisswa) It’s going to be chock-full of awesomeness and I’m excited to be part of it. Check out the event on Facebook: “The Handcrafters Collective - Nisswa” for information on vendors, parking, and any changes. This event brings together talented makers, artists, bakers, and small businesses for a charming outdoor market filled with one-of-a-kind finds. Browse handcrafted goods, pottery, baked treats, artwork, gifts, and more while enjoying local food from Chick N Rice and treats from KNB Concessions and the best of a Minnesota summer day.
Every Friday 9:00-2:00 - except this week when I am in Duluth helping out a friend - I will be at the Main Street Market Downtown Brainerd - come visit me, peruse my wares, or put some quarters in the mini art print machine. This farmer’s market is held in the parking lot of Brainerd’s City Hall, across the street from Coco Moon.
Open Studio Art Club will still be on the second Thursday of the month from 6:00-8:00pm. In August that lands on the 13th. The studio will be closed on the other Thursdays until Fall (or if I’m open by appointment).
Third Space Thursdays with the Sowing Room are on hiatus for the summer months.
The workshops I have hosted lately have been full of beautiful people. I’m glad to have built a space where people can feel grounded and safe while they create. I’m excited to begin providing arts programming and support at the My Neighbor to Love Coalition and the Relationship Safety Alliance soon, and to be a new member of a Community Bridgemakers group focused on expanding social cohesion. I’m also looking forward to some collaborative events with my friend Candice at Treeline Acres. There are good things in the works, my friends.
Need some art in your life?
Let’s talk. Message me at lisa@lilfishstudios.com
For Joey. Love you forever…
I hope death is like being carried to your bedroom when you were a child and fell asleep on the couch during a family party. I hope you can hear the laughter from the next room. ~ author unknown
