Magpie Girl (Rachelle Mee-Chapman) » Small is Beautiful

Small is Beautiful: April Link Love

Rachelle — Sat, 17 Apr 2010 04:00:22 +0000

We believe stories are valuable, no matter how many people read them.
We believe following your passion is more important that watching your site meter.
We believe in the handmade, the first try, the small start, and the good effort.
We believe that small is beautiful.

The first Saturday of the Month I click through the over 700 blogs listed in our tiny revolution. I go through about 30 a month, picking out 5 that give me an intuitive pull. This month . Click around and see if you find someone to wonder with today.

Before I begin with this month’s link love, might I suggest that you join join our mailing list? New things are brewing here at Magpie Girl that will help a passionate blogger like yourself. So please, don’t miss out! And now, without further ado, your April Small and Passionate bloggers!

Tiffany at Brooding Beautywas my first blog to open today and the first one to love. She’s got a post up about her live painting event. (I LOVE watching artists work.) And I dig her post-consumerism vibe. Stop by to check out her art work and tell her Magpie Girl sent ‘cha.
Tragedienne went to Paris when she was 20 years old. Now, a decade later, she’s letting us peek into her journals from that experience. It’s a fascinating journey through a woman’s younger self.
Two of my favorite new Mommy’s happen to be in this month’s section of the list. There’s a new arrival at Bella Wish, just one week old and adorable. (Plus Stacy has new classes at the Wish Studio so scroll down and find out all about it.) And Maggie Ann , a momma for a bit now, is doing the most beautiful job of documenting baby/parent/familyhood. Find her at Most Sincerely and be inspired.
Finally, two of my Soulsisters turned upon the list this week as well. I just can’t resist singing their praises. Jenna McGuiggan is helping writers over at The Word Cellar. And Jolie Guillebeau is doing 100 paintings in 100 days over at her studio. Stop by and think up your own creative challenge!

Next month we start at number 110. I hope to see you then. May your story ring from the rooftops!

Fellow Revolutionaries are featured once a month for link love and general accolades. Readership numbers, fame, and fortune matter not one whit. Grab a button to play along, then sign up on the mailing list or follow me on Twitter. Thanks for being here!

Small is Beautiful: March Link Love

Rachelle — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 13:22:02 +0000

The first Saturday of the Month I click through the over 700 blogs listed in our tiny revolution. (Oh that I had thought to ask all those people to join my mailing list!) I go through about 30 a month, picking out 5 that give me an intuitive pull. This month is an especially eclectic group, featuring dance, medicine, magic, and tatting. Click around and see if you find someone to wonder with today.

Gen Gibler’sblog is full of art and wonder, including stunning photographs of dancers. Dance is my new favorite love affair, so Gen, here is a kiss from me to you. (Mwah!)
As many of you know, I am a chronic pain survivor. So is Shauna. Her blog celebrates all that she has achieved, even with chronic pain, and is full of handy resources from the registered nurse.
Every month when I click through the Small is Beautiful list, there’s always one blog that catches my eye, even tho I can’t quite put my finger on why. Robin Riger’s blog To Put it Simply was that blog this month. Plenty of poetry, some really powerful work around miscarriage, plus the occasional just-because-you’re-neat free knitting pattern — and all in a clean, uncluttered blog layout. Nice.
Jackie’salways got something hearty cooking on the stove. Death with Dignity, religious topics, and how she learned to love her daughter’s playlist are the first three, and all keepers.
Finally this month there is Nancy at New To Me, a lady who tatts. Tatting is sort of a dying art, so I’m delighted to see it perseved here. And I like how Nancy’s tagline is all about sharing. How delightful! (Thanks Nancy.)

Small is Beautiful: February Link Love

Rachelle — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 19:42:34 +0000

This month in our February round up of Small, Beautiful, and Passionate bloggers we feature four sites with beautiful words and inspiring images. You know how encouraging it is when you get a new comment, right? Why not stop by and say hello? (Tell them Magpie Girl sent you!)

Shanna at For That Which Matters has a very handy, back-to-basics post for Moms who’s need to learn How to Say No. (I don’t know about you, but I could always use a refresher course on that one!)

Rachel B. Blog is a very pretty photography blog, and she’s offering a photography ecourse which starts Feb 16th. (If one of ya’ll take it, let me know how it goes!)

I don’t know what it is about Shehani K’s blog, Shutterbug Scribbler, but something about it calls to me. Maybe it’s this inspiring story about a spunky HIV survivor, or the fact that she shared this inpsiring video of JK Rowling speaking to Harvard grads about benefitting from failure. You should stop by and see what catches your heart.

The Streets I Know – it’s a vegan fashion blog. Need I say more?

Small Is Beautiful: January Link Love

Rachelle — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 13:20:10 +0000

This month in our January round up of Small, Beautiful, and Passionate bloggers we feature five sites with beautiful words and inspiring images. You know how encouraging it is when you get a new comment, right? Why not stop by and say hello? (Tell them Magpie Girl sent you!) Happy New Year.

Going through changes? So is SAHM’s Musings, and she’s got a good grip on how the word “Change” is going to power her through the new year. (Plus, I love her tag line: “I’m up. I’m dressed. What more do you want?”)

Learning to Embrace the Present? Dreams of a Simple Life has a lovely banner, and her tagline is “a journal of how I’m learning to embrace every single day.” That’s a sentiment I hear echoed often in the blogsophere. What is that deep hunger all about, and what in our culture creates it? Hmmmm. Christine doesn’t claim to be answering these questions forthwith, but she’s making a dedicated effort to practice the practice of Being Present.

Want to Hang Out with an Artist? Rachelle Baum at Eye Candy is doing some intriguing art right now around soul retrieval. I like how she gives us a peek into her process of making mixed media. (I do so love peering into artist’s studios. Don’t you?)

Feeling Nostalgic? Evelyn at Mindful Elementalsfound a bunch of her childhood poetry and shared a little of it with us on line. It’s poignant and charming. Maybe it’s time for you to go through your old journals and keepsakes to rediscover a little bit of yourself?

Learning to photograph?Me too. S-L-O-W-L-Y. I like what Erica over at Oak Grove is doing with a lens. Her aesthetic is lovely. I hope this shutterbug can replace her lost camera soon!

Small is Beautiful: December’s Featured Bloggers

Rachelle — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 15:08:30 +0000

Several years ago Jen Lemen fell in love with this new thing called BlogHer, and in 2007 she took me with her to the BlogHer conference in Chicago. We had been recommended as workshop presenters, and along with Krystyn Heide of HopeRevo we held a little session on why Small is Beautiful. What we rapidly came to realize was there were a whole lot of overwhelmed women at the big conference — dedicated and passionate bloggers who felt a mysterious call to tell their story, but who were struggling with feeling lost and unimportant in a giant sea of personalities.

When we got home Jen and I promptly started a small but beautiful revolution, throwing up a page with this manifesto:

What happened was amazing. Hundreds of small and passionate bloggers filled up our list. We changed methods to try to make the thing more manageable and it filled up again. When that method failed, we reopened one more time and the list filled up again. Without any maintenance or encouragement, there are still nearly 500 women on our Small is Beautiful blogroll — even though neither Jen nor I have managed to do one proactive thing with the revolution since it’s inception in 2007.

So this week, with the dawn of a new year rapidly coming upon us, I decided to finally get with it and feature some of these SIB bloggers. I dedicated myself to looking at 10 sites today in the hopes of featuring just one. I’ll be damned if there were too many great ones to choose from. So here, for our first SIB feature in who knows how long, are some intriguing blogs for you to check out, and quite possibly fall in love with.

Carmen Torbus: The concept of Bliss is sweeping the blog-o-sphere lately. Frankly, I’m a bit Eyeorish about Bliss — which probably means it is exactly what The Universe is about ready to unleash upon me. (One big ole’ can of Bliss Whoop-Ass, coming up!) Thankfully, while I struggle with feeling Bliss-y, Carmen has really got it going on. Join her Bliss revolution here.

When I Grow Up Coach: Michelle is just full of inspiration and motivation over at her place. It seems there is something inspiring or thought-provoking just about every day of the week. Click on over, and tell her Rachelle sent cha.

Living Senses: Heather Jane keeps a simple blog, which I’m sure many of you can relate to. I love seeing where artists work, so I especially enjoyed this peek into her clever sewing studio, with walls made of re-claimed wooden doors and the coolest fabric sorting method ever.

Dirty Feet: I’m really liking Dani Johnson’s catch-all typepad blog. There’s something about the enthusiasm with which she writes about her everyday life. From the joy of her partner finding work, to how she learned to french braid, Dani embodies our belief here at SIB that “Your story is important. May you sing it from the rooftops.”

Mama Craft: I like blogs that are what I call “value added.” By this I mean that there are good tips in there, stuff you can take away and use. Sara at Mama Craft has a simple, homey blog with recipes and craft ideas. In good SIB fashion, it’s not flashy, and it conveys that sense of coziness that happens when all your little house hold projects really add up to something good. Stop on by. I’m pretty sure she’s home.