Then a miracle occurs . . .

Our May-June cover story, written by Jean Van’t Hul, features five Midas-like mamas who go about their lives transforming the everyday into the breathtaking. To gaze upon their creations is to be first awestruck, then inspired. (And endearing them to me all the more is the fact that these woman are all talented photographers.)

Here they are, with links to their blogs and web sites.

1. Sally Shim. A mom of two who favors handmade goods for their originality, she often makes things herself because she just can’t find what she’s looking for in stores.

Check out Sally’s slideshow on how to appliqué on Mothering.com.

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2. Amanda Blake Soule is the author of The Creative Family: How to Encourage Imagination and Nurture Family Connections, mother of four, and blogger known to many as SouleMama. Amanda’s studio (see photo at right)—let alone the things she creates there—makes me want to go and make stuff.

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3. Eren San Pedro says that rag rugs provide a way for her to stay connected to her grandmother—and to reuse stuff around the house. “I have one I’m working on right now that’s very much a family thing—I’m using my dad’s old blue jeans, my grandfather’s work pants, and some of the kids’ old bedsheets.”

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4. Amy Karol is a mixed-media artist, quilter, mom to three girls, and the author of Bend the Rules Sewing: The Essential Guide to a Whole New Way to Sew. Shown here is a place-setting she made that even I, eschewer of all things dinner party (I refused to register when I got married, throwing all dining-related wedding gifts into the closet in my old room at home so my mom could have backup china, silver, and stemware as needed), could love.

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5. Stephanie Congdon Barnes finds much of her inspiration from nature, replicating out of cloth the things she and her two children find outside their home in Oregon.

Her book of photographs (a collaboration with artist  Maria Alexandra Vettese is A Year of Mornings—3191 Miles Apart: A Photographic Collaboration.

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Photos by Sally Shim, Amanda Soule, Erin San Pedro, Amy Karol, and Stephanie Congdon Barnes.

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