2009 Journal Swap Project

I have wanted to try something for a long time and decided to just go ahead and do it but I need willing participants. I need 6-12 people who would like to be in on a circle journal swap. It would work like this; after I have the names of each journaler, you will get a name and address to send your journal to. Each person will have a journal for one month and then pass it on around the circle. Eventually your journal will return to you. You can be as creative or uncreative as you like but you must write something on at least one page and introduce yourself to the journal owner. I would like to start in March so send me a personal email with your name and address by February 21st. This is not limited to the US so anyone can join in on the fun it only requires that you are willing to send a package every month so consider the cost involved. That should give you enough information to make your decision on. I will send you the complete guidelines when I have your name and email. Oh, I am so excited to see who signs up. How fun this is going to be.

Sufficient

I made a worship/workout playset on my ipod for using when I workout on my elliptical. It is quite inspiring and kept me going longer than I intended because I was in the middle of a song and had to hear the end. I thought this song might be encouraging to others so take a listen to the words of Addie's song Sufficient.

Day 1 - Shaped by Faith

I don't know if you are like me but sometimes it takes me the longest time to actually put into action something that I want to do but I don't want to do at the same time. I think about it, mull it over and say, "that would be good for me" but that is as far as it goes. Months can go by with the idea that I will do that tomorrow and tomorrow comes and still no action taken. Well, I have been playing with the idea of exercising for awhile now. Maybe I should say years but let's not go there today. I have been more serious in my thinking lately since I have lost a few pounds and want to be more active. Fear of failing once again and not knowing what activity to do have crippled me so far but today an email changed that thought into action. In my inbox was a 28 day program on getting active not only physically but spiritually. The concept of wholeness was the point of the article. I checked it out and I think I can do it. Tiny steps make for big changes down the road. Maybe you will join me but even if you don't I must be willing to take this journey alone. The program is based on the book, Shaped by Faith by Theresa L. Rowe. I am moving ahead one step at a time, even if it is tiny baby steps. Every journey starts with a first step and this is mine. So here I go......

New ideas to try

I ended up on a blog yesterday and found some inspiration. I went to the store today, bought the supplies and have been crocheting cute little flowers like crazy. I am going to make mine into a scarf when I have enough. I'll post a picture when I finish but take a look at them here if you are interested. I also saw some paper decorated with spray paint on this blog. I keep forgetting to buy some spray paint when I go to the store but I would like to try my hand at it one of these days. I think it would be fun to make the papers and bind them into a journal. So many ideas and I think I need to start writing some of my ideas down so I don't forget so that when I have some time I can try some of these thing out.

Good Advice for 2009

As my art journal group met yesterday and we shared personal and professional struggles, I was blessed by each woman's willingness to be open and honest about where she was in life. To feel the care and concern for one another and hold each others hand through this time is a blessing beyond measure. Love ya girls and I'm praying for you all. We decided to go through The Creative Call by Janice Elsheimer. I started this book on my own and I think I made it to chapter two. Not that the book is not a good one. I loved it but I need accountability to keep going so I am excited that I have others to go through this with this time. The page above is based on the introduction of that book. I especially was impacted by the authors words about pursuing art.

She says," Instead of hoping that finding ourselves will result in practicing our art again, we need to realize that only through losing ourselves and becoming reliant on God can we discover how to use those gifts the way He wants us to use them. We will find the artist God intends us to be when we empty ourselves of self and become open to His plan and to the inspiration of His Holy Spirit. Only then will we experience personal artistic revival.


When I have let God give me the dreams of my heart; I can take those dreams and move ahead. I like the idea of artistic revival. I think 2009 is going to be a very interesting year. I also think a lot of listening and waiting will be involved which is not my strong suit.

My OZ

I love it when a page surprises me. I never go into my pages with an idea, they just create themselves as I go but sometimes the message that comes out is profound. A message that makes you say, OH MY! I don't know why this page effected me that way. It was a message that has come out of my pages before but this time I think I accepted it, owned it and was willing to reevaluate what it truly means. Dorthy was faced with so many challenges on her journey in OZ and even though she had incompetent travel mates, they genuinely cared for her. What they all had to find out was that they had what they needed all along, they just had to believe it and claim it. It was less about the journey as it was about developing character and grasping hold of that part of them that was there all along. Believing that there is no place like home with the one's who love you and care for you. I read an interview that Rick Warren gave and this part of it really spoke to me.

Life is a series of problems: Either you are in one now, you're just coming out of one, or you're getting ready to go into another one.
The reason for this is that God is more interested in your character than your comfort; God is more interested in making your life holy than He is in making your life happy.

We can be reasonably happy here on earth, but that's not the goal of life. The goal is to grow in character, in Christ likeness.

I won't be in OZ forever. I have a home where I am loved and cared for. I must let my character be built up and shine brightly in this place of uncertainty and constant challenges. A place with travel mates that don't have what it takes either but we are in this together and will look out for each other until it is time to click those cute heels and go home. Life may not be what I imagined but it is what I need and where I need to be. I don't have to be depressed or discouraged about it either. Lots of good to focus on and be glad about.

Impromptu Photoshoot

It was a beautiful sunny day today and so my daughter took some pictures of me. She is so creative with the camera. The sun was almost too bright but you don't hear me complaining. Sunny crisp days are my favorite.

We had fun running around the yard looking for good photo spots. Now she is anxiously waiting for me to finish this post so that we can art journal. We stopped by the store today to get chicken for lunch and she bought a magazine that has cool sayings and pictures in it that she thinks will be be great for art journaling so I guess I had better get going. Funny how when you start to art journal you start looking at things differently. Magazines are no longer for reading and looking at, hang tags on clothes are no longer tossed in the trash and any other bits of paper becomes a design element in your next journal page. So much fun to be had with other people's junk.

Connections

I am continuing to enjoy my time of art journaling with my daughter. We are making time each day to art journal and I love it. I was working on this page yesterday and thinking that for the first time in a lot of years that I have some really good friends and I don't feel lonely anymore. You know how you can be around a lot of people in a week but still feel terribly lonely? Well, I have prayed for some time for daily friends and God has provided. Just a handful of women who really like hanging out with me and make as much effort to get together as I do. This is huge. I know that many women feel the way I felt. We need other women to walk through life with, who can hear our dreams, share out frustrations and laugh with. Lots of laughing is required to be a real friend and crying too, but more laughing. I want to say more but I am being blessed with a massage today and have to run. Wouldn't want to miss that. Call a friend and tell her how much you appreciate her, we can never hear that enough and hugs are good too. Gotta run, Hugs to all of you because I do appreciate that you stop by and take the time to check in on me.
Love ya!

Passing on the Passion

I have been gone for the past couple of days on retreat with the staff of my church. Lots of vision casting and sitting. I decided to make a journal page from some of the things we discussed. I think I would love to make a journal page out of just about anything. I must say that I'm considered a little weird because of it but I don't care. This is for me and I love it. Everyone should have something they enjoy so much.

I am so excited. My youngest daughter has been having a hard time lately and so today we hung out together. She asked me if I would teach her how to art journal. We had the best time sitting at the kitchen table creating and her page was amazing. These kind of days are like gold to me. I hope she will continue and use it as a way to work through how she feels. All the years my kids were growing up I wished at least one of them would like art and she was the one that was the most likely. I gave her scrapbook classes, taught her how to crochet and she tried her hand at sewing but she just wasn't passionate about any of it. It will be interesting to see if this goes anywhere. Even if it doesn't take root in her heart, I will cherish the day we have had.

Un-creative January

I think January 2009 has been my most uncreative month I have had in the last year. Somehow I can't quite get going. Family problems have drained me of all energy and time to create. I am thinking that February is going to be my January. I missed Misty Mawn's 31 day art journal challenge so maybe I will do my own in February? I did get to work on my new 2009 datebook. I like to alter a Pentallic journal for my datebook. I still have to add the month names to the tabs and add some embellishments to some of the pages but it is at least usable now. The big pink and red flower will go on the front cover. I also did a page in my journal about some of my favorite things.

I'm not completely happy with it yet. I will work on it some more and add more journaling but I really like the pink. Makes me happy. I have laid it out by my bed and look at it each morning to make me smile. I think we need pretty things in our life that bring joy to out hearts or life would get so dreary. As I was hopping around from blog to blog I found this new blog by Jamie Ridler that is starting up a group for encouraging your creativity. With all that I am doing right now I don't know if I can add one more thing but I really want to. I may just follow along and get the just of the information and hope it helps me to get inspired. Well, I off at a run again, the next 4 days are like that and all I want is to hide in my studio and play. Good thing my art journal can go with me.

Perspective

I finally got to work in my art journal today. I was able to release my anxious energy on the page. Life has gone on this wild ride of chaos, uncertainty and heartache. I did this page to remind myself that even when life doesn't turn out the way you would like you can still choose to have a positive attitude and focus on the positive things in your day. Boy, have I missed being creative and journaling. I am taking an art journaling class from Paulette Insall right now and even in week one I have learned some new techniques. Never stop learning is my goal. Every artist has their own way of art journaling. I will adopt the techniques I like and not worry about the ones I don't enjoy. Somerset just put out a magazine for Art Journaling and I found it at the bookstore yesterday and am pouring over every page. They have done a wonderful job putting it together. You can check it out here. It took a sprained ankle to give me an excuse to be home and work in my journal. I am praising the Lord that it wasn't broken and that I got a day of creativity.

Monday peace

Well, it is Monday morning and kids are back to school. I had my doubts last night when it started snowing with a vengeance but the warm air swooped in and melted it so that they could go today. They had to go 2 1/2 hours late but hey, they are now there and peace has descended on the house. Even my oldest and grand baby went to school today at the local college. I tackled the pile of clean laundry left over from last week and almost have this weeks done. Something about the smell of clean laundry and hearing the dryer roar that helps give a fresh start to the week. I need to go out but I am reluctant to leave. Being the introvert that I am, the quiet fuels my soul in a way that nothing else can. I am breathing in big deep breaths of peace, aah. Maybe I will put off the errands for just a bit longer.

Happy New Year

WOW, it is Friday already. The week just flew by. Happy New Year everyone! We didn't do anything exciting except to go see Marley & Me at the movies. It was such a fun and sad movie, loved it. I taped the falling of the ball in Times Square because I was too tired to stay up and am watching it two days later. I hope that doesn't mean I will be behind all year. Someday, I would like to go there. The art journaling class I taught yesterday was so fun. The ladies in the class had never done art journaling before and were so excited to learn the different techniques and how to get started. What a blessing they were to have in class and see how they made it their own right from the start. I wish I had thought to take pictures but I was having too much fun to think about it. We moved my daughter out of her apartment today in the midst of more snow. I woke up to the ground all white. I thought we were done with all that but it had to make another appearance. I must say that I am looking forward to Monday morning. Everyone is going back to school and I will have the house to myself for a brief few hours. I really like the quiet and my crew is a noisy bunch. Someday they will all be off living there lives and I will miss it. At least that is what everyone says. I am looking forward to testing that theory :)