Day 30 - Gratefulness

I try to remember to take a moment each day to recognise what I am grateful for. Each day I try to recognise something that I haven't during that week. Gratefulness is an integral part of my life. For me it is the difference between the glass being half full or half empty. With a daily practice of gratitude, the glass is always half full. Whenever I am faced with a challenge I always look for a positive, no matter how small. It may be that the positive thing out of a situation is that I have learned a valuable lesson. It may be a wonderful new, although scary opportunity opening up. It may be recognising and acknowledging a relationship that soothes my soul.

I have many mantras that I say to myself in any given situation so when people ask for a favourite it is hard for me to pick one. One of my all time favourites is

"When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change" 

 

This phrase opens up possibilities, it helps me take stock and reframe how I am looking at the situation, how I can turn it into a positive, how i can make something even more. Effy wrote about reframing a while ago. If I can locate it I will update this with a link.

I'll start today with being grateful for belonging to such a great art community, on and offline, for being able to interact with so many wonderful, inspirational people that may never have crossed my path if not for this community and my passion for the creative. They inspire me everyday.

Friendship seems to be the recurring theme of my posts this month.

 Apart from my family, my friends are my lifeblood, they are the rocks in my hard places, they are the glue that binds my worlds together, they are the paint on my page, they are the words in my books I read. They are there in my times of need and they are there for a laugh and a nice relaxing cuppa. They "get" me and they don't judge me. They accept me for me and I am eternally grateful for their presence. I only hope that I am as good a friend to them as they are to me.

Each day, take time to recognise all that you have to be grateful for in that moment. Start with the obvious but try to go a bit deeper, look for things that you hadn't noticed before. See the little things that mean so much, from the clean air that we breathe, to the fresh water coming out of the tap.  Be grateful for the mundane, the routine, the normal. Be grateful for each and every experience you have because they are all a part of the beautiful mosaic that you are.

Namaste

Lee

Day 26 - Relationships that make you feel good down to your bones...

Last post I spoke briefly about my friendships and I said that I don't go for the number of friends but the quality. I will always choose to have a small group of good friends rather than a whole plethora of acquaintances. Some of my friendships are with people half a world away that I have only formed through Facebook and blogging, some are right here in my backyard. I am shy when making new friends, worried as to whether they don't want the friendship as much as I do, I loose confidence in myself and get scared of the rejection, that usually never comes, by the way. Sometimes I forget things and I feel that I'm not being a good friend, I sometimes analyse whether I am doing things that a friend "should" but I read a great line in Effy's blog post today - "The thing is that your people will love you. Period.There's no scrambling to be good enough required. There's no need to bend and shape yourself into an acceptable configuration. You can be you, and they will just love you." I think I will type this out and stick it on my mirrors, my fridge and anywhere that will be in my face in times of doubt. 

Today my Book Of Days spread is about family. A few weeks ago we travelled up to my Mum and Dad's place to throw Dad a surprise 80th birthday party. My sister and her family travelled down from northern NSW and we travelled up from Melbourne to meet in the middle. It was the first time all the cousins had been together for a number of years and I wish it had been longer, but you take what you can get. As well as my friends, my family accept who I am - well they can't really get rid of me :) Even though we are thousands of km's apart we never loose sight of what is important.  For Dad's party we gathered close friends and family and, for a man who doesn't like normally like the fuss of party's, particularly for himself, he thoroughly enjoyed it. 

Spread was made with

napkins, paint, manilla tags and coin envelopes, black aqualip pens and white signo pen

Far too often we let this crazy pace of life get in the way of connecting with those close to us. It's time's like these that we are reminded that we have to make the time, even if only for a short message or text to say hello, or an hour long phone call to catch up. Life's too short.

Nurture those relationships that feed your soul, that make you feel good right down to your bones.

Namaste

Lee

Day 25 - inspiration, sharing and gratefulness

I teach art journal classes once a month at a local scrapbook shop. I teach because I love sharing, I teach because I want everyone to experience the joy I feel when I art journal. I teach because I love the people I meet. I teach because it's fun. If there is one thing that I strive for when I teach an art journal or art class, it is that I want to inspire people. I want to inspire them to try something new, I want to inspire them to spend time in their art space, I want to inspire them to express themselves more fully through art in all its forms. The greatest joy for me, when teaching, is seeing that smile on a students face when they realise they can do something they thought previously out of reach, that blissful smile when they finish an art journal spread or painting and they are thoroughly happy with, that smile when a breakthrough happens, when confidence grows, when senses are awakened.

Yesterday I was guest speaker at a local art society and I was invited to share my thoughts, knowledge and passion for art journaling. I was speaking to a group that 98% had never heard of or tried art journaling. They were so open to new possibilities that the 1 1/2 hours flew by. At the beginning (while I was setting up my display of my art journals and things I have made with art journaling, like cards, bookmarks, etc), during and at the end of my talk I had such positive feedback that I was smiling from ear to ear. I was ecstatic to see sparks of creativity igniting. To be told that I was an inspiration was so gratifying.

I am humbled.

So, in the tradition of paying it forward, backwards and upside down, I'd like to share with you my greatest inspirations over the last few years as I ventured into art journaling and the evolving of my paintings.

Kerryanne English from Shabby Art Boutique - A good friend of mine introduced me to Kerryanne via the blog world and told me of an online intro to art journal class that Kerryanne was running. We signed up, not knowing what this art form was but it sounded like fun. After the first lesson I was hooked. I loved Kerryannes approach to making it simple, creative and fun. I loved the way she taught me that you only need 15minutes to art journal, if that is all the time you have. 

 Paula Philips aka Journal Artista - Paula was one of the first art journalers that I found on you tube and I fast became a fan of her videos and her blog. I love Paula's approach, the fun that she has with her art journaling and the grungy style of her pages. When I was able I loved connecting with Paula via her online streaming. Alas now the time zones don't coincide so I have to be content with replays.

Effy Wild and the Glitterhood - I've taken a number of classes with Effy and am currently enjoying the Book of Days. I love Effy's no nonsense approach, her honesty, her forthrightness and fearlessness she brings to every page. Effy has taught me to embrace me own inner turtle, which I frequently have to do with my work/family/art balance constantly being tested. I have learned so much from Effy about how to dig real deep in an art journal spread and create beautiful works of art that are intimate to me yet able to be share. Effy's strength of character is a constant source of inspiration to me when i am overwhelmed.

Tracy Verdugo- I took a workshop with Tracy last year and it changed my whole view of my art. It changed the way i approached the canvas, it changed the way I approached the whole creative process. I finally feel as if I have developed my own style of painting that is me, expressed on a canvas. Tracy's style of teaching is so encouraging, confidence building and nurturing and I hope to be attending Tracey's workshop in Melbourne next year. Tracy gave me the confidence to truly express 'me' on the canvas.

Tamara LaPorte - my first class on faces was with Tam. The way that Tam talks to you, steers you in the right direction while encouraging your own style to come through in your faces is fantastic.

My tribes, my friends, my art class buddies - I am not one to have a many friends on Facebook just for the number on my screen. I have always been a close circle of friends kind of girl and I am forever grateful to those that I am lucky enough to call my friends in my art circles. They are a constant source of encouragement, support, fun and inspiration to me.

Please go and show my friends some love and see why they are such an inspiration to me

Namaste
Lee

Christmas Brunch and Card making

Hi Everyone

Thanks for your visits to my little blog. I really appreciate the time you take to read and then make comments.

First off I have to give a plug for a new Christmas CD I bought last week by Michael Buble`. I had it playing while I put up our tree and it is so, so good. Here is a little snippet of songs to get you in the mood.

Today I thought I would take part again in the Simply Christmas Friday Link Party. 

Firstly I had lunch with a couple of my lovely friends and part of my Chrissy presents to them were these shopping/market bags that I painted last night. I used some new Crafters workshop stencils called Cubist, Harlequin, Flower Frame and Flower Shower, gesso and Jo Sonja paints with Jo Sonja Textile medium. Doodled on it, stamped with Black Staz On and painted the words and outlined with my trusty black Sharpie.

We had a lovely time catching up and eating a scrumptious breakfast. In fact we were so caught up in talking that I only took a couple of photos of the girls with their bags and then forgot to get a group photo. 

Oh well, a good excuse for another brunch.

After lunch I went to my favourite scrapbook shop Scrappers Warehouse and made a few Christmas Cards. They have tables where you can sit and do your own work which is great because if you need anything you just go and buy it on the spot.

Anyway I had bought a kit of papers and die cuts called Me To You Winter Wonderland featuring Tatty Teddy. There is enough in here to make 80 cards so I had plenty to choose from. Great value for money too.

 I played with Impress inks in Pale Aqua and embossing powders in Silver Lightning and Vanilla Sparkle....

 made some 3D paper tole characters, and added more embossing.....

 and generally had fun putting these little teddies on the cards.

They are so cute, these photos really don't do them justice. I couldn't get a great photo in the bad light that we had today. From such sunshine earlier this week, we had a big thunderstorm today and it rained all afternoon.

Tomorrow I am off to the races and then staying in the city overnight. 

Luckily we are in the members stand at the races but hopefully the rain will hold off when we are enjoying the city on Saturday night and Sunday. 

We're also going to the movies to see New Years Day while we are in there. Has anyone seen it yet? Let me know what you thought.

"From home to home, and heart to heart, from one place to another
The warmth and joy of Christmas, brings us closer to each other."

Emily Matthews

 

Hope you have had a great week and I hope you have a great weekend

Only 14 days till Christmas :)

 

Namaste

Lee