Believe the Impossible

 

These pictures strike me a bit of Alice in Wonderland …I can just imagine another world beneath the canopy of blooms.  I am reminded of the Queen of Hearts when she says Why, sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.

I am off from work this week and found that the much needed break seemed to trigger lost enthusiasm for dreaming, writing and envisioning new projects.  I may or may not see all my ideas to fruition, but half the joy is in allowing myself to explore and play in different directions.

What do you do to get your creative energy flowing?  Are you giving yourself permission to believe in the impossible?

Technorati Tags: journal writing prompt,writing prompt,creativity,dreams

Altered Journal

~ Another cereal box moment:) ~

I have been getting loads of promotions in my in-box recently for Christmas in July which triggered my thoughts back to last holiday season where I began in November for my handmade crafts and almost didn’t make it.  Although some of my crafts were dismal failures (think misshapen soaps and freakish looking body scrubs), I was able to complete journal totes, bookmarks and prayer cards in the last hour.  This summer, I decided to go ahead and get started on some recycled journals.  I’m not sure why these have been calling to me more than the altered spiral bound sketch pads I was using.  I definitely run out of pages quicker but I like the easy fit of these into my purse.  By the way, if anyone has any ideas of some type of “sleeve” to preserve the flowers on the front please let me know.

I found the idea for using cereal boxes on YouTube and modified it.  You can find instructions for the the cut of the journal cover at Girls Express.  Instead of wrapping paper like my daughter did for the other blog, I tore out some music from the last church bulletin and mod-podged (do you think the manufacturers knew their product would turn into a verb?!) randomly,  gessoed front and back, inside and outside, then covered with a couple of acrylic paints using a credit card.  I found a picture that called to me along with some more sheet music, brads, stamps and flowers and threw it all together.  I blended in some oil pastels, added some distressed ink in a few places, used bubble wrap dipped in black ink and sprayed with sealant.  The back and inside folds have the same gessoed and painted layers with a stamp or two and some distressed ink.  For the inside pages, I soaked some card stock in coffee, cut to fit and used jewelry cord threaded through two holes punched in the spine.  Those are also randomly stamped.  (You could also use background pages for the inside like those that Shona Cole demonstrates at The Artistic Life.)

Anyone else starting early? 

{Shameless plug ~ Starting “Celebrate Your Journey” on-line 8/1/11 through Story Circle Network…would love to see you there!}

Technorati Tags: art journaling,holiday gifts,altered journal,The Artistic Life,journal,Story Circle Network

Magic in the Moments

 

The capacity for delight is the gift of paying attention. ~ Julia Cameron

The most precious gift we can offer others is our presence. When mindfulness embraces those we love, they will bloom like flowers.                   ~Thich Nhat Hanh

To be mindfully engaged is the most natural, creative state we can be in.
~Ellen Langler

Are you rushing through your moments, worried about yesterday and tomorrow or are you celebrating the moments as they come?  Take a nature walk to restore balance and the practice of focusing on each moment and journal about the process.

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Note to Self

 ‘It’s okay’ is a cosmic truth…Richard Bach

I haven’t had the time, or made the time truthfully, or motivation to really create lately ~ in writing, sewing or art journaling.  I did post an article @ All Things Healing about the basics of visual journaling, From Journaling to Visual Journey and  I also made some cards to send to a few people I had been thinking about.  I definitely haven’t been blogging as much and catch myself “should-ing” on myself – I should be or do this or I should be or do that.  And then I have to remind myself that where I am is where I need to be…and that’s more than okay.

Where are you at today?

Technorati Tags: All Things Healing,writing prompt,journaling

And Then I Blinked

They outgrow us much faster than we outgrow them…loosely paraphrased from a Jodi Picoult character

At a recent weekend getaway, my youngest daughter (10 going on 25) insisted we buy the above wedding dress but finally settled for a picture.  This is my dress she said. 

I’m torn between differing emotions but will leave the thoughts about why my little one is already thinking about weddings for another day.   What strikes me most is just how fast our children grow up.  Cliché or not it is so true.  I look at my daughters and can still feel their little baby bodies in my arms.  I’ve “launched” one daughter and although she is doing well I still feel a deep-seated ache that my family is no longer intact. I get that a healthy identity is separate from others but also recognize that parenting doesn’t end at an arbitrary age.  And that age isn’t ten like my youngest might like me to think.  Regardless, it seems incredulous to me that we are here, in this space, one daughter an adult, another on the verge of puberty.  Wasn’t I changing diapers yesterday?!  As Steve Martin says in “Cheaper by the Dozen”…no more blinking!

At least she has good taste - the dress is gorgeous:) 

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Defining Family

Call it a clan, call it a network, call it a tribe, call it a family.  Whatever you call it, whoever you are, you need one.  ~Jane Howard

I had a moving, eye-opening experience yesterday.  I was privileged to see a young man I had worked with for years graduate high school.  My mind reeled back to when I first met him and the trials and tribulations that he had to experience to get to this place.  With those thoughts floating in my brain, I attended his graduation party that his foster family held for him and realized that we, “the system”, had it wrong.  By the federal and state government standards of “permanency”, we failed this youth.  His record will join the statistics of “ageing out of care.”  What those numbers don’t capture is a family and church community that loves this young man and supports him today and in his future.  The gathering held an intimate circle as they sat him in the middle and each person spoke about their care and commitment to this young man and their hopes for a joyful life.   What I witnessed is family in action and I was reminded again that family formation is diverse and not created by birth certificates or court papers.

Take some time to reflect on what family means to you, how it may have changed over the years and who is part of your “tribe.”

 

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Random Thoughts

Summer is the time when one sheds one's tensions with one's clothes, and the right kind of day is jeweled balm for the battered spirit. A few of those days and you can become drunk with the belief that all's right with the world.
-- Ada Louise Huxtable

A summer journal my daughter made.  The “how to” can be found at Girls Express. 

I have become involved with a great website All Things Healing.  Check out the many informative articles on the Writing and Poetry Page.

I haven’t been active on my blog lately, just enjoying shedding my skin (and tension!) for summer as well as working on some new offerings, hopefully ready by fall.  I hope to visit my blog friends soon!  Have a wonderful week!

Technorati Tags: Girls Express,All Things Healing,summer journal,how to