This is another page I originally made for My Mind’s Eye. It says: the most important thing is to remember the most important thing.
Another quote from Tara Brach and one that I want to remember.
I actually wrote a longer blog post about this one a while back. When I was talking to my coach, I had this idea of a pie chart showing what I care most about if everything I care about could fit inside a circle, how big would each slice be?
So this is my visual. It’s a bit less like what I originally imagined but I still like it.
The sections I have are:
- creating
- health
- read
- friends
- work
- service
- family
I think this one might be worth doing again at some point. I feel like the categories might be slightly different even now. OR maybe not.
Either way, for now, I still love this. It helps me keep things in perspective. It helps me remember to prioritize what matters most.
Remember This is a project for 2014. You can read more about it here.
Still continuing on the monthly intention of Listening Calmly, I decided to choose the most basic and useful of intents this week: Breathe.
If only I could learn to breathe.
Like taking a walk, taking a moment to breathe is a simple trick to get your body to pause long enough for your prefrontal cortex to come back online. And breathing is much less conspicuous. It can be done in a meeting. It can be done while on the phone or at a restaurant. It’s hard to walk away when you’re sitting at a coffee shop but it’s easy to take a moment and breathe.
I feel like if I could get better at breathing and choosing to breathe, the words that I say would be much kinder. The actions I take would be much less rushed and the mistakes I make would be much fewer.
All in all, seems like a plus-plus to me.
Like most new habits, breathing will also take time and practice (it seems silly to say that we need practice to learn to breathe since it’s something we do all the time anyway but this is more about deep breathing, or breathing at a particular time. Almost synonymous with pausing.)
So that’s the intent for this week.
I couldn’t find the lettering I used here, I will come back and link to it when I have. The sketch I used is from here. I used the image of a dandelion because it reminds me of letting out your breath to blow on it. Breathing out.
Listen with Intent is a project for 2014. You can read more about it here.
This week’s page was to practice face drawing and a little doodle edging. I started out with this:
and then added the prompt: today i know that I am stuck in the rut of …doing what i already know.
I wrote about how I want to try new things, stretch myself.
Today I Know is a project for 2014. You can read more about it here.
This week’s stitching comes from Autumn Goddess in urban threads and the little word is calm. I used only stem stitch on this one.
Stitching Circles is a project for 2014. You can read more about it here.
Just a little post today. I wanted to share my cover page. I am still working on the pages for the beginning of the year. As I take fewer photos right after the holidays, it’s partly figuring out how all that will work. For now, here’s my cover page:
I have three different ones, maybe you can help me choose.
or
or
any strong thoughts?
Savor Project is a project for 2014. You can read more about it here.
It says: It did not happen to you or because of you. it just happened. remember it is real but not true.
This page was originally done for My Mind’s Eye. It uses mostly scrapbooking papers and paint.
This page came about as I was listening to a podcast with Tara Brach. She was talking about one time when she was working on her book, against a deadline, and the computer crashed before she was able to save the writing. She then talked about how we take it personally and think that something is happening to us. How we blow it all out of proportion and how we construct a big story around what happened and what it means.
I do this a lot.
I make it mean something about who I am. What I am worth. Or more like, not worth.
Since whole is one of my core desires this year, it’s really important to me to remember this one.
It just happened.
a few more shots:
Remember This is a project for 2014. You can read more about it here.
As it worked out with the title page, this month will only have three more weeks. So this week is the monthly intent for January: Listen Calmly.
January is going to be a tough month for work, so I decided that calm would be a good way to start the year, especially since serene is one of my core desires. So this month’s intent is to listen calmly.
I’ve been thinking a lot about what calm means to me. What I’ve learned from a lot of reading and listening to talks is that when we stress, our fight or flight response kicks in and our prefrontal cortex (where we do higher level thinking) shuts down. If I can manage to find a way to calm myself down, it gives my brain some time to come back online and for me to be able to think again.
This means that I am now acting and not reacting. This is where I would like to be.
When I was discussing a situation where I often find myself reacting with my coach last year, one trick I thought of was to walk away (in this case from the computer) and take ten minutes to myself. Go outside if I can, but if not, just walk around the living room, or do whatever it takes to spend the time. Ten minutes can be long when you’re doing nothing. Long enough to have the influx of emotion pass and long enough for my body to stop reacting and for my ability to think to come back.
And while ten minutes is long enough for all that to happen, it’s short enough that the “disaster” can wait. It will not get much worse. I can afford the ten minutes.
So that’s my plan for this week. If I find myself experiencing anxiety, stress, worry, fear, I will take a ten minute break and walk around. Wait for the immediate reaction to pass and for the calmness to come back.
Here’s a before shot of the above page. I used the picture of a tree because trees make me feel calm. The lettering is Octave and the tree is inspired by the wonderful Pam Carriker.
I then colored with watercolor pencils to complete my page.
Listen with Intent is a project for 2014. You can read more about it here.
I talked about how I had different types of goals for my projects this year. Here’s what I had in mind for this one:
Skill to learn/expand: doodling, using different mediums, journaling, collage
Topic to explore: what i know to be true, lessons from the week.
Format: Squared notebook spread 11×8.5
Paper: Moleskine Journal Squared. This is just ordinary notebook paper.
Media: Mostly dry mediums but some gelatos, watercolor brushes, crayons, etc.
This idea also came completely from the Soul Comfort class. When Melody talked about the idea and showed some of her pages, I was immediately hooked. Coupled with the fact that I knew I wanted to focus on doodling this year, I decided this was a winner for 2014.
My goal for this project is to couple lots of journaling with doodling, sketching, and collage. And whatever else I am in the mood for. This is the first page I ever did and it’s a bit different than the ones that come next. As I did more pages, the idea expanded a bit and then settled down.
As with the others, I am not married to a particular way and this might shift and morph but for now, I love what it is.
Like the Listen with Intent project, I created a pinterest board for the ideas I want to try out. I am hoping to have a wide variety and to use this book to explore, have fun, and journal my heart out.
The pages in this book are thin so even though I hadn’t intended to, I ended up glueing every other page just to get them to be a bit stronger, but I also plan to stick to dryer mediums which will be a fun and interesting challenge.
The prompts are all from Melody and this first page says: Today I know that I would like to get better at….
and I wrote about not being so hard on myself when I am learning something new.
And the feather art was inspired by Jane Monk Studio and I used copics to color the feather.
Here’s to a year of meaningful and fun pages to record what I know.
When I originally thought of the projects I might like to do for 2014, I picked several art ones, of course. And when I started the Soul Comfort class and they had videos on creating little stitched patches, I wasn’t interested. I’m not sure why I was resisting it.
Even more surprisingly, a few weeks later I decided that not only would I stop resisting it but I could make stitching little patches a project for 2014.
Clearly I was confused about this whole stitching thing.
Once the idea began taking form, I couldn’t stop it. I spent a few days trying to decide between hoop sizes. I had a 4 inch one and a 8 inch one. One seemed to small and the other, too big. I tried to envision what a 6″ one would look like and was pretty sure 5 or 6″ would be the right size. I ordered some and then got bored waiting for them to come so I decided to give my 4″ one a try.
And it was just right.
The circle was big enough to draw something nice but small enough to get my project done in a week.
So 4″ hoop it was.
As with all my projects, I went on pinterest and created a board for the project and filled it with ideas.
The goal is that each circle will have an image and a word. This one is a little tree with birds and the word loved.
I will be using muslin for most of my circles. I like the fabric and love the white and already have a bunch on hand. I have the 4″ hoop and a blue dissolving marker. I bought a lightbox. I stitch my circles on the hoop each week and then when I am done, I take them off and cut them. On the back, I am using another fabric I had on hand, something slightly gold. I then do a blanket stitch to join the two. I suck at the blanket stitch and can never do it even, nice or consistent. But this is not meant to be perfect so i am just trying to enjoy it.
here’s a peek at the back:
My current plan is to make these little circles and then combine them all into a little book or something. I don’t have a grand idea here. The reason I picked stitching is because I like the idea of learning a few little stitches, creating something small each week, and most importantly, stitching is something that really makes me serene and I can do it while I listen to a book or watch TV or sit with my family.
Here’s to a year of stitching little circles.
I’ve been thinking a lot about The Savor Project and even though this project hasn’t fully worked for me for either of the two years, I am still not ready to give up on it. I love the idea of preserving our stories and savoring our moments. I love how it encourages me to take more photos. It even encourages me to do more with my family.
So I decided to give it one more try for 2014.
This time I have a slightly different plan. I am going to do the project fully digitally and then order an 8×10 Blurb book at the end of the year. If this works, I can do one each year.
I dug up my old week in the life templates I’d used a few years ago and adjusted them a little bit to come up with my spreads:
and the other way around:
and then one alternative look:
I am envisioning a spread per week but they can also be turned to single pages per week. The dates might disappear if I decide I don’t like the pressure but for now they are not bothering me. I can also put a wider range like January 2 to 15, so I have some idea of the duration but no pressure to do it with some specific regularity.
I don’t know if I will stick to these or change them completely. I don’t know if this whole idea will work or not, but I am going to give it a try.
I also plan to do my daily gratitudes (which will become weekly gratitudes) and celebrations as part of this project this year, as maybe extra enticement.
If you’d like a copy of the psd templates, you can download them here.
Here’s to another year of savoring.
I talked about how I had different types of goals for my projects this year. Here’s what I had in mind for this one:
Skill to learn/expand: Painting, using different mediums, portraits
Topic to explore: Things I want to Remember. Things that are meaningful/inspring to me.
Format: Portrait 9×11
Paper: Dylusions Creative Journal has a mix of white bristol like paper and manila paper.
Media: Mostly acrylics but collage, spray inks, oils, pastels and anything else I want to try this year.
I bought this journal last year because I heard how wonderful it is and I wanted to try it out. I usually have an intended purpose when I buy a new journal but I didn’t have anything with this one. It sat at my desk for quite some time.
Until one day I was particularly frustrated with myself and opened to the first page and created the piece you see above. I was annoyed with myself, With the way I see myself in the world lately. I was fed up and ready to be done. And I wanted to remember that feeling.
So I painted and I wrote.
It says: it is time to be brave. i choose to fly free. i am ready to break out of the cages i have created for myself. i am done being a victim. watch me soar.
I then decided this would be my book for remembering messages that are meaningful to me. Things that I lose sight of. Things that I want to make a point to remember.
When I was sitting down to think about my projects for 2014, I knew this book was going to be a part of it. I decided to couple it with something else I’d decided to take on for 2014: Life Book. I took a free class from Tam a few years ago and I have been a fan ever since. I was on the fence about taking this class in both 2012 and 2013 so this year I decided to just take the plunge. Knowing myself, I was aware that the best way to commit to a year-long class was to make it a part of one of my projects. So I decided this journal would be my Life Book for 2014. I plan to do the exercises/promopts/etc. in this journal. I might do exactly what the lesson is or I might just use the art technique and do my own topic, or I might just pick the topic and do my own technique. I am open to the possibilities and since I have never taken the class, I am not sure how it will turn out yet, but I am flexible.
I am also taking The Walk with Brave Girls in January, so I am pretty sure I will incorporate those lessons into this book, too. At least that’s my current plan.
I will also likely use it for my My Mind’s Eye Mixed Media pages.
This will be my book of experimenting, having fun, trying new mediums, and keeping in touch with Art Journaling this year.
For the first few weeks I will be sharing mixed media pages I’ve made for My Mind’s Eye last year in this book. They are all reminders that I need again and again.
Here’s to a year or Remembering.
I talked about how I had different types of goals for my projects this year. Here’s what I had in mind for this one:
Skill to learn/expand: Lettering (and Sketching)
Topic to explore: Create specific intentions around listening for each week
Format: Landscape 5×8.25
Paper: Moleskine Watercolor Journal
Media: Watercolors
I’ve wanted to do lettering for quite a few years now. I’ve taken a few classes but nothing did the trick, so I decided I wanted to make it a major focus for 2014 and see what happens. As with each year, I am not sure how it will turn out, but I am looking forward to finding out.
As for the topic, I’ve become a huge fan of setting intentions thanks to last year’s January OLW prompt
and the Life Organizer book. As we approached 2014, I knew I wanted to continue this wonderful concept.
So I’ve set monthly intentions for listening for all of 2014 and then I will set weekly intentions within those monthly ones. For each week, I will set an intention, use a new alpha to write the title and then couple it with a small sketch. At least that’s my intention for this project.
I’ve created a Pinterest board full of alphas I can use. I would like to make another one with sketching ideas (to match the phrases/sentiment) but I haven’t done that, yet.
Here are the intentions I’ve written down:
- listen kindly: look for the positive, be gentle, look them in the eye.
- listen patiently: slow down, be present. take your time.
- listen joyfully: hear the good. celebrate the sounds.
- listen deliberately: choose what to listen to.
- listen calmly: breathe. be present. relax.
- listen carefully: what are you missing? be attentive.
- listen gratefully: what’s amazing in this moment? You’re lucky.
- listen bravely: pay attention to the whispers. What are they telling you?
- listen creatively: what else could it be? is there another perspective here?
- listen publicly: go out there, listen in a group.
- listen deeply: what more in there? can you go deeper?
- listen actively: be engaged. look for what’s not being said. listen to your body.
I’m not attached to these. I might stick to them, I might not. I just know that doing preliminary work makes the project more possible and exciting to me.
Here’s a before look at the page above:
This page uses the avanth typeface. I first drew in pencil, then I went over it using my Pitt pen and then I colored it with Watercolor pencils.
And here we are. Project #1 for 2014.
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projects for twenty twenty-six
projects for twenty twenty-five
projects for twenty twenty-four
projects for twenty twenty-three
projects for twenty twenty-two
projects for twenty twenty-one
projects for twenty nineteen
projects for twenty eighteen
projects from twenty seventeen
monthly projects from previous years
some of my previous projects
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