karenika

2013 Sketching – Week 34

My goal for 2013 is to make three sketches a week. If I make more, great. If I don’t, that’s ok. Trying to keep the pressure low while still encouraging myself to draw.

my one sketch:

that’s it for this week. just managed one. Still feeling a bit blah about faces still so not motivated to do any apparently.

Sketching is a weekly project for 2013. You can see a detailed post on my sketching journey here.

Gratitude Journal – Week 38

Here’s this week’s gratitudes and celebrations:

Before:

it says: the quiet of the sea soothes my soul.

and here’s what the page looks like with all the gratitudes and celebrations:

Just another excuse to create art and remember the present that is my life.

Gratitude Journal is a weekly project for 2013. You can see a detailed post on my goal other details here.

Weekly Diary – October 5 2013

Here are some photos from this week:

Nathaniel played with my watercolor pencils and a waterbrush this week.

he had quite a lot of fun with it.

we also spent some time putting out our halloween decorations.

i am not a fan of halloween (or anything scary) but the kids had a ton of fun.

skeletons, spiders and more.

i like this guy for some reason.

the boys always seem to have so much fun, it makes me so happy.

they posed while doing gangnam style.

and just had more and more fun.

we also got to go to a reading by Kate DiCamillo this week. It was so super-awesome. She is so super-awesome. Her books are super-awesome, too!

people often ask me what the kids do while I work. Well here you go. Nathaniel did this while I was working. Lined up all of his cars.

then it was family photo time.

love these boys.

they were being funny of course.

and cheering for the things we love.

and laughing.

and being more silly.

and more hugging!

and tickle time!

and here we go. so grateful for my life. i hope your week was lovely, too.

Weekly Diary is a project for 2013. You can read more about it here.

Before this week’s art here’s the important reminder: Please remember, this is personal and hand-made and thus imperfect. If you want perfect art, do not buy mine. Also one more reminder that these are pretty small. 5.5inches by 5.5inches. That’s about 14×14 centimeters). You will just get the original piece of watercolor paper with my art and signature in the back. No mounting, no frame. I don’t want to misrepresent anything. I will put a paypal button under each (you can pay with credit card or paypal.) the button doesn’t update so you will have to click through to see if it’s sold out. I will try to update them as quickly as I can and remove the button if it’s gone, but just in case. Each piece will be $35. That’s US dollars. If you have questions please leave a comment and I will reply as fast as I can.

With that here’s this week’s art:

it reads: reach out and connect with someone you love today.

SixBySix is a weekly project for 2013. You can see a detailed post on my goal and other details here.

The Savor Project 2013 – Week 37

Here’s the page for this week:

this one all about the first week of school and our weekend in Tiburon!

See you next week!

The Savor Project is a weekly project for 2013. You can see a detailed post on my goal and other details here.

Gratitude PostCards – Week 36

Here’s this week’s card :

It says: you can shed any piece of you.

This card uses a template from The Crafter’s Workshop (as well as a few others.) and acrylic paint.

Gratitude PostCards is a weekly project for 2013. You can see a detailed post on my goal and the postcards I use here.

A Book a Week – The Life Organizer

I read about The Life Organizer in another book I was reading (and for the life of me, I can’t remember which one.) but something about it was compelling immediately and I just bought it.

This is not one of those books you read end to end. It has an intro section that explains some thoughts, the idea behind the life organizer, and how the book is structured. And the rest of it is weekly thoughts, intentions, and questions.

I picked this book up in April and started doing the weekly questions as a way to keep track of my own thoughts and to be more intentional about my life and my weeks.

It’s actually the book that got me back into journaling.

highly recommended.

Making Plans

I have things I’ve been meaning to write about but then the days pass, the night comes, and I am tired and don’t really feel like writing. Not sure if it means something or if it means nothing. I’m trying not to over-think it and I hope you still come visit and check on me regularly even if I’m not being so diligent.

What I have been doing is making plans for next year. I’ve been thinking about projects I might like to have and what my word might be, etc, etc. This is the time of year when I usually start getting antsy and feel the desire to already start working on new things.

I haven’t fully formalized my projects yet but I am thinking of incorporating two classes into my plans for next year. One is a project from the Soul Comfort class I am currently taking. As with all the Brave Girls’ classes, I am loving this class and it has gotten me back into daily journaling for which I am deeply thankful.

I have never taken one of Tam’s Life Book classes before but I am seriously considering signing up for the 2014 class. I’ve taken several of Tam’s classes before and she’s amazing and the lineup of the other teachers looks fantastic, too. So, if I sign up, this will be one of my weekly projects.

When trying to sort out what I wanted from next year’s projects, I made a little grid for myself. I wanted to make sure I had a varying set of things so I wouldn’t get bored and so I could stretch myself a bit. So I picked a topic, format, media, and skill to focus on for each of my projects.

We’ll see if any of them hold up but I am at least having fun thinking about them and trying them out and adjusting here and there so far.

Is there a class you’ve taken this year that you’ve loved? I haven’t taken many this year and I am planning to keep it that way for next year, too. A few core ones and that’s it. I’d rather spend my time really honing some skills I’ve been craving to learn.

And here we are. Have you begun thinking about 2014, too, or is it just me?

2013 Sketching – Week 33

My goal for 2013 is to make three sketches a week. If I make more, great. If I don’t, that’s ok. Trying to keep the pressure low while still encouraging myself to draw.

my one sketch:

that’s it for this week. just managed one. Still feeling a bit blah about faces still so not motivated to do any apparently.

Sketching is a weekly project for 2013. You can see a detailed post on my sketching journey here.

Gratitude Journal – Week 37

Here’s this week’s gratitudes and celebrations:

Not one of my favorites this week. Before:

it says: soak in the beauty of life.

and here’s what the page looks like with all the gratitudes and celebrations:

Just another excuse to create art and remember the present that is my life.

Gratitude Journal is a weekly project for 2013. You can see a detailed post on my goal other details here.

Weekly Diary – September 28 2013

Here are some photos from this week. A lot of these are taken with my new phone and I consider them of low quality but they still feature our memories and that’s what this is about after all:

Nathaniel and David playing in Nathaniel’s classroom. I just wanted to see if the phone can take decent indoor shots.

we then went to this place the kids call The Village in David’s school and this is apparently his hut. It was way way too sunny.

over the weekend, Jake’s brother, Clark, happened to be visiting us and so we decided go to the Computer History Museum. On the way down, we passed by Google campus and decided to stop and take photos with the Android statues. David insisted that I capture them with each. All the Android releases have dessert-y names. Kitkat is the new one.