karenika

Your book of happy and fun memories

This is a layout I made for My Mind’s Eye for June.

And the journaling says:
My sweet boy, I noticed lately that you have a tendency to look at your life and notice a lot of what is missing and be sad. I’ve spent many years being sad and negative, but I wish so much better for you. So I suggested this book of collections of happy memories that you can look at when you feel sad. I really hope it will remind you of how much you have to be thankful for, and how very loved you are. I love you so much.

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Letters with Nathaniel – L

As I mentioned, I plan to keep this project simple and fun for both of us. So, I did the same thing with this letter as I did for letter A and all the others. I cut them all up and then, Nathaniel and I glued them down together to create this simple page:

Like each time, we talked about each of the words and then differentiated between capitals and lowercase. Then we colored all the letters.

Here he is gluing:

and coloring

Yey! Nathaniel is still loving this project!

Letters with Nathaniel is a weekly project for 2012. You can read more about it here.

Weekly Diary – July 7 2012

Since my work was out wednesday through fridays this week, we did a lot of family activities in lieu of going away. Here are some snapshots from our week:

Since I love looking over the water, Jake drove us to Half Moon Bay and we ate at a sweet restaurant overlooking the water.

The next day, I got my hair colored.

Then, we went hiking. It was nearby and wonderful.

The next day, we went to a playground in the area that was supposed to be one of the best. The kids loved it.

they ran around

and so did Jake.

I just snapped and snapped

and mostly watched them be adventurous

and joyful

so very joyful.

when we got home, Jake put together Nathaniel’s new bike (which he loves)

the next day we went to a local zoo-ish science center where they have local rescued animals like coyotes and porcupines and owls. The kids loved them

and I loved the light.

i love Nathaniel’s face here.

my wonderful boys.

on 4th of July, we went to a friend’s house, bbq’ed and chatted while the kids ran around and played with waterguns. then we came home and had fun with sparklers

it was our first time so i wasn’t sure how good the photos would be.

but i like how they turned out

and the kids really enjoyed them so much.

even the little boy.

after that, it was time to go watch the fireworks. we drove to the hills so we could see them all and we got lucky enough to find the perfect spot.

the next day we mostly rested and laughed. (and went to the movies too!)

i am truly grateful for a full week of wonderful family time.

and here we go. i hope your week was lovely, too.

Weekly Diary is a project for 2012. You can read more about it here.

Journey into Collage – Week 27

Page twenty-seven:

This page is all covered with different pieces of patterned paper. A Butterfly, some rubons, stamps, etc and ta-da!

The quote says: It is never too late to change. Never.

Here is one more shot of it:

Journey into Collage is a project for 2012. You can read more about it here.

Art Journaling – Arches Printmaking Set 10

Here are some more pages I did:

The full text reads: embrace life and bloom to your full potential.

And here’s the next page:

The full text reads: just cause you’re alone doesn’t mean you have to be lonely. lean into the solitude.

inspired by this photo.

Well here we go. More coming next week.

I am creating multiple art journaling pages a week for now. You can read more about this project here. This set uses the Fabriano Roma papers.

The Savor Project – Week 25

And here’s the spread for week twenty-five:

here’s a closer up of the left side:

The first story here is about the kids’ haircut and then one about all the laughing they’ve been doing during the summer.

And here’s the right side:

The first one here is about how I want David to focus on kindness and gentleness with others and the second one is about Nathaniel’s father’s day drawing.

Art along the bottom as usual.

Another great week. Happy Savoring.

The Savor Project was supposed to be a weekly project for 2012. You can read about my setup here.

A Book a Week – The Lover’s Dictionary

I picked up The Lover’s Dictionary because of Amy Sorenesen. She mentioned she liked it and I trust her taste.

And I loved it.

I mean, Amy, I really really loved it.

There was something absolutely magical about this book that I can’t quite put my into words. The writing is exquisite. The ability to express such profound sentiments in such simple words swept me away. The style of this book is so unique but don’t let that fool you, it’s truly a masterpiece.

At least for me.

I really loved it and thank you so much Amy!

Daily Sketching – Week 64

Here are the sketches from last week:

Sunday:

Monday:

Tuesday:

Wednesday:

Thursday:

Friday:

Saturday:

that’s it for this week.

Daily Sketching is a weekly project for 2012. You can see a detailed post on my steps here.

Journaling the Good

I’ve been spending some time evaluating my life and choices lately. As I’ve mentioned before, the last few months have been tough on me and I haven’t bounced back like I would have liked. I am frustrated with myself for how long this is taking and how bumpy the ride is. So, as I was thinking about all this and how there are a few items of my regular schedule that fell off way back in March that I haven’t managed to pick back up, I decided to put two together.

I haven’t journaled in a long time. Well, let me rephrase: outside of the writing recommended by the classes I took, I haven’t done any personal journaling just for me in a long time. I used to take 15-20 minutes to write every morning and that quiet time of reflection was really profound for me. I miss it. But for some reason, I can’t seem to get back on the horse. I can’t seem to pick the pen up and make it habit again.

I think about it a lot but don’t do it.

I am not sure if this is subconsciously a way to protect myself. Maybe I am worried all the negative thoughts hiding in the corners of my soul will pour out and take me to a dark place each day. And I can’t afford a lot more dark moments. In fact, I don’t want any of those. This might not be the issue at all. It might just be that I am more rushed and do not take the time to slow down lately. I have also given up meditation and the strength training. In fact, I haven’t read to the kids in two weeks.

But coming back to my topic of journaling, I’ve decided to try something for the month of July. (And I won’t even be anal about how it’s already July 2 and I haven’t done it so far. I will give myself permission to start now.) Instead of doing the typical journaling of pouring whatever’s on my heart or mind on to paper, I am going to do positive journaling.

That means I am going to fill a page in my notebook writing only good things from my life. This is not to say I will avoid the bad stuff (I am working on looking at the bad stuff, too.) but that I will turn this journaling exercise into just focusing the good things.

Here’s why: the problem I’m struggling with that’s really bringing me down is in an area of my life that I’ve purposefully decided to focus less on. So while I can’t get rid of it, I can definitely not let things get to me as much. I can definitely shine the light on the abundance of good things on my life. And I think writing a page will help me refocus. It will allow the things that matter to come to light more often. Those are also the things I take for granted more often. They are the “working” parts of my life so I don’t “worry about them.” But I also don’t pay as much attention to them. I don’t celebrate them as much as I could. I don’t deeply enjoy them because I am putting so much focus on the areas where I am struggling. So I want to move the studio lights to where the joy is.

And I think journaling the good for a page each day will help me do that.

I am not exactly sure how it’s going to work yet. I might spend one day listing all the things I am grateful for. Another day on all my happy wishes. Another on what made me happy the previous week. I might spend a day on all the things I want to learn. Whatever I do, I will focus on the good. I will focus on the joyous moments. The nuggets of happiness from each day that I normally let wither.

My hope is that this will allow me to see my world in a different light. And show me that my life is full where it matters most. And maybe that can squash the darkness better than no journaling or pouring out the angst.

It seems worth a try, at least.

Daddy we thank you for the light you shine onto our lives

This is a layout I made for My Mind’s Eye for June.

And the journaling says:
There are many wonderful things in our lives but the very best part of our days is when you are with us. The way you are so joyous and happy and how your light shines so bright makes our lives so much better and so full of happiness. Daddy we are all so very grateful for you. For making life brighter. For adding laughter. For making all of us feel deeply loved. We love and adore you so very much.

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