The following is cross-posted from the Weekly Gratitude Blog. I will post there every Tuesday and decided to post those posts here, too. For those of you who read both blogs, I apologize in advance. Some weeks the content might be different and other weeks, exactly the same.
When Lori and I were planning Weekly Gratitude and what we might want our blog schedule to look like, I thought it might be interesting to have each of us post a little blog post of our thoughts. I know she plans to post sketches and other goodies, but I have no idea what my intention for these posts is. Some weeks it might just be a collection of random thoughts on gratitude. Other weeks, it might be a pep talk. Or a gratitude-related story that happened to me that week. Or something I find inspiring. Or some goodies I made.
I am really not sure yet. While a part of me is itching to create some kind of pattern for these posts (I am a computer programmer, after all), another part of me really wants to make these posts fluid. I want this to be the excuse for me to sit and take a moment each week to jot some thoughts down. To observe my week. To reflect. In my insanely-busy life, I don’t do that nearly as often as I should. So, for now, I am forcing myself not to over-plan these posts.
All this is to say: the quality of these posts might vary wildly from week to week and I apologize in advance for that.
I wanted to start by thanking all of you for taking this journey with us. Committing to a year-long project is a big deal. But I have every reason to believe that you will get more out of this than you put into it. There’s something magical about declaring an intention and doing it in a group. It’s like when you do your daily walks with a friend, you’re way more likely to actually do them than if you’re going at it alone. Think of us as your gratitude-buddies. When you feel like you might give up, leave us a comment, email us, ask for help. We’ll be here to cheer you on. We believe in this project wholeheartedly and we’re committed to it and to you. And your presence makes it easier for us to work on our project, too. So thank you for being here. Thank you for doing this with us.
I know the next few weeks will be easy. All projects start with a high level of enthusiasm and take at least a few weeks to frizzle out. So take advantage of these weeks. Pay extra-close attention to the little things. The “seemingly ordinary” miracles of life. Enjoy the process and take a moment to reflect. Remember this project is about gratitude. It doesn’t matter if your art didn’t turn out the way you had envisioned or hoped, it only matters that you took a moment to express gratitude. Focus on that.
There will be new ones to come but in case you don’t regularly read my blog and haven’t already downloaded these, here are two sets of digital downloads I had made with the theme of gratitude. The first is a set of photo-overlays and the second is a set of journaling spots. Hope you enjoy them.
gratitude overlays
gratitude journaling spots
I want to remind you to please share links to your projects. We would like to regularly highlight your art/words on Wednesdays and if you’re not participating in one of our communities, the only way we can find you is through the comments you leave.
Thank you again for being here with us. Here’s to a year filled with gratitude!
Even though I’m a tulip person I still am awed by a beautiful rose.
It was good to be back into my routine today. Felt right. I tried not to rush through it. Towards the end of the day, it got a bit more hectic than I’d like but overall, it felt good.
I know it’s far from perfect technically and it’s even a bit blurry but what struck me about this photo was how much Aurelia looks like David in this photo. His face is wider and his eyes bluer. Looks so much like David at that age.
Note to Self:
This is going to sound a bit cryptic and I apologize in advance. But here’s something I learned today: it’s better to join/apply for/try out for something only if I really really want it. And in that case I have to give it 150% of what I have. After that, I might still not get it, but that’s OK. What’s not okay is to try just for the sake of trying. And to try without giving it all I have. Because then, when I don’t get it, it makes me sad when I didn’t necessarily want it in the first place and I also wonder if I didn’t get it cause I didn’t try hard enough.
This applies to all areas of my life, work, personal, friendships, relationships. I need to be more mindful about what I want. Why I want. Create a path to getting it and see if I want to travel that path. If the path is appealing and worth the trouble to get to the destination, then I start walking down it. More mindfully. I do it because I decided I want it. Not cause everyone else is doing it. Not cause it would be cool to have it. Not cause “why not.” It’s not a “why not” it’s a “why so.”
Life is too short and I need to live it more mindfully.
Three things I’m grateful for today:
1. I had the opportunity to help someone whom I believe in today. I am thankful that I had a skill to offer. I am thankful that the person accepted my help (not everyone does). I am thankful for the opportunity to get to feel the joy that comes from having done something nice for someone else without expecting anything in return.
2. I am thankful to be back to our routine. Driving David to school, listening to books on the way, baby napping while I work and coffee with Graham Crackers. These things make me happy. Grateful for my perfectly ordinary life.
3. Grateful for todo lists. I have a lot of little tasks here and there that are piling up and I am thankful for Evernote that keeps all my todo lists in one place and makes sure I don’t drop the ball too much. (Still really behind on email but that’s for another day.)
What I didn’t realize until I sat down to do one of the crafts on our list was that most of these require materials we don’t seem to have at hand. (So while I am good at making lists of ideas, I neglected to make one for supplies. Good job, eh?) One of the only items on the list that had simple supplies was the paper-plate dogs.
The full tutorial from kids craft weekly.
Believe it or not, I didn’t have white paper plates, but I did have some heavy weight paper. So I drew the doggie. (yep, I made him too fat at first but it didn’t matter since we cut it out.)
After I cut it out, we turned it inside out so the drawing lines would not show. We taped the head and the tail. Then I drew an eye and a nose and David colored it in.
We then cut up a tiny bit of gray fabric to make his ears. He was already looking pretty good by then.
The tutorial then has some glue and dirt for the spots. But I had something easier, so I pulled my stickles and drew some circles for David to color in.
And here’s our final product, left to dry overnight.
Looks pretty cute if you ask me.
These mailboxes were one of the first things I fell in love with where I live. There’s something about them that speaks to me.
Today was a quiet day. After yesterday I intended to take it easy and I am glad to say that I did. I read my book, I did workbooks with David, I hugged Aurelia, I cooked some fresh food for him (mangos, bananas, and made some fresh oat porridge). I knit some and just cleaned up the house a bit.
I realized today that I do much better with routine. Not just accomplishing tasks but living my life. I love December but the lack of routine actually makes my days more stressful. So, amazingly, I’m actually looking forward to tomorrow. To getting back into our routines. We have a bunch of activity coming up in the next few months. Trip down to LA and one possibly up to NAPA, Jake’s parents visiting, my parents visiting. So it’s not going to be 100% quiet but it should be more routine, I hope.
Here are two photos of my boys from today:
Love them so. I am so truly lucky to have them. They each make my heart skip every single day.
Note to Self:
In the last few weeks, I’ve been dreading doing my catalysts. They’ve been going from one daily to-do list to another and they never get accomplished. I am usually several catalysts ahead so it’s frustrating to me that I’ve fallen so behind. Today, I decided to try something new. I will make one night of the week my creative therapy night. On that night, I will set the kitchen timer for one hour and I have that much time to get the piece of art done. I am allowed to plan and print the photo and journaling ahead of time. It’s ok to think about what I want to do as well. But from the moment I sit to do it, to the minute I am done, it won’t be more than one hour. I want to try this. See what happens if I limit myself time-wise. Will it be better or worse? I don’t know but I like the idea and it makes me feel less stressed about how behind I’ve gotten on them. And it’s a good tool to keep in mind that the goal for creative therapy is to get the therapeutic benefit not necessarily to produce the most amazing piece of art there ever was. I’ll let you know if it works.
Three things I’m grateful for today:
1. Super Baby Food: I bought this book when David was born and used it a lot with him. Honestly, I used it to cook fresh veggies and to freeze them so he could eat healthier than I do. I just cracked it open again and made some of the porridge (just oat and water really) and I plan to make a healthier diet for Aurelia. I’ve been giving him Earth’s Best for two months now and it’s really expensive and if I am going to spend all that money, I want to try to give him fresh food. There will still be many days where he eats jars but I would like to try and this book is a good resource for me. Despite many other things that the author and I disagree on, I like the easy guides on how to cook and store veggies.
2. Good books: There’s nothing like a good book to make my day feel happy and calm and wonderful. I am so thankful for books. I love music, too and movies but books have a special place in my heart.
3. Having a tub: The previous house we lived in didn’t have a tub. Just two showers. This one has a tub both in our bathroom and in the kids’ one. I love filling up the tub a little and watching my kids play it in. David loves playing with all the squirting toys and Aurelia loves chewing the foam ones. I just love sitting there and watching them play quietly and peacefully.
This is another photo from our walk yesterday. I love the colors in it.
Today was an exceptionally long day. It started all nice and we spent some family time together and then I scrapped some. When Aurelia woke up, we went to Target to get some groceries. Mostly baby food. After we came home, we decided to tackle the “take down the Christmas tree” project. A few hours just to take the ornaments off. And then as the “cut down the tree so we can get it out of the house” part started, Aurelia woke up.
Jake had set the pack’n’play in the living room since Aurelia loves to roam around and sometimes we need him to stay put. He was pleasant enough at first:
But then quickly got mad. That’s David trying to entertain him there.
He would not stop crying and complaining until I picked him up. And then he would not leave my side. It took us hours and hours to cut and clean the tree. It was so dead that just touching the tree made thousands of needles fall. So Jake patiently cut while I bagged.
I know this is a terrible photo but it’s just here for me to remind myself that next year we’re getting a FAKE tree! I know, I am disappointed too but I don’t think I can do this again.
I spent the rest of the night scrapping some more. I made seven layouts with the January A Million Memories Kit. Told so many of Aurelia’s stories. Finally catching up on his baby book. But I have this incredible headache that will not go away. Tomorrow, I rest all day long.
Note to Self:
Today’s note to self is to NOT get a real tree next year. Yes, the smell is amazing. Yes, I do love having a real tree. But I love having the tree up for a long time and the mess it makes is just not worth it. Maybe a small, real tree for the other room, so I can still enjoy the smell. But a beautiful, fake tree for our living room. I do believe it will even make Christmas more enjoyable.
Three things I’m grateful for today:
1. My husband for letting me sleep in an extra TWO hours this morning. I haven’t slept in this late in months.
2. The beautiful January Kit from AMM that was full of Webster’s pages and that inspired me to create so many layouts.
3. My husband for spending hours and hours cutting the tree so we could get it out of the house without making an even bigger mess than we did. Yes, he’s amazing.
Happy New Year. Rabbit rabbit. Welcome to 2010!
I hope you welcomed the new year in a way that makes you happy. We relaxed, watched movies together and fell asleep shortly before 11pm. My back’s been in exceptional pain lately and since I’m nursing, I can’t really take anything stronger than Advil which makes life a bit more painful than I’d like.
We took a nice, short walk this morning (for one of my 52 Things project items). I snapped the photo above and these 3 of my boys while we were out:
Then I spent most of the day scrapbooking but it was all slow progress due to my back. Oh well, this, too, shall pass. I am happy to welcome 2010. I am confident this is going to be a most fantastic year.
Note to Self:
I need to slow down more. When I stress, my body tenses and then I injure my weakest muscles (my jaw and my back) which then causes me pain and forces me to slow down but I can’t enjoy it because I am in pain. I need to realize that I have two kids (one of which is a baby) who need and deserve attention and not as much is going to get done in this particular phase of my life. That’s ok. It’s time to slow down and enjoy my kids. Soon they will be gone and I will wish they were here to distract me. So, note to self: slow down. Breathe. Enjoy the kids. Be patient with and kind to self and family.
Three things I’m grateful for today:
1. Really good scissors. I did a lot of detailed cutting today and the little cutter bee scissors I have were fantastic.
2. My husband carrying Aurelia up and down the stairs instead of me so my back wouldn’t hurt more.
3. YouTube for teaching me how to knit in the round.
As I explained last year, I am choosing to have focus areas for my year instead of resolutions. This way, I can spend my energy focused on something that’s important to me and apply it to all areas of my life. Last year’s words were Peace and Bloom. While this has been a relatively rough year, I think I’ve made some considerable progress. (Though I still have a long way to go.)
This year’s word chose me before I had time to think about what I wanted it to be. I found this necklace a few weeks before I had Aurelia and couldn’t stop thinking about it. So I finally bought it and have been wearing it since.
Loved.
That’s my word for 2010. For the longest time, I’ve held on to the notion that I am not worthy of love. I can tell you many reasons why and I’ve always claimed it’s because I’ve had some cruel friends in my formative years. But I know none of those excuses are true. (This is the revelation that led me to start creative therapy.) The fact is, there’s no reason for me to feel this way. I’ve been blessed with an amazing husband who’s been by my side for 15 years. A family like no other. Sons who love and adore me. And great friends. It’s time I let go of this lack of self-worth. It’s time.
So this year. I plan to devote to honor those who love me and remember daily that I am loved. And cherish that.
Loved.
And we bid farewell to 2009.
This was a long year for me. We had some huge events: we bought our first house, we had our second baby (with no medication thank you very much), we moved, and I moved positions and started working from home. And then a million little good and bad ones. I normally like to reflect on the year but this year I’m not feeling it so we’re not going to do that.
Instead we look forward. Here’s to a fantastic 2010. May it be absolutely amazing in every way!
And here’s the end of my book.
and the back:
I am ready to take the decorations down this year. Last year, they stayed up all the way to mid-January but this year, I am ready for some reason.
and the back is following a tradition from last year. Tulips.
This year’s album was a lot harder. But I still love it to bits.
This week’s question is: “What magical thing happened to you this year?”
It was a great year with a new house, working from home etc but the most magical thing this year ever was Aurelia hands down. Love you, my angel.
I now sell some of these tags in my etsy store. If there’s a tag you like and are interested in, email me or leave a comment and I’ll be happy to add it.
I am combining Emily Falconbridge’s art journal questions with trying a new technique each week. You can see the full list: here.
This week’s question is: “What was the best gift you ever gave?”
I did this for creative therapy a few weeks ago. I became an American citizen. Best gift I could give my children.
I used tape to cover the tag and did the stripes with red ink. The blue side has some clear embossing for the stars which then does the resist over blue ink. Not perfect but I was playing around.
I now sell some of these tags in my etsy store. If there’s a tag you like and are interested in, email me or leave a comment and I’ll be happy to add it.
I am combining Emily Falconbridge’s art journal questions with trying a new technique each week. You can see the full list: here.
This week’s question is: “What do you love most about where you live?”
Well since I am in sunny California I decided to make it about the sun.
I painted the tag blue for sky, rolled up a ribbon for the sun and then glued sequins for the rays.
I now sell some of these tags in my etsy store. If there’s a tag you like and are interested in, email me or leave a comment and I’ll be happy to add it.
I am combining Emily Falconbridge’s art journal questions with trying a new technique each week. You can see the full list: here.
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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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