Celebrating with friends

One of the most powerful impacts of creating SoulCollage® cards is learning what is important to me. Sometimes I pull from my cards and journal. New ideas always come...from time to time deep insight will come...but what I really get is quiet time to see what really matters to me. What I have seen in the last few weeks is how community...my friends and family ...are a big part of my joy. Each month for 7 years a group of my girl friends and I get together to relax, chat and just enjoy each other. Over the years each gathering has turned in to a big event. When we host it at my house, I always enjoy going all out to prepare a wonderful meal and buy little gifts and surprises for my guests. It has been a way of me to express my gratitude for these women in my life.

This week in our monthly SoulCollage® class we will be exploring gratitude and the expression of gratitude. How do you like to be acknowledged by others and what do you like to do to acknowledge people in your life. My intention is that you get connected to the wonderful people in your life who are supporting you now and that you take some time this month to acknowledge them for the contribution they are to you. I would love to hear how that goes...what opens up and my surprises that my have come from expressing gratitude.

Join us for SoulCollage® in Willow Glen on August 9th.

Hope to see you there!

Good Friends Do Great Things Together

Find Your Power Place...

Being in nature is a powerfully meditative practice

A few weeks ago I found a beautiful grove of old eucalyptus trees in a forest near a friends house. We took a wonderful walk and I stood in the middle of a group of trees. The trees formed a complete circle and I stood there in the center feeling complete gratitude.

I have learned over many years that finding power places in nature really nurishes me. When I have visited these places, I leave feeling peaceful and refreshed. I usually take a bit of time before I return home to journal what ever is coming to my mind. Many times I get solutions I would never have seen before. Its great to clear my head in that way.

This week my challenge to you
Identify your power place. Where do you go to clear your mind and recharge your creative, spiritual and mental juices. (ie. book stores, libraries, mama's house, a park, etc)

Where is it?
What was it like to visit your power place?

Art is in the mail!

Today the magic invitations to play and create at the studio where sent to all of you with snail mail.

Today my good friend Christine and I went to see Caroline the movie. It was wonderful and creative. It was also a little scary. Not sure I would take little kids to see that one. There is something highly inspiring about children's movies.It is the source of some really simple lessions in life. So if you are looking for insights and inspiration...check out a kids movie. You might be pleasantly surprised.

Studio Video

Here is the full process of making our envelopes. It was totally fun!

Our precious delivery...

Andrea, owner of A Work of Heart , and I thought it would be great to touch bases with some of our local friends to invite them to art and creative expression workshops at the studio. I just finished folding 68 hand painted, hand stamped envelopes to mail out to you guys who are local and on my mailing list. These are so precious I cant wait for you to see them!

The envelopes are really simple to make. There is a die-cut machine at A Work of Heart and we cut out the envelope shapes. Andrea shared some wonderful coloring techniques a-la- Traci Bautista. It was soooo much fun to play for a few hours with colors, textures and stamps. If you are in the area and want to learn how we did it...call the studio for a private lession.