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My Declaration of Celebration

I was invited to contribute a blog post for The Declaration of You’s BlogLovin’ Tour, which I’m thrilled to participate in alongside over 100+ other creative bloggers. The Declaration of You will be published by North Light Craft Books this summer, with readers getting all the permission they’ve craved to step passionately into their lives, discover how they and their gifts are unique and uncover what they are meant to do! 

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{ Celebration }
Joy-filled and meaningful moments are a cause for celebration

“Celebrate the Sacred in the ordinary.”
― Sarah Breathnach

 

I grew up feeling that celebrations where rare events that centered around big accomplishments.  It was reserved for birthdays, anniversaries, job promotions, etc.  It was also my belief that if I celebrated little things or I celebrated too often, I would loose my appreciation for the accomplishment itself and possibly loose my drive to accomplish more. Too much of a good thing was bad and I had bought into the notion hook line and sinker. 

In my 20's I hung out with a group of girls that did NOT have that belief. Thank goodness for those girls crossing my path. They believed that EVERYTHING was an event and cause for celebration. 

Every party was an event, worthy of a new cocktail dress.
Every accomplishment was cause for a champagne toast.
Every milestone was worthy of a special treat.  

We CELEBRATED all the time. I think of that time as one of the happiest times of my life. It created rich joyful moments that I will remember for the rest of my life. It taught me to celebrate regularly and often. It taught me that no matter how often I celebrate, the joy of the celebration doesn't diminish.

{ Celebrate Regularly and Often. }
There are certainly times when I forget how important celebrations are to my life. If I haven't celebrated enough, my life starts to resemble the movie "Groundhog Day". Each day is the same as the next.  There are no intentional celebrations reminding me to slow down and "smell the roses". There is no conscious activity reminding me to experience gratitude for my accomplishments. 

Celebrations allow me to slow down and bring intention to the moment. It provides me with a rich set of experiences that bring gratitude and color to my life. 

{ Make Time to Celebrate }
 Here are some of my favorite things to do to celebrate alone or with a few friends...

• A beautiful cup of tea and/or dessert at the fanciest restaurant in town.
• Drive to the ocean to watch the waves
• Lighting all the candles in my house and turning off all the lights. 
• Pedicure 
• Long vacations to tropical islands ( Mexico and Hawaii are my favorites)
• Mini trips to see local landmarks (being a tourist in my own town)
• Purchase some new art supplies
• Girl Friday...A friend and I pick a new restaurant to try almost every Friday.
• Snuggie Movie Mornings ... I invite my friends to go to the movies in our snuggies or Pajamas. 

{ Your Turn }
 
Challenge...Celebrate something this week and tweet about it

• Game On! I Celebrate (Tweet it)

Summary:

• Joy-filled meaningful moments are a cause for celebration (Tweet it)
• Celebrations allow me to bring intention to the moment (Tweet it) 
•  Without celebrations life starts to resemble "Groundhog Day"(Tweet it)
   

Now that I've poured my heart out...I'd love to hear from you...

• What Are Your Favorite Ways to Celebrate?
• How has your view of celebrations changed over time?
• Who is your biggest inspiration for celebrating regularly and often? 

Love Vintage books for My Journal Art

 

 

I love using vintage books in my work.

 I love the smell of the pages and

 I imagine the stories that go with the book. 

It inspires me to create.

I often think of the people who might have owned the book

I Imagine them turning the pages 

Reading the words to themselves or aloud to others

I wonder about their lives and 

what they might be wearing 

or where in their home they might have spent time reading the book.

 It feels like I'm holding a bit of history. 

A bit of someone's story that is now part of my story.

This is a vintage "Salmebog" which is a book of Lutheran Hymns from Norway.

I got it at a flea market in Oakland, CA

It's dated 1895 and has a note inside that reads

"Given to me by my mother and father - 1917"

The original owner was 

Knut Digerness.

This book is so precious I can't bring myself to use the original pages.

I photocopy and scan the pages to use in my work.

I make lots of scans and print lots of pages that I put in a bin

so its ready for me to use when the creative muse strikes!

I'll be using some of the scanned pages in my weekly journal this week.

Weekly Journal

 

This weeks journal was a little bland and simple but
the week in life was full of richness and  color .

I scheduled a family photoshoot for us with a great photographer.

I have always wanted to have a professional photoshoot to get 

great photos to put around the house or use in a Christmas letter. 

I even put it on my Vision Board this year.

Some how I crossed paths with a photographer on Facebook

and I loved his work so I made an appointment for a session.

It took a few weeks to coordinate the session, our outfits and a location. 

The day came and we where both scared and excited.

The photographer is a really cool dude and he made us feel at ease,

while corralling our silliness.

The end result is that we had a blast.

We'll get our photos in a few weeks.

Weekly Journal Pages

I wasn't going to show this page. 

I was feeling like it was not complete or interesting enough to share. 

As I examined the page and thought about that week,

 it is a miracle that I found time to put down the numbers for the days of the week.

It was one of those weeks when the work day and the after work day merged into one. 

 Last week got away from me and so did this week. 

I made a noble effort to begin. 

I made time to kiss day 12 with my new favorite lipstick 

I made time to leave some scribbles on the page.

 I will always remember this week for 

how everything seemed to happen at once 

and i still made time to do something I loved for me.

Art Studio: Organizing My Brushes

 

I found this amazing container at Target on clearance for $5.
It was in the gardening section but I thought it would be great for my art supplies.

 

I currently have all my brushed in a variety of cups and containers.
They often tip over from the weight of the brushes. 

 

I was able to fit all of my brushes into this one handy container.

It's perfect and saves so much space on my work table. 

I can see all my brushes in one place. 

I can tote my brushes to other rooms.

I love it!

Art Studio: My studio is filled with things that bring me joy and peace

I love late summer. 

The lighting on my patio is perfect for painting in the early evening.

I've dedicated a portion of my patio to my easile, paints and brushes

My studio is a peaceful
place among the trees.

Everywhere I look I see little reminders of the things that bring me joy and peace...

• The Buddha I got in Oakland at a Zen garden shop. I remember when I bought him, I wanted to get him home safely so I put a seat belt on him.
   
• The tiny metal Buddha my big Buddha is holding. A gift from a good friend I adore.
  
  
•  The lush green succulent jade plants that where once
  2 small pots and now has grown into 6 big beautiful bushes.
• There are the big beautiful paint brushes I purchased in Amsterdam. They where my first really "good" brushes and I cherish them.
  
  
• There is a funky metalic pink Hoola Hoop I got online at Hoopnotica.  I wanted to be one of those girls that could do hoola hoop tricks. After knocking down several things in my house practicing...the hoola hoop has retired to the patio until I
  get brave enough to practice in public.
  

Art Studio: Working on my patio.

 

I'm working on a new painting this week. 

I'm enjoying the process of choosing color, pattern and technique.

I've also learning to let the painting unfold in its own time and

let myself fall in love with the process.

In the past I would do a painting in one sitting. 

It just didn't feel right until it was completely done.  

I'm learning to do as much as I can or feel like, then step back
and let it breathe a bit before making my next move
or determining that its done. 

Now I'm free to just create without all that expectation.

 It's been such a joy to layer color,  text and texture

without concern for the outcome 

and when.