Art Journaling & WishBIG ecamp

Happy Hump Day! I hope your week is going well! I'm so sad that tonight is the last night we gather around the campfire at the WishBig ecamp at Wish Studio. I still have a few more days before I'm done with all the workshops but I sure am going to miss all the lovely, inspiring, and supportive ladies I've met "at camp."

Here's a couple art journal pages I worked on last night for Shannon Kinney-Duh's Play Create Reflect workshop:

I tend to be more calculated with my journaling so I loved Shannon inspring us to play like children. I just finished her guided meditation and gentle yoga practice and loved it! Her voice is so comforting and soothing which was much needed after an emotionally trying day. Thanks go out to Mindy, the workshop facilitators, and each of the wonderful women I've met these past 10-days!

Have a wonderful evening, creative spirits!

XOXO,

Wishcasting Wednesday: How do you wish to be brave?

Original artwork by Amanda J. St.Clair

I wish to be brave in my intentions and actions. I wish to release my fears and bravely embrace the opportunities ahead. Be brave dear soul, a beautiful future awaits you.

My Favorite Things

1) I love, love, love Whippy Cake! I have a few of Becki's delicious headbands that I wear when I'm feeling sassy.
 

Copy Cat, Muffy, & House Puppet

2) I have a set of these rainbow goddess om prayer flags from Art To Go in my backyard and they are so bright and cheery.

3) Lisa Ferrante is so very talented. I have both of the prints. One I purchased and one I won in a giveaway.


Free Spirit & Love Yourself

4) Could you image strutting your stuff in this dress at your next event? Sexy but not in an over-the-top way. It's a soy and organic cotton lycra dress from Sandmaiden.

5) This chalkboard wall calendar from Simple Shapes would come in handy near my desk to keep organized.

 XOXO,

Monday Musings - Art Journals, *Free* Journaling Prompts

Art journal front cover.

I have to tell you - I love my art journal! You can find a little of everything in there. I've made pages for travel:

Journal Page from trip to India.

Journal page from trip to India including envelope holding 21-Day Gratitude Journal from Goddess Leonie.

Chicago journal page

 I've made pages for ecourses:

Journal page from the Nostalgic Musings ecourse.

I've made style pages:

Style page featuring pics from Alisa Burke's embellished socks tutorial.

 I've made pages for books/movies:

Eat Pray Love journal page.

 I've made pages for colors that I'm inspired by at that moment:

"Pink" journal page

 I've even made a page for the gift I'm sharing with you today:


"Dreams" journal prompts page

Since I love my journal so much I want to share this *free* gift of journaling prompts with you. I was painting Friday night and thinking about the many dreams I have and this sparked the idea of creating journaling prompts to share. Let me know if you like them and I'll create more.



Click image to download.



My Favorite Things

**This should have posted last Tuesday but I just realized the scheduled post never happened.**

1) Receiving gifts in the mail! I won a giveaway from Allison Strine recently and received this lovely package in the mail last week. Love it! 

2) This sweet necklace from Pretty Whimsical found here. I want this to be my anthem.

3) I purchased this baker's twine variety pack from Ghost and Dove. The whole package was so sweet! I can't wait to use it. Found here.

4) These Sweet and Silly Easter Eggs put the biggest smile on my face. From Pink Sprinkles Plush found here.

5) Getting away for a few days!!! By the time you read this I'll already be on the road to Orlando for travel with my day job. See you later in the week!

Weekend Recap - Celebrating spring & creating vision cards

I can't believe it's already Sunday evening! Where does the weekend go? I have to say that I was productive with mine...mostly. :-)

Spring is my favorite time of year. I love opening up the windows and letting some fresh air in before the humidity becomes unbearable and the a/c must come on. My roses begin to bloom and the yard work starts. I spent the last few weekends cleaning up the borders around my front walkway and porch in anticipation of new dutch peonies and climbing roses to arrive for planting. Those were planted plus these lovelies that I picked up from Lowe's:

Petunia on the left and African Daisy on the right. I can't wait until the roses and peonies begin to bloom!

You know what else I love about Spring? It feels so refreshing, like a brand new start. A clean slate. A new beginning. You purge all the weeds (bad habits, negativity, time-wasters, etc.), prepare the soil (journal, plan, mind-map, resolutions), and you place new life into the earth (new business, idea, art). What a wonderful rebirth! Let's celebrate spring by purging and preparing for our new hatchlings. Plant those seeds and watch the beauty unfurl!

I also played catch-up this weekend on assignments for the WishBIG ecamp over at Wish Studio. If you didn't sign up for this you're really missing out on great lessons and an encouraging community. Here's one of the assignments I worked on from Jamie Ridler's class on making intuitive vision cards:

The one on the left is my love/relationship card, the right is my health/fitness card, and the center is my business/creativity card. I made them on card stock that I'll slip in page protectors and keep near my desk to be inspired by. So fun and great wishes to send out to the universe!

I hope you come back tomorrow because there's one more thing I worked on this weekend that I want to give to you as a gift for sharing this creative journey with me. See you tomorrow!

XOXO,

On the Web

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Happy Spring and happy Friday! I'm heading off to Lowe's to buy a whiskey barrel to plant some roses in. I love this time of year!

Here's this week's delicious finds:

~ Alisa Burke shared these yummy spring cake pops that I can't wait to try (here)! She also shared this lovely tutorial on embellishing the shoulders of t-shirt (here).

~ Laura Simms from Create as Folk shared her list on Five Rules for Life (here).

~ The oh so talented Goddess Leonie began an inspiring blogging goddess series this week (here).

~ Vivienne McMaster shared a Vulnerability post on pushing through the fear along your journey (here) and a powerful photo essay on community on Roots of She (here).

~ One of my favorite creatives, Violette,  shared an intention candle tutorial found here. I made the Grateful candle on the left last year and covered it with lots of glitter!

~ Tiffany of Live Happy shared a What if? post about throwing your life away by not living out your dreams (here).

~ Kelly Rae Roberts posted about feeling lost as a new mama (here). Don't I ever know this feeling! My son is 11 and I still feel lost!

~ Leslie posted one of her beautiful moodboards, Fresh for Spring, on Decor8 (here). I always love her color palettes.

~ Jamie Ridler shared her wisdom, Letter to my younger self, on Roots of She (here).

I hope you have a fabulous weekend!

I'm back!

I'm back from my work trip to Orlando. It was a short trip with long days. It's nice to get away but there's no place like home! Here are a few pics from the hotel we stayed at, Loews at Universal. That gorgeous flower chandelier is from Emeril's Tchoup-Chop restaurant.

  

     

I'll be back on tomorrow with Friday's edition of On the Web. Have a wonderful night!

Weekend Recap - Full Moon Dreamboard

With last night's Full Worm Full Moon I thought I would release my dreams and ambitions to the universe. This is a dreamboard a did a few months ago but never shared:

Today I will be brave and share my "dreams that are wiggling their way to the surface" in the words of Jamie Ridler. Instead of a board or journal pages I decided to work on my "dream cards" that go in my "dream box" that I've been working on from The Right-Brain Business Plan. I've mostly been journaling and doodling in my art journal but I decided the box would be a great display that I would be reinspired each time I lifted the lid. Here are my cards and box:

I added inspring words, the header of my blog, a check from The Secret, and if you've noticed a pattern, an image of Kelly Rae Roberts who is my inspiration and from-a-distance mentor.

To participate in this month's full moon dreamboard visit Jamie Ridler Studios here.

What dreams do you wish to surface this full moon?

On the web - The Art of Non-Conformity

The Art of Non-Conformity

Are you familiar with Chris Guillebeau? He was one of the speakers last week for Jen Lee’s The Right-Brainers in Business Summit. I was so taken by him that I had to visit his website, The Art of Non-Conformity. 

While perusing I came across two *free* PDF’s A Brief Guide to World Domination and 279 Days to Overnight Success. I started reading the first one and was blown away by Chris! I downloaded his book The Art of Non-Conformity on my iphone for when I finish the second PDF. 

He writes about priorities, having a clear answer to “why”, what we have to offer the world, being remarkable, changing the world for the better, and building long-lasting relationships. I love his writing style because I feel like we’re old friends talking over a cup of tea and I leave so inspired to make my mark. I can’t wait to dive into his book! 

Check out Chris here.

Thoughts on being unkind, spreading loving-kindness

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Do you ever have unkind thoughts for another and then feel guilty for it?

Last night I had sadness and guilt weighing on my heart so heavy that I knew I needed to uncover and deal with it. After much internal dialogue I realized that I had been having unkind thoughts towards another that I even went as far as verbalizing these thoughts to a dear friend yesterday morning. The sadness appeared shortly after and remained until I finally questioned the reason.

I was sad because, although this person had unintentionally hurt me in the past, I had no reason to respond in the same unkind way back. Even though she would never know of these thoughts, I knew and it hurt me deep in my sould that I would have this reaction to her.


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The actions of one should never cause you to react the same in return.

One of my values that I hold to a high standard is being non-judgemental yet that was exactly what I was doing - judging her.

Oh the tears flooded my eyes to this thought.

Then the question I pondered - How do I change this?

The answer was simple. Loving-kindness.

According to The Joy of Living by Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche, loving-kindness is a Buddhist philosophical term that all "beings - even those we dislike - experience the same sense of joy and freedom that we ourselves aspire to feel."

"Look on everyone you see with an open, loving heart." ~Santideva, The Bodhicaryavatara

Instead of unkind thoughts I should have compassion and send loving light their way. I know, that's easier said than done. You don't have to like that person or their actions but spreading a little love may help you like them and yourself a little bit more. Why? Here's the kicker -

"If we were to make a list of people we don't like...we would find a lot about those aspects of ourselves that we can't face." ~Pema Chodron from Start Where You Are

Wow. How're you feeling now?


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So today I made it my goal that if unkind thoughts arise I would change those thoughts into something positive. I would then visualize love flowing from my heart to theirs. You know what? I felt so much lighter, freer, happier, and loving.

So now I ask you, are there people in your life you could should spread some loving-kindness to?



Happy St.Patrick's Day!

Dancing Under the Stars

May the luck of the Irish be with you today! Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Wishcasting Wednesday: What do you wish for the world?

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What do you wish for the world?

I wish for peace and hope for the world. I wish for fear and worry to be silenced. I wish for recent tsunami/earthquake victims to know comfort and love in their time of need.
 

And I wish for you all the happiness you can pack into your heart! Have a blessed day!

My Favorite Things

Happy Tuesday! Looks like we all made it through Monday without too many scratches and bruises. On Tuesday I usually share a few of my favorite items from sources like Etsy or from my own personal life. Let's get started!

1) I just had to share this necklace with you from Nest Pretty Things. I've been drooling over it for a while and finally broke down and purchased it yesterday. Can't wait to receive it!

Esme Necklace

 2) This maple tree wall art from The Walldecors would look so stunning in the entryway of my home. How welcoming would that be?!

Giant Maple Tree

3) Soapopotamus has the sweetest soaps! OMG! Chocolate bunny soaps, honey bear liquid soap, red velvet cake soap, and cinnamon roll soap! They even have a sunny-side up egg and toast soaps! Too cute!

4) The fun dress from Larime Loom although it's a bit out of my price range.

Purple and Grey Knit Dress

5) Aren't cabochon's so stinking cute? I just love their delicate beauty.

Mini Rose Cabochon

I'll be back tomorrow for Wishcasting Wednesday. Have a wonderful day!