One Little Word 2017 : June - In Progress.

I'm taking Ali Edwards' One Little Word OLW workshop. The monthly prompts encourage you to connect with your word throughout the year and I've been enjoying how SHINE has manifested so far in 2017. June's prompt was about documenting our progress as we reach the half way point in the year. We were given a question and answer worksheet to fill in. I decided this would go into my inner work journal again. June was a BIG month for me - my 50th birthday celebrations! I did a whole blog post about it and I'm sharing the link here because it was titled 50 : My Time to Shine and highlighted some of the ways that my word has been present, especially this month. I put a copy of the main pieces of my invitation in my inner work journal, as well as a modified print out of the blog post.

I wanted a title page for the prompt writing and since I have done some lovely art lately around SHINE, I decided to include a couple of those pieces as well as a photo of me this month.

You can find the original post about my shine angel HERE, and the hearts spread HERE. Then I wrote my responses - I include photos here so you can see that you don't need to have pretty pages in this kind of journal. Although I did use a pretty coloured pen and added some metallic tape (more shine ♥), it's just my own messy writing as I wrote from my heart in response to the prompts.

One of the main things I've found about my word this year is that I have talked about it more than I ever have before - publicly on my blog, I share it in my art, and I talk about it with my friends. The wonderful thing that has happened is that as others have seen me actively modeling SHINE in various ways, they are in turn reflecting positively back to me - sharing how I am inspiring them with my outlook on life and my creative passion. I printed out a couple of comments that people made on my FB page that made me glow ♥

Brave Girls Club also sent an email recently reminding us of the role we may play in others' lives without realising it 

So my main learning is that sharing your word makes you more vulnerable - but in my case it has also led to increased support and therefore more growth, positivity and development. Also finding that the more work I do on self-development (eg. written journaling in response to prompts in my inner work journal, using my responses to Tarot as a mirror to my inner landscape, making time to fit creativity into every day), and the better I feel about myself, the more I have to give to others. It's not selfish to make sure you have time for self-care. You can change what you pay attention to. The more I attend to myself, the better I can Shine, inspire and support others. I feel so grateful that my word is such a positive force and reflection of what's happening my life. I can't wait to see what happens as we move into the second half of the year.
See all my posts about OLW 2017 HERE, and my Flickr album which includes any art featuring my word as well as the class prompts HERE.

Daily Journaling Weeks 24 & 25

I've had a crazily busy wonderful couple of weeks celebrating my 50th birthday. Read more about that in my previous post. As a result, I decided to combine the prompts of the original Documented Life 2014. Week 24 : Use book paper or text pages and Week 25 : Cover your flap in hearts
And from the blog for Life Documented 2017 HERE : Prompt:  To incorporate under paper into your page.
Challenge:  To add art marks and doodles into your page somehow.
AND HERE : Prompt: Doodle around shapes
Challenge: Cut shapes from paper or print art marks onto stickers
Ironically, this ended up being more work I think! - but by giving myself permission to spread it over time I enjoyed it more ♥ I decided to make a couple of spreads so that I could art journal one and document my busy weeks on the other like I did in Weeks 19-20 last month. I've highlighted all my prompt-related decisions by using green text. First spread - keeping it simple with under paper for the base

Then added hearts. They were cut from inky text pages. I was going to use found words but they were a bit small. When I did my mood journaling, I had first tried printing the words on deli paper. They weren't transparent enough for that project so I used them here instead.

Added marks and doodles - keeping it simple with mainly messy outlining

and then I was able to find some appropriate found words from a large print book (text pages)

And here's that first spread finished. Loving the gold from the underpaper. 

Then I decided I'd need 3 pages for the next spread to fit all the fortnight's worth of journaling events so I again added under paper for my base, and wrapped it around the back to cover the flap as well

Time to add a heading with more found words from an old calendar and large text pages

I have felt especially lucky and grateful - my word of the year is SHINE. Then I began to add my journaling blocks. Used some lighter under papers since the base is quite dark but lovely as a background where it shows. 

Stamping on paper and then adding it as another layer is also fun. I completed my mood journaling spread on Thursday so thought it would be fun to repeat my butterfly mask technique here

And then it was time for my birthday party journaling - I found lots of lovely appropriate found words to add amongst just a few photos that will instantly take me back to that fabulous night of celebrating with my family and friends.

See my previous spread HERE if you want to find out more about my celebrations. I was able to journal on an information card from my new tarot deck and attach it as an extra flap detail on the third fold-out page of my spread. We are now celebrating my youngest son's 13th birthday this weekend. You can see why it's been a challenge to fit art in ♥ 

Then I just needed to journal on the back of the flap. Using a good quality sticky photo paper (sorry I had an unmarked roll given to me by a friend so I can't give you a source) I printed out the progress photo of my background before adding the mask and glaze layer to my mood journaling page. 

This is another reason to take good progress photos! I wanted to incorporate text paper, Cut shapes from paper or print art marks onto stickers, and then doodle around shapes - all on the under paper base

Cut circles from the text paper and added some overlays of the printed art (colour not true - taken at night). Glued down these and some extra strips for interest on the page

Time to add doodles and I love how this turned out

Here are the completed spreads for Weeks 24 & 25 in order as you turn in the pages in my journal. Click on any photo in this post to see it larger.

And now we are heading into Week 26 - half way through the year! I am so pleased we have had the shortest day - although we will probably get colder weather, we are now heading towards Spring ♥ I hope it's a week of sunshine and creativity for you. You can see all my posts about this project HERE and my Flickr album HERE.

50 : My Time to Shine

June is Birthday MONTH - and even more of a big deal this year cos I turned 50! One of the reasons I chose SHINE as my word this year was because I wanted to make sure to celebrate in style the special occasions of our 25th wedding anniversary and my half century birthday (whaaat!). It's also meant looking at the world in a wonderful way all year and has made this month especially sparkly!
Highlights of birthday month : 
* I got a tattoo and I LOVE it so much. I have thought about it for a long while and it all came together for me at the right time. 

It's an expression and celebration of my creativity and individuality. I surprised some people by getting it, but everyone who knows me has commented how perfectly it suits me. The swirls and purple are found often in my art - it conveys movement, growth and joy - the 3 stars represent my husband and 2 sons - it's pretty - and it also represents my word of the year SHINE. I wanted it on my right fore arm so I can see and enjoy it often. 50 is significant, and this helps celebrate all that it means to be here. I feel fantastic!
*12th June BOD journaling prompt : How's your mood?

My response was as follows : Ebullient! I'm excited it's birthday week. Looking forward to seeing everyone cos how I celebrate is always through my relationships. Feeling so supported and loved right now 

* I've celebrated by meeting up with various friends for dinners and coffee dates over the last couple of weeks. I was so touched by their thoughtful cards and gifts. I got many arty treats that show just how well they know me :
- I now own a Kelly Rae Roberts figurine which inspired a recent art journal page and I have a lovely range of fabric squares to inspire another quilt

- LOVE Chris Cozen's work with colour - this book is both useful and coffee table gorgeous

Get a peek inside via Amazon HERE

- lovely tape and stamps - and beautiful handmade card

- and I got the most amazing Klimt Tarot deck - it is all kinds of sparkling gorgeousness - check out a review of this deck HERE.

I use Tarot cards for Inner Work (what does my response to a card tell me about my inner landscape? ) and also as inspiration for art. 

* I had a fabulous birthday party on Saturday night with my lovely family and most of my wonderful friends. There were many who travelled especially to be there, and there was laughter, love and dancing.

I stitched some streamers from circles punched out of old books 

and they decorated a table on the night, and will now decorate my school library

My mum made the delicious cake and a friend did an amazing job of icing it 

It was on a pedestal and she even added a butterfly for me ♥

I had a lovely blank journal of khadi paper which I got people to sign - the sparkly fairy lights made it a special place, and the lace tablecloth was my grandmother's....

I was moved to tears the next day when I read some of the messages.

Birthday month's not quite over yet! 

* I still have some money to spend - I bought some special jewellery, and now I am trying to decide between some art supplies or another (I know!) online class. I'll let you know what I decide.

* And I need to book in for a creative play day with a couple of arty friends....past birthday play days have included crepe paper flowers, play with alcohol inks, paper mache tea cups and paper and stitch collage. I just have to decide what I want to do!

I'm having a deliciously happy and SHINE-filled June. I wanted to celebrate how I feel about my wonderful life, who I'm with, and what I'm grateful for. Even my birthday outfit had plenty of Shine right down to my sandals ♥

I'm an extrovert, and this has been my ideal birthday - your ideas of joyful celebration might be different but I hope I've inspired you to start a birthday month tradition!