Second week of school holidays...I wish I could share more creativity but I decided there were some things I had to make myself do this week before I was allowed to be rewarded with fun creative pursuits! I've done necessary but boring things like cleaning the oven and the fridge, and a family member asked me to quilt a top as a favour to a friend of hers. I said yes without seeing the quilt and then regretted it. Not my style or colours at all and I was a bit stumped to know what to do.
In the end I decided on simple loops - grey on top and pale apricot in the bobbin to match the backing fabric.
Thank goodness it's now checked off my "to do" list and I'm free to do something that makes me really happy...
More soon ♥
Hello - it seems a long time since I shared you. It's October! I'm so sad I haven't had time to blog, but I've had another very busy fortnight. I contemplated just one spread for Weeks 39 and 40 combined, then realised that I am a spread short in my journal for 52 weeks, so I've added a flap instead which gets me more room and also combines weeks.
I'm following the prompts of the original Documented Life 2014. Week 39 : Add splatters and drips and Week 40 : Paint or colour with 3 colours you never use.
And from the blog for Life Documented 2017 Week 39 :
Prompt : Use distress inks to make your journal page background and add pockets to represent what makes you happy.
Week 40 : Prompt: To use something from nature to create a spread that represents the changing of the coming season.
Week 39 was the last week of September and our last week of term at school - I am in the midst of a library refurbishment so had to pack up EVERYTHING before I left on Friday....
As well as that, our school (my work) did a wearable art show that week. I helped with some of the costumes and was WOWed on performance night. Saturday it was time to set up for our eldest son's National basketball competition as part of the top team representing Boys' High. They played really well and it was a wonderful week of watching games, cooking, serving up team meals and generally supporting the team
In the end they finished 5th in the competition but only lost 1 game! A bit further down than they hoped, but some great live basketball for us to enjoy. I decided to begin the spread by using distress inks to make the background
I used 3 colours I never use (rarely together anyway) and a lovely floral stencil to represent the changing of the coming season : in NZ we are in Spring ♥
Simple documentation was as much as I could manage for the rest - photos, some pretty tape, some doodling, and some bits of paper serviettes. I didn't use any pockets, but this captures all the things of the fortnight that made me happy.
On the outside of the flap I did some drips from the top of the page (it's been raining a lot!) and some splatters of gold - because ♥ messy "SHINE"
Then I gathered some found words (large print book) to reflect my feelings of today related to the first week of October and the National tournament....
Here's the completed spread flap closed
Onward into the rest of October. I hope we all find more time to be creative this month.
You can see all my posts about this project HERE and my Flickr album HERE.
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 is developing in 2017. This month we are looking at our word in relation to the three words of Rest, Pace and Joy = paying attention
It's been the perfect mix of things for me to consider this month. Although I've still had my share of stresses/overload this month, I feel like I'm coping better than I did in August. Progress not perfection right?
At the beginning of September I did a post called Spring means a fresh start. Spring's a time to take stock, spring clean the house, sort out the garden... It's also a time filled with the promise of light and warmth and longer blissful days. Reading back over that post, 2 main points stand out :
In amongst all the looking forward, I want to BE PRESENT to what is in front of me right now.
Don't do something because you should - do something because you love it.
Both of those sentiments have stayed with me this month, and are reflected in how I've filled my cards. I decided that I would keep this simple - the important thing is reflect on what I'm doing, not that it's beautifully presented...but I do love the calendar backgrounds that I used for printing my cards ♥
I laid down a lovely scrapbook paper to make my cards the feature - didn't have pieces wide enough for each page so was able to add some more pretty paper and fabric tape on the respective edges. I wrote on the cards as though talking to myself, responding to the prompts as though they are questions eg. what does Joy mean to you right now?
I really loved adding white stamping and pen work to the pink background of this journal spread earlier this month - on topic :-)
so decided to add some simple stamping and doodling with a white pen to this spread as well
I'm doing so much better at keeping up with the prompts this year than I did in 2016, which means my word is consistently present in my days. As I did last month, I thought about how this prompt linked directly to my word. I have a word that relates to each letter of SHINE :
Share = blogging here about the prompts and sharing in the FB group
Health = REST
Inner work = consideration of all that these prompts mean to me, and what they can add to my understanding of myself and continuing personal growth.
Notice = PACE
Enjoy = JOY
Here's my completed spread for September :
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.
In the end I decided on simple loops - grey on top and pale apricot in the bobbin to match the backing fabric.
Thank goodness it's now checked off my "to do" list and I'm free to do something that makes me really happy...
