Category Archives: Inspiration

Honoring Your Inner Child!

Me at 4, and not a care in the world!

Good evening!

I wanted to talk about something that has been on my mind for the past few months, and that is about honoring your inner child, or at least my perspective on my inner child and my reconciliation with the idea that I need to honor her. Maybe you might be able to relate. In September 2012, I had gastric bypass surgery, but through my profound weight loss journey, and ultimately my profound self-rediscovery journey started back in April of that same year, and I started to seriously struggle with the question

“Who am I?”

After doing a lot of soul searching I had decided that I knew who I was, I had always been in here, even if I had been keeping the truest form of myself tucked deep, deep down inside of myself for quite some time. To re-discover who I was, I just needed to delve back into my long lost memories about who I was as a small child. Still fresh and impressionable,with no responsibilities or obligations, and not yet tainted by other peoples’ self-imposed rules, beliefs, and limitations.

Here I am with my mom, grandma, dad, and great-grandma. This is my first outing.

I am not sure if everyone can remember a clean and pure memory of who you were back then, but for me I remember being a very imaginative child, who could play for hours alone, make believing all sorts of adventures where I was the main character in all of my stories. I could run, and jump, and fly, and breathe under water, I was invincible, and completely fearless! When I was at this age, I had friends, but never very many, I usually preferred to be alone or with one or two very close friends; catching bees in jars while smelling the sweet scent of honeysuckles all around, laying on my back watching the clouds roll by – trying to find shapes amongst the billowy whiteness, climbing trees and viewing the world from my new vantage point, racing around on my bike with the sound of the wind racing past my ears, or walking barefoot through the grass enjoying the feel of the coolness on my toes. I was a very observant child, and I felt like the world was my oyster, and I was ready to do whatever, and be whatever my heart could imagine.

Looking back, I can see that as I got older I let more and more of what other people believed influence who I let myself be. I tried to change everything about myself to fit in. I tried to be more social and more group-oriented. I tried to keep up with my peers in style, and attitudes, and in accomplishments, and I can see how I had ended up as a woman with so many hang ups, and really ultimately unhappy, not to mention 130 pounds overweight!

Me with my Mom, she was only 16, I was one month old.

No wonder I was confused about who I was. Was it possibly because I had tucked away little Chrissie with a complete disregard to what her needs might be? I was afraid that she could not possibly be accepted or loved, and because of this I let myself be conformed to what I thought people would be drawn to, so that I could fit in, and be “normal”, whatever that is?

As soon as I made this connection, I had the ultimate light-bulb moment! I realized that I may look different, sound different then I did when I was a little girl, and I don’t really climb too many trees nowadays, but the deepest parts of me were still essentially the same. I still feel the need to be alone a lot of the time, I still prefer having only a very small handful of close intimate friendships, I still relish my time spent in my imagination, and I still cherish the times that I get to spend having my own brief adventures.
And you know what? That is okay. I have come to terms that this is who I am, the me that was designed, on purpose, to be just this way, and it is my job to honor that and to live it up! 😉

I am the one in red. I am 5.

Little Chrissie is still hanging out inside of this woman who can sometimes have what feels like the weight of the world on her shoulders in obligations and responsibilities, but little Chrissie is still patiently waiting to be given permission to come out and play, and if I don’t let her come out and play often enough she gets very cranky and we both end up having a bad day! 🙂

Do you ever feel this way?

So, ask yourself these questions about your inner child:

What did they like to do?
What games did they like to play?
What adventures did they like to have?
Who did they like to hang out with?
Can grown-up you relate to any of their hopes, dreams, and desires any longer.
Is little he or she still in there begging to come out and play?
If so, what is one activity you can do this week to let that happen?
When was the last time you let little him/her come out to play

My Take Action Challenge for you this week is to:

Get reacquainted with your inner child, honor that little part of yourself, and make some time for your inner child to come out and play! Blow some bubbles, read a fun book just for the hell of it, climb a tree, play kickball, whatever!!

PLAY! PLAY! PLAY!!

You are worth it, and little you is soooo worth it too!

I smile as I write this this evening, thinking what all the possible playful activities might be going on this week!

Please let me know in the comments section, what activities you will commit to taking this week with your inner child!!

Have a FABULOUS and PLAYFUL evening!! 😉

If you want to have a different life, you have to live differently!!

Box of Stars!

Good evening!

I just could not help but stop and share this beautifully visual quote this evening! 😉

“Caddy got the box and set it on the floor and opened it. It was full of stars. When I was still, they were still. When I moved, they glinted and sparkled. I hushed. The jewels glint and gleam with reflected and refracted light.”

– The Sound and the Fury, William Faulkner.

Here is to a FABULOUSLY ARTSY evening! ;-)

If you want to have a different life, you have to live differently!!

Be A Queen!

Good evening!

I have been reading “Chicken Soup for the Woman’s Soul” and came across this FABULOUSLY inspiring commencement address that Oprah Winfrey gave to the graduates of the all-female Spelman College in 1993:

Be a queen. Dare to be different. Be a pioneer. Be a leader. Be the kind of woman who in the face of adversity will continue to embrace life and walk fearlessly toward a challenge. Take it on! Be a truth seeker and rule your domain, whatever it is – your home, your office, your family – with a loving heart.

Be a queen. Be tender. Continue to give birth to new ideas and rejoice in your womanhood…My prayer is that we will stop wasting time being mundane and mediocre…We are daughters of God – here to teach a world how to love…

It doesn’t matter what you’ve been through, where you come from, who your parents are – nor your social or economic status. None of that matters. What matters is how you choose to love, how you choose to express that love through your work, through your family, through what you have to give to the world…

Be a queen, Own your power and your glory!
-Oprah Winfrey

I hope this inspires you as much as it has inspired me! :-)

If you want to have a different life, you have to live differently!!

Re-Post: An Evening of Vision Boarding!

Good evening!

Instead of taking Saturday nights off from blogging, I thought I would go back, back, waaaaaay back, and re-post a blog posting from my old blog, ChristinaVille. I have decided to call this weekly Saturday night post called a Re-Post! 🙂

I hope you enjoy!! 🙂

Originally posted: January 20, 2011

Good evening!!

I just got finished spending an EXTREMELY FUN evening vision boarding with my sis and niece!!! I am a firm believer in the power of vision boards. I think that is because a vision board forces you to think about what you want, make decisions about what is important enough to actually make the cut (hee! hee! hee!), and it causes you to spend time cutting, designing, and gluing a board that is completely and totally focused on your dreams! I don’t think that vision boards are magical in any way, but I do think that it helps your subconscious remember what you want, and in turn help you see signs that point you in the right direction to get those goals! Ok, maybe that does sound a little magical, but I know for me – they work!!

Here are some sample vision boards (note: these are not mine, I have found these from various sources on the web.) As soon as my new camera gets in, I will take pics of mine and give you a play-by-play!! ;-)

Aren’t they just interesting?!?

I just LOVE looking at other peoples’ vision boards. They can tell you so much about people. What they value, want to experience, learn, do, be, have! I think vision boards are highly intriguing!! That might just be because I am highly curious and people really interest me. It is amazing how much time and effort people are willing to put into these things (including me)!!! BUT it is EVEN MORE AMAZING how helpful these AWESOME TOOLS are!!! They are so unique, and ABSOLUTELY PERFECT to the creator of the board. I would highly encourage you to get out some magazines, scissors, glue, a sheet of paper, and see what you can come up with for yourself!!

I can’t wait to be able to share mine with you! Soon, soon, soon!!!

Have a FABULOUS evening!! ;-)

If you want to have a different life, you have to live differently!!

Bliss List Friday!

Good evening!

I am soooo excited that tonight is Bliss List Friday!

I am a big believer in living every moment of your life with an attitude of gratitude, which is why I LOVE Bliss List Friday!! This the day that I take a moment to reflect over all of the awesome things, and little things, and all the things in between that make life BLISSFUL that have happened during my week!!!

This week I thought I would try something different and show my Bliss List in pictures. As I was putting these pictures together, I realized that these had a generally consistent theme of my office. I have been consciously trying to find the joy at work, and after seeing these pictures, I think I am doing a pretty good job of doing just that!! 🙂

An awesome card at one of my co-worker’s cubicle!

A treasure found while treasure hunting after work!

I am having a love affair with my i-Pad! 😉

My daily decaf, sugar free, vanilla iced mocha!

My Curly Girl calendar! SERIOUSLY makes me smile!

I am LOVING this book!

I LOVE these shoes!! Thank you, Shannon! 😉

Who wouldn’t LOVE to play with these Bucky Balls (tiny ball magnets) while trying to trouble shoot any issue!!

An after work downtown jaunt with my sweetie – MY ABSOLUTE FAVORITE part of my week!

I am really having a GREAT time compiling my Bliss List every week, I really hope that you are inspired to focus on the things in your week that make you happy too!! 😉

Here is to a FABULOUS evening! 😉

If you want to have a different life, you have to live differently!!

Artsy Blog Hop Thursday!

Good evening!

I am so very excited that this is my first ever blog hop!! YEAH!!! 😉

Are you an artist, or an artist at heart? Would you like to have a way to share your art with the world??? Me too, and that is why I am starting Artsy Blog Hop Thursdays!! Join me and other artists every Thursday evening as we paint, photograph, collage, crochet, write, draw, sketch, doodle, bead, knit, sculpt, cross-stitch, make fancy mud pies, or whatever your chosen artsy medium is to your heart’s content! You can make your art as personalized as you wish.

With every weekly Artsy Blog Hop Thursday Post I’ll suggest a topic for the following Thursday, and each weekly post will have a linky widget so we can visits each others masterpieces with ease.

Sounds like fun?

Give it a try, you know you want to!!!

If you have any questions please let me know and I will do my best to get you an answer. Please remember we are learning this together! If you would like to leave a topic of the week suggestion, please feel free to do that too, in the comment section of this post!!

Happy Arting!!

Since this is our first week, and you are getting almost no notice, the topic for this week is…well… you can pick the topic for yourself!! 😉

To share your link, click on this button here:

get the InLinkz code

Next week’s topic is:

Here is to a FABULOUSLY ARTSY evening! 😉

If you want to have a different life, you have to live differently!!

Inspirational Thought of the Week!

“We should write because it is human nature to write. Writing claims our world. It makes it directly and specifically our own. We should write because humans are spiritual beings and writing is a powerful form of prayer and meditation, connecting us both to our own insights and to a higher and deeper level of inner guidance.

We should write because writing brings clarity and passion to the act of living. Writing is sensual, experiential, grounding. We should write because writing is good for the soul. We should write because writing yields us a body of work, a felt path through the world we live in.

We should write, above all, because we are writers, whether we call ourselves that or not.”

~Julia Cameron

The Right to Write: An Invitation and Initiation into the Writing Life

Here is to a FABULOUS evening!! ;-)

If you want to have a different life, you have to live differently!!

Tutorial Tuesday: Convert a Book Into an Art Journal

Good evening!

Welcome to my very first ever tutorial Tuesday!!

YEAH!! WHOO!! HOOOO!!!! APPLAUSE!!!! 😉

If you saw yesterday’s post, you would have seen that I am in the habit of writing Morning Pages every morning. I do those Morning Pages in a leather bound book, that has grid-lined paper inside of it. I like the fact that it is not just regular boring lines, in case I want to doodle or draw in my journal, I feel like the grid-lines support me in thinking outside of the box.

However, I am also a big fan of art journals, and today I want to show you how to convert any regular book into an easy and inexpensive art journal of your very own.

What you will need:

A book – I have found that hard covers hold up the best

Paper tape – this could be any kind, but what I enjoy using is the paper tape that you find in the first aid section of most any pharmacy

Paper tape found in first aid section of pharmacy

Scissors (optional)
White gesso

A wide paint brush to use with the gesso

To convert your book into an art journal:

The first thing you will have to do is to create room in your art journal so that all of the fun elements that you might want to use to decorate your art pages, such as decorative papers, buttons, beads, lace, fabric, broken jewelry, pictures, etc, have space to go.

To do this, count the first three pages of the book, then count the next three pages of the book. Tear out the second set of 3 pages. Otherwise leave in pages 1, 2, and 3, and carefully tear out pages 4, 5, and 6. You will want to tear the pages out as closely, and as carefully to the spine as you can get, but remember perfection is not necessary.

Count three pages, to skip.

Tear out the next 3 pages.

You will keep repeating this step over and over again until every other set of three pages have been removed.

Once you have torn out every other set of three pages, you will then want to reinforce the remaining sets of 3 pages that you have left.

To do this, you will go back to the beginning of your book, and gather the first set of three pages. Using your paper tape, you will want to either tear, or cut a piece of tape that measures the width of your page.

Once you have the correct length of tape, carefully lay it across the bottom edge of the book, with half the tape hanging off of the edge

Cover bottom of page, with tape letting 1/2 of the tape hang over the edge

Cover bottom edge of page, with tape letting 1/2 of the tape hang over the edge

Once that has been smoothed into place, turn your set of three pages (treating as if they are now one page, because they essentially will be), and then fold the overhang of tape up and over the back side of your new page.

Turn 3-page set, and fold up the remaining tape to create one new page out of your original three pages.

Do this to all three sides of your new page: bottom, top, and side.

Do this to the bottom edge, the top edge, and the side edge of your new page.

Each set of three individual pages will now become one thick page per taped bundle. This reinforces your pages, and makes them sturdier for any kind of media or technique that you might want to use to decorate your journal pages with.

Repeat these taping steps for all of your sets of three pages.

Once you have your pages reinforced, you are now ready to prep your pages for arting on! WHEW!!! 😉

To do this, you will want to use your paint brush and apply a thin layer or two over each page of your new art journal.

Apply a thin coat or two of gesso to each page and let thoroughly dry, so your pages don’t stick together. As you can see I don’t mind some words showing through.

If you are impatient like me, you may want to use a hair dryer, or a embossing heat gun to speed up the drying process. Please note, if you do use an embossing heat gun to dry your pages (like I do) make sure not to leave the gun pointing at one spot for too long, you do not want to accidentally burn your gesso. Not fun, and kinda smelly!!

Once your pages are gesso’ed you are ready to get arting and customizing your new art journal in any way you would like!

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial, and if you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask me in the comments section of this post! I am always happy to help!

Keep an eye out for more tutorials in the future, including many ideas and techniques on how you can decorate your new art journal! I can’t wait!

If you haven’t already, please follow This Artsy Life by hitting the “Subscribe” button on the right. I would really appreciate it!

Here is to a FABULOUS evening creating!! 😉

If you want to have a different life, you have to live differently!!

The Practice of Morning Pages!

Good evening!

In the American culture there is this subconscious message that you can not be happy if you are not constantly becoming more, doing more, giving more, socializing unceasingly, or accomplishing more. Unfortunately, this message is true even if it means the detriment of your health, level of happiness, quality of family-life, or self-sanity. We have gotten the message loud and clear that busyness equals success, noise and constant chatter the expectation, and that go-go-go is the absolute norm.

Being an American for the whole of my life, and having had bought into this notion as truth, I was surprised to discover that even though this belief might be the American mantra, it did not have to be my mantra any longer. In that moment, I made the realization that I was afraid to be alone, especially alone in silence. I was afraid to hear what my soul might have to say to me, and what of God? I had always had a relationship with God, and at one time I had prided myself on being able to hear His voice; that still small voice at the very deepest of myself. I was afraid of hearing that too. Would He be disappointed in me? Had I let Him down? Had I let myself down? I wasn’t sure – I was too busy being busy to take the time to find out, but I knew it was time.

Time to slow down.

Time to turn off all distractions.

Time to make boundaries.

Time to be alone.

Time to get quiet.

Time to focus.

Time to breathe.

Time to listen.

As soon as I turned it all of, I realized being quiet, alone, and still was very difficult for me. There was a lot of me that I had been neglecting for a long time, and I knew that it was now or never to get to the heart of the matter. As soon as the initial jittery-ness and awkwardness of hanging out with my inner self fell away, I realized there was a lot of ME that I had been missing. What I was feeling, what I longed for, what I was craving, what I was afraid of, what brought me happiness, all of that started rushing to me loud and clear.

In all honesty that was rather overwhelming at first, but always having been an avid reader, I had stumbled across a tool that turned out to be invaluable for my healing, and something that I have practiced faithfully to this day. That tool was Julia Cameron’s The Artist Way Morning Pages. I know I was not the first to discover this truly life changing practice, but I have found that God does not give you the needed resources until you are ready to receive them, and I was ready. Boy was I ready.

What Morning Pages are, is a practice of writing 3 pages of long-hand uninterrupted thoughts, in the still quiet moments of morning. Just you, your soul, and God. You don’t focus on content, spelling, grammar, or structure. The goal is to write, non-stop, and just let everything in you spill out onto the pages.

Julia Cameron puts it best:

“Morning Pages are three pages of longhand, stream of consciousness writing, done first thing in the morning. *There is no wrong way to do Morning Pages*– they are not high art. They are not even “writing.” They are about anything and everything that crosses your mind– and they are for your eyes only. Morning Pages provoke, clarify, comfort, cajole, prioritize and synchronize the day at hand. Do not over-think Morning Pages: just put three pages of anything on the page…and then do three more pages tomorrow.”

I get up at 5:30 every morning to make sure I have enough un-rushed, quiet moments in the morning to do these pages. Some days it is easier than others, and then there are days when my mind is a blank, and all I can write is “I am so tired, I can’t believe it is so early. I am just so tired.” but that doesn’t matter, it is just constant writing. These pages become sacred, and I have told my husband that no one is to read these pages. Ever. They are mine, and mine alone. Sacred.

When I need inspiration or help with a particular question, I find myself going back to my old pages (I am on my third Morning Pages journal), and I just read. Sometimes I read about a list of mundane to-do’s for the day, or there is a telling of a dream that I had had that night prior, that I have completely forgotten about by now, but then there are juicy tidbits that I sometimes wonder if I had actually written them. These are miraculous answers to questions that I had been struggling with, words of wisdom that seem to pop out at the most opportune times, or encouragement from a voice deep within that seem to come back to me at just the perfect moments.

These pages have become a sacred connection and window to what is going on inside of myself,both consciously and unconsciously. I find that I am more centered. Calmer. Able to look at my world with new eyes, and a new perception. It has helped focused me on what is truly important and who I really and most authentically am: A creative introvert, who truly loves people, and thrives best when I am either alone or with a small group of intimate friends!

I would challenge you to give this practice a try. Get up in the early hours of morning, with a pen, and a few pieces of paper, and just find a quiet corner to write 3 pages, long-hand, letting everything and anything spill out of you. Do this for about a week before you go back and re-read some of your thoughts.

I would LOVE it if you would take a moment to answer 3 questions regarding Morning Pages in the comment section of this post:

What are your thoughts about Morning Pages?
Is this a practice that you have taken up, or are planning on taking up?
If you have taken up this practice, what has surprised you about your Morning Pages?

I can’t wait to hear your thoughts!

Here is to a FABULOUS evening!! ;-)

If you want to have a different life, you have to live differently!!

Vision Board for 2013!

Good morning!

For as long as I can remember, I have always been an avid dreamer! Dreaming about my future and what God was going to do in my life, and through my life. Who I would meet, where I would live, what kind of job would I have, where would I travel, what new skills would I learn, and what kind of adventures would I go on.

Sometimes when life would get tough, one of my favorite things to do, back when I was much younger, and money was really tight, I remember I would sit with a copy of the JC Penney catalog (do you remember those?) and I would thumb through that massive catalog writing down everything and anything that I wanted to see in my life. Sometimes my finished list would contain things as simple as a particular couch that I thought would be snuggly to cuddle and watch movies in, or maybe it would be a fabulous new dress to wear on the perfect day out, or it might have even been as profound as wanting to travel the world in search of the purpose of my life.

Nowadays, I do not write too many life lists, although I do still have one MASSIVE list that I update around my birthday every year. I have taken up the practice of creating a Vision board for my life every year! Vision boards are a way that I can visually see everything and anything that I want to see manifest in my life every year.

In 2011, my visibility board revolved around finding my soul sisters. A close group of intimate girlfriends that I could relate and connect with, share my dreams and sorrows with, and really just find opportunities to reach out and find people to share our joys with.

2012’s visibility board seemed to focus more on me developing a sense of personal fashion, beauty, style, and really becoming more comfortable in my own skin.

This year’s board, I am noticing a new trend as I study the seemingly random pictures that I chose to compile on my board. It looks to me like 2013 is the year that I am going to truly embrace my creativity and actively take actions to move towards making a living doing what I love and am passionate about, which is empowering women to become the best of themselves, while using art as a way to truly listen to what our souls are saying to us.

Click on image to enlarge.

I can also see my growing love of a simple life, out in the country, enjoying a quality of life versus a quantity of life that was important to me in the past. I dream about spending time out in nature both by myself and with my loved ones, but I can also see as I look at this board, a strong, independent business woman who lives her life in the way that she chooses to on a daily basis, while generously loving all of the people who come in and out of her life.

This is a life that jazzes me to no end! I can’t wait to see what this year holds in store – I know God still has a lot of work to do with me yet, but I am sooooo ready for this amazingly exciting journey!!

As you take a look at my vision board for 2013, maybe you might be inspired to create one for yourself, and see what your soul is trying to tell you through your own seemingly random array of pictures. Once you have created your board, let me know in the comments section of this post, what is your vision board telling you???

Also, if you haven’t taken the opportunity yet, I would love to have you follow me on my adventures by hitting the “Subscribe” button in the right hand column! I promise, I have a bunch of new stuff heading your way!!

With that…

Here is to a FABULOUS day!! ;-)

If you want to have a different life, you have to live differently!!

Beautiful Creatives

Empowering your juicy life!

Category Archives: Inspiration

Honoring Your Inner Child!

Box of Stars!

Be A Queen!

Re-Post: An Evening of Vision Boarding!

Bliss List Friday!

Artsy Blog Hop Thursday!

Inspirational Thought of the Week!

Tutorial Tuesday: Convert a Book Into an Art Journal

The Practice of Morning Pages!

Vision Board for 2013!