Category Archives: Self Improvement

Soul Book #6 – 100 Activities!

Good evening!

Today’s Soul Book spread is a list of 100 Activities I would Love to do in 2018.

I had a lot of fun creating the background for this spread. I put on some music and just had at it!!

Materials Used:

  • Gesso
  • Schminke watercolors
  • Acrylic paints
  • Paint brush
  • Staz-On inkpad
  • Circles stamp
  • Washi tape
  • Printed title page title and numbers 1-100 on regular printer paper using my computer
  • Black ink pen

I was surprised by how long it took me to create this list, but I am so glad that I did this.

I thought you might be curious to know what I wrote on my list, so I have provided that here. Maybe you can get some ideas for your own list.

  1. Live at the coast
  2. Hike out in nature
  3. Have an article published in a magazine
  4. Have an Easter Egg hunt
  5. Hula hoop
  6. Twirl in the park
  7. Blow bubbles with friends
  8. Hula dance
  9. Earth all the time (earthing)
  10. Have a meditation practice
  11. Go skinny dipping
  12. Learn to play guitar
  13. Sing with a  group of people
  14. Volunteer
  15. Go geode hunting
  16. Pumpkin carving
  17. Run a 5k
  18. Touch my toes
  19. Have a yoga practice
  20. Learn photography
  21. Go on a road trip
  22. Write a book
  23. Have 5k YouTube subscribers
  24. Learn how to do lettering
  25. Have a pen pal
  26. Learn another language
  27. Earn money doing the work I love
  28. Get through B-School
  29. Teach an online class
  30. Coach someone
  31. Coach a team
  32. Have a tea practice
  33. Have an AM routine
  34. Have a PM routine
  35. Have a plan to get out of debt
  36. Sell the condo
  37. Solder jewelry
  38. Make something pretty
  39. Post YouTube videos for 30 days in a row
  40. Do a new YouTube series
  41. Have an electronic-free weekend
  42. Do a puzzle
  43. Watch a movie outdoors
  44. Swing on a swing
  45. Sketch while hanging out a coffee shop
  46. Go for a bike ride
  47. Try a new food at a restaurant
  48. Go to a museum
  49. Go see a play
  50. Play a live musical performance
  51. Tend a garden
  52. Go for a long run
  53. Try aromatherapy
  54. Order takeout from someplace yummy
  55. Spend a day Netflixing
  56. Take a bubble bath
  57. Read a book just for fun
  58. Start your morning pages practice
  59. Take a nap for fun
  60. Live with a capsule wardrobe
  61. Play with the puppies
  62. Take a yoga class
  63. Jump rope
  64. Fly a kite
  65. Learn to draw
  66. Get comfortable drawing faces
  67. Fill a sketchbook
  68. Write a poem
  69. Have a pamper night
  70. Have a girls’ weekend
  71. Use my art stash
  72. Minimize our living expenses
  73. Park in Roseburg for a vacation
  74. Decorate the trailer for Christmas
  75. Learn how to bake in the RV oven
  76. Have a nude photo shoot
  77. Join a march
  78. Stand up for something you believe in
  79. Vote
  80. Send notes for no reason
  81. Bake french bread
  82. Bake a cake
  83. Read in the park under a tree
  84. Have a picnic
  85. Paddle board
  86. Swim in a lake
  87. Dance in the rain
  88. Climb a tree
  89. Catch bees
  90. Smile at a stranger
  91. Sit at a bonfire
  92. Wear sweatpants
  93. Gret dressed for a hot date
  94. Make a mood board
  95. Fix blog and use it
  96. Go to the farmer’s market
  97. Do a paint by number
  98. Color a coloring page
  99. Do an entire cross stitch
  100. Sell your art

Whew! That is a HUGE list!! I hope this gives you some ideas on what you might add to your own list in your Soul Book!

Thanks so much for stopping by! If you have any questions, please feel free to let me know in the comments section! I am always happy to be of help!!

Now it is your turn to get creating in your Soul Book!

Here is to having some fun!

Soul Book #5 – Word of the Year!

Good evening!

Tonight’s Soul Book video is me sharing my Word of the Year Soul Book spread.

I really struggled with coming up with a word of the year, I mean there are just so many words that could fit so well, with everything going on in my life. Adventure, brave, journey, transformation, I can go on and on and on.

The word I finally settled on was the word

Embrace

I chose the word embrace because I feel like what I need more than anything right now is to embrace all of the changes and new opportunities coming my way, embrace the authentic me that I am allowing to come out and shine through the facade of “what is expected”, embrace my uniquenesses, my body, this skin that I am in. Embrace embodies what my focus needs to be this year!!!

If you could choose 1 word for this year, what would that word be? Why? I would love you to tell me in the comment section! 🙂

Materials Used:

  • Gesso
  • Acrylic paints
  • Various stencils
  • Baby wipes
  • Decorative craft papers
  • Decorative stickers
  • Black pen
  • I printed my word of the year and the definitions (found by Googling “Define Embrace”) off of my computer onto regular printer paper
  • Black Staz-On inkpad
  • Various stamps
  • Gold Signo ink pen
  • Tag
  • Medium sized project life card
  • Hole punch
  • Corner rounder
  • Scissors
  • Glue stick
  • Black ink pen
  • Blue Stabilo All pencil

Thanks so much for stopping by! If you have any questions, please feel free to let me know in the comments section! I am always happy to be of help!!

Now it is your turn to get creating in your Soul Book!

Here is to having some fun!

Soul Book #4 – Making Space for Book Notes!

Good evening!

One of my favorite ways to use my Soul Book is to use a dedicated spread to take notes out of a really good self-help or inspirational book. The book I am reading right now is called, The 5 Second Rule, and is written by Mel Robbins, and it definitely falls under this category! There are so many juicy nuggets in here, that I know I will want to be able to call upon again! So, before I actually take notes into my Soul Book, I like to make sure that I have a spread decorated for just the purpose of documenting my notes. This will help me locate them again, and it is also a fun way to motivate myself to actually take the notes.

Materials Used:

  • Gesso
  • Palette knife
  • Prima watercolors
  • 2 Intense watercolor pencils
  • Decorative craft paper
  • Black pen
  • I also created and printed a book title on regular printer paper, and I printed a copy of the book cover, that I found doing a google search.

Thanks so much for stopping by! If you have any questions, please feel free to let me know in the comments section! I am always happy to be of help!!

Now it is your turn to get creating in your Soul Book!

Here is to having some fun!

Soul Book #3 – Where I am Now vs Where I Want to Be!

Good evening!

Today’s video is about the journal prompts, Where I am now, and where I want to Be!

I found these two journal prompts in my paper stash and as soon as I saw them, I knew I wanted them in my Soul Book. I was sure that they would be a great way to do some self reflection so that I could make some decisions on where to go next!

Before dealing with my journal prompts, I had fun decorating my spread’s background with various mixed-media techniques.

Materials Used:

  • Dina Wakley heavy body paints
  • Chevron stamp
  • Staz-On ink pad
  • Various arrow stamps
  • 2 different Tim Holtz Distress ink pads
  • 4 different wash tapes
  • Black Stabilo Marks all pencil
  • Black ink pen

The thought at the bottom of my page was from my You Are A Badass, page-a-day calendar:

If you’re not where you want to be in life, keep going. Treat yourself like you’re the closest friend you’ve got. Celebrate the magnificent creature you are. Don’t let anyone mess with you and your dreams, least of all yourself.

Thanks so much for stopping by! If you have any questions, please feel free to let me know in the comments section! I am always happy to be of help!!

Now it is your turn to get creating in your Soul Book!

Here is to having some fun!

Soul Book 2018 #2 – Soul Book Landing Page!

Good evening!

Today’s Soul Book video is about 3 things, decorating the Soul Book opening landing page, writing a letter to your future self, and creating a vision board translation tip in from last week’s vision board exercise.

The landing page is the very first page you see when you open your Soul Book. This is the area I like to put positive images, thoughts, and things that make me happy, so I can see them as soon as I open my Soul book! I also like to include an envelope on this landing page. In this envelope I put a letter written to my future self, to be opening the first day of next year. This letter is me telling my future self what an awesome year 2018 turned out to be. I love doing this practice, because then when the first day of the next year comes along, I get to open and read the letter and see just how much of my past thoughts actually came to fruition, and what I still need to be working on!

The last thing that I did for this spread was I went back to last week’s vision board, and asked myself a few questions about the type of woman that would lead a life that the photos and words that I selected embodied (AKA me, hopefully)! 🙂 I took the answers to these prompts and created a tip-in that is attached to my Soul Book’s landing page. I chose to do a tip-in because I wanted to be able to see my translation whenever I work on any of my future Soul Book pages, and having this mini page able to be tipped-in or out, will let me do just that!

Materials used:

  • A sketch book to use as my Soul Book (Here is the link to the one I get every year)
  • Magazines (I used mostly O magazines, because they are filled with positivity)
  • Images printed from Pinterest
  • Tombo permanent adhesive tape strip
  • Uhu glue stick (my fave)
  • Stickers
  • Washi tape
  • Watercolor paper
  • Decorative craft paper
  • Scissors, or course
  • Envelope with a blank decorative card
  • Various pens (completely optional, but excellent if you decide to do any doodling around any of your images)

The prompts I used were:

My Soul Book

for

healing, dealing, documenting,

creating, imagining, planning,

doodling, writing, meditating,

brainstorming, organizing, learning,

& anything else my creative little heart desires!

My Personal Vision

In her alone time, she…

With her sweetie, she…

With her soul sisters, she…

In her home, she…

Thanks so much for stopping by! If you have any questions, please feel free to let me know in the comments section! I am always happy to be of help!!

Now it is your turn to get creating in your Soul Book!

Here is to having some fun!

Soul Book 2018 #1 – Vision Board

Good morning!

I know I am a bit late in getting this post published – a few weeks late to be exact, but my goal here is to be of service, and I realize that it might be very helpful to those of you who watch my YouTube videos to have a place where you can go to find which supplies I may have used on any of my Soul Book 2018 spreads. I also want to make sure that any prompts that I use are also available for you to use in your own Soul Books as well. Please note, that I do a lot of work to create these ideas, prompts and Soul Book spreads, so I would ask that if you do use any of these, that you please use them for your own personal use only. Thank you!

I decided to start my 2018 Soul Book creating my yearly vision board. I thought this would be a good place to start because I had been in a bit of a creativity rut, and cutting images and words out of magazines seemed like a really easy way to start to get some creative mojo back again.

Materials used:

  • A sketch book to use as my Soul Book (Here is the link to the one I get every year)
  • Magazines (I used mostly O magazines, because they are filled with positivity)
  • Uhu glue stick (my fave)
  • Scissors, or course
  • A black pen (completely optional, but excellent if you decide to do any doodling around your vision board images)
  • A good classic movie (I always create my vision board while having a great movie playing in the background!)

Thanks so much for stopping by! If you have any questions, please feel free to let me know in the comments section! I am always happy to be of help!!

Now it is your turn to get creating in your Soul Book!

Here is to having some fun!

I am SOOOOOO Ready!!

Trees silhouettes against gradient colored sky

Okay, so I see it has been since 9/15 that I have last posted, which is an insane amount of time, but I have to stop and just let you know a little bit about what has been going on in our lives.

Oh man, there is just so much…I am not even sure I know where to start.

For those of you who have been following my life, you would know that my hubby and I moved to Portland, Oregon last December (exactly 1 year 18 days ago!) Anyway, I had this crazily insane idea that if I moved to Portland, that somehow the city would rub off on me and I would then be a bonafied artist.

I see that in writing and I think, I must’ve been insane to have thought that a city could make me be something that I already am!

Anyway, let’s just say that THAT is not what happened. You see, Portland is very expensive to live in, so my hubby and started working overtime to pay for all of these AMAZING things that we would do, now that we were officially Portlanders!

My job got really stressful and pressure-filled, plus I’ve been working on east coast time, which meant that I was missing all of this amazing Portland nightlife that I kept hearing about, because mama needed to make sure sleep was a priority, or she was going to crash and burn.

On top of all of that, we had a few major medical emergencies happen this year, the biggest of which is that we almost lost our sweet Liam boy not once, but twice…and…let’s just say that even though he is doing better, thank God…it has been a very difficult and trying year.

Back in September, when I wrote Spiraling, Spiraling, I was at what I thought was my rock bottom.

Well, the universe had other things in mind (AKA mama had some more lessons that I needed to learn).

In October, my husband fell through some scaffolding, which resulted in him tearing all of the muscles from his right shoulder, requiring surgery to fix. According to his surgeon, his surgery was one of the worst tears he had seen, actually needing to full surgeries in one sitting to fix, but everything went, as the surgeon described it, “best case scenario”. Even though the surgery went better than hoped, it wiped us out financially, at least for a few months.

If I thought the year was hard before, this accident really knocked us for a loop, because now I was literally alone in all household chores, cooking, taking care of our puppies, packing for our move (more on that later), caring for my sweetie through a really painful healing process, and my work life was just getting harder and harder, being micromanaged to the nth degree by someone who honestly just didn’t know me enough to trust me or my work.

I felt like I was being attacked on all fronts.

Well, if you know me, you know that I do not like to be stuck for long, so some BIG decisions were made!

This is what I MOST EXCITED to share with you..

Oh man… okay, so I am just going to tell you, because in all honestly I am a little afraid of sounding like a crazy person, but since my hubby is supporting me in my brand of crazy then, that’s enough, right???

Changes:

  1. I am leaving my job, at the end of this month
  2. My hubby and I are going through the process of going through all of our belongings, packing up only what we must, and putting all of that into a small storage unit
  3. We have purchased a brand new travel trailer (AKA an apartment on wheels)
  4. We are moving out of Portland, and moving out on to my sis-in-law’s property, while my hubby takes the next 6 months to heal and go through some serious physical therapy
  5. Sometime during all of that, we are going to refinish the remodel of our condo, and sell it, so that we can pay off as much of the rest of our debt as possible (that surgery was REALLY expensive), but it is so close to complete, that I am really excited about it!
  6. When all is said and done, my sweetie and I are going to use the next year, living in our cute little trailer, simplifying every single aspect of our lives, and we are going to travel the Oregon coast, living any where we choose.

The main goal for this next year, is to simplify and  figure out what it is really want for the next 10, 20, 30 years of our life. It is all going by so fast, that if we don’t start living it on purpose, and not on autopilot, we are going to seriously be sorry when our time runs out.

Regret is NOT an option!

So there you have it!

I know that I have been MIA for a while, and I do apologize for that. I do have a new plan, with the new year, so please be patient as we finish this crazy busy transition (oh, and did I mention that Christmas is happening in the middle of all of this????). Anyway, I know the best, THE VERY BEST is yet to come!!

Great big hugs to all of you who took the time to stop by to read my little blog!

with the utmost of sincerity, and light, and goodness,

A Peaceful Sunday Morning!

beautiful landscape of meadow sunrise

Good morning, Beautiful Creatives!

This morning, at my house, is a very peaceful place to be!

Almost all of the chores are already done, papa is in the kitchen making breakfast, and Gracie and Bitsy are in their bed in the living room playing with one of their favorite stuffed squeaky toys!

Breakfast, in case you are curious, is 1/2 a bagel with cream cheese, 2 scrambled eggs with one slice of bacon in it! That will be followed by some fresh berries!! YUM!

After breakfast, we will all pile into the car and head over to Dutch Brothers to pick up our weekend splurge, which is one of their freezes! But then, we are back to the house, and spending a quality lazy day together!

So far, besides hanging with my little fam at the manse, I know I am going to put a big pot of chili on later this afternoon, which is one of our favorites! That is in honor of the fact that the weather is finally starting to cool down around here, and we can feel our favorite season rolling in…FALL!! I can not wait until the leave starts changing colors – they may have already, I just don’t seem to get out of the house every day to check on their progress! So, for my hubby and I, we are officially back into the season of Hygge!! MY FAVE!!!

For us this means, candles, homey meals, fires in the fireplace, snuggling while watching movies, or reading, under big fuzzy blankets on the sofa, bundled up walks around our neighborhood while holding hands, and pretty much living a quality, but simple life just enjoying each other in the moment! Doesn’t that sound dreamy??? Now you can see why Fall is our favorite time of year!

As I write this, I also stop and think about all of the people in the Southeastern part of this country, and all of the tragedy they are going through, as the States experience one of the worst hurricane seasons in our history. It really breaks my heart! I feel so helpless, and don’t really know what to do to help! So, for now, I pray!

Okay, so I realize that might have come a little bit out of left field, but this is how my brain works…random thoughts pop in and out whenever and wherever they want to. I have made the conscious decision that if this morning journaling session is going to happen, then it has to be real. So there you go…you are welcome! 😉

Anyway, I am hoping that this feeling of peace can last throughout the entirety of my day, I realize that not everyone is so lucky. My heart goes out to you!

Here is to finding a little bit of peace, wherever you may be!

 

What Matters Most Right Now?

In nature after fog

Good morning, Beautiful Creatives!

What matters most right now?

This is a question that has been a constant friend over the past few days! When I hear it, in my head, I try to not only answer it, but I am trying to make it my practice to actually take action on it!

What matters most right now?

The answer to that question has varied quite a bit, but it has been everything from:

  • Go brush your teeth!
  • Schedule your bills!
  • Clean the kitchen!
  • Go journal!
  • It is time for a meditation!
  • Early to bed, please!
  • Go hug your sweetie!
  • Turn off the telly, it is time to get to work!
  • etc!

I think the Universe is trying to get me to really stay focused on what really needs my attention right now, and you know what? It is really making me feel more accomplished! Little baby-step kind of things that really matter to me. Doing this consistently over the past few days have left me feeling mentally, much better than I have in quite a while!

YAY!!

So…

What matters most right now?

Is there something that you can stop and take immediate action on?

If there is anything I can encourage you to do today, it is that!

GO DO THAT!!!

Here is to a Beautiful Creative day!

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

Just Another Manic Tuesday!

Bitsy & Gracie sleeping!! Sisters and Besties Forever!! 🙂

Good morning, Beautiful Creatives!

Okay, so maybe it is not quite a manic Tuesday, but the Manic Monday song ran through my head as I was trying to figure out what to title this post…so there ya go! 🙂

My day of taking micro baby steps to be a better me than I was the day before was a success! If I may say so myself!

I’ve decided to keep track of my baby steps in a small, pocket-sized, notebook. That way I have no excuse not to write it down. I thought that this way would also give me an easy, electronic-free way to look back and see how far I have come in my progress!

I just counted and I ended up with 39 things on my list, and a few of those things were:

  • Lunch with Papa Jay and Crystal
  • An afternoon walk
  • Play with the puppies
  • When they did something they are not supposed to, I stopped to remember that they are still puppies!
  • I had a healthy breakfast
  • Purchased enough slim hangers to replace every regular one we have in the house – project closet purge is well on it’s way
  • and climbed in bed early to read…a quick note on this one, I was soon interrupted by pre-bedtime-spazzy-puppies, and reading did not commence. It is dang near impossible to ready with these 2 little hooligans around!! 😉

So, that is just a sampling of how I did yesterday. I think I did a lot of things really, really right, and I still did a lot of things that I can still improve on. As for today, I am going to keep tracking my micro successes, one thing at a time!

HOWEVER, the thing I am most excited about today is that today is the first day of our girls’ puppy training classes!!

YAAAAAAY!!!

and whew, I thought this day would never come!

For the most part Gracie and Bitsy are well behaved girls! Okay, that might be a lie, but I think they try!

Gracie is super friendly, social, and just loves E-V-E-R-Y-B-O-D-Y!!!!

Bitsy, well, let’s just say she has other attributes!! 😉

She is a spazz, is terrified of anyone and everyone, gets really vicious when she plays, and once out of the house she is loooooooooong gone!! She is a wild child that just can not be tamed!! Which is really cool, but also has caused a lot of extra WTF??? commentary in our little household!

I am really hoping that puppy training will help, because we cannot afford to have Cesar Milan come to our home and show us how to let Bitsy know that we are the pack leaders, not her!

She does have her awwwwww moments too, mind you – she is the best car passenger! She loves watching everything happening outside, which is awesome!!

Ooh! My alarm to head out to work just went off, so I have got to zippity-do!! I will let you know how puppy school goes!! Until then…

Here is to a Beautiful Creative Day!

If you want to have a Beautiful Creative life, you have to take beautiful and creative actions!