Being Busy updates and an announcement

In my last post I promised I would update you on how I was getting on with some other classes and workshops I'm doing or getting behind with.  It is a very long post but please stick with it.  Or just scroll down to the bottom for the announcement.

Firstly One Little Word and Documented Life.  I have been combining these and really not enjoying it.  I haven't totally given myself to the Unplanner which has weekly art journaling type suggestions.  I really only kept a 'diary' of what I had been doing.  So as a result of Pathfinder - more on that later - I decided to discontinue the Unplanner in its previous form. I also decided not to continue with the I am tags.

I decided to keep track of what I do each day on the calendar on the back of each monthly divider and concentrate on One Little Word.  In April I went to Florida to attend a Ladies Getaway and I stuck the programme cover onto the April divider.

I filled in a key activity from each day on the calendar.  April's OLW task was to define what life was like with more of your word in it.  I attended Pathfinder right at the end of April so I have only just completed this task.

I was trying to exercise every day but that didn't always happen.  The photo on the May divider is of Lacock Abbey.  We went to stay at a B&B in Lacock for our wedding anniversary.  We didn't stay in the Abbey!  However the B&B was absolutely five star.

I signed up for an online class Art & Spirituality because it has been written by someone I know.  It is excellent but requires a daily commitment each week.  As we went away at the beginning of week 2 I got behind.  Still I can keep all the PDFs and do the course when I have time.

So on to Pathfinder.  This was an excellent day with Anneliese Bates.  I've done art workshops with Anneliese before but nothing like Pathfinder.  She provided us with an A5 sketchbook and we coloured the backgrounds however we wanted and then she asked questions.

The class was described thus:  This workshop is aimed at anyone who doesn't know what direction they really want to take, whether you have a new business idea, thinking of a big life change, a change in career or even moving home, Anneliese will guide you through the thought process step by step, interspersing it with art for which you need no experience.

Included in the workshop is a journal that will be become your working thought process, beautifully decorated and personalised with your own artwork and full of your thoughts, dreams and how to make those become a reality.

We will explore the changes you want to bring about, the things that are stopping you, and ways to overcome the obstacles.

I had gone with the idea of looking at whether I should stick with art journaling or concentrate on textile art or do both.  A somewhat simplistic idea in the light of what happened.

The first question was what were you unhappy with in life at the moment and what did you want to change.  I did add a couple of things to my answer.

Anneliese continued to ask questions and we continued to write down our personal answers.  The best part was as there weren't many of us that we were able to ask questions and make comments.  Discussions ensued which helped clarify our thoughts.

Here is a really key page.

When I got home I wrote down all that I had signed up for!  No wonder my head hurt holding all that information in my head.  I went through the list and decided which ones I should stay committed to, which ones I should give up on entirely and those that I had online lifetime access to and could do when I have time.  I have also withdrawn from the Cas Holmes weekend workshop.

This was a really useful page that I did at home.  Some of what is written here came out of the discussions we had on the day.

However you know me, I ignored my own advice about not signing up for anything else and enrolled on a 9 weekend course called Experimental Textiles led by Kim Thittichai which starts in June!

We had also talked about decluttering.  We had loads of boxes of my Dad's stuff in the conservatory - they had been there 2-3 years.  I had made a half-hearted effort to get them sold at an auction but had kept putting it off.  We also had over 300 owls that Andy collected as a child and other collections of stuff.  And stuff it is.  However I emailed a different auction house who accepted everything I listed and we took it all to them - 18 boxes of stuff.  They are sorting it into lots and it will all be put in an auction either in June or July.  Result!

Just as I was sorting out the boxes of stuff to take to the auction house this article popped up on my Facebook newsfeed.     How to declutter and let go of family treasures

I thought this was excellent from that article.

• Memories take up space in our hearts; stuff takes up space in our homes.
• Memories last forever; stuff breaks, gets lost, and fades away.
• Memories bring joy; stuff brings stress.
• Memories are honoring; stuff is diminishing.
• Memories bring peace; stuff brings chaos.
• Memories actually matter; stuff really doesn’t matter at all.

I feel much more in control of what I am doing although there is still much to work through.

Well done, if you're still here having waded through this post.  And now for the big announcement.

Drumroll please!

This is my 998th blog post.  Wednesday will see my 999th.  And on Friday we will celebrate
1000 with a giveaway.


See you on Friday.  Thanks for stopping by.
Bernice

March

I am combining my One Little Word, the Unplanner from Art to the 5th and the 'I am' statements from His Kingdom Come in one binder.

I have ignored the Unplanner art challenges during March and just kept a record of what I've done.  Where there's gaps on the pages it's because I can't remember what I did or I didn't do anything special.

For the divider page for March I stuck the card that came with the bouquet of flowers for Mother's Day and then stuck some of the cellophane over the top.

Lots of the doodled pages and dividers in this binder can be coloured in but I haven't got round to it yet.

You can see the 'I am' tags that I am making for a bible verse each week.

The last few days of March are on the same page as the beginning of April so I have put that page into this month's pages.

The challenge in One Little Word for March was to create a large collage using bits and pieces cut from magazines.  I toook a photo of it for my binder.

I have tried to exercise every day and although I haven't lost any weight, I have lost inches!  Yeah!

Here's a better photo of my OLW collage.

Thanks for stopping by.
Bernice

February

In January I told you how I am combining my One Little Word, 'I am' tags and my Unplanner all in one binder.

I managed to keep up with February although some days I didn't do anything other than art so at the end of the month I printed out some small photos of the pages of my February Challenge Sketchbook.

February Divider
I planned to put a large photo of snowdrops on this page and at one point thought I might have to find a photo from a previous year.  However we eventually did go out and find some.

Week 1
The theme for the I am statements for February was  'Made in the image of God'.  I don't usually include photos of peoplein my art but managed to do it this time on each tag.

Week 2

The List Ten for this month was about things I shouldn't have done and one of the art challenges was Gratitude so I decided to list 10 things I'm thankful for.

Week 3

Week 4

One Little Word
The assignment for February was to practice something everyday and record it.  I used my February sketchbook as my art practice everyday.

I damaged my back at the beginning of the month and wasn't able to do the Salsa exercise I had planned to do.  I was eventually able to do short walks.  The back is ok now so hopefully in March I will be able to exercise more frequently.  Just have to find the motivation!

Thanks for stopping by.
Bernice

January

This year I am combining the Unplanner from Art to the 5th with One Little Word from Ali Edwards.  I didn't buy the kit from either site but found similar items online.

I wanted to make it simple and bought the Bo Bunny calendar dividers and the weekly pages.  However the weekly pages start on a Sunday and I like my diary pages to start on a Monday!

I am also making 'I am' tags every week.  The project for this is on His Kingdom Come where the 'I am' verses are released in the 2nd and 4th weeks of each month.   I decided I wanted to make one per week so I have found verses for the intervening weeks.

Week 1
I printed out a small photo for each day of our holiday in Texas and stuck these onto my pages.

Week 2
To change the weekly pages to start on Monday, I made some days of the week printouts using a scan of a gelli print that I had done as a background.

Week 3

Week 4

The task for this week was to list 10 books that had changed my life.  Currently I can only think of 5.

On the back of the List Ten, I glued the little card I had made for Roger to show the theatre visit I had booked for him.  This was his Christmas present and the show was on January 23rd.

Week 5

Another Art to the 5th idea is a word for the month under the Dare2B heading.  I chose Dare2B organised.   There are still boxes to go through but at least the room was generally tidy.  I blogged about it here.   I printed the photos on the back of a piece of scrapbooking cardstock.

On each week's page of my Unplanner I have been sticking a word that is a synonym of my word of the year: Purpose.  My OLW pages are in the same binder following on from the planner section.

I put a photo of the storyboard from the Reflections class on the left (the scrapbook cardstock).

Ali provides the fancy lettered headers.

Ali very kindly provided the 'synonyms' header in the February class pack.

I made myself some weight and exercise charts to help keep track.  Unfortunately due to raging toothache and then a muscle injury the exercise hasn't happened for a little while.  Never mind, there's always February.

Thanks for stopping by.

Bernice