Archives

Gratitude Friday is a weekly ritual I started in order to focus on all the small and big positive things that happened during my week. I invite you to join me, you’ll see how much being thankful can change your life. If you want to know more about it, read my introduction post.

Hello !

This week was generally a good one. I hope that despite the low moments, focusing on all the small moments of happiness will help you to level up your energy level.

This week, I am thankful for the morning spent catching up with my dear friend Stéphanie. Being myself, talking about stuff that make my heart vibrate feels like a blessing. I can’t wait for her to come back (but she hasn’t leave the country yet, I have a month to enjoy her before she travels the world) !

Thank you for the “21 secrets” workshop that will begin soon.

Thank you for the discussions with Nessa.

I am grateful for having Alice around, because she stays true to herself no matter what.

Thank you to my parents in law because i’ll be able to buy a gift from their part for my 25th birthday.

I am more than grateful for the signs and answers received this week. It allows me to see that I am on the good path and it confirms my deep believes.

Thank you for this spot I won in Magpie Girl’s current online workshop “Power Stories”, it’s awesome.

Thank you for the opportunities.

Thank you for the tough moments and harsh feelings I experience, they all teach me a lot about life, about me.

Signs are everywhere if you decide to open yourself in receiving them.

If you wrote your Gratitude Friday on your blog, don’t forget to enter your NAME and URL below so I’m notified and can come to read you (you can also join by commenting this post):
[linkme]

You know why I love Connie (from Dirtyfootprints Studio) ? Partly because she always has giganormous ideas.

Her next workshop was announced this week, it’s called “21 secrets, an art journal playground”. Why 21 ? because there will be 21 teachers, each one having its own workshop about art journaling. Do you believe this ????? You pay for ONE worshop and you get TWENTY-ONE !!! (sorry, i’m still jaw-dropped).

And trust me, it’s just too exciting.
The registrations open on Monday September 20 (yeaaaaaaaaaaah it’s my birthday this day), but the workshop will start officially on October 1st.

Here is the list of the teachers:

Andrea Schroeder :: ABC Creativity
Angelia Thompson :: Angelia’s Art Journals
Connie Hozvicka :: Dirty Footprints Studio
Dawn Sokol :: D’Blogala
Effy Wild :: Wild. Precious
Emma Peabody :: Treehouse Jukebox
/Hanna Andersson :: iHanna’s Blog
Heidi Newstrand-Dilley :: Heidiology
Jonathan “Blade” Manning :: The Artistic Biker
Kelly Warren :: Artful Happiness
Less Herger :: Comfortable Shoes Studio
Lis Hofmann :: Dandelion Seeds and Dreams
Lisa Wilson :: Life Unity
Mariza :: Marizateria
Natalie Malik :: Awkwardly Beautiful
Paula Phillips :: Journal Artista
Samantha Kira Harding :: Journal Girl
Sarah Whitmire :: Caspiana
Spooky :: The Paper Phantom
Tami Chacon :: Dream Wish Hope
Tracie Hanson :: My Blooming Life

I can’t hardly wait. i don’t now yet how it will exactly be organized but I know they’re all working very very hard to give us the best. We’ll have videos, PDFs, MP3s… Imagine ? For $59.

I don’t know everyone, some are just “names” for me at the moments, others are friends. But it will be just amazing to learn such different areas to play in the Art Journal ! It’s just too much goodness, don’t you think ? We’re so lucky !

I always wanted to be a student of Samantha, I can’t wait to see what Lisa Wilson has in store for us, to create doors and windows in my journal thanks to Paula, Andrea is such a positive inspiration… I want to learn from all of them.

And you know what ? You may be curious about my blogpost title… Connie is giving away not one, but two spots for this 21 secrets workshop ! if I win, I’ll have the chance to do a giveaway here so you’ll also have the possibility to win. Isn’t this gorgeouuuuuuuuuuuuus ??? It’d be an awesome birthday present for my 25th birthday, a good celebration 🙂

I hope to see you on the playground 😉

I am way behind, but i catch up today with the workshop I won via Tarot Mama. I talked to you about it, it’s the Power Stories workshop by Rachelle (Magpie Girl).

On day #3, Rachelle asked us to look for our “support system”. Here is what she says: “Where do you feel grounded? What makes you feel strong? Who most supports you when you stand in your own power? What are *8Things that make you feel powerful?”

It’s not that easy to find when I DO feel powerful… I’d say it’s very hard. Does that mean I feel more weak than powerful ?

but here is my list:

1. My mom is my first “cheerleader”. She always supported my choice, no matter what they were, and she knows me so much that she doesn’t hesitate to ground my feet on the floor when needed.
2. My husband is the most wonderful husband possible, he supports my dreams, helps me to achieve my goals.
3. I feel powerful when I create something. When I put my heart and my soul on paper/canvas. It makes them more tangible. It’s like I’m connected to the voice within.
4. I feel strong when I have this feeling to be on the right path, to be where I was meant to be.
5. I feel strong when someone says I am inspiring.
6. I feel grounded when I connect with my environment, mostly when I have my feet in the ocean or when my hand caress a tree or when I look at the clouds in the sky.
7. I feel strong when the words come easily out of my head onto paper.
8. The Tribe ladies make me feel powerful and strong and beautiful.

The first spread of my new art journal entirely made by me (and it feels really great to work in something handmade).

This page has a whole story behind her, despite the fact it’s not obvious. It all began with a song that comes again and again in my randomly programmed playlist “Love the way you lie” sang by Eminem & Rhianna. This song is about the hate that is sometimes intimately intertwined with strong love. But what spoke to my Soul was the chorus…

And then images were flowing into my head like crazy. Images without direct relation to the lyrics, but still linked to something in my heart.
“Watch me burn” brought me a witch, burning on a stake, with a subtile smile on her facce. While is she smiling while she’s dying, publicly ? Because she is proud of who she is, and she accepts her true nature and what its consequences. Because she knows she’ll be back. She know that this suffering has a utility. For her, for the others. And she knows that her life does not end with the death of her body; her soul will be there forever and ever.

Every single art journal page I create is a part of me and represent a facette of who I am and my path, I love them in their imperfections (the face is still full of work to do, but I won’t change anything on it).

It was not that complicated to make, and I really enjoy creating each part of it; pulling out images and feeling out of my head onto my journal felt good, very very good.

I love noticing how inspiration is everywhere and strikes when we are not waiting for it; songs are very often a good starting point for me. Even if the creation is far from what the song says eventually.

Here are some more pictures of the spread (click to enlarge):

Here is the song I was talking about (my musical tastes are VERY eclectic):

First version

Remember my desperate call for help a month ago ? I killed my big art journal and had no idea how to re-bind it. I want again to thank you all for helping me and giving me so many awesome ideas !

I realized that I really enjoy TOUCHING my pages. Some have some really nice texture, and I like running my finger on it.
I didn’t count exactly but the journal has more than 100 pages, so the idea of cutting paper, glueing it on every pages, doing new holes was overwhelming regarding the amount of time needed.

SO… the picture on your right is what my Journal was like most of its life. The inside of the spine was full of paint, I loved it like this. But what you don’t see well is that there is a clear cover on front and back. And because I manipulated it A LOT, the back one started to become weaker and weaker until the day it just fell off the journal.

After thinking about it during nearly a whole month, I decided to go for the binder option. It’s not pretty pretty, but I decorated the front cover (the most important to me, the rest can wait). The thing is I needed a big one (i chose a 2″ and smaller wouldn’t have suited the thickness of all the pages).
As the holes were almost all intact, it was the best option I think. But before trying this, I simply tried to put three rings. I didn’t like it. That’s where the binder came. And this is why i call this journal the “Journal version 1.3” (I’m geeky sometimes).

Here are a few pictures, i’m quite happy with it but it’s the only binder journal I want ;-). Click to enlarge the pictures: