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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 !

How was your week ? I hope that my fellow Canadians enjoyed their Thanksgiving week-end and did not have a food overdose 😉

My week was good, not that much in pain, same level of exhaustion but I guess I just have to go with it now, my husband was home both monday AND tuesday.

This week, I am grateful for:

• The messages I receive from readers of this blog and on Facebook, telling me how they love this Gratitude Friday because it helps them.
• The opportunity to teach.
• The time passed with my Husband and the fantastic Thanksgiving week-end we had.
• My friend Paola may be coming to see me with her family next week.
• My aunt’s help with my mom. And my mom now have her plane tickets to come here. She will arrive on Oct. 25, which is very soon from now. I am over the moon.
• My mom got out of the hospital earlier than planned.
• The fact that my husband supports me that much. I know how lucky I am.
• Taking the actions so I can move forward in my life.
• Having shared this silly picture of mine publicly.

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]

Inspired by my amazing friend Anu, and because I so want to blog but try to limit my time on my computer, I want to share with you things I have been doing lately. Maybe with some pictures to go with it, just because 😉

• Art journaling my heart out. So the bad is not inside anymore (way more healthier than cutting my skin).
• Creating some Mail Art to finally ship out in the World.
• Went to my family doctor to speak of my issues and get some help. Get diagnosed with something I didn’t want to hear but that I accept and do what I can to get out of this state.
• Exercise on my upright bike every other day. Goal is to do it every day.
• Signed up at Weight Watchers, and try not to be ashamed of it. First meeting tomorrow.
• Pray. Trust. Embrace.
• Cuddle with my girls, telling them how much I love them.
• Enjoyed a four day break with my husband for Thanksgiving.
• Revamped our old dinner table that is now a coffee table. Need to be doodled on.
• Did a family photo shot in UBC.
• Sent an email to an artist I really love about this big dream of mine.
• Felt lonely, and disconnected.
• Do daily Reiki self-healing, and daily distance healings to people who need it.
• Talked to my mom on the phone while she is at the hospital. Told her she is important to me and I can’t wait to give her a real good hug in a few weeks (for those who don’t know, she lives in France while we live in western Canada).
• Discovered the new Oprah’s show, recording them to watch as I work.
• Enjoyed some shows over My Craft Channel (Heidi Swapp, Christy Tomlinson…).
• Listen and watch the videos from the World Biggest Summit.
• Noticed that something is shifting in my creativity, I feel kinda lost again. But I know it won’t last.
• Shipped some orders to their buyers.
• Deeply breathed so I can go on.
• Congratulated Grenouille for her good grades but insisting that if it was not that good it would be okay too.
• Try to gather my fears so I can throw them away and finally get my online class together (are you excited ? ;)).
• Speak a lot with my dear friend Anu.
• Finally got the chance to tchat with my friend Paola.
• Sketch new girls, listening to their stories (still have to find them a general name).
• Took steps toward recovering the Nolwenn I know I am.
• Try to figure out why the hell i am again in a creative blur.

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 !

Next Monday will be Thanksgiving here in Canada. The girls won’t be at school, my husband will be off work too. A long week-end ahead. And I am pretty excited about this one, to be honest. I would love to gather around me friends and close family but unfortunately it is not possible. But we decided to start our first familial Thanksgiving traditions this year. YAAAAY.

And this is perfect with this Gratitude Friday ritual. I hope you will join me and share some things you are grateful for in this period of the year.

I am thankful for:

• My Mamounette (aka Mom). Always there, always strong. One of the pillars of my life I would crumble without.
• My half, my Cheridoo. Despite his obvious lack of subtility (that is sometimes hurful when he speaks his truth without any embellishments around), his love is what keeps me strong and helps me to still stand.
• My daughters, who love me no matter what. Their hugs and moments of pure bliss and craziness.
• Having been put on the road of my Reiki teacher and her academy when I needed it the most, she teaches a different kind of Reiki (but also the original Usui one) but it is also very powerful (and WAY easier). I am now a Practical Reiki Master (I still have some assignments before receiving my certificate though). I am healing, physically and spiritually, and I feel useful by giving back to the ones who ask me. And I know this is just the beginning. Contact me if you want more info, I would love to share about my experience.
• My family doctor. The contact was hard at first but I am now happy she is following me. She does not think I am crazy, she listens and helps the more she can.
• Jamie Ridler’s opportunity she gave me to be in her Circe’s Circle. It helped a lot with my project, and I met amazing women.
• Anu, just for the amazing she she is. For our daily discussions, for her humour, for listening to me without judging. Just because I love her. A lot.
• The Universe and the messages I get when I am in creative state. This source of inspiration I am tapping in. The certitude that despite the strangeness and apparent simplicity of my artwork, this is partially what I am meant to do here.
• Connie who gently pushed me to open my Etsy shop, and supported me. Helped me unfolding my wings so I could fly free. My customers and their positive feedbacks.
• The lost friends, the ones who came back without explanation why they left me there, the ordeals put on my path.
• Teesha Moore’s workshop. ANd I thank in advance for FLora Bowley’s workshop in Teesha’s artfest annex next month.
• The possibility I have to explore my Darkness in order to appreciate how bright my Light can be.
• My sewing machine, that I am still learning to use, and the things I create thanks to it (plushes, fabric art journals I love).
• My Art Journals, that keep me sane.
• The support from other artists, and from other women also struggling with fibromyalgia. Community is important to me.
• My husband’s work, despite the times I hate it because it keeps him away from me and that sometimes it feels like he is working 24/7, it gives us a lot.
• My friends, old and new. I send the wish to the Universe to please send me friends in Vancouver. I would love some girls night, without boy or kids. (Melissa, I have to message you).
• My selfportrait project that I started back in March this year. I document my daily life in picture without words. And I see me differently.
• People met thanks to the Reiki Awakening Academy, where I got my certification.
• People who participate in the weekly ritual, even the ones who do it once a month, or less. I love reading their own Gratitude Friday or just knowing they do it privately.
• This come back to a more spiritual life, the reintegration of rituals (not necessarily in a witchy kinda way).
• The good food I cook and put in my belly. Yes Anu, even the Nutella.
• Art supplies. My drug, and the brands I discovered this year (Lindy Stamp Gang, Dylusions, Crafter’s Workshop et j’en passe), it just makes me happy to get new art supply. See a kid in a candy store ? or a kid on Christmas morning ? yep, i am a mix of both at the same time !
• Books I surround myself with and that make me enter new universes.
• The chance I have to live in a city I actually chose, and where I am not by obligation.

Life sometimes sucks. But it can also be put in a different perspective. Thank you for all I am living every single second. Thank you.

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]

Hello,

I am over the moon to officially present you July. If you follow me on Facebook, or even on flickR, you already discovered her:

July

I created her on canvas, she was my come back on a bigger scale (I have to measure her but I think she is like 16×20, not exactly sure though).

She is my best example that picking some colors you like, without anything in mind despite having fun and playing around, can get something you eventually really like. And that accident can create something fun and unexpected.
If you follow my artwork for a while, you would know I am not the type to use a lot of so bright colors on the same painting. But I could not help it 😉

The backgroung looked like this (see picture on the right, but you have to flip it on a 90degrees angle to see it as it ended up. I painted it this way and then flipped it when I saw her).
The red in the middle caught my eye immediately, I saw a hat. And then the face came along. And the body. Do you see it as well ?

I love using stencils. Especially the one made by The Crafter’s Workshop. This is what I used for her hat, simply with black archival ink. I love how it turned out. That we can see through but not too much.

The tattoo on her forhead is the happy accident I told you about… I was painting her make up with the amazing Color Shots by Lindy Stamp Gang, and I put the jar on the canvas while painting… when I lifted it up woooopsies ! there was this huge trace right there, that no one would miss. I so love the color, and I knew that it would be worse if I tried to wipe it off. So I decided to create a beautiful crescent like tattoo instead, and embellished it with puff paint. And to create another one as an echoe on the background.

July has rainbow in her heart and loves to wear heavy artistic make-up.

Others think she is a bit crazy and totally weird with all these bright colors she likes to surround herself with, and this make-up she puts around her eyes.Some even think she is hiding behind it, from something she does not want to talk about. But they are wrong: she just loves it, it is as simple as that.

July tends to do whatever she wants, not because a lack of structure but because she wants to enjoy every second of her life.
She is always respectful and will always be nice. Because she thinks that if you are nice and loving, then people will return it to you somehow, by being nice too. She would love to find a way to help others see life as she does, because she wants them to be as happy and free as she feels. Don’t think she is reckless or careless, it would be a misunderstanding.

She likes pushing her limits, to let the Universe know that she trusts and that she just knows, deep down, that it will be alright. No matter what.

«I Dare» is her mojo.

Some details (click to enlarge):

You can buy prints of her in my Etsy Shop (or directly from me if you prefer)

There are some days that are just not fun. Today is one of them for me. I hate it, but I deal with it.

My Art Journal is this safe place where I can vent and write and create anything I want, just because it is totally mine and I chose to share only what I want.

The stamp says «Every now and then, Life need to be turned upside down to get back to the right way up» which, in my opinion, is more than accurate. We need to experience the crappy stuff to learn how to get the awesome one. But in the right now, it is just not easy and it hurts.

I am currently loving creating simple but meaningful pages. It is far from what I usually do but it allows me not to spend an hour on a pages. I also tend now to create a background, maybe sketch a girl on it, and finish it later on.

I love how the red is dripping on the blue, it means a lot in my mind.

Note: I am trying this new tool called inlinkz to show you the products I used for my art journal page. Tell me what you think, if I should keep it or if it is a no-no 😉

Gesso	Pretty in Pink Pink	Baby Blue Eyes Aqua	Life upside down stamp
Rubber Alphabet Stamps Pistolgrip	Black Pitt Pen