Around Here Lately

Lately I have been doing art journaling on a small scale - 3 x 5 to be exact. I started working on smaller art when I started my Rolodex art journal (see the start here). Lately small has been quick and easy. I stumbled on the Index Card a Day (ICAD) art challenge and 30 Days of Bible Lettering. These two challenges have been running at the same time and I am "loosely" following them when I need a creative spark.

Working on this scale has resulted in my looking at things differently when I am shopping vintage, mainly office items. In preparation for the upcoming vintage market we are participating in I have been altering various office items to use as art journaling display.

I have hit the jackpot in my thrill of the vintage hunt shopping with lots of file boxes and a lot of clipboards in various sizes.

So, we are finally approaching our first vintage market which will take place this Saturday.

I moved my dining room table into the living room and "staged" (can you tell I have been watching too much HGTV and DIY network lately?) my booth in the dining room so I can be prepared. Staging helps insure that I have enough tables and other ways to display my items. It will obviously look somewhat different on grass and under a canopy tent!

We found a few new shows on HGTV and DIY that have been inspiring our vintage business. Masters of Flip, Nashville Flipped and Vintage Flip - all three shows specialize in buying vintage homes, restoring them and then selling them. We've been flipping channels between them and Cleveland Indians baseball!

A few more Bible Lettering pages done in my altered book journal instead of the small scale:

I'm off to a personal retreat for a few days to do some stuff for ministry and then we have the vintage market! Here's to hoping you all have a great week!

One Little Word May

My word for 2016 is Rest. It has been both an encouraging and a challenging word. I chose this word for two main reasons: I lean toward burn-out often and I am trying to establish a rhythm or pace of life that incorporates downtime and includes the practices and things that give me energy. This is rest. And the second reason is I cannot do number one and juggle a very hectic and busy,yet satisfying, full time job in ministry without resting (depending) more on God. As I've written before, some years have been more successful than others as I have participated in Ali Edward's One Little Word. I am determined that this year I will connect with it all year. Ali's prompts and activities are really a great way to make my word an active part of my life. I did, however, skip April and am giving myself permission to be okay with that! For April I just did a quote on the divider page.

In May our challenge was to get behind the lens of our camera and take photos of things that capture our word for us. At first I thought it would be difficult to visualize rest, but then it really just became an exercise in capturing images of the things that bring me energy and help me rest.

(Photo: Church cemetery in Charleston, SC)

For me, the rest I seek most is to rest in God. Doing so brings great peace.

“Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30

(Photo: Beulah Beach on Lake Erie)

(Photo: Church cemetery in Charleston, SC

(Photo: Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge)

Not only do I enjoy birding and bird photography, but they are also a reminder to trust God - to rest in Him.

"Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?" Matthew 6:26

The flip side of my May divider:

And the flip-side of my photo pocket page:

Season of Introspection

The Get Messy art journal community is in the midst of the Season of Introspection for June and July. Each week we receive art and journaling prompts to help us engage with the theme. My personality leans toward introspection - at times it is probably closer to over-introspection! For me, the purpose of introspection is to examine self in order to draw closer to God and to become more Christlike. In fact, one of my favorite quotes goes along these lines:

“There is no deep knowing of God without a deep knowing of self and no deep knowing of self without a deep knowing of God.” John Calvin

We were challenged to alter a book for this season. Not much of a challenge for me since this is my normal practice! I already had a book I had altered but have not done much work in.

My first two pages for the Season of Introspection:

And a few pages I did recently in the beginning of this journal:

I add a few more altered book art journals to my shop every few weeks. Check them out here!

Thanks for stopping by!

Art Journaling Lists

I am a list maker. I make daily to-do lists. I make lists of things I'd like to do. I make lists of observations I see when studying the Bible or reading a book. And from time-to-time I will participate in making art journal lists. In April and May the "Get Messy" art journaling community is doing a season of list making. I'm not doing all of the lists, but am selecting one or two each week. I'm making my art journal lists on large shipping tags and inserting them in my DLP journal. Here are a few of my lists from the "Get Messy" art journal prompts.

In April I changed the format for my weekly Documented Life Project (DLP) pages as I wanted wider spaces to write in. I'm working on getting caught up with April and May.

Pop over to my Etsy shop and check out the new altered book art journals I listed this week.

I'm off to make a few more lists! How about you?

One Little Word March Review

So far this year two practices are working out well for me: participating in One Little Word and focusing on getting healthy by adding or changing a habit each month. So far this year I have focused on adding more vegetable servings in January, more fruit servings in February, and adding an exercise habit in March. My intent has been that in adding something for 30 days it would help that practice become a habit. So far it is working well! Since I was down with the flu for so long in March and didn't get started on the exercise habit until mid-month, I decided to make this my April focus as well. Plus, it's a big habit to make a regular part of my life and a big change for me, so an extra month of focus can't hurt!

I'm finding that the habit of focusing on a word for the year is very beneficial in my journey of getting healthier. My word this year is REST. I chose it for many reasons. I thought when I chose it that it would be mainly about further developing a Sabbath type rhythm of life - and that is one of my focuses for maintaining my health emotionally and spiritually. But one of the other reasons for choosing this word has actually become foundational in getting healthy. I'm choosing to rest (depend on, wait on, lean on) God as I try to become healthier physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually. I find that it is this habit and focus that is enabling progress and success as I try to change bad habits and add healthier ones. 

Ali Edward's prompts and exercises have really helped me, not only focus on practicing my word for the year, but also in focusing on the practices to help make healthy practices become lifestyle habits. March's prompt was to create a vision board using magazine clippings which I wrote about a few weeks ago here. I took a picture of my vision board and added it to my OLW binder as well as adding in some other pages to record my journey.

March divider 

I continued using last month's practice chart.

I have joined an online exercise community called Daily Burn which enables me to participate in an exercise program at home rather than going to a gym. I am really enjoying their True Beginner program with instructor Justin Rubin. This program is helping me build strength and mobility as I try an exercise program for the first time. Justin has a lot of sayings that he uses to encourage us so I included some of them in my binder.

The top one - "If it doesn't challenge you, it doesn't change you." - fits well for all of the areas I'm trying to get healthier in.

Hoping you all have a great week!