om: giving in to my yoga mat

Breathe

All week I have had yoga on my mind. I have been admiring Art Asana's 2012 Yoga Pose Desk Calendar by Eliza Tobin, I have been listening to the ambient yogi sounds of Desert Dwellers, I even wrote down the word "connected" in my sketchbook this week because I was feeling so very unconnected. Deep down I have been yearning for the mind body connection I receive when practicing yoga.

When I cancelled my gym membership in August I was sad to no longer have my yoga and dance classes available to me but, I thought I would put a new self motivated routine in place. I had the highest hopes for yoga since it is something you can do anywhere with as much or as little time as you have. But I underestimated my need for having a specific class time in place and having an atmosphere that feels good to practice in. I have been saying to myself just do it already but, at the same I think ... I have other things to accomplish, it isn't quiet enough, I am not in the right head space for letting go and stretching deeply and so I wait for another "better" time.

Last night I finally gave in to my yoga mat. It wasn't the most opportune time but, I said to myself enough is enough, I need this. I pulled out my mat and started stretching while Bert watched the world series right next to me. I tuned out the tv, I breathed, I stretched and I felt great. I felt my body lighten, make space, felt my inner strength and focus arise and my stress melt away. Feeling just how stiff and tense I was during my practice awakened me to just how far I am from the flexible and centered self I was just a few months ago. In class my yoga teacher would remind us that a flexible body is a flexible mind.That saying always resonated with me and right now my body is rigid, tense and very far removed from where I want it to be. Why do I deny myself the things that make me feel so good, so peaceful, so connected, so loved? What is it inside that makes me rebel against self care?

One Moment [OM] is a weekly meet up that promotes living in the moment.  Whether funny, sad, ridiculous, or banal, looking for these moments can promote balance in our lives. I decided to join in the fun. You may want to too – you can read more about it here.

new handmade recycled bottle cap magnet sets

Handmade magnet sets are a wonderful little gift idea for teachers, co-workers, party hostesses, new jobs, birthdays and of course for the holidays. Here are some new recycled bottle cap magnet sets I have for sale in my etsy shop. They come in a set of 6 and arrive in a gift giving tin. The super strong magnet will hold several sheets of paper making these beautiful and functional!

Striped Recycled Bottle Cap Magnets - $12

 

Abstract Recycled Bottle Cap Magnets - $12

 

Recycled Envelope Bottle Cap Magnets - $12

 

Polka Dot Recycled Bottle Cap Magnets - $12

 

sketching feathers

personalized scrabble artwork

I have a dear friend who loves scrabble and is getting married in 2 weeks! As a gift for her and her soon to be husband, I painted them these personalized initial scrabble tiles. I do not usually paint so precisely but, they were totally worth the extra effort of measuring and using guidelines. I thought these little paintings turned out really sweet and she just loved them. It brings me joy knowing that the paintings with bring them joy in their new home.  

Scrabble Pin Board

To quickly find scrabble inspiration I browsed the lovely world of Pinterest. Do you love scrabble or know someone who does? These fun scrabble inspired items I pinned would make great gifts! See my Scrabble Pin Board.

my first seasonal dream board | ced: autumn

One of my creative goals is to make seasonal dream boards. This month's Creative Every Day theme is Autumn and that fit right in with me wanting to start a fall dream board so, yesterday I finally got to it. It has taken me sooo long to get myself psyched up to start a dream board but, once I started it only took 30 minutes to complete. I choose all sorts of things to inspire me for the season: recipes, home decor, paper goods, plants and flowers, colors and sayings. I think this will be a really great way to make use of all the wonderful magazines I have lying around and get me excited for each season, I don't know why it has taken me so long to embrace the whole idea of a dream board, but I am happy I finally did! I choose a simple cork board and push pins setup so I can easily rotate the images each season and if something isn't working for me or I come across a new piece of inspiration I simply change it up in the moment.

Have you created a dream board or vision board? I'd love to hear how you used one to help manifest your dreams!

sketching butterflies

Here's a peek inside my watercolor sketchbook, this time I created butterflies! We have more flowers in the yard in our new home then we did previously and I have been enjoying butterfly and hummingbird sightings in the mornings. It's magical to watch them flutter about.

om: moving day

Friday was moving day! It is crazy to see all our stuff boxed up and waiting to move. I have been de-cluttering and simplifying for almost 2 years and I have to say I was pretty surprised to see how much stuff we have now that's all in one place and it's a lot more then I thought! For my one moment today, I will say goodbye to our current home and welcome in our new one.

We moved in to our current home when my youngest son was 6 months old and my oldest was 3. This house has been such a blessing to us. The open floor plan gave us visibility to everything which is great with little ones toddling around. The room we designated as the kids playroom was open to the kitchen, dining room and den and has been just perfect. The circular skylights in the great room allowed so much natural light into our home that we rarely had to turn on the lights during the day. And on the rare occasion of a cloudy day the whole house would darken and lighten with each passing cloud and that is such a strange and magical feeling to have inside your home. The laminate wood, tile floors and wood blinds throughout made the home much more comfortable for our allergenic family then the heavy curtains and wall to wall carpeting we had previously. It also made for easy cleanup when doggies made messes, things spilled, play dough was sculpted or we had an art play day. The sizable yard gave us ample space to play and entertain. The huge garage allowed me to carve out a little art studio of sorts and that has made me really happy. And lastly the community has been excellent. It is beautiful, well-kept with lots of amenities we have loved like pools, playgrounds, trails and tennis courts. Goodbye wonderful home, we thank you for the memories!

In our new rental home I welcome the intimate space and the cozy den feeling my husband and I grew up with. I welcome the kitchen being slightly out of the way so, I hopefully can't see any unfinished business in there as I'm relaxing on the couch. I welcome carpeting back in our life to help with sound control (two young boys can be pretty loud)! I welcome our first ever doggie dog for our golden retriever Chloe. I hope she loves it as much as we do :) I welcome a playroom with a door and full walls - again to help with sound control, haha. I welcome a sweet little backyard with enough space to play but not too much to manage. I welcome the really pretty patio tile and fans to relax on. I welcome the pretty mountain view outside our front door that I will see every time I come and go. I welcome us home.

One Moment [OM] is a weekly meet up that promotes living in the moment.  Whether funny, sad, ridiculous, or banal, looking for these moments can promote balance in our lives. I decided to join in the fun. You may want to too – you can read more about it here.

world's biggest summit

What would it be like to learn from 100 incredible teachers? Amazing, right?! I have been following along with the World's Biggest Summit presented by Goddess Leonie this month and it's been pure magic. So, what is the World's Biggest Summit? It's 100 leaders, visionaries & creatives, all sharing their wisdom. And it’s free!

I have been listening to audio interviews and videos while going about my day - allowing myself to be open and receive all the beautiful wisdom. I feel like I am being filled up with so much creativity, love, kindness and business tips that I had to share this summit with you. 100 inspiring teachers online for you to listen to when the time is good for you. All for free. Click here to learn more and signup for your free ticket.

big bugs at the desert botantical garden

 David Rogers’ Big Bugs

 It's no secret that the Desert Botanical Garden is one of my favorite places to visit. We were members last year and went pretty regularly. They have rotating garden exhibits and it's a beautiful place to stroll around and let the kids explore. Sadly our membership expired in August so, this year for National Free Museum Day we decided to use our free pass to visit the DBG and see the incredibly cool exhibit David Rogers’ Big Bugs.  There were 11 enormous, whimsical bugs crafted by sculptor David Rogers from fallen or found wood, cut saplings, twigs, raw branches, twine, bark and other natural materials.

Ethan loved using the garden map to find all the bugs - for him the hunt and the bug facts were super exciting. Hudson was more interested in the butterfly exhibit that was going on as well so, that was his highlight. I was smitten with the bug sculptures themselves. They are huge and magnificent and at first glance I thought they were made from metal but, it's wood - many glorious types of rich colored wood. The praying mantis and dragonfly were my two favorites but, all of them were beautiful really. If you are in the Phoenix area I definitely suggest checking it out.

sketching birch aspen trees

After driving past some beautiful birch aspen trees on our road trip through Flagstaff, Arizona last month I was inspired to sketch them. I had a little help on this sketch from a dreamy book I'm using as my watercolor muse right now titled Dreamscapes: Creating Magical Angel, Faery & Mermaid Worlds in Watercolor by Stephanie Pui-mun Law. Here is the photo I snapped while driving and my sketch.I decided to give the trees a bare winter feel with a monotone color palette. I let the paint do its own thing without trying to control it too much which resulted in a nice wispy feeling, I think.

october biz goals

September, you were lovely as always. You helped us celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary this month at the Grand Canyon and you welcomed my baby boy into the world 5 years ago. He was presented with the honor of Student of the Month in Kindergarten this month! I especially love the start of the fall season, the colors, the color temps and many park play dates are on the horizon. I hope to visit some areas in our state with changing leaves this year since we didn't really see too many last year. 

On the business end I have been working on a wonderful garden inspired wedding suite, just finishing up the ceremony card and favor tag. I sold two original paintings, created a painted set for a wedding gift and had a commission for a painting for a little girls room. I am really happy about more painting opportunities coming my way!

 September Goals

• creative every day challenge check in, theme this month is "history"- this theme didn't grab me too much so, I let it slip buy this month.
  
• play with new watercolor paints and paper - ooo I had a little fun and I realize I haven't blogged about it yet!
  
• work on this blog pages: design, invitation and praise - eek nothing new to report here.
  
• work on fine art america shop - I placed a few test orders but, none of my images where up to snuff. I took my first two paintings to be professionally scanned this month and need to make this a routine each time I finish a piece from here on out.
  
• create necklaces with art pendants I made a few months ago - nothing new to report here either, I am toying with the idea of posting the pendants for sale with out designing an entire necklace. we'll see ...
  
• outright accounting program - I had really hoped to work on this. I'm going to make it a priority for Oct.
  
• pick up on preparing for move - we found a place to live and the packing has been put in high gear! This month I mostly cleared out my craft stash, the hallway closet and laundry room closet. All those fun areas I stuff random things. Only 12 days until we move!
  
• make time to move - family walks, yoga and dance - a little yoga and a few morning/evening walks this month. Nothing too strenuous but definitely helped maintain my stress.
• others things i accomplished this month ... posted 6 new recycled bottlecap magnet sets in my shop, rephotographed all my necklaces for sale, sold the connected in love mandala painting and created a painting to compliment it for the same customer titled connected in truth mandala.

October Goals

• creative every day challenge check in, theme this month is "autumn"
• alphabet bunting painting for little girls room
• graphic design work for Olive
• work on outright accounting program
• follow along with esty's holiday boot camp and whip shop into shape
• add to shop: art pendants, bookmarks, greeting card sets
  
• blog about new watercolor sketches and scrabble artwork
• seasonal dream board - sounds interesting and I'm going to try and start with fall
  
• move into our new rental home and get settled!
  
• family walks, yoga and dance

If you would like to join in the Meetup biz goals fun, head on over to Athena Dreams to read more about how we support one another and how to join in.