December Studio

I love Vancouver Island. And March. And last weekend.

Wow! You guys! APRIL is here!  I am so freaking excited.  But before I tell you all about it, can we talk about last weekend? My gracious it was amazing!  Look at those shots.  I was walking around thinking it was May.  Nope! Just the end of March for ya.  That's all.

Shabam! March rocked my world and ended with a bang. SO. BEAUTIFUL.

I'll be back soon to talk about March and all I learned there, but for now I wanted to share some awesome pics from my amazing weekend in March on the coast.  I love living here.

Talk soon.

Happy Thursday!

celebrate hope

In honour of the first day of spring (yesterday), and to celebrate HOPE, my friend Amanda featured one of my poems on her blog Sunshine and Whimsy.  The poem talks of the necessity of remaining ever hopeful in life.  I don't believe there could have been a better time for her to have reminded me of that poem than when she emailed me to ask if she could share it.  For those of you who read my blog regularly, you'll know that 2013 has been tough for us as a family.  This poem helped remind me of the way to keep going through the storms I was facing recently.  It reminded me to keep looking for the sunshine.

It reminded me that with hope, there's more.

I encourage you to go and read Amanda's blog and get to know her. She is a ray of sunshine (hence the name of her blog) and she is a beautiful writer.  Her words are real, genuine, and well placed.  A joy to spend time with.

Another reason to check her out is to follow her journey as she continues to work and live as a teacher in China.  

Today's image is a photo I captured last spring at my daughter's school during fun fair.  I love the innocence of a cute little yellow duck being held in the sweet and sticky hands of my little duck.  A picture of hope and joy and all good things.

Happy Thursday. friends.  I'm going to be enjoying another day with my little tribe as we take it easy and lounge in the springtime air during the springtime school break.  

refocus

 

Reinvent.  Recover.  Return.  Realize.  Reconstruct. Rehabilitate. Reborn. Relive. Redo. Rethink. Recalibrate. Refocus.

 

I have been uncovering, discovering, and hearing retellings of people returning from disaster and distress.  I have been living it.  I have been doing it, I have been helping through it.  I am listening to it, seeing it, feeling it.  It is everywhere and we are in it.  Fully.

Everywhere I look, I see words describing this.  People are shouting to me.  The storms, the mess, the chaos, the dark.  

But, these troubling times speak of brighter days ahead.

 The grasses are growing agian.  The sap is running and I am moving in a whirlwind direction.  The storm of my life is catching speed and I feel the crux, the eye, the point, the climax is almost here.

We are almost there.

In the cradle of being almost there, I am drawn to refocus.  Recalibrate. Return. Redo.  I am drawn into the fever of Mercury Retrograde.

I need to drink more water and take kinder care of myself.  I need to challenge my body and clean up my thoughts. My kids need to be my landing spot of gentle and compassion.  I need to be kinder to them.  Lighter.  Reconnected.

I need to keep steady on the things my husband does that show his love.  He's a practical man and his love comes through that way.  I'm romantic and sensitive and touchy feely all over the place.  My love comes through that way.  We need to do better at meeting in the middle.  But for now, I must refocus my energy around him and all the love he surrounds us in by keeping us safe and warm.

I need to rethink my thinking and repurpose my purpose.  Recycle my goals and reuse what still makes sense.  Redo. Reconstruct.  I need to find my center--not anybody else's--mine.  My own.  I need to outline it, write it, paint it, draw it.  DO IT.

I need to shut out the voices.  Shut off the damn internet.  This shit is addicting and not always in the best way.  I was reluctant to jump into all the media when it first came about, and I now see why.  My heart has a hard time ingesting, digesting, all the noise.  And the thoughts. And the barrage of stuff.  I love it for many reasons and hate it for many.  I need to recalibrate our relationship.  Reinvent it, maybe.  I will be the first to admit that I contribute to the noise quite well.  It's moderate in comparison to many and I really do the posting for me because its a record of this life and these thoughts and these feelings.  That's why I love it.  The part I have to get over is the listening and watching how others are doing life and thinking I am inadequate somehow.  That I don't do life as well.  I need to remember that even reality media is cloaked in a mask. We are all wearing a mask.  I want to peek out from my mask once in awhile and show up as me and be OKAY with that.

I want to refocus.

Hey, Monday, let's be friends and see if we can get some of these priorities shifting, shall we?

Happy week friends.  Thank you for continuing to show up here and take a peek at me and my thinking-dumps.  I do love that you're here, and I'm happy to hear your thoughts, if you feel inclined to share.  Or just say hi!  Please, do say hi sometime.

 

 

I heart fonts

I heart fonts.  I heart words.  I heart letters and numbers and beautiful design.  I mean really.  Doesn't the above image make you swoon?  I love it.  I think its grand and it would be even better if those words were poetic and romantic and heart swelling, rather than just the names of the fonts themselves, but still. The arrangement, the colors, the shapes of the letters. Love. Just love.

I decided that this was a beautiful and practical way to keep the fonts I love close at hand for when I am designing something new, and need a pretty font to go with it.  Much better for the way my mind works than staring at the fonts in my Font Book and going through each one every time.**  This way they are all on one page and they look sweet!

Now I want to go design a cool image that incorporates multi fonts and only words.  

Of course! 

What is something designerly that YOU heart?  Do you love colour, shape, white space, black space?  Do you like lots of imagery or clean and simple?  Tell me what you love, I'd love to know.  What is your design aesthetic?

Hey!  It's Friday folks.  What does that mean for you?  For me, it means TWO MORE DAYS before I get a day off, but tomorrow is a SLEEP IN DAY! Yahoo.

HAPPY WEEKEND.

**edited: When I searched the URL for the Font Book link, I found some tutorials on how to organize your fonts in Font Book that I am going to try out, but, the image I created is still lovely and useful!

Ruby turns One.

Oh, this sweet little creature came unexpectedly into our lives last March and she swiftly stole our hearts.  Today she turns ONE YEAR OLD!

To celebrate, I wrote a letter to our sweet puppy, Ruby.

Dear Ruby,

Last spring we stumbled upon you at a little girl's birthday party and unexpectedly fell in love.  We had been yearning and contemplating getting a dog, but didn't know what breed or how big.  You certainly were no where near being on the radar.  We originnally wanted a German Shepherd.  Ruby.  You are not a German Shepherd, although you sometime think you are.  Until you meet one up close and realize that you are not.

Daddy was definitely not too sure about you at first. You are a small dog and you are wired full of crazy energy and you didn't like to listen.  He felt you were too small to be smart and he had is doubts about how weel you would behave, but he has his doubts about many things in life, so I wasn't too worried.  I knew his big soft heart that LOVES all animals (except horses...he's not sure about horses...I'm working on him!) would melt for you eventually. And it has.  You two are definitely pals and he sulks a little each night when you'd rather cuddle into my soft body than his.  

Which brings me to another point.  Sometimes we think you are a human because you sleep like an infant and you cuddle up like a babe and really you just seem to "get" us when we talk to you and so sometimes we think you are part human.  But mostly we think you are part monkey, part cat, part gremlin and sometimes you remind us of Stitch. You know, the alien from that movie filmed in Hawaii.  Totally Stitch.

Your new nickname is Shredder.  Why? Well, most of the time you are sweet and fun and curious and cute. But sometimes you are viscious and you chew everything!  Everything, including Daddy's arms when you play with him. He gave you that name, and I think it fits.  Besides, I think it helps him feel better about having such a small dog.  Makes you seem bigger.

You are fun.  You are hilarious when we let you loose in the park or the field.  You run so fast we can barely see you and I am not exxagerating!  I love to watch you do that and so does everyone else.  It's amazing.  You and my little girl are love-hate sisters and she dresses you up in her doll clothes and she torments you with hugs, but you chew up her stuffies and Polly Pockets, so I guess its even.

The teen in our house did not want a dog.  He wanted a new cat.  Then he met you and there was no turning back.  Thank you for that.  I know how important having a dog is for a teen. I'll bet that sometimes you are the only being he feels he can trust in this whole world.  I am so grateful fo that. 

As for me?  Well, I'm a  mama bear and you, little dog are the third baby that I kind of wished I'd had, (without all the work).  Because you are small and will always be small, you are my baby and in my mind you will never not be a baby.  Thank you for that Ruby dog.  Now all you need to learn is to be a better poser for photos. Seriously.  Oh, and quit chewing up all the napkins.  And stay off the table.

Happy Birthday Ruby!  We love you.

XOXO, your family.

Follow your heart

Well, well, well. January 22.

Already.

I've had big plans to get back on track this month.  Clean up after Christmas and get the ball rolling on my business, my personal life, my spirtual health.

And all I feel is sidetracked and sidewinded.

There have been definite stops in the plans I had set forth.  Life has taken another twist and I am focusing on helping my boy heal his soft and gentle soul; letting him rest while schooling him at home.

So there's that.

And then there's the seven year old who is trying very hard to grow up very fast.

And become a teenager.

Lord have mercy.

However.  As I write these words bemoaning my progress, or perceived lack therof, I realize that really, the only thing I haven't been doing is blogging.  And that's understandable because my boy has been working on the laptop, so time is tight for me to be here.

I have about five posts circulating in my brain and because they haven't gotten out, I feel they're losing steam, relevance and I'm losing interest.

All I can really say is I am following my heart.

My children come first and my eldest needs me right now.  

And the moments in life where he needs me are quickly dwindling.

So I'm just gonna stay right there and hang with him until his smile can be what warms the world again.

Nonetheless.  I have been working hard on my OLW  plan.  I have been working on new and exciting projects which will be revealed here soon.  I have been dreaming up new card designs and geometric paintings are haunting my heart.  My photoshop skills are sharpening and I am diving into new and unexpected territory there, which is exciting. Also, I keep having these flashes of brilliance wherein my old, salvaged dressers which I picked up on the side of the road for free are painted in a deep, rich chocolate color. Maybe with some van Gogh chalk paint? Yes. It's all culminating. It's all here.  I just need to wait for the space where nurturing lends itself to fruit.

And I trust that the Universe has set that all in motion. Long ago, in fact.

So, really. I am doing just fine with where I am and what I've been doing.  I just needed to write this blog post so I could remind myself of that.

Follow your heart, friends.

Project Life: Digital

 

 

 

Quote by Elizabeth Gilbert. Designed by December Studio designs 2013

Hello friends, Happy Monday!

 

This is the post wherein I confess an anomaly for someone who is a creative person.

 

I don't scrapbook.

There, it's off my chest.  Phew!

I totally considered making beautiful scrapbooks for both my babies, but I just couldn't get into it.  And that perplexed me.

Why?

Well, I think the whole idea of scrapbooking is to be creative with paper and organization and color combinations and photos and I love all those elements, but what I don't love is the process.  I don't dig the sit down and cut paper and do a layout and glue the pieces and add some embellishment and make it look cohesive.  And it perplexes me because, I tell myself, I should love that process.  I am a creative soul; I should love all things creative.

But, no.  I do not.

And, really, that's okay.  I'm a free spirit and my process is not orderly.  My process is "throw some lines down and see what you can see" kinda thing.  

More or less.

However, what I do really dig about scrapbooking and journalling is the memory keeping that it entails.  I love that part so much.

SO. MUCH.

And I wish I could love to scrapbook, because I have so many beautiful photos and so many wonderful memories, and these two babies of mine are growing up fast, and my husband and I are getting older every year, and I want something tangible other than the photos on my hardrive to serve as proof that we were here and we lived this life and we were a family and we loved each other.

I want to compile the love togther in one place, where I can add bits of remembered conversations and  tuck keepsakes of events or favorite traditions or show quotes or whatever we were really doing in this real life circus.

Aaaaaannnnd, full disclosure: I want it to look pretty.  

(It's a downfall really. That artist-designer thing I got going on).

 

So, what's a girl to do?

Do it digital, that's what!  

I love my Photoshop.  I love my camera.  I love my MacBook.  I love spending time designing things with all of those elements, and I love that there are no scissors or glue involved.

And wouldn't you know it?  There's a system for that!  It's called Digital Project Life, which spins-off from the paper version of the same name, invented by Becky Higgins.

I'm so exited to announce that I am partcipating in  Digital Project Life  for 2013! Yay!

Last year I followed Elise Blaha as she devloped and created her own Project Life albums, and I simply fell in love with this really cool way to perserve memories (and make them look pretty).  This year I thought to myself, "You really need to do this, but what you should do is design it in photoshop, since, you know, one of your goals this year is to strengthen your PS skills."

Yes, I really thought that.  I figured I could do up some simple designs to act as fillers and journalling spaces and the rest would be photos and scanned images from our life.  Then, I remembered all of the online book printing services out there and VOILA!, I was in business.

Then! Something cool happened.  I follow Becky Higgins' blog and last week she blogged about a new format for Project Life: digital!

Oh my gracious! Heavenly.

So I jumped on that bandwagon and purchased the Seafoam Core Kit designed by Elise, (because I love her style) and now, I am ready to roll! (The link above shows you the paper version of the kit.  I purchased the download of it instead, since I am doing a digital version.  You can find that here.)

Now I get to scrapbook on my computer, where I am most comfortable, and I will have perserved these sacred and fleeting moments of life when my kids were still here within arms reach and where we were still a family of four.

Sweet!  

Stayed tuned for ongoing updates on what this will look like as I post shots of layouts and talk about where our weeks take us this year!

 

*I am working on Project Life as a way to transform my family connections.  This is part of my OLW committment for 2013 and definitely a way that I am "participating relentlessly" in the aim toward happiness. 

 

Looking back: a week in review.

 

It occurred to me several times this week that I was really enjoying the flow of the days.  Oh, there were bumps in the road for sure.  We endured a horribly organized "movie night" at my daughter's school and ate too much junk food on the weekend, but the rest of the week?  It was pretty fine.

I had time to paint and get lots accomplished.  I cleaned and organized rooms in my house, kept it cozy and warm, cooked all the evening meals, worked at my other J-O-B and kept on top of laundry.  I chatted with friends I hadn't seen in awhile and spent time with my family.  A really well rounded week.

Looking ahead to this week, I see ample time to work on my blog design, organize paintings to be made into prints, finish a Christmas card line I started on Friday night and design/develop a giveaway on my facebook, twitter and blog accounts.  Exciting, daunting, exhilarating, nerve-wracking. All rolled into one.

Monday and Tuesday will be my primary computer work days.  I am off work from my other J-O-B so I can spend time while my children are in school working on filling up my artshop at Big Cartel, and filling up this blog with information and links.  

Wednesday will give me some time to wrap that all up and hopefully have everything  together so I can release my Christmas card designs and announce a giveaway to increase my online traffic through this blog, facebook and twitter.  

I am also working on coming up with a project starting in December 2012 that will take me all of next year to complete, so the rest of the week will focus on sketching that into a more solid plan.

It is going to be a crazy week, I think, with me focusing on the business side of things.  I will be missing my easel dearly, but will still be drawing and thinking up new magic every moment I am able to.

Here's a peek of my Christmas card designs. I am so in love!

How was your week?  Does this week look like a promising one?

Happy Monday--let's get this show on the road!