One Creative Summer :Getting Messy

 All you need is deep within you

waiting to unfold and reveal itself.

All you have to do is be still

and take time to seek for what is within,

and you will surely find it.

Eileen Caddy

When we are little summer means freedom, a break from routine.

We get to sleep in, stay up late and play outside all day long.

It's afternoons by the pool,

sleepovers with friends

and Midnight Ghost until way past dark.

Oh, if only that is what my summer looked like today.

Just because the weather is warmer doesn't mean we 

don't have responsibilities. And it seems my summer

is busier than ever!

That's why I created One Creative Summer.

It's about finding little pockets of time to feel like a kid again.

Free

Creative

and 

FUN!

You can expect at least three creative ideas/prompts/projects a week through for the next 7 weeks.

I will try and post at least one of the challenges here in my blog...

the rest of them in our FB group Mind.Body.Soul Art Journaling and PIN at the top.

Feel free to SHARE your work with us!!

When life is just too busy yet I NEED to creative

the best thing I know to do is to 

"messy paint" 

my 

way

to PEACE. 

Your art journals are the 

PERFECT place to glue down some papers,

swipe a few of your favorite paints onto

and finish with stencils....

Doodles....

stamps...

and Washi Tape.

The best part of this creative process is the rhythm you create.

Put on your favorite tunes

and 

just

let 

GO. 

No thinking...

just creating.

Take an hour today to get messy.

This is not the time to try something new.

Just do what you KNOW.

 What you LOVE.

"What art offers is space...

a certain breathing room for the spirit."

John Updike

One Creative Summer is HERE!!!

"Pictures of perfection as you know make me sick and wicked."  -Jane Austen


Welcome to "One Creative Summer"!! I am so grateful you are here and look forward to seeing your creations in our FB group Mind.Body.Soul Art Journaling. Be sure and stop by to say HI if you are playing along with us this summer!!

My idea for this challenge came about because I knew the  I would be crazy busy for the next few months working in our family's shaved ice shack. And even though I may not get to spend the time in my studio that I would like...it was very important for me to stay inspired and create. I am just so grateful you are here to join me in this journey!!

Here's what you can expect...

*this challenge is ALL ABOUT working at your own pace
*there won't be any "have-to finish" projects
*finding ways to inject creativity into your days and nights
* a SUPER laid-back approach is what this challenge is all about...like our summer days!

I want you to think about your expectations of yourself when it comes to creating. Are you so caught up in the perfectionism of it that you talk yourself out of doing what you love?

Julia Cameron, author of The Artist's Way says this about perfectionism....

"It is a refusal to let yourself move ahead. It is a loop...an obsessive, debilitating closed system that causes you to get stuck. Perfectionism is not a quest for the best. It is a pursuit of the worst in ourselves, the part that tells us that nothing we do will ever be good enough...that we should try again."


This was view this morning...

I have been waking up an hour earlier so I can enjoy my first cup of coffee outside. I love hearing the birds sing, smelling the beautiful summer air and feeling so alive!

Just a  few weeks ago I would make my coffee then proceed to sit on the couch watching the news for the next TWO HOURS. It was making me feel extremely anxious and tired. The more I sat and watched the more I realized that my life was just passing me by. The affect on the rest of my day was crippling me. It seemed my zest for life was being depleted.

After making that one change to my morning routine I am feeling so different!! I can feel my creativity coming back as the sights and smells of summer awaken my spirit.

This was my studio this morning...

(see my sweet Gizmo wanting to come out and play too!!)

Last week I packed together an "art kit"...a small box full of some of my favorite supplies so I could create whenever the mood struck. And I can take it to Kool Kats with me, too:)

It's filled with a pack of 4x6 index cards, painted papers, Brave Art sayings, magazine images, vintage girl images, a glue stick, one black pen, scissors and a few stamps and one black stamp pad. The pink folder with the typewriter on it (found this at the Dollar Tree!!) has a few more Brave Art quote sheets in it as well as some stamped images my friend Sherry Canino sent me:)

Here is my index card from this morning....

Another one I created during our slow times in our ice shack Kool Kats.

As our Challenge kicks off this week I encourage you to create your own portable art kit. You can use a tote bag, a large zip lock baggie, a small plastic tote like mine...anything you can carry with you.

I look forward to seeing YOUR art treasures in our group!!!

One Creative Summer Challenge

"The incredible gift of the ordinary! Glory comes streaming from the table of daily life."

-Macrina Wiederkehr "A Tree Full of Angels"

June has got to be one of the BEST months of the year.

 It's warm summer days and cool summer nights...

I just can't think of anything better! 

Everything just seems better in the summer..

my morning cup of coffee on the patio...

an afternoon spent working in our ice shack...

And long summer nights watching old movies, 

chilling around our fire pit or enjoying dinner on our grill.

This really is the good life!

I love creating in the summer, too...sometimes in my studio

and sometimes outside.

My creativity seems to blossom like my beautiful flowers 

as the weather heats up.

This year I want to encourage YOU to CREATE!

I hope you can join me for our latest Challenge...

ONE

CREATIVE

SUMMER.

Journaling, painting, writing, cooking, gardening...

it's ALL 

about 

embracing 

our days

and enjoying 

our daily

beautiful 

lives!

Throughout the summer join me for inspiring quotes to uplift and inspire our hearts.

There will be journaling prompts, 

easy, peasy techniques

and ideas to jumpstart

YOUR 

One

Creative

Summer.

Join us in our FB group

Mind

Body

Soul

The fun begins THIS Monday, June 6th and runs through August 1st.

I hope you will play along in this VERY laid back and 100% FREE Creative Challenge!

Feel free to copy the above image and put on your blogs along with a link to this page.

And SHARE with your friends!!!

"Freshness trembles beneath the surface of everyday,

 a joy perpetual to all who catch its opal lights beneath the dust of habit."

-Freya Stark