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Dapoppins

Getting ART outside

For the past several years I have been picking a word for the year.  2016 was Pursue and 2017 was Outcome.  In journaling and exploring the meaning of both of those words I discovered a priority to connect with more people.  Not just people from my circle of friends, but people I have never met.  I journaled things like "pursue community," and "all outcomes equal reaching people's hearts."  

My creative process tends to be singular.  I don't dream and design very well with other people in the room.  I can't write when there might be interruptions.  And I can't work on a project for the same reason.  My creating obsession tends to lead to isolation.  

Contrasting with the desire to create is the desire to interact with more people in a positive way.  If I want to be any help at all in the world, if I want to lessen the stress, pain, fear, or loneliness of living and bring a little laughter and joy to a person’s day, I think I should start in my back yard.  And I think I should start with sharing what is easy for me.  

Art Play comes easy.  



I've admitted before how I'd rather buy art supplies than clothing.  Or anything else.  Which has left me with enough art supplies to share.  I don't have lots of one kind of thing, but I do have lots of things.  I adore colorful paint.  I adore different textures of paint.  I adore paint that does different things.  All that adoration equals a lot of different kinds of paint.  I have found my favorites - those I use occasionally, and those I have used only once or twice.  And I love printed scrapbook papers. I have enough scrapbook paper to make scap books for entire schools of children.  And washi tape.  And glue.  And...



My friend Dawn and I have a group on Thursday nights at 7pm in her home where we invite people to come on over, bring their art journal or bring nothing, and we chat and do art.  It is so fun.  Dawn is a high school teacher and I've gotten to meet some of her students and former students.  They are talented, smart, interesting, young.  It's been so cool.  (is cool a dated word?) I'd like to meet even more people.  

Our schedules change, so it isn't every Thursday night.  There is a face book group for this and I sometimes plan ahead and let people know.   (You should be proud of me.  Planning ahead is not a strong suit of mine.) Anyone is welcome.  

The Facebook Group is HERE.

Testing My Boundaries


I am always trying new things.  Learning new things.  I feel like I've developed a certain style, but I am constantly stretching to and incorporating bits and pieces of other peoples style.  I like messy.  I like layers.  And other than that - anything goes, from muted vintage to over the top color, I love it all.  




There have been a couple requests for classes and that has kinda been a goal for me.  Both the online and in person kind.  Both the free and the paid for kind.  

I don't know if I can do it.  I am not sure I will be a good teacher. 

Doing it anyway.  

I don't know if I have enough supplies. (Seriously, did I just say I need more craft supplies?  Yes.  Yes I did and I am not ashamed.) 

Doing it anyway.  




I've created a MeetUp also, trying to connect with people.  (It's an app for your phone that I didn't know about until one of the nice girls on Thursday night suggested it.)   And with help from some great (and talented friends) there will be two free classes January 19th and February 2nd.  You can check them out HERE.  




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This month my goal has been to settle on my One Word, that one little word that I am going to focus on for the rest of the year.

I'm getting close.  Narrowing it down.  My bestie Nancy has picked out three words, and they are pretty awesome, but still I kinda feel like I need to focus on just one, maybe.

I love hearing about your words and your goals too.  We've been sharing them back and forth  in the face book group Gratitude Girls Cheer League please click the link to join us, we'd love to have you.

Hand in hand with finding my word and setting my goals are my Power Buttons.

What is a Power Button?

It's that switch that gets me out of bed, gets me going when I don't have to be at the beck and call of anyone else, motivates me forward, out of the house, and into the world.  It a passion that energizes me.  An idea think about all the time. It's a dream I want to make real and a hope that won't die. Its that thing I really want to finish, just to say I did it.  It's the coffee for my soul.

Yes.  Even my soul drinks coffee.

(that only sounds really odd if you don't drink a pot of coffee a day and love it so much you actually smell it in your dreams)

In the world of business they call it your Why.

Why are you doing this?

But, unlike only wanting one word, I have a several Power Buttons.

 I don't do things for just one reason. a Power Button may be something that is always there on the switchboard, just waiting for the moment of activation.  It may be a bright green light that always shines behind every action. Or it is my task driven motivator, that once accomplished, leads me to a new task and a new button.

A little doodle from my art journal. 

As a woman, I have lived through a few different seasons.  Moments when my why was all about the children or work, or just making it through the day.  Things happen that alter what I can do and which power buttons can be turned on.  I figured this out when my kids were young - a baby, two toddlers, and a preschooler, that while some women (mostly on television) could seemingly do and be everything, I could only have a few things activated at a time.

I was not doing creative things.
  I was not holding down a forty hour a week position.
   I was not even taking a shower everyday.

But now that season is over and while my kidlets motivate me toward lots of things, that power button is no longer dominating everything.

Some of my power buttons are found by answering the questions:

I've always wanted to....
I really need to..
When people look at me I want them to see...
I want  my story to be about....

This all sounds a little self involved, like I'm standing in-front of a mirror pondering questions about me and throwing in a few daily affirmations while I'm at it.   I want to know my power buttons so that I don't set my sights on goals that are so totally self serving, so that I don't loose moments of real importance along the journey.

Because there are negative power buttons too.  Motivators that serve nothing and can possibly hurt someone, cause pain, or get in the way of living the kind of life I've already chosen to live.

So...This month, along with making lists, and lists of lists so that I can break my BIG GOALS  into doable goals, 

I am finding my Power Buttons

And settling on my One Word...

 How about you?  What motivates you?  What are your Power Buttons?
Another little messy art journal page.  








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2011-2012: All
2013: Go
2014: Focus
2015: Fearless
2016:?



What is one little word? What is one word for the year?

 It's a word that I can explore.  One who's definition I seek to understand, live by, and influence my day, week, month and year.  It's the focus of my journaling (although I haven't been a daily journaler) and creative thought life.  

 It took me most of 2014 to really understand what FOCUS meant for me.  I struggled finding that word, wrestled with what it could mean and how to apply it - until at the end of November I finally understood.  I don't feel like I really lived it out at all.  Maybe I will need a do-over.  

2015 was a  year of going forward, I had no trouble choosing my new word.  It hovered over me and settled into me at the end of December even as I felt overwhelmed with challenges.  Since finding my O.L.W. is apart of my spiritual journey, I prayed about it - or tried to pray, but the certainty of this word being right for this season was just too big.  I didn't need to pray about it because I knew.  


Less doubt - more confidence.  Moving forward, not living in the past. Taking risks.  Trusting.  More Faith.  No excuses.  

I lived it out the best I could.  Spoke up.  Felt foolish for speaking up.  Made mistakes.  Picked myself up and kept going.  Made new friends.  Met new people.  Shared my creativity.  Tested my limits. Tried new things.  Challenged others to try new things.    

 It was a great year.  Not perfect, but it shaped me.  

 I'm still working on my word for 2016.  

 What's your One Little Word? 


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Creating Fearlessly 

Letting Go Of Comparisons

I'm sure you have heard that beauty is in the eye of the beholder - and sometimes we ladies behold ourselves and the stuff we do AND all we can do is self criticize.

We do it so much and so well there are ad-companies who sell products based on on letting go of that inner critic and accepting who we are.

I actually congratulate myself  when I  find the flaws.  Give me a gold star, because, look, I'm honest about my shortcomings.  If you're not sure what they are, I will voluntarily provide you with a complete list! Just ask.  Or don't ask.  I am likely to hand you the list anyway.

It's not just that I don't like what I see, what I am, or the stuff I create, it's that I am comparing it to some other ideal. Even if I never saw a commercial, never saw how big the Smith's house was, never experienced someone else's art - gee what would I be judging myself against?

If there is no yard stick - how can I measure?




It's not just that I have trouble looking in the mirror and not comparing myself to other women.  I mean, come on!  Julianna Margulies and I are about the same age.  Shouldn't I look like her? Shouldn't all middle aged women get to wake up in the morning and look like her?  That smooth dark hair.  That flawless skin and bright smile.

My hair is dark.  Hey, we practically look like sisters.  If she had a shorter, triangle shaped sister with frizzy hair and a smile badly in need of a Cadillac dental plan....It's not just this famous woman (who has a team of people to make her look beautiful and whose job requires being well put together) I have this horrible tendency to compare myself to the women all around me, it's like a filter I wear over my brain!  Look at me I am wearing a giant coffee filter on my head!   I have to consciously take that thing off to even see a little bit clearly.

Creating Fearlessly


To create fearlessly, to explore crafts, art and even scrapbooking, I have to make myself stop comparing and just Do.  I have to quiet my inner editor, just move forward, letting every project become a learning experience.  I write a story, bake a cake, and or even invite people over into my home, I have to take off that ugly filter and just rest in who I am.

For me, it's a Faith thing.  I have help removing that filter, and I have help resting - sometimes I can't do it on my own. Okay, Usually I can't do it on my own.






In the last year I have been very aware of this critical side of me.  Not just because I wear my own ridiculous, useless filter, but  because I see other's through it. And I don't want to do that.  I don't want to be a critical-comparing person.  I really don't.  In 2015 I've worked harder on being more encouraging and empowering to everyone. I choose to encourage my husband, my children, my friends.  Even myself.





I honestly believe, the only way I am going to be able to continue to create anything fearlessly in 2015 is by Letting Go of Comparisons, and just accepting that - This is Me.  I was created to be Me, not Julianna Margulies, not anyone else.  And me is not only okay, Me is uniquely gifted, specially different, and wonderfully made.





My word for 2015 is fearless.  


I used Tattered Angels Glimmer Mists & paints to for the colors on this large tag. On the girl I used High Impact Paints and did a tiny bit of detailing with metallic Pitt pens. I used a little bit of glitter glue, but didn't like it and scrapped most of it off.  The flowers all started out white, as did those little strands of burlap.  The little frame is an old K & Company epoxy and metal frame I have had for ages and ages.  I painted it with gesso and  used a Tattered Angels Naturally Aged Paint System to change it completely.  I love how it turned out.  The little metal findings are from 7 Gypsies.  The background papers are from the 7 Gypsies, Gypsy Moments line.  The tissue paper is French Scrip from Canvas Corp brands that I painted with Tattered Angels Paints.  

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I think it started as a positive motivation for creativity, there was a blog (closed since 2009)  and if I google One Little Word, I get Allie Edwards' website - she is a creative genius - but this is the idea

One Little Word.  One word to think on, ponder, return to, journal and create with, on word of focus.  Instead of splintering one's focus, struggling with a list of challenges, the idea is to pick one word, and a focus on all that it means, all the possibilities.  It is a deeply personal thing.  For me, it's very spiritual.

Last year my word was Go.  And it meant so many things to me.  I didn't accomplish one art project or one journal page, or a single scrapbook page around the word Go, but my life was hugely impacted by that one little word.  (after all, I went to France...!) It was not only permission to go places I had never been, it was a directive to go forward.  It was an acknowledgement of change and an acceptance of it.

I haven't got my word for 2014 yet.  I am waiting for the Holy Spirit to tell me.  (like I said, 'deeply spiritual.')  I've been thinking on it for awhile, but I'm not sure yet.

Do you have your word for 2014?

How do you arrive at your word?







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