~Artist 365~ Self Portrait Tuesday

Simply put ....

((((((I have the bestest friend in the whole wide world.  Love you and thank you.  Can't wait til Friday. ))))))

~Artist 365~ Pure Sweetness

While many people chose to participate in several "Photo-a-Day" or "Layout-a-Day" groups, I know that there is now way that I will commit myself to that.  Even if I started out with the best of intentions, I know that, at some point down the road, I will not continue.  While reviewing my Facebook daily feed yesterday, I saw that a fellow scrapper joined a group called ~Artist 365~.  Intrigued, I went to check it out and loved what I saw.  As the title says, it is a year long challenge but it is simply the challenge to be creative.  Whether it be scrapbooking, photography, or creative writing, anything goes as long as you are being creative.   To me and for me, that is feasible and realistic. If you are on my Facebook Friends list, I have created an album as a place to post this creative goodness.  Otherwise, I will post things on my blog randomly.

I love Photoshop.  I am in awe of what can be done using Photoshop.  Unfortunately, I do not know how to use Photoshop.  I have a basic understaning -- maybe even more than some of my blog buddies -- but I am limited.  I long to do really cool photo edits.  I drool over designers like Rhonna Ferrar and Jessica Sprague and, even thought I would never give up my chunky scrapbooking ways, I would love to be able to edit photos like they do or create elements to add to those pages.  Tonight I started out looking for a simple tutorial on photo editing and wound up following a Jessica Sprague tutorial.  I would have loved to done all the elements as she did them but alas ... I didnt find everything easy to follow.  Because we use different software, some things could not be figured out.  Regardless, I am good with the final product.  I even used brushes for the first time  As I grow more and make *change* to my level of knowledge, maybe I will revisit this tutorial in the future and create another digital layout.  In the meantime ... happy creating.

 

                        

My One Little Word - 2010

Last year I joined Ali Edwards on her "One Little Word" journey.  My word was 'Baby.'  After many failed attempts to get pregant and the devastation of multiple losses, I decided to do more than just try.  I took action to better myself physically and mentally and it worked.  My word became my reality and to say we were overjoyed was an understatement.  Sadly, it wasn't meant to be and we never made it past the first trimester.  For 2010 I will move forward with last year's word still in mind but will open it up to allow a greater journey.  For 2010, my one little word will be ....

Not one specific change but change in all areas of my life.  Change with my habits & hobbies.  Change with school & work.  Change with family & friends.  Change with my mental & physical self. 

It is not one big thing but many little things.  It is striving to be the best that I can me for my family, my friends and, most importantly, myself.

Goodbye 2009 - Hello 2010

~*~ HAPPY NEW YEAR ~*~

It seems like only yesterday that the world was in a tizzy and preparing for the everything to crash when '1999' changed to '2000' but here we are, beginning our second decade, and the world is still functioning (or dysfunctioning depending on what part of the world you are looking at). In regards to my where-abouts these past few months, I have been here - quietly but here none the less. Since I have done absolutely nothing in the world of crafting since April, it didn't make much sense to keep my blog here, sitting stagnent. Because of this, Creatively Mine was shut down for a while. I tried to make it disappear but it would only let me password it. For those of you who wondered if I had shut you out, I did not. I was the only one with access. I am not one who often makes reference to my personal journey on my blog and mainly use it as a creative outlet, with the occassional you-tube funny, so there honestly was nothing to update about. (btw - I don't think that there is anything wrong with sharing your life on blogs, I just dont seem to other than the rare occassion, is all)

I can't believe that it is already 2010 and that I am almost 36. Where has the time gone? Personally, I am thankful that 2009 is over. While there were moments to cherish and remember, it was not a good year overall. 2009 has seen the end of friendships there were very dear to me. Because of how it played out, it resulted in my becoming very insecure about those who remain and questioning the true sincerity of those friendships. 2009 saw dreams coming true but turning into a nightmare with the discovery that I was pregnant again ... finally. Several ultrasounds revealed that it just wasn't meant to be and, at 11 weeks, I was no longer pregnant. This made first trimester loss number 4 in addition to losing Hannah. Added to that is the stress of self-employment and, even though it is not I who is self-employed, it has been allowed to come into our home and affect us in many ways. Struggles with myself. Stuggles with weight gain after weight loss. Struggles with marriage. Struggles with knowing I should have been 7 months pregnant and am not. Struggles with yet another Christmas without my daughter. This has all taken me to a place I have never been before. This place is very dark. Very sad. Very lonely. I do not like it here.

Welcome 2010. A new year. A fresh start. A year that I will continue my journey towards healing. A time when I will try and find peace in my childless life, as I had started to before becoming pregnant again. A time when I will once again seek physical health and add to that the journey for good mental health as well. I will continue to grow academically with more courses at Carleton. I will make time to create. I will create. I will put my life back together with or without those who are there now. I will live for me. Anything else that happens, anyone that happens, will just be an added blessing. I will work towards the light and find the happiness that I found a year ago. This is my promise to myself and it begins now - with this blog post, with the discovery of my 2010 word and with a crafting session on the weekend. I can't wait.

Wishing you the happiest and healthiest of 2010. May all your dreams come true and may you find peace in a world that doesn't always give you everything you hope for.

{{{ HUGS }}}

English ... or Philosophy?

As I mentioned before, I am signed up for English Literature 1000. Now, dont ask me why, but I always had the perception that it would be along the lines of talking about literature and learning how to read a story and dissect it, talking about things like why did the author say this or who do these two characters do this? Well, after my sister told me about the webCT site, I went exploring. What did I find? My syllabus! Finally. Now I know what I will be reading. I also learned that my professor is the only first year English prof that uses podcasts ... and there was one waiting that gave an overview of what we will be doing this year: - this section focuses on how well you can put an argument on paper (which, he says, is not as easy as it seems) - gone are the days of the high school, 5 paragraph approach to essay writing. - Lots of tips and ideas given for argumentative essays using coherent sentences. - we will be answering the big questions like Who am I? Where am I? What I am doing here? - we will spend alot of time looking at the meaning of life, how we determine meaning and how to we determine meaning for ourselves. - Is there a god? is there NOT a god? Does really even matter if there is or isnt one? - How powerful can our thoughts really be? - all of the above questions use literature as the framework to explore these. So now I ask you this.... is this something that is common to come across in an English Literature class? I can't say that I am not very intrigued. I am just a little caught off-guard, I think, because I never expected this out of the course. I expected more analysis of story lines, what do you think the author meant, why do you think these characters related to eachother that way, etc. Honestly, I have no clue why I even had this perception ... I just did. Maybe that is just my college mind where things were alot more concrete than abstract. In the meantime, I continue to go from "wow, I am doing this" to "OMG! what am I thinking? Can I really do this?" Time will tell.

How Facebook Can Ruin a Relationship

A lil You-Tube funny. (dont forget to pause my playlist)