Entries Tagged as: celebrate

Holiday Craftiness

December 16th, 2013, Comments (5)

I've been getting into the Holiday spirit this year! So much more fun with Annabelle. We did reindeer thumbprint ornaments, a handprint tree, and then I did a tinsel garland, and a ruffle tree skirt. So thankful for Pinterest and it's wealth of crafty ideas I can adapt to work for us! 

Celebrating the Holidays and Other Good Stuff

December 19th, 2012, Comments (3)

Something about the holiday season makes me feel crafty. I am not particularly good at crafts because I'm a bit sloppy, but whatever, I'm diving in! This year, it's been fun making some crafts with Annabelle's help, like these salt dough handprint ornaments that I made of her hand and one each for two of her buddies. I found the instructions here. They're a little warped, but with some acrylic paint and ribbon, I think they came out kind of cute!

I'd also like to say a big thank you to folks for spreading the word about the 20 Little Lights print, which I'm selling to raise funds for the Sandy Hook School Support Fund. I've been touched both by the kind words of those who were moved by the image and by the print sales. Thank you! I was really affected by the tragedy, as were so many and I felt the need to do something. Even if it was a small something.

I've loved some of the other "small somethings" people have been up to. I saw via Facebook and Instagram that people are committing to doing 26 acts of kindness to honor the 26 lives lost that day. What an awesome idea! If you're on instagram, check out the hashtag #26acts to see what other people are doing.

I also saw via Facebook, that my friend Suzi Banks Baum had joined up with a group called The World Needs More Pie to bring free pie to the people of Newtown, Connecticut yesterday. How awesome is that?

It's always nice to see how people can come together and do beautiful, kind things in the world. It makes a difference.

Celebrating the Body, Your 2012, and 2013!

December 12th, 2012, Comments (2)

Leonie Dawson is spectacular. Really. Love her.

Back in 2010, I did this video interview with her about her yearly workbook and planner and we also talked about the body because that was the Creative Every Day monthly theme at the time. It's a silly interview with lots of laughs and some cat bombs from two of my kitties. The sound doesn't match our mouths in the beginning for some reason, but it gets better. I think it's worth listening to because I know body issues come up a lot around this time of year!

One thing I like about Leonie's planner is that she has pages for celebrating all you've accomplished in the previous year (and sometimes it's easy to forget all you've accomplished in the last 12 months) and then lots of room to celebrate all you want to accomplish in the next year. It's important to do both!

Before you move on to 2013, take a moment to go through your year. If you have a blog, that can be a good way to look back, or look back through your digital photos. Look back at the risks you took, the people you met, the places you traveled to, the things (big and small) that you created, the people you touched, and the laughs you had. Make a list of some or all of these things and take a moment (or longer) to acknowledge and celebrate your year.

And if you'd like some extra help with the celebrations and planning, check out Leonie's beautiful planner and have a blast filling it out!

Celebrating the Holidays

December 11th, 2012, Comments (3)

I'd like to get into the holiday spirit with Annabelle and do some crafty stuff this year. Trying to contain the mess is a challenge! I do like how these ornaments came out though. A friend saw the idea on pinterest (I think) and I copied her, so I don't know where the idea originated from, but it's cute and simple and a nice craft to do with little ones.

I bought some plain red ornaments (some matte, some shiny) and then painted Annabelle's hand with white tempera paint (non-toxic). I pressed her hand on the bottom of the ornament, then repainted and did a few few more ornaments. (Be sure to have some extra ornaments, they won't all come out great.)

After cleaning up Annabelle and letting the ornaments dry, I used permanent markers to draw in the snowmen details and write Annabelle's name and the year. Sorry for the spoiler, grandparents! :-)

Now when Annabelle sees them, she says, "hand!" and puts her hand up against them. It'll be a nice memory of how small her little hands once were!

Celebrating a Small Works Show and Traveling Waves

December 8th, 2012, Comments (2)


Tonight from 6 - 10 pm at The Whole 9 Gallery in Culver City, is an opening for a Small Works show, which will feature several pieces of my art. If you're in the area, check it out! My piece, Storyteller, is in the bottom right corner of the invite above.

Another thing to celebrate, my painting, Whale Dreams on the cover of a cd of meditative music, which you can purchase a hard copy of here or find on iTunes or cdbaby.

Creative Every Day Theme for December: Celebrate

December 1st, 2012, Comments (7)


At the end of each month I will announce the totally optional theme for the following month. For the month of December 2012, the theme will be Celebrate

As always, this month's theme for the Creative Every Day Challenge is totally optional. Use it if it inspires you, continue being creative every day in your own way if it doesn't, or do something in between. You can sign up for the 2012 Creative Every Day Challenge anytime. More info can be found here and the sign-up page is here.

I'll be posting about the theme throughout the month on the blog to help keep you inspired. You can use the posts here for jumping off points or interpret the theme in your own creative way. If you need some suggestions, here are a few ideas to get you started. You could:

  • *Find ways to celebrate your accomplishments this month, big and small.
  • *Enjoy creating decorations for the holiday season.
  • *Create mini celebrations each day: a tiny tea party, gold stars, a work of art for someone you love.
  • *Celebrate your life through gratitude. Keep a list of something your grateful for each day.
  • *Celebrate your body through movement. Put on some music and move, get out in nature and take a walk, put on a yoga dvd and stretch.
  • *Celebrate your favorite medium with joyous creating. What color is your happiness, what medium speaks celebration to you?
  • Write a piece celebrating who you've become as an artist this year.

How to use the CED themes:

If you're feeling creatively stuck or blocked at any point during the month, use the theme as a source of inspiration to get you moving. Feel free to focus on the theme in your creative activities for the entire month or as much as you'd like.

Using the theme is entirely optional for CED participants. Use it if it inspires you, ignore it if it doesn't. I'll be sharing posts throughout the month around the theme (among other things) to get you thinking about how to incorporate it into your life. I'd love to hear how you use the theme in your creative world.

And have fun with it!

People of our time are losing the power of celebration. Instead of celebrating we seek to be amused or entertained. Celebration is an active state, an act of expressing reverence or appreciation. To be entertained is a passive state--it is to receive pleasure afforded by an amusing act or a spectacle.... Celebration is a confrontation, giving attention to the transcendent meaning of one's actions. ~Abraham Joshua Heschel

p.s. The art above is adapted from "Releasing Fears" available here.