Entries Tagged as: nest
Featured Creative Every Day Challenge Participants
March 31st, 2011, Comments (11)
Every so often, I love to share with you a glimpse into what some of the amazingly talented people participating in the Creative Every Day Challenge have been up to this month. I know it's hard to find time to see everyone's work, so hopefully this will give you a peek at some things you might not have seen otherwise. I wish I had time to share even more. You are all up to such amazing things and it's so inspiring!
First up are these sweet little owls from Karoline of What Karo'Line Did Next. I might have to try making some. I love owls too!
This gorgeous necklace is from Amanda Jolley of Hidden Art. I saw it on Flickr and fell in love!
This lovely collage about Home is from Rachel of art + food + friends. I love the Emily Dickinson quote in it, "Dwell in possibility."
I love the shadow in this beautiful landscape illustration by Nelleke verhoeff of yepr illustrations and inspirations.
I'm totally smitten with these gardening markers created by Ines of Daily Forward Tumble.
This tree sculpture was created by Jamie of Spunkyness. I love how she says it's a container for dreams. I think trees would make great dream containers!
And speaking of trees, check out this grand Eagle's nest captured in photography by Little Drum of The Dreaming Tree!
I'm loving the wonderful variety of work and the new worlds I see through your creative eyes. Thank you for sharing parts of yourself and keep on creating!
Loving Your Nest
March 16th, 2011, Comments (9)
Having the nest theme this month has got me thinking a lot about my home and the little and big ways we've been making it our own in the last year and a half. Many times it's the small touches (the pictures on the wall, the great piece of art you found while traveling, the vase you got as a wedding gift) that really make it yours.
Here are some of my favorite ways to love my nest:
1. Clear out the stuff you don't love. I think sometimes there's a guilt factor with stuff we get from family and friends or even things we bought and loved long ago, but no longer care for. These objects don't reflect who we are, but we keep them around because we don't want to be wasteful or ungrateful or simply because it's easier not to think about it. Moving can often help you get rid of excess stuff (less stuff to pack!), but you don't have to wait for a big move to move things out that longer sing to you.
You hereby have permission to release unloved objects into the world. Give these items to someone who could use them, sell them on craigslist, donate them, or just toss them. It's ok. By the way, you can also do this with clothes you haven't touched in over a year, books you'll never read, and food in your pantry that you'll never eat. It's freeing, you'll feel lighter after the fact, and you'll have more space for the things that speak to you!
2. Highlight the items you love. Frame that print you've had sitting in a drawer, your child's art, or that special picture of your pet, and hang them on the wall. Put out those special soaps you've been saving, light a candle in your favorite candle holder, pull out that beautiful blue bowl you only use at holidays. Use, share, and display the things that you love and you'll feel the glow of beauty all around you.
3. Treat your space: Flowers are a great way to bring some color and life into your space. I especially love to have them around before the flowers begin blooming outside. The smell can be fabulous too. You could also try pulling out a flowered tablecloth, making an arrangement of seashells in the bathroom, or sewing a pillow to go in your favorite chair. Just a little touch can make a huge difference in how you feel in your space.
4. Make the ordinary extraordinary. Arrange your shoes in a fun pattern in your closet, focus on the presentation of your food when you make dinner, sort your books by color, leave a trail of flower petals behind you when you walk out the front door. Be playful!
5. Dream your space: If your living space isn't what you'd like it to be. take some time to write and/or collage your ideal environment. I keep a blank journal with collaged images of spaces, with items and color combos that call to me. There are no rules or expectations in this journal, it's simply a play space to go with what inspires me in the moment and dream up new ideas.
Try writing 3 words you'd like to describe your space. How can you bring more of those things into your space today? this week? this year?
Need some help with the process?
I love the work of Jennifer Hofmann. I've take lots of her Office Spa day classes when I needed a clutter-clearing boost and found it enormously helpful. She's also got a 4 month "For Haven's Sake" class starting up in May!
I've also taken Goddess Leonie's Creating Your Goddess Haven e-course through her Goddess Circle and there's loads of juicy goodness there to help you love up your space.
Lastly, a friend forwarded me a beautiful article by Anna Kunnecke today and I followed a link within it to a course that starts next week called, The Queen Sweep, which focuses in on your home, your story, your closet, your calendar, and your wallet over five weeks. It sounds great!
Nest: A Guest Post by Goddess Leonie
March 8th, 2011, Comments (11)
This is a love letter.
To all those who are creating nests.
For babies. For projects. For wild, magical ideas. For life.
What is it to become a nest?
To grow a bird inside you, one that tweets and sings and rolls and dances.
The heartbeat that rolls like an ocean.
It is to know, in an instant, your life will change.
It will overcome you.
It will bring you to your knees.
And from there,
you will pray.
It is to give up yourself.
Give over yourself.
Let yourself swirl out into the sea of the unknown.
And slowly, find what it is
to be a wise, ancient turtle
adrift.
It is to take comfort in the changing tides,
the sweep of your new ravishing beauty,
in the way not only your belly swells
but your soul opens and blooms.
Free.
It is to dream big dreams.
Clean and open and new.
It is to devote yourself wholly to a pure cause:
one that is love
and one that is light.
It is to walk deep into your own shadow
to find the shamaness there.
The courageous one
the brave one
the one with a full heart
and strong body
who knows where she must go.
It is to hold strength and vulnerability
together
in one fist.
To be a lioness
and to also know
that all around
there are a thousand angels
chanting your name.
It is to find within yourself
the kind of glow
you've only seen in others.
It is to see yourself
for the first time perhaps
as you truly are:
the most perfect of perfect
the most divine of divine.
This is what it is
what it takes
to build a nest
and become a nest
for all your dreams
all your visions
all you desire
and all you are brave enough to seek.
It is to arrive.
At the mountain top.
And to make the decision
to leap
off the edge
into the deep.
Because you know
that is where you belong.
And like an avalanche,
she arrives.
This image of perfection,
this dream you have dreamed,
she is now alive
and awake
and walking in this world.
Because of you.
You, the nest.
The one who allowed herself to be
and become.
It took courage.
And faith.
And love.
And heart.
But you did it.
You, lioness, mama,
the abalone shell which holds new life.
You are the creatrix.
You are rounded out
and softened now.
Interwoven with soft fur
and strands of golden hair
and flinging threads of magic.
You are the nest.
The one wide enough to hold the space for new things
to spark to life,
be nurtured,
be born,
and bloom.
____
Goddess Leonie is the creator of www.GoddessGuidebook.com, a popular creativity + spirituality blog for women, and the upcoming Business Goddess course. She is also the nest of a thousand dreams come true, including her baby daughter Ostara.
Nesting Sneak Peek
March 3rd, 2011, Comments (22)
I've had the Nest theme on my list of possible themes for awhile now, but this month it just seemed so fitting, both with Spring around the corner and also my fervent desire to nest at the moment.
This winter, I've been learning to sew, so I put some of my new skills into practice by ordering some fabric and making some very simple valances for the nursery windows and a matching crib skirt. I didn't do much sewing on the crib skirt, as I followed the general guidelines of the no-sew version here. I simply sewed the sides and bottom of each piece and then used the nifty velcro technique suggested in the tutorial to attach it. Fun, simple, and easy!
I've also painted the wood frame of a beautiful mirror to match the room and I'm about to start painting some trees on the walls. I don't think I've ever had so much fun (or gotten so giddy about) putting together a space! I hope you enjoy the little sneak peek! I plan to have as much done as possible this month (some things like the rocking chair might not get here til April), so I'll continue to share little sneak peeks and a bigger reveal when it's all complete.
Creative Every Day Theme for March: Nest
February 25th, 2011, Comments (27)
At the end of each month I will announce the totally optional theme for the following month. For the month of March 2011, the theme will be Nest.
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 2011 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:
- *Draw, paint, or sculpt images of our fine feathered friends.
- *Feather your nest. Focus on bringing more creativity to your space.
- *Build a nest of sorts to create in. Maybe something like a blanket fort!
- *Get out in nature, snapping pictures of the building blocks of nests: trees, branches, bits of string.
- *Remove clutter from your space. See how it opens up your creativity.
- *Create an altar to honor your creative self.
- *Write about your ideal space. Draw a picture of it. What's one small thing you could do to get closer to that?
- *Create a piece of art inspired by Mary Oliver's "Wild Geese" poem.
- *Pick up a home decorator's magazine and use a color scheme in it in something you're making.
- *Use natural elements (feathers, branches, leaves) to create prints from.
- *Ever had dreams you could fly? Paint an image of it or a write a poem about how it felt.
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!
To find the universal elements enough; to find the air and the water exhilarating; to be refreshed by a morning walk or an evening saunter; to be thrilled by the stars at night; to be elated over a bird’s nest or a wildflower in spring – these are some of the rewards of the simple life.”
~John Burroughs
