A Woman's Haven: November 2009

DailyOM: Decorating Life


November 17, 2009 Decorating Life The World as Home There are few things more thrilling than having a new house or an empty room to decorate. Our imaginations soar as we consider the many possibilities. In the same way, our lives offer us the opportunity to express ourselves within various contexts, to ask ourselves questions about what we want to see as we move through our days and how we want things to flow. Some people do this instinctively, moving through the various environments they inhabit and shifting the energy with their presence. These people have a knack for decorating life. This can be as simple as the way they dress, the way they speak, or the fact that they always bring a bouquet of wildflowers when they come for a visit. As we move through the world, we make a statement, whether we intend to or not. We shift the energy one way when we enter a room dressed elegantly and simply, and another when we show up in bright, cheerful colors and a floppy hat. One is not better than the other. It is simply a question of the mood we wish to create. What we wear is just one choice we can focus on. The way we speak to people, or touch them, shifts the energy more profoundly than almost anything else. The words we speak and the tone in which we say them are the music we choose to play in the world that is our home. Some of us fill the space with passionate arias, others with healing hymns. Again, one is not better than the other. We are all called to contribute. Just as we consciously create an environment within our homes, we can consciously choose to decorate life itself with our particular energy. Ideally, in doing so, we express our deeper selves, so that the adornments we add to the world make it more meaningful, more beautiful, and as welcoming as a beloved home. Want more DailyOM? Register for your free email, or browse all articles

Handmade Christmas Idea-Skirt Purse # 2

Handmade Christmas Idea-Skirt Purses

This was a sun dress that I picked up at Goodwill. I liked the fabric and thought it would be great as transformed into a little tote bag for one of my nieces.

I sewed one seam along the bottom, cut off the excess fabric, and attached a flower for embellishment.

Easy Peasy Snowman

Mason jars, mod podge or white glue, and strips of tissue paper.

It is beginning to look a lot like Christmas

I found this sled out behind my grandma's barn and thought it would look nice on the fronch porch. I am decorating the inside of the house in a blue, silver and white theme. I had a tote full of gold, amber and berry colored bulbs and decided to try my hand at making a wreath out of them.

Before... and after...

I cut some twigs from a red berry bush outside in the yard and painted them silver.

I used what I had to make stocking holders...a mini flower pot from my easter tote...transformed by painting with a nickel finish, a silver bulb and a shell hot glued to the front.

A christmas tree jar filled with glass beads, pearl beads, and shells sits as the center piece.

Out with the old in with the new!

It is time to put away the harvest decor and get ready for the holiday season. I could wait until next week, but I'm not!

29 Gift Giving Challenge

I found this wonderful website http://www.29gifts.org/

29 Gifts is a global giving movement with several thousand members in 38 countries. Our collective mission at 29 Gifts is to revive the giving spirit in the world. We change lives—and change the world—one gift at a time. You can learn more about how our 29-Day Giving Challenge works and sign up to join us by committing to give your gifts to the world.

29 Gifts: How A Month Of Giving Can Change Your Life is available in book stores now. 29 Gifts is the insightful story of how our founder, Cami walker, saw her life change as she embraces and reflects on the naturally reciprocal process of giving and receiving. By Day 29, not only had Cami’s health and happiness improved, but she had created a worldwide giving movement. The book also includes personal essays from others whose lives changed for the better by giving 29 Gifts. More than a memoir, 29 Gifts offers inspiring lessons on how a simple daily practice of altruism can dramatically alter your outlook on the world. Visit your local bookstore to buy a copy now, or order online from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or Borders today.

I haven't purchase the book...YET, but I have added it to my amazon wish list. I think this is something that I will begin. Just in time for the "gift giving" season.

Art Journaling

Journaling Arts and Art Journaling

Personal journals are like diaries. You use them to tell your own life story, and sometimes to sort through issues and challenges. Your diary may be handwritten or typed. You can illustrate it with sketches, photos, or mementos... or allow your words to tell the entire story.
"Art journaling" is illustrating your personal journal or diary. You can use sketches, photos, paintings, or collage. You can glue in receipts, newspaper headlines or clippings, entries from the TV Guide for that day, or... anything visual, really. I've always kept a diary and illustrated it. As an adult, I still do. And, I've found that people--especially women--find new meaning and insights when they keep illustrated journals.

I have always tried to keep a journal, but after some time would become bored with my progress and put it aside. I have always loved putting things together visually like collages and scrapbooking. After browsing a few blogs that I like I became inspired to set out on my own "art journaling" adventure.

I had begun reading Simple Abundance by Sarah Ban Breathnach over the summer and one of the ongoing activities in the book is to create and use an "Illustrated Discovery Journal". The idea of this journal is to gather together beautiful images and words that speak to your soul. She describes it as being an explorer's log to your authentic inner world. By gathering items from quotes, magazines, books, cards, and other things along your path your "inner self" will begin talking to you through your collages and thus give you a better understanding of what you truly love and long for in your life. Above is a picture of the cover I created for my discovery journal.

I will share more from this book it is overflowing with all kinds of wonderful activities and information. Now back to the task at hand...

Here I share the first few pages of my new art journal. They are each still works in progress as I will continue to add to each of them as I become inspired to do so.

This page I created for what I want to call my self portrait. It is a list of suggestion or affirmation for "being me". On the tags to the left I included 3 things the I wish to let go of. FEAR, DOUBT, and GUILT. All three are not shown in this picture, but did end up on the final page. I contemplated including words that I considered to be unpleasant or negative because I wanted my "self portrait" to only include items of positivity, but I followed my inner voice and included them anyways. Maybe because those three feelings often get in the way of me following my true self and rather than deny that they exist I need to be aware so that I can countereract them when they arise.

These other two pages that are included are still works in progress, but I still wanted to share them.

Recent Read- The Red Tent

the red tent Pictures, Images and Photos

I just finished reading The Red Tent by Anita Diamant. I loved this book and as always I have a quote from the book that I would like to share.

"If you want to understand any woman you must first ask about her mother and then listen carefully."

"The more a daughter knows the details of her mother's life----without flinching or whining----the stronger the daughter."

Handmade Christmas Idea

I have been working on taking photos of items that I can use for lettering to make words for friends and family for christmas presents. Just an experiment of mine. These were all taken around my yard or around town. I have searched websites to check the cost of these framed photos words and often I have found them priced at $100 or more...way to expensive for my blood, so I thought "I can do that"!