Week one of my collage class: Cut & Paste

I'm really enjoying the Cut & Paste Class that 

Katie Licht (I love her work!) is teaching at 

StudioCalico.com! 

Here are a few pictures!

I couldn't wait, so I made a couple of collages with my new painted paper 

in my favorite style of collaging in my journal these days. 

Painted paper, graph paper, security envelope, painted hymnal page.

This collage is made from book page, origami paper, painted book 

page, vintage map page, dictionary page and gelli paper.

Taking a class!

Hey, if any of you are interested....check out the class 
I am about to take online at Studio Calico: 

Cut & Paste!

Today I did the pre-class challenge! So fun!

hand painted papers & book pages

Some of the painted papers were painted using easy-peasy foam stamps and acrylic paint.

Have a lovely weekend everyone!

Leigh Ann

The "Engine" of Change

"Most of us were taught that God would love us if and 

when we change. In fact, God loves you so that 

you can change. It is the inherent experience of 

love that becomes the engine of change." 

Richard Rohr

Cultivating and Creating

This month I've been enjoying working in my art journal. Experimenting and using my hand painted papers to collage different shapes in different colors schemes that make me happy!  This first collage sparked the next one and so on. I plan to use these ideas to create a large canvas collage. We'll see if it ever materializes. :)

I'm still reading an learning more about creating Sabbath in my life and I just downloaded and short audio book called "Sabbath" by Wayne Muller. It is based on his full length book, 

"Sabbath: Finding Rest, Renewal, and Delight in Our Busy Lives". 

Here is a brief description of the book from Amazon.com: 

"In today's world, with its relentless emphasis on success and productivity, we have lost the necessary rhythm of life, the balance between work and rest. Constantly striving, we feel exhausted and deprived in the midst of great abundance. We long for time with friends and family, we long for a moment to ourselves. 

We need not even schedule an entire day each week. Sabbath time can be a Sabbath afternoon, a Sabbath hour, a Sabbath walk. With wonderful stories, poems, and suggestions for practice, Muller teaches us how we can use this time of sacred rest to refresh our bodies and minds, restore our creativity, and regain our birthright of inner happiness."

Creating in my art journal is always a great source of refreshing for me. When I cultivate choices in my life that refresh me and make me more present, it inspires thankfulness to God as well as being a good place to start from each day.

I hope you can find some time to "Sabbath" and rest and refresh yourself! 

Maybe create something! 

 “Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place 

and get some rest.”

Mark 6:31b

New International Version

Home Sweet Home

Collage with scrapbook papers, sharpie marker for detailing, outlining, lettering and doodling.

I am in the process ( and it will take a while) of de-cluttering  my home, my schedule and my head space! All this, in an effort to stop my possessions from owning me instead of me owning my possessions, as well as creating a more intentional, peaceful  and joyful way of living. 

I have been listening to the unQuiet.life podcast and reading various blogs and books about simplifying your life and learning how to have a quiet inner life in our loud and busy world. Check out the new section on my Resources Page for more "RESOURCES FOR CREATING A QUIET INNER LIFE & CREATING  MARGIN IN YOUR LIFE"

Also, here is a link to some great short videos of Shauna Niequist talking about her book "Bread & Wine" (which I have bought and have not had a chance to read yet, but I am dying to read along with several other books I have bought recently!)  Have a look at the short video called "Into the Mess" and I know you will feel as encouraged as I am by her message. 

Leigh Ann

Oh give thanks to the Lord

"Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;

    for his steadfast love endures forever!"

Psalm 118:1

(hand cut scrapbook paper)

Saturate...

"Find the things that stir your affections for Christ and saturate your life in them."
Myquillyn Smith (TheNester.com)

One thing that stirs my affections for Christ is creating! Painting, doodling, making hand painted papers for collaging and working in my art journal are creative ways I can saturate my life with beauty. I am so thankful that God created all of us in His image and that we can be co-creators of beauty with Him!

I love art journaling as a way to practice and play and learn art techniques. AND... I love to add words of inspiration, favorite quotes and scripture that I want to infuse my life with.  While I am creating I can invite God to be with me and inspire me. And I can go back to my journal pages over and over for re-inspiration and re-encouragement!

I have never been able to muster the fortitude or whatever it is that makes one good at memorizing scripture, but I want His word in me! I want to be able to call it to mind when I need it. So being able to flip though my past art journal pages can be a great way for me to saturate my life with inspiration and His word. Hopefully some of it will stick! :)

The quote I used in this art journal page is from a lovely blog post at TheNester.com. Myquillyn says her blog is "a place for you to come and find decorating encouragement, creative ideas, and be reminded that “It doesn’t have to be perfect to be beautiful”. In her post "Why it’s Worth it to Fight for Rest", she says:

"Most of all we need to fight for the time to do nothing so that we can truly rest." 

I agree. But it's hard! So hard! Many days it's down right impossible, so while I am fighting to make times of "Doing Nothing" in my life,  I'm also  exploring what it means to live a quiet inner life, a restful inner life. When I slow down and make time for being the  creative person God made me to be, it is a form of "quiet". It is a form of "rest". And it's good for my Soul.

(Collaged, hand painted, stenciled, bubble-wrap-stamped &  gelli- printed papers 

with white gel pen for writing the quote. I LOVE LOVE LOVE white gel pens!)

Resources for Soul Rest

In recent days, as my life journey unfolds, I am continuously drawn to anything that sounds like:

REST

SILENCE

SOLITUDE

MARGIN

PEACE

QUIET

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I listen to a great weekly podcast called The unQuiet Life. Well they are going to be doing daily ADVENT Podcasts! I'm so excited! During the busy holiday season I definitely need some help with rest, peace, quiet and margin! Be sure to sign up for them at 

unQuiet Life Advent! 

One way I create Inner Rest, Inner Quiet and Inner Margin is through my Art Journaling.

I often use it to focus on one word that I am reflecting on. Initially, I wanted to put a black accent line around the edge of the page like I did on the blue square an the magenta square. But I decided to resist filling in the "margin" of this page as a way to remind myself to not always fill up every bit of margin in my life!

So...... even though there are a million books I want to read or re-read, I will choose not to feel RUSHED. I will read them as I can. (Note: the thin black book at the bottom of the stack that does not  have a title on it is "Unquiet Time: A Devotional For the Rest of Us"  by Heather Caliri. And the top "book" is not a book, it is a DVD called Be Still about contemplative prayer.)

As God opens up little snippets of time here and there. I will be focusing on "Savor: Living Abundantly Where You Are, As You Are"  by Shauna Niequist as a daily devotional. And "Found: A Story of Questions, Grace & Everyday Prayer" by Micha Boyett and Ann Voskamp. Here is a quote about Found:

"With this beautiful book, Micha Boyett opens a door to Benedictine spirituality 

through which regular, busy people can enter and taste, see, smell, hear, and 

feel what it means to live life as a prayer."

RACHEL HELD EVANS, author of A Year of Biblical Womanhood

Watch for a new section on my resource page coming soon for links and more information about all these books as well as blogs I follow, and podcasts I listen to.

Leigh Ann

Seasons of Rest

I'm in a season of rest right now. It doesn't mean that I don't do anything and I sleep all day. :) I'm talking about Soul Rest.

Some of the talks at the Allume Conference  2014 have started me on a path to decluttering and simplifying my life. 

I'm not sure where I came across these verses in Isaiah, maybe in the Allume talks or on the Un-Quiet Life Podcast or maybe on Pinterest! But I know the Lord sent them to me when  I needed them.

This wonderful thought is from "Cold Tangerines" by Shauna Niequist 

(a  w-o-n-d-e-r-f-u-l book that you should go read right now!)

Of course, some actual vacation time is always good for the soul!

Dad

My Dad passed away a this year. He was a good, strong, hard working Christian man who could be a bit on the quiet side.....unless you got him to start talking about fishing!  He loved to fish! On our visits, my husband could always get him talking about some fishing trip or a good "fishing hole"  he had found!

As a way to honor him and comfort myself, 
I decided to make a small collage of him. 

He's in the boat. :)  

Some of the painted paper I used was made from copies of Math papers he had written. 

He had long since retired but was a Math Professor by profession. 

We have joked that he only chose to be a teacher so he could have summers off to fish!

When I was a kid, he got to take a big trip to Alaska to fish. I remember he came home 

with two new, large, clean garbage cans with really big fish in them on ice! 

He was proud! 

 I love you daddy!

Rest for Your Soul

I'm learning that one way God can bring joy, peace and REST is through my creativity. 

MAKING and CREATING are such a balm to my soul.

 I have been trying to improve my collage skills and discover my artistic style by making LOTS of art. I use the term "LOTS" loosely. Finding time to MAKE can be a challenge. There are soooo many obstacles. Internal and external.

After creating the backgrounds I played with circles first.

Then decided to do DOODLES instead. I like the flower doodle on the left the best. :)

Learn how I cut out my "doodles" here.

For quite a while I have been craving REST. Not sleep or physical rest, but rest for the soul and mind. I came across a great podcast called  " unQuiet Life ", that addresses this.

From their website: "unQuiet Life is an ongoing conversation, delivered as a weekly podcast, about living a contemplative life in Urban America. Come discover the benefits of fostering a quiet inner life in a loud, complex, busy world. 

We aren’t experts. We’re just two guys in Chicago on a spiritual journey. Our guide has been Jesus of Nazareth, and contemporary followers of his like Henri Nouwen and Richard Rohr. Regardless of your religious background, we invite you to join us on a spiritual road-trip. We’ve found this part of the path to be largely uncharted by the churches we’ve known, so let’s find something special together."

Aaaaah, doesn't that sound appealing? They have 10 podcasts so far. 

I have listened to several and really like what I have heard so far. 

Check it out and let me know what you think. 

A second resource is a group called the Sabbath Society  on a blog called "Redemption's Beauty" . Their tagline is what enticed me to subscribe:

"Want to make rest a routine, not just something you 

fill in between the cracks of your busyness? 

Welcome to the Sabbath Society, a group of hundreds declaring “I’m all in” when it comes to implementing a rhythm of rest into each week. 

We’re not doing this to achieve perfection or sainthood, just linking arms knowing that what we gain in the observance results in transformation as we focus on Peace."

Nice, right? If you sign up for her email, you will get one email every other Friday. 

A third great resource I came across recently is right in my own back yard, sort of.... It's a yearly conference for Christian Bloggers, held in Greenville, SC! It's called Allume and the next one will be October 15-17th! If you can't attend, you can download audio sessions from past conferences (for a fee). Or watch videos of the keynote speakers from the 2014 conference online for FREE! 

Even if you are not a blogger, you will enjoy them. I recommend watching at least two of the keynote speeches; the one by Logan Wolfram and the one by Shauna Niequist. Go the the conference website, Allume.com and click on "Resources", then "2014 Keynote Speeches". Great inspiration for the creative person of faith!

Hope

" The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end;

 they are new every morning;  great is your faithfulness.

 'The Lord is my portion,' says my soul, 'therefore I will hope in him.' ”

Lamentations  3:22-24

I came across a quote on a blog post at the nester that speaks to my passion and ministry:

"Find the things that stir your affections for Christ and saturate your life in them."  

Two things for me are scripture and making art:  

Faith Art Journaling!

Sometimes my Faith Art Journal page starts with a scripture and then I make art around it.

More often, though, I start making art on a page and 

THEN a word or a scripture comes to mind.

I also love that sometime my "leftovers" that didn't get used on the original page get used on a second page. 

Here is a page waiting for a word from the Lord. 

I encourage you to make something and then ask the Lord for a word.