Mixed Media May {in thirds}

We’re one-third of the way through Mixed Media May, an annual blog celebration of mixed media artists.  I’ve been having a great time reading the interviews and (especially) looking at all the fabulous art.  I am excited to be part of such a wonderful group of artists.  Now, if you have missed any of the features or would like to see who inspires theses artists, here’s your chance to catch up. Who knows, might even inspire you!

• Cindy Jones Lantier
• Nolwenn Petitbois
• Chris Cozen
• Christine Mason Miller
• Jane LaFazio
• Carol Bray
• Jill Lambert
• Linda Kinnaman

Keep checking the MMMay website, it won’t be long til I am on the list too!

Thinking of You {a cheer}

I was thinking of you today. Thinking about how easy it is to get off course. There are those moments when we lose track of where our heart sees us going. With one beat, we are moving towards life’s sweet spot and with the next we doubt it was ever there. Suddenly we have a sort of amnesia that effects our heart’s ability to remember where we are going.  We are disconnected from our dream. What was I doing?  How did I get here?  And yet, some small part of ourselves still has an inkling of that deeper purpose that aches for resolution, and it holds out hope that we might find our way back to the beauty path.

And if we are lucky, and if we are at least open to listening, we just might find someone who will cheer for us. That cheer, that encouragement, that inspiration is sometimes all we need to break the spell of forgetfulness. It enlivens us to our passion and sets us back on our path, in an instant, as if nothing ever happened.

I was thinking of you today.  Thinking how much you have to give to this world and how blessed this world is to have you in it. We need your dreams…and your action. So even though they are sometimes scary and sometimes feel very far out of reach, know that someone in some corner of the world cares about whether you keep going.  Someone believes that you can make it and someone is cheering you on.

Creatives Celebrating Sisterhood {the retreat}

Last week, I made the big announcement that I will be teaching a workshop at the Creatives Celebrating Sisterhood Retreat in April of 2013.  What a thrill!

One of the things that makes this retreat extra special is that it was specifically designed to celebrate the special bonds that we artist/creatives can so easy feel with one another.  You know what I mean!  It is that feeling of connection, like someone else gets you and someone else understands how you approach life.

The Details

Creatives Celebrating Sisterhood is one of several events organized by Live, Laugh, Love Retreats.  It will take place April 17-19, 2013 at Abbey Resort of Lake Geneva, WI.

The Inspiration

The retreat has been organized by Linda of Linda Barutha Designs. Linda’s motivation for creating the retreat came from the powerful experience she had as a young girl attending camp.  She wants to re-create that opportunity for connection and inspiration with Creatives Celebrating Sisterhood.

Featured Workshop Leaders

• Kris Lanae Binsfeld from Cherish Designs by Chris Lanae
• Junelle Jacobson from Yes and Amen
• Linda Kinnamen from Linda Kay Art
• Ann Marie from Live.Life.Wonderful
• Mary Sterk from Just Mary Designs
• Jacquie Williamson from Jacquie Williamson- Mixed Media Artist

….And of course, me!

My bio from Creatives Celebrating Sisterhood.

Early in life, I realized the role creativity could play in helping us to bring meaning and magic to our lives. I delighted in exploring each facet of the arts and eventually followed that path to the study of creativity in counseling. I discovered that even the smallest act of creation could have a huge impact us, that even creativity in its most everyday form could help to transform our lives. It is with this awareness that I have taken my love of the arts and built a lifestyle steeped in creativity.

I am an artist, lover of words, and enthusiastic storyteller. I have been blessed to have a career in which I could share my passion for journaling as a keynote speaker, explored a variety of art-ivity workshops for national conventions, and have had my approaches to using creativity published. My ultimate bliss comes in sharing my art and in encouraging others to explore their own creative spirits.

What’s Next

Wanna stay in-the-know about Creatives Celebrating Sisterhood Retreat? I will keep you in the loop. I will be sharing more details about the Passports to Dreams Come True Workshop (the workshop I am teaching) and upcoming give-aways here and on the Creativity Tribe Facebook page. You can also get more information through the Live, Laugh, Love Retreats Facebook page.

Plant a Kiss {a bit of magic}

In the spirit of Amy Krouse Rosenthal’s work, 16 inspiring and creative bloggers (including me!) set out to “Plant a Kiss” in the world on Sunday, April 29. We each did something we thought would spread a little extra joy, color, connection, poetry, or magic in the world. Then we watched to see what would happen!

Today each of us is posting about that experience. Visit the main Plant a Kiss page, where you can easily link to all participating bloggers. For every blog that you visit and comment on, your name will be tossed into a hat for a chance to win one of many amazing prizes such as online writing, photography, or dream-building classes; coaching sessions; artwork, or jewelry.

Starting Off with a Kiss

Sharing a bit of beauty or doing something to make the world a better place doesn’t take a lot of sacrifice. The smallest thing can have a large impact if it comes from the heart. As I considered how I might celebrate Plant a Kiss, I decided it was important for me to balance giving to others with my own self-care.

I’m a night owl which makes getting up to see the sunrise a bit of a challenge, but I know from past experience that it makes that spectacular dance of the dawn an extra special event.  It didn’t take long for me to chose the kiss I would plant.  Over a decade ago, I was introduced to labyrinths and have made several, usually for special occasions.  A labyrinth is a intricate, walkable pathway which leads to a point in the center and offers the path out.  Unlike a maze, you don’t get lost in a labyrinth. I have made the labyrinths by myself in the past and felt so exhausted by the time they were completed that I couldn’t enjoy them.  But holding onto the idea of using art as self-care, I enlisted the help of a few friends.

We met at sunrise on a small beach in our downtown area.  The air was crisp and cool; the sun, warm.  We began by raking the sand, discarding the trash and creating an even playing field, in the shape of a large circle.

Then we began drawing the labyrinth in the sand, orienting it so that the opening sat in the East, inviting in the morning sun.  We took turns so that everyone one had a part and no one was overwhelmed by the task.

When the last circuit was complete, we came together to set our intentions…

… to contemplate what it means to take the journey inward towards the center…

…to listen…

 …and gather up what wants to be shared with the world.

We walked as we felt called to….

Some sang, some drummed, and some danced…. and yes,

…some even kissed.

In the end, we all walked away drenched in the beauty of creative collaboration.

And the labyrinth?  That was our kiss.  We left it for others to play with…so that perhaps they might discover something lovely in their day.

Would you like a reminder to Plant a Kiss everyday?  I snapped a picture just for you!

Print it out. Put it in a place where it will remind you to bring some magic to the world.

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Special thanks to Irene Jaan of Travel Creatives for helping to document the day!

Part of Plant a Kiss includes a prize giveaway for comments left (ended 5/4/12).  My contribution, this “Wisdom Keeper” from my newly opened Creativity Tribe Etsy Shop.

Super Special Secrets {spillin’ the beans}

I feel like so much happened here this month.  Birthday months tend to be like that, an embiggening of life and steady trails of gifts from friends and the Universe.  And I love it!

This month was filled with firsts, like my first art festival, filled with creative opportunities with family and friends and lots of celebration. It was also filled with poetry and art.

Some of my favorite parts of the month came as big announcements.  First, I kept the April   Fool-ery going with an announcement about having a baby (which turned out to be a momma bird, and not me….sorry for any trauma that created!), then as part of a Week of Words, I announced a special offer from River of Poems that is exclusive to Creativity Tribe (that’s you)….good throughout May.

But probably the biggest announcement this month is the opportunity I have been given to participate as one of the writers featured in Plant a Kiss Blog Hop. I can’t wait to share with you how I created a bit of magic this morning (check back May 1st for the details and to be put in for the amazing giveaways!) Whew!  Big month!

Time to spill the beans about the other super special secrets!

{bean #1.}  Mixed Media May:  I have been invited to participate in an annual blog celebration of mixed media artist.  One of the first people I met on the mixed media art scene, Cindy Lantier of Mixed Grill Favorites, is the beautiful soul behind the event.  If you would like to follow along as she interviews featured artists (including me), hop over there. An artist a day, how can you go wrong?! You can also grab a button to show the world you are following the celebration. I will be reporting here on some of the happenings over there.

{bean #2} Creatives Celebrating Sisterhood Retreat:  In April of next year (on the week of my birthday…teeeeheee)  I will be traveling to Lake Geneva, Wisconsin to teach at an art retreat. (I know, I said it like it is no big whoop…but I busting out inside!  This is my dream, friends.  And I feel so blessed that I am getting to do it!)  I will fill you in more soon and keep you in the loop.  In the meantime, take a gander at the retreat, and if it resonates with you, begin dreaming on making it one of the things you bring into your life this year. I would LOVE to do this together!

{bean #3} Creativity Tribe Etsy Shop:  Coming VERY soon!!!  Whoop!

River of Poems

This week’s focus has been poetry. At first, I attributed that to the fact that this is National Poetry Month.  The truth is that poetry just kept finding its way into my life this month and then, I realized it was NPM.

I said earlier in the month I had some big announcements to make….here is one of them.

For my birthday, my friend Amy gave me a poem.  Not just any poem, a poem written about me, just for me.  Along one edge, it spelled out my name. Each line explored some aspect about my life. I was floored!

Now, it might make sense that a good friend could write a very personal poem about another good friend, but that wasn’t the case here.  No, Amy had not written the poem.  She commissioned it. Did I say I was floored?

River of Poems is a fairly new blog that offers exquisitely crafted, individualized poems.

…from River of Poems

Relics from the past and future collage, creativity flowing in one who treasures
Artistic expression in its myriad forms, from a tea party with cats to entire
Communities of fairies slipping through leaves and petals unseen.
Hearing the colors of voices, the palette of emotions freely displayed,
Every nuance of the soul and its dramas unfolding in an imagination
Limitless with the capacity to capture on canvas the healing
Power of an image speaking to the unspoken, celebrating
All the facets of what it means to be alive in this tribe because
Yes, each day is a page of mixed media in the books we are making,
Not one breath extraneous as we find our way, one tiny banner at a time,
Echoing the mandala’s intricate design, every line divine.

Now the BIG SURPRISE… I wanted to share my poem with you, so I asked the writer if I could.  She was thrilled…so much so that she is offering a Creativity Tribe special.

Just in time for Mother’s Day and graduation. 

Offer good through May 2012.

Plant a Kiss {join me}

If I think back over my life, I can recall all sorts of times when life brought an unexpected gift my way. Sometimes they were small, like the colorful crocheted sweater someone fitted around a palm tree just off a busy street near my house or the tiny American flags secretly placed on every drive way in my neighborhood for Independence Day, and sometimes they are big, like an anonymous check that once came in the mail encouraging me to follow my dreams of going to college.  Big or small, they have made something fundamental shift in my life.  Even when they were not specifically intended for me alone, I enjoyed knowing that someone out there wanted to make the world a more beautiful, welcoming place.

What I have come to love even more than receiving those unexpected blessings is giving them. That is why when I was approached by Sherry Richert Belul  for the Plant a Kiss project, I enthusiastically jumped in.

This is one of several surprises I have lined up for sharing with you in the coming week.

What is Plant a Kiss?

Amy Krouse Rosenthal is an exceptional woman who creates experiences which cultivate joy, connection, and creativity.  She has a new book called Plant a Kiss.  I am so excited and honored to join the line up of writers who are setting out to celebrate the ideals Amy illustrates with the story in her book.  Here, take a quick look!

Here is the trailer for Amy’s book.

How are we celebrating Plant a Kiss?

On April 29th, each of the writers is going to “plant a kiss.”  That can look like anything from, sharing something of themselves, a poem, art work, a good deed, small or large. The sky is the limit.  And the project doesn’t stop with us, we would love for you to join the celebration.  Spread the love!

The Plan

• The party is starting off with Amy’s Texting Mission on April 29th.
• Check out some of the ideas you might use for joining in the celebration.
• Head to Plant a Kiss Party Central on May 1st for a star studded blog party.
• Hop along and get signed up to win super awesome prizes!

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Wanna know more about Amy? (She has done some inspiring projects!)

• Beckoning of Love
• Always Trust Magic
• Mission Amy KR

 Can’t wait to share my Kisses with you!