Happy New Year 2019

Here is wishing you a Happy New Year!!!

Stay blessed and be a blessing!!

You have Everything You Need to Start!

You have everything you need.  Sometimes it might not seem that way but you really have.  I don't always believe it myself especially in those times of self doubt and feelings of fear, but deep down I know that I have available to me the tools that I need to use to do the things that I enjoy doing.

What you need to do is break things down, step back and look with fresh eyes.

Check out the podcast to hear more!

Remember when you make things more complicated than they need to be you miss the opportunities that come wrapped up in simple packaging.  Take time to reflect and remind yourself what is truly important to you and take a step in the direction of your dreams - if you need permission to take the step, use the slip below!!  Have fun and take lots of photos!!

Stay blessed and be a blessing

Mixed Media Play Date - Registration is OPEN!!

Click HERE For More Info

The Mixed Media Play Date Registration is NOW OPEN and I am very excited to be among the AMAZING artist instructors who will bring you awesome lessons and inspiration throughout 2019!

This is a new mixed media collaboration intended to bring you endless inspiration, amazing fun, freedom in creativity and community like no other.  Hosted by Tiare Smith, you’ll be immersed in happiness, gratitude and fun from day one. 

And if you think you don’t have enough time to create, if you don’t know where to begin, if your inner critic keeps talking and you need someone to lift you up and shut her up, if you need inspiration or you simply want to find your own inner voice the Mixed Media Play Date is for you! Designed to teach, be a guide, inspiration and a friendly place for you to be yourself and thrive! Oh and AMAZING FUN and LIVE STREAMED MIXED MEDIA PLAY DATES!!!!

I know some of your are excited! GRAB YOUR SPOT NOW!

 

EARLY BIRD PRICING, be sure to enter code: PLAYDATE at checkout to save 20% good till December 25, 2018.  

 

Wait.... there is MORE!

BONUS GIFTS

For those of you who sign up for the course using my link I have several bonuses (worth over $40) to give away as a special Thank You!!

25 Ways to fit Art & Creativity into Your Life

Art Journal Bundle - Series 1

I Speak Life - Encouraging Words

You can check out the Bonuses and sign up HERE

Stay blessed and be a blessing.

Mixed Media Play Date - Winner Announced!

The Winner for the competition is:

Welcome to today's post, if you missed all the excitement we were talking about the Mixed Media Play Date course and I had a place on the course to giveaway. 
You can check it out HERE


Congratulations Tommy Jo for winning the place on the course, we look forward to having you join us.

Don't worry if you didn't win the place on the course, I got you covered!!!

Check back on Saturday 1st December when registration opens for details of all amazing things you will be getting from the course, Bonuses and details of the Early Bird Discount!!!   

For those of you who sign up for the course using my link I have several bonuses to give away as a Thank You so make sure you come back on Saturday as we 
GET This Party STARTED!!

I will also be sharing examples of my art videos on my YouTube channel  like the one below which show some of my art journal insights and practices all to get you warmed up and ready to go, lots of work on backgrounds and art journal pages and free for you to access regardless - I post 2 - 3 times each week, and I would love to have you join me.

Amanda Trought on YouTube - Subscribe HERE

Click HERE For More Info

See you back here on Saturday for the Opening of Registration for the Course.

Stay blessed and be a blessing

Mixed Media Play Date (MMPD) - GIVEAWAY

I hope that you are having a blessed day where ever in the world you are and you have been checking out some of artists that are on the Mixed Media Play Date 2019.  

Listen to the Podcast

By now many of you will know that I am a Guest Artist and will be playing along and sharing a fantastic lesson!  

I am so excited about being able to teach alongside a group of AMAZING artist instructors!  

More Information

The Mixed Media Play Date is a new mixed media collaboration intended to bring you endless inspiration, amazing fun, freedom in creativity and community that are supportive and encouraging and it is hosted by Tiare Smith, you’ll be immersed in gratitude, happiness, and fun from day one. 

And if you think you don’t have enough time to create - there is help, if you don’t know where to begin - there is help, if your inner critic keeps talking and you need someone to lift you up - there is help, and if you need inspiration or you simply want to find your own inner voice then the Mixed Media Play Date is for you! Designed to teach, be a guide, inspiration and a friendly place for you to be yourself and thrive!

AND THERE IS SO MUCH MORE!

I am exciting to be a part of this amazing initiative. and there will be so many wonderful things you will be able to enjoy along with us:

You will have Bucket Loads of FUN on top of:

Monthly Challenges and prizes!

New lessons each month!

Weekly new tutorial videos!

Creative prompts!

Writing prompts!

Online pajama parties!

Dance breaks!

Giveaways!

Access to tons of creative content…videos, workshops and MORE!!

For my lesson we will be creating some delicious backgrounds and I will be showing you how you can have fun with them when creating your images, it is time to Dance to the Beat of your Own Drum!!

If you would like to see examples some of my work you can check out my YouTube Channel

Registration/Membership opens on December 1, 2018.  For the early bird discount CLICK HERE  

Do you want to WIN A FREE Year Long Spot on this Online Course with Us?

I have 1 spot to GIVEAWAY!

To enter (each action gives you an additional chance to be entered in the Giveaway):

• Sign up to my Mailing list
• Follow and Like my Facebook Page
• Subscribe to my YouTube
• Follow on Instagram
• Share this blog post and leave a comment use #amandatrought so I can find it

Contest closes Monday 26th November at Midnight (AST) 

Winner Announced on 27th November

GOOD LUCK!!

Each day up to December 1st, Tiare will be introducing you to a different Artist Instructor,  who will be making daily giveaways, so you will have extra opportunities to win a spot by visiting each artist!!

It is going to be an amazing 2019, check out some of the other artists below to learn more about them.

List of Artist/Instructors - Nicci Battilana, Katrina Koltes,

Shay Livenspargar, Maria Persson, Robin Mead, Denise Braun,

Jackie Barragan, Ayala Art, JamieLynn Dougherty, Cindy Gilstrap,

Keri Sallee, Nikol Wikman, Tiff Goff Smith,

Marielle Stolp, and our Host Tiare Smith.

Remember Registration/Membership opens on December 1, 2018.  For the early bird discount CLICK HERE  

Mixed Media Play Date Online Course

Mixed Media Play Date. Giveaway and 

Teacher Intros. Day One!

I am so thrilled to share with you that I will be one of the guest teachers on the the Mixed Media Play Date hosted by Tiare Smith. As teachers we all want to help you put PLAY in your art and your day!

Tiare has assembled an AMAZING group of artist instructors to do just that, and we are gonna fill your creative wells with inspiring ideas, Fun, JOY and gratitude!

The Mixed Media Play Date - a new mixed media collaboration will bring you endless inspiration,  fun, freedom in your creativity and a community like no other.  I have taught on a number of courses hosted by Tiare Smith, and you are guaranteed to come out of your comfort zone, find your happy places and pick up so many hints and tips and fun from day one.

There will also be LIVE STREAMED MIXED MEDIA PLAY DATES 

and PAJAMA PARTIES and MORE!!!!

 LEARN MORE HERE!

We all worry about finding enough time to create, and our inner critics voice can often get overwhelming, but as your guides we are here to help you tune into your inner voice, guide you as you see new things in your art and creativity, we will be your companions, supporters and cheer leaders, it will be a friendly place for you to be yourself and thrive!

Daily Giveaways!!!

Do you want to WIN A FREE Year Long Spot on this Online Course with Us?

To enter (each action gives you an additional chance to be entered):

• Sign up to my Mailing list
• Follow and Like my Facebook Page
• Subscribe to my YouTube
• Follow on Instagram
• Share this blog post and use #amandatrought so I can find it

Contest closes Monday 26th November at Midnight (AST) 

Each day up to December 1, Tiare will be introducing you to a different Artist Instructor,  and we will be making daily giveaways, so you will have extra opportunities to win a spot by visiting each artist!!

I will be sharing more about the course and share some hints and tips on the 21st November and over the next 7 days. So be sure to check back HERE to have an extra chance to 

enter and see who is sharing for that day.

Stay blessed and be a blessing

Realityarts - Podcasts Weekly - Episode 24 and 25 - Inspiration

Blessings, to one and all.  In this weeks podcasts I touch on two connected areas.  One of the areas is where we have to make room for growth, in order to see things clearly.  We can be so used to playing small, that when the opportunity arises to do more we are not sure what to do with ourselves and we keep the same 'small mentality', without realising that we have all that we need to do more and be more.  

Points to Ponder

Maybe there are things that you can think about where you should have been playing much bigger but contained yourself?  

How did you feel when you realised that you could actually do a lot more and you never gave yourself the opportunity?

Making room for Growth






Episode 25 - Nurturing Your Environment

In this episode which is a very quick one I look at how we can change our environment to be a more nurturing one which will definitely have an impact on our outlook and how we approach things that happen in our lives.

You can start small, add some plants, tidy up, clear some of the clutter, but do something for 'you' that will have a positive impact.  As you work on you others around you are effected, and the blessings can really spread.  Take time to see what you can do, and let me know how you get on in the comments or one of the other social platforms you can find me on.





Tune in next Monday for another Episode, hope you can join me as we unlock our hidden talents.  Let me know what podcast platform you prefer listening to the podcast on.

Stay blessed and be a blessing

Stepping Out Challenge - 31 Days - Reflections

Welcome to today's post.  Last month wrote about a challenge that I was taking part in over the month of October and looked at some of the challenges that I had taken part in over the years.  

It was great reconnecting with some of the challenges and reminding myself of what I had achieved.

It is important to have a proper time of reflection and very often you are so thankful that you made it to the end that you can find yourself stepping from challenge to challenge, with no time to really think about what you like and dislike about taking part.

I have a lot of other projects that took a back seat while I was doing the challenge and want to get back to working on them.  I really enjoyed doing it and as I mentioned yesterday I learnt a lot about working with podcasts, editing and found hidden gems in the challenges that I was sharing that I will be revisiting and working on.  All in all it has created a whole new set of activities in motion that I am looking forward in  working on.

If you missed some of the posts for the Stepping Out Challenge I have listed them below, they lead to the blog post and has a link to the podcast which has additional material within it.   Hope you have taken the step for making the rest of the year rewarding, by learning as much as you can, challenging yourself and stepping out of your comfort zone

Day 1 & 2 - Challenge Starts

Day 3 - Art Studio Essentials 1
Day 4 - Art Studio Essentials 2

Day 5 - Tropical Garden 1
Day 6 - Tropical Garden 2

Day 7 - 31 Art Journals 1
Day 8 - 31 Art Journals 2

Day 9 - A - Z of Dementia 1
Day 10 - A - Z of Dementia 2



Day 11 - Tips for Carers 1
Day 12 - Tips for Carers 2



Day 13 - Healthier Lifestyle 1
Day 14 - Healthier Lifestyle 2

Day 15 - 365 Days of Colour 1
Day 16 - 365 Days of Colour 2

Day 17 - Writing Challenge 1
Day 18 - Writing Challenge 2



Day 19 - Clearing the Clutter 1
Day 20 - Clearing the Clutter 2



Day 21 - 52 Weeks of Colour & Inspiration
Day 22 - 52 Weeks of Colour & Inspiration 2

Day 23 - Creating in Faith 1
Day 24 - Creating in Faith 2

Day 25 - Gratitude's 1
Day 26 - Gratitude's 2

Day 27 - I love you today because 1

Day 28 - Memories of Home 1
Day 29 - Memories of Home 2

Day 30 - Gratitude's and Celebrations 1
Day 31 - Gratitude's and Celebrations 2

I would love to know if you have started a challenge for yourself, or are you thinking of it? 

 Do you want to explore some ideas that you would like to start or have been mulling over in your mind and have some feedback, then join the mailing list and you can have an email feedback to help you on your way?

Check out some of the supplies/books at a discounted price, check out one of the links below:

Adorn it - http://bit.ly/AdorAT18

Dollar Tree - http://bit.ly/DolAT18

Blick - http://bit.ly/Blick18

Book Outlet - http://bit.ly/BOOKAT18

Stampington - http://bit.ly/STAAT18

C& T Publishing -  http://bit.ly/CNTPAT18

Dover - http://bit.ly/DOVPAT18

Craftsy Kits - http://bit.ly/CrafAT18

Amazon Store -  https://www.amazon.com/shop/realityarts

Stepping Out Challenge - Day 31 - Gratitude's and Celebrations Pt 2

Welcome to today's post, I am taking part in a 31 day blog challenge where I post everyday in October.  I love creating challenges for myself and joining ones by others.  My challenge for the rest of the month is to reflect on some of the series I created for myself and inspiration that I have taken away.

Listen to the Podcast

Thank you for joining me for another Gratitude's and Celebration Journal, today is day 31 and the end of the challenge.  I am very proud of myself for keeping it going and sticking to the schedule.  I did have a couple of days where getting myself to complete the post on the blog and then do one for the podcast, but I made it work, and I stuck with it for me, and for those beautiful people who visited the blog and listened to the podcast.

For the Gratitude’s and Celebrations journal I shared with you yesterday  I made the journal, and had a fabric cover which I decorated and was a piece of art in itself.  I showed up on that challenge every week to look at those things that I am grateful for, and celebrate the life that I have been given.  One of my last posts was about growth and the things that we learn through our growth which at times can be painful as well as exciting, scary and thrilling!  

Spending time in the journal each week was a good discipline, I made time for creativity, and learnt to have more patience in the work I wanted to do.   

Making it work for you

I created 86 weeks worth of insights, celebrations and paintings and made some lovely connections with those who visited the blog posts each week.  We are connected and our actions have an impact on someone somewhere around the world so we have to be mindful about what we say and do and treat each other with a bit more kindness.

I still continue to have an attitude of gratitude and celebrate the growth and the insights that I learn each and every day.

Adding and stitching and embellishments

I am still on a creative journey in my journal and like many work in a variety of journal depending on how I feel and what I want to work with, and as I said before each journal is still a lovely work in progress

That said I have also had an amazing journey completing the challenge for the past 31 days I learn to use some new technology, new skills, the value of showing up for me, and for those who find value in my work.  On the blog I will be sharing more art journal work, process videos, art book reviews and some of the art work that I have been getting up to so it will be great if you join me.

Podcast

I am very proud of completing all 31 additional posts for the Realityarts Podcast along with the weekly 2 posts I have been doing.  I hope that it has brought some enrichment to your lives.  I thank all the listeners for joining me over this past month, as I shared my work. 

I would love you to come over to the podcast and hear some podcasts that I have been creating and maybe think about joining me on my Patreon site where you will get some exclusive content and you will be helping to keep much of the content that I create free.

For November I will be continuing to post  on the podcast twice a week and have a bit of a breather, but will be working on midweek show where I will be looking at Arts and Health specifically, so you will be getting 3 episodes each week

If you missed some of the Blog posts you can find them below, click on the day to go to the post:

Day 1 & 2 - Challenge Starts

Day 3 - Art Studio Essentials 1
Day 4 - Art Studio Essentials 2

Day 5 - Tropical Garden 1
Day 6 - Tropical Garden 2

Day 7 - 31 Art Journals 1
Day 8 - 31 Art Journals 2

Day 9 - A - Z of Dementia 1
Day 10 - A - Z of Dementia 2

Day 11 - Tips for Carers 1
Day 12 - Tips for Carers 2

Day 13 - Healthier Lifestyle 1
Day 14 - Healthier Lifestyle 2

Day 15 - 365 Days of Colour 1
Day 16 - 365 Days of Colour 2

Day 17 - Writing Challenge 1
Day 18 - Writing Challenge 2

Day 19 - Clearing the Clutter 1
Day 20 - Clearing the Clutter 2

Day 21 - 52 Weeks of Colour & Inspiration
Day 22 - - 52 Weeks of Colour & Inspiration 2

Day 23 - Creating in Faith 1
Day 24 - Creating in Faith 2

Day 25 - Gratitude's 1
Day 26 - Gratitude's 2

Day 27 - I love you today because 1

Day 28 - Memories of Home 1
Day 29 - Memories of Home 2

Day 30 - Gratitude's and Celebrations 1
Day 31 - Gratitude's and Celebrations 2

Thank you once again for joining me and taking the time to read the blog and listen to the podcast, it has been much appreciated.  it is never too late to start working towards your dreams, the main thing is to take one step at a time and do something that you find interesting.

Stay blessed and be a blessing.