Creating in Faith - Sentiments - Episode 177

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There are certain things that we can hold on to because it reminds us of another time, or brings back memories of when we used to, could do and that warm fuzzy feeling as you go down memory lane recalling the incident.  There are those memories that you also maybe don't want to bring back into the present day.

How often do you think of something you have done and remembered some of the amazing things that you have done to get you to the exact point that you are now.  You are amazing and It brings a smile to my face when I remember those times you used to do those amazing things all those years ago.

You remember, you could and did light up the room with your energy and laughter, your fantastic sense of humor and you would make everyone feel so special, though you didn't realise it.

It is easy to remember the times other people impacted on our lives, now think about the impact you have on other peoples lives, think about your gifts and talents, and how you have made use of them.

As you go about your day be reminded of how special you are and when people think about you they hold you in high regard!  So from time to time, begin to think about yourself in the same way.  

Have a blessed New Year - I hope that you have been working on your focus for 2020.

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Creating In Faith Encouraging Recordings are to bless and inspire you to be the best of yourself. It can be really great to pull out your art journal/Journal and express what comes up for you either with images and colour, with words or with both. Check out the weekly and monthly videos to help you spend more time in your art journal.

If you would like to see some behind the scenes, images and additional tips HERE

You will find the 2 art journal videos available to consume at your leisure - the Making of the art journal for the month and an art journal page process - Check these out HERE

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• listening each week and leave a comment,
• Subscribe to any or all of my channels, visit the
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• Let me know how the content impacted you and if you were inspired to make changes/additions to your work or life.

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Check out some encouraging boards on Pinterest

Artwork available from the title image HERE

I also have an Arts and Health NHS Network for information on activities and organisations working in the field. You are welcome to join, it is a FREE resource and if you have any activities or want to talk about your work you are welcome to send me the information and I will see that it gets uploaded. You can create your own profile on the network and connect with others who are passionate about the arts in health too.

Creative Encourager - If you want to talk about creativity and the direction you are going and need a listening ear, sign up for a FREE 30 minute call http://bit.ly/Encoura

Stay blessed and be a blessing.

Stepping Out Challenge - Day 22, 52 Weeks of Colour Pt 2

Today we will look at Part 2 of the 52 Weeks of Colour and Inspiration.

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

Welcome to todays post. I am going to be talking about a series called 52 Weeks of Colour and Inspiration. 

Not one to shy away from a challenge I constantly push myself to show up on a daily basis to work on my creative practice and reflect on how far I have come.  It is really useful to spend the time getting to know yourself better through your craft and seeing if there are any areas that you can push the boundaries even further, whether it is trying new materials, using your materials in an unusual way and just playing and mastering your craft.  

When I decided part way though the challenge to write longer reflections I thought back to the challenge that I did on Day 17 & 18 for the 100 words minimum per day.  I had days where I couldn’t think of anything to write much less than 100 words, but I was present and got it done.  

It showed me that the work that I had done writing 100 word challenge put me in the perfect place not to be overwhelmed by writing and there wasn’t any one standing around saying it wasn’t perfect or I shouldn’t do it as I wasn’t a writer. 

The ‘critic’ did try and get in there every now and again but I did it anyway, feeling the fear and focusing on the one person that might be blessed from what I was doing.  I really enjoyed that particular challenge.  Along with the others that I have worked on I have additional content that I can re-purpose in some way.  There are so many ways in which they can be used, that now I look back I never thought I would be in this particular space

The other thing that I was able to do is practice working on digital images. I came across a number of additional flowers that I had photographed which had been sitting on my computer, they were beautiful and I was inspired by the quotes and scripture as I typed each of them out, there are amazing ways that you can be blessed that you may not have even thought of yourself.

What will you do?

I encourage you to start something different - try some of these ideas:  

• You can start small to begin with say 5 days, just dive in.  Plan what you need to but don’t over think it so that you talk yourself out of doing it.  
• You don’t have to post it online for others to see but if you do you will have a cheering committee who want to see your success and it will keep you accountable.  
• You will clearly see if it is something that you want to keep doing or not but you will also come out of it richer for having tried it.

Tomorrow I will share the challenge I did called Creating in Faith.  I hope during this month you find some time to challenge, be creative and stretch yourself.

Why not join me each day for the rest of October as we dive into to some exciting challenges and look at ways in which they can impact on your own life. 

I look forward to seeing you tomorrow, it is never too late to start! The main thing is to take one step at a time and do something that you find interesting.

Stay blessed and be a blessing.

Ps:  If you are on a budget and would like to check out some gardening supplies/books at a discounted price, check out one of the links below:

Amazon suggested gardening books

Adorn it 

Dollar Tree 

Book Outlet 

C&T Publishing 

Craftsy Kits

Stepping Out Challenge - Day 21 - 52 Weeks of Colour & Inspir

Today I am going to be talking about a series on my blog

I did called 52 Weeks of Colour and Inspiration

Welcome to today's post.  If you are new to my blog then 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

52 Weeks of Colour and Inspiration came directly after the year long challenge 365 Days of Colour.  I enjoyed the first one so much that I wanted to do another one, but not have it be as intensive as the last, it shows you how quickly a year goes by and you need to make sure you decide what you want to do as it is also so easy to waste and not receive a refund for those wasted years.  

I usually find that I approach the challenges one day and want to start the next without any rest, organisation or planning, committing myself to get going and thinking about the time I have just knowing that someone is going to be blessed so it has to be done immediately!

I was able to talk myself out of starting another daily year long project to give up half way as it is quite disheartening and it is easier to think about all that you haven’t done rather than what you achieved in the time.  The weekly challenge gave me a bit of a breather, and as there were additional elements to it I didn't end up feeling overwhelmed.

The challenge consisted of me taking images of flowers that I had photographed and applying new skills by altering the images, sharing a quote, scripture, a word and reflecting on that word that I had chosen to represent that week.  Half way during the year I started to add ‘thoughts for the week’, and it meant that I had to commit to writing.  I would take the word and then write in more detail about what it meant for me.  

Taking part in this challenge got me out of my comfort zone as once I had written and posted the first ‘thought for the week’  then I had to be consistent and think about what it was that I did think and let it be something that would bless the reader.  I was able to give each part of the process more thought and the words that I came up with for each week were ones that I also was able to meditate on for my own life.

Things to Ponder

• When you think about your own life what does committing to a long term project mean for you, 
• what emotions come up, 
• is it something that you find you have some resistance to
• When you think of the process involved can you reflect upon and pick out some nuggets of learning

Tomorrow I will share the second part from my 52 Weeks of Colour and Inspiration, remember to check out the podcasts, where I add a little bit extra.  I hope during this month you find some time to challenge, be creative and stretch yourself.

Why not join me each day for the rest of October as we dive into to some exciting challenges and look at ways in which they can impact on your own life. 

I look forward to seeing you tomorrow, it is never too late to start! The main thing is to take one step at a time and do something that you find interesting.

Stay blessed and be a blessing.

Ps:  If you are on a budget and would like to check out some  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

Humour - Reflection - A reminder

Thought for the week

You are beautiful, and not defined by your past mistakes  Face your fear, name it, and then move on and laugh out loud!  We have to see our lives from many different perspectives, and when we can laugh in the face of adversity, we will find many doors and solutions making themselves available - Realityarts

Quote

Patience is power. With time and patience the mulberry leaf becomes silk. ... Chinese Proverb

Scripture 

Do not fear, for you will not be ashamed; Neither be disgraced, for you will not be put to shame; For you will forget the shame of your youth, And will not remember the reproach of your widowhood anymore. Isaiah 54:4

Reflection - Thought for the Week - 52 Weeks of Colour and Inspiration

Who would have thought that a year would pass by so quickly - and it has, it does, and will continue to do so.  We have to remind ourselves that if we don't do anything time will pass without us, and so you might as well do something that can not only bless you, but others as well.

I have been blessed taking photographs and altering them digitally and have a year's worth of work to look back on, and possible do something else with.  Are there things that you started out last year and have come to the end of?  It is a lovely feeling to see how I have grown and developed, and I will now make plans to develop even further

 

 

Half way through the year I started doing the 'Thought for the week' which allowed me to really reflect on the words that I was using in the post.  It would be great to hear how some of the words have impacted on your life and what changes you will be bringing to your own routine.

 

If you missed any of the links before, come and join me and look back over the year of images, quotes and scriptures!  Click on a links below...

 Knowing your treasures, Happiness, Joy, Awe, Kindness, Gentleness, Openess, Attention, Light, Choice, Friendships, Change, Growth, Shine, Passion, Tranquility, Peace, Progress, Trust, Comfort, Beauty, Creativity, Delight, Adventure, Courage, Health, Forgiveness, Gratitude, Authenticity, Diversity, Humility, Freedom, Listening, Clarity, Generousity, Leadership, Commitment, Community, Savour, Justice, Integrity, Connection, Willingness, Artfulness, Spirit, Nurturing, Recognition, Knowledge, Forgive, Shine,  Prayerfulness, Release

Release - Thought for the Week - 52 Weeks of Colour and Inspiration

Thought for the week

Right this moment, everything is where it should be, step out of the way, take a deep breath and get ready to live your life - right now!

This is the 52nd week of posts.  The year has gone by so fast and it has been a pleasure not only taking the photographs but also altering them digitally.  The main aim being for me to learn how to create interesting images with the tools.  There is still so much to learn and I am exited about what I will be doing next, I have always wanted to do my own poster series, so I may do a series of inspiring images to share alongside some more quotes and scriptures.  As I grow in my abilities I hope you also grow in the gifts that you have been given to share.  As always take time to think about your plan of action this week and be a blessing, as you too will be blessed!  Amanda

Quote

Tell me, what is your plan to do with your one wild and precious life? Mary Oliver 

Scripture 

There is no fear in love.  But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment.  The one who fears is not made perfect in love

Prayerfulness - Thought for the Day - 52 Weeks of Colour

Thought for the week

All is well, all is at peace. You have so many gifts waiting to be birthed, take time in prayer, to be still to centre yourself all will begin to unfold. Much blessings for the week, Amanda

Quote

We don’t see things as they are, we see them as we are.  ...Anais Nin

Scripture 

For He Himself has said, "I will never leave you nor forsake you." So we may boldly say: "The LORD is my helper; I will not fear. What can man do to me?" Hebrews 13 5-6