Creative Soul Juice

This recent article by Christiane Northrup has good advice for over-scheduled, stressed, burnt out souls - those of us who do more, nurture those around us, and find ourselves tired, overwhelmed, and under cared for. She notes that excessive demands that go on without proper rest and food, keep our bodies on constant alert and can drain our adrenal systems. Not only that, low self esteem, feelings of inadequacy, and lack of personal power further drain our reserves, adding to an already stressed system. No wonder we are tired, angry, guilty and depressed! Read her article, "Is Low Self-Esteem Burning Out Your Adrenals?" and take action on the three things she suggests to nurture, nourish, and affirm your health and happiness. You can also enter the drawing I am holding through tomorrow, Saturday Sept 21st: Soul Comfort: A Season of Creative Soul Care from Brave Girls Club. Melodie Ross leads us through a series of creative prompts to nurture ourselves in this upco...

Winner Announcement:  Anita  (you'll need to contact me with your full name and email for me to pass on to Brave Girls.  Thanks everyone for the comments! More to come! To the tired, the exhausted, the overstretched…here’s an invitation… Life can be simple. What if we celebrated the brave act of….taking a break? What if simplicity, comfort, and quiet were the goal? What if there really was a way to quiet the chatter in our minds and let us recharge our body & soul? And what if it was fun, too? Introducing a new eCourse . . . Soul Comfort is a fresh new concept using art and journaling as a means to  relax and comfort yourself  and to get grounded while dealing with the craziness of every-day living. This course if full of  beautiful projects to fuel your creativity  in very  simple and easy  ways that are  meditational and relaxing  ,  beautiful comforting things  that will have your soul i...

Creative Soul Juice began as a newsletter and eventually grew a into blog as a greater way to share the projects I use as a coach and art instructor with my readers. I enjoy sharing creative ways to create a vision, reach inside and explore the dark and tangled corners as well as the light and energy that seeps through the cracks. Small daily creative actions over time allow us to think and ponder, as the lines, forms, colors and shapes dance across the pages of our imagination. I share my art with my readers and hope it inspires and brings some light into your days and evenings.  The message I want to share with you is that you don't have to define yourself as an artist to enjoy being creative and experience the growth and awarenss that working with pens, pencils, paint and brushes brings to our daily routines. I find that art, music, dance, and words gives each of us an opportunity to explore what we are inside and perhaps see ourselves from a different perspective. Busines...

A board book is a fun and creative way to repurpose a children's board book with art journaling techniques. I like to use them to keep quotes and affirmations close by.  Attention After reading The Passion Test ,  by Janet Attwood & Chris Attwood, I wanted to find a way to easily read and meditate on some of the key points in the book. I found some board books at a thrift store and this particular one with cascading pages caught my eye.  In the book I wanted to collage the seven keys to life purpose: attention, clarity, staying open, integrity, following your heart, persistence, and commitment to be the main words of each page, with a short description of each term. Stay Open To start, I prepped each page and the covers with gesso and let them dry completely. I chose a few favorite magazine images and origami papers to collage onto each of the pages of the book and added a medium weight white drawing paper as space for the words.  ...

A new painting is being born... again. I started this months ago for my daughter. She was going through a very difficult time and I felt the need to paint something to give her encouragement and support. I bought this painted canvas from a local thrift store since it was the right size I wanted to work with.  I started by writing as many positive and affirming statements as the canvas would hold in permanent markers. I especially like Florence Scovel Shinn 's declarations, so I used many of those in the first layer. I wanted the energy of good, strong, powerful words to live on the wall in her home and be a source of comfort and strength when she is feeling stressed and vulnerable. Although that layer of words is no longer visible, they are there as a protective layer of Source.  A layer of black gesso was applied to cover the affirmations and lay a base for the pigments of color to follow. I have been preparing this painting in my mind for a long while. I've studied the...

Some of my favorite things: gardens, beaches, porches, sunsets, snorkeling, dancing, sailing, holding hands, good food & drink, feeling a breeze, receiving flowers, breathtaking views, paint & brushes If you need a creative boost, a collage of your favorite things just might perk up your spirit. Here are some ideas for getting started: - collect some of your well read magazines and start cutting out images that resonate with you. No need for a lot of thought here. Colors and patterns may catch your eye, faces or rooms might pique your interest, titles of articles may draw your attention.  - find colorful patterned papers from gift bags, tissue inserts, the inside of security envelopes , junk mail, or greeting cards.  - look for images online and print them on your printer Snip away until you have a group of images and letters to start.   You can adhere your images of favorite things onto a piece of card stock or any heavy weight paper you might have...

Two of my favorite fun things are thrift stores and Pinterest . They make an awesome combination. Creativity plus the search for the inexpensive and unusual make a great adventure. (I consider Pinterest my magazine subscription replacement therapy - no more magazines to collect and throw out).  The Magic Blackboard is one of my best scores in both departments. I have seen many blackboard pins and was looking for that perfect frame while snooping around in the bins at the local Goodwill. I found this lovely piece with great faux painting (no glass) embossed on the background. Yes!  Back home I painted the background with several coats of blackboard paint and voila! A new blackboard for motivational quotes in my kitchen.  Not to stop there. More searching on future trips helped me to find yet another great piece to use as a smaller blackboard for food shopping lists and decor in the kitchen. So here is another, this time a checkerboard plank that I covered over with...