Catalyst Thirty-Six

November 16, 2008, 9:55 am
Filed under: catalyst

As always, thank you to all of our visitors and all the encouraging comments you left for us. For those of you who did, thank you for playing along with us. We will do a drawing for the RAK and announce the name mid-week. And if you didn’t join us before, we hope you do this time.

Ok! Here’s catalyst number thirty-six:

Tell us about a time you lied.

We’re delighted to have Layle Koncar as this week’s Guest Artist.

Even though she probably doesn’t know this, I met her at last year’s Winter CHA. She was working in the Scenic Route booth and she was one of the nicest people I met in the show. Layle is the Marketing Director for Scenic Route and she also teaches regularly. Her wonderful personality always comes across in her colorful and beautiful layouts. What I love the most is that she often puts a lot of journaling on her layouts (and has beautiful handwriting!) and they are always so very meaningful. I was so delighted when she agreed to guest for us.

Layle’s art is well recognized in the scrapbooking industry. Her work has been published in Creating Keepsakes, Better Homes and Gardens Scrapbooks Etc., Memory Makers, Paper Crafts, Legacy, Scrapbook Trends and Paper Trends. She authored and contributed to the book Memory Art and is a regular contributor to Paper Crafts books and special issues.

If you haven’t seen Layle’s beautiful art before, make sure to check out her blog.

Layle’s art with this catalyst is below and you can click it to see a bigger version.

Layle Says:

I took a bit of a different spin on this challenge, I wanted to make sure it reflected my personality. I like to think I’m a pretty easy going person and I always try to approach life with a little bit of humor mixed in. I generally don’t get too deep when I scrapbook, I pretty much just tell the story. When I started thinking about a time I lied, nothing big came to mind. But lots of little ones, little WHITE ones were floating around my head, so I went with it.

Journaling Reads:

White lies. Everyone does it. In general they’re meant to make someone feel better to smooth things over, to make life just a little bit easier for everyone involved. You know – ‘that outfit looks great on you’ to spare someone’s feelings. ‘Yes, there is a Santa Claus’ to extend that childhood innocence. ‘No, that’s not new’ – needs no explaining! ‘Sorry I’m late, I was stuck in traffic’ – much easier than explaining why you hit the snooze button 3 times. ‘It wasn’t me’ – why not, it could always be someone else. ‘Sorry, I can’t make it, I already have plans’ – much easier than saying you want to be a homebody. ‘Thank you, I love it!’ – no one shops for you like you can! And my favorite – your weight on your driver’s license – who cares if you’re a bit off?!

Technique Highlight:

Not too much technique on this one. I dry brushed the raw chipboard letters with white paint. Rather than using a lot of different photos, I made a collage of different things that represent white lies to me that I talked about in my journaling – a tag from a recent jacket I bought, an old watch face, a page torn from a calendar, a copy of my driver’s license, an outfit torn from a magazine, etc.

Thank you so much Layle; we’re so very honored.

Here are some interpretations of the catalyst from members of our team. Click on the photos to see the bigger versions. As you’ll notice, we have another new team member, Dedra, whose art is displayed this week. We have a few new team members and I will announce them really soon but I wanted to welcome Dedra since her art is first this week!

Dedra:

Journaling Reads:

I lied, I lied when I was a teenager and said I was over it….

I was OK, that my heart and soul was mended….

Because I was not even close to being OK….

My heart and soul was screaming because I couldn’t

understand why my Dad had not kept in touch….

not a card, not even a phone call….NOTHING….

We were so close and it was like he fell of the face of the earth….

I grew up and to this day, sometimes, I still wonder was it ME?

Now, that I have children of my own I can’t even imagine not seeing

them grow up….The special women they will become….

I know it was my Dad’s choice not to be apart of my life, even to this day….

Why? Why doesn’t he try now, now that I’m older and he has grand.daughters

that he will never know….

I have realized I was shaped as a person more by his absence then his presence….

There is no doubt and I will admit that my heart and soul still hurt….

BUT, I will continue to move forward and GROW to be the best person I can be…..

Karen:

Karen Says:

I try hard not to lie, but when we found out we were expecting and I was only four weeks along, I had to keep it a secret for 9 weeks until I got the OK from the doctor. During that time I was very ill, throwing up several times a day, which made it that much harder to keep it a secret. People invited us to dinner parties and lunches and I had to keep lying. People at work started to wonder why I was sick all the time and my friends were curious why I dropped off the face of earth. It was the hardest secret to keep and some of the most difficult weeks of my life. Now that the cat’s out of the bag, it feels great not to have to lie anymore.

Journaling Reads:

I am really bad at keeping secrets. Especially when it’s good news. So when I found out that I was pregnant (It took three tests for me to believe my own eyes.) and it was only four-weeks, I knew we were going to have to keep this secret for a long time. And then I got sick. Really bad nausea meant that our little secret became a collection of lies. Reasons why I was so tired, why I was unable to eat, why I looked so white. Eight weeks of lying later, I was finally able to share and it felt so good to tell everyone. To finally acknowledge you in front of everyone. Can’t wait to see you, little one.

Fran:

Fran Says::

Sadly, there have been many times in my life that I have lied. I focus here on the fact that I kept many secrets as an adolescent. Hiding the truth from myself and from others who could have helped me. Hiding from myself was a defense mechanism, as was the facade of being the perfect kid with the perfect family.

Journaling Reads::

My lips were sealed. Lies of omission and silence through much of my life… I was lying to everyone.

Lori:

Lori Says:

When I was a teenager, I did not have high self confidence and I lied about everything. It wasn’t malicious or bad, it was out of fear of having my own opinion. I honestly believed that everyone else was more worthwhile than me. So, I would lie about liking things I didn’t like or wanting to do things I didn’t want to do. It took me a decade to stop that behavior and realize that I am worthwhile.

Journaling Reads:

When I was a teen, I lied about everything. I was afraid to have my own opinion. It wasn’t until I was in my twenties that I learned to value myself. I can’t imagine lying about anything. I’m proud to be me.

Anita:

Anita Says:

When I saw this catalyst, the first thing that came to my mind (as always) was my children. Each time I have had another child I have wondered how I could ever love another one. We honestly thought we were finished after our 4th child. But then came Emma and I wondered how it would ever happen that I could love yet another child. It was then that I realized, God never gives us more than we can handle. I truly believe that and have to constantly remind myself.

Journaling Reads:

Ok, So I lied. I didn’t think I had room for one more. My heart was full. At least I thought so until you came along. I love you Emma! love, mom.

Severine:

Severine Says:

Lying about Santa Claus to my daughter is a very big dilemma for me. Because of her personality (or grumpiness), the day she’ll learn the truth will be very hard for us. She certainly will be angry, disappointed, feel lost … And perhaps she won’t believe in us anymore. But not believing in Santa Claus is like taking away a piece of childhood! Hard choice isn’t it? We are waiting for that day… The day when she’ll ask us: Mom, Dad, is it true that Santa Claus doesn’t exist ?

In French:

Mentir à propos du père noel à ma fille a été un très gros dilemme pour moi, parce qu’avec le caractère qu’elle a depuis déjà toute petite, je me dis que le jour où elle va apprendre que le père noel n’existe pas, elle va nous en faire voir de toutes les couleurs et certainement remettre en cause tout ce que l’on a pu lui dire avant. Mais en même temps, ne pas lui dire que le père noel existe aurait été comme enlever une partie de son enfance et brider son imagination!!! Aussi le choix n’a pas été facile. Nous attendons maintenant avec une certaine appréhension le jour où elle nous posera la question

KL:

KL Says:

oh the lies we tell. everyone does. when i started working on this catalyst i kept thinking of the ones i tell myself often, the ones i hate hearing in my head. that i don’t count. that my life so far is insignificant. that i am unworthy. such sad feelings and beliefs about myself.

i decided that i needed to get them out and bottle them up somewhere other than inside my head. somewhere other than inside my heart. so here they are, the three lies i will not believe any longer. written down and torn apart and then bottled up with some glass glitter fairy wishes.

a reminder of what i am not.

Now it’s your turn: show us your therapeutic art around “Tell us about a time you lied.” I urge you to give it a try. Embrace the healing power of art. It can be any form of art as long as it speaks to you.

Leave us comments with your work and we will send a RAK to a random participant. You’ll have to link your art by Sunday night, November 23rd, midnight PST to qualify for this week’s RAK. If you don’t have a community or blog where you upload photos, you can upload them on our flickr group.

To qualify for our weekly RAK drawing, all you have to do is do art around ANY of our catalysts. It doesn’t have to be the one from this week. We believe in the healing power of art and we want you to pick whichever catalyst inspires you the most.

For our RAK for this week, we are thrilled to be giving away a beautiful kit from Zany Zinnia: