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.

Ok! Here’s catalyst number eighty-seven:

If money weren’t an issue what would you do with your time? (career or otherwise.)

We’re thrilled to have Christine Middlecamp as this week’s Guest Artist.

Here’s a short bio for Christine: Christine lives in South Saint Paul, Minnesota with her young son Ethan. She’s been scrapbooking for over three years and has played multiple roles in the srapbook industry both as a designer and teacher. Christine designs for Crate Paper & Sassafras. In the Past, she’s designed for Prima Marketing, October Afternoon, and Studio Calico. She’s also guest designed for various online venues.

Christine’s art never ceases to amaze me. She pays attention to the smallest details and the more you look into her layouts, the more you discover. She has a unique way of using common embellishments and her art is always layered and full of texture. A pure delight to see.

If you haven’t seen Christine’s art, make sure to visit her blog where she regularly has tutorials.

Here is Christine’s art with this week’s catalyst. You can click on it to see a larger version.

Christine Says:

Stay home. I’d raise Ethan in the house that my husband and I built eight years ago before his passing away from cancer in January of 2008. I still love the house. In the eight years we’ve been here, I never pictured myself living anywhere else. So after my husband passed away and clearly knowing that my financial picture was about to change, I had to prepare myself for the reality that the house was going to have to go away at some point in the near future. After postponing the sale of our home these last few months, I finally made the decision to place it on the market next year. Our home sweet home will soon be looking for a new owner. It’s time to let go…

Technique Highlight:

The combination of transparency and pattern paper doesn’t always happen in the traditional sense, at least not on this layout. Consider alternate ways for combining these two materials. Both have dramatically different surface qualities and technique driven abilities. Take advantage of these contrasting differences when using them together on a layout/project.

I ran into this glittering technique upon reading Martha Stewart’s latest book, “Encyclopedia of Crafts”. Apply a strip of double‐sided sticky tape to paper and add glitter. It’s a simple technique and looks amazing after application.

Flowers are available in abundance for adding to a project/layout, though leaves are a little harder to find. Turn to pattern papers for creating leaves when needed. I hand‐cut the leaves used on my layout from digital pattern paper. I folded them slightly inward and adhered them beneath the flower’s edge using a smidge of wet adhesive.

Even the smallest details can make a difference. Don’t forget to add smaller sized items to your layout/project. Variety is a good thing.

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

Larissa:

Larissa Says:

I found out later in my life that I wanted to be a full time artist, maybe a theater set designer. So, if I didn´t have a great job, that pays very well, I would probably try this career.

Journaling Reads:

I dream of being just myself, A person without any obligation, A woman free to be just who she is

Dedra:

Dedra Says:

I really would to travel to Paris, London, all over Europe in general. This photo to me makes me think of places like that. The filagree around the windows. These windows in real life are massive. I would also love to own a studio/scrapbook boutique. The funny thing is I already have the name, Jon and I have already constructed the floor plan and what the studio would consist of….It’s always fun to dream, right? So, for me – owning the studio and traveling with Jon and the girls as often as possible.

Journaling Reads:

If time and money were not an object and I could do anything…. I would travel with my family overseas and I would also love to own a studio…

Karen:

Karen says:

If I had all the extra time in the world and my kids and husband were sleeping, I would spend most of it reading. The joy I get from getting lost in a novel is unparalleled. And Dickens is one of my favorites.

Anita:

Anita Says:

I looked at this weeks catalyst and was racking my brain trying to figure out what I wanted to do. I keep thinking, what is it I really want? Is there a career path I would have taken had I had the money to do it? It dawned on me that no amount of money, not changes to my life were desired. I love being a mom! Its the most rewarding job I could ask for. And you definitely couldn’t put a price on it. I am where I am and where I want to be! I am living “my dream job”!

Rachel:

Journaling Reads:

Egypt, Italy, France, Greece, England, Ireland, Germany, South Africa, the Congo, Brazil, Jamaica, Canada, the Bahamas, Peru, Argentina, Poland, Japan, China, Thailand, India, Australia, New Zealand… and so much more. If money were of no issue I would spend my time traveling the world…one adventure after another.

Technique Highlight:

I used embroidery floss leading from my photos to the different areas on the map that I would like to visit to add interest and a visual to all of the places that I hope to someday go.

Opal:

Opal Says:

If money were not an issue, I would transform my house into a retreat center for fiber arts. Women could come for week long sessions with as much or as little time at the sewing machine as they needed or wanted. There would be lots of time for sharing ideas, experimenting with new methods and materials, visits to fabric stores, and inspirational guest artists. There would be time to walk on the beach and collect beach stones and sea glass, watch the nesting eagles, or just sit outside on the deck and watch the day slip by. Hired gardeners would transform my yard into a paradise of color and smells. Meals would be prepared with the freshest local bounty of the Pacific Northwest. Those invited would be women who would not have the opportunity nor the means to be away from their homes for a week.

Severine:

Severine Says:

If money weren’t an issue, i would like to be an artist all time and create all day!

Now it’s your turn: show us your therapeutic art around “If money weren’t an issue what would you do with your time? (career or otherwise.)” I urge you to give it a try. It can be any form of art as long as it speaks to you.

Leave us comments with your work and you will qualify for the RAK we offer to a random participant. If you don’t have a community or blog where you upload photos, you can upload them on our flickr group.

Remember, this is not a competition. If your art makes you feel even a bit better at the end, you’ve won.

Until next week, enjoy each and every moment.

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.

Ok! Here’s catalyst number eighty-six:

Write a letter to your younger self.

We’re so excited to have Christine Mason Miller as this week’s Guest Artist.

To make this week’s art even more fun. Christine made a page of word art for you to use in your art. These are all different prompts she created and you can use the actual print out in your art like some of us did or you can use the sentences/ideas she listed. If you click on the image below, you can download a PDF version.

Christine’s artwork has wings. It has soul. It’s soft and beautiful and touching. You can easily get lost in her amazing art. I am so honored to have her here. She is also the author of the stunning Ordinary Sparkling Moments. And she teaches beautiful workshops including ones at Squam.

If you haven’t seen Christine’s art, make sure to visit her site and her blog.

Here is Christine’s art with this week’s catalyst. You can click on it to see a larger version.

Christine Says:

I intentionally wanted to keep this collage simple. Since I do so much collage work in general, it was nice to give myself the freedom to work with just a few layers and elements. When I think of being a little girl and what the word “beautiful” meant to me then, it was about being a ballerina, so when I came across this image it was perfect.

Technique Highlight:

No special techniques with this piece aside from using a few Photoshop filters on the original scanned image. What is so fun about Photoshop is trying different filters and adjustments to see what happens. Because the original piece was so simple, I liked being able to add a little more texture and grain to the image in Photoshop.

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

Kimmi:

Kimmi Says:

no matter how un-important you may feel or think you are… you aren’t. no matter what goes on in life… you will always have someone that cares about you… someone that loves you… someone that needs you… someone that you will always be important to.

Technique Highlight:

I machine stitched my rainbow patterned paper on using coordinating threads. I also used Diamond Glaze on top of the raindrops that I cut from patterned paper to give them a watery look.

Larissa:

Larissa Says:

For this catalyst, I wrote a letter to myself, to the girl I once was containing a series of reflexions. The deepest one refers to the time this girl lost trying to get social approval, pleasing the others. I told my younger self that she would only get her value when she decides that what matters is pleasing herself. I told her she is like no other…

Wendela:

Wendela Says:

I love to write sooooo much to myself as a little girl…!! All the things, good things and bad things, that I know today….I’m glad that I didn’t know how my life turns out, when I was three. It’s a photo of me. I stamped the prompts on the photo with black Stazon ink.

Karen:

Karen says:

Well this is the book. The one that started the whole thing. The one that led me to start this site. I had put it away a long time ago, not sure what I wanted to do with the cover. I took it out and took a piece of fabric and stitched some interlocked hearts. Some beads and a heart and a note to remember: loved. This book is a reminder that I was loved. I am loved.

Anita:

Journaling Reads:

Dear Anita, If there were one thing I could go back and tell you, that would have to be that you should SLOW DOWN and ENJOY LIFE. Put that laundry down and play with your kids. Forget about all those things that you think you HAVE to get done right this minute and snuggle with the one you love. Life will pass you by way to quickly. You must not have no regrets! Enjoy your kids and family while you are still young. Squeeze them all just a little tighter. Love, Me

Rachel:

Journaling Reads:

Dear Rachel, I want you to know above all else, that you are important. I know that you often times feel like everyone and everything around you is more important and worthwhile than you are, but that is not true. You don’t always have to figure things out for yourself and it is okay for your voice to be heard. So let it be heard sometimes. You don’t always have to be okay and you don’t always have to be in the background, unnoticed. There is a degree of comfort in being unnoticed but it will also make you feel lonely and unimportant at times, the times when you need to know your value the most. It’s okay to cry, it’s okay to break down and it’s okay to ask for help. Because you are important. Important to your family and your friends and not just because you are unnoticed and easy going, but because you are you. And that is Important. Never think that you are unimportant, because you are important. So important that if you knew how much you are loved it would blow your mind. Never forget how important you are. Love always, yourself

Lia:

Journaling Reads:

Friends have always been important to me, and I’m the type who loves and gives her whole heart to her friends. In the past couple of years, sadly I fell out with a couple of people who were very close to me. It broke my heart, and angered me a little when friends who I treated as my family could disappoint me and treat me in ways I never could treat them. I then realized that this happened to me a few more times before when I was younger. I never seemed to learn my lesson – that I should watch my own heart and its well-being instead of giving it away to people I called ‘friends’. Each time I was betrayed by a friend, I felt unimportant and all that I had done for the friendship worthless. As if it was never enough.

I now remind myself to keep a distance, to not sacrifice all for a friend, to be fond of but not love them. But I am still a dreamer. Only because I still have a close circle of people who love and support me, we share the same level of EQ, who are understanding and who don’t judge, who want me to be the best person and yet won’t hurt my feelings, and who appreciate me.

They instill the faith in me that our friendships are important in their lives. I want to tell my younger me that it’s okay to love all that you know and that it’s okay to have lost friendships, because someone will always value her and feel that she is important to them.

Amy:

Amy Says:

Working on this piece was a challenge in many ways. There were things I wanted to say to my younger self, but what was strongest in me was the need to tell her three things in particular, one of which was… you need to find the art and line within you. Many other things ended up in my preliminary sketches as I tried to find the right storyline and flow for such a letter rendered in this format. In the end, I realized such a letter could be a book in and of itself, much more involved than a single page could contain. [The final line has been obscured here on purpose.]

Now it’s your turn: show us your therapeutic art around “Write a letter to your younger self.” I urge you to give it a try. It can be any form of art as long as it speaks to you.

Leave us comments with your work and you will qualify for the RAK we offer to a random participant. If you don’t have a community or blog where you upload photos, you can upload them on our flickr group.

Remember, this is not a competition. If your art makes you feel even a bit better at the end, you’ve won.

Until next week, enjoy each and every moment.

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.

Ok! Here’s catalyst number eighty-five:

What’s the most daring or scariest thing you’ve ever done?

We’re so excited to have Julie Prichard as this week’s Guest Artist.

Here’s a short little bio for Julie: Julie Prichard lives in San Diego with her husband and three year old daughter. She can be found painting in her studio or on the streets of San Diego with her camera.

If you haven’t seen Julie’s art, make sure to visit her blog here she also has information about the online workshops she teaches.

Here is Julie’s art with this week’s catalyst. You can click on it to see a larger version.

Julie Says:

I am the type of person where fears frequently take hold of my thinking. There are several fears that can ground me at any given moment and I have carved them into wood for this week¹s catalyst. Always in deliberation, it is tough for me to address one, single, scary moment. It didn’t take long to fill up this panel.

Technique Highlight:

I use only a few colors of paint for most of my artwork. This piece was created using two reds, black and titan buff paint. Once painted, I added beeswax to the piece and then used a wood-burning tool to carve the lettering. To darken up the wood when I was finished, I used a black glaze buffed into the piece.

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

Opal:

Opal Says:

I am not one who takes dares…or ventures beyond her comfort level. Thinking about this prompt took me back to my college days. From my first look through the class schedule handbook, I knew that public speaking was something that I would have to face…sooner or later. Being painfully shy in those days, the thought of getting up in front of a class and speaking just about sent me running for the hills…I put it off…and pushed it back…and overlooked it….until 20 years later when i finally finished my undergraduate degree. I will never forget the meeting with my counselor…and the realization that I had this one class..a freshman level class…to take before I could graduate. I went to that first class of Speech 101 with clammy palms and a pounding heart. The day came when I stood up in front of that class….again with clammy palms and a pounding heart. I remember taking a deep breath…and praying that I wouldn’t forget what I had practiced…and I started talking…tentatively at first…and then, 8 minutes later. I had found the magic. I love the moment when the audience quiets, the hushing and settling is tangible as a breath is taken…and the words become.

This piece is done in layers of fabric. The circles within the squares shows the essence of an audience…one you see with no defined details…the stage in front showcases the bigger than life microphone. hand and machine quilted.

Larissa:

Larissa Says:

When I was about 12 years old, I took the blame for something I hadn’t done without knowing the consequences. I remember being in the classroom at school when one of my classmates threw a piece of chalk at the teacher. She got furious, immediately interrupted the class, and said she wouldn’t continue the class unless the guilty one admitted or someone picked the chalk up from the floor. After a long period of silence without anyone declaring themselves guilty, I stood up and picked the piece of chalk up from the floor. I can still feel the terror I felt back then when I executed such gesture. I don´t know why I did this, I just couldn´t stand being there on that situation… I just´couldn´t stand such lack of respect for our theacher.. she was so upset, however, she didn’t punish me; she actually mentioned knowing it wasn’t me who threw the piece of chalk and lectured once again about the cowardice committed. The class, however, moved on…
My work for this catalyst plays with the idea of feeling fear, foolishness and horror… I worked with an amazing photo by R. Cadloff.

Wendela:

Wendela Says:

The most daring and scariest thing I ever did is ….. FLY like a bird….in an airplaine….!!!

Technique Highlight:

The beautiful bird is form a piece of Websters Pages patterned paper, The ribbons and laces, found this stuff on a fleamarke, and the wood, found it in the forest during a walk with my kids.

Karen:

Journaling Reads:

“Let’s just do it!” I said. We were sitting in Bar 89. Facing each other. Talking about how much we hated our jobs how sick we were of New York. How we wanted something different. “Let’s just quit and move!” I encouraged him. (and myself) I wanted to know that we still had the guts. That we owned our life, not them.

It took us another year but we finally did it. Quit the jobs. Packed the apartment. Bought a car. And moved 3,000 miles. To a city we’ve never seen before.
A city where we knew no one. Had no jobs.

We did it. We got jobs. Found a home. Started a life.

And, most importantly, proved we can do it.

We just did it.

Rachel:

Journaling Reads:

I fell in love with the boy… and he change my life and mended my broken heart. I had lost my faith in love, in men, in hope at the age of 14. I saw how fragile and frail that “love” could be and vowed to never, ever open myself to that. I was cold and I was cynical and I was afraid. I carried my fear and anger around me like armor to keep me safe. And then I met Drew, the boy from the music store and my fear and coldness melted away. It was scary. It was daring and bold, but it was my miracle. The cure to my broken heart… and I lept… closed my eyes, smiled and hoped that I would not fail and he caught me and has never let go.

Technique Highlight:

I created the flap that lifts up to house my journaling by tracing a portion of a shaped piece of paper onto a patterned paper and cutting it out. I used trim and brads to create hinges for it.

I also created a handmade flower out of sewing patterns by cutting a strip approximately 10″x3″ and folding it in half creating a piece that is 10″x1.5″. Using a needle and thread I used a running stitch and stitched the open edges and gathered, forming the strip into a circle. Tie off the loose thread and you have a custom flower. I used an inchie for the center, but you could use any embellishments that you may have lying around.

Dedra:

Dedra Says:

My ex-husband was very emotionally abusive. Shelby was just an infant and he would tell me on a daily basis how horrible I was as a mother and if I left I would not be able to survive.

I was 22 years old after hearing this everyday along with other things he said for some reason I started to believe him.

Shelby was 2 and I had decided that I COULD and WOULD make it without him. I wanted Shelby to see and experience a healthy, happy life.

I moved Shelby and I out into our own apartment while he was at work. It was the most nerve racking, nail biting experience. Knowing that he could show up at anytime.

I received a phone call later that evening, it was not nice to say the least. Hey! I left him the couch, TV and some pans I think. It was the most daring/scariest thing I had ever done, but it was THE BEST thing for Shelby and I. Where we are now seems light years away from that situation.

Journaling Reads:

Me and you, together on our own for awhile. being confident as a single mother. Believing in myself and not what I had been told. Spreading my wings and moving on.

Now it’s your turn: show us your therapeutic art around “What’s the most daring or scariest thing you’ve ever done?” I urge you to give it a try. It can be any form of art as long as it speaks to you.

Leave us comments with your work and you will qualify for the RAK we offer to a random participant. If you don’t have a community or blog where you upload photos, you can upload them on our flickr group.

Remember, this is not a competition. If your art makes you feel even a bit better at the end, you’ve won.

Until next week, enjoy each and every moment.

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.

Ok! Here’s catalyst number eighty-four:

What’s the best gift you ever gave?

We’re so excited to have Lydie Manche as this week’s Guest Artist.

Here’s a short little bio for Lydie: 29 years old, I am a wife and a mother of two little and terrible girls . We are living in a small village in the north east of France. I like this village very much because because it is edged with meadows and because houses full of flowers are made of old stones. Houses have soul, nature is present everywhere and all that contributes to my inspiration… I’ve scrapped since the birth of my first daughter and my scrap evolved little by little towards what they call in France the “plant scrap”.

If you haven’t seen Lydie’s art, make sure to visit her blog.

Here is Lydie’s art with this week’s catalyst. You can click on it to see a larger version.

Lydie Says:

In our world, everything pushes us to consumption, to purchase… A PSP here, an i-pod thereabouts… a jewel, a computer, a television with flat screen… The society constructs its stocks on the idea of “having “.To illustrate this subject, I wanted to emphasize a simple but invaluable present: a present which everybody has but that can be sometimes forgotten: love. And what better to express love than a kiss? The kiss of two beings who like each other, the kiss of a parent on the forehead of her child, a kiss on the cheek of one friend… I don’t believe I have ever given anything more precious than this mark of deep affection… And to contrast the oppression the flapping of the metronome which regulates our lives, I wanted to show purity and lightness… That’s why I picked the white for the background of the page.

In French:

A notre époque, tout nous pousse à la consommation, à l’achat… Une console de jeu par ici, un i-pod par là…. un bijou, un ordinateur, une télévision à écran plat… La société construit ses valeurs sur l’idée de “posséder”.Pour illustrer ce sujet, j’avais envie de mettre en valeur un cadeau simple mais inestimable… un cadeau que tout le monde possède mais qui peut parfois être oublié : l’amour. Et quoi de mieux pour exprimer l’amour que le baiser. Le baiser de deux êtres qui s’aiment, le baiser d’un parent sur le front de son enfant, le baiser sur la joue d’un(e) ami(e)… Je crois n’avoir jamais rien offert de plus précieux que cette marque de profonde affection… Et pour contrecarrer l’effet oppressant que peut avoir le battement du métronome qui rythme nos vies, j’avais envie de pureté, de légèreté…C’est la raison pour laquelle mon choix s’est porté sur le blanc pour ce fond de page.

Technique Highlight:

Having taken a photo of my kiss and thanks to my software of modification, I played with the contrast to whiten my skin to such an extent that it can, once the photograph stacked on white paper, become transparent. I then used two rub-ons flowers on the corners of the photograph and paper to reinforce this idea that there is not photograph but direct impression on paper. I like to create a layout with elements which are not very typical in scrapbooking but that, especially, bring me back to simple things: nature. I like the plant foam, the natural and artificial foilages, the flowers.. I also like the small ends of wire netting, pebbles, the small bricks, wood when they are used with time. I enjoy putting them on my layouts. Here, as I chose to illustrate simplicity, I used only two leaves of bracken, picked some time ago and that I had dried between two big books. After the leaf dries, I pasted it on the back with some glue with bookbinding. Then I put it directly on the page before glue is dry. The leaf isn’t damaged with time. I glued together small artificial leaves over these natural leaves of all to create an effect of dimension. My achievements would not be complete if I did not use a thread of aluminum which characterize them. Just take a small segment of this thread, twist it to give it a form which I like then fix it on the layout in the required place. For this page, I used a brad but some hooks can also be used.

In French:

Après avoir pris mon baiser en photo, et grâce à mon logiciel de retouche, j’ai joué sur les constrastes pour blanchir ma peau à tel point qu’elle puisse, une fois la photo superposée sur le papier blanc, se confondre avec celui-ci. J’ai ensuite disposé deux rub-ons fleurs à cheval sur la photo et le papier pour renforcer cette idée qu’il n’y a pas de photo mais une impression directe sur le papier. J’aime créer des pages avec des éléments qui sont peu habituels dans le monde du scrap mais qui, surtout, me ramènent à des valeurs simples : la nature. J’aime la mousse végétale, les feuillages naturels et artificiels, les fleurs.. J’aime aussi les petits bouts de grillage, les cailloux, les petites briques, le bois lorsqu’ils sont usés par le temps. Je prends un plaisir immense à les intégrer sur mes pages. Ici, comme j’ai choisi d’illustrer le sujet avec un maximum de simplicité, je n’ai utilisé que deux feuilles de fougère, ceuillies il y a quelques temps et que j’avais séchées entre deux gros livres. Une fois la feuille sèche, je l’ai encollée sur l’envers avec de la colle à reliure puis je l’ai placée directement sur la page avant que la colle ne soit sèche. La feuille ne rique ainsi pas d’être abîmée avec le temps. J’ai collé par-dessus ces feuilles naturelles de toutes petites feuilles artificielles pour créer un effet de relief. Mes réalisations ne seraient pas complètes si je n’employais pas ce fil
d’aluminium qui les caractérisent. Il suffit de prendre un petit segment de ce fil, de le tordre pour lui donner une forme qui nous convienne puis de le fixer sur la page à l’endroit voulu. Pour cette page, j’ai utilisé un brad mais des agrafes peuvent aussi être employées.

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

Amy:

Amy Says:

Many special gifts came to mind for this catalyst. I chose to document visually the way I have come to think about pillows I made my boys last holiday season. Their lists were filled with many things, and many of those they received. The “making” of something each year for them has never been a necessity. Instead, the “making” of something beyond what may appear on any list they create fulfills my own need for tradition. Last year, I made pillows, and I involved them in picking colors and fabrics. I wanted these pillows to be with them for many years and to be special – to be symbolic. I wanted each pillow to mirror and reflect something about each boy as he was in that space of time, at that age. As I worked on their pillows, each took on a life of its own in my head. Once they were finished, someone referred to them as “Mama’s Gifts.” It is a concept I talked about after that in an episode of the Creative Mom Podcast. In working on the art for this piece, I had to look anew at what the pillows contain, what I put into them, and what they stand for. As gifts, these were important to me and, thankfully, to them.

Iris:

Iris Says:

The best gift I ever gave was something I did for myself. I used pay so much attention to my family that I often neglect myself. I have given up on so many dreams and have let go of so many opportunities in the past in favor of my family. I realized that I won’t love my family any less if I start loving myself too. I have then decided to allow myself to dare to dream. I may not have as much chances of succeeding as compared to my youth, but at least I won’t go forever asking myself … “what if?”

Wendela:

Wendela Says:

That’s absolutely without doubt…our cat!! The best gift for my kids! They love him sooooo much, and pampering him the whole day..He can do tricks, walking like a doll…sitting as an doll…sometimes ha has to wear clothes…but he’s never getting angry, and crabs never! He’s so sweet!!

Technique Highlight:

I printed the image on a piece of fabric, and sewed the papers, and the laces together with my sewing machine. After that I added some rub ons, crackle paint, and some flowers..

Michelle:

Michelle Says:

As an aspiring photogrpaher, I would love to think that the photographs I take for people are the best give I have given. To be able to be behind the camera and capture the relationships between families, especially mother and child brings me more joy than I ever thought possible. To be able to give a mom photographs of her and her children the way that I see them is such a gift that I am happy to give over and over again.

Karen:

Journaling Reads:

A few years ago I finally became an American citizen. I think this is the best gift I could have ever given to my kids.

Lori:

Lori Says:

I think the best gift I have ever given was to my husband when we were dating. I surprised him with tickets to see his favorite hockey team. He was thrilled, to say the least.

Wilna:

Wilna Says:

The best gift I have ever given was birth to my 3 girls. This page is just a celebration of that!

Now it’s your turn: show us your therapeutic art around “What’s the best gift you ever gave?” I urge you to give it a try. It can be any form of art as long as it speaks to you.

Leave us comments with your work and you will qualify for the RAK we offer to a random participant. If you don’t have a community or blog where you upload photos, you can upload them on our flickr group.

Remember, this is not a competition. If your art makes you feel even a bit better at the end, you’ve won.

Until next week, enjoy each and every moment.

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.

Ok! Here’s catalyst number eighty-three:

What’s the one thing you never thought you could do?

We’re so excited to have Linda Warlyn as this week’s Guest Artist.

The wonderful Larissa on our team recommended Linda to me and I asked her if she’s be a guest for us immediately. Linda’s art has so much emotion and so much detail that I couldn’t wait to see what she would create for us.

I asked Linda for a short bio, here’s what she sent: Linda was born and raised in Chicago and has loved to make stuff all her life. She and her wonderful husband Wally have 4 grown children and 2 cute-as-can-be grandchildren. She is self-taught and enjoys just about anything that involves the creative process and getting messy.

Linda doesn’t have a website but she told me that you can contact her at ldyintmoon AT aol DOT com if you’d like. And you can find her work in some wonderful magazines like Somerset Life and Artist’s Cafe. I also wanted to share this relatively new interview with you.

Here is Linda’s art with this week’s catalyst. You can click on it to see a larger version.

Linda Says:

Although I have created art based on a specific theme like a color or holiday, I’ve never made anything prompted by a particular experience or feeling…I loved it! Thank you so much for giving me this opportunity. The catalyst asking for something I never thought I could do immediately brought to mind the struggle I have thinking of myself as an artist thanks to my inner critic, otherwise known as Raging Bull. I grew up in the 1950’s and mid-century images have a comfort and nostalgic appeal for me. The little girl represents me in my studio. The bottom of this assemblage contains my interpretation of what happens to us if we let the sharp claws and long teeth of the nasty inner critic sink into us. It blinds us to our own unique gifts and binds our ability to create with true abandon and limitless imagination. I like that those feelings are relegated to the bottom and squelched under my desk as I really try to keep my negativity in check. The large image of me is holding a piece of art I made with an “open heart” and a feeling of pride at one of my favorite places on earth, Valley Ridge Art Studio and Retreat in WI. I used vintage gardening images behind me to show that I am growing more comfortable with these feelings of truly thinking of myself as an artist. And I know that as I allow that to happen, my artwork and creativity will be nurtured and flourish as well. Lastly, I wanted this piece to be colorful and have a playful nature to remind all of us that we need to call on our inner child and not that debilitating inner critic when engaged in art making of any kind. It should be a joyous, carefree experience and above all–fun!

Technique Highlight:

One technique I love using is adding dimension to my art whenever and wherever I can. I made several copies of the girl and layered them with foam squares in several places to make her more interesting. Small embellishments to her clothing or adding flowers to her hair also add detail and realism.

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

Larissa:

Larissa Says:

There are several things I never thought I could do like being face to face with a criminal, speak in public; being questioned in public and staying calm; impose myself; and travel on my own. When I think I´ve already done these things, I feel myself like a hero, even if it´s a hero full of flaws, guilt and doubts. I often feel proud of myself just because I have the guts to face all of this. So, I decided to portray this catalyst as a comic story, while pointing the things I never thought I could do.

Lia:

Lia Says:

My dad insisted that I begin driving lessons right after I began working at my first (and current) real job. I suppose he knew that if he had left it to me, I would probably never get behind the wheel. While I amazingly passed both the basic and advanced theory tests on the first tries – amazing because I barely studied for them – I still did not have the confidence to handle a car. My driving instructor had me driving on an actual road on our 3rd lesson, and I responded with huge eyes, cold hands, dry throat and a ‘WHAT??’ lol. After many months of lessons, I got some confidence on the road and I took the practical driving test … and failed! I finally got my driving license after two more tries, and when I did I knew it was the right time. I knew what I was doing behind the wheel, I was aware of my responsibilities as a driver and my skills were so much better than when I took the first test. 5 years on and I sometimes still can’t believe that the timid girl I was before had the courage to give driving a go and succeeded! I hardly go anywhere without a car now, and I don’t know what I would have done if I didn’t know how to drive!

Wendela:

Wendela Says:

When I look in the mirror, I see myself, a girl who’s waiting to meet her daddy after many years. This big day is coming soon, never thought this could happen…

Technique Highlight:

I used a toilet rol to make this tag holder…I painted It brown, a mixture of paint and crackle medium, when it’s dry, I painted it again with golden paint, and after that with the crackle paint activator…and let dry…after one night, when I came out my bed..I saw these wonderful crackles!!

Severine:

Severine Says:

I think I could never skydive or ride in a balloon, I’d be too scared once in the air to fall powerless to do anything.

En Français:

Je pense que je ne pourrais jamais sauter en parachute ou monter dans une montgolfière, j’aurais trop peur une fois dans les airs de tomber sans pouvoir rien faire.

Karen:

Journaling Reads:

“Come work for me,” he said. I had worked for him before and I loved it. I knew he was a great manager
and possibly the answer to the slump I was having at work. But to go live in Japan for six months?

Was he crazy?

I had to leave my life. My boyfriend. My home. And move somewhere where I knew no one. Didn’t speak a word of the language. And hated the food.

Was he crazy?

Was I crazy to be considering it? It scared the crap out of me. And, in the end, that was exactly why I decided to do it. I packed my bags, and moved miles and miles away. Six months in a faraway land.

As it turned out, it was some of the best moments of my life. I made friends. I learned Japanese. I worked hard. I proved to myself that I could do it. Leave it all behind and still be ok. Go despite my fears. I still hate the food. But now I know I can do anything I want.

I am brave.

Lori:

Lori Says:

For me it was to stay at home when I had children. I was afraid I’d be a terrible Mom. I had a great career and just assumed I’d keep climbing that ladder. I really could not imagine not making an income. Staying home is the best decision I’ve ever made that went against everything I was feeling at the time.

Journaling Reads:

I never thought I could be a stay-at-home Mom. I grew up believing that I would have a big corporate career. That I would contribute equally to my family if I was to have one. I have always struggled with a lack of patience. I just knew that I would not want to stay home with my kids. I had always, and still do, associated being a good Mom with patience. Once I was pregnant, I was filled with all sorts of fears, but started having a strong desire to leave work. I realized that I wanted to be the one who was home with my new baby. I wanted to be there for everything. I never thought I could. I thought I would be terrible. I’m so grateful I did.

Technique Highlight:

I traced and cut a heart out of patterned paper. Then cut it into thin strips horizontally. I removed every other strip after placing it on my page. I then sewed in between each strip and around the heart.

Rachel:

Journaling Reads:

I always thought that it was a bit of a cliché… wishful or hopeful thinking. You couldn’t possibly see or define or be part of a miracle. It was something that you could not see, touch or prove It was based on opinion and belief. So I dismissed the idea and categorized it away where fairy tales and day dreams live, a thing that would be lovely but would never really happen to me. Until it did. March 2004, I found out that a life was living and growing within me and I knew. Miracles do exist. They happen all the time and all around you. I never thought it would happen to me, but it did. I got to be a part of a miracle. And her name is Roslyn Mae Hall.

Technique Highlight:

I wanted to use this particular font of thickers for this layout, but did not want them in white which was all that I had available to me when I created this layout. I wanted to be sure to maintain the glitter effect of the letters so instead of simply painting them as I have done before, I used alcohol ink to die them. This allowed me to change the color and keep the glitter. To do this I used a Q-tip to dab the ink directly onto the letters. A simple and versatile way to make your letters work with every layout.

Now it’s your turn: show us your therapeutic art around “What’s the one thing you never thought you could do?” I urge you to give it a try. It can be any form of art as long as it speaks to you.

Leave us comments with your work and you will qualify for the RAK we offer to a random participant. If you don’t have a community or blog where you upload photos, you can upload them on our flickr group.

Remember, this is not a competition. If your art makes you feel even a bit better at the end, you’ve won.

Until next week, enjoy each and every moment.

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.

Ok! Here’s catalyst number eighty-two:

What’s your superpower?

We’re so excited to have Susan Tuttle as this week’s Guest Artist.

If there’s one thing I can say about Susan’s art, it’s that each piece is full of emotion. It might be haunting, sorrow, joy, confusion, curiosity, wonder or millions of others. But each piece is dripping with emotion and it makes it impossible for me to look away when I am staring at one of her pieces.

Susan’s first book, Exhibition 36: Mixed-Media Demonstrations + Explorations, was released by North Light Books in December 2008, and her second book, Digital Expressions: Creating Digital Art with PS Elements, a technique-based publication on digital art, will be published by North Light Books in April 2010. Susan is also a frequent contributor to Stampington & Company publications and other mixed-media books. She also teaches digital art workshops on the subjects of photomanipulation, digital montage, and a variety of Photoshop techniques online.

If you haven’t seen her amazing art, make sure to visit her site and her blog.

Here is Susan’s art with this week’s catalyst. You can click on it to see a larger version and more detail.

Susan Says:

My superpower is inner strength — it is both something that I feel glowing strong inside of me, and something I will cultivate my whole life through. I have had many instances for practicing the “art of inner strength” in my life thus far, and am sure to encounter more. Instead of telling you my personal stories, I wish to share with you what I have learned from the experiences. For every human being, there are inevitably times of darkness in life — trials to go through, hard lessons to learn. We always have a choice, even if we hit rock bottom. We can choose to embrace hope and trust in both ourselves and in a loving Universe that has our best interests at heart, or we can choose fear, anger and bitterness. We can call up that inner strength that resides in our core and it will rise to the occasion as soon as we summon it. We can let go and let our inner strength buoy us along as we learn those hard lessons, moving us toward the light, picking up even more strength as we step forward, one foot in front of the other, one step at a time, with the pinhole of light in the distance growing larger and larger still, until we arrive, standing in a room full of perfect light and joy.

This particular digital piece which I have named “Inner Light” personifies inner strength. Instead of describing what this piece means to me, I want you to discover what it means to you.

Technique Highlight:

The imagery used in this piece is of my dear friend Jessica. When I create digital art, or any type of art for that matter, I must feel a strong emotional connection to at least one of the imagery elements in the composition. Doing so is a powerful experience that allows me to infuse the work with personal meaning, feeling, and even love. For me, using personal imagery immediately sparks an authentic, creative process.

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

Amy:

Amy Says:

My concept for this piece, and my “superpower,” is that I “juggle” many things, many aspects of my life, many roles, many interests, and many threads that make up the day to day. I don’t think of it as a superpower. It is just “me” and how I respond to the forces around and within me. It isn’t even something that’s obvious or visible always in the world of surfaces in which we live. As I worked, I began to question if maybe I should have termed my superpower the ability to multitask. But, in the end, juggling and multitasking occupy a similar space. It took a while to settle on an approach to this set of panels. I started out seeing many dialogue strips surrounding a central panel, spelling out all the things that vie for my time and attention, all the things I keep in the air. But as I sketched out the panels, I moved away from the text. I stripped the piece down to a visual essence, letting the balls speak for themselves. When I inked the large panel, I decided at the last minute to leave a space for a caption, and for several days the piece sat, finished, but the caption blank. With only one space for text, finding the right words to explain this piece was difficult. Many words would have worked. Many words would have stated the obvious.

Wilna:

Wilna Says:

If I can have a superpower, i would love to be a heart reader. It’s just something I made up and someone who can: Discern heart motives. I think it would be totally awesome to know how someone feels in their heart. Even to be able to know + understand my own heart. But even though I cant do it, i have a heart reader with me all the time: He is called my Comforter, Counselor, Helper, Intercessor, Advocate, Strengthener and my Standby. And for that I thank you my wonderful God.

Opal:

Opal Says:

I see my superpower as not one thing, or word, or concept, but a blending and melding of my life’s experiences and faith. The people I have known and admired, my family and friends..those select few who I considered “my people”.. are in my balcony cheering me on, giving advice and nudges, suggestions, strength, and encouragement when I need it. My superpower comes from within. This piece is done in fabric with strips of vibrant color and line filling and weaving into the O (for Opal) that represent all those experiences….the circles represent my balcony…hand appliqued, hand and machine quilted.

Severine:

Severine Says:

My superpower was in number, i love numbers, I have some ease with numbers. “40″ is the departement i was born, and i don’t have any superpower without my “origins”.

En Français:

On va dire que mon superpouvoir réside dans les chiffres, j’ai toujours aimer les chiffres et le calcul, j’ai quelques facilités avec. Le “40″ est pour le département où je suis née, parce qu’il n’y aurait pas de pouvoir sans mes origines.

Karen:

Journaling Reads:

i’m not sure if it’s a superpower if it’s also something that ends up hurting me the most. can it be both? it must be.
because my ability to love wholly, fully, with all my self and all my heart is my super power. the one thing that makes me, me.
and it’s my magic, my genuine-ness, my ability to give you all i have and ask for nothing in return because once i love you, once i trust you, i am here for you, forever, all of me. forever.

Lori:

Lori Says:

I don’t like the notion of super powers. I don’t like society saying women need to be “SUPER”. Women are beautiful just as they are with all their weaknesses and strengths. I’ve spent a great deal of time trying to find my balance and live in the now. I want to be at peace with who I am and what I have. This is a difficult goal, but very worthwhile to me.

Journaling Reads:

I have no super powers. I just try to do the best I can each and every day. I’m finally learning that life is about being joyful with all I have and being at peace in the present day.

Anita:

Anita Says:

I guess I never thought of it as a Super Power but I believe I have the ability to “read” people upon first meeting. I usually am a good judge of character and can tell upon first meeting whether I am gonna like that person or not. Whether they are happy or sad. Have a good life or a troubled one. I can usually sense these things about people.

Rachel:

Journaling Reads:

“Please.” “Thank you.” “You’re welcome.”

Phases that are heard all too seldom now a days. Common niceties tossed aside for a me first, gimme attitude that is so prevalent in this day and age. I often find myself wondering what happened to good manners, common courtesies and respect. I refuse to fall into the lazy and bad habits of not being polite and manner-ful. So my super power? You can call me Ms. Manners,

Thank you.

Now it’s your turn: show us your therapeutic art around “What’s your superpower?” I urge you to give it a try. It can be any form of art as long as it speaks to you.

Leave us comments with your work and you will qualify for the RAK we offer to a random participant. If you don’t have a community or blog where you upload photos, you can upload them on our flickr group.

Remember, this is not a competition. If your art makes you feel even a bit better at the end, you’ve won.

Until next week, enjoy each and every moment.

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.

Ok! Here’s catalyst number eighty:

Who’s the person who supports you the most in your life (emotionally and intellectually)?

We’re so excited to have Stephanie Howell as this week’s Guest Artist.

Anyone who’s seen Staphanie’s art shouldn’t be too surprised that we asked her to be a guest here. Stephanie’s layouts are simple, elegant, and always beautifully designed. But what I love the most about her layouts is that they are always meaningful. You can tell she puts a piece of her soul into each one.

I’m not alone in being a fan of Stephanie. Stephanie has been published in Creating Keepsakes, Simple Scrapbooks, Memory Makers, Scrapbooks Etc., Scrapbook and Cards Today, and Scrapbook Trends magazines. She designs for Lily Bee and Studio Calico and has guest designed for a multitude of wonderful companies.

If you haven’t seen Stephanie’s art, make sure to visit her her blog or her gallery at twopeas.

Here is Stephanie’s art with this week’s catalyst. You can click on it to see a larger version and more detail.

Stephanie Says:

For me, the sentiment behind this layout was a no brainer. when i saw the prompt, i knew immediately who i wanted to write about. my husband, jimmy. he is my world and i wanted to get a bit of how i felt down on paper. these pictures of him were taken at a ranch, and i love that he has let down his guard at the moment i took the photo. he looks truly relaxed. looking at these photos caused a flood of emotion and the words came pouring out. there is more journaling tucked behind the photo mat.

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

Kimmi:

Kimmi Says:

When I started thinking about this challenge, I knew that Travis would be my main subject, but then I realized that I don’t have many…if any.. good recent pictures of us, so I decided to use this snapshot of he and Brayden that I immediately fell in love with when uploading pictures the other night. (I included the orginal photo since you can’t see it all that well in my journal page). Travis is definitely the most supportive person in my life. I feel like I’ve opened up a lot more as a person by being around him all the time. We are complete opposites when it comes to personalities. I am quiet shy and he is-by far-the most outgoing and talkative person I’ve ever met, but I feel more comfortable with him than I ever thought I could be with anyone. He was extremely supportive and patient in the beginning of our relationship and took up the role as Brayden’s stepfather when Bray was just four months old. He supports every major and minor ordeal in my life. Whether it be about Brayden or something as simple as scrapbooking, he is always there and understanding.

Wilna:

Wilna Says:

Without a doubt this person is my biggest source of inspiration and comfort. I think we have been together for so long, that we have shaped each others lives in such a way that no one else can take the credit for who we are. Never in my live has one person so consistently be my support. Not only in my physical necessities, but emotional and especially spiritual. I draw on him everyday. He draws on me everyday. It’s a wonderful beautiful thing. I would take more of him everyday. every month and every year.

Dedra:

Dedra Says:

Well, I know there’s a reason and I know there’s a rhyme.

We were meant to be together.

That’s why….

We can roll with the punches and we can stroll hand in hand.

And when I say it’s forever you understand.

That’s why you’re always in my heart, you’re always on my mind.

but when it all becomes to much you’re never far behind and there’s

no one that comes close to you or could ever take your place.

Cause only you can love me this way. love you always!

9.2009

Severine:

Severine Says:

This person is my Husband. It’s THE person who supports me in every situation.

Karen:

Journaling Reads:

i thought about this one for a long time. i wanted to make it about someone different. I’d already made so many of these about him. it was getting rather ridiculous but anyone else would just be lie compared to him. he’s the one who’s with me night and day. crazy and sane. success and failure. the wonderfully amazing thing is, i managed to find someone who understands what i do and can support me intellectually. can push me. but also he gets me. he’s there for me when i go dark and become the worst part of me. he’s there when i win and i want to celebrate. he’s not jealous, he’s not scared, he’s not angry. he’s always there. with those arms that wrap around me and envelop me tightly make me feel secure and loved. so loved. how can i choose someone else when he’s the one? there’s no going around the truth. he’s the one.

Technique Highlight:

I got this wonderful idea of scattering the sequins from the amazing Gigi Kennedy. I just love its whimsicalness.

Iris:

Iris Says:

I’m genuinely thankful for how my husband Bryan has supported me in so many ways. From the time we were sweethearts until know, he has never lost his faith in me. Journaling: Because you never said “you could not”, because you always believed in me, because you knew me better than I knew myself… my genuine thanks to you… for always believing, always having faith, and for always dreaming with me.

Lia:

Lia Says:

He’s a blessing to me. He gives me strength, he gives me confidence, always believes in me and my capabilities, he laughs with me, he makes me happy …. he completes me.

Anita:

Anita Says:

When I seen this catalyst I knew RIGHT AWAY my answer to the question, “Who’s the person who supports you the most in your life (emotionally and intellectually)?” My hubby is my best friend! I think that’s why we work together so well. He supports me with everything in my life. He understands me and stands by me no matter what! Journaling says: You have always stood by me, believed in me, even when I didn’t, and stood by me even when others didn’t. I am so glad you have total faith in me.

Michelle:

Michelle Says:

That’s an easy question..Todd, my husband. I am not always an easy person to support, but he stands by me no matter what.

Rachel:

Rachel Says:

He is my rock and my foundation. From the moment we met, he took my breath away and I knew that he was someone truly special. And while I swooned with my giddy school-girl crush day dreams of him being mine, I found my best friend. I found my shoulder to lean on. I found my greatest support and ultimately, my soul mate. He is my number one fan and he inspires me on a daily basis to follow my heart and fulfill my dreams. He never wavers or compromises in his love for me. Like our song says, “You’ll always be my sweet addiction… in this life my saving grace… you’re all that really matters, you know its true… there ain’t no me without you.”

Now it’s your turn: show us your therapeutic art around “Who’s the person who supports you the most in your life (emotionally and intellectually)?” I urge you to give it a try. It can be any form of art as long as it speaks to you.

Leave us comments with your work and you will qualify for the RAK we offer to a random participant. If you don’t have a community or blog where you upload photos, you can upload them on our flickr group.

Remember, this is not a competition. If your art makes you feel even a bit better at the end, you’ve won.

Until next week, enjoy each and every moment.

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.

Ok! Here’s catalyst number eighty:

Tell us about something you cherished as a child. It can be a toy or anything else.

We’re so excited to have Pam Carriker as this week’s Guest Artist.

Pam is one of those artists whose art touches my soul. When I look at her paintings I get completely lost in them and just want to look at them forever. Her portraits are so soft, so meaningful, and so very elegant.

I’m not alone in my awe of Pam as she’s been published widely in magazines like Somerset Studios, The Stampers’ Sampler, Art Journaling, Somerset Apprentice, and Cloth Paper Scissors. She also teaches workshops in real life and online.

If you haven’t seen Pam’s art, make sure to visit her her blog or her shop.

Here is Pam’s art with this week’s catalyst. You can click on it to see a larger version and more detail.

Pam Says:

As a child I cherished the times spent with my grandmother all by myself. I suppose it had a little bit to do with the ‘middle child syndrome’ but those times made me feel so special, and in a family with three children, the ’squeaky wheels’ often got oiled first and I just wasn’t very ’squeaky’.

Grandmas are a very special type of person to a child. You can really do no wrong in their eyes. Things that would have sent Mom over the edge, do not appear to have any affect on Grandma. They have a seemingly limitless supply of patience, teaching everything from how to make a perfect Pineapple Upside down Cake, to tedious French Knots or how to save lots of money by clipping coupons.

My mom had ’special’ dishes and things that we never used to my knowledge. She wouldn’t dream of letting one of us eat off the good china! But grandma, would on occasion, take out her very special dishes. I was especially enamored of her lovely teacup collection. Each one different, delicate, and beautiful. Sometimes on a visit she would let me pick which one I wanted to use and she would fill it with tea, sugar and a little milk. We would sip our tea and have important discussions just like two grown up ladies. She even let me sit at her dressing table and try on lipstick and perfume. She nurtured the girl in me right from the start.

Today I work in my studio, surrounded by some of the beautiful things from grandma’s house. I sit writing this from her lovely secretary desk, filled with lovely pieces from her home. I cherish my grandma for helping me to appreciate the beauty in the things around me and for making the little girl inside me still, feel very special.

Technique Highlight:

I created this journal page on 110lb hot press watercolor paper. Sketch the cups, first in pencil, then in XS Black Pitt Artist Pen. Shade with Shades of Grey Pitt Brush Tipped Pens. Journal some thoughts with XS Pitt Pen. Add some more design elements (scrolls) with the Pitt Pens. ‘Paint’ in the teacups with PanPastel and colored pencil. Fill in the background with Caran d’Ache water soluble crayons. Shade with charcoal. Transfer images and text using ink jet transparencies and hand sanitizer.

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

Kimmi:

Kimmi Says:

Stuffed animals were my favorite toys as a child. I can remember my most favorites that I had and every single one had a well thought out name… One being Chubbles in the far left of this picture. I never was really sure what exactly he was but I just called him Chubbles by the name on his little robe. Now I’m thinking he’s some sort of ewok (?) Either way, he was one of my favorites. I hunted and hunted for a picture that I have from when I was about three of me holding Chubbles, but couldn’t locate it, so I snapped a quick picture of Chubbles in his new home… a shelf in Brayden’s room with a few of Brayden’s first stuff animals, an Elmo that was his first gift from Travis, and a squirrel that we eventually realized was a squeaky dog toy…(ha)…among others. It’s strange to think that this little stuffed toy actually still works… even after twenty years… with a little wiggling of his wires. He chuckles and his eyes light up when you run your hand over his face, or hide under the covers with him, just as I used to as a kid.

Wendela:

Wendela Says:

What I cherished when I’m a child…going to the beach near our home, to make sandcastles and go for a swim, and especially seeking treasures…like a message in a bottle!

Technique Highlight:

I painted the bottle with alcohol ink, with a pearly alcohol ink too. It looks like ancient glass.

Larissa:

Larissa Says:

I cherish the time I used to spend with my brother… I kindly remember the time when we used to share the same room, listened from mommy the same child story before bedtime, had pillow fights, argued with each other…all these moments and everything related to the 80´s are special.

Wilna:

Wilna Says:

I loved this teddy-bear. As far as my memory goes, it was always with me and provided comfort and joy. It’s name is simply Teddie and sometime and somehow along the road it lost an eye. But never the less, i loved it wit all my heart. To this day I love teddy bears.

Lia:

Lia Says:

I loved being the youngest in the family. I was Daddy’s little girl, Mummy’s favorite and my siblings especially my sis always did whatever they could to make me happy. I always felt loved … and while others might get spoilt by all the attention the youngest child gets, I’m thankful that my family taught me to be respectful and affectionate to others through them loving me.

Karen:

Journaling Reads:

i remember asking my parents for this computer for my tenth birthday. “you just want to play games,” they said. “no” i insisted, “i will learn how to program, I will use it all the time, I swear.” they were reluctant, I could tell. everyone else just used theirs as a fancy toy but i wanted one. I knew I wasn’t going to use mine as a toy, mine was a keeper. I don’t know what finally convinced them but I still remember the day my commodore 64 arrived. i fulfilled my promises, I took lessons, I worked, I played, I tinkered with that thing all the time. As it turned out, that was the beginning of a lifelong love of computers a career in programming and the internet. now i help build browsers. and it all started with one little machine. a present that changed my whole life.

Karen Says:

The Commodore 64 my parents bought me when I was a little girl was the very first computer I ever loved. Today, I have eight computers and I love them all. I made a career out of working with computers. I cannot thank them enough for believing in me, supporting me, and of course giving me my first computer.

Why is this in a binder?

Lori:

Lori Says:

I know I cherished my parents and brother and spending time with our extended family. I certainly remember wanting things. The only toy I had that made me feel special was a green bear. He was my best friend for many years, but I don’t even have a photo with him. This catalyst just reinforces why I scrapbook for my family.

Journaling Reads:

I remember having a little green stuffed bear with me all the time. I named him “greenie” and he was my constant companion. I loved this little green bear so much, he never left my side. Soon he had no fur left and was really nubby instead. I wish I still had him. This is one of the few toys I would love to have kept.

Iris:

Iris Says:

I have always been fascinated with water fountains as a child. Be it am architectural wonder, or a table top decor, I would stare at it in amazement. It was such a pleasant surprise when I noticed that my daughter Nicole also has that same fascination with fountains.

Technique Highlight:

Use a favorite felt shape or die-cut as a mask for misting and get to use it in several more projects.

Now it’s your turn: show us your therapeutic art around “Tell us about something you cherished as a child. It can be a toy or anything else.” I urge you to give it a try. It can be any form of art as long as it speaks to you.

Leave us comments with your work and you will qualify for the RAK we offer to a random participant. If you don’t have a community or blog where you upload photos, you can upload them on our flickr group.

Remember, this is not a competition. If your art makes you feel even a bit better at the end, you’ve won.

Until next week, enjoy each and every moment.

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.

Ok! Here’s catalyst number seventy-nine:

What’s a family or personal tradition your cherish?

We’re so excited to have Traci Bautista as this week’s Guest Artist.

I met Traci briefly during CHA Winter 2007. She was teaching a make’n'take where we created a collaged journal cover. It was one of my favorite make and takes from the show and Traci was so patient and so nice as she showed is how to do it. She then signed copies of her book: Collage Unleashed and there, too, she took her time and created a piece of art inside each book as she signed them.

Traci’s art is beautiful, creative, layered and like no other. She makes printable downloads, she teaches art workshops, and also teaches online.

If you haven’t seen Traci’s art, make sure to visit her her blog or her site. You can also follow her on twitter.

Here is Traci’s art with this week’s catalyst. You can click on it to see a larger version and more detail.

Traci Says:

        ~Halloween MEMORIES~

Playing. costume.   excitement.         Candy.

  creative.     making.  crafty.     {hobo. catwoman. Pocahontas.clown}

cherished memories.     trickORtreat.        photo with daddy…

    dark.flashlights.hoping 4 good candy.LOVE.

Ever since I was a child, dressing up for Halloween has been a tradition in our family. My parents would let us choose our costumes every year. I’ve had numerous costumes throughout the years and most have had some sort of handmade element. From the little hobo outfit, to the bunny costume to my days playing Catwoman, a Moulin Rouge dancer and Pocahontas..creating handmade costumes has allowed me to express my creativity through costume. A yearly tradition was to take a photo in the front door with my dad before we went out trick-or-treating. He would always do the same pose with the growling sound…such fond memories. Now with my niece the tradition continues. For her first Halloween, the little “Glow Worm” took a snapshot with papa in front of the door.

Technique Highlight:

The collage art quilt was created by stitching together leftover pieces of my handpainted papers and fabrics. I have a scrap stash that I save and then pull bits and pieces from the stash to create the background collage. I sew randomly wild stitches using straight and zigzag setting. To attach the photos, I used my product line, Collage Pauge, to adhere them to paper frame. Then, I sewed photocopies of the original photos onto a dyed paper towel and color lasers of my original artwork to create the frames. Once I finished the composition, I took photos of the art quilt and added a couple digital photos. The freestyle patchwork quilt is never a planned piece, I pick pieces from my stash and build until I am satisfied with the composition. It’s a very random and freeing way to work. Let your creative intuition take over and have fun piecing together leftovers.

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

Amy:

Amy Says:

I am one of those people that believes in personal tradition and ritual. I cherish the small things that define my days and weeks and years with moments of symbolic routine. But when I considered this catalyst, I wasn’t sure where to focus, what to pull out, and I realized that in this moment in my life, the traditions that I crave are hard to spot. The one I chose to illustrate is partly reality and partly wishful thinking. It is a concept that will always be with me even if I don’t always manage to make it happen. The tradition: watching the sun rise on one’s birthday.

Rachel:

Rachel Says:

It started out with Young’s Farm and then moved on to Windmill Farms when Young’s closed down. The annual trip to the pumpkin farm is my most cherished and treasured of traditions, starting when I was a little girl. The pumpkin picking, the cider, the barbeque, the hayrides and pony rides have become an integral part of my life and of my very favorite of seasons… the season all about gratitude, fall. We have gone every year of Roslyn’s life and always will. It feels like home to me.

Technique Highlight:

To create custom pumpkin embellishments, I simply punch out three circles using my large circle punches and distressed the edges. I then layered them so that they resembled a pumpkin, and added some pen stitching.

Larissa:

Larissa Says:

I happily remember all the events/traditions related to the preparation of Christmas Eve. What a delight to get back in time where my aunts and grandmothers were sewing little Santa boots, making sweets, ornamenting trees while my cousins and I excitedly waited for the arrival of the good old man. Being able to see him through the window, decorated with Christmas lights, makes it even more the most perfect translation of a magic moment I can give…and this is the tradition I try to recreate annually in my home for my daughter. Her joy starts with the setting of the Christmas tree, a moment of which I decided to portray for this catalyst.

Opal:

Opal Says:

Once, not so very long ago, I held many traditions which revolved around my family and children, birthdays, and holidays. As children do, they grew up and moved away, and they now have families and their own traditions. Loved ones have passed on. Cherished traditions have taken their toll…becoming cherished memories. I have one tradition that bridges my family of today, and yesterdays. When we get together, children and grand kids, grandparents, cousins, nieces and nephews, I always use pieces from my mom’s complete set of Jewel Tea Autumn Leaf dinnerware. She was very proud of this collection. It was in the years after WWII in the housing tracts built for return servicemen…The Jewel Tea truck drove slowly down the residential street in the city where I grew up. Honking the horn to signal his approach, housewives and children would run out to see what goodies he had that week, bread, sugar, coffee, donuts. Somehow there were points earned..and the points were accumulated and traded for dishes…These were her every day dishes, so they do show signs of wear. It is this that we all love. So, we use her Jewel Tea dishes, and one of us makes something from one of her recipes….Her apple pie recipe I used on this piece is in her own handwriting..printed on fabric, and cut into pieces to show that it is shared by all of us. The dinner plate is my version of the Jewel Tea Autumn Leaf design…the piece is quilted by machine and hand, with raw edge applique and embellished with gold thread.

Karen:

Journaling Reads:

december is my favorite time of year. it’s when we get to buy a beautiful tree that gives off the most amazing scent in our house for a whole month. the tree that’s lit up. the tree that brings me joy every single day. it’s also when i get almost two weeks off work to enjoy my time with my family so we can curl up in front of the tv or the fire or our tree and enjoy each other’s company. december is when all the houses in our neighborhood light up and spread the joy. but the best part of december, for me, is the little book i get to create every single day. full of our memories, our daily moments. i love putting the pages together before the month starts and sitting to alter each page every day. just a little bit of art and a little bit of memory-keeping that allows me to re-live my day and smile. my december daily album is something i cherish deeply and a tradition that is here to stay.

Karen Says:

Two years ago, thanks to Shimelle, I started a december album. Last year, thanks to Ali, I did a more personalized december daily album and I fell in love with it so much that it’s, by far, one of my most cherished albums. You can see the pages in my albums here: 2007 and 2008. I highly recommend making one of these.

Technique Highlight:

It seems I go through phases when I create my catalysts. Sometimes they’re artsy, sometimes plain, sometimes with no journaling and sometimes with a lot. Ordinarily, I am someone who likes to journal a lot and I like to create journaling strips because they allow me to create a design with the words if I so choose. So in the next few weeks you’ll see that my pages will all have a lot of journaling and I will create the art/design around the journaling. Sometimes it’s all about the words.

Why is this in a binder?

Wendela:

Wendela Says:

Well, this November I’m married with my dearest for 17 years!!! And the tradition is…making a special day for our wedding anniversary ..with a little party, or a dinner for two…a beautiful present…so exciting! Can’t wait till November 20th!

Technique Highlight:

The background I used is a chipboard book cover from 7 gypsies. The edges are crunched, and how I do that? With water! Make the edges wet, wait a few seconds, and the chipboard is more soft, so that you can crunch it with your hands…

Dedra:

Journaling Reads:

Every year we send out a lot of invitations to friends and family letting them know the details of our pumpkin carving party. We set up tables and tools and all together we laugh and spend time.

Now it’s your turn: show us your therapeutic art around “What’s a family or personal tradition your cherish?” I urge you to give it a try. It can be any form of art as long as it speaks to you.

Leave us comments with your work and you will qualify for the RAK we offer to a random participant. If you don’t have a community or blog where you upload photos, you can upload them on our flickr group.

Remember, this is not a competition. If your art makes you feel even a bit better at the end, you’ve won.

Until next week, enjoy each and every moment.

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.

Ok! Here’s catalyst number seventy-eight:

What’s something you want to accomplish before you die?

We’re so excited to have Luzinha Folch as this week’s Guest Artist.

Lucy was recommended to me by one of our team members, Larissa. And I fell in love with her work immediately.

Her pages are vibrant, playful and draw you in right away. She’s a fashionista for Scrap in Style TV and she designs amazing, beautiful papers for scrap diary. You can tell that she’s someone full of life and full of talent.

If you haven’t seen Lucy’s art, make sure to visit her blog.

Here is Luzinha’s art with this week’s catalyst. You can click on it to see a larger version and more detail.

Luzinha Says:

I’m just passing through that phase where the feeling of having a baby is making me a stronger woman. Although I can’t have a blood related child I have a strong feeling that I’ll adopt a little one soon. As sooner my husband and I can get together again. Right now the world crises had us apart, but it won’t last longer. For us it doen’t matter the color or the sex cause we just have so much love in our hearts that we already love the baby even before we have him or her in our arms. It’s a love that is bigger than any word could ever say. I know for sure the day that I’ll be a better woman is arriving soon.

Technique Highlight:

I did a mixed media using gesso, a texture with glitter, acrylic paints and watercolor. I drew the mothers and painted them with watercolor crayons. Old dictionary paper, ric rack and sharpie. To finish it I used a layer of bee’s wax.

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

Severine:

Severine Says:

I’d like to learn to navigate and to pilot a sailboat.

In French:

J’aimerais apprendre à naviguer et pouvoir piloter un voilier.

Rachel:

Rachel Says:

When I sat down to create my piece this week, all I could think of to answer this question of what I wish to accomplish before I die was simply to be authentic. To be myself. Always. I know that this is something that I will spend my entire life working towards accomplishing, but slowly, day by day, I am getting there.

Journaling Reads:

My whole life, all I’ve ever really wanted was to be *me*… real, authentic, genuinely me. To delve into my hobbies and my passions, living whole heartedly an existence that is truly my own. To quit caring about what I should be doing and dive into what I want and know I need to do for my family, my friends and myself. To be comfortable in my own quirky, not quite status quo skin. I’m getting there.

Larissa:

Larissa Says:

I want to publish a book, maybe a book for children with my own illustrations (wow!) or a book to help people work on their creativity.
While I still can´t accomplish it, I continue working on scrapbook altered books.

Kimmi:

Kimmi Says:

One of the things that I want to do before I die is travel. I would love to visit Europe-Greece, Italy, France and also want to make a trip to Ireland one day. Another dream destination of mine is Australia. I’ve wanted to go there since I was little. I’d also want to go as far north Alaska as possible in hopes to see the Northern Lights and go whale watching. Those are just a few of the many places I’d love to see one day.

Karen:

Karen says:

My first instinct was to do this about my book. I want to write a book. I want to get it published. I’ve had this dream/goal forever. But I’ve done art around this so I decided this time I’d do it about another dream. I want to go to Antarctica. I want to pet a penguin. This is something I really want to do before I die.

Technique Highlight:

To put this together, I cut out a bunch of penguins, painted my paper and added some texture with fabric. I then added some glossy accents and some pearl to make it look like ice/water.

Lia:

Lia Says:

I see in my near future, a future with him. Our union, a family we will create, a life we will experience together. I’d like to leave my mark in this world through this before I die.

Technique Highlight:

I randomly pleated some tulle over the wedding dress cutout to create a ’skirt’ and embellished with ribbon and pearls.

Anita:

Anita Says:

I KNEW what the answer was to this one right away. I know that would love to be able to travel abroad, one day before I die. To be honest, I’ve never even flown, let alone go to another country. I don’t really care where I go but just to be able to say I’ve been to another country would be so neat.

Wendela:

Wendela Says:

A really hard one this time! There’s so much to do, beautiful things, hard things, bad things….ooooo I don’t know!! The only thing I know, whatever I’m going to do..is Put my trust in the lord! My life is in His hands.

Technique Highlight:

I use a lot of bees wax. Melted in pot with my heatgun, and smear it on the picture and the chipboard scrolls. After that I used crackle paint, and glimmermist to give it an old and glimmery look.

Michelle:

Michelle Says:

I am not the most adventures person, and while there are many places that I would love to see, I am not a huge fan of traveling. Because of that, I guess my “bucket list” could look a bit boring to some. Even so, answering the question, “What’s something you want to accomplish before you die”, was actually quite easy..I want to be content. The definition of content is ” satisfied with what one is or has; not wanting more or anything else.” That’s it, that is all I want. I want to be comfortable in my own skin, I want to not let my insecurities stop me from following my dreams, I want to go to sleep at night not second guessing decisions I made, I just want to be content. A glass of ice cold lemonade in a mason jar, that is a picture I see in my head when I envision feeling content.

Lori:

Lori Says:

Since I was ten-years old, I have wanted to write books. I don’t know why there is fear there, but my life-long goal is to finally write my book. I don’t need it to be published, I just need it to be written.

Journaling Reads:

Before I die, I will write a fantasy novel. This is one thing I must accomplish.

Now it’s your turn: show us your therapeutic art around “What’s something you want to accomplish before you die?” I urge you to give it a try. It can be any form of art as long as it speaks to you.

Leave us comments with your work and you will qualify for the RAK we offer to a random participant. If you don’t have a community or blog where you upload photos, you can upload them on our flickr group.

Remember, this is not a competition. If your art makes you feel even a bit better at the end, you’ve won.

Until next week, enjoy each and every moment.

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.

Ok! Here’s catalyst number seventy-seven:

Create art around a time when you had a lot of turmoil and indecision in your life.

We’re so excited to have Gina Smith as this week’s Guest Artist.

Gina is another perfect example of the kind of artist that creates using different mediums. Painting, mixed media, altered art. Her work is meaningful and beautiful all in one.

Gina’s contributed to several books including Altered Art Circus and she’s published in numerous magazines. She is on design teams. She has designed product. She is truly multi-talented and awe inspiring. It is a joy to have her here.

If you haven’t seen Gina’s beautiful art, make sure to visit her blog and her beautiful etsy shop.

Here is Gina’s art with this week’s catalyst. You can click on it to see a larger version and more detail.

Gina Says:

After sorting through the prompt choices, “Create art around a time when you had a lot of turmoil and indecision in your life” really spoke to me, so much so that I was laughing like a hyena inhaling paint fumes at the irony of this one.

I had already felt like my head “was going to explode” to use a term I had been saying often. Even in a less stressful time, I made a piece of art with a girl with a Dodo-bird egg on her head that said “I have so much art in my head it hurts.”

But now, besides creating- and I am in the process of a novel, have several finished short stories, poetry, non-fiction and memoir in addition to painting and making jewelry and collage every weekend and being in or running several on-line art groups and working full-time traveling about 1,000 miles a week- I also face the prospect of a job change after 15 years with one solid company- a job I thought I would have until retirement which is still a couple decades away unless you all send me thousands of dollars.

I made the decision and announcement about a change seemingly well in advance- and then the economy got even worse after last holiday season. Not surprisingly jobs are scarce in marketing and public relations and in the non-profit sector- where I have spent my entire career. I have been searching with only minimal success for seven months.

On top of this I made the decision to move out of the only state I have ever lived in (the last 40 odd years), and I reconnected two years ago with a college sweetheart who for some crazy reason wants to marry me. This may have been before he saw my art supply stash and Blythe doll collection.

In the midst of this I was dieting and exercising and lost 30+ pounds- stress eating has brought some of them back unfortunately. I also hosted a high school graduation open house for 150 guests this summer-probably while the paint was drying on this work, am sending my youngest child off to college in a few weeks; have had my oldest child move out, back in and back out; buried my 39-year-old niece to cancer, and have myself been in 12 states- that I can remember- in the past year.

And still here I sit in my same job in my same spot, watching the clock tick off- only 27 more days until my big deadline for change when this piece appears on Creative Therapy. Yikes.

Technique Highlight:

11 x 14 deep edge canvas. I first just painted the canvas with a base acrylic color (a blue I mixed up). I don’t always Gesso first.

I first keep in mind where my figure and especially face or any other light spots will be so I don’t go too crazy with background and texture in those spots because I’d just have to cover it up.

I added some daubs of other colors (esp. cream). Then I daubed a brown stamper (finger-size sponge-like thimble) over punchinella (the cast-off from sequins).

I added some strips of sheet music. I use these a lot for trees, legs, fences, weaving, whatever. I used a small circle lid dipped in pink and green paint separately to stamp uniform circles. All of this is still my background. I spend a lot of time on background prep- a’ la Chrysti Hydeck’s “Baby Got Back” techniques in Somerset Studio and Cloth Paper Scissors.

I put on some large areas of brown and then cut through them with the edge of an old hotel room key (or old credit card). Then I put on some Golden molding past. I painted some yellow for brightness over this and anywhere else I wanted some “light.” Lastly, I rubbed a watercolor crayon over the dried and now firm and raised spots of molding paste.

My background is done! Let dry for a day.

Next I lightly sketched out the figure from my head in pencil on the canvas. You can also draw or trace what you want onto tissue paper and actually ‘glue’ the tissue paper right on the canvas with a little gel medium.

As I drew my figure, I considered the textured background I had made so I could take advantage of it for her skirt and anything else I wanted. I added some torn pieces of paper, some with significant words right, by using gel medium to glue them right onto her “skirt.”

For texture, I cut out a piece of printed paper to fit as her bodice, so it would be raised. I set it aside for later until after the painting is done.

Next, I used Golden titan buff acrylic paint to paint in her face and arms. I completely covered over the eyes and features I had sketched. I also painted in her hair at this time. When her face was dry, I used a pencil again to sketch back in the features and then painted them in. Where I don’t have steady hands for tiny work I will use a gel pen, permanent marker, paint marker, water color crayon smoothed out with the wet brush and sometimes I even used a ‘white-out’ correction pen!

At this point I will usually spray on a little workable fixative so I don’t smudge my hard work.

Then I go back an add paint accents wherever I need, and if I’ve covered up anything in my background that I really want, I simply do it again. Lastly, I glued on her bodice with matte medium and used a little graphite pencil to make some outlines and enhances. I always spray again with fixative after graphite.

Before I attached her “brains,” I used the small circle lid to daub around the sides of the canvas in three colors (much more interesting than 1 or 2). Odd numbers rule!

Then I glued a wide ribbon around the sides for accent (and also covers up any boo-boos I might have made- never admit to anything!)

Also, one of my favorite finishes (again before the brains) is to brush on melted beeswax for some nice texture and matte-where-you-want it finish, although you can ‘polish’ the beeswax to a shine with a soft cloth, like an undershirt.

Melt white or yellow beeswax granules on lowest possible heat in an old pan- I bought a cheap granite-ware pan just for this. Using a sponge brush, brush on the beeswax where you want it. You have to work fast. I keep a heat gun/embossing tool handy and a plastic/rubber Pampered Chef pan scraper so I can quickly heat up and scrape off any beeswax that got where I didn’t want it.
Once I am done, I just let the extra beeswax harden in the pan, and put the pan away with my art stuff, to heat up and use again when I need it, adding new granules as necessary.

I let all this dry for several days. I also made good color copies of my work while it was still flat.

Looking back, I wish I had kept her “brains” within the opening I had drawn or made the opening larger, but I had so many good ‘goodies’ I wanted to attach that I couldn’t stop myself. Know when to say when.

I gathered the best of my metal goodies, game pieces, watch parts, light bulb, nuts, bolts, etc., (I save unusual stuff just for this purpose) and tried a layout until I was satisfied. I chose them all for various reasons” I love the compass on the “dead end” game piece- as if I need help finding trouble for myself! I love the spinner on “destiny” as if I get to choose, and it just happens to be pointing at “dead end.” I like that the rubber chicken looks like a hamster on a treadmill. The light bulb says “she meant business,” which signifies I am serious about my creative ideas. Then I attached them. For the wire and heavy pieces, I used a paper piercer to poke holes in the canvas for ease of attachment. I also used this to curl my wires to make them spring-y. Otherwise, I used Tombow glue for metal and even some super glue where necessary.

I had a heart button I wanted to use, but it was red, so I spray-painted it silver, same with the once-yellow rubber chicken.

Don’t forget to sign and date your work! A friend hand-carved a rubber stamp for me, so I never have to worry about a messy signature. I stamped it in black and then went over it with a Sharpie. More fixative. You can also spray on glossy acrylic finisher if you want it somewhere.

Voila! Hang it up!

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

Amy:

Amy Says:

When I considered this catalyst, the image of an empty soda can with a group of daisies in it came to mind. It’s a touchstone image in my head from my college days. It was a simple gift given by a friend, but it is an image that has always stuck in my mind for its symbolism of a particular time, particular resiliency of spirit, and a celebration of simple things. As I got ready to start this piece and had “buy flowers” and “buy a can of soda” on my to do list, I stopped for a moment and asked myself “what was the angst surrounding these flowers?” “Why is this image coming to mind in response to this question?” Those years seem so long ago, the angst of then mellowed and softened by ensuing time, and the problems and moments of turmoil and identity and creative temperament that formed the undercurrent of those days seem far removed from the undercurrents of today. As I stopped and asked myself what was at the heart of it and why that image came to mind for this catalyst, however, the time suddenly filled in, a landscape of young adulthood, and I realized that it’s all related, all connected, and all part of the journey.

Rachel:

Journaling Reads:

We had a plan. A system. Everything in place. Drew worked retail at the music shop full time and taught part time. He made this choice because of me pestering him to. I was afraid of living without “normal” paychecks and relying on private teaching income. He did it for me. For years. Then one day, all that changed. He went to work and learned that the store was closing. We had to let go of our system and our plan. Not only were we losing the full time pay, we were losing a place for him to teach privately. For years we toyed with the idea of him teaching full time. But it was scary. It was unknown. It was unreliable. Where would he teach? It was all up in the air and unattainable. Or so we thought. Looking back, going through the store closing was the best thing that could have ever happened to us. Sure, it has been stressful. Sure it’s a lot of work. But I couldn’t be more proud of Drew than I am today. He is a successful business all on his own. He built his skill, he built his reputation, he built his business up all on his own. Looking back, the only thing that was ever for sure was that Drew is the kind of man who when he says he will provide and be the man of the house, he will. He’s never let us down. It’s one thing to love and cherish your husband. I do. But equally importantly, I respect and admire him.

Technique Highlight:

I wanted to convey on my layout that my husband was more than just the “Sole Provider” and “Man of the House”. I wanted to convey in more than just my journaling that he is the provider for care of our heart and souls as well. To do this, I created titles that would sit behind the main title using my Cricut. It gives a subtle, yet striking effect when you want to convey two meanings.

Larissa:

Larissa Says:

My teenage years were a period of indecision. I went through o a serious of unpleasant moments I don´t even like to remember. I remember how I used to have colorful clothes and how happy and full of energy I was, but I also was eager to know about everything without having anyone bothering or limiting me. In this search, I experienced a lot f conflicts, especially with my parents. Besides that, I was confused about my future.

Journaling Reads:

Searching for happiness, Adventure, Fun and Love, Going my own selfish way, Thinking I had the Truth, I Just found loneliness and confusion. I´ll wait for another time, A time when there´s the certainty of knowing what I want and what I don´t want from life!

Kimmi:

Kimmi Says:

One of the major decisions that I’ve made in my life was when I was 18 years old. I made the drastic decision drop out of college. I attended LSU for just a few months when I started skipping classes and eventually dropped out completely. It was a big decision to make, but ultimately, I believe it was the right one to make. I felt, at the time, that the classes I was taking and the schedule that I had wasn’t worth the trouble because I didn’t feel like it was the right path for me. Looking back now, I have absolutely no regret in quitting school. I feel as if the only reason I went was to prove that I could to everyone around me. I didn’t do it for me, and I realize that it’s not something that I wanted to do at all.

Karen:

Karen says:

As I mentioned a few weeks ago, here’s another entry about Teach For America. It was, by far, one of the most troubled and tumultuous times in my life. I took this photo from our summer school and added the journaling on it. The journaling is a blog entry I did during the year I taught.

Journaling Reads:

Memory is selective.

There’s a reason we forget things. Human resilience has been tested millions of times in history. Tons of women have told me that if we didn’t forget, no one would have more than one child. Well, I haven’t had any babies yet and can’t tell you what labor pain feels like or how quickly I might forget it. But I do know that I’ve been known to distort the past as things change or as time passes.

The last few weeks have been so difficult that I decided, this time, I want to keep a record so that I can’t fool myself when I choose to look back upon these memories. Think of this as a time capsule. Something for me to lock up and put away, only to be opened when I begin to forget. Something for my friends to show me when I start saying things like, “Oh, it wasn’t that bad.”

The fact is, it is that bad. It’s hard. It’s frustrating. At times, it’s heart-wrenching. It’s infuriating. Sometimes it’s funny. But it’s constantly overwhelming.

When I decided to quit my six-year job and change career paths, I knew that my life wouldn’t be the same. I knew that teaching would eat more of my free time than investment banking ever did. I also knew that I’d feel it was worth it. So I assume the big question now would be: Is it?

Is it worth it?

Honestly? I can’t tell you yet. All I can say so far is that I underestimated how difficult this is. Getting up at the crack of dawn, grading on the train to school, climbing 98 steps eleven times a day, four to six of which includes leading a class of 28. Spending every moment on my feet. Having to think about what I’m saying all the time. Having my incompetence stare me so squarely in the face.

My life has changed alright: I get up when it’s dark, go to school, teach, stay after school to grade, come home when it’s dark, prepare for the next day’s lessons, call parents, eat dinner and crash in bed. Every single day. I dream about my students. I dream about photocopying onto overhead paper. I dream about lizards eating me. I spend my weekends planning for the week. Preparing charts for my room. Writing papers for my graduate classes. Buying prizes for my students. Photocopying. And sleeping.

My only moments of peace come on Sunday mornings where my amazing husband and I go to the local bagel shop at 8:30 and read the New York Times for two hours. Two hours of heaven. Two hours of not thinking about all the things that go wrong in my room. Two hours of not worrying about how the next day’s lessons will go. Two hours of not feeling so incredibly incompetent.

I do love my students. Even the most mischievous ones. I can’t help but care about them. I want to laugh at their ingenuity even when it disrupts my class. But my tolerance and patience has dwindled almost to nothing. It’s gotten so bad that when I see people chewing gum anywhere, I have to work extra hard to suppress the urge to yell, “spit it out!” I fix everyone’s grammar constantly. I can’t stand it when people are being disrespectful at a meeting by having their own side conversation. I have heard every excuse and more as to why homework is not complete. I have listened to parents hollering at their children in front of my eyes. Much to my despair, I have made students cry.

But I have also made them smile. The magic of a student understanding something I’ve taught is immeasurable. Just like the drain when a student refuses to stop calling out loud in class or refuses to stop being disruptive.

So many things happen each day. I always come home with the urge to write, knowing I’m going to want to remember these days.

But I don’t write.

Days pass, I forget. My memory knows I won’t survive it if I keep remembering, so it helps me out. Maybe it’s better that way.

Maybe some things are best forgotten.

Lia:

Lia Says:

I’ve wondered if I made the wrong decisions at that time. Should I have gotten engaged? Should I have done my degree course in Australia instead? Was it wrong to have let my heart’s voice get louder than the voice in my head? I try to be someone who believes that ‘what’s done is done.’ But sometimes when the decisions I made then and am living with right now seem so wrong, I can’t help but wonder what could have been.

Opal:

Opal Says:

My response to a time of turmoil and indecision is reflected in this window. This is the window through which one of my daughters would leave home and be gone, sometimes for days. One time, she was gone for six months. My indecision was whether to find her and bring her home, or wait for her to come home on her own. She was 17 years old. And she did call. It was a turning point in our relationship. This is a time that isn’t easy for us to talk about even now as she watches her 17 year old son.

The background fabric represents the net of safety that was in place for her. The tree is a Chinese Elm, and it was bigger than life in those days. The piece is layered and quilted, with raw edged and lines a bit askew.

Now it’s your turn: show us your therapeutic art around “Create art around a time when you had a lot of turmoil and indecision in your life.” This one is extra-therapeutic. I urge you to give it a try. It can be any form of art as long as it speaks to you.

Leave us comments with your work and you will qualify for the RAK we offer to a random participant. If you don’t have a community or blog where you upload photos, you can upload them on our flickr group.

Remember, this is not a competition. If your art makes you feel even a bit better at the end, you’ve won.

Until next week, enjoy each and every moment.

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.

Ok! Here’s catalyst number seventy-six:

Take the time to create art around something you have been meaning to but haven’t done so yet. (Yes, this is an open topic. Go wild. Make it therapeutic.)

We’re so excited to have Lisa Kettell as this week’s Guest Artist.

From the first moment I started creative therapy, I always intended this to be a place where we had varying mediums of art. Not just scrapbooking. Not just mixed media. Any and all visual forms welcome. I believe in the therapeutic power of art and I wanted a place that shows this can transcend a particular medium.

Lisa’s art, her dolls are perfect example of this. They are stunning, meaningful art. I can look at them over and over again. Not to mention all the other mediums that she also masters. Her amazing site is like a creative well that you fall into and can get lost in for hours. One delightful corner after another. She also has an inspiring book: Altered Art Circus: Techniques for Journals, Paper Dolls, Art Cards, and Assemblages. She writes children’s stories. She teaches. She is the kind of all around amazing artists we are humbled to have here.

Make sure to visit her wonderful blog and you can buy some of her fantastic creations and embellishments at her etsy shop.

Here is Lisa’s art with this week’s catalyst. You can click on it to see a larger version and more detail.

Lisa Says:

As an artist we all start at different times in our lives, some as children, others as teens, as adults or after we retire. For me, art was introduced at a very young age, through coloring books, crayons, craft kits and paper dolls. As a child in the late 70’s early 80’s the craft industry wasn’t what it is today, so you improvised making your own materials, recycling and a lot of imagination. I had always loved the storybook world, fairytales, old greetings and dolls. I could be found either reading a book, drawing images or making doll clothes (which I still have to this day), I believe this was the start of my creative life.

After discovering altered and paper arts during my early 20’s, I found a whole new love this allowed me to channel my work into another direction, primarily creating in a fantasy theme such as fairies or mermaids through the use of vintage images and other ephemera. As I worked in this medium I started to experiment more, to take risks, and realize there are no mistakes in art, just serendipity accidents, which end up leading to new techniques and help you to advance. If you do not like a piece, walk a way from it, eventually you will come back to it and finish it the way it should be.

With the release of Altered Art Circus, I have been able to give others a glimpse into my magical art world, to see that art comes from within, a release, a tap into our creative muses, and a place where one can explore the imaginary world. In my art world there are no rules, to me rules in art stop your free expression, when starting a piece just go with what is inside and let the art muses take over. This book has helped my inner art muses to evolve as the artist I am today, now I am always on the search for new ideas, and re-visiting those long forgotten techniques from the turn of the century to the 70s, making new ones today.

Since I started with illustration, sewing and sculpting, I wanted to start incorporating those mediums into my art again, for the past year I have re-visited these earlier roots, by illustrating designs and turning them into dolls, which I use in assemblage, collage, jewelry, book arts, just about everything. Lately I am all about dolls in every forms, especially charlottes and storybook characters its bringing me into new directions, the aesthetics of sculpting a new piece are so relaxing, and soothing to me, the embellishing of a piece is exciting. Any new piece brings a challenge that I welcome and can’t wait to find out the end result, I find complete magic in this, there is nothing more gratifying then creating a piece or line that makes others smile, a piece which adds magic to someone’s day, to see a doll or artwork you made on someone’s shelf or blog is pure magic.

If I could leave you with words that can inspire you to find your creative self, I would recommend one quote; “The world is filled with magical things, all you have to do is believe!”

The Charlottes of Storybook Land!

I have been experimenting with creative molding for over a year now, the result is a series of doll molds from vintage dolls which I use to make my Charlottes, China Head Dolls and the Kewpies, these molds serve a variety of purposes in my works, As a store owner I have made these unfinished doll parts available for others to use in their works, the most popular are the Charlottes and the China Head Parts.

Friends of Charlottes are a new line I am currently working on which are hand sculpted without any molds and part of the Charlotte Doll line.

Technique Highlight:

To make a mold I recommend a quick study on doll molding, there are a variety of sites available on this subject throughout the web, I use a latex molding compound available at most art and crafts stores in the clay section. There are a variety of mold compounds on the market, and are easy to use. Once you make your mold, the possibilities are endless you can use a variety of sculpting materials and embellish/finish to your liking.

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

Amy:

Amy Says:

As this catalyst approached, I knew I would be away during the days when I would normally work on it. I brought two projects to work on with this catalyst in mind, both things I’ve been wanting and planning to do but haven’t had time. Both are projects suited to being out of my space, away from my machine, and out of my element in some ways. This summer, I’ve begun exploring hand applique, diving into it and working on small pieces that let me experiment with the concept while retaining my own sense of color and voice. This piece is inspired by a recent book I looked at. The idea of a “vine-like” piece captured my attention. I wasn’t sure how my own vine would evolve, but the line of it haunted my thoughts. After preparing a background, I picked a stem fabric and then pooled a set of fabrics and got them ready to travel. With no predetermined plan, one by one, I began adding the branches and the buds. I see this piece in many ways… there are ways it speaks to me on the surface… and there are ways the shape and organic feel of it (although transformed by the color) speak to things going on in and around me… day by day. Had it not been for this catalyst and the week of travel falling at the same time… I might not have created this piece yet. I’m glad I did.(Note: This panel will be worked into something larger.)

Lori:

Lori Says:

I have been meaning to make a little wall hanging for my craft room with my favorite quote. This quote could not be more true. I wish I didn’t need a constant reminder of it, but I do. And, now it’s hanging above my desk. Grow. Be Brave. Be You. “Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don’t matter and those who matter don’t mind.” -Dr. Seuss.

Iris:

Iris Says:

I have always been a softie when it comes to my children. My husband and I love to go to Starbucks for coffee and cake. And our daughter Nicole loves to come with us. She always runs to the counter to get a lemon or cherry lollipop. She never finishes it and only manages a few licks before putting it down, but she just likes the idea of picking a treat for herself. I know I have to start saying no to most of her whims and fancies, but I still keep saying “yes” all the time.

Anita:

Anita Says:

After seeing this Catalyst I had to think a bit on what I wanted to create. Then it downed on me! I have not scrapped any of my husband and my wedding pictures. Don’t ask me why. Maybe its because I’m such an every day moments type scrapper and have such a hard time with theme type stuff. I really enjoyed pulling the photo out, even got a giggle because this is no where what my husband and I look like now! I weigh a bit more and my husband has A LOT less hair and its GREY! We’ve been married 11 years now. What a joyous day! I’m so glad I took the opportunity to do this and share it with you.

Wilna:

Wilna Says:

I have been contemplating making my own digital papers for the longest time. So with this page, i took pictures of some of my paintings and used it as background paper for this page. Love the process of being creative. And while I made this page i listened to the Apple WWDC 2009 Keynote address. Just a random remark. Thanks for looking!

Journaling Reads:

Dear Kirsitn… you are my little funny face I would not trade you for the world…I totally adore your sweet quirks and your sunny heart. I totally adore you and i hope that you will always to remember it.My goal in education is reaching your heart, filling your emotional cup, teaching you moral foundations, capturing your vision for life for the kingdom of God, teaching you what it looks like to walk through difficult times while holding tight to the hand of God. May God grant me the understanding and faith to follow these paths and to raise up a strong generation for Him. Love Wilna

Karen:

Karen says:

I started scrapbooking when my first son was born and while I have scrapped a lot of his life and some of my life since then, I have never scrapped my past. Not one page about my childhood. And nothing about my sister so I decided it was time to start.

Journaling Reads:

there are so many memories

so many moments

waiting to be preserved

some of my best memories are with you

so many of my unforgettable moments

summers in burgaz

years of whispering in bed

laughter

so much laughter

so much love

one day i will sit down and

i will write them down

and that little book

will be one i cherish forever

i want to remember

even the sad moments

forever

cause i shared them with you

i love you with all my heart

my sister

i love you

Why is this in a binder?

Lia:

Lia Says:

I’ve felt so desperately helpless. My life seems to be operating on ‘amok’ mode and it’s like I’m slowly but surely losing control. I need to let go of some commitments, some emotional baggage, lots of bad influences and energy. I think it’ll bring some predictability and much-needed peace in my life. I don’t know why I haven’t done any of it. Maybe I’m afraid to. Of suffering any consequences. But perhaps, one day. I just might.

Opal:

Opal Says:

This crow has been in my head for months. I started one time, and then pushed it aside for other projects. This prompt gave me the nudge I needed to bring my crow into being. I pieced tiny strips for her body and raw edged strips for her tail and wings. The threadplay gives the piece texture and line. The background is pieced randomly, with bits and pieces overlapping and uneven.

Now it’s your turn: show us your therapeutic art around “Take the time to create art around something you have been meaning to but haven’t done so yet.” I urge you to give it a try. It can be any form of art as long as it speaks to you.

Leave us comments with your work and you will qualify for the RAK we offer to a random participant. If you don’t have a community or blog where you upload photos, you can upload them on our flickr group.

Remember, this is not a competition. If your art makes you feel even a bit better at the end, you’ve won.

Until next week, enjoy each and every moment.

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.

Ok! Here’s catalyst number seventy-five:

What’s the hardest decision you ever made?

We’re so excited to have AnnDenise Anderson as this week’s Guest Artist.

If you’ve never seen AnnDenise’s creations with crepe paper, you’re truly missing out. She is absolutely amazing and her colorful creations are each more stunning than the previous.

AnnDenise has been published in more publications than I can list, including multipl Somerset publications. She also relgularly teaches at art events including Art Opera and Convenzione.

Make sure to visit her inspiring blog and you can buy some of her fantastic creations and embellishments at her etsy shop.

Here is AnnDenise’s art with this week’s catalyst. You can click on it to see a larger version and more detail.

AnnDenise Says:

I sat down to write about the hardest decision I ever made….funny thing, reflecting on all my difficult decisions in life, good and bad, I realized how ironic this question truly was. This was a pretty hard decision in itself!

My work reflects a big part of my childhood and the feelings that emerge when I first look at or touch the pieces that I have created. The first thing that happens is a “Smile”! Yes, it’s true. I feel this sense of commonality and reminiscence of the past. The crepe paper invokes a feeling of celebration and good times. As I began to make my way through life and decide what I wanted to be when I grew up I was faced with all of the responsible options. You know…a doctor, a nurse, a policeman, maybe something in the corporate world. Not that these aren’t professions to be admired but I could not escape the fact that I wanted to be an “ARTIST”! Ahhh, it was pure enlightenment from the get go! I knew this from the ripe old age of 7. I remember when my mom brought streamers out for one of my birthday parties….I knew from that point on that crepe paper would be my life!

However as we began our path through life and this complicated world we live in, we are faced with many choices and sometimes the options are so complex that the choices made are not particularly always the first on our lists.

I did join the corporate world and put my creative gift up in the closet, tucked ever so nicely among the linen and old shoe boxes. Don’t fret, as fate would have it once I married and I had all my five children dancing merrily around me, I found something! I was deep in my closet and was looking for “Something”. What could it have been…in the dark I saw a light and in that light I saw colors, so many bright bold colors! Crepe Paper! I FOUND IT ONCE AGAIN!

Sometimes the choices we make to put something of such importance aside, to travel on, is necessary and out of need to progress. It doesn’t mean that it wasn’t important or that we didn’t care but at that point in our lives it was poignant. I can’t be sure that if I hadn’t tucked my gift of creping and making people smile with my art deep away that it would be as meaningful as it is today.

Technique Highlight:

As I continue to work with crepe paper, I realize just how forgiving the medium is and the wonderment that appears from a few twists and pulls of the paper. The memory that the paper possess gives the artist the ability to work freely and creatively being able to always rework the paper if it is not what was intended. Using long sheets of crepe paper for many of my projects is very economical and very easy to sew with by machine or by hand. The glue gun is also on the top of my list. I incorporate crepe into all sorts of mediums~fabrics, ephemera, paint, clay, paper mache, canvas. I personally favor the physical change of a crepe paper roll. Distressing crepe paper always seem to be a crowd pleaser!

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

Anam:

Anam Says:

To keep being me no matter what the odds and objection – that for me is the hardest thing. All those years ago when I decided that to be alive was worth the effort sometimes feels like a cop out but I know in my heart that to keep living was my hardest choice. Title: Be alive.

Technique Highlight:

I used a lot of crumbling and tearing to create texture. Products are all from Prima’s Rebellious line. You can find Anam here:www.anamstubbington.typepad.com.

Suzann:

Suzann Says:

DNR is the abbreviation for Do Not Resuscitate. The decision to put this directive in place was the hardest, most gut wrenching decision I’ve ever had to make. Mom was in failing health, suffering from Alzheimer’s, Heart Failure and a suspicious mass on her kidney. I dearly loved my Mother and wanted her to be here forever. But, God had a better plan.

Technique Highlight:

I did a lot of stitching – hand and machine – and distressed a bunch of the edges. You can find Suzann here: suzannssmallworld.blogspot.com/.

Iris:

Iris Says:

I have always been an independent person who valued her identity. This is one of my struggles as a married woman. I have always been comfortable in the place where I grew and felt that it was the best place for my children too. My husband has a business which has been doing fairly well but it requires him to travel for several hours a day to get from our home to his place of business. We had tried to delay moving our family nearer to his business but it was just not working. One of the hardest decisions in my married life was whether to stay at our home town which was safe and comfortable but would take away some precious time from my children and their Dad – or to move to the busy, chaotic, city but allow them to be with their Dad longer during the day. We decided to make the move. We still miss being in our place of comfort, but having more family time makes it worth it.

Larissa:

Larissa Says:

Choosing my degree was the hardest decision for me. I was just a teenager and was asked to choose what I was gonna be for the next 30 years or more. I wasn´t mature enough to take this decision. I just think choosing a profession is one of the most important decisions you can ever make because it influences your future in such a way that you could be really frustrated about your whole life. So, at that time I struggled with the idea of being a journalist or maybe a film director and also, of course, with my parents` expectations about having a daughter at Law School. Although I remember I was totally torn up, I decided to go to Journalism School. After a year and a half at Journalism School I just realized I didn´t have enough talent to write and then I went to Law School. Four years later, I thought about quitting but then my father convinced me to just finish it. Shortly afterwards I started working at the D.A. office and everything got in the right track, even though I´m still not sure if I chose the right profession for me. I have doubts; daily. My layout plays with this idea of indecision, of being torn into pieces…. “

Dedra:

Dedra Says:

Sometimes….The hardest decisions that we make are for good reasons….

These decisions change our life, they can break cycles…..

Some people are just not meant to be together….

the relationship is toxic and affects everyone….

the hardest decision I have made so far in my life was leaving your dad Shelby….

I wanted you to grow up in a positive, loving environment….

your dad and I are great parents seperately….

We love you and you are the best part of your dad and I….

At the time your dad and I were in different places and wanted very different things in life….

getting out on our own just you and me, I know now that was best, even as scary as it was….

You were meant to be!

love you.

I love that the Creative Therapy catalysts can inspire me to create in a lot of different directions, even altered books. This is the cover for the altered book I will be filling up.

Karen:

Karen says:

I’ve written about Teach For America before and I will be writing about it again. This is one of the few things in my life where I still need a lot of personal therapy. It’s unfinished for me. I haven’t made my peace with it yet. I am closer than I’ve been but not there yet.

I used a digital page for this because I don’t have any good photos from that time in my life. I used this photo of me and my students but blurred out their faces. Thank you for your patience with me as I work my way through this.

Journaling Reads:

i wish i could say that i feel 100% confident it was the right thing to do. that i don’t regret a moment of it. yet, here we are, six years later, and i am still unsure. i am still sad and it is still by far the hardest decision i ever made.

i have never ever quit anything in my life.

ever.

i try hard to think things thoroughly before i commit to them, and once i do, i don’t walk away. i see it through. all the way. it’s not a competition. it’s not about looking good. it’s just about integrity. i believe in seeing things through.

so, while i know deep down that i had no other choice, i still regret quitting teach for america. in my thirty-four years, i have never made a decision that was harder.

Kimmi:

Kimmi Says:

The hardest decision that I’ve ever had to make was the one that I made when my son was just four months old. I decided to leave the home that my husband and I had shared and move back in with my parents. It was the scariest thing to think about whether or not I would be able to do things on my own, financially and emotionally. After a few months of enduring through it, I met Travis, and life seemed to fall back in its place. And while I don’t think I’ll ever be able to forget the fear that I had throughout those few months and the criticism that I got from all of the people around me for making that decision, I believe that it was the best thing that I could have ever possibly done.

Rachel:

Rachel Says:

This week’s catalyst was truly therapy for me, and it honestly threw me for a loop in the creative process. The hardest decision that I have ever made was last summer when I had to take out a restraining order against my own brother. This year has been full of ups and downs, fear and anger, sadness and defeat but through it all I know that I did the right thing. Creating this layout helped me to continue to heal and remember that I made the right decision no matter how difficult it was.

Journaling on layout reads:

Not a day goes by where I don’t think of you and love you and pray for you and your health and safety. But there is also not a day that I am not scared of you, hurt by you, traumatized by you and angry at you. Will I ever find peace?

Journaling in the pocket reads:

Alcoholism.

al·co·hol·ism (āl’kə-hô-lĭz’əm, -hŏ-)

n. A disorder characterized by the excessive consumption of and dependence on alcoholic beverages, leading to physical and psychological harm and impaired social and vocational functioning. Also called alcohol abuse, alcohol dependence.

The chances are good that any person who reads this knows, or has known someone who suffers from it or at least knows someone who knows someone. According to statistics, nearly 14 million Americans meet diagnostic criteria to be classified with this disease.

My brother is an alcoholic. He has been for over the last twelve plus years of my life. The last twelve years of my life I have spent wondering if every time that I saw my brother if it would be the last before his funeral. I have spent nights as a teenager huddled in bed with my mother with a weapon beside the bed, terrified of what might happen should he show up drunk. I have watched helplessly as my brother literally knocked down doors to get what he wanted and slam my mother against walls, breaking them. I have watched him choke on his own vomit, knowing that if we weren’t there to turn him, he would die. I have watched him get in a car time and time again and drive away drunk, knowing that anything I did to stop him could possibly kill me.

One would think that all that would have been enough. Enough for me to cut him out of my life and never speak to him again. But it wasn’t. It never was.

Until last summer… it got worse when no one thought it could. *rest of journaling removed for privacy/security reasons*

I finally made the choice to protect myself and my family. I took out a restraining order against my own brother. It was something that I never would have dreamed that I would have to do. I never dreamed that I would be sitting in a court room, pleading to a judge to help protect me and my family because my own brother was a danger to us and had threatened me, my mother and my family.

To this day, I am terrified of my own brother. But I am heartsick for him too. Worried every day that he will kill himself or someone else. I have nightmares where he shows up at my door to hurt us or to try to get back at us somehow for doing this. I keep a knife in my desk drawer of my scrap room because I am in there oftentimes late at night by myself. It has changed every aspect of my life, this fear. And honestly if I could pack up and move to start my life over somewhere else today, I would.

His alcoholism has invaded my life and while I know that I am legally protected from him, I don’t think I will ever feel completely safe from him, and that to me, is the tragedy of it all. Because he is my brother and despite everything, I love him. I always will.

Technique Highlight:

I knew that this layout would be journaling intensive, but that I would not want it all readily readable to viewers so I created the page to be one large pocket by cutting a paper bag to size and stitching the sides to create my pocket. This was a decorative striped bag so I used chalkboard spray paint to paint it black and maintain a matte finish.

I also created the tears directly on the photo by using glossy accents applied in a tear shape, and allowed them to dry.

To create a custom paper for my page I photocopied the first page of the order of protection onto patterned paper. I did this because with a topic such as this, I didn’t feel that anything else would convey the feeling of the layout.

Now it’s your turn: show us your therapeutic art around “What’s the hardest decision you ever made?” I urge you to give it a try. It can be any form of art as long as it speaks to you.

Leave us comments with your work and you will qualify for the RAK we offer to a random participant. If you don’t have a community or blog where you upload photos, you can upload them on our flickr group.

Remember, this is not a competition. If your art makes you feel even a bit better at the end, you’ve won.

Until next week, enjoy each and every moment.

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.

Ok! Here’s catalyst number seventy-four:

Tell us about somethin you feel obligated to do (daily or regularly) why do you feel obligated?

We’re so excited to have Karen Michel as this week’s Guest Artist.

Karen is one of those artists who create stunning art in mutliple mediums. Her photographs, collages, altered art and mixed media are all amazing on their own accord. Her art begs to be touched, so you can feel all the texture and it always leaves me with a nostalgic feeling.

Karen’s written two fantastic books. Her latest is: Green Guide for Artists: Nontoxic Recipes, Green Art Ideas, & Resources for the Eco-Conscious Artist and the previous one is The Complete Guide to Altered Imagery. She also regularly teaches at art workshops such as Art Unraveled and Journal Fest.

You can find more of Karen’s art on her website and her blog.

Here is Karen’s art with this week’s catalyst. You can click on it to see a larger version and more detail.

Karen Says:

Each morning while drinking my coffee you can usually find me fiddling with photoshop, playing around with my photographs. I am an obsessive photographer (digital) and enjoy going over the images from the day before in the mornings. I have this inner need to play around with them while their memory is fresh in my head so I can bring it to life a bit more with some digital altering. I definitely feel the obligation to create some sort of artwork regularly whether it be 3d or digital. It is food for my spirit.

Technique Highlight:

I have been on a feather kick lately, working with lots of animal totem imagery & such as well as working with the mandala concept from photos I take of my art work. I love to juxtapose images and have them create a dialog with each other. I also love icons that are timeless and evoke our inner mystics. The little feather painting was created on a small piece of wood which I primed with some homemade gesso & sketched the image on with a pencil. The purple background is a homemade paint I made with boiled wild blueberries (yes, it’s true!) and I embellished the feather details with gel pens- I love the gelly roll soufflé line. The mandala was created digitally from a photo of one of my wood collage vignettes. A portion of the photo of the artwork is taken and repeated 13 times (a number of universal significance) creating the mandala. The diptych itself was created in photoshop, merging the two together and creating the borders between and around them.

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

Wilna:

Wilna Says:

I love everyday stuff. I dont mind those little things we have to do everyday. In a sense there is comfort in it! Loving my little Mac by feeding him, doing dishes, drinking coffee… reading the word, texting and talking, laundry putting on perfume and base. Doing my blog and catching up on twitter and facebook…i love doing it. i love the simplicity it provides, I love that i can do it to bless my loved ones. Thank you Lord for everyday little things.

Larissa:

Larissa Says:

The worst obligation I have is, without any doubt, to go work everyday, but of course I have other things that I´m obligated to do that I don´t like, In fact, everything that I do not only for fun isn´t nice, so, I decided to work on my daily “to do lists” for this catalyst. I used a scrabble board paper as a background and wrote everything I hate on it.

Michelle:

Michelle Says:

Everyday, I feel obligated to put the needs of my 3 kids before my own. I love my children more than anything in the world and putting their needs first is part of what being a mom is. OK..not just part..it IS what being a mom is. From the second they wake up, unitl they go to sleep, and sometimes in the middle of the night it is their needs before mine. Sometimes at the end of the day, I realize that I did nothing for myself as I dealt with the needs of a 2, 5 & 7 year old. I know the day will come when I miss doing everything for them and they don’t want me around. But for now, I will dream of the very rare day when I can take a shower, eat a meal and read a book without the distractions of “I want, I need and she hot me”.

Karen:

Karen Says:

I take photos. I take A LOT of photos. As far back as I can remember, I always took photos. I was the yearbook photographer and the yearbook editor. No matter where we were and what we did, I always took photos. And then I had a son. Whatever photos I took before seemed a tiny amount compared to anything I took in the years before. I have a photo for every day of my son’s first year. And then my second son was born just three months ago. I’m a second kid so I know how they don’t get as much attention and as many photographs. So I swore to myself that I would take a photo of my second son every single day for his first year as well. So far, so good. And he’s luckier because in the meantime I have become a much better photographer.

Why is this in a binder?

Wendela:

Wendela Says:

That is for me….. to put a smile on the faces of my kids…every day….Sometimes they are feeling sad. Or sick or whatever….I would try to make them happy….with a little joke or a short story in a child book, a little present, or a little kisses and hugs…It’s important to smile everyday!! My layout is called “beautiful smile.”

Lia:

Lia Says:

I wish I had more than 24/7 to do every thing I want, and to give every one a piece of my time. My weekdays are mostly spent at work, and while I wish I could give my nights to some quality family time, they are usually used for household chores, assignments and catching up on sleep. Weekends are similar, trying to create a balance between family, bf, chores/errands and me time (if I’m lucky). I wish I could do it all, especially doing lots more activities and having more interaction with my family – and enjoying it! And not worrying that ‘I can only spare 2 hours with you guys today. I have lots of other stuff to do!’ … it’s a struggle, I can only try to stretch myself as much as I can.

Rachel:

Rachel Says:

If you would have asked me ten years ago if the internet would be as big as a part of my life as it is today I wouldn’t have believed you. Rarely a day goes by that I don’t wake up and after taking care of Roslyn for the morning head to the computer to check my email, my Google reader, Twitter, Facebook, design team sites and more. Some of it is in fact essential, but others like Facebook, Twitter etc are purely for enjoyment. It has become a great way to keep in contact with loved ones all over the world and a great source of networking for my interests in scrapbooking, photography and more. There are days where I honestly want to throw the computer across the room, but more often than not is a part of my day that I look forward to and appreciate every day.

Opal:

Opal Says:

I have a self-imposed obligation to the birds on my bluff. Every day I smile when i watch them in their unabashed need for food. I carefully watch the level of seed in their feeders, keep the hummingbird nectar feeders clean and full, refill the suet cages when empty. and put out dry bread and bits of fruit. They always make me stop for a minute, breathe, and smile. We nourish each other.

The sketch is from my journal and transferred to fabric, the bits of fabric framing the window and forming tiny bird feeders are from yesterday’s scraps from a current project on my cutting table, the number 2 is my address….hand and machine quilted.

Lori:

Lori Says:

I tried really hard to come up with something original for this, like doing laundry or feeding my cats. Ha! But, the truth is that I feel obligated every day to be a good Mom, wife, friend and daughter. That’s it. There is no better answer than that. It’s what I chose and it’s what I love.

Journaling Reads:

I feel obliged to be a Mom, a wife, a friend, and a daughter. This is my choice and this is my blessing.

Now it’s your turn: show us your therapeutic art around “Tell us about somethin you feel obligated to do (daily or regularly) why do you feel obligated?” I urge you to give it a try. It can be any form of art as long as it speaks to you.

Leave us comments with your work and you will qualify for the RAK we offer to a random participant. If you don’t have a community or blog where you upload photos, you can upload them on our flickr group.

This week we have a new RAK from the wonderful Sakura of America. These stardust pens are absolutely wonderful.

Remember, this is not a competition. If your art makes you feel even a bit better at the end, you’ve won.

Until next week, enjoy each and every moment.

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.

Ok! Here’s catalyst number seventy-three:

Tell us about a recent ‘dream come true’ it can be big or small as long as it was a dream for you.

We’re so excited to have Tim Holtz as this week’s Guest Artist.

Does Tim really need an introduction? It took me several years and a lot of persistence to get Tim to agree to guest for us and now that he’s here, I am beyond thrilled.

I don’t even know where to begin. Tim has multiple lines of products from the delicious distress inks, dabbers, and alcohol inks to the stunning idea-ology line. Stickles, crackle paint, and so much more. He also makes stamps, tools, and writes books. But, above all, my favorite thing about Tim is his demos. When you watch him use his products, not only does he make it seem easy but he does it in a way where you actually can repeat it at home and create similar effects. His 12 tags of Christmas from 2007 and 2008 are truly inspiring.

If you haven’t seen Tim’s blog or site you’re truly missing out.

Here is Tim’s art with this week’s catalyst. You can click on it to see a larger version and more detail.

Tim Says:

So when i was asked to participate in this catalyst thing, i wasn’t quite sure if i was up for the challenge. sure, i live my art everyday, but sometimes taking time to “think” about the meanings behind creative thoughts seems to often get overlooked… until now. when i was given this particular one, i knew i had just the thing i wanted to create… funny though since i just said i really don’t think much about the art itself other than the creativity behind it, but this catalyst triggered a moment in time, my time, my dream, and i get to share it all over again. my catalyst: tell us about a recent ‘dream come true’ it can be big or small as long as it was a dream for you.”

people that know me know i’m the ultimate disney fan (or freak if that’s a comfortable term) and i love all things vintage disneyland. i think this place, referred to as the happiest place on earth truly holds magic within its gates. started over 50 years ago by a man with an imagination and creative vision so powerful his ideas, hopes, and dreams still live on today. walt disney was a definite visionary, but even better than that, he didn’t hold on to what other people thought of him or his ideas – he believed in himself. no idea was too great or out of reach. disneyland holds such a special place in my soul. i simply can’t explain it, but when i’m there, even though i’m amongst the thousands of people also trying to take in a bit of disney nostalgia, i feel inspired. inspired to chase my dreams, and truly live the life i’ve imagined – what powerful words.

as a disneyland fanatic going there almost every other month, i have heard the tales of club 33. a members only, money can’t buy, never in your life will you get through the doors kind of club that walt built inside the park to entertain his special guests. this exclusive club has been the banter of many disneyland goers who have shared tales of what’s behind the infamous door with nothing more than the marking of a sign with the numbers 33. stories say this number has no significance at all, but for us fans, the numbers mean a time capsule of walt’s legacy. you see walt passed away before the completion of this club, but its walls are filled with his personal collections and effects along with various furnishings from some of the most famous disney films like mary poppins. okay back to my dream…i’m sure you know where i’m going with this, but i could only hope that someday i would be able to have access to that club, even for just a pass through.

so with the power of the internet i happened to mention it in a blog post just after a trip to disneyland saying that getting behind the infamous club 33 door is definitely the top of my bucket list. i had many comments that post, some who said they’ve been inside, others offered to take me along “next time” and many curious to find out more about it. however one person, yes only one emailed me personally asking me if i seriously wanted to go into the club and if so, she could help. with my heart racing and fingers clicking away on the computer i anxiously accepted her offer. it turned out that a couple of years prior she was my teaching assistant at a CKU and she remembered me because she said i was nice to her. thinking i’m always nice to people i asked her what she meant and she said with all of the people there wanting a “piece of me”, i took the time to make her feel important. so in turn she wanted to do something nice for me – talk about karma!

well words can’t express anything further, on my birthday this year myself along with 3 friends, and my new friends who invited me in the club went through those magical doors and i got to experience a dream i never thought possible. a silly dream to some, but something that will never be topped for as long as i live. dreams do come true, walt believed that, and who am i to say otherwise – i’ve lived mine…

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

Iris:

Iris Says:

I have recently given up my events management business to be able to take care of my two children. Little did I know that along with the time that I can now spend on my children, I will also be blessed with the opportunity to create pages and projects, and at the same time earn some extra cash along with the pure enjoyment of creating. It has always been my “DREAM JOB” and now I am given the privelege to live that dream.

Larissa:

Larissa Says:

I had always dreamed of going to Venice… to ride in the gondolas… Last July I went there!

Dedra:

Dedra Says:

The catalyst this week was thought invoking and a very deep question. It really made me think about the journey I’m on. The twists and turns and the choices I have made. Each one leading to big and small dreams that have come true for me. Then, how do I pick just one “recent” dream. Most of us have a lot going on these days and I wanted to tell a more detailed account. This lead me to creating an altered book that I will fill up with big and small dreams that have come true for me.

I love that the Creative Therapy catalysts can inspire me to create in a lot of different directions, even altered books. This is the cover for the altered book I will be filling up.

Karen:

Journaling Reads:

I still remember the first time I read about Big Picture Scrapbooking. I was incredibly inspired by the idea and couldn’t stop thinking about it. A few months later, I was taking a course on accomplishing your dreams and on my list, I wrote down “submit a proposal to BPS.” I had no idea if they took proposals or what I would teach, but I didn’t care, I would find a way to make it happen. As it turns out, they did take proposals and I wrote mine up and sent it over to Stacy. A phone call and a few months later, my class was up and I finally got to accomplish my dream. And, honestly, it was better than I ever could have imagined. I loved writing the course. I loved teaching the course. I loved every bit of it and I am so lucky that I get to do it again and again.

Severine:

Severine Says:

My recent dream come true it’s my new camera a nikon d90. I have wanted a reflex camera for a long time ago and after some years i saved enough money to buy it.

In French:

J’ai toujours rêver d’avoir un appareil photo numérique reflex et après avoir économiser pendant quelques années, j’ai enfin pu me payer le nikon d90 dont je rêvais.

Kimmi:

Kimmi Says:

Having the both of you is having more than I could have ever dreamed of. July 2009.

Lia:

Lia Says:

When I began scrapbooking, I dreamed of joining the manufacturer ‘DREAM TEAMS’ of the craft. I was in awe of the ‘celebrities’ on the elusive design teams and like any fan, I wanted to be just like my idols. When I joined firstly Maya Road (my favorite chipboard manufacturer), and then Pink Paislee (who does the prettiest papers EVER!) a few months after that, I pinched myself over and over again! I couldn’t believe that I would be welcomed into such incredible teams and amongst such immense talent then, and I still can’t believe it now. It’s been a blessing to have this particular dream come true through these great teams, and the experience will always be a beautiful memory I’ll keep.

I created an ATC for each design team, using some of my favorite products from each manufacturer. If I showcased all of my favorites from these companies, a 12×12 layout would probably not be enough!

Rachel:

Rachel Says:

I created this mini book to house pictures, ticket stubs and memories of a recent dream come true for me. This last March, my husband and I spent our first weekend out of town, just us, since having our daughter four years ago. We spent that weekend going to see my favorite band in concert where Drew had arranged for us to actually meet the band afterwards. We also went to a Spring Training game where we celebrated Drew’s birthday. It was a simply magical weekend, full of wonder and enjoyment of even the simplest things and we look forward to many more like it.

Technique Highlight:

The cover to this book is created from a cover to a hardback book that I had gutted due to water damage. I saved the covers and the connecting fabric spines and assembled a new book for the inside using chipboard, book binding tape and cardstock.

KL:

KL Says:

i have learned that sometimes, even when your heart hurts and you are unsure of yourself you need to take a leap of faith. you need to believe in yourself and know that no matter what, you can and are worth anything you desire.

last year i sat on the fence before making a huge decision. i didn’t trust my instincts and follow the path that i knew i should take. i wavered, even when i wanted to follow a new path. but once i sat back and truly listened. once i let my heart lead the way i knew exactly where i needed to be.

sometimes all you have to do is sit back and listen to your heart and let it lead the way.

Now it’s your turn: show us your therapeutic art around “Tell us about a recent ‘dream come true’ it can be big or small as long as it was a dream for you.” I urge you to give it a try. It can be any form of art as long as it speaks to you.

Leave us comments with your work and you will qualify for the RAK we offer to a random participant. If you don’t have a community or blog where you upload photos, you can upload them on our flickr group.

Remember, this is not a competition. If your art makes you feel even a bit better at the end, you’ve won.

Until next week, enjoy each and every moment.