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Mental Illness Awareness Week
With Mental Illness Awareness Week coming up next week I wanted to talk a bit about how we can make the most of this time. Perhaps mental illness is something that you don’t struggle with, but many people do. In my city, since the pandemic there have been a lot mental health issues. There have been more suicides, domestic violence and other mental health issues. Mental illness is not an easy thing to talk about. I believe that it is a topic that is avoided in our society, something that should not be discussed. There is a lot of stigma regarding mental health and mental illness. But that does…
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When Things Don’t Go According to Plan
So what happens when things don’t go according to plan? I am having one of those weeks where my well laid plans have not worked out. My Plan I had planned to do a great video and article about Finding Locations for Urban Sketching and things have not worked out as I hoped. It has been a week full of technical issues. A malfunction with my microphone has cost me hours of video. The video card in my computer has died leaving me without access to video editing software. This is just the start of the problems I have been having this week. As a content creator, I try…
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Urban Sketching for Self-Care
We all need activities to help with our self-care practice. I recently took up urban sketching for self-care and I’m finding it’s a great tool for exercising mindfulness. What is Urban Sketching? What is Urban Sketching? If you are not familiar with the practice, it is about drawing on location and sharing the stories of the places you live and travel. I started exploring Urban Sketching just over a year ago when I met the Calgary Urban Sketcher group at a demo at Kensington Art Supply & Instruction in Calgary. At the demo I was able to meet the members of the group, browse their sketchbooks and talk to them…
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Having the Courage to be Seen
Have you ever had moments where having the courage to be seen is difficult? In my mindfulness practice this week I created this art journal project about how we can be brave in our lives and let ourselves be seen. Having Courage Having courage is rarely easy. We may upset people that we care about. It might mean making some hard choices to let ourselves be seen. Having the courage to be seen requires us to choose what is important to us, what we believe and how we want to be seen in the world. Having the courage to be seen can be difficult. It can require hard conversations and…
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The Mindful Magic of Fountain Pens
Do you have objects that encourage your self-care practice and help you achieve mindfulness? One of my favorite objects is the fountain pen. I love to write and journal so the pen is an important part of my self-care practice. I use the fountain pen not just in my journal, but also in creating art, so it is an important and versatile tool for my self-care. Why the Pen? I have a large assortment of pens. The fountain pen is one of my favorites, but there are many other pen styles that I enjoy. I love making pen and ink drawings and having a variety of pens adds variation to…
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Adding Your Own Art to Stencil Images
Today I wanted to share with you a way of adding your own art to stencil images. Many of us struggle with our drawing skills, so we often use stamps or stencils to help us create images that we are happy with. I was working on a scrapbook page recently and wanted a focal image that was larger than any of the stamps I owned. When I was looking for an image I found a stencil that was the correct size but it lacked the detail that I wanted for an image. The thought came to me, “Why not just add in the detail by adding in my own art…
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How to Choose Your Priorities
Have you ever wondered about how to choose your priorities in a way that leads to an effective and happy life? It’s been on my mind lately as we’re moving into fall and getting back to a more normal routine. How can we choose our priorities in a way that helps us meet our goals? Choosing Our Priorities Wisely Choosing our priorities wisely can make such a difference not only in the pace of our lives but also in the goals we set. So how do we choose these priorities? I was recently reading an article about habits of successful people and my main takeaway is that effective and successful…
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How to Use Alcohol Inks and Stencils
In this week’s project I will show you how to use alcohol inks and stencils to create this beautiful card. I originally created this card for my husband’s birthday in July. The idea came from watching videos by Tim Holtz on some interesting ways to use alcohol inks. This inspired me to add them to my own creative practice. Card Making as a Self-Care Practice I use card making as a self-care practice in my life. Making handmade cards brings joy to the people around me. I enjoy coming up with new card designs, and it is also a great way of trying out a technique on a small surface.…
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Living in Transition: How to Thrive in Change
I feel like 2020 is a year of living in transition. There has been so much change, so much uncertainty and so much transition. So how do we find ways where we can thrive in change? Change is Not Easy Change is not easy. Times of transition can be so challenging, not just to us but also those closest to us. These changes can be good ones, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that they are stress free. I’ve been thinking about how many of us are moving towards transition in the next month. At least in Alberta they are planning on reopening schools and universities. Many workplaces are moving back…
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Wet on Wet Watercolor Technique
This week’s project is an easy watercolor card using a wet on wet watercolor technique. I have been watercolor painting more lately as part of my personal self-care routine. Setting up your space for watercolor painting is so easy. All you need is watercolor paints, water and a watercolor sketchbook or a pad of watercolor paper. The easy set up gives you more time to paint when you don’t have unlimited time. Lately, I’ve only had about a half hour a day for painting, but I can do a lot in that time when I am painting with watercolors. Part of building a healthy self-care habit is making a…
The Art of Self-Care
