This week I have been focusing on my garden and getting everything planted.  Here in the north there is a limited growing season, so I want to get everything in as soon as I can.  Last week we had frost, but hopefully we are past the last frost date now.  I love to plant flowers to make my garden beautiful.  I also grow herbs and veggies so that my family has fresh delicious food to eat.  I love using photos of my garden for inspiration for my creative work as well.

Yesterday was mine and my husband's wedding anniversary. We had fun celebrating and enjoying each other's company yesterday evening.  We have been married for 20 years and together for even longer.  I'm so grateful that I found this loving wonderful man to spend my life with.  I'm not saying that everything has been perfect, because we have had our share of problems and down times.  Together and with the love of God to support us, we have made a great life and have five wonderful children.  My man wrote a post about us too.  You can read that here. 

After our evening out we came home and watched the latest episode of Game of Thrones.  During the show I played around with my new Tombow Dual Brush Pens to create a page in my journal.  They are fun to use.  I added water to blend  and just got a feel for how they work.  I intend to use these as watercolor markers and just have fun in my journals and for making cards.

I also started a new painting yesterday.  I am working on an more abstract piece again, but probably not totally abstract.  I'm trying to paint with the flow this time rather than planning as much.  I'm using Golden High Flow Acrylics on this painting too. They are really fun to work with too.  I love how easy it is to get drips and runs with these paints. 

Tonight I am going to an opening for an art exhibit at a local museum.  This is the first time my art has been in a juried show and I'm looking forward to being a part of this.  The exhibit is for members of the Jackson Civic Art Association it is in the Hurst Gallery at the Ella Sharp Museum here in town.  The opening is from 6-8 this evening, but the exhibit stays up through July 5th. If you are local come out and help all the wonderful artists celebrate. 
Have a wonderful weekend,
Janelle 

I have a quilt in the Jackson Quilting Guild show today and tomorrow. For all you local people it is open today (May 17) from 9-5 and tomorrow from 12-5. The show is being held at the Jackson Catholic Middle School on Cooper St. There are many amazing quilts being shown, plus demos and many other things for fabric enthusiasts. Please come out and join us.

Today is the last day of this mini class, but you can go back and join in at anytime.  You can also sign up for the larger class in June.  I think it is going to be a fun creative time so please check it out.  If you would like to check out the videos that go along with this series go here. 

Today is all about connecting to your creative spirit.

The first exercise is to do a scribble drawing with your non-dominate hand.  I have done sketches with my left hand before, but this was more freeing.  I didn't have to worry about making it look like anything or look good, I could just scribble.  It opened up my creativity without any negative feelings. 

The second exercise was to write a short personal credo.  You can read mine here. 

I am looking forward to connecting to my creative side and activating my creativity more fully.  These exercises give really simple ways to do this.  

Thank you Jani,
Janelle

I am enjoying these daily prompts to bring myself back in touch with my innate creativity.  Jani has some lovely easy ways to bring out creativity.  If you would like to check out the videos that go along with this series go here. 

Day four is all about water and the first exercise is to drink a glass of water while thinking about where you are right now. Forget about what comes next or all of your worries, just feel this moment in time. 
I am thankful that I have clean drinking water available in my home.  It is very refreshing and nourishing to hydrate my body.  I love the feeling of relief that comes from drinking water after being very thirsty.  However I should remember to drink water more often so that I am not dehydrating myself.
Jani also talked about using a shower to wash away mental tension, stress, and clutter.  A shower gets me ready and charged up for the day to come.  Often it is the time when I am just simply trying to wake up and get ready to face the day.  You can visualize through words, images, or actions to get rid of anything negative that is holding you back.

I love looking at water as much as I love looking at fire.  I really enjoy sitting by a lake and just watching to movement of the water.  It is calming and relaxing for me.  Someday I would love to live near a body of water instead of just having rain to look at.

I hope that you play along and join in on Jani's class next month too. 
Janelle

I am enjoying these daily prompts to bring myself back in touch with my innate creativity.  Jani has some lovely easy ways to bring out creativity.  If you would like to check out the videos that go along with this series go here. 

Day three is all about connecting to the fire in your life. Again there are three exercises to try.

One: Rub your hands together to generate heat and place them on your chest.  Living in a northern climate I often do this just to get some warmth in my hands.  Even sometimes in the summer it can be cool at night. This is a nice way to activate your body heat and to connect to the inner fire.

Two: Light a candle or if you are able a campfire outside.  One of my favorite summer activities is to sit by the campfire and watch the flames.  (Marshmallows are a nice touch too of course. )  I can watch the flames for a long time and not get bored.  I like to light candles inside too. With small children around, I usually only light them during power outages these days.

Three: Make a doodle without looking at the paper of fire.  I did that from my imagination today, but hopefully I can have a real fire sometime this month.  I will doodle the flames then.   

I hope that you play along and join in on Jani's class next month too. 
Janelle

I am still enjoying these daily prompts to bring myself back in touch with my innate creativity.  Jani has some lovely easy ways to bring out creativity.  If you would like to check out the videos that go along with this series go here. 

Day Two is all about air and there are three exercises to try.

One: Light incense or open a window to freshen the air in your space.  I don't have any incense, but I do like to light fragrant candles to freshen the air.  At this time of the year when the air is a nice temperature I like to leave the windows open as much as possible. Yesterday I did have my windows open and got to freshen up the living space.  

Two: Take a wind bath outside.  I have been outside the past several days in the wind quite a lot.  I have had the feeling of the wind blowing around and whipping my hair and clothing.  If you talk to my family they will tell you that this is not a feeling that I enjoy very much.  I don't like it when my long hair blows around my face so that I can't see and gets tangled up.  I do like a gentle breeze on my body when I am hot, but I hate having air blow on my face.  I will have to look at this a different way the next time I'm out in the wind and let it refresh me instead of annoying me.

Three: Taking three deep breaths and thinking or letting out the negative and taking in the positive.  This is such an important process and can even reset our brain chemistry in a physiological way.  Deep belly breathing is something that was taught at my son's Asperger's group to help the kids and parents with anxiety and negative spiraling.  For Jani's exercise I thought about breathing in love, abundance, and freedom and breathing out anger, confinement, and drudgery. 

Here are some pictures from outside my windows through the seasons.  I like to bring the outside in through my windows. 

You can sign up for the entire class that starts in June here:

Enjoy bringing some cleansing breath into your life.
Janelle

Jani Franck is hosting a mini e-course this week as a taster for her class that starts in June.  This class is all about reawakening your natural creativity and bringing a little enchantment to your everyday world.  Jani's classes are wonderful for finding your creative dream and bringing it to life.  I am part of her Forge business mentoring program.  I have learned so much and have grown through this program.  I would recommend her classes to anyone who wants to grow creatively.  

Day One of the five days of Enchantment is keeping yourself grounded while you create so you don't get lost in your head. You are supposed to pick a pebble from somewhere that has meaning to you and keep it around your work space.  

Last summer I went with my family to Lake Michigan.  We collected rocks while we were there and I have saved them and decorated a few.  I keep these near my work space so that I can look at them and remember that day with my family.  These rocks keep me connected to a place that is important and holds happy memories.    

I was also supposed to walk barefoot outside.  Since we are having such a rainy couple of days, I'm going to wait to do that when it is a bit drier outside.  The last exercise for day one is to write twenty earthy words.   

I hope that you enjoyed day one and will come back and see more here.  Please join in on the fun too.
Janelle

I have been really busy since the beginning of last week.  I'm trying to declutter my house and get rid of things that we no longer need.  I had a garage sale last weekend and I'm having another one this weekend.  After those are done we will donate the rest to local charities.  It will feel nice to get some of these accumulated items out of my house and to people who can actually use them.  I am looking forward to having usable space again.  

While I was sitting in my garage last weekend I finished drawing a whimsy girl and some flowers that I needed to complete a Lifebook lesson.  I used permanent ink to go over the lines that I wanted to keep and I erased the rest.  
Then on Sunday afternoon I painted them with Twinkling H2O's, which are some of my very favorite water colors.  They have a beautiful shimmer and shine without being too over the top. After I painted them I cut them out and glued them to an acrylic background that I had prepared. 
May is the month that Catholics honor Mary and all women. So I added some thoughts that I had after reading an article by my Bishop about honoring women.    

I also drew another whimsy character last weekend, but I haven't had a chance to paint her yet.  I am spending a lot of time this week getting finishing touches done on the two pieces that I showed you last week, so that they are ready to enter the show this Friday.  I am also still working on decluttering.  I hope that next week I'll have time to go back to the quilt that I have started and have more time to paint.  
Have a great week,
Janelle