Looking for Your Happy Place

Everyone has a Happy Place. A place, whether a physical location, passionate activity or rush of memories, that brings a smile to our lips and a warm feeling to our souls. Somewhere we can feel safe, or liberated, or just plain glad to be alive.

Sometimes Life throws out roadblocks and detours to slow you down on the path toward your Happy place. You have to remember that you're not alone. There are family members, from grandparents all the way down to grandchildren, to walk with you. Friends are great companions, too. Especially the ones who make you laugh when you stumble. Neighbors, school moms, church members, doctors, fellow students, co-workers. They're all over the place, throughout your entire life. At times you start out walking with them; other times you meet them on the path.

Sometimes you have to be mindful of what's on your path at the moment and savor the good things. Look up to find rainbows and race with the clouds, look down so you don't miss tiny pedestrians sharing your path and blossoms of joy. Look ahead in anticipation and look behind in fond memory.

Sometimes you have to be brave and seek out hidden treasures of happiness - they could be just out of sight. Don't give up! The path toward Happiness is paved with surprises, love, hope, kind acts given and received, family, friends, achievements, and faith. It takes the weight of the world off your shoulders at times and makes the journey worth every step, every stumble, every detour and every discovery.

I'd like you to try what I call the Smiles Collection Challenge. Yesterday I went to my doctor's appointment. Where I park is a long way from the building. I challenged myself to "collect" 10 smiles from those I passed on my way in. Sometimes just a cheery Good morning and a smile got me a smile in return. Can you collect at least ten smiles in one day? Let me know! I bet you'll have one happy day!

The above is a reprint from an essay I wrote for the Path of Positivity back in 2019. After COVID, mass shootings, political upheaval, war and new health threats, I thought this would be a nice read for those who have forgotten where to find happiness...photo by Jill Humbert, my sister-in-law

All about ME

Today's make is a journal page I created using gel pen, markers, diecuts and fun quotes printed off of Pinterest. I have enjoyed a sudden and prolific burst of inspiration, and wanted to highlight this week of artistic endeavors with a new page in my journal.

While most of the quotes I collected are about ART, some just describe the way I'm feeling right now, including my insatiable appetite for cozy mysteries. Honestly, I'm swallowing them so fast I'm surprised I don't have ink on my lips!!

This week I've painted three canvases, tried two new techniques, prepared a large metal wall hanging to alter/upcycle and gathered supplies to create some fun specialty pens. I hope to have them on hand for the Fall craft fair I'm selling at this year. These tasks are in addition to my never-ending de-cluttering project. I've started cleaning out the garage. I'm storing the winter tools and supplies, bringing out the summer items, and filling the trash can with stuff that I never should have kept to begin with! 

How is your month coming along? I hope it's a creative one!

Challenges I am ENTERING:

Art*Journal*Journey  - What Makes You Happy

  

A Hoarder's Serenity Prayer

 

So it's been almost six months since i started my deep decluttering project. Emotionally, I was in a state of overwhelming despair. Even thinking about the clutter in my house kept me from action; seeing the clutter made me angry but left me drained of energy.

It all started with the sales of my mom's and gram's houses after my sisters and I lost them. It was difficult to give away so many years of memories, especially for my youngest sister. In order to get the houses ready for sale, I promised her I'd store some of the things she couldn't make a decision on keeping or not. Temporarily.

It's been over three years and my basement is still full of mom's collectibles, trading cards and some furniture I'm not interested in. My garage has more of the same. I have to admit that 30% of the clutter is my own, craft supplies that were overflowing, unused since I got them or otherwise not necessary.

My healthcare system offered a program called Whole Health, which covered help and support in all the facets of a person's health: physical, emotional, spiritual, social, psychological and environmental. I jumped at the chance to get my life back together (and my house). Starting with identifying my needs, which to me were physical health and improving my environment (which ultimately led to emotional).

Since I started in this program, I have sold a  rare set of limited edition books and several bins and boxes of trading cards, the proceeds which were added to my mom's estate. I've also donated four trash bags full of craft supplies and kits to a young aspiring crafter, as well as a local family resource center. The Salvation Army has received several donations of clothing, small furniture and misc. items as well. My recycling and garbage cans have reached record highs on trash day. I also have pied up numerous EMPTY storage tubs, bins and baskets!

I still have a long way to go. But I can already start to breathe more easily. I take it one day at a time, even one trip to the basement at a time. When I do the laundry, I either pick something up and put it away, or clean out a drawer or shelf.  My basement is not ready for me to invite people over. When it is, and it will be, I'm going to celebrate with a Brunch and invite family, friends and neighbors together to celebrate life.

Meanwhile, I rewrote the Serenity Prayer for fellow hoarders and craftaholics, and hope that they be inspired to take their first step toward freedom and organization in their own environment. 

Come Sail Away with the Path of Positivity Challenge this month

 

I created a yarn canvas. After drawing my scene from scratch, I enlarged it and copied it onto my 16x20 canvas. To keep me on track, I colored in the different sections with markers. I then gathered up my cotton yarns and cording and spent over a week adhering strips of yarn onto my canvas. Every inch of my canvas is covered with cotton and I have the blisters (hot glue gun) and headaches (E6000) to prove it. LOL

Tis is my first time making one of these. I call it "Come Sail Away" and I chose to use it as my DT project because I've always wanted to travel. After I retired, I've visited Florida, Germany, Cozumel, Arizona, Massachusetts, Texas, Cancun and been on a 2-week cruise with my sisters to the Caribbean. Later this year I'm meeting family in Hawaii. I am achieving my dreams and goals, even if it's taken me years to finally be able to do so.

The lesson I learned is to never give up on your goals and dreams. Work on them. Plan how to achieve them. Save money if it's needed. And when your dreams/goals come true, know that you deserve to relax and enjoy them, and feel proud to have reached them...

The The Path of Positivity is challenging crafters to create something inspired by Dreams or Goals. I was inspired by the quote offered on their blog:

“Goals are dreams brought to life.” ― Amy Leigh Mercree

 It's their last challenge before taking a summer break. Any type of project is welcome, so I hope to see your creation there this month!

Challenges I am Entering:

 A Place to Start - Anything goes w/optional Anything but a card

 -Make my Monday - B is for...BOAT

Classic Design - Anything Goes w/optional Masculine

  Love to craft Anything Goes

Four Seasons - Anything Summer Goes

The Power of Words- A Path of Positivity Challenge

 I had some time to play on the computer this week and managed to create a digital scene, gathering up images and photos from various sources and working into the finished scene. The optional theme for the POP challenge is the Power of Words - Art/Creativity. I take a lot of inspiration from nature. My mantra is "There is no E-A-R-T-H without A-R-T". What can I say, I'm an English major who loves words!

The background is a photo my cousin took. She lives in Tennessee. The fairy is a free image from the Graphics Fairy. The deer is a photo I took last summer while at my summer trailer. It's very close to four state parks, but the deer was walking in the ravine's creek which flows past my trailer.

While walking my dog around the neighborhood, I spied a village of mushrooms a few houses down, and added them to the scene. Finally, there's a brown bear crawling up a tree in the background. He was caught on camera while vacationing a few years ago in the Smokey Mountains.

I've actually printed my digital picture and put a nice frame around it. It reminds me to keep my eyes open to Mother Nature's own creativity.

The Path of Positivity offers monthly challenges with optional themes. Today is the midway point of the challenge. Make sure you check it out for your chance to win digital images from Scribbles Designs.

A Special Card for a Special Event

 

Between my sister's visit from Germany, decluttering, Spring cleaning, a garage sale and a million other things, I still carved out enough time to create a card for an upcoming wedding I'm attending. I had enough patterned papers left over from "the purge", as well as lace, stickers, and adhesive bling to make this (and many more) card. My paper hoard stack is down to about a foot high now and neatly organized. I found my stickers quickly in the file folder labeled Love & Weddings, and my bins of lace and adhesive pearls and jewels were easily reached in identical bins. However, from design through prep to finished project, it still took me most of the afternoon.

Of course, our dog is on a special meal plan, eating prescription dog food every two hours, which leads to more frequent walks. I also had a video dr. appointment and ran a few errands, but I must say that the time spent creating this card was well spent. I really like the way it turned out. It measures 6x8 inches, fitting into an envelope I rescued from a thrift store find. In fact, except for the paper and stickers, everything else was a thrift find, from the lace to the metallic border.

Here's the inside:

Things are Starting to Bloom

 

Spring may be on the calendar, but Winter refuses to let go! There's a chance for snow in the forecast for tomorrow night!! Meanwhile, I've started to create new deck decor out of a few metal pieces I found last year. This is one way I can declutter my garage while keeping my hand in creating new art.

I also have a few frames in the garage that need to be filled and hung on my house walls, which will have to wait until I paint or print what I want to frame. But back to my floral metal work. It was a dull unstained metal structure. Even the flowers had no color to them. At first I was thinking of my front deck and different shades of blues, but that deck is going in a different direction, and my back deck is looking bare. So I used a few bright Spring colors of acrylic paints for my flowers after spray painting the branches white.

My deck opens with French doors from my bedroom, a zoning concession made for my wheelchair-bound husband. It is also much bigger than the limits the city usually has. The VA rehabbed the house, requiring two accessible for motorized wheelchairs. The four front steps and landing were covered by the deck and ramp. I didn't want the contractor to mess with the backdoor as its door also led to the basement, so I suggested a deck with the French doors. 

The handicapped access part of the deck was a Lift with a dedicated electrical box. We also had stairs from the deck to the backyard. Sadly, my husband didn't get to enjoy the deck for very long, but when he sat out in the sun, he enjoyed every minute!