Let's talk about Self-Love

Self love is not selfish, in fact it is essential to nurture yourself to ensure that you are strong enough to serve others.  Our Theme for this week in the Paint and Chronicle Journal Course that I am doing with Suzi Blu is Service - with the emphasis on making others aware of the benefits of self-love.

One of my words for 2015 is "SLOW" .  I am showing myself love this year by slowing down, living mindfully and fully engaging in each moment of my life - the pleasure and the pain.
What a great gift this has proven to be already - my life is so much the richer for it.

So as one of my actions for sharing the message of the benefits self-love this week I have been posting inspirational memes and messages regarding this subject on my FB wall.

One of the messages I posted this week was:

"When you’re gentle with yourself, you’ll be gentle with others. When you're non-judgmental with yourself, you'll be non-judgmental what others. And when you give yourself the benefit of the doubt, you’ll be able to do the same for the people around you too."

SO : What are some ways you could honour yourself and YOUR needs this weekend?
I challenge you to make a list and to make it a priority to do at least 3 of those things over the weekend. 

My list:
Pick garden flowers to put in vases in the house
Work on some craft projects I really want to complete
Do some reading
Start a new journal for March
A home facial

"You only get one soul
be good to yours
listen when it whispers
nourish it's passions,
give it hugs, laughter and
sunshine,
Take it for long walks.
Treat your soul like a SOULMATE."
-K.Salmansohn- 

much love
Angella.

Sticker Doodle Love......

Hello Creative People,

As promised (and only one day late LOL ) here are some of the little goodies I made using my doodle design stickers.  Soooooo easy and fun , with lovely results:

These are some plain red wood hearts that I bought at Sheet Street ages ago with the intention of decorating them:

A simple little deli packet perfect for a tiny gift:

Custom decorated envelopes to send HAPPY mail:

An inexpensive A6 hardcover notebook transformed in a few minutes:

A plain black Art Journal Cover becomes a work of art in less time than it takes to fry an egg:

A one of a kind handmade card and envelope:

A colourful and original Art Journal page:

Well , I hope you have been inspired to start making and using your own custom designed stickers and labels.  It has been tons of  fun . 

CHOOSE COURAGE

much love
Angella

Everyday Creativity

I have neglected my blog for a very long time.  That makes me incredibly sad because I really love to BLOG!  It has been my intention for some time now to start blogging regularly again.  And so here I am today with a little bit of inspiration for you.....

These are some doodles I did in various different journals/watercolour pads.  Two were done intentionally for use as journalling embellishments and the very "busy" one was done just as an adventure in doodling.

I then took my sketch book to the local computer place and asked them to print my designs onto sticker paper.  (You can of course do this yourself if you have a good scanner and some coloured ink in your printer -which I dont at present).  I was thrilled with the quality of the prints.  When I had some spare time I sat and cut the sheets into the required strips and shapes.
These are journalling tags, which can now be added to my  Paint and Chronicle journal to brighten up the pages and I can write quotes or reminders or whatever onto them......

These are border strips and can be used to add borders to my journal pages or used in any way one would normally use decorative border stickers or washi tape:

These are from the very "busy" doodle sheet which I just cut up randomly and will use as stickers and borders to cheer up any dreary looking pages or corners:

Visit me here tomorrow  when I will  show some examples of  how I use these items on journal pages and in other interesting ways!

HAVE A SUPER CREATIVE WEEK!

much love
Angella

Winner of Give-away !!!

Hello all.  I hope that you are all well and happy and being productively creative !

Here's a little bit of  fun.  Make your own list like mine below using the Coloured words as your prompts:

Currently I am....
1. Thinking...... a lot about living in the moment, being mindful and being "present"
2. Enjoying....  my art doodling immensely.
3. Feeling... postive and hopeful and contented.
4. Wearing... Far Away perfume, my hair in a messy bob, tie-dyed t-shirts and less make-up
5. Needing..... to reconnect with "estranged" family and friends
6. Wanting.... to go to the sea for a few days, read more, swim and lie in the sun
7. Listening.... to people more intently
8. Making.... a lot of art journal pages
9. Eating.... far too much  Wedgewood Macadamia nougat
10. Drinking....not enough water!

Ok.....drumrolll........ the WINNER  of  the Give Away  ........ IS ..........

Lynne Rattray !!!  (please PM me your postal address Lynne so that I can post your prize) 
To all the wonderful ladies who left comments, thank you so very much, each one is so appreciated and I wish I could send you all a prize!


INSPIRATION
A little embroidery project I am currently busy with...   I coloured the image with watercolour pencils and sealed it with  fabric podge to make it washable, and am now embroidering the outlines.  

Have a happy and blessed day.
much love
Angella

GIVE AWAY.....

I cannot believe that my last blogpost was in October last year.  How awful that I have neglected my precious blog for such a long time.  I feel really awful about that.  I have been working on my art and some other personal goals and it seems the weeks and months just fly by with very little accomplishment to show for the time passed.   They say that the way to slow down time is to be mindful and present in the moment as much as possible.  Well I have been practicing that for some months now and it doesn't seem to have made much difference to the speed at which life flies by.  It does , however, make one more grateful and more joyful and therefore, I shall continue the practice.  Herewith a few pics of the work I have been doing lately (practice, practice, practice.... fun , fun, fun.....)

And now for that GIVE-AWAY I promised you.  YAY!!!   Here it is, an original doodle painting by me, mounted in a glass clip-frame.  (Size A5)  .   For a chance to win this gorgeous little piece of art just leave a comment below this post.

Thank you for visiting my blog.
Have a blessed week.
much love
Angella

A beautiful Muse......

Hi everyone,  I have been so busy with my Journey of Yes group and meeting some new goals and challenging myself healthwise that my blog has , unfortunately, suffered a little bit over the past months.  I have still been squeezing in some creative projects, mosting art journaling and painting.
Here are two recent paintings that I have completed:

This is mixed media on canvass. I used acrylic paints and oil pastels and some collage elements.

This one is also mixed media, on 300gsm watercolour paper.  I used acrylic paints and acrylic inks and a smidgeon of glitter .....

Both these paintings are available for purchase HERE.

In all my busyness these past few months I neglected to notice that my blog turned ONE year old in August.   So I will be holding a give-away to celebrate this happy occasion on my next blogpost!   WATCH THIS SPACE!

Wishing you a happy, creative, gentle week.
much love
Angella

Success seems to be largely a matter of hanging on after others have let go.
-William Feather-

Art Doodle Love....

The Art Doodle book I ordered ARRIVED!!!!!!  Oh, it is simply doodelicious!!!!!!  I absolutely love it.  It is a prompted Art Journal that you can fill up with doodles, sketches, thoughts, lists, photos, dreams, goals, quotes etc etc....

Here is a peek at some of the pages:

And here are some pages that i have completed already.......

And one still in progress......

(This book is available from Amazon.com or in South Africa from Kahalari.com)

Wishing you all a very creative and fun week.
much love
Angella

LET YOUR HEART BE LIGHT