That's A Wrap!

Well, folks here we are.   Year 3 of The Campaign For Creativity To Banish Negativity is now complete!

I sat down four times to write this post. I don't usually have any trouble writing a post.  Today it is different.
I can't pin point what is happening.   I consider myself a completion junkie.  I love the sense of completing projects.  I'll confess, I'm having a bit of trouble coming to this finish line.  In the years since starting my little campaign, I've seen the most change in myself.  I've accomplished much.  Somethings I never thought would happen to me (all good) have happened.  I'm constantly learning how powerful a positive mind-set can be.  And how challenging it is to maintain that mind-set in a world that really resists supporting me, and I sometimes get the feeling that I would just give up and let negativity rule. Yet I hope.
Hope is the one thing that no one can take away from another person.  I really believe that.
I also know that NO ONE can take away my positive mind-set, unless I hand it to them.  Allow myself to walk down the dark road of negativity into nowhere.
I also know that creativity born and expressed out of a desire to give love as a gift is a huge force for change.  So powerful that we are often so scared of it's beauty that we turn away when all we have to do is embrace it and let it flow within us. 
We can not and should not deny our birth right to be creativily expressive people.  Discovering those gifts we have is the greatest delight this life has to offer us.
It is now a time to dance, celebrate, create in love and joy.
In closing this year, I once again question.  What's next?  Do I have another year of Campaigning in me?  If I do.  What will next year's campaign look like?  Are the folks who read this (thank you all) tried of hearing my noise? 
So, questions.  I will take the next week off.  Think about my next step.  I do know this.  The creating won't stop not me and I hope not for you.
For the folks who read this blog either once in a while or all the time.  Thank you.  I know you are out there supporting me and cheering me to keep going. (I can even hear the cow bells and whoops in the back ground as I write this.)
I have one wish for everyone.  That you all find that place inside you that will guide you to create the master piece that you call your life.  That the masterpiece is filled with all the love and joy you want plus a whole lot more.  And you boldly share the masterpiece that is you with the rest of the world.  That is my wish.

May you always create to feel great!

52 projects complete!  0

This week's project is a massage oil carrier.  For a good friend who just completed massage training school.

I hope she doesn't read this until later next week.  But if she does...surprise!   I'm proud of you!

Let It All Flow

"Going against the grain may result in not producing the desired effect."~ From a can of floor sealer


This week for me was a lesson in going with the flow and going with the grain to achieve my desired effect in my life.  I heard stories for loved ones about how they received messages from the universe to take a turn in their lives, not to fight what they were hearing but to go with the flow.  The results, for them, so far have been amazing.   Sometimes fight up stream to get what we want or to get to a new place in our lives isn't going to get us there.  To flow with the stream, whatever it maybe, and to rejoice in the moment at where we are allows us to know if we are on our path and helps us produce the desired effect in our lives.
Now I'm not saying to not stand up for what is right or to not think outside the box.  I'm saying listen to what you are hearing around you, in your heart and soul, and don't fight with what you are hearing.  Beiug in the flow or going with the grain for whatever it is in your life with produce the desire effect with ease.

Until next week...create to feel great.

51 projects complete!  1 more to go! 

This week I tried my hand at painting watercolor cards.    I took lessons off internet sites.

Do It My Way

I discovered a couple of weeks ago that I've been knitting the "wrong way" for over 40 years.  I've been poking around on how dos on the internet and in books to see if there is any one describing the way I knit.  I'm yet to find it.  My Granny once chided me for how I knit saying, "what monkey taught you to knit?"  At the time I didn't think anything about it.  I just kept on knitting my way for the next 40 years.  Oh, well.  I do a lot of things not the way most folks do them.  I think I sometimes see the world very differently from the rest of the world.  Oh, well.  That's me.  At turning 56 years old next week, I'm at the I don't really give a damn what folks think stage of my life.   That's not to say I'm insensitive to others.  I really strife to be aware in the world of others and their feelings.  It's just that I don't care that I don't knit the way everyone else does.  Or that I sing in stores as I shop, sometimes do a little jig.  That I'm married to a man who is just as odd as I am.  Or that I spend my days mostly with two cats and I talk to them like good old dear friends.  There are a million other ways I might be viewed as weird.  So be it. I'm embracing life my way.  I'm not hurting myself or others so I'm going for it.  And I'm feeling so good, real and honest about who I am that I'm not going to stop.  Besides, I live in Portland, Oregon- one of the city's outcries is "Keep Portland Weird."  Believe me I have a long way to go before I'm even begin to register on Portland's weird scale.

I've come to realize being who we really and truly are in all aspects of our lives is a cornerstone to be happy and positive.  The feel is good. Not one of shame.  Yes I have some aspects I'm working to change or develop but the overall product that is me is pretty good.

So, let me ask you all this....Are you living life your way?

Until next week...Create to fell great!
50 projects complete! (yes 50!) 2 to go!   Finish line is in site!!!
This week's project is a neck warmer.  The stitch is one I came up with on my own.  Yes it is knitting.

110%

"If you have zest and enthusiasm, you attract zest and enthusiasm.  Life does give back in kind." ~ Norman Vincent Peale

I discovered the above quote a couple of weeks ago and thought that it is the believe that for me is what got me wanting to start this Campaign. I decided to use it this week, because I found myself engaged in several conversations about approaching our life's dreams with enthusiasm.

 Folks who know me have commented that I go after anything I'm interested in with so much energy it is head spinning. Whereas, I get that observation, I sometimes think I talk a good game. I think there are areas hold back in and don't give my full "zest and enthusiasm".   Then I wonder why I feel like at times I'm standing still and not moving forward towards what I say I want in my life.  I've discovered this cycle of moving and then holding back and attempting to move some more, is not only crazy making it is cranky making.  It sets me firmly on the negative path.  By now, I know that is one path I do not want to be on or even close to, no matter how tempting it is.

I could use this insight as a club to beat myself up with, but I don't.  It is just a realization of where I am and might be the best opportunity to stop, assess and move forward on a happy path.  Along the way kicking up my "zest and enthusiasm" by reconnecting with what got me stated on this idea in the first place.  I usually do this by checking in with myself and ask at what percentage I'm at right now?  Then I work to figure out how to get up to 100% or 110%.

Something bright, positive and zesty is always a better choice for me than dull, negative, and bland.  It may look like a simple choice but sometimes it is not.

What is one thing in your life you could do to create more zest and enthusiasm?

Until next week create to feel great!

49 projects complete!   3 (yes you read that right!) 3 to go!

This week's project...my newest craft love...little wallet purses.    Soft little purses for times when I don't want to carry a bigger purse or wallet.  Easy to whip up and uses up fabric scraps.  Gotta love it!

A peek inside...pockets of cards and cash!