Creative Therapy

Ngaoundéré

2017 was a year. Phew. There were many, many interesting events both worldwide and personally, and I’m quite happy to turn the page to a new year. In 2018 (and beyond) one of my goals is to engage in some creative therapy. In other words, I plan to tap back into my creative juice and allow myself to craft, write, paint, and more. Back before kids and jobs and stress in general, I spent a lot of free time allowing myself to be creative. It’s time to bring that priority back to my life.

Painting

Palettes and memes and lettering are all the rage. Over the summer, I created doors for our front porch and tried my hand at lettering. I think they turned out pretty great. Then, I created a palette sign for my bathroom.

I’d been at a craft store and saw a saying on a sign that was absolutely fitting for Math Man and me. One of his “famous” sayings (for me) is, “Good morning, beautiful.” Every time I read those words, I could hear his voice. I wanted to buy the sign, but when I got to the checkout, I realized there were several scars and marks on the metal. While the distressed look is in, it wasn’t what this sign was doing. So it made no sense to buy it damaged.

I decided I could just make it myself. Instead, I bought a blank palette and set to work with the paints we have available. First, I painted underneath with yellow. Once that dried, I covered with white. I didn’t try to make anything look perfect.

After the white dried, I used sandpaper to scuff up the paint. The yellow began to show beneath the white, and the distressed look was successful.

Next, I added the words. I went for a sans serif font and a script font. I’m not as pleased with the script font — I should have drawn it on first — but all in all the sign is cute.

The same sort of situation happened with my best friend. We were lamenting something (crazy) someone had done, and she reacted with, “Fix it, Jesus.” My exact response was, “OMG that needs to be a cross stitch.” Heather readily agreed, and I started planning.

Then, Math Man mentioned that we needed something new to cover our power box in the kitchen. What we had there had worked, but it was a pain to move it when we needed access to the box. When I told him mine and Heather’s story, he said, “THAT’S what you should put on the sign!”

He built me a palette out of leftover wood from the ginormous playhouse, and I painted. This one was simpler to do because I wanted the raw wood look. My only frustration was what to put above the words. Math Man suggested something very simple, so I went with an arrow. The four lines at the end of the arrow represent each of our four kids.

We used some hemp cord to create an easy-to-hang string (that would also be strong enough to hold the sign) and attached it to the hooks Math Man added to the top of the sign.

Journaling

A few months ago, my friend Rabia from The Lieber Family, shared her gratitude journal. In it, she takes time each day to jot down something for which she’s grateful. I loved her idea, and I decided that 2018 would be a great time to start. I’m already a journaler (I keep one for each kid), but it’s time to do something for me.

This year, I’m using an old binder I bought from Close to My Heart. This binder already had cute planner-like items in it, and I want this to be more of a crafty journal than just paper.

My friend, Melissa from mlisrobinson.com, contacted me and asked if I’d be interested in a weekly journaling prompt. What a perfect way to combine my gratitude journaling with prompts that could help me keep going. I readily accepted!

Melissa is using pocket cards from CTMH, and I have some — so I’m going to do a mixture of my original plan and what #Reflect52 is doing. Join us if you’d like!

Card Crafting

After years of salivating over it and thinking that maybe I’d want one, I finally received a Cuttlebug for Christmas. Poor Math Man just didn’t have an option. But I’m so excited.

I love that I can finally do the things that I’ve watched my friends create over the years. Now that things in our house are settling OUT of baby mode and into KID mode, I find that I have more time to craft and the kids understand better that they need to stay back or not mess with mommy’s stuff.

My first card wasn’t successful. Mostly, I was trying to see how the machine worked.

But my second card (and really the first official card) turned out great! I used washi tape, scrapbooking paper, and a die cut. I’m excited to send this to a dear friend at church who needs some cheer.

What are you doing this year for YOU?

Check out what my bloggy friends are sharing with the theme, “Resolutions.”

White Chocolate Raspberry Refrigerator Cheesecake from Baking in a Tornado

Revamped Pizza Poppers from Spatulas on Parade

Top Ten Tips on How to Stick to (New Year’s) Resolutions from Part-Time Working Hockey Mom

New Year, Same Me from The Bergham Chronicles

Invest in Yourself and Others in 2018 from My Heartfelt Sentiments

5 Ways to Keep Your Resolutions from The Lieber Family

Tags: blogwithfriends, card making, crafting, diy, reflect52