My word.....

In the previous years, I've seen posts by Ali Edwards about choosing a word.  Here is what she said about it on her blog back in January 2007:

"Last year I began a tradition of chosing one word for myself each January – a word that I can focus on, mediate on, and reflect upon as I go about my daily life. Last year my word was something I wanted to bring into my life in a more tangible way."- Ali Edwards

I really love this idea and this year, thanks to my joining in on the Art Journal Caravan, I was really inspired to choose a word and do creative projects that focus on it.  Our first assignment was to choose a word and do an art journal page about it.  (By the way, it's never too late to join in on the fun there, because this lasts all year long!)  I had already kind of picked a word last year, even though I never went any farther than that, so I knew right away which word I wanted to choose to focus on for 2011.  I chose the word "discipline".  I know that to a lot of people that probably doesn't seem like too fun of a word! lol  But, discipline isn't a bad word at all, because it can be applied to so many different areas of my life.  Number one to me, and where I really, really need it the most, is to be more disciplined in my faith.  My family has really been through a horrible past few years dealing with some of the bad choices my oldest daughter has made and I took most of it very personally.  Not like she was doing it against me, but more so because I am her mother, I raised her, her actions are a reflection of me, etc.....ugh.....having teenagers is so hard and life in the real world is so hard for teenagers as well.   I am ashamed to admit that I let all of those hard times pull me away from God rather than run to Him for help and comfort.  And, worst yet, this whole time I can hear myself saying, "Run to Him, things will get better!" but I still don't!  I've been wallowing in my sorry and shame, instead of asking for forgiveness and starting over.  He's always there to take me back and forgive, why am I still sitting here doing nothing?  So, I need discipline in my spiritual life badly!  There are also several other areas where I want to work on discipline, so I listed them all on the digital layout that I created.  They include: faith, heath, fitness, parenting, creativity and just being happy.  I know that I could easily add more, too! 

I have to share with you that this is my first ever digital art journaling page.  Well, it's my first art journaling page, period.  I really struggled with it at first, too.  I have been scrapbooking for so many years and I kept feeling myself wanting to create a scrapbook page.  I'm not sure if I can explain the difference between the two, but I wanted this to be more free and not contrived.   I've worked on several more art journal pages for our Caravan assignments and I'm getting a lot better expressing myself freely and creatively and I am really enjoying it!  These pages are for me and me alone and it doesn't have to be perfect, it just has to show/say what I want and feel.  It's been very freeing! lol

Well, before my little one wakes up (he's starting to stir, so my time is running out!)....let me just say that the Art Journal Caravan is incredible!  I don't mean to be trying to sell you on another thing, I know yesterday's post was all about the She-Art Workshop that I'm taking right now.....but I just can't help telling you how amazing these two classes are!  The Art Journal Caravan last all year and it's full of inspiring prompts and projects!  Tangie Baxter has done some awesome things for this!  The weekly and monthly prompts and projects have really inspired me to create and journal and I'm learning so much about mixed media, both digitally and on paper, etc.  I'll be sharing more of my art journal pages and projects throughout the year. ;-)

Okay, my time is up! lol  I hope you all have a wonderful day!

God Bless,

di