Creative Therapy: Catalyst #22

Creative Therapy asks this week, What is your biggest accomplishment?

Hah! No small question, that. I had several options here, and I was reticent to go with this one as I was worried I might seem elitist or pretentious or something like that. But truly, this was ONE of my biggest accomplishments…not because of the piece of paper, but because of who I became over the 9 years I spent working toward it. It was a really rough road, both professionally and personally, but I also had many bright spots along the way. But mostly, in the end, it was something I set out to do, and while for a long time it seemed that grad school owned me, in the very end, I owned it. I took charge and finished…for me and no one else.

Labor of Love? Dr. CraftyLyra

I used a draft of my dissertation (printed on 100% cotton bond) for the distressed hearts, the question mark, and the chipboard letters in “labor” and “of.” I needed something rough and distressed represented in this layout. The journaling reads:

Above and beyond anything else, I earned a degree in self-awareness. It isn’t about academic prestige. It is about setting a goal and learning about yourself as you strive to achieve it.

MATERIALS: A la Carte “Bruschetta” paper (American Crafts); Amy Butler Designer Mats (K & Co); Tim Holtz Distress Ink “Scattered Straw” (Ranger); Chipboard letters (Maya Road); “Pistachio” and “Rosebud” pigments (ColorBox); Rainbow Sparkle Lite EP (JudiKins); Stick-IT felt letters (CPE ImageCo)

Unconditional Love

I was inspired by Creative Therapy’s Catalyst this week, #21: “First memory of Love,” to start a mini album on the theme of my family. I went with a really sparse layout because for me, that was most emblematic of the love my grandparents had for me. Simple, uncomplicated, and unconditional. I decided not to journal because I felt the two words “unconditional love” said it all. It is perhaps not my first memory of love, but it is certainly one of the most potent and least complicated. I found this photograph in the stash I received after they died last year. The quality of the photo isn’t great, but the sentiment is there. This is the first time I’ve used a monochromatic layout (in lavender shades with small celadon accents)—again, to keep things simple and unencumbered.

MATERIALS: I used some of the Maya Road materials I received in my first RAK win at Creative Therapy.

Maya Road Chipboard Album “Lunch break”; paper stash (Provo Craft); Lavender ColorBox pigment brush pad; Maya Road Noah Rubons (RUB 630); Hero Arts “Heart of Love” stamp (C2046); Dashes, Dots & Checks Ribbon

AND, just a reminder, as of this posting, only 60 more hits until my reasonable, not over-the-top giveaway.

Catalyst #16: Dream Home

Originally I was going to do all the Creative Therapy catalyst projects on postcards (like this one), but this week’s catalyst required a full-on layout. I opted for no journaling, but I’ll give you the scoop here. This is for Catalyst #16: Dream Home.

Click on photo to see a closer image.

I’ve already lived in my dream home. It was the house in which I grew up. We called it the banana castle because to me, at my young age, it seemed as large as a castle and it was painted the color of the inside of a banana. My mother was the Queen and I was the Princess (of course). I think dad got to be the de facto King.

In the box of snapshots from my grandparents were quite a few pictures of that house. This was a real treasure for me as I had no photographs of that house/that time in my life prior to discovering that box!

In some ways, the house was very much a dream–a dream borne from childhood innocence. I loved to sashay down that staircase, like Anna in the King and I. Even now, decades later, I can still feel the textured wallpaper on the walls, and i can still smell the apricots fresh off the tree in the backyard. I remember the smallest details of that house, down to the decorative shapes on the heating grates.

The house no longer looks like it does in that picture but in my dreams it is always my Banana Castle.

MATERIALS: Chelsea Vine Flowers Flat Glitter Vellum (Brenda Walton for K & C Co., #635395); recto & verso sides of Bo-Bunny Press Summer Sage Vine #12SGV802 (mat for photos); pink stripe vellum #13306 by Susan Branch for Colorbök; Mark Richards pearls; “Meadow Flowers” ribbon from Michaels; Martha Stewart blue tags; and “Printer’s Type Alphabet” stamps by HeroArts.

Creative Therapy: Catalyst #14

The brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something.

I’m a newcomer to the Creative Therapy blog, but decided that this was the week I’d try one of their catalysts. This week’s catalyst (#14):

What’s the one lesson you’d want to teach your children? (If you don’t have them, what would you want to teach them if you had them?)

I don’t have children (yet), but I’ve learned a lot of lessons in my life thus far (some of them the hard way) that I will want to share with them. But this one I picked up recently from Randy Pausch, who if you don’t know, is the awe-inspiring professor at Carnegie Mellon who was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and gave an amazing talk called The Last Lecture (available at website linked above). I chose the quote from that talk. I also think that the goal isn’t always getting through (or over) the brick wall, but letting it stop you long enough that you have to look at things another way. You can learn a lot from staring at that wall–even if you ultimately decide it is not worth the journey to the other side.

I like the postcard size, so I chose to do a simple mixed media piece. I wanted to keep it fairly bare bones to reflect the simple wisdom of the quote and to really make the brick wall the focus (how many times does one do that!?). I think it looks a lot better in realview, but you get the general idea:

MATERIALS: Strathmore “Imperial Watercolor” blank postcard (trimmed); “Blue Swirl” paper from Sonburn Inc. (#05440), micropigment ink .25mm black and .30mm green (Sakura Pigma Micron); Stabilo “Aquatico” aquarelle pencils (colors 325 and 675 blended).