Creative Therapy: Catalyst Sixty-Five

I’m so grateful and excited to have the time to participate in Creative Therapy again.  This week’s catalyst: Tell us about one thing you’d change about yourself (physical or otherwise).

I’m pretty happy with who I’ve become as a person–I’m not perfect, that is for sure, but there isn’t a whole lot that I’d change.  But in thinking about this catalyst, the Serenity prayer came to mind.  I’m not particularly religious, but this has always had great resonance for me.  If I had to pick one thing to change, I guess I’d say I’d like to internalize the words of this prayer more than I do.

MATERIALS: peach cardstock, purple and pale pink acrylic paint (DecoArt), scraps, buttons (attached with gold craft wire), 3-d flower embellishments (Marcella by K & C0); Pelikan ink (2.0 mm calligraphy nib); Sharpie metallic gold; metallic silver calligraphy pen (Marvy Uchida).

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.