I have contacted Tammy. Thank you all for entering and please visit again!!! All are welcome here!
Blessings,

"To the tired, the exhausted, the overstretched…here’s an invitation…
"Life can be simple.
"What if we celebrated the brave act of….taking a break?
"What if simplicity,comfort, and quiet were the goal?
"What if there really was a way to quiet the chatter in our minds and let us recharge our body & soul?
"And what if it was fun, too?
"Soul Comfort is a fresh new concept using art and journaling as a means to relax and comfort yourself and to get grounded while dealing with the craziness of every-day living.
"This course is full of beautiful projects to fuel your creativity in very simple and easy ways that are meditational and relaxing , beautiful comforting things that will have your soul infused into them so that you want to keep them forever."
Sorry I haven’t been on the blog much lately, plus not visiting as much. However, I’ve really been busy in my studio.
First of all, I bought myself a new camera for Christmas and when I received the confirmation page, it said that it was on backorder until February. Well, it came yesterday and I’ve been taking pictures of EVERYTHING around my studio including…
my Chloe!!! Isn’t she sweet! I have to watch her around my sister because she want’s to take her to the orthodontist to get her teeth fixed!
A few weeks ago, I outlined my schedule for the first several weeks of 2011. I have mostly been working on Brave Girls Soul Restoration class and Art Journaling Everyday. I have been working on my art journals each day and I’ll share some of that with you in the next few days.
So, we’re nearing the end of the second week of Soul Restoration and I want to share some of the projects with you. Some of them are very personal and I don’t plan to share them on the blog. I have purposely made many of these photos small because the are very personal and contain a lot of raw emotion.
Our first assignment was to make a book cover and title page for our Soul Restoration book.
I love the Oregon Coast and it’s my favorite place to vacation. It recharges my batteries!!! I found a photo on a realtor site for a beach cottage. (I want to own this house if anyone would like to give me $295,000-1bdr-yikes!) I used the cracked photo technique (with UTEE) to make it look like an old postcard. I forgot to put the postmark on it before I embossed it.
I made the album cover with duck cloth canvas and then colored it like sky and sand with watercolor paints—back and front. I don’t like the ribbon I used so I’ll be changing that out with some crinkled rayon seam binding in tan colors. Then, when the book is finished, I’ll add some more crinkled ribbon in blues and tans to the rings.
This is the title page for the book. I’m not going to get into much of the meanings behind these out of respect for Melody Ross and all the work that she and the rest of the Brave Girls Club staff put into this class.
More pages in my Soul Restoration book. (DP is from Melody Ross’ paper by GCD that is now available at Paper Maniac. Love this stuff!)
The principle of a truthteller is a big part of Soul Restoration. A truthteller is a very private decision that must be made before the Soul Restoration process can be completed.
We only had one main project for week two—our timeline.
Since I’m over 40, my timeline went onto the second side. Can you see the three small manila pages in there. I’ve reserved those for actual photos from those periods of time. I’ll probably be adding bits and pieces to these in the next few days. I already see something that I left of. I want to put a chipboard heart at the time point where I received my transplant.
Thanks for taking a look!
I’ve been working on a project that I will be giving away at the One World One Heart blog event. I’ve got everything done but the embellishing—the fun part!!!
I’ve got a few images colored and ready to make into cards so I’m hoping to get a few of those done soon. Tomorrow I’ll have another new M5D image from Thursday. That’s the first thing on my list for tomorrow!
Plus, in a few days I’ll be back with some things from my art journals.
Have a beautiful Sunday please! After what seems like weeks and weeks of rain, we will be having sunny weather in the 40s! Yay-maybe things will dry out a bit! My lawn is so soggy you can see my footprints when I walk across!!!
Blessings,
Christine
…and Creating Art Makes me Happy!!!
As I’ve mentioned many times, I’m lucky enough to not have to work (because of the health issues I mentioned in the previous post). As a follow up to that post, I wanted to share the things that I will be doing in 2011 to pursue the peace and beauty that I want in my life.
First of all, if you remember last year, I chose a word of the year – Believe. I’m going to continue choosing to believe in myself this year. To believe that I’m worthy of a healthful life, to believe that I am and can be an artist, to believe that I deserve a comfortable home containing all the things that make me happy and to believe that I can achieve those things. Belief in myself is always something that I have struggled with.
I have enrolled myself in a few creative classes/pursuits for the beginning of the year and will continue to do so throughout the year as time allows. If you would like to join me in any of these, I have included links for each one. Just click on the applicable photo or section title in pink.
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Brave Girls Soul Restoration. This, I’m sure will be an event not to be missed. Melody Ross and her sister Kathy have planned a curriculum similar to that which we used at Brave Girl Camp and I believe in that so much that I have also signed up for this class. If you want to see the things that I shared here on the blog about Brave Girl camp, click here.
Soul Restoration will probably consume most of my free time for the entire 6 weeks. I’m pretty excited that I will be going to my sister Rose’s house for a few weeks during the course. I will enjoy the time spent creating Brave Girl art with her once again.
I received my class materials in the mail the other day. (If you decide to join now, the materials are no longer available. But don’t worry, everything is easily obtainable and most things you probably already have around the house.) I’m so excited to get my fingers inky, painty and Mod Podgey again!!! I’m so ready for that soulful feeling of Brave Girl camp.
Art Journal Everyday. Julie Fei-Fan Balzer is another giant (along with Melody Ross just in case I haven’t mentioned that before) in our artistic/scrapbook industry that we love so much. She is challenging us to simply work on your art journal everyday. There is no need to actually finish a page everyday, just spend a few minutes each day in those creative pursuits. Of course life will get in the way at times but I’m going to give this one my very best attempt. When I’m creating, the body pain that I almost constantly endure, seems to go away. I wish I could create 24 hours a day!!!
There are many similar challenges out there in blogland but I have chosen Julie’s because I love her style of art, especially her water coloring and doodling. Of course, I like the more pastels colors than the bold bright colors that she prefers, but I’m sure that I will be able to learn a lot from her techniques and adapt them to my own style. I also love that she alters and paints all over patterned paper—even the stuff that she designed for a French scrapbook company. Click here to have a look for yourself at Art Journal Everyday.
Strathmore Visual Journal Art Workshops. A Brave Girl sister talked about this on her blog. It’s a series of workshops:
I’m excited about these workshops for two reasons. I will learn many new techniques and THEY ARE FREE!!! Click here for all the information and detail about each class!
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I started a few things in 2010 that I’m excited to continue into 2011.
Donna Downey Inspiration Wednesdays. Another giant in this industry, I have been following Donna’s blog for sometime now and find so much inspiration in her store, her products (especially her stamps) and of course her Inspiration Wednesday posts where she shares a video tutorial of an art journal page each week. I have yet to play along with her although I diligently watch each week. I’ll definitely be playing along with her this year. I haven’t watched the video on the above piece yet but plan to follow along with this one!!! If you click here, you’ll magically be transported to Donna’s blog.
Art, Heart and Healing by Tamara LaPorte. I originally started this class because I wanted to learn this beautiful style of portrait collage but am really enjoying the healing part as well. I will be continuing this class to learn more of Tam’s healing and art techniques. She is a beautiful soul and has such a cutie patootie family!
My mother came over the other day and asked me to download the class materials for her as well so I guess this is a workshop for all ages!!! lthough she offered this as a free e-course that started several months ago, the classroom will remain open indefinitely. What a gal! If your interested in this class, click here.
Of all the above creative pursuits, I will/have only paid for one, yes ONE! It just goes to prove that you don’t need to spend a lot of money in your creative pursuits!!!
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And now for the things on the horizon.
One World One Heart 2011. I will be participating in the One World One Heart event this year. When I first started blogging I stumbled across this even and have met MANY of my blog friends through One World One Heart. Plus, I won a few goodies!!!
From the event organizer: “One World One Heart is a worldwide event for bloggers only. It gives all those who blog a chance to meet and mingle and form connections with those they may not have otherwise met from all over the world. In the past 4 years this event has grown to over 1,000 participants with lasting friendships (and even one love connection) formed along the way. Think of it as a GIGANTIC open house allowing you to travel without ever leaving your home........going from blog to blog (in various countries) seeing the wonder each one has created and meeting all the fabulous people behind those blogs. As a bonus each blogger participant will offer up a "door prize or prizes"....just for dropping by, saying hello and seeing their world. It's really that easy.”
Added bonus: If you sell handmade goodies or supplies online, this is a great way to get traffic to your blog and, likewise, to your store.
Suzi Blu Workshops. I am in love with Suzi Blu. Her beautifully whimsical style of art is what I aspire to!!! One of Suzi’s classes is definitely on my to do list for this year and I WILL be signing up for one of her self paced workshops as soon as I finish Soul Restoration.
Collage Basics and/or the Vintage Glue Book. I fancy myself as a collage/altered art artist and look forward to learning more about the art of collage. Almost every collage I make starts with vintage book print.
I have admired and wanted to make an altered book ever since I saw the first one a long time ago. I’m looking forward to learning more about these types of art.
Mixed Media Mayhem. I love this class for all the new techniques that I will be able to learn. A few of my Brave Girl sisters are or will be taking this course.
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So that’s my 2011 in a nutshell. What’s on the horizon for you?
Happy 2011 to all my blogging buddies!!!
Blessings,
Christine
Warning—this is a long post regarding the personal aspects of my life. I really wrote it here for me and for posterity so please don’t feel that you HAVE to read this. Also, as promised I will be having a giveaway for my blogoversary but just haven’t had time to get things together. I placed an order yesterday and plan to post a picture and start the giveaway as soon as I receive that order in the mail!
I have had this post saved for the last few hours wondering if I really wanted to share it but I’m going to. I started this blog to talk about my life and through this blog, I found my love of sharing my creative pursuits. I don’t share personal stuff very often and, as I said above, if you don’t want to read it, you don’t have to!!! *giggle*
I don’t usually reflect back on or even forward at the New Year but I think 2010 has been an exceptional year for me as far as learning more about me, Christine, and the person I want to become.
Brave Girl Camp was a big part of that, but even before that, with events at the beginning of the year, I started looking more about who I want to be in my life. However, I’m going to leave the events at the beginning of the year unsaid here in this post. Those of you who have been reading my blog for awhile will know and if you would like, you can look at some of my posts starting at the end of January.
Of course, one of the highlights of my year was Brave Girl Camp. It quite simply, changed my life. Plus I was so blessed to go with my sister, Rose. We each needed it in so many different ways. I have tried so hard to keep the things that I learned at BGC in my life—continuing to learn from the things shared their and with making my Brave Girl Art.
I will continue to grow more in the Brave Girl aspect of my life with the coming year. One of the ways that I will be accomplishing this is to take the Brave Girl Soul Restoration course starting 1-11-11. I received my packet in the mail yesterday and can’t wait for the class to start. As the year progresses, I will be taking (and finishing) other courses to grow my soul and my artistic pursuits.
A few months ago, one of my Brave Girl sisters posted on Facebook that she was going to “live with peace in her heart.” I have used this as a kind of life motto since and it really does make a difference in how I live each day. It was difficult some days like when the property managers drove a backhoe through my very rain and snow soaked lawn including over top of my sprinkler heads (we’ll see how that works out in the spring). I kind of forgot to repeat my motto until the next day and when I put it into prospective, at least I wasn’t the one with a big hole in my yard!!! (It’s still there so I think they have a lot bigger complaint than I.)
Anyway, my motto of “living with peace in my heart” has been the biggest change I have made in my life since BGC. If I’m stuck in traffic and getting frustrated, I say to myself “I choose to live with peace in my heart,” and I feel so much better. If my neighbor starts his very loud, low rumbling classic muscle car and allows it to run for several minutes just a few feet and a wall from my ears, “peace in my heart.” When I’m trying to untangle a pile of wire hangers (one of the single most frustrating things on earth), “peace in my heart.” You get the idea. It works for almost any situation.
If you live with peace in your heart, there just isn’t any room for the bad things. Thanks so much Jeri Lynn for suggesting this.
On the health-front, it’s been a great year for my heart and transplant news. I continue to pass all my medical test and doctor visits with flying colors!!! Yay!
The last few months I have been suffering from a past illness that has reared it’s ugly head again. It’s more annoying than anything but at times, I’m just plain sick and treat myself accordingly. I haven’t really done much for this yet. I went to the doc but everything they suggested is just icky and I didn’t want to do it so I was trying to control it with diet. That just hasn’t been helping much so I started on the medication (has a lot of bad side affects) on Sunday and will take the other med and run the test that the doc wants. Hopefully, I will start feeling better soon but if not, I’m sure the doc has some other things up his sleeve.
I have had a lot of issues with pain this year. Sometimes the migraine headaches would last for days at a time. I’m not complaining here, just reflecting. The doctor tried a couple of new things on me this year, one being a procedure that didn’t work and the other, a new med that did work. To make a long story short, my Medicare prescription insurance has run out for the year so I won’t be able to get the VERY expensive prescription filled until January 1. That’s pretty soon now!
The last several weeks, the body aches have been almost constant. I will be calling the doctor to see if I can get some relief without taking the narcotics. However, starting yesterday, I have been just pushing through that pain and doing the things that need to be done. If I don’t have to leave the house, I take the drugs but really hate relying on those. Hopefully the doctor will have some alternatives for me.
The neuropathy continues but that will remain constant because of the immunosuppressant medications that I must take. However, the only real issue I have with that is itching in my legs. It gets much worse when I go to bed. When it get’s unbearable, I have a way of treating it with very hot water which I had to do last night but now they feel fine.
I’m also feeling some weakness in my legs when I’ve been working around the house for awhile. I’m hoping that is because I don’t perform that type of activity much and plan to restart my daily walks—hopefully the weather will cooperate. The next few days are going to be rainy/snowy and then cold so I won’t be starting that up until I can get outside more. Hopefully, January 1.
I continue to move things around my studio. I just can’t come up with a system that is working for me but I keep trying. I’ve got a couple of other ideas in the works and hope to have “a place for everything and everything in it’s place” soon! Then comes the decorating aspect!!! Since I spend 90% of my waking hours in here, I can’t wait!
As most of you know, I’m a blog writer for the Charity Wings/Scrapbook Royalty organization. I have really enjoyed giving back in this manner and plan to find other ways to give of my time in the new year.
I sent an email off to an organ donor organization in hopes to start something up here in my community but haven’t heard back. I plan to go further up the organization’s ladder until I can find someone to listen to me to see if I can get that started. It is a really important cause to me.
So how does that sound for New Year plans? It’s not resolutions, those just don’t work. Really, I’m just going to continue trying to live the best life I can each day and then begin each new day with a fresh start. That’s one of the best things, everyday is a fresh start!
Blessings,
Christine
With the hustle and bustle of the holidays before us, it’s always good to step back and see the good things of the season. This is a great way to take an afternoon, you and your family, and spread some goodness and encouragement in your corner of the world.
The following was published on the Brave Girls blog. Click here to be directed to that post.
Hi Guys!!! TOMORROW WE ARE STARTING!!! We will be handing out kind messages to people on the day after Thanksgiving, all through the holidays. For everyone all over the world who is going to join us in the BGC Holiday Challenge…..here’s a PDF to download 3 pages of messages…so now all you have to do is print them out, cut them out and pass them out….if you want to go a step further, you can pass them out with hot chocolate and cookies!!! Make sure you videotape it or at least take some photos and we will include you in our video in early January.
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE MESSAGES
if the link doesn’t work, just copy and paste this address into your browser…http://bravegirlsclub.com/pdfs/RWOK-BGC-HOLIDAY.pdf
Don’t know what I’m talking about? Well, watch this little video and we will explain!!! (you can see it much bigger a few posts down from here….)
WE HOPE YOU WILL JOIN US!!! Read all about the challenge HERE
THIS IS GOING TO BE SOOOO GREAT!!!!
MAKE SURE YOU WATCH THE VIDEO IN THE POST RIGHT BEFORE THIS ONE!!!!
A PERFECT LITTLE MOVIE TO WATCH WITH YOUR FAMILY!!! YOU WILL LOOOVE IT!!
100 AWESOME THINGS!!! You might SEE YOURSELF in the movie!!!
see it??? RIGHT DOWN THERE??
If ya can’t see it…..CLICK HERE YOU WILL LOVE IT!!!!!
I’m going to print these out, cut them apart and keep them in an envelope in my purse. What a great way to spread the cheer at the end of the year!
No, I’m not really on the roof but this is the best place for me to shout out—my neighbors would think I’m insane!
It’s now official, I’m going on the Brave Girls Alumni Cruise!!! Making Brave Girl art on the open seas with a stop off at Nassau! What could be better for a cold day in March! Let’s just hope I can get a passport in time. If not, all’s okay. I’ll just stay on the ship and make more art!!!
I’ve been working on a few more Brave Girl projects lately and have one to share with you tonight!!! (In case anyone is counting, this is going to count as my Sunday post!)
This is something that I must constantly remind myself.
I’m entering this into the Simon Says Stamp and Show challenge and the Compendium of Curiosities challenge with Linda. I used, October Afternoon paper, a MS butterfly punch, GCD Studio chipboard butterfly, KaiserCraft pearls (colored Copics) some vintage seam binding (flower) and lots of acrylic paint and Mod Podge!
I can famously put off things that are a little too hard to do, or might be scary, even though I know that it is something that I must do. I made this canvas to remind me that it is time! Don’t put it off another minute!!! Maybe it will help with this hanging on my wall to see everyday.
I have been working on it. Today, not only did I make this piece, but I emptied the dresser in my bedroom and then had my sister help me carry the dresser out on the deck. I bought the dresser several years ago with the intention of refinishing it. Like many things around my home, I buy them with an intention and since I didn’t have the strength and health to do them, they remained undone. I’m really trying to turn that around.
So, I’m refinishing my bedroom dresser and moving it into the living room temporarily. I will then move one of the dressers in my studio onto the deck, do some painting in my studio and then moving the newly refinished dresser into the studio. Phew!!!! I want to get all this done THIS WEEK. After that, I will still have one dresser on the deck, right. I’ll refinish that one and move it into the bedroom. The second dresser is much bigger than the first one so I want to switch places. I need more space in the bedroom to get organized.
So that’s my week in a nutshell!!! It’s very ambitious for me but I know that I can get it done. And during rest breaks, I need to gather and assemble 27 alphabet pages using the letter “V.” I’m in an alphabet book swap. It has been fun to plan my page using things that begin with the letter V. The pages should be in a vintage kinda’ theme. I found a digi stamp (thanks TLC) of a violet flower fairy that is perfect for the front of the card. There are a ton of details involved but I think I have it all figured out. I’m going to make one copy of each side and then take it to a copy center for the 27 copies of each side. Then I’m going to glue the pages together with a glue stick and add the details. I hope everybody likes it. I have made everything in the color violet (with a little green). What I haven’t figured out how to do is add the color vermillion. I know that a bright orange is the complementary color to violet and I really want to add it.
Okay, enough about my upcoming week. I hope you’ve got a good one planned as well!!!
Now, be sure to leave a comment since all comments left until September 23 will count towards an entry into my candy. And please, send your friends over, the more individual entered in the giveaway, the more items I will be giving away. How does that sound! Yay!!!
Blessings,
Christine
The song “A Life Uncommon” by Jewel is the unofficial theme song for Brave Girls camp. That song embodies what Brave Girls stands for and what they are trying to accomplish with the retreats. Each night, before bedtime, we would gather on the red rug and have a sing-a-long starting with “A Life Uncommon” so that we would know it and sing it loud and strong on the very last night! And we did!!! (The lady in the picture is Melody’s sister, Kathy. She is Melody’s partner in Brave Girls Club. She takes care of so much at Brave Girls camp. She makes sure that we are pampered and taken care of. She makes sure that we have nothing to think about but creating art. What a beautiful woman she is.)
I’m telling that story, to lead up to my latest artistic adventure. My canvas says, “learn to believe in a life uncommon.” And with that, I’ll just leave you with Jewel and the lyrics to the song, “A Life Uncommon.”
Don't worry mother
It'll be alright
And don't worry sister
Say your prayers and sleep tight
And it'll be fine
Lover of mine
It'll be just fine
And lend your voices only
To sounds of freedom
No longer lend your strength
To that which you wish
To be free from
Fill your lives
With love and bravery
And you shall lead
A life uncommon
I've heard your anguish
I've heard your hearts cry out
We are tired, we are weary
But we aren't worn out
Set down your chains
Until only faith remains
Set down your chains
And lend your voices only
To sounds of freedom
No longer lend your strength
To that which you wish
To be free from
Fill your lives
With love and bravery
And we shall lead
A life uncommon
There are plenty of people
Who pray for peace
But if praying were enough
It would've come to be
Let your words enslave no one
And the heavens will hush themselves
To hear our voices ring out clear
With sounds of freedom
Sounds of freedom
Come on you unbelievers
Move out of the way
There is a new army coming
And we are armed with faith
To live, we must give
To live
And lend your voices only
To sounds of freedom
No longer lend our strength
To that which we wish
To be free from
Fill your lives
With love and bravery
And we shall lead
A life uncommon
So shake away the unbelievers, arm yourself with faith, fill your life with love and bravery and LEAD A LIFE UNCOMMON. I’m going to be reminding myself of this often!!!
Blessings,
Christine
I thought I would share a couple more truth cards with you today. First up is… Dear Christine-Angels are watching over you right now…beside you…in front of you…behind you…you do not travel alone. This one is a truth for EVERYONE. We all have angels watching over us. (I used a free digi image from Create with TLC. The paper is recycled from a package of embellishments from GCD Studios Melody Ross. The flowers are cut from some GCD Studios Melody Ross paper.)
The next card is one of my favorites and one of the truths that I need to work the most on. Dear Christine-Let the door close. Which I promptly lined out and wrote Not-open it!. Meaning, I need to get out of this house a little more often. Go thrifting, take a drive in the mountains, etc., like I used to all the time! I really had fun making a cute whimsical home. I made the door opened and put lace inside the door as well as in my window. I gave it a roof made of cardboard with part of the top layer peeled off. I applied Mod Podge Shimmer over the whole house. I then added a butterfly weather vane and some “flowers” (tiny buttons) to the outside of the house! I put some birdies and more butterflies in the sky. LOVE IT if I do say so myself!!! Which that’s who I made it for!!!!
Thanks for taking the time to visit me. Have a great week!
Blessings,
Christine
Right where you are, of course. I’ve been working on this canvas for the last couple of days. There’s a lot of glue this...let it dry, paint this…let it dry, apply this…let it dry. You get the idea. Just to give you a little example…
here are the items that I used to make this project.
I painted it, Mod Podged paper to it, Distress Inked it, applied Mod Podge mixed with paint, distressed the edges with paint, Mod Podged it again, applied spackle mixed with paint using a butterfly stencil, applied Distress Crackle paint, Distress Inked the resulting crackle, added the flowers, the stamped and colored sentiment and the buttons. Whew!!! I also added some Glimmer Mist and Sparkle Mod Podge to the flowers and applied distress ink to the sentiment. AND THAT’S IT!!! I really love how it turned out and can’t wait to find a place to hang it. I think I’ll put it in my bathroom so I can see it every morning when I’m brushing my teeth and hair to remind me that I’m right where I should be! Not that I can’t go somewhere else, but for today, I’m right where I should be!
The stamp is a Unity Ippity, the buttons are Papertrey Ink, the DP (that you can’t see anymore in the photo) is October Afternoon and the roses are from my stash that I bought on clearance for 10 cents who knows when!
A lot of the people at Brave Girls Camp made canvases. I wanted to finish my art journal cover (I haven’t shared that yet) so I didn’t get started on my canvas at camp. When I got home, I picked it up a few times, even tried a couple of things but nothing really worked in my head. I learned at BGC that when making art that has a personal meaning to you, if it doesn’t feel right, it’s just not the time for you to deal with that particular emotion or problem. There was a lot of Melody Ross’s art work around the cabin and in the art room. She told us that when she makes art, it’s to workout a problem or to resolve an issue in her life. There is some real meaning behind what I wanted to put on my canvas and I think I need to work some things out in my head before I can do that. However, I have started another Brave Girl canvas for now!
The challenge at Studio L3 Compendium of Curiosities challenge is Distress Crackle which is included on this canvas!! I’m so happy that things have settled down in my life now that I can participate in those challenges. I’ve already learned a lot and it’s been so much fun!!!
The weather was the perfect break in the summer today. I woke up and it was so cool outside. Since I get up about noon, it’s always hot outside. But today, I stayed out and played with the pup for a while. Then, it clouded up, thundered, sprinkled and then a cloud burst for about an hour! We had a late spring but it has been a hot one since! It’s going to gradually warm back up to 97 on Monday but I’m ok with that. It’s August you know!
Have a great Thursday! Thursday has always been my favorite day of the week. When I worked, there was only one more day to get through so I could stay up late, do what I wanted because you can always make it through one more day!!!
Blessings,
Christine
Challenges:
Compendium of Curiosities Studio L3--Pg 42, distress crackle
Crazy Amigo--Free theme
Gingersnap Creations Spicy Supply--paint
Simon Says Stamp and Show--Winged things
Crafty Creations--Winged things
Creative Belli--paint
Flutter By Wednesday--Open
I thought I would continue talking about the wonderful Brave Girls experience!!! The first morning of camp, I woke up bright and early (7:15, I know, really early for me) to breakfast. Every meal time they played a specific song (I wasn’t familiar with the song so now I can’t remember. I listen to classic rock.) I’ll tell you, when I hear that song now, I actually get hungry!!! Anyway, Kathy made a wonderful yogurt parfait along with a full breakfast for us. All the food at camp was wonderful.
After breakfast, Melody told a beautiful story about her and how she protects her family and her home. She then gave us a list of “truths” to make a journal of sorts using those truths. Then she sent us to the art room. Here is what we saw!!! When the weather warmed up, they opened the garage door to bring some of the outside in!
Setting at each of our work areas was a wonderful package of goodies!!!
Around the edges of the room their were shelves covered with art and craft supplies!!! Notice all that beautiful Glimmer Mist in the first photo. I wish I would have had more time to play with that!!! Melody gave us a tour, some instructions on how to use her Chip Art and turned us loose to journal our truths.
I’d like to now share a couple more of my “Truth Cards.”
The first one says, “Dear Christine, You can do this. You are powerful. You are amazing. Your are strong.”
The second truth card says, “Dear Christine, Take action, it is time…you are not alone on this journey.” I really learned that we are not alone while at Brave Girls camp. Each one of the ladies has found there own special place in my heart. It was an experience that changed each of us and was amazing to share!
Thanks for stopping by. I hope you enjoyed experiencing just a little bit of Brave Girls camp with me.
Blessings,
Christine
Before I share the first evening at Brave Girls Camp, I want you to know that the descriptions and photos below do not do the Brave Girls experience even close to the justice it deserves. If you take what I have said and shown, then times it by 100, you still won’t even be close. Each one of you should do what you can to come to Idaho for this experience. It is beyond amazing!!!
Melody Ross and her sister, Kathy, really know how to make the women of Brave Girls camp feel welcome. Melody’s husband, Marq, met us at the hotel, gave us each a beautiful welcome bag containing a bag labeled “do not open,” a welcome letter containing a map to McCall, an embellished journal, a bottle of water, and the best part, a couple of delicious chocolate chip cookies! They loaded all our baggage into a trailer and shuttled us to McCall, Idaho.
As the bus took us to a park at lake edge, I was kind of wondering what was going on. When we all climbed out of the bus, Melody drove up with her sparkling smile and wearing her butterfly cowboy boots (I was kinda’ wondering where her hat was. She always has a hat on in the photos I have previously seen.) After she stopped to give each lady a hug, she then told us to open our bags.
They contained birdseed and a label saying “worries are for the birds”.
She instructed us to throw the seed to the birds so we could let our troubles go for the week. For those who were reluctant, we would stop and pick them up on the way back. *giggle*
My sister, Rose, was a little reluctant to throw her seed so I had to go talk her into it! (She told me she wanted to go back that night when we went to bed!) I’m pretty sure she was ready to leave them for the birds by Thursday though!
We drove back though town and towards the cabin. When the shuttle slowed down to stop… this is what we saw! A line of warm, beautiful women waiting for our arrival!!!
They each gave each lady on the bus a welcoming embrace.
Next, the beautiful cabin…
reminding us that we were safe. If that wasn’t enough…
we walked into this magical scene! Twinkling lights, lime green, photos and Melody’s artwork surrounded us! Everything was so amazing. No detail was left out.
They even adorned our drinking glasses.
We sat and chatted for awhile as the staff (and some of the loveliest ladies on earth) finished preparing our dinner. While we were eating our dinner, Melody and Kathy’s sons carried our bags up to the hallway outside our room and after dinner we were invited go upstairs to get comfortable for dessert and the first of our nightly meetings. And once again, a beautiful welcome to our room! They left us a name card, a Brave Girls sweatshirt and apron and some ear plugs in case we had some problems with noise. I have to say that I was so exhausted every night that noise was not a problem.
We went back downstairs for Crème Brule and a visit around the red rug. Melody instructed us that the red rug was a safe zone. Anything could be said there and would always stay private between the ladies in the circle. (I think that it’s kinda like client/attorney privilege in that it can’t be used in court *giggle*). She then asked us to introduce ourselves and tell everyone what we wanted to get out of Brave Girls camp. It was what was to be the first beautiful night of sharing!
Right from the beginning I knew that this was going to be a wonderful week. Melody and Kathy reassured us that we were there for healing, rebuilding and art and that they would take care of EVERYTHING else for us. We felt safe and pampered from the minute we entered the cabin. Melody and the staff went to bed with instructions that we could stay up as late as we wanted but I think everybody else went to bed too so they would be well rested for the next day. Melody wouldn’t show us the art room until the next morning and I couldn’t wait to see it! For the final photo, I wanted to share a picture of Melody’s amazing mother, Myrna Jean, Rose and me before going to bed that evening.
Now are you all a little jealous! Don’t ya know that’s why I shared! Just kidding, I really do wish that each of you could have been there as well.
I’ve been playing in my studio on a couple of things but don’t really like how it turned out. I’m going to keep working on that one but hopefully I’ll have something else to share soon!!!
Blessings,
Christine