My Create Word Art (from the Blue Line 30x30 exhibit) & a favorite Create pin/quote by Sandra Magsamen Creating brings me such joy, whether it's baking a cake, cooking a meal, taking a photo, writing a blog post, or painting a canvas.  ~from my article in the Summer 2011 Create With Me magazine. I chose to focus on the theme of "Create" this week because it is a powerful concept. As I mentioned in the opening quote of this post, creativity can be expressed in many ways. When preparing meals or special baked treats for loved ones. When putting pen to paper to write a blog post or a journal entry or a thank you card. When capturing both proud and everyday moments with a camera, etc.. But often "create" or "creative" is only linked to artistic expression. But really "create" means so much more. We create our lives with our choices. We can create our mood with the thoughts we choose to dwell on (easier said than done, but still true

This week I chose the word "Action" as my theme. Action seems to be big on everyone's mind this time of year as we all continue to tackle our New Year's resolutions. In fact, my beloved Weight Watchers leader, Teresa , chose "Action" as her word this year. Using both the word itself and Teresa as inspiration I decided to create an "Action" word art this week. I know I already started the 52 weeks challenge with my " Open " word art, but it was more collage than typical By Jen word art. Not only that, but I've silently been trying to pick projects that utilize paper as a material for the month of January. So I went to work creating new word art. When laying out my words, I typically place the frames horizontally, but since I was drawing inspiration from Teresa I decided to use a magic wand, which was rather tall, for the "I." Teresa has been known to wave her magic wand from time to time when helping us through our weight

Two weeks into the year and I'm already feeling overwhelmed. The   2015 miles in 2015   challenge,   resuming Weight Watchers   with the need to really lose 20+ lbs, a new creative project every week, not to mention all the usual stuff that fills our everyday lives. It's exhausting and I am struggling. Somehow I thought starting the new year was going to magically make this all easier. But now that I've started it's proven to be just as challenging as it was last year. But it's still worth the effort. And to help me out a bit, this week I thought I'd focus on the theme "Inspiration."  Inspiration often energizes me as I make changes both big and small, chosen and otherwise. And inspiration will most definitely fuel this   52 Weeks from the Hear t project. For a while now I've been envisioning a book of inspirational quotes using a   pocket scrapbooking/Project Life   style, much like the one created by   Rebecca Cooper . I love quotes and I&

I'm starting a creative adventure for 2015 which I will refer to as 52 Weeks from the Heart. While frantically making  30 art pieces in 30 days   for the   local art gallery   last year, I listened to various music playlists and podcasts, including Tiffany Han's podcast,   Raise Your Hand and Say Yes . In the interview with artist   Jen Hewitt , Jen spoke of having a " passion project ." For the entire year of 2014, she explored and learned about print making by giving herself a weekly project. I was really intrigued by this idea. A passion project seemed like a wonderful way to stay inspired while learning and practicing new and old creative techniques. It seemed like it could provide me the structure I sometimes thrive on, like a training plan for a race. It could encourage me to continue creating throughout the year, giving me an outlet for my emotions. It could give me a regular push to keep creating and being open to life. It sounded like a valuable advent

It's a new year full of hope and promise. A time of blank pages and fresh starts. There's an energy in the air. I'm going to take advantage of this energy and excitement and start a few things of my own as I   open   myself back up to life. After months of emotional eating and little motivation to move, it's time for me to get serious about my health. And here's my plan and pledge: 1.   This year, 2015, I will travel at least 2015 miles by foot , whether it be the miles I walk daily or the miles I run as I train for race(s). This is inspired by   Run the Edge's virtual race . I know many participating are only counting running miles or are working as teams, but after much consideration this plan is the best for me. 2015 miles would be too many miles for me to run only. There would be too high a risk of injury for me at this point. But 2015 miles, both run and walked, would be an amazing accomplishment. Too often the   Fitbit   that logs my walking miles is f